z bomb

Jesus.... Second on the pics, gonna do this setup soon...

I too have the ability to draft in cad at my house. I think this is a great idea not only to be able to customize the old parts but making new parts as well. I created another post around this issue that I'm abandoning for this, for this is a lot simpler to explain. No testing issues here please.

I'm going to redirect people and start this up again on wonderllamas aformentioned post. I was thinking that is a better idea. rztmartini refer back to his post because I need to do my suspension upgrades soon since the car will be out of paint. Thanks everybody for the posts.

I actually ripped out my heater plenum doing my current resto and am having a hard time picking something to replace it that's much smaller. All I want is a defroster, but I'll take one more opening for feet. Just looked up the Flex-a-lite heater and it's pretty reasonable. Any suggestions, maybe start a new thread and I could try some plenums people suggest as long as it's not too $$$. Remember-small, just defrost, maybe legs. ? Thanks in advance!

Wow, thanks people, Especially jmortensen-read probably 25 posts of yours a day. So testing seems to be the biggest issue. I don't want to make a business out of it, and I'm thinking if there's any welding involved people can do it themselves or have a competent individual do it, if there is a preference for that instead. So let me put it this way and see what happens. I want to make my own disc brake brackets and such listed above. I would be willing to make extras of course, and provide them for as cheap as I can. I would love to hear from some people who have done this. I will compile a complete list and add.

Thanks for the replys gentlemen.. Let me first say that I am definitely not trying to copy anybodies hard earned work. I should have made that clearer. I am trying to seek people who have made their own parts and brackets to post their measurements for the benefit of the community. Not only that, maybe someone can post the measurements to certain stock parts that are commonly replaced, or hard to find. My first thoughts were front and rear caliper mounting brackets. If I can get the offset needed from flange to caliper mounting position, the extra plates can be made for cheap and welded together by a competent welder, and will be strong enough with the right metal. Not only that, other calipers can be measured and the width can be modified easily. That being said, flanges should be easy to have made for cheap. Making brackets are easy. Hell welding heim joints or other stuff you can get from mcmaster-carr isn't that hard. I'm just one of those people who wants to do everything myself. It isn't that hard if you know what your doing. That's why having everybody on this site working on their own stuff is so cool. Maybe I'll rethink what I'm looking for and start anew. Oh, and BBK's? are you talking stoptech?

Looked at quite a few forums that "suggest" that some z car parts suppliers might be a little expensive. Has anybody looked into something like emachineshop or your local machine shop to make rear disc brackets, r230 rear and front diff mount, etc? All I need is measurements, I know and personally own CAD, so I can draft up parts, but I don't want to step on any toes or take away anybody's market share by making some brackets, and getting the specs to do so here. Looking for rear disc conversion brackets, rear and front diff mount, camber plate hard parts, and anything else you can think of that looks simple to make but costs alot. Specifically the rear disc brackets and how much "offset" the flange has to the caliper mounting bolt holes, and also can help calculating for different calipers and rotor widths. Please let me know if I step on any toes.... or I'll know when I can't find the thread....

I've got welded in vents on mine... Heater core went out and haven't replaced it, so I coudn't be really accurate, but they don't seem to help much at all compared to my other one without them. They're about 2.5 inches high and 2 inches deep, 2 of them right behind the front wheels. I want them gone.

Update: Thought my coil was bad due to voltage getting to it and it not working. But lo and behold... It was the condenser. I didn't know this, but when the condenser fails, it soaks up voltage, like a voltage black hole. Thanks for the interest!

I am worried about the same thing but I'm doing mine in a few months. I was probably going to use resistors from radio shack inline with the wire coming from the sending unit. Any othe suggestions though?

Hard to get access to but... Know anybody with an ignition oscilloscope? Somebody I know of but never met can readthe patterns and tell you if it's valve guide seals, just by the ignition pattern.

your dome light good? make sure the bulb is good, or check for voltage at the dome light with the door shut. Got voltage or a good light, the system thinks your door is open, so pull the switches in the door wells. Does bitchin-betty normally turn on when you leave your keys in it?

well, my $0.02, MSD is HEI, and HEI is not made for high RPM driving, or so is what I've read about HEI. Check out a company called DUI, yeah sounds funny, but they've made a better system capable of high RPM output. Now the V8's with MSD I've run into run great on it but the powerbands in these cars are at 4000-5000 RPM, so they didn't run into this. But either way you look at it, it should work properly into the 6000 range. I remember somewhere about a resistor to the dizzy for RPM, and if that is forgotten there is a possibilty for box error, I think. Otherwise, don't forget to ground the head. At high RPM it is VERY noticeable. And may want to listen to your bearings. Hopefully the motor didn't ground through any beraings, engine, wheel, etc. I would really like to know how all these boxes fail...

