ZROSSA

Stony, Run anther bar like a strut bar across the rear strut towers to tie it al together. You may also want to run a bar from the top of the main hoop to the bottom on the passenger side. I like to see everything triangulated (sp?) Douglas

Could go rover V8. Its very light. There is also a artical in the latest racetech Mag on the 3.5lt sohc dodge v6. I think this is the same engine use in barber dodge single seaters. It weighs 125kg and puts out 315 hp at 7000 rpm. Its said the only mods wer cam, intake and exhuast. Its probably lighter then the original celica engine. Douglas

When we were doing the cage for my corolla, we put everything together and marked where the front bars would sit on the floor and then sawed a hole on the floor. the main tubes would slide in the hole so we could weld over the top of them. We then slid the mounting plates under the bottom tubes and welded them in place. This covered the hole we just made. Pain in the arse, but it worked. Douglas

If Chassis stiffness is the main goal and you dont need to meet racing regs. then there are other ways to do this then a roll cage. The sub frame joiners are a good start. I Like the idea of a back bone chassis running along the trans tunel and then joining up with the front suspension trough the fire wall and also picking up the rear, very much like a strut brace. I would build it like a space frame with lots of little light bits of steel tube. You could then hide all of this under your carpet. As i said, This wont help you meet any roll cage regs but if done right it would be easy to do and would really stiffen up the car. Early lotus's and TVR's have a chassis like this. Cheers Douglas

Doug, He has a v6 in it. I think he means the engine is behind the front centerline. Front-mid engine. Douglas

Nice air dam. Douglas

Holdens have a macpherson strut. Fords have a long-short arm double wishbone set up. Technically the ford should be better. Next year the are all going to run the ford set up. It getting to the stage where they might as well build up a space frame and just put on the body of choice. It would be a lot cheeper for them. Douglas

What? No game hens? Buy the time I get this one finished I will be making my own pinot noir. We are planting 30 acres of grapes next spring. It doesnt leave a lot of time for playing with cars and unfortunatly ZROSSA is second in line behind the race car. Hopefully I will get a bit of time around X-mas to play with the toys. Cheers Douglas

When I was pondering the idea of 180 degree headers I was planing to run them under the oilpan between the x-member and the hump on the pan. It looks like it will fit but I cant say that i have measured it. 8 into 1 could be done the same way. I heard one of these on a old f5000 car years ago. Wicked sound. Never heard any thing like it since. It seemed to have one collecter only. I never was close enough to it to see how it was done. Douglas

I just receive a copy of Smokey Yunick's Power Secrets. The 2nd to last paragraph in exhuasts says: "Another effective way to decrease the presure in the exhuast system is to collect all eight of the primaries into one secondary pipe. This type of system will develope a negative in the secondary pipe every 90 crankshaft degrees, and produce a stronger overall pressure drop in the system." Am i reading this right? Are we talking a 8 into one equal lenght system? What would the collecters be like? BTW, smokey says that there is no benefit in running a flat plane crank. Interesting reading so far. Douglas

Bob has some good points as usual. If you are really looking at other alternatives look at Kennedy adapters. They can make all sorts of engine and trans adapters. There are a few co's. here in N.Z and in Aussie that make adapters for the supra box. I have a w55 behind my sbc for example. I think the major difficulty will be electrical. It may pay to stick with something that you can rum with out a aftermarket computer or mabye only a pigy back one on the standard system. What about a after market turbo on the 2.4 lt nissan inline 4. That might be a cheeper option again. Happy hunting. Douglas p.s. I was having a look through a english car mag the other day and was compairing power to weight of the super cars in current prodution. The one with the best ratio was the TVR tuscan s. Weighed 1175kg and had 400 hp. Faster then ferrari's, porsche, lambo, and good for 190mph. I was rather pleased as my 260z has about the same weight and power. Super car indeed.

