ZROSSA

Howdy R-3, I started to put an R32 vr in my zed about 5 years ago. Have a big old hx50 holset on the side, I think it will be pretty wicked when finished. Just lost my workshop so haven't been able to progress in a while. The engine sits behind the crossmember. I trimmed the x-member a little, basically removing the rear part of the flange. The r32 version has the cam adjuster on the rear of the engine. Without these you could move the engine back another 75mm and do no trimming of the x-member at all. Nothing better then the howl of a vr6! Cheers, Douglas

Dont forget ford put a version of this in the Aussie falcon for a while. Swap might be easier than you think..... Cheers, D

k series honda would be my pick if we were doing it with out any bias. However you should also look at the 2.5 l's and /or 2.7 from toyota, nissan , mazda as well. All alloy blocks and can be mated to a lot of different transmissions. Remember the mazda is sold as a ford in the US and they have done a lot of real race development on that engine. I have also been playing with the VW vr engines. Same size as a 4 cylinder, little heavier, up to 3.6 lt and 300 hp N/a. I also have a 2.3 5 cylinder version. Might put that in my AW11 one day Cheers, Douglas

You could but it wouldn't work. Where the front driveshafts would come out is 10 inch's into the tunnel. better of starting with an rb gearbox or maybe on out off a 4wd bmw.

Howdy Goob, Its not far off. Thing is the whole subie shifter linkage is really easy to modify so i'm not expecting anything difficult. So we had a bit of a trial fit last week. As usual things were not that simple. After all the measuring I knew that there was very little room to get the engine where I wanted it. I really wanted it behind the x-member but the engine sensors and water thermostat set up prevented this from happening. So as you can see its to high and not far enough back. I did a bit more research and pulled the engine back out. It looks as though there are a heap of remote thermostat housings out there so I can delete the standard Vw one. The Vw cooling system is quite complex...overly so...... so I am hoping to simplify it a lot. The sump on this thing is bloody deep as well. The crankshaft only dips into the sump 12mm. The sump itself is 120mm deep at the front. Si I have notched it 80 mm from the front and 100mm deep. This leaves room for the oil pump and temperature sensors. My son and I slotted the engine back in this afternoon and it fits like a dream now. I still need to get it lined up just right but engine mounts are just around the corner now. Might even get it done tomorrow if its still raining!

My how time fly's! A bit of progress has been made. The adapter plate is here. I have trial fitted the trans and converted it to RWD. These Subaru boxes are a smart piece of engineering and pretty easy to work on. So... first things first: I have organized for a fabrication firm to do some modifications to the roll cage. The local rules say the welder must be registered (i'm not) and I would rather not mess with going through the fire wall. I have attached a drawing of what will be done. The new bits are in pink. This was never meant to be a full on race cage....I have a race car for that. The reason for the extension to the front struts are pretty obvious. The tube coming from under the dash to about midway is done this way to allow easy access and to pick up the transverse seat mounts on the 2+2 chassis. I will add a little more bracing in this area so to make the seat mount into a stronger part of the chassis. Like a transverse beam. I hope to add a bit of stiffness but more importantly a bit of side impact protection. So for those of you that still don't know WTF and R32 engine is this is what they look like.... Here is the Subaru Trans mocked up in the chassis So the trans fits quite well. It looks like the starter will fit with out much manipulation. The trans mounts will be a bit funky as they are further back then stock, but shouldn't be to hard to make. I will use the top part of the stock Subaru mount attached to the trans and basically join it to some stock Zed mounts on the chassis. the flex will be taken care of by urethane bushings on the chassis side just like in the stock zed. here is the adapter plate to mount the VR6 to the scooby. Its a fancy peice of work and came with a really nice looking flywheel that weighs 4.5 kg. At least 10 less then the stock flywheel. It is designed to use the stock Subaru starters and clutch set up so parts should be cheap compared to the VW stuff. Trans and engine joined in un-holy matrimony! I took the valve cover off the engine yesterday and ran into a bit of an issiue. You can turn the engine over but the cams are stationary. Bugger. Oh well the engine was free after I sold the accessories I'm not using. I also went to use the fork lift to pop the engine in and start the mounts but now the forklift wont start....Double Bugger! Guess I should stop playing on the P.C. and go fix it! Cheers, Douglas

