Z-TARD

Yeah, thats the idea. I've almost always ended up using brass, because thats whats available on a ship, which is where I have done most of my welding. I've noticed that brass is very hard to get a puddle on with a tig torch set to weld on steel. The amperage required to run a bead on brass is just insane, count on turning a few pairs of gloves into bacon in the process. Copper, on the other hand, melts pretty rapidly under a tig torch. You don't want a metal with a low melting point as a backing material, copper won't fuse to steel readily, and will just crap up the weld. Aluminum works up to a point, but once it absorbs a certain amount of heat it will start to contaminate the weld as well. Brass seems to have an almost unlimited ability to absorb heat in this application, I've never had it contaminate a full penetration weld yet. You can weld on 16 gauge sheetmetal with almost 80 amps with little difficulty. Keep the clamps close to the weld zone, and only weld about an inch at a time and you will get very little warping or distortion as well. Mike

No mention of the 350Z at all? Hmmmmmm.

This auction already ended a few days ago, but I thought you guys might find this interesting. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2478127751&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT Mike

I'm just glad it's not a Z that the guy gave the "Maximum Bling" treatment to. We'd have to draw straws to see who gets to shoot him, maybe take up a collection for air fare. As it is, I can almost hear the small block in that car clawing at the radiator to get out. Mike

Looks like the Maxima head has the large valves as well. Did it come like that, or did you have it fit with larger valves later, as I have heard that the Maxima's came with the small valves. I've seen quite a few of those in the junkyard out here, but very few of the N42 heads. Mike

Mikey like. Big time.

I think with all of our knowledge here, we could come up with an even better design and sell the rights to it on Ebay as well. Afterwards we could donate the funds to HybridZ. I've got a short block LT1 to donate to the cause, all we need now is a fancy stand to put it on, and a beefy electric motor. Maybe fab up a pull start for it...... Who wants to buy a tiny little moped engine when they can get an LT1 instead? Mike

Any metal that can't be welded to steel, except for lead

Copper would probably work as well, but brass has a higher melting point and is less likely to melt and contaminate the weld. I've used aluminum too. Pretty much any metal that can't be welded (by normal methods) to steel will work, but for me at least brass seems to be the best. Mike

That kinda figures. I'd feel pretty useless as well if I had to wear a work shirt with the words "cock" and "ram" on it. I don't think I could look anyone in the eye even, let alone perform customer service. Poor, shame-faced bastards..... Mike

That thing looks like it would eat SR20DET's and crap them out as little metal shavings in it's exhaust.

You mean like, Triceratops style? Cool

After some more thought, additional areodynamic aids: Delete side mirrors, or mount further forward on the fender ala Fairlady 432 style. Having them on either side of the windshield puts them directly in the path of the high pressure air that is trying to escape around the side of the car, moving them forward will put them in cleaner, lower pressure air for less resistance. Delete wipers, or have a small "pre spoiler" in front of the widshield to deflect the air over the windshield wipers. Fill in most, if not all of the vents in the cowl area as the air circulating in there will tend to create turbulance in front of the windshield. Use a small spoiler just in front of the rear hatch to break the airflow away from the rear body as it slopes down. Or leave the rear hatch as is and use a narrow spoiler in the rear to create downforce using all that air that flows down the hatch. A wide spoiler in the back would probably create more drag than you want. Something about the width of the rear hatch would probably be sufficient. Look at the rear of the Shelby Daytona Coupe for a good example. Make the wheels as flush with the edge of the fender as possible, and try to minimize the amout of gap between the tire and fender. A lot of drag is created by air entering the wheel wells and hitting the firewall or rear valance. Wheels with minimal openings would help here too. Notice how most of the guys running the salt flats use aluminum discs over the wheels? Narrow tires will be helpfull as well, even the frontal area of the tire counts towards drag. Dammit, now I wanna go over 200 mph too Mike

Just ordered a set of wamby jamby euro trash headlights off ebay. They have the cool bling bling diamond cuts, etc. I'll post results once I get them and have a chance to install them. Mike

Wow, I think I'd probably change my name, unless I was a porn star maybe. I've gotta ask, what were you searching for to find that site? Mike