Thanks guys, Puts the ford in a new light. Douglas

Wifes Subaru legacy gt. Took four hours to do the plugs. The factory guys do it from underneath but there was now way I could do it that way at the time. I just take it to the dealer now. Douglas

So would it be safe to say that with ali heads this engine would weigh around 410lbs. I have noticed that people are stroking them up to 351 cubes. Are there any proplems with the short rods? Can you get the same amount of power from them as you would a similar displacement chevy? The light weight is very tempting. Douglas

Mike, I cant really coment on the prices, they all look good from what we pay here. I would however have a good think about the cam. I have been going trough the junkyard turbo site the last couple of weeks and it seems that most people get good results with the n/a stock cams. All the sr20's i have been in would rev over 7000 rpm from the factory. The turbo will make it rev a little harder. Not so sure about the rb20 though. If I were doing it I would use the rb25 anyway. The only way i can see new cams being a benifit for you is if they favour the exhuast so you can spin the turbo a little faster or sooner. Hopefull some of the turbo guru's will jump in here and clarify things a bit. Cheers Douglas

Howdy all, I have seen that the 302w ford is around the 460lb mark weight wise. Is this with ali heads or steel heads? Cheers Douglas

What was that thing about mad dogs and english men.... Anyway, If you must have 4 whell drive then what about the set up from the Gts-4 skylines. These were the next level down from the gtr's. They can come in 4 wheel drive as well with the rb20 or the rb25 and have a much more simple 4 wheel drive system. You could just use the drive train and put in the rb26. I would keep the rb25 myself. Single turbo would be easyier to work with etc. Cheers Douglas

Im with Jens, The buick 350 has to be one of the power to weight greats. When i was looking into it a bit there were rumours that someone was going to make a set of ali. heads for it based on the grand national V6 race engines. That would have to get the weight down around the 400 lb mark. If i didnt already have a chevy I would be hunting High and low for one of these. Might do it any way. Douglas

Do a search on the internet for ZEDSKID. Mark posts here every onece and a while. He has a leyland p76 engine in his z. Same as the Buick/rover but has high deck height. I think this is a great swap. it just going to cost a lot more money to get power out of it. Douglas

Couple of cars worth considering. Subaru Wrx. Now that these things are in the states there will be a even bigger after market for them. Lots of fun and sound wicked when opened up. The new VW Passat W8 has just been released here. Looks like a pretty wicked piece of kit. Here its 50k cheeper then the Audi A6 V8 and has pretty awsume build quality. My folks are looking for a new set of european wheels so I have wondered around a bit with them. The New VW's and Audi's seem to have a better build quality and definitely better feel then the latest Merc's. A lot of the car Mags seem to back this up. Happy Hunting Douglas

The book Kevin mentioned is actually "21st century performance" buy Dick Datson. I havent read it but might get it. He is also the moderator for this site which i found on the weekend. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blowthruturbo/ I found it interesting. Spent about 14 hours looking through it yesterday. Douglas

Was playing around and found this. http://www.race-cars.com/partbd/messages/6662.htm Douglas

Interesting Scottie, That looks to be the current holden engine but they have run the 3.8 since about 1992. I think. These formula Holden engines have been around before 1997 when they say the new engine (L67) was made. Is the problem with the gnx engine a week block? Vibration? Poor heads? Why wont it rev? Douglas

Vertex I didnt know that about the weight of the "down under 2+2's". I am begining to like my 2+2 even more. I was playing with power to weight ratios while looking through a new car mag the other day. With a 400 bhp chev and a guessed at weight of 1300kg the only thing that had a better power to wieght was the TVR tuscan S. It was better than the new v12 Aston Martin, Ferrari 550, Lamborgini v12. I guess its pretty close with the Tvr at 1165 kg. WooHoo. Douglas

Thanks Scottie, It is the latter 3800. I knew they were a little different but I didnt think it was that much. Are the blocks the same? If not can you swap some of the parts from new to old? Can you put the Turbo running gear on the 3800? Cheers Douglas