Snailed

Car values drive me nuts! It's interesting to think about how you could easily spend 70k (1000 hours typically) on labor to repair and restore either a 240z or a 2000gt. One of the cars goes for about 20k and the other goes for about 1M...it's just sheetmetal and parts with different sentiments attached to it. One quarter panel repair is not more difficult than the other. One paintjob is not harder to do than the other...

Sounds much nicer now. If you are just using the O2 to plug the hole you may have killed it. They don't like being in the exhaust without being powered.

So it shrunk the flange side when it got welded. Easy fix. If you support each end on pieces of wood, protect the top (I would tape it up with gorilla tape, then a couple layers of 3/4" plywood or mdf covering the middle third) and hit it with a hammer or a press it would go right back. Should go pretty easily since the flange lower perimeter should be partly annealed.

It can cause driveability problems but a length of rubber EFI fuel hose can have a similar effect as the damper so you might be fine as-is. Generally a return style fuel system is less likely to require a damper but many OEMs included them even when return style fuel systems were the norm.

I like the power goal and the engine to do it. Are you going to sandblast or dip the body at some point? To me, that looks like it would need quite a bit of rust repair. Considering your power goal, I wouldn't leave the body stock. Some careful reinforcements could really help safety and handling, two things that you want lots of when you're messing around with 1000hp. I recently finished doing a 70's Porsche 911 body and it looked slightly more solid than yours. Then it went on a rotisserie and got blasted with copper slag and glass. I had about 110 hours of sheet metal work on that one after blasting. It needed about 20 patches and a door.

Hey! I'm not dead. The tunnel frame is welded in and I have fitted an Acura wipermotor in preparation for reworking the rain tray and upper firewall. I have also gone a different direction on the front spindles...That's about as far as it went. I've been focused on building for other people but I might dig into the Z a bit more.

It's really pretty amazing watching a glass guy put one of these in. The one that comes to my work does these in about 5 min with his helper. They just spray the edges with aerosol glass cleaner and rope in place.

Haha, damn buddies.

If you don't have a 90* screwdriver you can just just use a regular hex drive screwdriver bit and a 1/4" wrench.

Cool, yeah it looks like a good system for your needs 280zex. I love electronic management and how easy it is to tune compared to old stuff. Josh, tony summed it up. Your question was fine, I just used different terms so it probably looked weird how I answered it. Check out some timing maps from other ignition managements (google image search "timing map") and you will see one axis on the graph represents load/vac and the other is RPM. It's the same info as this system lets you tune but presented in a slightly different way and for the third time...why would you NOT tune for load? I am constantly adding vac pots to domestic V8s. Those guys all buy "race" distributors and wonder why they get horrible mileage and overheat at idle. I always show them a factory ign map for the 20XX truck they drove to the shop in and they start to get it.

Seems like a nice package to make your ignition work the best it can. It's so weird mentally to separate rpm based timing and load based timing but I guess that's how people used to mechanical distributors think about it and that should help them tune it I guess. Are you running a separate fuel injection too? Why not megasquirt or something like that? Josh280z, you don't have to use any of the tunable features if you don't want your engine to run correctly. You can just put the same value in across the table and it won't change, completely negating why you would buy a tunable ignition in the first place.

Looks like a fun project. I bet that turbo will give a nice meaty torque curve on that engine.

Does your helmet height comply with the rules you need to meet? Many rules state that the driver must be entirely within the cage.

I prefer TIG welded DOM for pretty much everything. I have done some pro mod chassis and some vintage dragster stuff in 4130 but it seems like it's not very practical for most types of cars even when allowed. There should not ever be any issues with cracking during welding or strapping down a car with 4130. That would make me nervous about the fabricator and his practices.

This guy puts it over self etching primer in this video. Results over filling primer may be different. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvkq-qyY9aY

I'm not sure what you disagree with since we are both saying that the AM unit looks like a good option, mechanically. I was just saying that there are other options and used my personal decision to illustrate that. This site isn't really full of people putting 8-13k dollar rear suspensions under their car so it seemed logical to point out other options. Sorry if I came across as being negative. I build this stuff for a living and I know exactly what it costs for custom work. My Z has a cheap ($400ish), modern multilink rear I modified and it will have big brakes, decent geometry, low unsprung weight and plenty of strength for my application for about a 10th of the cost of the AM unit (about $1500 with custom axles, calipers, rotors and bushings) and thousands less than modifying the OE stuff. That works for ME. Everyones situation and needs are different so there nothing to disagree with. That's just how it is. Have you looked at any Heidts stuff? It's likely not as light or sexy as the AM unit but the rear suspensions start around 7k. I'll drop ship one right to your door at a killer price just to show good will. Or if you want to get your car up here I can get a used Cobra, Nissan, whatever subframed multilink rear end under your Z for 2-3k install labor at 60/hr as long as the ride height isn't crazy low. (it would be more work to mount the subframe up high for a low stance).

It looks like a nice part. The ad copy packed with tons of hype and half truths but I'm sure the product is decent. There is no such thing as a universal suspension system but as long as it doesn't have any "bad habits" it's probably a nice upgrade from a solid rear axle. Chances are it's not a huge improvement over stock S30 stuff for street use but it's definitely more adjustable and stronger and more interesting to some. I would guess it's $8000+ considering what other hotrod rear IFS systems go for. Personally I would rather take a $500 used rear IFS setup and modify it to suit the particular needs of the car I'm building and use the extra money elsewhere. It's more work but it's more rewarding if your so inclined to learn about suspension geometry and apply it to your car.

That looks like a nice, neat job.

Have you changed the MAP sample angle and MAP window settings?

I wonder what the results would be like with the rear strut towers being used as your rear pickup points. Seems like that would give you a better idea of how the body deflects while driving.

I'm sure everyone building them thinks their prices are reasonable. I have used Bell for two custom air to water intercoolers and they were very nice. You could always buy an appropriate core and have nearly any fab shop build you one. There are also pretty nice cast endtanks on the market. I have bought Precision intercoolers with Garrett cores and cut the tanks off so I could make my own. That ended up being less expensive than getting a raw core.

Thanks for sharing your tests with us! Very cool.

That would probably work but you may need something a little more aggressive like glass since the base is somewhat soft. Try it and see. I would use some pretty coarse sandpaper on a powered tool to get 3/4 of the paint/primer off first. Sanding first just makes the process faster in most cases.

I have had good luck with the long, brass nuts parts stores sell even on 4cyl applications. They are 3/8" and probably 7/8" long. You must retorque them a couple times though. They never gaul or break studs coming apart too. Locking tabs or safety wire or other mechanical locks are the way to go if you want to it to work every time. Running no gasket helps too. As gaskets settle or start to burn they seem to let the hardware loosen up. I get the manifold and turbine housing as flat as possible by block sanding and use a little copper spray to help seal any small imperfections.

Ahh that could be even better if you are doing soft stuff like aluminum IC tubes. Good suggestion. I do lots of beads so I use a Bead Form or the Vibrant bad roller. It's nice to be able to do stainless and tubes down to 3/4" like this 1.5" tube I put together. If you plan on doing a bunch of them (or have the $ and like to do nice work) it's worth it to get the right tools. The other picture is a bead I started as a sample for you with the pliers. That is just one aggressive pass so the tool marks are pretty sizable, but it will do the job of retaining the tube just fine. You could make multiple passes and get a nicer result.