Sparky

thats all i use and it has given me 0 problems. strange, if i were you, I would just go buy a new computer. problem solved.

in order to see if the injectors are firing, do this: go to the store and buy 6 of the cheapest baby food in glass jars. feed the food to your girlfriend/mom/dog. one of them will like it. leaving the injectors on the rail, take the entire assembly off the intake manifold. put each injector in its own jar, and crank the sucker over. this will keep the fuel contained, and your will also get to see the spray pattern. once you see that all your injectors are fire properly (and i bet they are not) you can start trouble shooting from there.

ZOINKS! thats so nice....and on the old motor as well. im looking forward to hearing what your new numbers are. kick ass job!!!

out of the three auto fires Ive been involved in, they were all electrical. well, except that tiny little welding fire I managed to start last year...that was undercoating

hmmmm, Ya know, Im not normaly one to bash people, or even give my true opinions on some, but im going to have to agree with what yall are saying. I met him last year, and must say I was looking forward to it, until i actually did. hes on a mis-guided ego trip, and doesnt seem to like talking about any other way to do things besides "his way" aka "this is how i did it and thats the only right way." anywho, I was a bit upsetting, since i wanted to talk to a "turbo guru" about my new setup( and being very new into the turbo EFI thing, i was hoping it would be informative) but it turns out that later on I met some much nicer, much more informed turbo Z guys, and we exchanged ideas and what not. but anyway, thats the rumor I was going by (as far as 10% larger etc etc) was the one from his site. but it seems that its just a rumor and nothing more. James: Those manifolds look sweet. when are you going to start a run?

hey mike, I have not even come close to getting that diff apart yet, ive completely stripped the engine bay and front suspension, right now the springs are getting re-coated and all the misc bits are getting blasted and painted. im trying to clean the engine bay up as much as possible before i drop that purdy motor in there ( i should have just left it dirty !) Ill drop you a line soon, its kinda hectic around here right now with the GF moving away to cali...trying to say our goodbyes and get things sorted is alot of work. thanks John for the info. It looks like im just going to part the trans out. I really dont want to ship a trans that i would be lucky to get a bill for. so ill just keep the bell housing, and dump the rest on ebay in small chunks. thanks again for the info guys, I can always count on the HybridZ.org crew! laterZ

WOW! thanks for the replys everyone! im having an information overload im thinking of just painting it a nice single stage white, im trying to keep it nice and simple ya know. well see what happens . im shooting for a august time frame....only problem is, is that it will be here before i know it! thanks again.

hey gang, I have two 4 speeds in the garage right now, and was wondering what would be the best to use. the early 4-speed has the seperate bell housing and different gear selector, but the late 4-speed is a one peice unit (well, two peices really, just a one peice front section) I was wondering if there is a better 4 speed to use, and also if the early one is worth anything. thanks in advance!

hello everyone, Im about to dive deep into the world of "paint your own car". and i was wondering what book the experts recommend to get me started? I was looking at a couple at the bookstore the other day, but most of the publish dates are late 90's. I know that it hasnt changed that much, but i want to make sure the steps i take, and materials I use, are the most current. thanks in advance!

I have ground control coilovers on my 240 in a 225/250 rates. I love em! they can be a little harsh over certain inner city streets, but otherwise i have no complaints on those rates. i bought mine from ground control for 399. i bought my stainless brake and clutch lines from MSA for 60. bought my inserts from msa as well. they are KYBs (unfortunatly, my budget was running a bit lean, so i opted for the KYB inserts, next year i will by sectioning the struts for illumina 5-ways.) 170. bought my energy suspension master kit from suspension.com 157. im using toyota brakes up front for now, but as soon as the car gets back from the paint shop..i will be upgrading to the JSK brake package up front. toyota brakes 130. i also bought my sway bars from MSA..i think they were around 250 thats 1166$ not including shipping. damn, ive never added that up before, now im kinda upset! but the Z handles great!.... anywho, thats a nice setup for the street/occasional autoX.

