1 tuff z
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Posts posted by 1 tuff z
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last winter i took up the task of updating my underpinnings. this included completely removing my suspension/brakes. i used mike kelly's front setup to allow camber/caster/toe adjustments and found a used pair of arizona zcar rear chromoly control arms. i then did some research to determine what "kit" to use for the brakes. wound up using ross corrigans setup-biggest reason, it was a complete setup. i also picked up the cv halfshaft adaptors, new bearings all around packed with synthetic grease and to further complicate matters, upgraded my single master cylinder with separate tilton masters with a brake bias adjustor. after getting all the pieces back together, doing a rough "string" in the garage alignment i had it professionally aligned [thanks john coffey for your guidance in the specs!]. i was suprised how much of a difference the suspension changes made. the turn in response is amazing, light effort-considering my rather large 215.45.17 tires and the handling is great. the best part however, was at my first drivers school this past summer once i had put some miles on the setup. i was running in the open group at toronto motorsports park and was chasing this 600hp ac cobra replica. he'd walk me like a cheap cigar on the straights and i'd reel him in on the rest of the track. finally i got by him-by out braking his car. eventually he cooked his brakes and put it in the weeds. funny, my brakes never even had a hint of fade. once the event was over i packed my car up [his went back on the trailer] and drove 3 hours home. it was a thing of beauty. there were others i lapped as well, but the cobra felt the best.
here's a link to pics of my setup.
http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=1750&cat=500
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i flew huey medevac uh-1h's while in college [after my 3 yr stint on active duty as a mech] and then kc130's in the corps after college. my ticket; commercial, instrument, single & multi engine land & rotorcraft. not flown since i left the marines in 94.
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brad, love the ride!! i'm interested in seeing more detailed pics of your z. the center console/heat control panel. which gauges you used and how were they to install. left/right engine bay pics would b great too.
what brake upgrade did you use?
how cool is it to literally walk away from almost anything around?!?!?!
thanks-
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latest. i removed and cleaned the 4 way switch assy. [on firewall]. it had some dirt and what looked like an ivory colored grease inside. re-installed, test drove and...same problem.
any ideas, cause i'm fresh out?!
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i've recently upgraded to ross' [modern motorsports] big brake kit [rotors-13's front 11's rear] and my car at threshold still wants to lock the right front first. it has done this since i've owned it and i always assumed that it was an imbalance in the calipers or...something i couldn't determine. the following are new-flex brake lines [braided stainless], all calipers, rotors, wheel bearings, master cylinder.
now as i try to pin this gremlin down i'm considering that potentially one of those 'junction blocks' [for lack of a better term] under the hood may be the culprit. in the vic brit catalog they are labeled; brake switch assy [the one on the left side fenderwell fwd and below the master cyl] and the 4 way valve assy [the one on the firewall below the fixed portion of the hood latch assy.
i wanted to know if anyone else has run into this problem before and if there's a way to test/service either of these components.
any help, greatly appreciated!
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i didn't use a baseball bat or other long rolling tool. we carefully relief cut [perpendicular to] the fender lip along the perimeter spaced equally and [carefully] hammered with a metal forming hammer along the lip to get it to where we wanted. prior to doing that we also trimmed it so it was all equal. once cut, trimmed and peened back it was all then prepped and painted. i did this about 10 years ago when i painted the whole car.
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very nice and clean. i like the low, hunkered down look.
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i'm running a yoko avs in a 235/40/17 size on a 17x8.5 compomotive wheel. no flares, no rubbing, nice. i have ground control coilovers though and the rear lips are rolled. it appears that i still have about 1/2" clearance both inboard and out front & rear.
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just got the z down on all 4's last nite and did a quickie alignment [enuf to at least get it to the alignment shop w/o completely knocking all the tread off the new meats-yoko 235/40/17's!!]. i completely forgot about no more vacuum assist and nearly plowed thru the back of my garage. amazing the strength u can muster when absolutely necessary. anyway, got some used arizona z rear control arms, mike kelly front control arms & t/c rods and ross corrigan's big brakes all around. i had hoped to run in the auto-x this sunday but the wait at dmv to get my plates out of storage was more than 1 1/5 hours! so the 2+2 zxt will have to stand in. i should have it aligned wed next week and be able to bed in the brakes and really throw out the anchor and see how the brakes & new suspension work. oh, any tips on alignment are always appreciated. john coffey has given me some valuable input-thanks john!
