veritech-z

I have no idea, have you tried searching for it? It's probably been tried, but usually custom intake manifolds are designed around the factory linkage for some reason (probably convenience of not having to rig a cable up?).

Is there a way to calculate that change, and then to determine the point of bearing/hub failure? I imagine there must be, but whether anyone has tested it to the point of "X change in offset will result in Y bearing life under Z conditions" I have no idea... *edit* Also, wouldn't a wheel with a flat face that had a +offset and a bolt on adapter distribute the bearing load in the same way as a wheel with the correct offset but outward curving spokes that met the wheel at the face? here are some examples: is an example of the spaced flat wheel, and is an example of a correct offset wheel with outward curving spokes

My understanding of offset is that it is the distance from the centerline of the wheel to the mounting flange of the hub. Exactly how this is going to affect the fitment on a particular vehicle is going to depend on the width of the wheel. A zero offset wheel that is 6 inches wide will not fit the same as a 0 offset wheel that is 8 inches wide, because you just picked up another inch of backspace (one inch in the back, one on the lip). Once you get past a certain wheel width, you would need a negative offset to make the wheel fit the same way that a factory wheel fit in relation to the suspension components (the strut tube as it relates to S30 z-cars). Using my Impul RS-III's as an example, I have a 17X7" wheel with a +38mm offset. At 0 offset, this wheel would have 4" of backspace, but since it's +38mm, I needed a 1.5" adapter to correct the offset back to 0. If this wheel were a different width, the offset would need to be different to compensate for the new backspace. Without knowing the width of the wheel, offset is a useless number, because it tells you nothing about the backspace or the lip without it. Offset is a descriptor of a given wheel, and in combination with the backspacing of that wheel, will allow you to make a judgement on how that wheel will fit within the known parameters of a given vehicle.

Offset really doesn't tell you anything about a wheel unless you know the width as well. Would that mean an extra wide wheel with enough offset to fit correctly would add extra load to a wheel bearing as well? If so, is this load caused by the mass of the larger wheel, or the distribution of mass from where the wheel center meets the rim? What if the wheel hub was spaced far forward or back, but the spokes curved back to attach to the lip in the center (like the momo quasar-the old one, not the quasar 2)Does a high offset wheel with an adapter put more load on a wheel bearing than a normally sized wheel would, or does it cancel out? I'm curious, because that's how I'm running the wheels on my personal Z. I haven't had problems so far, but I haven't driven it especially hard either...I hope these questions don't seem combative, they are all real questions if anybody knows the answer. Also, Johnc, it took a few posts to figure that one out (he confused me when he was talking about having two valve stems). I think he's just talking about taking the center section out and flipping it around, not disassembling the rim section too. Those are glued together with some kind of adhesive usually (that's what they told me at www.kodiakracingwheels.com when I called to find out about having my Impul's resized). *edit* here is a pic of one of my MOMO quasar wheels from my gallery for reference: this particular wheel is +34 offset 15X7

A more elegant solution to the equal air distribution is to just put the throttle body in the middle, like on the RB motors and the 7m motors (and many others I'm sure, those just came to mind first), that would save you plumbing and complexity. As for decreasing runner length, I'm not sure if there would be a benifit to that. I imagine if it were worth doing, it would have turned up on some OEM works car from SOMEBODY by now. I'm of the opinion that there are very few novel or new ideas left that haven't been at least thought of, if not implemented in regards to the internal combustion engine as we know it.

Yasin, and particular reason you opted for the bimmer unit and not the Q45? Did you just want to keep the mechanical linkage and old style TPS?

Did anybody notice that the red ZG has flat top SUs on it? All the sold ones had triples though.

Terry, these are HILARIOUS! I'm glad you found them, if they were available here, my wife would probably kill me... If you find this one, LET ME KNOW!!!!!!

http://www.hlj.com/cgi-perl/tanoue/freedompage.cgi?Code=TYOA210 R/C Devil Z!

I'll give you $205 if you throw in that magazine on the passenger seat.

I didn't see one unfortunately. I couldn't tell, is that link you posted official, or is it like a fansite of some kind? I was looking for a complete catalog, and found these guys: http://www.hlj.com/~tanoue/HLJ/maker/TAK.html I guess the AE86 is on back order, but it has a september release date? They don't give you the car number for the series either...You can order straight from them, but I'd rather deal with Terry until he gets fed up with our unreasonable demands for rediculously obscure toys!