My Z doesn't start. Did some tests out of Clymer (if you've got one, check this out) and it produced some wierd results. I'll list what I know... 1: Got fuel. 2: Got 12.4V battery wise, and the starter works. 3. No spark out of coil. My friend said he saw it arcing from the coil to ground on the fender well. 4: Coil is getting voltage. 5: Unhooked (-) coil terminal (capacitor) and it drew .0001V I believe, with points open. 6: Voltage at (+) terminal on coil went from .5V to nothing, maybe .0001V. Clymer says this condition is distributor failure. I have a brand new coil, ballast resistor, and points. I replaced the coil due to the fluctuating resistance I got out of it, and purchased the rest for good measure. All didn't work. Before I spend money and time with a dizzy, maybe the ignition switch itself? I will test the coil (+) while cranking, and see what happens, but anybody know of a dizzy failing or grounding out? Thanks for any help in advance OOPS- also called Rob at Z car garage. Never heard of dizzys failing, but also didn't seem like he felt like talking. Thus hybridz.

Backfiring out of the carb is a sign of a lean mixure, ignition misfire, and Ignition timing, I think retarded timing does that, but not 100%. If you still have points, get rid of them. Between the dwell and not having your mixture/air right, these problems will keep presenting themselves. To tune your carbs- Get the tool to measure air, set that first. Then get a mini-propane tank, with an adjustable momentary switch (push is on, let go is off). Put hose on switch, stick in air inlet of carb. The RPMs should rise by about 100 when you hit that switch. Anything past 100rpm the carb is too lean, if it bogs down it's rich. Match both carbs to get the same RPM out of both. Another thing is the piston in the carb. If the seal around that piston is bad, it will not rise or hold any throttle (vacuum) well.

Sounds like this problem... Guy couldn't get his new 2006 Dodge truck to go over 30mph, and the dome light wouldn't go off. Problem? Spider bridged the switch on his door, the car thought the door was open, throwing a fault saying he couldn't go over 30. Pull your switch.

ITB ARE the ticket. The manifold injection on the later z's in my opinion do not atomize the fuel well enough compared to the su's. The ITB's would do that in my opinion, especially with modern fuel injectors. There are different parts of the Z's stock FI system that are outdated. The electronic equipment is not capable of sending the signal to the njector in adequate time, much like the 80's Chevy's feedback carbs, they constantly produced what's known as a lean-rich condition, due to the response time from the O2 sensor to the injector. Another little tip- Instead of O2 sensors has anybody used a A/F sensor, or a lambda sensor instead? One problem with 02 sensors which the Germans have addressed is the fact that as we reach towards better combustion with upgrades and so-forth, the normal 02 levels will go down due to the complete burning of the oxygen. If one doesn't know how to tap into the system and recurve the ratio, you end up working backwards and ruining the ratio. Therefore-FI works: 1:If it is tuned right electronically, 2:It atomizes fuel just as well as SUs, 3:It pulses at the right time and within a time limit from the 02 sensor 4:Only option for turbos. (on z's as far as I know) Don't forget, FI was developed on cars for meeting emmissions. Cars sufferred due to the fact they weren't carbed anymore from late 70's to mid-late 80's. Check out NELSONRACINGENGINES.com, and Big Stuff 3 EFI controls (google). Nelson uses a cam overlap of 115 degrees and puts out 1000-1500 HP. Hope this helps....

just checked wiring, all good. amp gauge reads charge when key not in. light in engine bay works, so it's got a little bit of voltage.

hey- just did the gm conversion today- did the wiring just like it showed, drove to my friends house a bit away. when i went to drive, the car started to crank for a second then died. did not install diode, but also had to put my friends 280z alt in for two weeks, and it had run on. but always started back up. going to check wiring will post later...

Ummmm YEAH Our shop keeps "known working" msd components (6AL, Dizzys) just to make sure the new components we get work. Two were bad in the last 6 months.

Got to this a little late but... Yeah I've found that a bad coil or wrong wiring (like attaching the tach to the coil on a MSD system) going to the coil will cause the ballast resistor to get really hot. But to find out if your ballast resistor goes bad, the car will only run while trying to start. Putting the key from start to run position shuts the car off, due to the fact that on start, the current bypasses the resitor due to starter draw.

if the car has been sitting a while get the points replaced if any, and check the weights in the distributor. they slide in a groove and that was rusty on mine. just some white lithium grease should do. and just as a sidenote- watch it for hondas backfiring through the carb... damn rotor freespins on the dizzy in those sometimes...