JoeinCA

yeah... that is a good idea.. but i like reinventing the wheel I found the specs of the servos that i have available: INCLUDES: One Standard Heavy Duty Servo w/ Z Connector SPECS: Dimensions: L:1.54" x W:0.79" x H:1.42" Transit Time: .22 seconds/60 degrees Motor: Standard 3 pole Weight: 1.59 oz Torque: 50 oz/in Deadband: 6.0 micro seconds I dont think that it has enough Umph to do throttle work. this one would probably do the trick: INCLUDES: One Microlite servo Servo mounting hardware, One X-shaped servo horn REQUIRES: Nothing SPECS: Dimensions: 1.06" x .49" x 1.284" (27mm x 12mm x 33mm) Weight: .71oz Torque: 43oz of torque @ 4.8v, 54oz of torque @ 6v Speed: 0.23 @ 4.8v, 0.18 @ 6.0v http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCHB6&P=0 now that i know that i dont have a good enough servo, and that it would cost more than just picking up a throttle cable... i dont think that i will do it tomorrow. maybe later. Joe

yeah... Get yourself a Radio controlled car servo. ( the nice strong competition servos. Or the big beefy ones that are used on R/C sailboats to turn the main sail). Some of the the radio systems have exponential control on them, i am sure you could design an electrical circuit that would sense the position of the pedal, and make the servo pull the throttle on the carb. or you could use linear actuators, but they are slow, and if you lose power when they are open... you are stuck WOT. with the servo , you can set up a safety spring just like on a cable setup, and it will pull the servo back to normal... hehe, i may have to set up my car to have remote control throttle... just for fun ... could you imagine seeing a guy with a R/C car transmitter at the dragstrip... oh the hilarity... maybe i could use the pedal from my PS2 steering wheel setup... ok.... if you want complete control of all aspects of the throttle... fly by wire is probably the best way to go. I wish i still had my M8 racing transmitter.. i could plug directly into the reciever to control it... too many ideas how to do it... i need to stop and get some paper. thanks for the inspiration, later, Joe

I think that the rear window louvers are a great concept if aimed at reducing lift in the rear of the Z car. This is what i plan to do: I think that the first "step" of the louver should be angle up slightly, maybe 15-20*. I also think that the louver should be made out of a beefier material than the stock one. I am then going to take a sheet of 18 gauge steel and cut it to fit with the contour of my airdam, the steel will go back and bolt to the crossmember and frame rails, it will follow the same contour as the stock crossmember has. the sheet will stop at the crossmember. I am then going to create another pan that will go from the rear valance area all the way to the front crossmember of the rear suspension. the suspension arms themselves will have thier own metal skins on the bottom, i wil try to design it so that at high speed, the rear suspension will pull itself level, and keep the rear nice and stiff (it will want to return to the "normal" angle. I think that these mods should reduce the overall pressure beneath the car, and should reduce the CD by a noticeable amount. But i am keeping in mind that i should only perform one aero mod at a time.... I also would like to set up a cooling system/ hood similar to terry oxandale. Plus numerous other little mods... Joe

nah, they arent that bad... unfortunately i have grown to really like the louver... even if it is ugly... I may have to make one that is stronger... I think that if i design it correctly, I should be able to make a drastic decrease in the amount of lift the rear end of the Z produces... I would really like to be able to take the car up to 160 without fear of leaving the pavement . Joe

I-5 and 505 would be great roads to lose a chopper... or police. I rarely see any police out there... and the cops usually only really like to bother with the trucks because those are the big money tickets.... But.. Running from the police is extremely stupid... no matter how you look at it. Glad to know that the police will now be able to drive a little faster in the emergency lane during rush-hour traffic... Joe

JB weld is my best friend... It is 1000x cooler than my previous friend Duct Tape... Just make sure that you dont allow any of that JB weld to get somewhere you dont want it. (I dont think you would really want JB weld in your intake manifold... ) good luck, Joe