ya know, Ive been lurking in this post for a while now and i just finally got a chance to sit down and take a close look at those pictures of the RB20 head. bore spacing is the same?! I seem to remember asking this several years ago, to several different people. (some self proclaimed "experts" on the RB) they ALL told me that bore spacing was not the same..."not even close" as i recall, and here are the pictures to prove it other wise. I am all for this idea, but Alot of people ask "why not just go RB?" well, to be able to mate an RB head to the Lseries block, would be really nice. but the "OH-SH1T" factor would be even nicer. all, think of replacement costs for parts. the L series bottom end parts of fairly cheap and easy to get. and if you could use the stock L series head gasket as well...that would be sweet. also, Alot of us aleady have tons of money invested in our L bottoms. from 3 liters to worked DSL cranks, to forged pistons. wouldnt it be nice to still be able to use all that stuff, And not have yet another engine lying in our garages or backyards under a tarp (you know who yall are ) I say go for it! And for TBS, please consider the two options you have as far as water passages and oil galleries go. Maybe instead of working JUST the head to bolt on to the block. A closer examination of the block and the head might just prove to be a great thing. Think about the possiblilty of being able to work just a little of the head....then working on the block a well. putting all that machine work, into a alum head, sounds risky to me. imagine if you will. your car slightly overheats while tuning...and you crack the water passage...or two or three...all because they where worked so damn much....they are all too thin. BUT, If you worked the block insteadyou could possibly save yourself and your wallet..from having to buy another head to have machined. this will greatly depend on the bore of the block (with 3+ liters, this might be impossible) but with a nice 2.4 liter...or the high rev 2.6 that was mentioned on another board (this is the one im dreaming about) it might be the perfect combo! now I know what your thinking! "but now the head gasket has changed" well...your right. But how hard would it be to design a custom gasket? and how much would it cost? probably alot less than some of the other ideas youve had thus far. anywho, just thought id chime in with my twocents (I figured everyone else already has, i might as well too! ) laterZ and good luck.

hey juan, Did you get my e-mail about the manifold spacer? or any other stuff i talked about, Just wondering how you felt about some of the ideas i dropped.

if you look at the back(hatch area) of a 240/260, then look at a 240 you can see the difference right away. you see, in a 240Z you can get the spare to sit below the metal surface of the hatch floor, But in the 280 the raised the spare tire well to make room for the redesigned tank, Thats why there is a false floor in the 280Zs (so the spare can fit, they just built a raised deck)to the best of my knowledge, The 240 tank will fit all models (240/260/280) but the later tanks will not fit the 240. maybe, you could cut out a spare tire well from a 260/240 and weld it inplace of the stock 280 well, then put in a 240/260 tank with a sump built in? I put a summit sump kit on mine, But its not near as nice as Brads kit. I happen to have a spare 240 tank thats a little banged up, But if you weld a sump kit onto it then you could hammer and pull the dents out. anywho, dont know if that helps at all

that movie with the valiant was called "DUEL". http://members.tripod.com/~DavidMann/facts.html awsome flick. It was really cool to see a valiant on the boobtube. Considering while in high school i drove the car that nobody knew what it was. My brave lil valiant. Anywho, I cant believe i forgot mad max as well! thats on my top five!

damn! how could I forget about DR2000! I even have that one on DVD. that movie is just crazy Lame. But oh so funny and cheezy. Frankenstien! Frankenstien!

lots of goos stuff mentioned guys, My favs in no order are. Two lane blacktop (james taylor rocks!) the DVD is really cool Ronin The italian job (old school minis are so cool) dirty mary crazy larry the California Kid cannonball run I and II speedzone Bumblegum rally bullit LeMans Jackie chans "who am I" ( lancer evo chase scene!) I know im missing some, And i think i might have gotten a name wrong. But these are my favs.

I did alot on my 240ZT, and now im working on the 73 i just bought. minimal is always good! your going for a sanitary look, While the white Jspec Z with the workwheels, and the J-spec super Z (the gunmetal grey car) are Extremes of this approach. But with a little work you can still have a nice clean looking Z. When doing something like this, You must consider if it hurt reliability of your car, Or if it makes it harder to repair in a crunch. so once you figure that out, You can go for it. when you take the engine out, sit on the cross member and look around. you will see many things you can move and remove. On my 240ZT, I bought a spot weld cutter and removed and bracket that was attached to the frame rail (specifically the old CARB feed and return lines.) i ran new fuel lines coming right up the firewall into a nice regulator, and ran the return right from the reg. This really cleans things up. If you take off your fender, You will notice that there is a channel that goes underneath them it runs from the firewall, to the front of the fender near the coil mount. On the drivers Side I ran all my FI wiring in the channel, I also put my Ballist resistor in there. This really cleans up as well. I also mounted my coil on the head where the Fuel pump should go. I ran all the wiring in a polished Alum tube that wraps around the head. (PS heat and vibration will kill coils.) But since i dont drive the car everyday, it doesnt really matter to me. I also cut apart the sleeving on my wiring harness, And move every relay, or Voltage reg or fusible link into a nice little box in the glove compartment. This also really cleaned up the frame rail. when you remove all those brackets, that leaves you with many holes where things used to be. I took a long while welding up all those little holes. Now on the 73 im working on now. Im removing ALL the wiring from the engine compartment. How am i doing this? well, Im running the main part of the harness (that goes to the headlights and such) through the fresh air intake system. I drilled a large hole in the passenger side plastic vent thing, and ran all my wiring through that it goes all the way to the front radiator support and out the fresh air intake. (you dont even know its there!) I sealed up the hole i made with a grommet and some sealer, that way the fresh air intake can still function as normal. On the drivers side im running all the wiring in the channel under the fender. Now your going to have to splice and add to the harness to make some things work. (drivers side lights) but you can do it. Its oh so easy. Once again the J-super Zs are extremes. I Made mine so that it wasnt impossible to work on, but still looked clean. But my next Z will be a super Z, I just need to get my degree first. laterZ

