RPMS

Not a digest or anything fancy, just old information that might be useful to access in the future. I'd hate to think that the wealth of knowledge accumulated over the past couple of years could be torpedoed by a virus or the server's hard disk crash. We got a tiny taste of this when the search engine went down for a while. Just a thought. Scott

Propane has a lot of advantages, especially in a high boost engine. Like any other gaseous fuel it will not detonate under any compression level, so you could run insane amounts of boost. You would blow out your head gaskets before you pre-ignited. The BIIIIG downside to propane is that, although it's cheaper in many areas per gallon (but it's not in my area) there are about half as many BTU's in propane as there are in gasoline, so it takes twice as much to do the job. Now, I know economy isn't on your minds much were it comes to high performance Z's, but in cars that means having to use a BIG tank to give a decent cruising range, and it also means that a dollar's worth of propane will only take you as far as 90 cents worth of gasoline. Shorter range, higher cost per mile, small number of fueling stations, etc. will make it tough to justify propane conversion to most folks, even with a $15,000 rebate.

Hmmm... I'm with Lone on this one. What you're asking isn't impossible by any means, but it will be a lot of work and mucho dinero to accomplish. The big issue as I see it is chopping the roof. Everything else can be done relatively easily, but you're looking at a horrendous amount of money and effort to make a tight, powerful, quiet convertible. As far as having it quiet, I think you'd need stock exhaust manifolds, 2 1/2" pipes, dual resonators to eradicate the drone, and two turbo-type mufflers. Just my two cents. What do the rest of y'all think?

!!DROOL!! I wish I had a setup like that to play with when I painted mine. I was stuck using box fans blowing out my partially-opened garage door. It worked, but I'm pretty sure I sucked a bunch of airborne crap in along with the fresh air. Right now I'm entertaining myself by wet sanding my mistakes out.

ROFLOL!!! I viewed the picture in question, and I was appreciating your work when my eye was drawn to the unusual item on the left side of the engine bay. I was trying to figure out what it was.. Wierd shaped brake presure distributor? No, and it's in the wrong place for the trouble light... DUH! Finally I realized that it's a ball peen hammer hanging from the fuel filter bracket! Do you think I should get new glasses, or get my medication adjusted? Sometimes I wonder about myself. Your welding job looks great! I wish my welds turned out as pretty.

Smith, the only reason I can think of to keep this car original is that it's in truly pristine condition. Any visible wear and tear at all on the car instantly cuts the value in half for a car like this. Like Griemann, I've never heard anything about a special "split year" ZX that would make it worth any more than a regular one. If someone sold the car to you on the basis that it was particularly rare, well... Let's just say that something can be rare without being collectable. You could have the only existing example of a 280ZX with hot pink dealer-installed leather, and it wouldn't make it any more valuable than any other ZX. Now, don't get me wrong! Even if the ZX you bought isn't particularly valuable, it can still be an impressive and capable GT car. Put that V8 in it and drive it in comfort and style, and most of all, ENJOY it! Just my .02.

Yeah, you can probably get by using the minimum compressor size recommended by your gun's manufacturer, but bigger is almost ALWAYS better when it comes to air power. With a 30 gallon tank, you'll probably find that your compressor will be running continuously and will get quite hot. Good luck, and have fun! Air tools are a blast, and make just about any repair job more enjoyable.

I had a nasty rattle whenever I slammed my door. I thought it was the clapped out window regulator banging around in there, but when I took my door panel off last month I discovered where my missing 12mm wrench was hiding. D'oh!

Hey, Adam! Welcome to the board. The reason you can't take the whole A/C system out of a Ford and plunk it into your 260 is that the pieces don't fit the holes they have to go into. You can adapt just about any compressor to fit, with enough time and money to make the correct brackets, but the evaporator (the part that goes inside the car and does the actual cooling) probably wouldn't fit the hole Datsun engineered for it. Now, you could always make your own brackets, fiberglass housing, hoses, and mounting points, but most folks find that it's just simpler (and works better) to go to a junkyard and use the original Datsun pieces. Or go with the Vintage Air setup and lighten your wallet by a grand or so. One of the things you may not know about is that the Datsun fan can be upgraded to a more powerful unit. I've heard that certain years of Honda Civic blower motors are a bolt-in, and with a little creative filing and drilling, you can put in an even bigger fan from a Ford (Crown Vic? Someone help me out here...) Otherwise, I'd say just get the parts you need from a boneyard.

