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HybridZ

IdfMF

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Posts posted by IdfMF

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

     

    IMG_9774-1.jpg

  5. No, but you can get them from Nissan and I think maybe that Ross sends them with his companion flanges, so you might not need to buy them separately.

     

    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

  6. 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!

  7. 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

  8. 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'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

  9. 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

  10. 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

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