Sparky

Yes, I'm under no delusion that my car is a "race" car. I wanted a way to vent underhood conditions with minimal aesthetic unpleasantness...I'm commanded by subtlety. Sorry to steal your thunder 240Z2NV, great minds do indeed track similarly I was actually robbing parts off of a 280Z in a junk yard when I saw a Honda CVCC covered in vines. I was reminiscing while thinking of ways to waste money on a CVCC project when I spotted the louvers on the hood...I immediately thought of my Z and where to put the louver...alla Z31 turbo. It's a bit of a homage to the Z31T my dad used to have.

Been meaning to post these pictures in this thread for awhile now. I'm hoping that my louvered vents will help evacuate hot air thats directly above the intake manifold and turbo as well as giving the pressurized air thats under the hood a place to escape. I don't have and hard evidence or data beyond my own observations, but it seems that the underhood temperatures are not as severe as the used to be. Eventually this summer I plan on sticking a temperature probe under there and finding out, as well as a string test at mid-highspeeds.

Daimler Sp250 ran a 153 Hemi (later versions had a 331 at some point in time IIRC) with two SU carbs "Stock." We had one in the shop for a while undergoing prep for vintage...freakish looking thing sometimes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_SP250

E85 is corrosive, if you convert a previously gasoline powered vehicle the E85 will basically clean or loosen dirt or buildup in the system causing debris to flow down the line. Swapping to E85 without first changing filters and cleaning out the fuel system is bound to cause problems. A proper swap would involve a complete fuel system tear down and inspection/replacement of all hoses, O-rings, Filters and tubes. With that in mind though, there are several high milage, original fuel system cars running E85 conversions with no modifications other than upping the fuel requirement and swapping out for a new filter. While I don't recommend this approach, research and testimonials have shown it to be valid. keep in mind that that your results may vary and you must ultimately make the final decision.

Man that sucks, I've been there before two different times with two different engines, Don't give up just yet! The last time I snapped a EZout or "guaranteed" broken bolt remover and then a Titanium 15$ drill bit I had almost given up hope when I remembered a little gem of a tool I had...a dremel with a small rounded head carbide material remover. I bought this little thing 10 years ago when I first got my dremel and it still cuts flawlessly. You can pick them up at most any tool retailer, just be sure to get the rounded head and not the squared off head, this makes a huge difference. Basically, your going to approach this as if you where drilling with a drill bit, let the carbide do the work by smoothing and leveling the surface of the bolt+bit that are stuck in the head. once the surface is level enough, start grinding away an indention in the center of the broken bits and then slowing start to grind your way straight down. This will take a while, maybe 1 hour before you get all the drill bit and what not out. after I had the extractor out, and a large enough hole drill in the broken bolt, I moved on to my other drill bits and ever so slowly drilled the hole larger in 1/8" increments until I had drilled all of it out. at this point you can asses what to do. you can try to extract the remaining bolt out (it may be so thin its now loose, or the heat finally got to it.) ( you may also try and saturate the hole you just drilled with penetrating oil and see if that helps.) or you can just keep drilling it larger until you can rethread the head in a larger bolt diameter. I took the last approach and just bought a metric tap one size larger than the other bolts. Just be incredibly carefull that you don't drill too deep. throw a piece of tape on the drill bit to mark your depth and pay attention. the last time I did this, the entire operation from manifold removal (just remove both and get all that junk out of the way) to getting it all back together was six hours. +/- and hour or two for breaks or lunch and general thoughts. one last thing to note. The shavings that the carbide produce are like tiny little metal needles. wear safety glasses and nitrile gloves if you have them, don't rub your eyes, don't blow the shavings around, do not taunt them in anyway. good luck!

Hmmm... Not only is that "Z" have a 4x4 suspension on it, but it appears as though it's either a 240Z with early 280Z bumpers on it, or a 280Z with 240 taillights? not only that but I swear those bumpers are mounted upside down AND backwards. I could be wrong on that last part...

woh thats cool, not that it really means anything but I used to have 5201..unfortunately that car was beyond repair and met the reciprocating end of my sawzall.

Well, I'm currently in San Diego, winding down from a long day. Heading to Tucson tomorrow and then back up to Phoenix to catch my flight out. If anyone of you Tucson Z'rs end up going out just give me a call that afternoon/evening. I think I should be getting into town around 4pm. I have a few things I need to do once I get there but should be totally free around 8 or 9pm. only two days left in this trip, then its off to Mexico a few days after I get back!

Well that was way too brief! Sorry I wasn't able to stay long, the group I was with and myself ended up going to a place called Long Wang's and then they wanted to go off to find Phoenix night life so I was outnumber 6-1. I was impressed with the quality and sheer numbers of the cars that were out tonight, very nice! Thanks to everyone I met, I will be back through Phoenix one day, and we will have to do this proper! I did get to briefly check out the twin cam car, very impressive, I don't know what I was initially expecting but from what I saw the "engineering" work is top notch I'm bummed that things went the way they did and wish I could have stuck around longer, but at least I made it out. Tomorrow Lompoc.

Well, I have the schedule half figured out, I don't even know why I bother sometimes, I know things are just going to get changed around in the last minute. I'm going to try to be free around 7-8pm saturday night so I can check out the show...how late do people normally stay out there? I'm going to leave it posted for the next day or two, hope to see you's guy's tomorrow night!

I figured as much, just hopeful thats all. It's not like Phoenix is dense enough to really support good pubic transportation, Just like here with 2 million people, it's so spread out that public transport is ineffective/inefficient. perhaps someday sprawl won't be king and re-densification of urban centers will give good case to public transport. If current trends in urban growth are any indication we might see such a thing happen in the next 50 years.