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racer-x, i couldn't upload pics but have a link below to a number of pics of my conversion-both front & rear from ross at modern-m'sports.
http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=1750&cat=500&thumb=1
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hey all, just posted a few more pics. the project is coming to a close and i'm itching bad to check out the new binders. just have to bend 2 brake lines from the factory junction block to the new tilton master cylinders, bleed the masters and brakes then...drive and bed in the brakes. below is a link to my pic gallery. i went a step further than originally planned when i contacted ross corrigan at http://www.modern-motorsports.com. i added tilton separate master cylinders as well as a cable operated mechanical brake bias. the kit ross sold me when together without a hitch. this is probably the first time in quite awhile that i purchased something that came with all the parts i needed; bolts, washers, cotter pins, everything. it was nice for a change not to have to chase down odd parts or hardware here or there. i used his 13" vented rotors with 2 piston alum. pbr calipers up front and the 11" solid rotors with 240sx calipers in the rear. i also retained my parking brake-as this is a street car! anyway, more one i have it on the road and am able to throw out the anchor and really test the binders!
http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=1750&cat=500&thumb=1
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hey, for all you z guru's! i'm ready to assemble my rear struts with the 280z stub axles-new bearings, seals, etc. but i don't have the copper [like] washers that go on either side of the steel spacer and between the bearings. i called the dealer, they can't get them either. anyone put them back together without the washers? any problems? any ideas?
help?!?!
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just added a couple new pics [link below]-still doing some cleanup, painting and pre-fitting before getting it all back together. so far, so good as everything seems to be going as planned. i've had a few questions here and there and ross from modern-motorsports.com has been great.
http://www.classiczcars.com/photopo...cat=500&thumb=1
can't wait to get out and see how this bad boy stops!
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great pics! sure, if you don't mind i'd like to have a dig. pic of the engine bay as well.
thanks!
or
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i'm guessing that this was in toronto hosted by the z club of ontario-and if i stretch, 2000???
refresh my memory, you have the beautiful deep blue pickup with the sr20 engine, right or does my failing memory fail me?
david
ps-could you email me that pic of my car to me at work, i don't have a copy! david.a.palermo@aexp.com
thanks!
btw, what r u driving now??
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i just received the following; modified adj. front control arms and t/c rods from mike kelly at zf racing [i got the last set mike made] and my big brake kit from ross corrigan at modern-motorsports! all i can say is WOW! just got the front suspension pieces back from powder coating and they look great. i'm looking forward to getting an alignment and being able to adj. camber and caster [in add to toe] on the front end-while on the car. still working on the rear control arms-ross said he has some in the works-hurry ross-summer's coming soon!
from ross i ordered; big brake kit and the turbo cv adaptors. the machine work on the rotors, hats and rear caliper adaptors are very nice indeed. the front calipers are 13" directionally vented clamped by a floating 2 piston pbr alum caliper. the "hat" which allows the rotor to attach to the stock hub was anodized in red for me and it looks sweet! i figured that while i had everything torn down i should also upgrade the rear axles to the turbo cv's so i also purchased the adaptors from ross. the machine work and welds are beautiful-as well as functional. i was very impressed when i inventoried the box i received. i showed all the parts to a good friend who runs a local speed shop and he agreed that everything is top notch. for the rear i'll be using the 200sx calipers along with ross' adaptors as well as his ebrake piece.
i couldn't figure out how to post the pics i had taken, so if you use this link you can see what i have so far.
http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1750&thumb=1
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just got the front setup mike kelly did for me [i have the last set], adj control arms and t/c rods. picking them up from the powdercoater tomorrow and will be ready for install. hopefully i'll be able to post pics soon. about the same time i got my package from ross/mml. i purchased the big [gigantic is more like it] brake kit, 280 stub axles, cv adaptors and ebrake kit. the rotor/caliper setup [front] appears to weigh the same as the stock setup! monsterous 13" directionally vented rotors mounted to a beautifully anodized [my color choice of red] alum. hat which bolts up to the stock hub. pbr 2 piston "floating" alum calipers clamps them. out back, solid 11.?" brembo rotors clamped by 240sx calipers. i will also take pics of them pretty quick as well. so far, everything is exactly as described! will keep u posted as i progress [we are still in freezing temps and it makes it challenging to work on the z in the cold garage...
