Moridin

I haven't heard anything about a Toyota (Lexus) V8 swap yet. Someone posted something about the "Ultimate Hybrid," and the company that did it has some bell housing stuff to mount up a Supra tranny I believe. Do a search for Ultimate Hybrid and you may find it.

I can't wait either. I smell another swap idea coming on. The turbo one seems like it may be fun, especially with 370HP. May be a high powered sedan like the CTS V or something along those lines. I can't wait. The new v8 is going to be awesome too. If you look at the V16 from Cadillac, they are basically going to chop it in half to make the new Vette and XLR (can't remember if that's the name) motor.

There was a post about this a little while back on the Chevy forums. I believe there was an article in Car Craft I believe. Here's the link http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18878&highlight=

There is a company that basically puts together a hybrid DSM motor that will put over 400HP to the wheels. I want to say the price for the motor is somewhere around 5 grand. Expensive, but not that bad for a reliable 4 cylinder. I'll see if I can find the website. Edit: I seriously need to start reading my stuff before I post it.

If you have the extra funds, I'd look at PDK Fabrications. I have them and really, really like them. Check out their website here: http://www.pdkfabrication.bravepages.com/

Get yourself one of those portable pressure washers. I actually saw one at Safeway one day for under $40. I'm still kicking myself for not getting it. Sam's Club or Costco might have something or you could always go buck wild with some Simple Green. Hope this helps, because I have not heard of anyone in the area that does this sort of thing.

From what I understand, ZONC is pretty puch a purist group. I was really looking into specifically a Hybrid chapter up here. Maybe we could kick it of at http://www.raceplacemotorsports.com when Mike Kelly comes into town.

Get that kids a** down to Dromo One. Have him race against a little competition. He needs an outlet for speed. See if you can get him out to the track. If he doesn't stop, just see what time his dumb a** comes home from school, and make sure there is a cop sitting there evertime. He's only 17, so anything more than three points will get his license suspended. That's cumulative, not just at one time. If he keeps acting like this, I'll personally go down there and give him a beating. Hell, I never did anything that dumb when I first got my license two years ago, and I still don't. In all reality, it seems like he's trying to prove something to you. He probably looks up to you as an older brother or mentor. Get him into racing before he kills himself, or worse, someone else.

I'm pretty much set on the SBC at the moment. I'd love to throw a turbo L28 and T5 in there while I slowly gather money for the SBC. I'm not planning on going cheap. A little lower compression for room to boost. Scat ultralight setup which has been fully balanced from them. I want to go full programmable fuel injection with the intake setup from the Aussie company. I can go on and on, but I'll leave it at that. If I get my website running one of these days, I'll put up all the motor stuff including some invisible cage type modification ideas. Yah, I know a few ways to make sure I'm 21 It's funny how that works though.

May I mention the forgotten ***cough*** 2003 Cobra ***cough*** 390HP for under $35,000 new. Oh, and for around $1000 in mods you're around 450HP or more. Then again, I wonder what some boost upgrades to the Sti would do. I'd love to have one. Sooooo much fun.

I seriously don't remember if I met you or not. I probably did. I was the blonde haired teen attempting to direct traffic at the beginning of the day. I had the gunmetal and silver Z with the triple mikunis and no bumpers. You have any ideas about a place for a HybridZ meeting, or even a time during the month?

Jeez Mike, I'd love to meet the legend. Its great that you're coming out here. Maybe we could plan that little indoor karting thing I've wanted to do around your stay. That is, if budget and time allows. Let us know when you get a definite date, I'm sure many of us Zers (or Zeders as the Canadians have established, eh) would like to meet you. I'm sorry I missed out on the Hybrid stuff. Maybe next year I'll have some money to stay in a hotel. I won't have to stay in my friend's dorm room in Santa Barbara and drive down in the morning. I guess that's what I get for being an indestructible youth, yet extremely broke. (Guess I should get my real estate license, so I can afford my car habits.) Hopefully, I'll be able to get a much fuller MSA Hybrid experience (Well, not full, I'm only 19 and won't be 21 by next year). What I managed to see was great. I want to get my Z done soooo bad now. Some of the cars were really pretty and well put together. I think I now have some new ideas. Guess I better get my rear in gear and learn how to weld. Next year, I say Bay Area/Nor Cal/Sacramento caravan down south.

Livewire, where in the Bay Area are you? There are some others from the Rio Vista meet too. I know the Diablo Valley Mustang Club meets once a month at Fuddruckers in Concord. Maybe we could figure something out a little more central, or even rotating locations for a meeting. Need some more input from everyone to put something together.

Let me go check out Zcar.com a little more. It seemed to be some big Nissan run event. It is going to happen roughly a month after MSA.