I'll try to get a pic of my friend's S30 2 plus 2 with the MSA front bumper and whale tail. It's a really nice color of blue, but he never takes it out of the garage...

Have you seen this one anywhere? or this one?

The valve cover is pretty off the wall..

Terry, you HAVE to buy that crown custom station wagon, if for no other reason than to tell me what crazy engine that is in it. And once you get the engine out to see what it is, you can just put your aristo motor in it. *edit* I changed my mind, you really need that Galant GTO...

The .50 cal, or the .30 cal?

I like the silver one, but I'm not sure I would EVER pay $30k for a Z of any kind. That's not saying that NOBODY would pay that much, but I learned a long time ago not to buy somebody else's hot rod, unless you plan to redo the whole thing. I'd be far more likely to buy a beater and do the engine swap myself. I think the silver car would be worth around 10k to 12k? I don't know how much money you have in it, so you should probably start with at least that much.

I guess somebody liked transformers WAY more than I did...

My civic friend should have his head back next week sometime, and he plans to daily drive around 500hp. I'll be sure and let you know how that works out for him. My other buddy driving a turbo saturn is daily driving a 330hp saturn, and so far it's holding up ok. His friend has one too, and referes to his CV axles as "fuses" because they tend to go out before anything "important." I'm right behind you when you say that these kids have no reference in reality, and the most of what they know about building cars came from Gran Turismo 4. Whenever somebody tells me they are getting a "Stage IV turbo", and I ask them "what does that mean?" or when they say "so and so has a "fully built" engine" and I say "what do you mean by "fully built"," they never know. It drives me crazy. I just gave up trying to educate people I know. They always go to the internet, or "some guy" and get advice, then do what that person said, and then they ask me or another friend of mine with some decent car knowledge. Of course we tell them what we think, which is totally opposite of what this other person said, and I'm like: "why do you waste my time asking for advice if you are just going to disregard it?" I think it would be great if you would explain to these kids that there is more to driveability than numbers. It IS possible to get those kinds of numbers from a Honda engine, but it is NOT likely that those cars are driven daily at that level of tune. Those cars are now refered to as "dyno queens" that put down huge numbers, but then you turn down the boost controller and drive around at more sane levels. A honda engine like that is on the ragged end of performance, where the slightest thing is enough to do it in. Mostly they have two speeds: On and Off. There really is no replacement for displacement when it comes to a well rounded street engine.

I still say the QR25DE would be a good rear wheel drive engine for a small sports coupe. I wouldn't even mind if it looked more like a 510. An RWD sentra SE-R. If there were a tranny to do that conversion, I'd be considering it for my 280z right now. I think something that looked like a 510 or a Hakosuka would be great. I don't mind if it doesn't look like a z, so long as it gets the job done with some character. Like the new GTO, crunch the numbers and it's a great car, but look at it, and it looks like it was designed to be a rental car. No character at all.

And yet not in formula one wheels? I wonder why that is, they use it everywhere else (even the gearboxes, or so I hear). I'm a bit leery of these as well. Plus I'm not overly fond of the look. I've seen a lot of carbon hoods turn yellow and peel from UV exposure here in Florida, and I don't think I'd like to have that happening on something as important as my wheels.. BJ, do you have pictures of those wheels on a car? those things are crazy looking.

30k?!? With a stock engine and tranny?!? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud... I do like those wheels though, actually, that car looks great. I guess putting the buy it now up that high just keeps you from having to give it away to some riff-raff that can't appreciate it?

He can have her, I'm holding out for Shakira (as long as my wife says it's ok...but since she's still waiting for Nick Lashay...)!

A buddy of mine at work is waiting for his B16 cylinder head to come back from JG so he can put it on the sleeved and overbored to 84mm block, and get his (hopefully) 500hp daily driver back on the road. I think he may need a new turbo to do it, but it's possible to find people that are building real performance in the honda crowd, you just have to look. A guy I know was making 700+ hp to the wheels off a turbo GS-R engine in a late body CRX. He sold the shell and kept the engine, but he ended up closing his shop to drive trucks. I haven't heard if he's still doing anything with that motor or not.

Larry, you play the banjo? That is so cool, I always wondered if it was as hard as it looks?