ZROSSA

I dont think that a compairison of two different cranks in the same engine is really fair. To take advantage of the 377 combo you would want a different head set up to take advantage of the widder bore. Then a different cam.....the list goes on. There was/is a rather large convo going on about hp vs torque at the moment, you should have a read. Now if you dont have any load on these engines the 377 might rev faster, but once you have a load the situation changes. The engine with the most torque under the power curve THAT YOU DRIVE IN is always going to be the fastest. Douglas

Here yo go fellas, http://ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html Have a look here for some combos that might work for you. I agree with Utvolman, Go for maximum displacement. You should be ok to 7000 rpm with a good bottom end on just about any small block. Douglas

You have to have a grinder! With a couple of diferent attachment you can do a lot with one. I have a wire brush. grinding and cut wheels and a sanding pad on mine. I have done all the fab work on my race car and the metal replacement on the z with this, a drill and a mig. One thing i really would like is a sheet metal bender. If you find a small one at a good price it would be very usefull. Douglas

Howdy Russ, Weight and apearence. It kind of depends on what you want to do with the car as well. I have a 2 + 2. I would have bought a 2 seater but they go for a bit of $$ around here. 2+2's are much cheeper. For me it will work. I have 2 small children and now I can take them for a ride as well. If the european cars came from the same place as the ones we got down under the weight penalty is not that much. They are around 1175 kg. Much lighter then the U.S. ones. Make sure you get a good price on it. They should be much cheeper then the 2 seater. Check really well for rust. I mean really well. I put mine over a pit and went over it with a magnet. It passed. Got it home and have spent the last year removing half the roof and most of the tailgate area and replacing it. Dont know what the hell the magnet ws sticking to. Must be atracted to rust as well! It was close to gopng to the tip but the chev conversion was already done and aproved buy the M.O.T. which is getting harder and harder to do. Even in the middle of the pacific ocean the gov. is frowning on modified cars these days. Good luck Douglas

Do a bit a a search on jap domestic maximas ( sometimes called Ceferio). Some of them were v6 turbo from the factory albeit in 2 lt form. They are pretty cheep here so i would guess you could pick the bits you would need cheeper then if you tryed to get them of a zx or individually. Douglas

You were planning a big block were you not? I havent really done much research into the larger chevy so am going to stick with the few things I do know. Firstly I think you could reach your hp targets with 3 inch duals. I had a look at the trans am road racing exhuasts recently. These cars are putting out around 700 hp. They must run through dual 3 inch, or a sigle 4 or 5 inch. A formula 1 car has around 850hp and they look as though they run through 2.5 - 3 inch pipes. I think when people suggest really large pipes they are talking about situations where the pipes are open. If you have a proper x or y pipe it might scavenge a little better so you wont need as large a pipe. I get the feeling from what i have read, that with the fireing order of the 90 degree crank, a v8 kind of needs a larger collecter becuase of the exhust pulse not being evenly spaced. You then have to have a larger pipe to match. I think that if you run 180 degree headers you can also use a smaller pipe becuase the pulses are properly spaced. Another option is the 3.5 inch into a x pipe and the 3 inch out. It looks like that past the trans is were you really run into space problems. I know you have spent a lot of time studying camshafts of late but exhuast is going to need some research as well. Most likely you will need to do complete custom headers to really take advantage of the rest of the engine. Anyway, Let me know what size engine you are running and i will look some stuff up in a few books i have here gathering dust. Couple of interesting places to look: Burns stainless Headers by ed Sghenfeld headers Dr gas Sorry you will have to do a search, Compter will dump this if I link them. Cheers Douglas

Got a sbc but it runs a single 3.5 inch pipe. It was done by the prevoius owner and doesnt fit at all well. I would say that you are going to be really lacking space. Do you really need all that pipe? I realise that you are planing some big mods but twin 3.5s will suport a hugh amount of Hp. Douglas

Bugger, Didnt get the times. A trans am (we have a class that is basicly the same here) is way faster then the holden supertouring cars. Mostly due to tires and balance. Power to weight is similar. I will see if i can find out more about this car next time i am in Auckland. Cheers Douglas

I havent heard of it being done, only talked about. Sounds like a good idea to me if you are happy with that level of H.P. What are the engine mounts like compaired to the chevy? Douglas

I was watching the local sunday afternoon motorsports program yesterday. They has highlights of a 6 hour endurance race that was run a few months ago. Second on the grid was a v8z(350 chevy), first was a skyline gtr. Behind was a bit of everything from gt3 porches to toyota corollas. After the start the gtr took the lead with the z following. The only place the gtr had it on the z was out of the hairpin. The z would make it up down the back straight so they were pretty much neck and neck untill the z killed its trans. Both these cars left the porche cup cars for dead. I was pretty impressed. Any Idea how your Z would run against a porche cup car John. Cheers Douglas

