RPMS

Maybe it's only my perception, but the coupe and the 2+2 look tremendously different to me. I think the coupe is vastly better looking, with the 2+2 looking a bit stretched and frumpy, the way cars generally do when the engineers take an existing shape and force it to do something it was never meant to. Rather like a hardtop Jag XK-E, or a BMW M-coupe. I was always very impressed that the last generation 2+2 300's looked as nice as they did.

Another trick y'all might try is to use the Baldwin B1 filter. It's spec'ed for GM diesel engines. It's a direct replacement for the standard spin-on oil filter, but it has double the capacity, which not only adds a quart to your oil supply, but doubles your filtration area. We run them in our Chevy truck w/o problems. They can be hard to come by sometimes, but most major truckstops have them. Scott Ferguson 1974 260Z - awaiting heart transplant

quote: Originally posted by FAIRLADY 327: come check out my car, it does look stock form the outside, only difference is the shifter location and gauges, which were changed out for a more accurate reading MMMmmm! I love that red! I also appreciate your steering wheel and that big Muncie cue ball! I'm not sure whether having the shifter come out of the fusebox would irritate me or not. I don't have any problem with it on theoretical grounds, but I don't know if something like that would work with my ergonomics. Seems like someone with the typical Italian build (Long arms and short legs) would do well with that setup. My shoulders prefer a setup with the shifter lower down, and 2-3" further back than the plane of the steering wheel. I find Miatas really comfortable to shift, but I've heard that folks with long arms and short legs can't stand them! Scott Ferguson 1974 260Z - It doesn't move yet, but it's REAL comfy to sit in!

My God that's a big cowl in picture #18! And in picture #26, is it my imagination, or is one of your eyes much larger than the other? This must be after you've put on the first couple of coats. Better look into some improved ventilation! But all is forgiven if the fumes help you think up all sorts of new disco moves, as documented in picture 32. Seriously, that's one GREAT looking car! I never realized that those wheels would polish up that nicely, either. Ever since I saw a friend's freshly-painted 280, I've loved the look of silver done RIGHT on these cars. All the sexy curves (like the ones around the headlight buckets, and at the beltline underneath the quarter windows) get highlighted juuuust right, and the car just seems to glow. In the light of a brilliant sunset, I have no doubt that you'll drop jaws everywhere you go. My car started out being silver, and if I were any good with a spray gun I'd try to repaint it in silver again. But alas, my painting skills suck eggs, so I'll be painting it in idiot-proof black. Good thing I like black anyway, so it's no big loss. What kind of training did you have before you started laying on this paint, anyway? And (forgive me if the answer is obvious) how do you keep overspray dust from the last parts that you paint from contaminating the parts that have already been painted and are getting tacky? Scott Ferguson 1974 260 - yep, it's silver. It just LOOKS like primer.

Don't be too hard on him, Fairlady. If someone told me that I'd need to switch to square headlights to make the conversion work, I'd tell them to go find a hole and jump in. There are some cosmetic changes that aren't acceptable to me, and maybe KraZ feels the same way towards his console, I dunno. I kinda feel the same way about keeping the inside pretty much stock looking, while making it function better. Or it could just be that if everything inside stays stock, wifey won't ever notice anything different, hmmm??? "Honey, why is the Z so much louder now?" " Oh, it's just a new muffler. I saved us a few bucks and got a cheaper one, and it's a bit louder now. You know how it is." So Fairlady, I'm curious. Is there any limit to what you'd change cosmetically in order to go faster? Or is it all good, in the pursuit of better acceleration? I don't think I'd ever want to change the basic body structure. The Z is just too darned good looking to mess with its basic elements, IMHO. I want a faster car, but I don't want it to ever stop being a Z. Scott Ferguson Proud member of the Underground Upgrade Club. [This message has been edited by RPMS (edited April 18, 2001).]

Cheap? Why, Owen! You're talking to ME! I refuse to spend more money than I have to. This does not mesh well with the fact that I've become spoiled to the quality of Mercedes and BMW cars. The ONLY way I can get the performance and durability I need at the price I want to pay is to build it myself. When I get done, I'll have a landbound cruise missile that is as comfortable as a 928 with the parts cost of a Vega, and gas mileage better than my BMW. And the entire driveline will be built from parts that can be replaced with off-the-shelf parts from any Autozone or Pep Boys in the nation for a pittance! Why on Earth would I buy a car, when I can build a far better one myself for less money? It's a no-brainer. Owen, your ideas are great, and I hope that one day I'll be able to take a ride in your creation. To call it a "car" just doesn't seem appropriate, at this point! Much admiration to all of you who have succeeded where I am attempting to journey, my hat is truly off to you. Scott Ferguson The Original Cheap Bastard

