ShaggyZ

No idea, but I do wonder why he recommended a downflow. Did he explain?

You just told piston "every word you said makes perfect sense to me." That's the second time two opposing thoughts have been posed and you agree completely with both.

The I6 being a "balanced" motor has nothing to do with the twisting forces.

Otherwise known as chicken strips.

Cool! Looks like you're using the S300SX 83-75. I've been strongly considering it, too. Would love to know how it works out. Can't figure out your engine mounts. What's going on there?

Perhaps the most thorough coverage of these new turbos is at Full Race - http://www.full-race...efr-turbos.html The turbochargers have been completely redesigned with some pretty cool features that, if truly functional, may justify the ~$1500 price tag. They all come with integrated Boost Control Solenoids and speed sensor ports; many of them come with well-designed integral wastegates, and the actuators bolt to the center housing instead of the compressor housing so you can spin the housing to just about any rotation you need; integrated by-pass valve (ie recirculating blow-off valve). They say these features are actually useful and efficient even in high horsepower applications and have OEM/high quality durability. I'm intrigued. I did a search for EFR and came up empty.

Did you mean to post a link to your album? That's just one picture and we can't get to the rest. EDIT: and this is nicer...

Maybe. The I4 600's are very peaky, moreso than the liter bikes, generally. It's like "no power, no power, 5k rpm, no power, 8k rpm, some power, 9k, BAM!" It goes from boring to ridiculous real quick. There are some exceptions, kinda, like the '09 Ninja ZX6R; it's gained a reputation for having great power across the band. Obviously, I'm a twin fan, especially as a street-ridden bike; very tractable power. I don't mean to slam anyone here or try to "win." I've been in motorcycle land for 7 years and have ridden several different bikes on street and track and am hoping to give you guys a good perspective on what these bikes are like. I'll make the comparison again: R1 for most people is like driving around in a super peaky 1200HP Supra - they have no intentions of putting its handling to work (real riding in my opinion) and all that power can rarely be used but no one can convince them they'd probably enjoy a 200HP Miata instead.. and they would.

Have you ever revved an engine with the hood open and seen the engine twist one way? Imagine how much more twisting force there is when more than the engine's own weight (including the clutch and flywheel) resisting the increase in engine speed. I think the tranny mount does very little to resist the twisting.

Wow! Isn't that a triple? Those things are monsters!

You're not exactly wrong, but my insurance on the R1 was $1100/year with the same coverage (not minimum) as my SV at $300/year. I'm 31 w/ wife and 2 kids and a clean record. It's hard to talk insurance value since there are so many variables but that should tell you something. The R1 is a very bad choice for a first bike; just because lots of guys have done it doesn't make it a good idea. Another thing to consider: I have far more fun riding my SV as fast as I do than riding the R1 even a little faster, and I think a lot of that has to do with being able to whack the throttle wide open (kinda) on the SV compared to the R1. Would you rather drive around in a 700HP Z than a 300HP Z? That's not an unreasonable comparison since an SV is about as fast as the 300HP Z and the R1 is about as fast as the 700HP Z. You're doing nearly 60mph before you even get to take advantage of the R1's power. I'm not kidding myself: I don't expect you or anyone else to "downgrade" to a bike that makes sense for your riding. If you jumped on a stock-suspended SV from your R1, you'd think they were garbage, unrefined, and clunky. You'd likely grow to love it. For what it's worth, I really want a Triumph Daytona 675. Those have great powerbands for street and track.

My .02 not answering the question - I just sold a '06 R1 i had for a year because it is not nearly as fun on the street as I was hoping. Sure, it's cool, it sounds awesome, and is way fast, but my SV650 is just as fast until about 60mph and is way easier to ride. The only place the R1 shines over my SV is in passing and approaching/exceeding triple digit speeds. I've had it out in the Hill Country here and found those few moments of blistering acceleration didn't outweigh the insurance or fuel costs... or worrying about theft. For reference, I bought my first bike 7 years ago, a 2003 SV650S. I've put 37k miles on it, crashed it several times, upgraded suspension, and am about to begin my novice racing season on it. I smoke dudes on R1's and every other bike all the time on the track and I keep up just fine with my liter bike-riding friends in town and on country rides; that irritates them. It'll take you from beginner rider to the end. It teaches you to rely on your riding ability and improving it rather than on the sheer HP of the bike. But maybe you're just looking it to pose. To kinda answer the question. The chain is a good place to start - look for stiff links and rust. Ask about oil changes, check the exterior appearance of the filter and the cleanliness of the oil through the site glass. Take a look at the second trip meter and see if the distance looks like the guy has been using it to measure since the last time the oil was changed. Ask where it's been serviced. Check the brake fluid color and pad life. Twist the throttle and make sure it returns smoothly and quickly with a snap. As with anything else, make sure the title is clean and clear and mileage matches the cluster. Thought of another one - do a little probing to see what kinda group the guy hangs out with. Maybe ask him to start it up and see if he revs it with a cold engine; he should just start it and let it idle on its own. All the SS bikes ridden on the street tend to get beat on; I'm more afraid to buy a SS street bike than one that's been through a race season.