Heh... Best thing to do is to find out who actually works on their car at the store. They are the only one who will understand all the little nuisance items that are neccessary and will generally be familiar with a few different types of cars. Eh... actually, just try to not deal with imbeciles, and request to speak with someone whose head is not wedged neatly in their large digestive tract... (I'm going to have to say that to someone now... it's like turrets only complicated) darnit... I just started thinking about what i still need to do in order to DRIVE my Z TOMORROW!!! And i completely lost my previous train of thought...(which may be on it's way to russia). Joe

I set up a shaved door handle system (from Autoloc) because i could no longer unlock my doors, and i didnt feel like dealing with it. it was much more work, but i have to say that i am pleased with it, though it is not working at the moment and i have had trouble with it pretty consistently.. but that is just due to the fact that i cannot find the proper replacement wire. I destroyed the nice silver 8 guage wire they sent with the kit by running it to a bad spot between the door jamb, it crimped the wire... but it worked for about 6 months before it had any trouble... Having shaved door handles is pretty cool IMO. But you really should invest in a good system if you do decide to buy one. you will NOT be happy with a non-working shaved door handle system. Joe

my car was getting towed with the louver on it... on a flatbed truck, backwards. A big truck went by and the thing flipped onto the roof leving a massive dent. the louver is a total loss... the roof popped out with a good beating. I knew i should have found those stupid latches .. i felt dumb... Joe

I thought i was going to get my car today... but nooooo... the exaust system isnt even finished yet. and the alignment isnt going to get done until wednesday. And there are about 100 little things that i still need to do to make the car nice.... I NEED to get working on it. Plus i have to find a place to live out in Laramie Wyoming before school starts for me. I'm moving in... uhhhh under 30 days!!! heh stress makes me laugh, Joe

John... true! You certainly have an optimistic view of life... lol.... you guys should wear gloves if you don't want to touch it... if you dont... you might get cooties! Joe

I saw this and i thought i should respond, because i have gone through and designed/built the rear deck area of my 280Z. I added a 10" punch he2 subwoofer with a 400 or 600 watt amp, in the next couple of days i am going to be finishing it up by adding 2 6X9 speakers, and finally adding a spot for the 3.5" speakers i have. Um... i know that some of you guys have seen my setup... I will post pictures on tuesday or wednesday of the completed rear deck area... I am sure with empty 6X9 speaker holes... Aside from the stereo and rear deck area, i hope to replace the seats, and i have to do something about my door panels... (i have one!) so this is all stuff i am going to have to make. i have most of the supplies... i just need the car back outta the exaust shop. I'm stoked, Joe

eh.... he said that it is a non-turbo car... and if he wants to do a v8 swap.... more power to him. (pun not intended) The seats from the 300ZX are kinda strange looking, but the ones that i have seen have electric adjustment, which is a nice feature. they really are very different cars. completely different suspension and body style. Some of the brake hardware may be useful? that is all i can think of that you can use (aside from what has already been mentioned). Joe

I have the patriot block hugger headers on my 327 in my 280Z, and they fit great. i have good clearance. ive done no hammering on them.. but i havent gotten the car running yet.... I'll let you know how everything goes in a week or so. Joe

I have been considering installing a pretty large megaphone style speaker in the front of my z... it would be entertaining to use on those long trips... (*hey, you in the ugly little honda... get outta my way before you get a datsun wedged up your 15" tailpipe!) i am sure you all could imagine time in which you would have loced to have a megaphone on your car... heh... but i know i shouldnt... i would end up in some sort of trouble because of it.. eh.. as for a car that talks to you... eh, i would rather have actual voice recognition, and the ability to turn on fans, A/C, inform me of iminent failures or tire pressure drops. too bad my music and v8 is going to make me deaf before i efver get a setup like that. joe