Naw, don't call Summit, unless you're going to order other stuff too, to spread out the cost of shipping and handling. I went to my local speed parts shop, and they ordered them for me for around a buck more than the catalog places. I had them the next day, with no shipping charges added! Plus, I'm getting valuable face time in with the parts store that I'll be frequenting for advice and small parts when I do my conversion. And by the way, they work GREAT! I can bleed all 4 corners in the time it used to take to bleed a single wheel. And they do a better job, to boot!

Now THAT was a bold choice! I think it looks much better in pictures than it sounds. Mike, I also like the way the stripes continue through the engine bay. Very classy.

White is defintely the easiest color to shoot, and with the right wheels and dark tinted windows, it's not offensive. It's also one of the easiest colors to keep clean. If your bodyman isn't the sh!t with paint, I'd strongly suggest going with a non-metallic, light color. They're the easiest to shoot and to maintain. There are too many ways to screw up metallics if you don't really know what you're doing. Bright yellow looks very good on a Z, I think. Racy and VERY custom looking. Black out the trim and shave the bumpers, and that's one MEAN looking ride, IMHO!

Hey, if you like it, that's your business. I don't think anyone here has any right (or desire) to berate your engine choice. On the Scarab positioning, that's been the subject of many past debates. I think we've pretty much reached consensus, though. There are Scarab cars out there which outrun JTR cars at the track, and there are JTR cars that outrun Scarab cars at the track. Theoretically, the Scarab has about a 4% greater front end bias than similarly equipped JTR cars, which isn't all that much. Put your battery in the hatch behind the rear axle and you've made up a good chunk of that weight difference right there. Either JTR or Scarab has a better weight distribution than just about any American musclecar. I'd say that if you had an accident in the car, it was probably not the fault of engine placement. I'd look at your suspension setup and your tires, as well as your driving ability. I'm not trying to be a prick, but driving a high powered, lightweight car can be a handful. Usually in these cars, the weakest link is THE DRIVER. I've ended up in my share of ditches, but it was always my own fault. I should have known better than to enter the corner that fast, I should have paid more attention to weather conditions. I'm the one with the brain, not the car, and if I hit something inanimate, that's MY fault. In short, my advice is to replace your struts and bushings, check your springs, and make sure you've got good quality tires. I hope you get your car back in one piece soon! Post some pictures of the damage, if you can. I'm a sucker for crash pics... Just my .02.

That's absolutely gorgeous! I think I'd wet my pants if I ever saw one in black...

Hey, 1z. The answer to your question depends somewhat on the manufacturer of the tire you buy. I understand that one brand's 225 will rub, but anothers will not. Unfortunately, I don't which brands are wide and which are skinny. I've found that, assuming your wheels have the stock offset, that a 215 tire is a relatively safe choice, but you may experience some rubbing when going over large pavement waves. If you don't want to have any rubbing at all, you may wish to go with a 195 series. Also if your springs and struts aren't in good shape, any problems you might have with tire rubbing will be ten times worse. A problem you only hear once in a blue moon with good struts might be heard on a daily basis with bad struts or tired springs.

Hey, JT! I'm glad you figured out what was happening. Like Kevin, I sometimes have to sleep on a problem before the answer comes to me. Then it's like, "Dummy, why didn't you think of that!" I'm sorry the cam pin sheared off. Like Lockjaw, I'm thinking that some valve/piston clearance problems probably toasted some (if not all) of your valves. And Crane is probably responsible for ONLY replacing the cam, leaving you to pay for the rest of the issues that their faulty cam caused. Please, let us know what they decide do about it. It would be an interesting lesson in corporate ethics...