Scott, Have you had a look at the diffusser's on the vipers and corvettes that run at lemans? I havent looked myself but i will try to find out some info tonight (lunch time now). I like the idea of the full lenght belly pan. You may as well start at your air dam and vent the under hood heat through the vents in the hood kind of like Terry O's. One thing to keep in mind is that race cars run really stiff springs and have bugger all suspension movement. One of the main reasons is to keep that belly pan area as flat to the ground as possable. You dont want under any situation for the front of the pan to be higher than the rear. Do you think you can prevent this from happening on your car? If not the whole thing is in vain. Dont forget about exhuast heat as well. I will let you know if i find anything. Cheers Douglas

Cutting it down and retreading it works but then the shifter is lower and might not be as easy to reach. You could also make a spacer that goes between the shifter and the trans. You will then need to extend the bottom part of the shifter by the same amount as the spacer. This should make a big difference and keep the top of the shifter close to the factory position. Douglas

Jp280, nice Zed. Turbo? Douglas

I read in a mag recently, not sure which one, about the new mercedes/mcclaren super car. Gordon Murry said he like thought the ideal balance for a front engine rear drive was around 48/52 front to rear. I might be out buy a percentage point but it was only a very slight rear bias. The panos race cars had more weight to the rear if i remember correctlly. Are you basing your decisions on the panos figures Bob? Douglas

Allready working on one. Its not as straight forward as I first thought. It will require new indicator lights and i still havent finalized the grill shape. The aston still grill doesnt really work with the design restrictions I placed on myself. I didnt want the new nose to extend further than the original bumper due to ground clearence issues. The new nose must also be a improvment in the aero dept. as well. I will try to get some pics as i would love some feed back but the digital camera is dead. I will try to scan some pics. Might be a while untill I get to it though. Acually I just checked the camera. Film almost done so mabye get some up buy the w/end. I will have to e-mail them to some one though. Dont now how to post them here. Cheers Douglas P.s. Have a think about what kind of grill will work. lets call the aston shape a fat lipped hat. ferrari, flat top with smile like bottom, Jag oval, New zed and skylines rectangular or maby something like this ____/ or the upside down version of that.

I put in a 3 inch resonater on my wifes turbo legacy. It was the difference between her complaining and then not. It wont be as noticeable on a n/a set up but its will stop the resonating for a start. Any way you can get a muffler in there? Douglas

From everything I have read, being less then 7 degrees shouldnt be a problem. The difficulty will be how and where do you attach it at its forward point. Do you have a stock fuel tank? This looks like it will get in the way. I wonder if you could use a inverted gurney flap on the end of the diffuser to lower the low presure area to pull away some of the fumes. Time to get out the wool tufts and do some testing. Cheers Douglas

My zed if far from drivable but I am still keen. Anything to get away from screaming children! Douglas 260z 2+2 350 chev.

Merge collecters are way expensive. Cheepest I have seen is around $600 usd for a pair for a v8. That pipe ,regardless of were it exits, still from what I can see has a sharp 45 degree bend in it. Douglas

Very nice work. Got a couple of questions; Did you make the merge collecters? If so how did you decide on the size and taper? Why do you not have a mandrel bend after the collecter? Thats got to hurt the gas flow. Cheers Douglas

I had a look into this a while back. It seems that a shape like the windscreen doesnt really need any preform to it. Slowly attach it and then put it in the sun and it should maintain that shape. Something like head light covers would need heat and a mold. If you were going to use the original rubbers then mabye attach the lexan to the original windscreen with racing tape or similar and then put it in the sun. Douglas

I might still have some of "stage 1". This really wasnt working out the way I wanted it so I am on "stage two" now. I dont have any photos of this newer design. The digital camera craped out a month ago as well. i might be able to take some stills and scan them. Worth a try anyway. I have just been looking at the photos of the g-nose cars. They have a mighty small radiator inlet so I might "adjust" mine a bit before I take photos. Cheers Douglas

Davy, I have been making a new nose for the z and flares and nose cone for my track car. I used normal building spec foam that has been sanded and shureformed into shape. I have then been using Gib stoping plaster to smooth out the final shape. ( I think you might call Gib, sheet rock in the US.) Its has been working surprizingly well. All I have to do to take a mold of is seal it and then a mould release agent, gel coat....... You know the rest. Anyway, make sure you get a sureform, you can then work the plaster while it is setting. If you use sand paper it will just clog or you will have to wait for a day or two. Its looking good. Kind of like the new Aston Martin that has been in the car mags lately. I am just waiting for a rainy day do I cen finish the grill shape. Douglas

TBS, Its sohc and two valve per cylinder. One of the Aussie guys here has put a rb25 head on the rb30 block. Sounded like a bit of work. Douglas

Hey! Wait a minute there Carrow. There is more than one Doug on this board. He must have been talking about my zed! Mike, Are you doing front and rear? Can you use them without coil overs? How much? Will they have sperical bearings? Doug.....las