Heard a similar noise on my wife's '97 Corolla. Went on for months. I finally jacked up the car and spun the wheel but the sound didn't happen. A couple weeks later, I took off the wheel for something else and decided to pry out some little rocks in the tread. No more clicking. It really sounded like a click of bearings or something else, but not rocks.

My .02 - I've finally come to understand turbo response is more important than when in the RPM range it begins to spool, unless you're making just a drag car. The turbo I choose will be based on that.

Really? Seems like someone said that awhile back but then someone who works at Nissan said they went NLA about 5 years back... or something. That would be great if they were still available.

The '81 280ZX Turbo is automatic and is not a R180.

Took me 2x to catch that.

I have a 3.15 LSD R200 I bought awhile back but haven't installed. Not totally sure I want to let it go, and it isn't cheap.

Yep, I haven't done crap with this project. In March 2010, I went from working almost 30hrs/week from home to about 8 and that don't pay the bills for a family of 3. I got a real job, a good job in June and we're climbing back out of minor debt and medical bills from our now-2yr old daughter and the birth of her sister a few months ago. I've also been investing a lot of time and my little play money in motorcycles and getting my racing license; not a real good idea when you got a family but my wife encourages me to do so. The car has been sitting in the garage and becoming a shelf and it is really sad. Since starting my job, I've had a 35 minute commute in the morning and 45 minute in the evening and I come across cool-sounding cars occasionally that inspire me slightly. A couple weeks ago, I was riding in my friend's LQ4-swapped Chevy pickup and we raced a built Honda Civic hatchback and totally killed it; something about that made me really want to get off my butt and either sell the Z or get to work on it. For now, I'm determined to start work on it again. I visited the metal-supply place today to pick out some engine/tranny mount materials and I have on my to-do list to start constructing some of my old design ideas out of cardboard. Thinking solid motor mounts or merely isolated by a square of one of my track takeoff motorcycle tires so some of the high frequency vibes will be absorbed... maybe. I don't know what I'm doing but I plan to learn the hard way! The motor mounts may consist of 2"x2" 11ga. square carbon steel tube welded to and coming nearly 90° out from metal plates that bolt to the engine in the stock position; these tubes will extend to the top of the frame rails where they will rest either on and bolt to more steel laid flat (maybe angled as much as 30°) on the frame rails. Two concerns: 1.) I don't trust welded materials if I've seen them welded versus materials that show up welded (weird thing I have) and 2.) driveline angles! It was a pleasant surprise the metal I need for the initial part comes out to only $11 so it looks like all my mount materials could be less than $50. Next update will hopefully be within a few weeks.

Sweet, dude! Would love to see how you did the mounts and know your method to align everything.

Thanks, John. That is helpful to hear from you, but I'm looking for something specific. I guess no one here has pointed an infrared thermometer or otherwise measured temps around on a radiator. The Z radiator is so easy to get to compared to my other two cars (near impossible to get everywhere) but it's not together so I can't test it myself.

Do you have pictures of your own work? I don't care if they're ugly.

Can you expound on the weights? I'd like to know what exactly was on the car at both weigh-ins (e.g bumpers, interiors, wiring).

That all sounds good. Obviously, it's your opinion but I mostly agree with it. As far as the 2JZ is concerned, I think it's worth mentioning and has been before, that the weight is negligible in comparison to the L28ET largely because the 2JZ will likely be set much further back than the stock arrangement. The car will theoretically still be very well balanced, which I understand to be much more important than overall weight. I'm still struggling between 2JZGTE and L28ET even though the 2JZ is already sitting in my engine bay (need to build mounts, which are my real hangup). The L28 will do exactly what I need it to but I've seen too many stories of blown transmissions and piston issues with the L28 at ~300HP; I wanna set it and forget it and, if tuned right, the 2JZ in stock form and the stock R154 will do exactly that nearly forever. EDIT: and just found the following quote in a build thread. I'm not sure what exactly the included items were in each weigh-in; maybe he had bumpers at first and not now or what.

I don't know anything about fluid dynamics or whatever one would need to know about how the coolant (or air) would flow in a radiator (or intercooler). In my head, I don't see how the fluid can move down the end tank (thinking side tanks, not top/bottom) uniformly in such a way that the entire radiator would be used. Seems like there'd be a lot of comparatively slow-flowing (or stagnant) areas. Am I wrong? I'd love to see test results using a thermometer gun on 6 sections of the radiator to see which tubes are getting the most heat and which are radiating the most by the end. Obviously, it would be great to see someone post results from one them fancy fluid software programs. I've seen one here for a few intercooler designs. I've thought about running two smaller radiators or a single radiator with custom end tanks so it acts like two and then running Y-splitters to and from the engine.