Im using a sparco sprint seat. it weighs next to nothing, And to save even more weight, you can remove the seat adjusters (just find where you like it and mount it solid) If you want to get creative, buy a full dash cover, then fabricate a alum tubing frame and mounting system and attach the cover to the frame, like brad mentioned, the dash is heavy. you would most certianly lose ten-15 pounds like that. Add in some autometer ultra lites and tach on the savings. make your own wiring harness! when i pulled the 240 harness out i was surprised at how much it weighed. If you made a simple 8 circuit system, It would probably save you 10 pounds...easy! the 70-72 doors are a good deal lighter, they are a different shape on the backside, but its nothing a welder and a cut up 280 door would be able to fix. fiberglass bumpers or no bumpers at all. Fab up your own radiator support out of steel tubing. be sure to cross drill your brake lines, and drain your blinker fluid! laterZ

I have a spot weld cutter from Eastwood CO. And must say thats its one handy lil tool. Sure does save alot of time. its nice to be able to cleanly remove brackets and such.

I use the early 280Z non-egr manifold. I mainly use it because its alot cleaner looking, But ALSO, because rumor has it that the runners are 10% longer. helping to add to the low end TQ. (thats just my understanding! dont flame me because i might be wrong. educate me!)

i second (or third or forth?) the comments on Pro Shops. no matter what the reason for your car being there, the always fark it up. I used to work for a very prominent Vintage race car shop here in town. They are very well respected, very well known, and very knowledgable. However, I could not believe the way they did business sometimes, to me, it was sickening. I lost all respect for the owners, and partners. While I dont know all the sides of that business, I feel that i know whats wrong and right in a business, as well as personall sense. thats why ive made up my mind that in five-six years I will be opening my own shop. Im not concerned about making big money, i just want to cover my costs and put a smile on the customers face. I want to be proud of my work, and have others be proud to show it off. Ive been ripped to many times in to many different ways. im going back to school this fall to finish out my business degree, and i will go right back into school for my M.E. after that i put the sparky business plan into effect. anywho, got a little off subject here, the moral of all the comments here: "Do as much work as possible yourself!" even if you have to buy a welder/saw/drill/compressor its all worth it in the end.

let me add my two cents here, they are all the same. did somebody say that already?

it will fit, the climate control system is the only major PITA. along with the entire dash board, you will have to change out the center console as well. you can still use the 280Z gauges, but you must swap the 280 gauge housings with the 240Z housings (different mounting points) be very carefull when you pull the gauge apart, the tach has some little pheonolic (sp?) isolators in them and if the fall out, and you put it back together without them, the tach will fry itself after a couple miles (ask me how i know! ) the heater core and valves are all the same from first gen to first gen, but the controls are a little different. you will have to swap some cables to get it to work correctly. Your going to have to re-wire the hazard switch, or put the big square 280 one somewhere else. Ive got a complete 280Z harness in my 240ZT, what i did was re-wire the old school 240 switches to work with the 280 harness, But i have seen people fabricate a mounting plate for all the 280 switches right above the fuse box cover plate on the center console. (just like where the mount in the 280.) one other thing, If im not mistaken, on the trans tunnel, there is a mount that the dash bolts to (shaped like a U) I believe that its a little wider in the 280Z VS 240, so you might have to cut that out and weld a 240 on in (or just modify the other to work with some spacers) just one more thing! the 240Z steering cover will not fit with the 280Z combo switches! the int. wiper control is slightly larger. you will have to modify the 280Z cover to fit the contours of the 240Z dash. anywho, hope this helps. oh....and good luck!

hey guys, ive been slowly working on mine for about a year now, (well, not really working on it, but planning too!!!! ) i went to the local metal supply shop and they let me take some scrap alum tubing for free. one day, i will weld the thing together and hook it up. here are some good links to some home made catch cans. http://www.integraxsi.orcon.net.nz/catchcan http://www.ls1info.com/article.php?sid=273

isnt the late 280Z alt. internaly regulated? do you think you would have to change the wiring at all using the max. alt. in a 280Z (or a 240z with 280 wiring.) ? I was thinking of switching to the one wire GM alt. but this sounds interesting. What are your opinions on the GM vs. the max alt.? ?