Z-TARD

Pretty much, I'm actually a terrorist now. Dirka dirka, sherpa jihad muhamed bacca lacca dacca..... Mike

I know, I'm trying to keep all my posts in the non-tech forum now so my post count doesn't change

I wonder how many parts from it will interchange directly with the new Mustang.... Mike

This sounds strangely familiar. I found myself in almost the exact same spot yesterday: Wearing shorts, sitting on the sway bar in my garage at about 95F and grinding away at the remains of the hood latch assembly and battery tray. By the time I was done my legs were gray from all the metal dust, I've been blowing out black boogers since yesterday as well. Nothing like a little iron in your diet.... Currently my wife and I have an understanding: All of the car parts stay inside the garage, which for all intents and purposes is considered as an estrogen exclusion zone. The house is hers to do whatever she wants to as far as decorating, storage, etc. The second anything with a floral pattern enters the garage, it will be lit on fire, and then the fire will be extinguished with a hammer, or urine, whichever happens to be available at the time. So far the system works very well.... Mike

Congrats on the WJ Tim! I think you definitely made the right choice, although my opinion is heavily biased here.The bad reliability rating must come from all the electrical gremlins these have. Although the drivetrain and chassis are holdovers from when Jeep was still Jeep, the electrical system is all Chrysler, hence the gremlins. I have no problem at all jumping in my jeep and driving it on a long distance road trip, I know I'll get there. I just don't expect to get anything more than the occasional blip from the fuel gauge telling me I still have gas. For the most part it just sits below the empty mark, even on a full tank. I think stopping the production of the Cherokee in favor of the Liberty was probably one of the stupidest moves in Chryslers history of stupid moves. Putting IFS on the new 05 Grand Cherokee's ranks up there pretty high too.... Mike

[evil-laughter]Mu-hahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhahhah[/evil-laughter] http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-5-99-up-Grand-Cherokee-XFactor-Short-Arm-System_W0QQitemZ250000886066QQihZ015QQcategoryZ33585QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mickey-Thompson-35x12-50Rx15LT-Tires-Baja-Claw_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ66473QQihZ019QQitemZ8067064219QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=CRR%2D3975112&N=400292+4294923107+4294923105+4294793325+4294795084+4294906456+4294906458+4294795099+4294906359+115&autoview=sku :icon54: :icon54: :icon54: :icon54:

Ok, I gotta ask: What kind of idiot pays $1200+ for a set of hub caps that some jerk-off can steal from him later on with just a flat head screwdriver? That money would go a long way towards getting an RB26 or SBC planted in a car.... Different strokes for different folks I guess. Mike

I wonder if they have a police code for that yet. like 187, 5150, etc. D.W.W. Driving While Whacking.... If nothing else, I'll think twice before I ever buy a used car with built in televisions, or at least stock up on woolite before getting it. Mike

Bling Bling fuel filler, one on either side. These cost about $120 each. Unfortunately, it was a little too blingy and some A-hole decided to steal the center portion off of one of them. In hindsight, especially given my location, the locking caps would have been a better choice..... Mike

Cool vid. I love the way the Led Zeppelin follows the action on screen, perfect timing. Mike

Hope I'm not stealing Freds thunder here, but heres the link: http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffrkits/GTM/GTMkit.html P.S. Welcome to the board Fred! Thats a nice project you have there, wanna swap it for an old 240Z? To sweeten the deal I'll even add in an EXTRA 280Z for FREE! (You can't have my Cherokee though, gotta draw the line somewhere) Mike

I used an airbrush to paint this small test section on my car: This was a mix of red and yellow stops rust paint, thinned down about 20% with mineral spirits. I haven't tried a larger spray gun or HVLP setup yet, but I know that it sprays very well out of an airbrush. Just like any paint, it will run if sprayed on too thick. I did one light coat (Just enough to get full coverage) then waited about 10 or 15 minutes and shot another right on top of that. The next day I peeled off the tape and wet sanded with 400. New tape, sprayed another two coats and wated another day. Wet sanded again starting with 400 and worked down very quickly to 2000. IIRC the progression was something like 400, 800, 1000, 2000. Followed up by a layer of turtle wax and you get whats in the pic here. Gloss is very good, to my eye it looks just like vintage pre clear coat automotive paint from the 60's and 70's. I've had this spot on the side of my Z now since the original "Roller Painting" thread was posted like almost a year ago. Up until a few days ago it was still shiny and relatively free of scratches. It's FUBAR right now though because I just hacked up that rear quarter to make clearance for my tires under the ZG flares Mike

Definitely worth a look. Heres a pic of the car I got on Ebay for $260..... As long as it looks better than this one, you're doing good The ad for the one you posted says that all the carpet is gone. Thats actually a plus if you ask me. After almost 30 years, you really don't want the factory carpet anyway. Looks like there will be lots of Bondo up near the headlights and airdam because a lot of body seams and gaps have been filled in from the looks of it. Is your total budget $1000? If so, I'd leave at least $400 of that for parts to get the car running and driving right. Mike

Any chance someone with a 240/260/280 with original hubs could measure the distance from caliper mount to outer hub flange? I seem to have misplaced mine.... If I can get the trailer hubs to sit at the same offset, the Modern Motorsport Cobra brake kit will work with them once I get the other minor machining work done. Thanks, Mike

Just be sure to let the headers cool down before doing the dirty.... Or at least spray it with PAM first so you don't stick. Heh Heh Heh. I didn't bother checking prices on the Falconer engines. I'm just going to assume it's more than I'd be willing to spend. If I should ever win the Super Lotto though, it will be mine. Overall dimensions are probably pretty close to the Jag V12. Big sum-beech. It would fit though, and it's based on the SBC, so it would bolt right up to a T56. At those HP levels though, even the T56 would need some serious work done to it to prevent meltdown. The JTR motor mount plates on this would have to point the opposite direction of the SBC version, if required at all. We should see if this guy will sponsor the next HybridZ race car..... Mike

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/72APP

This does seem like a lot of trouble to go through to use a limited slip setup thats probably not even that good anyway. Looks like I'll be spending some more time in the junkyard looking for an R200 CLSD out of a 300ZX. I have the standard turbo CV's already, so at this point it will probably be cheaper to go with a non VLSD diff. I've tried to think of a way to use the J30 CV's to adapt this to the 280 stub axles, but the only way that seems likely to work involves custom machined shafts and adapters much like the R230 swap. With the Shiro CV's this could be swapped in using just the MM 300ZX compnion flange adapters. I might check with the local Nissan dealerships parts counter before totally scrapping the idea, but I bet thats going to be some serious $$$ Mike

Theres probably enough room if you play around with radiator placement. Basically, you'd end up with one of these: http://www.falconerengines.com/prod04.htm Mike

I voted for the new Vette, but if it was an option I would have picked the new Camaro when it comes out. The new skyline (infiniti whatchamacallit) should be out pretty soon too..... Mike

"You've been flying around for two weeks trying to get a signal? You must smell like feet, wrapped in burnt, leathery bacon...."

Yeah, open throttle is a white knuckle ride, only to be followed by lots of stuttering and hesitation when you let off. I have a brand new temp sensor as well as two junkyard AFM's that look to be in decent condition. Also got a rebuilt 280ZX distributor to swap into it as well since the vac. advance plate in mine was shot. Hopefully these parts should get it running right again, I'd like to get this thing out of my brothers yard and out here to San Diego so I can finally have a running Z again. Mike

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5395083952125133994&q=star+wars+robot+chicken