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On the non-technical side, this is an interesting subject. I bought my Z, a 1972, in 1979. It was my first car and I was 17 years old when I bought it. I just turned 47 last week. My Z is now over 37 years old and I grew up around and own antique cars like Model T Fords. . It is interesting to think about the kind of cars that were 37 years old when my Z was built: 1935. The "antique cars" of those days were things like Model T, A and B Fords. In fact, the Model T had only been out of production for 8 years in 1935. Seems funny to think of our sleek, sexy Z cars in that antique crowd, but that does seem to be the case according the general auto parts world. That being said, I can by a brand new, reproduction gas tank for any of the Model Ts I own, but I cannot buy a brand new reproduction gas tank for my Z! Oh, the injustice! BTW, I really do need a good '72 240 gas tank if you now where I could get one. Here's to the Z Car Antique Nationals

ShaggyZ I have a 3.15 R200 LSD but am using a T5 World Class, Chevy 350 and 235R/50/16s. My engines power band, according to the cam spec is 1,500 RPM to 6,500 RPM. No dyno numbers yet, but I should be around 350 RWHP. No 1320 times yet Here's a comparison of gear ratios between the T5 and the R154 Gear: T5 R154 1 2.95 3.251 2 1.94 1.955 3 1.34 1.310 4 1.00 1.000 5 .63 .750 The T5 is bit tighter going from 1st to 2nd, but otherwise the gear patterns are pretty close. I LOVE having the 3.15 rear end. I can really take advantage of torque and am not constantly shifting. My combo is a blast to drive, mainly because I do not run out of gear too fast. I have seen videos posted on HybridZ where guys are doing 1-2 shifts almost as soon as they come off the line. Another plus is that I am not spinning tires when I stand on it in 2nd and 3rd. The Z just digs in and pulls. My car is mainly going to be street driven. I would think that as long as you do not build your engine to be too peaky and can still maintain good torque above 2,500 RPM, you will have a good combo with the 3.15. I broke the law last week and jumped on it from 35 mph in 2nd. I was shocked how fast I got to 120 mph in 4th with revs to spare. I guess the only complaint with the 3.15 is that the revs drop off a cliff going into 5th at anything below 75 mph. Have fun! Tom

Steve, Be careful buying a T5. A World Class T5 is highly desirable. If you find one, make sure that it has the ID tag on the transmission case. You can check out this website to verify that it's a World Class T5: http://www.5speeds.com/t5/ After much searching I found one, but in hindsight I would now go with a Tremec TKO 500 or TKO 600. D & D Performance has a good reputation for the TKOs: http://www.ddperformance.com/Tremec%20Trans.htm

I had these louvers punched in the hood in 1982. I had no idea that they were Scarab style. Maybe the photo can help get a hood a made. I think I paid $1/louver, but that was a long time ago. I can say that the louvers really help dissipate heat. Tom

I wish that I wasn't in such a rush to build my Gen I small block and get my 240 back on the road. For what I spent to get 400 HP with that engine, I could have bought that 515 HP LS3 for just a bit more $$. Oh well, there's always next time.

"....started thinking that I might try to upgrade that horrible looking rear suspension." I haven't swapped a 'Vette rear suspension, but what's so ugly about the 240Z rear suspension?

Thanks for the clarification on the 260 grill. Tom

JSM, The grill in the bottom photo is a 240Z grill. I just bought one from Greenmonster80. The grill in the upper photo has cutouts for the turn signals. It's 280 for sure and maybe a 260. Tom

I have MM's Z31 companion flanges and they did come with stub axle nuts and the hardware to bolt the companion flanges to the stub axles. Have you also considered buying the MM billet stub axles? I got those as well. Took forever to get them, but seem to be worth the wait. Tom

Gollum, Check out building materials yards. The places that sell sand, gravel and rocks. South Bay Materials in San Jose has one. I'll be going there this week. Tom

Let's support CarFan!