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mike is busy on filling my order for the adj. front control arms/tc rods and i should have them soon. i still haven't decided on rears because [no, i'm not an engineer...but] they looked to have too little adjustablity before binding. if you could design the rear arm to be like arizona's, and on car adjustable for a reasonable price-like mike's...my decision would be made and the order placed!
btw ross, howz my brake package coming along?!?!
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i've used the swain tech coating as well. i have the "white lightning" on my header of my supercharged z and have had no problems for the 2 years it's been on there. i melted the silver jet hot on another header. swain is only about 3 miles from my office and i have personally known dan swain since 1989 when i worked as a formula car crew chief and they coated our; headers, valves and combustion chambers.
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davis, i have a 72 parts z that still has the stock 4spd tranny-it's yours if u come and get it! i'm just an hour 1/2 away in rochester.
email me if you're interested!
david
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i have groundcontrol coilovers on my z, with stock fenders and no other suspension mods [yet] and i'm running 8.5x17 wheels with 234/40/17 yokohama avs intermediates. no clearance problems and big meats underneath!
link to pics of my z:
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gleason [located where i live in rochester, ny] sold the torsen portion a number of years ago to a new company called zexel-torsen. i went there about 2 years ago to look for a diff for my z-no luck, not making them anymore. the engineer was quite helpful in answering questions and we even discussed a "group buy". it seemed production costs [even though i has a copy of the original torsen spec sheets-i have a friend who's been an engineer at gleason since the 60's]. anyway, their phone #is 585-464-5000, if u'd like to contact them. hope this helps!
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this may be a small item, but i found that the seal around my license plate light wiring [that goes thru the tail panel] was gone. i'd check yours-it could b a source. i also find no probs with windows up. my problem is with only 1 window down. if i crack open the other-usually passenger, the prob goes away.
hope this helps...
Best front brake setup
in Brakes, Wheels, Suspension and Chassis
Posted
i picked up a modded pedal box along with the arizona z rear arms. the pedal box was modded to accept a tilton balance bar with a cable adj bias [http://www.tiltonracing.com/brake/accessories.html]. you need to calculate the pedal ratio for that of a non-boosted system. i'm still fine tuning that part for optimum pedal feel. there's the backing plate which mounts on the engine side of the firewall-powdercoated 1/4" steel cut to conform with the factory "lines" on the firewall. holes bored in the backing plate for the masters and mounting holes, along with corresponding holes in the firewall itself. the pedal box was modified to accommodate the balance bar and reinforced once material was removed. the clutch assy is unchanged. the brake pedal itself was modded to accept a sleeve for the balance bar. pedal effort was about that of a boosted car with no vacuum initially when the pedal ratio was about 4:1, now at 5.46:1 it's close to what i'm looking for. pedal effort higher than normal on the street but very acceptable on the track. tilton individual master cylinders-front is 5/8, rear 3/4. after the next pedal adjustment i may also swap the rear for next size smaller. going to call the tilton engineer again today for some help-they've been great![http://www.tiltonracing.com/brake/995/index.htm]
you may be better off by looking at a tilton pedal set-may save some time. otherwise you'll be pulling the pedal box in and out several times [yes, it's a real pain without removing the dash-but possible]
oh, keeping the wife happy. selling z parts on ebay to finance the project, doing the work while she watches rented "chick flicks", rationalizing that at least you're home and not out with your hoodlem friends drinking or...
well, it's worked so far. maybe since i had the z before we got married she's just used to it. or, i'm just really fortunate to be married to a terriffic woman who accepts my z oddities!