It was pretty cool to see all that nissan in one parking lot... I want that 4X4 Z... it would be perfect for me... lol. I am very tired right now. On a whim i ended up at Great America for the remainder of the day... so now i am dead tired... and i still have to take my sister home to chico tonight and drive back to get a start on the Z in the morning... or i could sleep in between there and be safe... hmm i wish there had been more V8 z cars there though, i was trying to steal as many ideas as possible for wiring and fuel lines... it was good to talk to you again aux, and jon... thanks, joe

I considered that engine for a long time... then realized i didnt have a long time to get a different engine and went with a chevy... The engines that are supercharged are only installed in FWD vehicles in the states. I am unsure of whether or not the N/A RWD 3.8: v6 transmisions fit up to the fwd motor. which has the water inlets on the wrong ends of the engines.. that is all i can remember off of the top of my head... i know that others have considered or may have even completed this swap... look around there is information.. Joe.

I suppose you could add vents elsewhere... I have rust holes in the rocker panel... so i dont worry about ventilation... heh...

yeah.. GEEZ you guys are so insensitive to the fact that he is having trouble seeking out reckless danger. watch... first time you get to jump on it to prove yourself to a vette... you'll get a good dose of the red/blue in your mirrors.... not having enough fun at the track? heh, Joe

hmm.. i Really like driving my boss's truck. A GMC 2500 HD. i didn't run it hard at all. but it felt to have some really good power. I drove it to take loads of trash to the dumps... so i was driving down the freeway doing the speed limit with a full load in the back, i dunno 400 LBS of junk. I came up behind a slow moving truck (55) and I matched speed, then gassed it to get around before more traffic got into my way. I accelerated from 55 to 85 just as i got past the truck. I wasn't even trying to go fast... I was just used to driving a honda civic... having torque surprised me. I doubt the truck is faster than my broke up 68 malibu (it has bad spider gears in the diff and the PG bands could use a good tightening.) I just installed the carb that is going on the engine for my Z, a holley DP 750 I believe. The car has so much more power now compared with the little carter AFB i had on there. The bad rear end is starting to shine like a gloomy demon infested swamp... anyhow... felt like typing so, have fun. Joe

Pete, i misspoke, when i was under the car a few minutes ago i realized that the diff is offset to the passenger side, with very little horizontal angle, the vertical angle on the diff is not aligned with the crossmember, it seems to be in a slightly "nose up " position, so i guess i will have to go and remove the top washers for my mustache bar. my motor mounts are correct.... and i dont think that you can mess up very badly with the diff install... at least not with that big old bar stuck to the back of it! Thanks, Joe

well... to me my horizontal plane looks wrong. vertical shouldnt be too much of a problem though, because that is easier for me to modify... as it is now it seems like i may not be able to get the horizontal lined up easily. then again, i've never done this type of stuff before... after i get this V8Z done, everything i do is going to be easy in comparison... Pete: i guess i will have to make an angle finder... or buy one....I look forward to seeing the measurements you have though. thanks again, Joe

where are our resident engineers? somebody has to have real numbers for thier drivetrain alignment... If i could set up a laser pointer 90* from the diff flange, i bet that the dot would appear at the driver's side of the tranny tunnel, near the engine bay. I wish i had sureveyor's tools thanks, Joe

mike.. you just posted information that directly disproves what you said. you need to try to make the driveline angles small. therefore the engine/tranny should be offset in relation to the differential. the diff is set, it has it's position that is required to keep the halfshafts from breaking(sorta). you may not want to point the tranny at the offset, but it should be offset to minimize driveshaft angles. I'll go draw a picture... Joe,

the R200 is also offset to the passenger side. You need to figure out what the diff's relation is to the unibody, then how to translate that to work with the engine/transmission. the problem i have had is finding good measure line. spots that are constant like the frame rails... but they are not directly lined up with the diff. so i need to find the anglular relation between the frame rails and the differential so that i can set up the engine/transmission in direct relation to the fram rails/diff. Also...space constraints due to the large automatic tranny makes life very difficult... Joe