veritech-z

what happened to the front of the fenders? isn't that where you'd need the most aerodynamic help, instead of the back of the tire? That looks a lot like a lotus 7 replica...and for sure, you can't knock the backyard engineering. My preference doesn't lean that way is all I was saying.

Maybe it's about time to go on that honeymoon with the toyota engine...nice turbo 22r from an old 4runner would be a cool swap, and talk about durable! 22r's will survive the nuclear winter, right next to the twinky factory...

There's really no need for all that once the radiator is removed-you'll have plenty of space to work on it. Oh wait, is this a ZX? I've got an S30 so I don't have to worry about the bumper situation...it might just be easier to pull the whole thing.

I think we all know why you did, I was just making the point that it could go the other way with homemade logo's too-as food for thought. All the admins seem pretty cool, I don't know if they feel this way (or considered it in those terms) or not, I was just playing devils advocate. I doubt anybody wants Corzette to have his tattoo removed either. We might not all percieve each others best intentions from the same point of view, know what I mean?

www.dicounttiredirect.com stocks falken

The making and applying of your own Hybridz decals/logos/whatever might offend the powers that be, since if Hybridz were selling these things to gain revenue for operating the website, you are in effect stealing the likeness of this intellectual property by copying it and not giving anything back to www.hybridz.org for everything it's given to you, right? I've often wondered how the administration felt about that kind of thing... *edit* in fact, I've often wondered if such merchandise was available...I wouldn't mind having a www.hybridz.org baseball cap that I could wear with my homemade Datsun jacket...

Clearly you haven't been to Ferman Nissan of Tampa Bay...barely qualified to be alive, and talk about uppity! Speaking for my Saturn parts department, which usually consists only of myself (and occasionally my parts manager), we try to be as professional/helpful/accurate as possible. I know this isn't the case at some of our sister locations, and I've dealt with some brain dead zombies from all kinds of chevy dealers, but I still get a bit defensive to hear these broad generalizations being tossed around about the quality of ALL employees of *X* corporation...good parts guys aren't born overnight in a test tube, it takes experience to be good at a job like that, just like anything else. I think what people forget is that YOU may know your car inside and out, but it's just unreasonable to expect some stranger off the street will know every single thing that you've learned through years of working on it and researching it. I think if everyone does their own homework, and cuts the "underpaid morons" some slack, most of their part related stress would go away. I've seen this sign posted in many small repair shops, and my shop teacher in high school used to say it all the time as well: "A lack of planning on YOUR part does not constitute an emergency on MY part."

This discussion is reminding me of the time when I was a college radio DJ for a semester at University of South Florida. I had a show where I spun old school hip-hop and freestyle every Friday morning from 10am-12pm. I won the runner up award from the station director for best DJ just because I showed up and played good music (I suspect it was my halloween set of all halloween themed hip-hop, but I digress). The following semester, it was announced that DJ's would be expected to spend like 4 hours a week outside your show helping out the station directors doing administrative stuff(alphabetizing cd's and vinyl, paperwork, etc). I ended up leaving the station over it, because I just wanted to spin records. The point is I like getting and sharing advice and opinions, but I don't like to get roped into stuff that is going to take the fun out of the Hybridz community. If you want a Hybridz sticker/tattoo/t-shirt: I say get one/make one, whatever, and if people ask you about it, tell them what we're all about. I would spin records for the love of it, I would drive my car and represent Hybridz for the love of it. Once there are too many strings attatched, I'll take my talent and peronality (such as it is) eslwhere.

Those are pretty cool, but for some reason I just can't get into it. For the same reason I don't like watching NASCAR or F1 or most drag racing, the cars are so far removed from anything I can relate to, it just doesn't get me going the way a prepared production car would. I really wish NASCAR would go back to the way it started and ditch the tube frame/fiberglass shells that are only whatever car they represent because the stickers say so...Even then I probably wouldn't watch it though, because the racing is boring to me...

When I did it, I pulled the radiator and the harmonic balancer so I could get the timing cover off. You WILL drop your timing chain tensioner, so you might as well do this up front. I used a wire cup on a drill to clean the old gasket off (just be sure you aren't too aggressive), and the copper gasket spray goes a long way towards compensating for warpage, assuming it isn't too severe (keep in mind, my gasket was so bad that my engine actually hydrolocked, and it's running with no leaks now). All told, you are looking at about $70 in gaskets if you get a head set and a timing set. I didn't change my chain, if you want to, you can. If your goal is just to get it on the road, don't do anything else "while you're at it." And how hard is it to buy a metal ruler? Why would you need to borrow a straight edge from somebody?