Like Kiwi above I haven't been visiting HBZ as much as I used to. Johns influence spread globally. He helped me with parts I couldn't get here sometime just for a bottle or two of wine! Must have been a major pain in the arse but he did it anyway. We Will Miss Him! Mon Ami Mate

Wow.. Nice work Olli! Makes me want to go do some work on mine! Great to see another 2+2. Douglas

Its been a good week! I had a local guy build my roll cage about 6 years ago. I then put the car in the shed and never sent in the paperwork to Motor sports NZ (MANZ). I went to send in the paper work a couple of years ago and MANZ had a shitty fit and said the cage no longer met the spec's. The new spec called for a larger diameter main tube. Another friend of mine had similar problems. There is a clause in the MANZ spec's that says you can build with any material as long as it meets certain load criteria and you had engineering calculations to prove it. My friend and I have been trying to find someone to do these calculations for years. In complete and utter frustration i went down to the shed to cut out the old cage two weeks ago. At the last minute i remembered a tread on the net about a guy running a classic race car with the same problems. I found the thread and it had moved on a bit since I last saw it. A couple of PM's later I had contact details for a man that could ....and did the Job! The calculations have been done. The cage comply's!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! Just waiting on my guy in Aussie to send the adapter plate and I can start doing mounts and get it going. D

Things are lining up! I have had a few delays trying to find a gear box that would meet my needs. Ultimately i want to run dog gears in the car and I couldn't really find anything that was in the budget. Then there is also the issue of trying to mate a FWD vr6 to a RWD gearbox. Quicktime claim to make an adapter but after several attempts to contact them I gave up. I stumbled across this web site subarugears.com . It got me curious so I e-mailed and Todd got straight back to me saying He actually had the conversion drawn up in cad on his desk as we were writing. Todd knows everything there is to know about Subaru gear boxes....I have learned a lot. So I can hear all you saying...."but is 4wd". One of the beauties of these boxes is that you can make them RWD, FWD and AWD relatively simply. I Have bought two gear boxes now. The Zed will run a 5 speed with straight cut dog gears which are rate up to 850 bhp, The corolla will use the bigger 6 speed with a similar set up( we will convert the six to a 5 speed and it should be good to around 1200 bhp) The cool thing about these boxes is that they are dirt cheap. I picked up the 5 speed for $200. Sure the dog gear will end up owing me another 5k but that is still a lot less than setting up a tko or t56, and much much less than a proper dog race gear box. I'm Pretty excited! Go on to you tube and have a listen to how these VR6's howl when boosted. Cheers, D

Thanks Dexter, Believe it or not I actually have a Bmw turbo diesel trans coming over from the UK as we speak. I think the problem will be when I start to break parts in it so I thought i would aim for something a bit more fixable. At the time I ordered it I only needed one trans. Now I need two. There is a local rally driver here that mounted the Audi 5 cylinder to Subaru drive train in his Audi S1 replica. I have sent him a note to see if the same could be done with the VR6. It is relatively simple to make the scooby box RWD and you can get all sorts of parts for them locally, from dog engagement to fully sequential and good to 700 ft/lb. Best thing is, I can pick up the base box for any where between $150 -$500. So I am looking down this road at the moment. I have also sent Quicktime two e-mails now and they havent bothered to reply. Bugger them! I will do it my self! Cheers, Douglas

Howdy all, This is a bit out there but i cant find a strong manual gear box in New Zealand for reasonable money. I need something that can handle up to 600 ft/lb for my vr6 engine projects. One is going in my Z and the other into my old race car. The engines are both turbo and can produce a lot of power. I can get a bell housing to mate the VR6 to chevy style boxes so that would be the preferred option. The t56 gearing doesn't suit unfortunately. i might even consider a good race 4 speed for the race car...would really like a bit of over drive for the Z though....Around .80 to .70 if possible. I might even look at a tr 3650 as they can be upgraded to handle what I want to do. I have friends and family on the east and west coast that might be able to help out with shipping if that's a concern. Cheers, Douglas

