ZROSSA

Get a 3sg or 3sgt out of a mr2. Then there might be the possability of some parts not having to be custom made. In naturally aspirated form they make more power then the sr20 as well. If you go with the sr20 it will be custom everything. Douglas

Pissing on the lemon tree is one of New Zealands best kept agricultural secrets! Every one I know does it Douglas

Dont know how much they are going to show you but this targa goes past my front gate on the last day. The kids and I watched for a few hours on sat morning. Guess you can see why I need a z that goes around corners! Douglas

Looks like your getting there. There are a few tubes that run into the middle of other tubes that are not braced, front suspension to the middle of the fire wall for one. I would also like to see your suspension loads from where the wishbones mount tied in better. If you proceed with aluminium have a look at the lotus elise chassis. You could bond ali. sheet to the tube frame and make it a lot stronger with little weight gain. Douglas

Mike, check your fuel ecconomy. There is a speed at which every car starts to use a lot more fuel. Thats the speed at which aero comes into play. For my daily driver its about 105kph say 67 mph. Might be a little higher for a car with better aero, mines a truck. Douglas

240zv8, You probably will have found out by now that if you turn the locating nut on your grinder upside down you wont need the washer. Douglas

Jeff, My w/shop has expossed rafters as well. Being on a farm it can get left open all day while I am working on something and birds will get in and nest on the rafters and crap all over the place. This does tend to piss you off after you have done the final sand on your zed, other wise it a good place to store things you dont usually use. Douglas

WRC rally New Zealand is on right now. Love going to see it, but havent for the last couple of years. I like to get on the inside of a fast corner and get as close to the road as I can. Gives you a hell of a rush. Be prepared to jump! Douglas

You might have more luck putting in a 4a or 7a. I dont think that many 3a went to north america. Should bolt up to the same mounts and trannie and will be much nicer to drive. The 4a's came out here (New Zealand) with carbbies as well as fuel injection. I would try to find a carbbie one. Douglas

I have a lot of family in that part of the world. My Grand parents came from Sweetwater. I was almost sent to a boarding School called TMI. Instead I moved to New Zealand. My family helped start up a summer camp called Telico mt. Camp. Might still be there, But its been a good 25 years since I was there. One of the things I remember is listening to the locals race up and down the back roads at night when we were trying to sleep. Certainly some wicked roads. Douglas

Thanks for looking into it. Gues I will contunuie down the path I was already headed. Cheers, Douglas

I read a book on airplane engines that had a article about an italian ww2 aircfraft engine that was designed to work the same way. It never went into production though. I have been thinking about this for a good 10 years or so now. I was looking for a really flat torque curve where max boot was reached at very low rpm and then you would just bleed of the preessure to maintain that boost level as rpm increased. Havent done anything other then think about it. Douglas

Thanks, I need to get back to it but work is really getting in the way. Its so close now. Need to get a roll cage in it and the rear guards pumped out to fit the tires, then paint. Body work is pretty much there and the engine is a bored and stroked sbc sitting in the shed ready to go. SOOOOOOO CLOSE! Douglas

Had any more luck on this? Looks like an interesting way to get big brakes and the correct offset for my cobra R mags. Douglas

Work in progress, all be it very slow. http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=8086 Unfortunatly you can see the changes I made to the roof line. I had to replace a the rear of the roof due to rust so I smoothed out the "hocky stick" angle a bit and removed the rain channels. Looks pretty good. Douglas

My 1979 z was a zx ie. a s130 not an s30. Could this be part of your issuie? Douglas

Justin, Whats the diameter of the lifters on the 7m. Toyota seems to have been using a standard size for a number of years now. I think it was 28ml but look it up to be sure. Anyway, this means that solid lifters can be used from other toyota's and some Yamaha bike engines that use the same lifter bore. The more moderm ones have no shims at all and you use lifters that are varied in thickness. I think most of these came in the yaris which you dont get in the states but also look at the set up from the lasted model celica. Could be a cheep fix. Douglas

I am with you on the sound! Still not past trying a set of 8 into 1's!!! Grumpyvette once discribed that his system on his vette sounded like 4 cylinder on n2o. He had two x-pipes, one after the collecters and one before the diff. I always wanted mine to sound like a ferrari 308 with balls. I dont think that the sbc will ever sound that way but maybe we can get closer and fool the masses. I am probably about 4 to 6 months of getting mine ready to fire up so the sound tuning wont happen for a while. Dont want to give up any Hp However. Douglas

Yes........., Details please...... Douglas

Could get the headers coated as well. I think they sound cool as well but i have to keep asking myself some questions such as, If tey work so well why dont we see them in more race cars? Drag racing cars have the room but you never see them on them. Lots of tube chassis race cars have room but dont run them. Speedway cars have room but dont run them. Racing jet boats have all the room in the world but dont run them. Now in a lot of classes they are banned which would lead you to belive that there was a gain to be had. Here in New Zealand the race engines that need as much torque as possable such as jet sprinting,tranzam and the speedway cars are using a system that finishes into a large single pipe. What I am going to do is have an x-pipe after the collecters then run duals to the rear into a large single then into a muffler which I will make myself. Need it to match my rear undertray. Douglas

I was just talking about this with my engine builder last week. The only way that I could see to do it on my Z was to run the headers under the sump. The engine builder said that it would then heat up your oil and negate any gains you made and if you were running the engine for a long time the heated oil would then be a bit of a problem. I think that properly spaced x pipe's will get you as much HP these days. I have given up on the idea. Douglas

OTM, Go for it. Glad you like it. Davy, We grow for a couple of the local wineries that we think will do well and are promoting our area. I have been going back to university over the last 3 years part time to get a wine science degree so that we can make our own wine in the near future. New zealand will never be able to make cheep bulk wine like Aussie and California. High quality is where its at for us. Unfortunatly the US distribution laws are a nightmare so I dont think you will see us over your way. We will probably only be doing about 1000 cases a year and only when we can produce a exceptional product. Everything wil be hand crafted, small batchs with minimum intervention. CHEERS! Douglas

Thanks Guys! Been working on this for a long time now. At least three years. I Have 10.5 inch wide Cobra r wheels for the back so the rear will get "pumped" soon which will get it looking flared with out losing the factory lines to much. The front is about 1.5 inchs longer then normal so normal and g nose covers wont fit. Picking up the engine on Friday after being in the shop for two years. Should be making just over 500 hp at the crank. Body has been 75% block sanded so not far to go. I have a 75 acre vineyard and olive grove that i do all the work on myself. Just been physically exhuasted at the end of the day so progress has been slow. Douglas

Allready have molds for this one........ http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=6310&cat=500&ppuser=8086 Douglas

a xr4 was the tranzam champion for a couple of years hear in the 90,s. Space frame chassis but it still ran the 2.3 motor and had some big grunt. It was running agains 6.0lt v8's putting out over 700 hp and would still pull away from them on the straights. The chassis weights were similar to the v8 cars so that wasnt its advantage. The car ran the 2 valve heads and must have been making close to 800 hp. Guess there might be some potential from that engine! Douglas