There's a set of 240Z seats on Ebay. Sales ends soon if you are interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DATSUN-240Z-ORIGINAL-early-pair-SEATS-including-bracket_W0QQitemZ230226890415QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230226890415 P.S. They are not mine! Tom

Speedo showed 130 mph in my 240. At that point, the driver's side windshield wiper popped up and scared the hell out of me! At that time the Z had a worked over NA L26 and 5 speed. I now have a very nice SBC + WC T5 and 3.15:1 R200 in the same car. Results from various speed versus rpm calculators give some very interesting results. I just got the Z back on the road after 17 years so I am still working out some bugs and haven't had a chance to probe the top end. The engine turns 1800 RPMs at about 70 mph in fifth!

For the cost of developing the cam drive and all the machine work, you could go this route: It can be yours for $6395.95 turnkey from Kar Kraft: http://www.karkraft.com/new_page_9.htm

Here's a better article that states Holley and 4 of it's affiliates filed for bankruptcy. No specific mention of ERSON. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a5ZlErkZqqfE&pid=20601103

Here's a short write up on Holley's bankruptcy. It's dated 2/11 http://www.topix.com/who/the-carburetors/2008/02/holley-maker-of-performance-carburetors-files-for-bankruptcy-protection

I worked with Bruce Couture at Modern Driveline to determine the setup that I mention in post #7. Give him a call and tell him what you want to do. I am very pleased with my results. http://www.moderndriveline.com/ BTW, I have to second what Terry says above getting measurements correct. I had my engine/tranny out 3 friggin times before I got the HTOB to release. My problems basically stemmed from trying to use an aftermarket flywheel with the pressure plate/clutch disk combo which I later found out was meant for a stock flywheel. Make sure all of your parts are meant to work together. The measurements are very easy to perform on the McLeod bearing. My McLeod unit is self-adjusting, so dealing with clutch wear should not be a big problem. Have fun, Tom

I'm not usually a 280ZX fan, but this one looks really cool. The airdam and ZGs really give it a tough appearance. I hope some one can identify the airdam. I may have to start looking for a ZX! Tom

I've now put some miles on the car and can say that my hydraulic T/O setup works really nice. Here's what I am using: Tilton 7/8" master cylinder McLeod 1300 Series hydraulic T/O bearing Customized Valeo pressure plate Custom Kevlar/Kevlar disk T5 World Class Pro 5.0 shifter Shift action is great and the power comes on in an incredibly smooth manner. I am very pleased with this combo of parts Tom

I have a McLeod hydraulic T/O installed with my Chev 350 and Borg Warner T5. The bearing uses steel braided lines for the bleed and feed lines. Both lines run neatly out of the opening where the old clutch fork used to be. Access to the bleed line is great. I've only driven the car with this bearing set up down the street a few times so I can't give a full account of how it works. So far, it's shifts really smooth. Tom

I think the Toyota Echo was inspired by this "object d'art"...

I'm really interested in the LQ4 swap after reading this article in Car Craft: http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_0705_chevrolet_ls2_l92_cylinder_heads/index.html Too bad I finished by SBC350 build before I read it. Tom

Check out this article in CarCraft. 550 HP LQ4 with L92 heads for $4900. Okay, it's not an LS, but for the money, WOW! http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_0705_chevrolet_ls2_l92_cylinder_heads/index.html

You may want to read this article which appears in today's San Jose Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7798076?source=rss Some key points to note is that the current, low quantity of HD DVD movie titles available are relatively expensive. Whatever format you choose may be obsolete in a year or so. That may leave you with a bunch of expensive DVDs that are only good for drinks coasters and useless DVD player. I am going to hold off on going the HD DVD route for now. I bought an OPPO DV-981 HD up-converting DVD player. This thing is absolutely amazing. Picture and sound quality embarrass $1000+ units and it cost $229! For that kind of money, I can wait until the HD format war is settled and I still have a killer DVD/CD/SACD/DVD audio player with the OPPO. Here's OPPO's URL: http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html Good luck. It's a frustrating time for consumers. I'm dying to upgrade the video portion of my home theater, but I know that prices will drop a whole bunch once the US completes the switch to ATSC. Tom

There were SOHC 16 valve heads made for the Ford Model T in the late 'Teens through late 1920's. A company called Craig-Hunt made one of the more well known heads. Nothin' new under Sun! Tom