The Impala SS was/is one heck of a cool car Andy, and I'm envious that you got one! Around here, they're still selling for near-new prices. It's one of the very few American sedans I'd ever consider owning. As to why they discontinued this most interesting American car, didn't Chevrolet cease production of frame-on construction passenger cars in 1997, and in so doing, kill the platform for the SS? In any case, I don't think the SS cut significantly into the Caprice's market. The demographics of the two buyers were radically different. (from an enthusiast site..) Caprice Classic: Medan age is 67 years Median income is $35,000 annually 63 percent of buyers are male 75 percent are retired. Impala SS: Medan age is 40-60 years Median income is $60,000 annually 80 percent of buyers are male 50 percent are retired. The SS was (generally) bought by a younger, wealthier client than the Caprice. I guess if you're old and wealthy and want to spend $30,000 on a car, you spend it on a Cadillac, not a souped-up Caprice. Just a guess... Scott Ferguson

Hmm... The Ravin mufflers look interesting. I've heard good things about Spin Tech mufflers, as well (http://www.spintechmufflers.com/) One of my friends has them on his Dodge R/T truck, and they seem to have a sound somewhere between the lumpy sound of a glasspack and the hollow sound of a Flowmaster. Most intriguing. As far as performance goes, I'll gladly trade a few top-end HP for better sound characteristics. I'll be running the engine hard for about .05% of its life, but I'll have to listen to it whenever the darned thing's turned on. I want something quiet on the freeway, burbly at idle, and sounding like a 5-gallon bucket o' whoop-ass when I floor it at 5,000 RPM. Kinda like a 928. Oh, did I mention that I only want to pay $99? Scott Ferguson "the Original Cheap Bastard "

Hey, Guys! Those of you who poo-poo the tone of glasspacks are probably referring to the typical el-cheapo "one pack per pipe" setup to be had from the corner shop advertising "Duals - $99". I've had glasspacks with headers on my '73, and they were everything you're saying. Obnoxiously loud, torque-stealing monsters that droned incessantly on the freeway. I swore then and there that I'd never use them again. The glasspack muffler on my '74 however, (also header-equipped) has a 12 inch resonator installed about halfway down the pipe, and it changes the character completely. It puts out pleasantly burbly sounds at idle, is as quiet as a typical performance turbo muffler on the freeway, and snarls quite nicely when you bury the accelerator pedal and rev it up. Just like most other things, glasspacks work better as part of a properly designed system. Now, as far as ultimate performance is concerned, I'll shut up and let someone else handle that issue. All I know about is how they sound. Scott Ferguson 1974 260-Z - soon to be V8 equipped...

They say that a V8 conversion won't hurt the resale value of a Porsche? Yeah, right. I'm sure they're right that stuffing American iron into a Porsche makes it more reliable, but just because it makes sense doesn't mean it'll be worth more after the conversion. Take that not as criticism of the concept - it's a great idea, and a wonderful website. I gotta say though, that a 350 looks mighty peculiar sitting in the back end of a 911, though. Scott Ferguson 1985 BMW 535i - Altered 1976 Datsun 260Z - Altered 1984 Honda Nighthawk S - Bone Stock, and staying that way

Wow! Now that's the kind of customer service you don't see every day. I love doing business with places like that. Does Autometer sell direct? Scott

Thanks, Andrew! I'm glad you reposted that. I'll see if I can't get out there this weekend and mess around with it a bit. I figured out yesterday that if I put all the LED's in there I desire (252 per lens, in a 7 x 36 array) each one will be pulling 5 AMPS of current! That's about 15 amps of draw from the brake and turn lights combined. For some reason, I thought it'd be far less than this. DEFINITELY a good place for some heavy duty relays! Scott Ferguson

Dewzenol writes: >Some of these clusters are cheap, some not. >Many of them are 2000mcd per LED, and >contain 7 - (23? -- figure 5). >Does that mean that the 2000mcd fig.5 red >cluster would put out 23 * 2000? >46000mcd???? >I'd buy that for five or ten bucks! Scott answers: Who hoo!!! It looks like you hit the motherlode with this one, my friend! Next time you're in the D/FW area, I'm buying you a beer! It looks to me like you're right - the total luminescence should be 48,000 (24*2000) mcd, which is plenty bright. And the voltage looks right, too. As long as you bypassed the stock wiring and ran relays to the clusters, 14 volts is nearly perfect. Now... Assuming we're using the standard lenses, how we handle three functions (brake, turn signal, parking lights) in two lenses? Someone much smarter than me posted an electrical diagram a month or two ago that would allow two different voltages to be applied to give different light levels for brake, turn, and park lights. Anyone remember where this is??? Scott Ferguson 260Z w/ no need of ANY lamps right now because it doesn't run!

For those interested in such things, the DIYEFI webpage is at http://www.diy-efi.org/diy_efi/ Enjoy! Scott Ferguson 1974 260Z - Hopefully less than a month away from having its V8 engine installed!!

Okay! So why didn't any of my big fancy books TELL me that the cylinder numbers are embossed on the plug wire retaining ring?!? Once I got the wires correct (and thank you for your help!) the thing actually ran, although accompanied by some amount of oil smoke (I'm busy fooling myself into thinking it's some stuck rings or leaky valve guide seals at the moment...). The son of a gun actually idled smoothly! What are the odds? Anyway, I guess this puts an end to this particular thread. It's obvious that I've got other problems to worry about now. Thanks for all your help! Scott Ferguson 1974 260Z - Feeling minor-league victorious right now!