I've been searching this subject for the past few days, but so far have yet to see anyone post who has used both the N42 head and the Maxima N47 head to give a comparisson. I'm looking for a new head to eventually put on my newly obtained junkyard queen 78 280z. I'd like to get some opinions from guys who have run both heads as to which one is better suited to use on a fairly stock motor. I'm not looking for 400rwhp, or the ability to run a 10 second 1/4 with the option of acheiving low earth orbit. I just want to raise the compression a little, using a mild cam from either Comp Cams or MSA (270ish duration). Something to make the drive to work a little more interesting, maybe kill a few honda's while I'm at it I can get the heads minus cam from the junkyard for $29, so I may end up getting both and using my Z as a rolling test platform if nothing else. Mike

That other link is too funny. I really like the fuel from water plans they sell. Makes the process of turning water into hydrogen and oxygen, then compressing the hydrogen for use as fuel seem pretty simple "Thousands of customers are already doing this in their backyards!" I also like the 350 HP fuel free engine made of plywood, I wonder how many rats are running in wheels inside that little box? Might make an interesting cantidate for an engine swap. Imagine showing up at the next MSA show, and opening your hood to expose your plywood box engine...... I suppose 3/4" plywood would be roughly equal to a 4 bolt main Mike

Check this out. I'm gonna keep laughing at this one until I see it on the dealers lot. Watch the video clip too, looks like the motor is on a special stand, probably connected to an electric motor somehow. That would account for the zero emissions level.... Anyway, just give it a look. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33620&item=7901703153&rd=1 Mike

It's for a 350Z. Marketed as the Fuzion hood, not sure who manufactures it, don't really care since they dont make one for a first gen Z. With a little re-shaping, I think this design would look awsome on an early Z, maybe try to incorperate the hood bulge into the design somehow. Mike

If you could make this in fiberglass for a 240Z, I'd be all over it like stink on pooh Mike

Found this on ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7902268669&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT The way it is written makes it sound like the 300zx Turbo CV shafts will bolt right up to a 240/260/280 providing that it has an R-200. I've been farting around on this board for a while now, and have never seen this before. Has anyone tried this? Is this seller smoking crack? IF so, will smoking the same crack allow me to use these CV shafts? Mike

I've never seen flux core stainless wire for the el cheapo mig units. I have a Campbell/Hausfield mig and the only stuff I can find for it is regular steel wire. I have a TIG setup at work though, so I can fit up stuff in my garage and take it to work to weld up. You could probably assemble the exhaust using sleeves and clamps from Auto Zone/ Pep Boys/ Kragen/ Etc. It might not look as good, but will still be extremely corrosion resistant, as well as "adjustable" for a perfect fit. I would definitely have the pipe right after the collector welded though, it would suck to have your new stainless exhaust dragging on the ground due to a loose exhaust clamp Mike

I like it. My only suggestion would be to make them flush on the outer edge of the fender, and tapered on the trailing edge so that it doesn't leave such an abrupt ending. Definitely keep us posted though, looks awsome, as always Mike

327 (3.25" stroke) crankshaft casting numbers: 1130, 4672 (forged steel, small main journal 1968-69) 3911001, 3941174 (cast nodular iron 1968-73) 350 (3.48" stroke) crankshaft casting numbers: 2690 (forged, 1968-75) 3932442 (cast nodular iron, 1968-85) 3941182, 1182 (forged, 1968-85) 400 (3.75" stroke) crankshaft casting numbers: 3951529 (cast nodular iron, 1970-80) If your crankshaft doesn't match any of these numbers, post the casting number and I'll see what I can dig up. Mike

A good way to control burn through is to clamp a chunk of brass flat stock to the back of your weld area. You'll be able to run longer beads, and they won't look like seagull poop on the other side when your done. Don't worry about welding the brass to the sheetmetal, it'll never happen. Just make sure to wire brush all the slag and contaminates off of the brass before you move it to the next weld area to prevent them from contaminating your next weld. This works really well for TIG as well, as it tends to trap the argon purge gas around the backside of the weld, your bead will look the same on both sides of the sheetmetal. Even though you won't actually be welding the brass, it will absorb quite a bit of heat, and will stay hot for a long time so make sure you wear heavy gloves when handling it. Mike