I made the front end myself. The rear is done as well to delete the bumpers and hopefully stop some of the lift inherent in these cars. The photos are old but unfortunately the car hasn't progressed that much sense. There are more photos in my gallery. The car runs full coil overs with some of John Coffee's fancy shocks. I have made a few modifications over the years. Braced the rear suspension mounts and done a bit of seem welding. I will get some photos of those mods when I get the chance. My insurance Company has paid for the theft of the engine and parts and I was hoping to use the money to speed things along. It looks like that might change a bit as an opportunity to buy a another vineyard has come up (i'm a wine maker) and it might be the next step my business need to take. i also have 4 other project cars, Bmw 635 csi with spherical bearing suspension,coil overs and a turbo. Ur Audi Quattro with megasuirt and a rather large turbo, Ae11 Mr2 with a twniscrew supercharged 5 valve, and my baby a ke35 corolla with mid mounted VR5 turbo and a space frame( the race car). I do make life difficult! D

Howdy all, Its been a long time between posts, however I still have my 260 2+2. I have had this for at least 12 years now and am about ready to paint it. Just a few things to tidy up, the roll cage no longer meets current rules so I will have to change out the main hoop and make a few more while I am at it mods. Suspension and body work is all done. Its taken a long time and was much more work then originally planed. I plan to use the car in Targa style events here in New Zealand. The car was originally set up for a SBC. I put a lot of time and $ into the engine and has it bored and stroked to 383 and tuned so that it was making 515bhp at the crank. Two sundays ago some scumbag broke into the workshop and stole the engine trans and custom headers I had made. BUMMED! There is light at the end of the tunnel however. I picked up a r32 vr6 vw engine this week. I have always been fascinated with the vr6 engine. Been doing a lot of research over the years. I bought its little brother VR5 to put in my Ur quattro but these cars are getting a bit rare so i decided to stick with the original engine. The VR5 is now in my old KE35 race car. So the plan for the Z is to mount the vr6 as far back as it will go. By my measurement it should sit just behind the X-member. I have 3 big holset turbo's in the shed HX50,52 and 55. I will probably use the 50 in the vr6 if i can find an exhuast housing that will work (any one know if you can use housing of other turbo's?) The R32 vr6 is a little lighter than other Vr6 engine at 155kg. This should take 83 kg off the front end of the car over the SBC. Hopefully we will have a race ready weight below 1200kg. Targa rules do have a power to weight rule which we will be well under. The gear box is not decided yet. I have a Bmw gs6-53 coming from the UK that would work, however as my corolla will use the same set up i will need to find another one. Quick time make an adapter to mate the VR6 to GM style boxes so that's an option. I dont want a t56! The TKO600 is an option. Any other less expensive ideas? Any how, I will save this before it gets lost for the third time. Photos to come....when i figure out how. Been on Hybridz for 15 years and still dont know how to put a photo up. Cheers, Douglas aka ZROSSA (red z)

Driving on the "wrong side" is always a bit of fun! We did the opposite and rented a 30ft camper and drove it from San Diego to Atlanta a couple of years ago. That was a challenge. In New Zealand you would need a Heavy Transport licence to drive something that size. I think you will appreciate the smaller car. Our roads are rarely in straight lines! Cheers, Douglas

leon, I haven't been here for a while or i would have answered earlier. If you get over toward Hawkes Bay look us up. www.hawkesridge.co.nz. The contact on our web site come straight to me. Interesting part of New Zealand that quite different to the rest of the North Island.....And we have the best wine! Cheers, Douglas

Don't forget that B will have more surface area for the air to work on as well so should have more potential down force. Cheers, Douglas