Yeah, Pete! What's involved? I seem to remember your saying somewhere that you just had to cut a bigger hole in the blower housing to get the larger fan through. Is that right? I'd LOVE to have adequite A/C in a Z car. To me, that's always been a first-generation car's only true failing. As long as we're talking about staying cool, does anyone out there have opinions on the best compressor to use? I've got a late-style compressor, and I've heard that the older A6 compressors (the ones that are about a foot long and 8 inches in diameter) work really, really well, but they eat up a lot of HP while they do it. So are there any early Z-owners out there who can hang meat in their cars? (That sounds bad, but you know what I mean!!) Scott Ferguson 1974 260-Z - NOT looking forward to 105+ Texas weather!!!!

I know the JTR book says that they stock transfer pump for carbed Z's isn't strong enough for use w/o a mechanical fuel pump, but when I tested mine a few months back it seemed to flow pretty darned well. Is the problem that the stock unit doesn't develop adequate pressure, or what? Like many of you, I'd be happy to find one that was quiet, cheap, and effective. Has anyone heard of a factory-built pump that is all three? I'd love to do the "junkyard shuffle" on this one, if possible. Thanks, Scott

Ron Jones Says: "Check Your timeing.You shouldn't get a big BANG with a flame" No BANG and flame?? Damn, I was getting all excited... So here's a question for you (or anyone else who knows). Will you please fill in the following blank, just so I can be sure I'm not doing something stupid? "Starting with the electrical (Tach/batt) connector and going counterclockwise, the first plug wire encountered goes to cylinder #_____" This trivial bit of information isn't in ANY of my rebuild books. Must just be one bit of common knowledge I'm not yet privvy to. If all my plug wires are going to the wrong plugs, that might be a wee problem, no? Thanks, Scott

Dave, I only pulled the bearing caps, leaving the pistons as-is. I think the problem was that I mashed the big ends of the con rods against the crank when I was torquing the bolts down. This wedged the rods against the crank and made it difficult to turn. When I loosened the bolts and moved the con rod ends closer to the middle of the journal, it freed them up. Yesterday I pre-lubed the engine, put on the distributor, and put power to it. About the third crank, a big gout of flame shot out the exhaust pipe with a loud *BANG!* and I realized that that was -one- exhaust pulse! I shut things down before the engine actually started, for fear of frying my ears. I'm picking up a muffler today on the way home from work. Well, now I know that at least ONE cylinder fires!

Well, I know Radio Shack has the perf board for about six bucks a sheet, and each sheet is enough to do 3 or 4 assemblies, depending on how large you're making them. The inside portion of a 260/280 lens is approx. 10" wide by 2" tall. Regarding the dual voltage problem, someone posted a way to do this in the middle of the last topic on this subject. I forget exactly what he advised, but I think the best solution would be to use the 2000 mcd LED's as the brake lights, and some 1200 mcd lights as the running lights. That way you could go without the bother of creating extra circuitry. Oh, and sorry if this was a bit disjointed - I'm on some major-league cold medicine. Scott

Pete sagely says: "Unless I'm totally out to lunch on this, I think that one acceptable way to measure side clearance is to get the rods big ends separated so that they are against the crank throw cheeks and measure the clearance between the rods." And I, in befuddlement, reply: I think you're right, Pete. That's exactly the way the books say to do it. But when I did it that way, the sides of the rods interfered with the crank throw cheeks. (Thanks for supplying the correct terminology, by the way!) The con rods continued to bind until I backed them away from the crank throws just a bit. What did I do wrong??? Scott

Frog, I might be a maroon baboon, but why not go for something off of a mid-70's Camaro? I may be misremembering, but they came in two styles - one had a single rectangular outlet (which I prefer) and the other had 4 (I think) vertical vents. Of course, knowing the way GM does things, they may have been simply stuck to the fenders as ricey little tack-ons. Of course, that doesn't stop you from cutting real holes and using their vents to finish the job off, does it? Come to think of it, that might be the kind of project I'd be interested in... Scott Ferguson

Ooh, Revac, it's so.... BIG! Drax, if you're in the mood for some self-humiliation, try to teach yourself how to use a slide rule. I've got a measured IQ of 153, and I couldn't even discover where to put the batteries! Seriously, I asked one of my best friends, an engineer from the "old school" to show me how to use one, and he proudly dug out his leather-holstered relic and proceeded to whip it back and forth, spewing mathematical Greek all the while. Then he looked up at me and said, "Okay, you get it?" Uh... Yeah... right... It's definitely a skill. Scott Ferguson IQ means NOTHING! Brains is where it's at!

Heya, Scottie, I'm sure this is in here somewhere, but in my cold-medicine-befuddled state, I can't find it. What engine management system are you using? I assume to get this sort of precision with your datalogging, it can't be stock. ------------------ Scott Ferguson 1976 260-Z, surrounded by an ever-growing cloud of V8 parts...

I look forward to seeing what you have, Owen. Don't forget about us! ------------------ Scott Ferguson 1976 260-Z, surrounded by an ever-growing cloud of V8 parts...