I'm thinking you might need to settle for a different wheel. That link doesn't work, could you repost it? *edit* never mind, i just found them with a google image search. You can find some cooler wheels than that, I'm sure.. for instance:These 15X6.5 Impuls $400 +15mm offset or these Volk Racing C ultras 16X7 +19mm offset: $500 for the set: Both of these came from www.rbmotoring.com, I'm pretty sure you can get +15 or +19 offset to work, if not, it's a heck of a lot easier to get a spacer for $10 per wheel than to get hub adapters...

Can't you just go to www.tirerack.com and search by tire size, then read the customer reviews of the brand that looks good? I'm sure that's what anyone that has some recommendations for you is going to do...

Unless you get them used, that isn't going to happen...I had mine made locally at a custom wheel shop, and they were around $200. I was pretty p.o'd because even though the guy said they would be "custom built for my car" they used Honda 12X1.5 thread pitch studs instead of Nissan 12X1.25 studs, and I spent $60 on a set of 12X1.25 tuner shank lug nuts (these wheels required these) and when I got the spacers, they said they could only used these particular studs and that I would need to redrill my wheel to accept the lug nuts they carried. The reason for this is becuase their lazy machine shop guy only wants to stock one part number of stud, not because there is anything magical about that particular part number, so I had to go find some other lug nuts and modify them to work. All said and done, I spent $120 in lug nuts alone...

Almost positive none of these offsets will work unless you run a spacer. I've got +38mm wheels and +34mm wheels, both of which require at least an 1.25" adapter.

what sidewall height do you want?

Do you have anything hooked up to the overflow port on your radiator? The one just below the cap that sends excess coolant to the overflow bottle? If that is just venting off into space, you're losing a TON of coolant that would otherwise go into your overflow bottle once your cap heats up (bitter voice of experience here). If it is disconnected, either capping it or hooking it back up to the bottle will solve that problem really quickly. *edit* Woops, didn't realize the engine crapped out while I was posting, sorry for the Suzy Come Lately...Gollum, why not just go pull a cylinder head from the boneyard for $50, get a new fel-pro head gasket and hit both sides with the copper spray-a-gasket, and slap it back on? I had EXACTLY the same problem with an under-powered electric fan, and after throwing on a p-79 head (with just new seals and gaskets, no machine work at all-that also came from an overheated car-and get this:no leaks either!)and a mechanical fan, now all my reliability problems are gone...It's been my experience that these engines are far more heat tolerant than you might think.

My wheels are +38mm, and I've got hub adapters that are either 1.25 or 1.5," I don't really recall, but they fit really well with the edge of the fender. I've just got the fixed 1" drop, not the adjustables, so my strut housings are all stock.

Here's the other part of that: do you still have your heat shields in place? Originally, whether carburated or fuel injected, there would have been a thin sheet metal heat shield in place to prevent heat soak into your intake manifold...

Here you go:http://www.partsamerica.com/VehicleSelection.aspx?destinationpage=ReplacementParts.aspx

We used to carry a hose when I worked at Advance Auto Parts that we would all use when we were bypassing the heater cores on our z's (two other co-workers had s30's, myself and a guy with a 260 actually used them for daily drivers at the time). It's Drive-rite part number: 80405. 5/8" by 36" with a 90 bend on one end. I don't know if that's the one you tried or not, but if worse comes to worse, find one of the depot stores and ask if you can go back and look for yourself. They are usually pretty cool if you don't go in with a chip on your shoulder.

Talk about catastrophic engine failure! In the words of Joe Dirt: "Dang!" Glad you got it back together though! Wish I could go to SEZ, sounds like the place to be, but my my Z related trips to georgia are on hold for a good long while after this last one...

Sigh...that's right up there with "I wish my car smelled more like exhaust fumes!" on the list of things that will never come out of my mouth...must be nice.

Just two-sided tape it to the top of your old valve cover, that's the way McGuyver would have done it. It would probably be cheaper to buy the headgaskets from those respective engines first and compare them, wouldn't you think?

Especially on a turbo! Buying a junkyard L28 isn't all that expensive, and is arguably less work than tearing down your motor and diagnosing what the actual problem is, but do you really want to change out all your turbo oil lines and buy an expensive new turbo to go with it when you end up with catastrophic engine failure? But if you have to use a product, use lucas, I heard a toyota once that sounded like the head was going to jump out of the hood get quiet and smooth like a new car just from pouring that bottle in there...scary really, if you think of buying a used car...

After 7 years of working in parts, i've come up with this simple rule: IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST GO HOME WITH THE RIGHT PART, BE SURE AND BRING THE OLD ONE WITH YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND THEN COMPARE IT TO THE ONE YOU ARE BUYING RIGHT THERE IN THE STORE! That way, there is no one to blame in the event of a mix up, and you don't have to go through the unpleasant back and forth several times, only to bring the part to the store after all.