I was at the junkyard last weekend, and I left with the 3rd brake light out of a first generation 300Z (1988, I believe). It's about 20 inches wide, and has about 40 superbright LED's in it. I was thinking it would be cool to put 3 or 4 lines of LED's on each side, like Erik Neyerlin suggested. (see http://www.zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/designs/themes/750w/tail-light-theme1a.jpg to get an idea of what I'm talking about. It would be easy to mount in a flat panel, would be very bright, and best of all, each one incorporates a windshield washer nozzle that could be used to spray noxious fluid at tailgaters!

On the subject of Rain-X, I've never had good results. It seemed to leave a greasy haze on the window that took months to go away. Maybe I applied it too thick, I don't know. My suggestion is to buy good wiper blades (Len's right - Bosch blades work well) and run a rag over your wiper blades every time you stop to fill up with gas. Dirty blades seem to take forever to get cleaned off in the rain. On the subject of slow wipers, yeah, they're pretty pokey. When I had mine out to repaint the car I disassembled the entire motor and transmission, dug out all the crusty, 27 year old grease and repacked it with new. I timed them, and they ran around 12% faster than before. It's not a difficult job, but it did make a difference and doing it myself saved me a bunch of money.

If I were you (and I'm not) I'd go with the LT1 / 6 speed combo. The fancy RB25DET will give you a lot of thrust, but there are other factors to consider. Namely, how long will it last, and what will you do if it breaks? The V8 swap is extremely well documented. Parts are cheap, and available at any HiLo or Pep Boys. Power is plentiful, and any goober in a corner garage can diagnose/fix problems, if you can't manage it yourself. Something exotic won't make you go any faster, it'll only set you up for more heartache in the future when something goes wrong.

My take on things is that the R180 will do just fine, IF it's in good shape to begin with, and IF you use an automatic transmission and IF you don't abuse it. That said, if you were in the mood to drive like grandma Moses all the time, why would you bother plopping in a hairy V8 in the first place? Drive it as long as it lasts, and if/when it blows apart, swap it out for an R200. That's what I'm planning on doing.

Saw the new Z on the freeway today (in a metallic gold color) and several things drew my attention: 1) the front end view looks aggressive without looking "mean". Sort of homogenized. Safe. 2) The door handles stick out WAY too far. 3) The rear end looks like the butt of a Honda Insight, but a bit wider and lower. The rear hatch glass seems tiny, and the taillights are...cosmetically challenged. Much to big an expanse of plain, flat plastic back there. 4) It's much smaller than it looks in the pictures. I know opinions vary greatly within the Z community, but I for one am sorely disappointed in the looks of this new Z. It could be the most technically competent piece of machinery on the road, and I'd still be disappointed. In a way I'm glad I don't like it. If it were gorgeous, I'd want one. As it it is, I'm much happier with the looks of my 28 year old version.

If you're into looking mean and don't mind making small children cry in fear when you pass by, Black is the only way to go. If you're into driving small, toylike cars, Chromium Yellow can't be beat. If you're into elegant distinction, Silver is the color of choice. Done well, it just aches to be viewed in the light of a romantic sunset. If you want to look retro, there's only one choice. Original lime green. If you're into the clean marine look, white is the way to go, especially with black basketweave wheels. If you want everyone on the block to notice when you drive by, Porsche Guards Red can't be beat. Restoring it to all-original, complete with 1971 hubcaps? Factory orange makes a definite statement. Do ya like custom street rods? The best color for you is probably metallic eggplant (like ZZ Top's 55 Mercury) What you do is up to you. Whatever you decide, it's pretty tough to make a Z ugly. They look good in just about any shade, with the possible exception of butterscotch.

Send me whatever pictures you want posted, and I'll throw them up on our server. Format them as .jpg files, no larger than 400x300, and at 72 dpi resolution.

If it seems to good to be true... I wonder how many unwitting suckers this bastard is going to pull in with his "invention"?