Thank PeeJ, I was going to cut the link buy the diff off altogether to make it a light as i could. Its in the planing stages....need to finish the bloody Zed first. I really just don't like the way the semi trailing arms change camber and toe from braking into a corner and then accelerating out. Its not an issuie when on your game but its a gt car so the trip should be a bit more relaxing. I have noticed that both bmw and audi have moved to a more complicated rear set up in later models. I was also wondering what the guys who race these cars do for rear set up. Adjustable arms are a give in....I wouldn't have it any other way. I did find someone who mention changes in mounting point for better geometry but they never mentioned what specifically. Any Ideas? Cheers, Douglas

Howdy Guys, This ones a bit off topic, However I know there are some of you running these cars on the track and at least one of you has put e36 suspension in their Zed. I have an early 635csi. For years i have been pondering how to improve the rear suspension and make it easily adjustable for camber and toe.There are lots of ways to do his with the semi trailing arms but they always have compromises. Then I bumped into a photo of an early Bathurst bluebird turbo which has two transverse links from the diff to the hub. On further investigation i found it was fundamentally the same set up as the e36, e46 and series 1 audi tt's. It looks as though it would be pretty easy to make a couple of transverse links and I thought a discussion about it might help out the 280zx and 300zx guys. So the question is, What are the down falls of this type of suspension? Bmw stuck with it for at least two models so it cant all be bad. My main goals would be able to control camber and toe better than the semi-trailing arm with out having to run too high a spring rate. The 635 is used as more of a gt car than a racer....that's what the zed if for! Cheers, Douglas

Thanks Guys, I started to fab up the headers with the full size starter in. While doing some running around on Friday I went into a local performance parts shop which I had never been to. They had a starter just like the one miles suggested. It was $220 NZD so I picked it up. It a nice fit and has definitely given me more options for making the headers and much lighter. Cheers, Douglas

Howdy all! It was pissing down with rain in"wine country" today so i threw in the towel and went to do some work on the never ending Z project. You may have noticed that i am in New Zealand so our Zeds have the steering shaft on the right hand side. This proves to be a bit challenging when trying to make headers for the SBC that is now in the engine bay. The header have to navigate around the steering and the starter motor. I am using 1 3/4 inch tubing and i think i could just make it work with the standard starter but it compromises the design somewhat and is really tight. So...........I have been looking at starter motors all night....now my brain hurts! I am going to need a mini starter that can clock around so I can get it as close to the oil pan as possible. There looks to be some really cool ideas out there...360 degree clocking, Gravedigger style, planetary gear drives.....I just need to create as much room as i can to get the headers in. Anyone have any good suggestions? I really don't want to spend to much,(all the ones i liked were over $300 on summit) let make the budget $220 usd tops. Cheers, Douglas

If i were doing another ohv v6 i would be all over that GM high value engine, 60 degrees, light weight and pretty good power. Pity we never had them in the southern hem! Don't forget the toyota 3rz. 2.7l and good gear boxes. Wouldn't mind doing a light weight sports car project with one of those. Cheers, Douglas

I think you are over thinking this John. You obviously are like me and stop on your project and go study the pros. Then what you have done seems as though its not enough. (you should see my corolla project.....or my zed or my quatrro or my 635csi all out of control). Do it like they do in the DTM! Im sure you know what I am talking about but for those that dont....Picture a big flare on a car. Behind the flare where there should be the fender....push the fender back into the unibody at the trailing edge so that air can have smooth flow from the front difuser that you will now want to build. The flare would then really look as though its floating at the back but would probablly still meet your regulations. I have made the front end of my old corolla like this but i dont have the same regulations so it like an old can am car. You can also put a gurney at the front of the opening to help create a vacume for the air....but you know that already! Cheers, Douglas

I like your car John! Expecially as it taken even longer then mine to build!!!!!! When I did the glass work on my car i used gib stoping over polystyrene. I think you call it sheet rock in your part of the world......so its the bog you use to smoth out the gaps and nail holes. Get the basic shape with the foam then fill in the rest with the bog ....really easy to sand and shape....then you just paint it and pop a mold off it. Fiberglassing will be a piece of piss with your skills! look at all the other things you have learned while building this car. I knew absolutly nothing about it when I started mine. Its pretty easy really......Hurry up and get it done! Cheers, Douglas