Very cool, I'll be sure to keep everyone informed. That would be cool, would love to see the franken Zed...

Looking good Gary, wish I had access to equipment and skilled family members! Are you going to bring one of your cars out to the pavillions this saturday? If you'd like to bring both just let me know, I would be more than happy to volunteer my driving services while in town.

I just pictured myself in a "Deathproof" type scene...errr It will be good to put some faces to the names I see on here regularly, once I get some more info wednesday night I will post it up here and we can get a bit more organized. How is the public transportation in Phoenix?

Chances are your going to need Items 7-9 on the Black Dragon page you linked. its possible that you could forego 7 and fabricate some patch sections your self if you have some metal fab skills. for the price though I would just buy it. I'm running ground control coilovers on my car with 225F/250R springs. I'm also running a slightly shorter tire which brings the car a little lower. 7 includes a bit of the inner rocker, the rest is NLA so you would have to fab up some sections to replace it, they are out of sight though so you don't have to be perfect when you make them.

well, it looks relatively complete for 1000$ I'm not the biggest fan of rust or rust repair so I tend to cringe when I see things like that. Good news is that most of the rusted out bits (at least the ones we can see) are available from MSA or Black Dragon. if you have the time and skill to do it yourself than by all means save it. also, given your location your choices are far and few between when compared with some of the southern states which increases this cars value and appeal. if your looking at paying someone else to do the repairs on the inner fenders, rockers, and hatch, if you supply the parts your probably looking at something between 1.5-2.5k now there is a huge variance simply because of the fact that some people charge more for good work, some people charge less for shitty work. what kind of work to you want done? Estimates will vary wildly on repairs like that from one shop to the next. Sometimes shops will give you high $ figures simply because they don't want to do the work. The key would be to find an enthusiast/hotrod shop that is willing to do the work because they appreciate your car and your situation. Because a shop like this is not interested in pounding out insurance work be prepared to WAIT for a long time to get your car back... be aware that its no longer a daily driver when it sits in the rod shop for 6 months. good luck

700+ ? your speaking my language now, I will mark that down in my little book. A get together in the LA area is going be tricky, I still don't know exactly what my schedule is or where I will be, night time is the right time though. I hope something works out. I might end up staying further south of LA in the Irvine area on wednesday night....or I might end up sleeping in a van. that would be cool, considering that it seems I get more rides in other peoples Z cars than my own its only fitting.

Woh! lots of replies, this is shaping up to be one heck of a trip! looks like I'll be going out to the Scottsdale show on Saturday the 1st...too bad I'll be in a rental Mini van! FWD burnouts! I would be down with grabbing a few drinks and something to eat in Tucson while I'm there, I'm not 100% sure when I'm going to get into town but it might be late, maybe around 8pm. either way though it sounds great. when I get my hotel information I will post it up so that maybe we can find something close, I might not have access to a car once I'm in Tucson. Too bad that the San Diego Z meeting is on Tuesday, looks like I'm going to miss that one.

Hey everyone, I'm going to be hitting up these areas and the places in between next week and am looking for some friendly advice on places to go, things to see. Naturally vintage car stuff would be cool, and some good live Jazz places (think Coltrane, Mingus, Rich, Davis, etc) would be extra primo good to see while im in LA. To break it down, my schedule goes like this: Saturday night - Phoenix, AZ Sunday night - Lompac, CA Monday night - Lompac, CA Tuesday night - Central LA, CA Wednesday night - Manhattan Beach, Ca Thursday night - La Jolla, CA Friday night, Tuscon, AZ The days are pretty much spoken for, but night time is all free, So if you can recommend car gatherings, live music joints, cool swanky bars or low key joints, and good places to eat (breakfast, lunch, dinner) that would be beyond helpful and much appreciated. any Z meetings or what not going on those days?

Congrats on the new toy, You know It might not look like 1 million bucks, but I love Zs like yours. flat black or bad paint, kinda cool old school wheels, a bit beat up, but packing heat. nothing says cool like a car that seems like a total POS but can lay the smack down when called upon. I would seriously consider leaving the exterior as is and just clean up the engine bay a bit, add mega-squirt, and intercooler and be done with it for a bit. Don't get all wide eyed when it comes to new paint and new interior and blah blah blah, just drive the thing and enjoy it. sweet deal eh!

http://www.tomitaku.com/works/tc24/index.html

The biggest you could fit is around 26" x 16" x ? core 36" wide with end tanks. now this would be sitting past the very ends of the front frame rails so you would have to lose the hood hinge torsion springs. it would also sit below your standard air damn opening. The thickness is a ? because that all just depends...you could probably fit a 5" core with those other dimensions. but why? it was already mentioned that biggest isn't the best. over all efficiency and pressure loss across the core should be calculated as well as your HP goals and the type of driving you will be doing/ what the car is going to be used for. The first 12" or so of the intercooler is where you see the most efficiency*, anything after that is just more cooling tubes before you cram the air into the intake manifold = pressure/flow loss. *IIRC if you want a giant intercooler just because, I will sell you mine.

wow, If I was in the area I would buy two of those cars pictures easy, I don't even need to inspect them to know they are worth more than 200$ each. It appears as thought there is a white 240z with a small 300xz ish turbo hood scoop on it in one of those pictures..could be just junk on top of the hood though. I would take that blue and white 240Z fo sho.

scam, through and through. don't do it.

3" DP to 3" mandrel bent to Dynomax 3" straight through. I consider it to be subtle enough to drive every day and on long distances, but throaty enough to satisfy when you romp on it. edit: ignore the sooty exhaust, was running a tad rich then eh