I was seriously looking at some combo's from Tein. Get that with the electronically adjustable kit for the dampers (shocks), and it would be a great combo - and easily adjustable too. I haven't done enough research to see what a custom set would cost, or what sets from other cars may work. I'd look into ZF Racing suspensions for control arms and such. Fully adjustable.

Norm, I don't know if you've seen any this, but This thread reappeared in another discussion. They talk about different dampeners and a few things of the sort. Supposedly ATI manufactures one specifically for the L series motors.

Oh, David, just wanted to say that the car is looking good. I haven't followed too much what you have done to it. Sorry to get off topic, but do you have anything planned before next year?

After reading some of the stuff that went on with Mike Kelly, I'm not sure they will want to negotiate anything. Dang, spank anything, huh? If I were you, I'd start checking out how fast some of these Cobras are going with a few simple mods before you make claims like that Wish my Z would be done by then. Ain't going to be a chance of that happening though. Too much to do. Want to get the body done before anything else. Then interior, brakes, suspension, and lastly, engine and drivetrain. I was at least thinking about getting a karting thing together for the z car guys up here. At minimum, that will get us together and talking. Ideas fly so much faster in person sometimes.

I'm not sure about your budget and all, but I'd like to offer up a few uneducated ideas. Brakes: If you are planning on upgrading beyond some mods to stock, I'd look into http://www.jskinnovations.com/. They are going to make some mounting stuff for Wilwood calipers and two piece rotors. It should be resonably priced too. If that is out of reach, you may want to look into Toyota 4 piston calipers. There are some rear disc brake setups that you may want to look into too. 240SX stuff swaps over with a bracket. Motor: A turbo 280ZX motor is always a possiblity. Very many have done it and you can get donor cars for relatively cheap. You can also get the stronger differential, CV half shafts (and an adapter to use them), and some brake stuff off the car. If you'd like to do a V8, as Davy said, look into the LT1. I'll see what else I can come with and post that later. Maybe if I get a site going soon, I'll get my 50 billion links up. With that all being said, welcome to the site and enjoy your Z.

I almost forgot to mention something. David K., if I don't have the Z in good working order for next year, I may have to bring down the Cobra. Lets see if you can do away with that Ford pony

I was just reading about the other meet that is going to be a month or so after MSA. I'd love to actually have the car somewhat put together to take it down. I really want to autocross it and see how I do. Guess I better start getting some practice so I don't look like an idiot. Need to get some sort of caravan going from up here.

I need to get a Hybrid hat and t-shirt. I'm guessing I have to wait for the new ones. Anywho, we need to get some more Bay Area guys to go down or at least some sort of caravan from Sacramento and so on. I'm not aware of any Bay Area HybridZ chapter or at minimum, some sort of Z group. Hmmm, ideas coming to mind. OUCH! Having to work brain sucks. Well, just throwing some ideas out there after being down at MSA. I forgot about ZONC, but I wanna say they are purists. Don't know for sure though. They are probably too far up north for me.

Yeah, for the short time I was there, I managed to get burnt too. One heck of a drive back home though. Traffic in LA, and then all the stupid drivers on I5. One minute you're doing 85MPH and the next 55. Then I get to 580 and its pouring rain. A few times I thought I was going to flat out spin, because all the friggin' water on the road. That's with good rain tires to boot. Anyways, to get back to my point, just wanted to say it was nice meeting some new people. Seeing the few I met before that made it down was extremely cool. . Just wanted to say thanks to Dan. I came down by myself, but he let me tag along at the end of the show (Well, I really didn't give him much of a choice). I don't know too many of the guys personally, so I'm a little like a deer in the headlights at these things; its nice that the few you know will put up with you. Dave K., I wanted to match my screen name to my face. I don't think I told you. Anywho, I was the blonde haired kid that you met at the end of the show by the name of Ryan. Lastly, did anyone see where Dave Griemann's award went? I think that little dog the lady was toting around managed to eat it somehow. That really sux Dave, the car is extremely well put together and gorgeous too. Are you planning on doing anything else to it?

tt350, if you seriously don't believe me, head on over to http://www.modularfords.com and check it out. Nitrous Pete has the Kenne Bell twin screw blower on his making insane amounts of power, and he makes a ton of passes on one night (not to mention a month). The motor is still going strong. The guys are all over there waiting for the thing to blow, but it just hasn't gone yet. That single turbo kit is showing some promise too, because you won't be able to use that blower for very long in a road race. Heat soak will suck the power right out of that blower, even though it has a liquid aftercooler (or intercooler, not sure.) Dollar for dollar, I'd go for the grand national motor.

I found out that there are two types of noise insulators. There are the ones that reduce vibration by adding mass. Basically, its just Dynamat that does it this way. The other types do it differently and are extremely light weight in comparison, plus they will noticably reduce road noise. I guess they absorb sound rather than mass load the panel. Check http://www.b-quiet.com/ for a little more info.