V8ZRACER260Z

Sorry my member name is V8ZRACER260Z try again

check out Hunter Kit Cars at http://www.hunterkitcars.com he builds cobra kit cars with C4 suspension and would be wiling to make a custom set up for you. I may be using him for my conversion to C4 suspension (front & rear). I'm waiting till after the Reynold's event to pull mine off the road for a few months to do the work. I'll post my progress on my picture trail link http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view hope I could help, Rick

Ditto on the centered fuel cell. this is how I ran my duals also,You can check them out on this link http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view I'll be redoing mine this summer with the vette suspension and will be sell ing the ones I have. Rick

The stock shifter will graze your knockles from time to time. I'm running a B&M billet for an 83 camaro from Jeg's. I works awsome and cost around $170.00. It was worth every $. Rick

I'll agree with Pete & Grumpy on this. I've built a 500hp motor and it will cost your soul and then some (about $5000.00 minimum to achieve that) There is no way in my opinion you can do this with those "Double Hump heads". Those are yesterdays tech and wont compare with todays aftermarket heads. Even with todays heads you still need alot of additional items to make 500 ponies! I would think with the specs on the motor you will be looking at a 300-350 hp motor at the most. Don't be fooled by a loud exhaust and a lumpy idle, even a 200 hp motor can do that. Let us know if you need more advise. Rick

That's true! I'd recommend a walnut shell or equivalent to strip away the paint & rust. It's much less caustic and will not leave deposits that will come back to haunt you down the road. This typically costs around $300-$400 here in Florida. Rick

I'm using the 215cc Iron Eagles with the straight plugs. Your choice will depend on your header selection. You'll love the iron eagles though Great Choice! Rick

If you are running a R200 rear you should have no problems. The R180 can be prone to failure. Check threads or use the search feature to find photos of these rearend to identify which one you have. Rick

I have a 30 gallon alluminum fuel cell with the filler behind the tag. I welded in a box to keep the fumes out and made a straight panel covered in carpet across the rear. This allowed me to run 2 1/2" out either side. I notched the rear valance to match the original location.

You should look into rinnung the down tube behind the dash. You will not have enough room to pull the dash out with the tubes in front. You have to slide the dash off the pedel mount which is a good 8-10". Putting the tube far enough back is not an option in my book. I plan on redoing my cage this summer from a 6 point to a full cage. I plan on running the tube down the "A" pillars and carfully notching the dash around them. This will allow me to run a cross bar behind the dash strengthing it. Another option is to make the down tubes a boltin item. Just my $.02 worth. Rick

You can E-mail me on any electrical questions and I'll will help you out. V8ZRACER260Z@netscape.net

Excellent job Ron!! very intimidating looking Z!!

Mine is also driven daily with the exception of broken parts & upgrades. Hey you know the saying "If you're going to play, expect to pay!" Mine has been a great daily driver over the years though and a V8 swap is highly recommended. Rick

What do you need to know about the wires? I have had the dash in and out several times. Most of the wires & plugs only go together one way. If you can give me specifics I can help you out. Rick

Unless your going to completely strip the engine compartment, And remove the doors & liftgate. I would not recommend a color change. If you do not do these things you will see the old color every time you open a door or your hood. I manage a large paint shop in Florida and color changes are not cheap if done correctly. This usually adds $500.00 to $1500. to the price of the job. Rick

I am using a Griffin and the above post is correct without a shroud the best radiator won't help. I noticed a 20 degree drop after installing mine. The car runs at 170-180 all day long. It does creep up to 185 on very hot days sitting in traffic, but I am working on this by installing two small 10" fans in front of the radiator with a higher thermo switch. But in answer to your question the Griffin is a great buy. Thanks Rick

The dash itself will bolt right in. I have a 76 280Z dash in my 74 260Z. You will have to work with the wiring harness though as this is different from year to year. Unless your good with wiring this is best left to a pro. Try to provide the electrician with a scematic from both years as these are old cars that they are likely not to have scematics on. Good luck! Rick

Welcome aboard Duff!! You found the right place. Rick

Your correct the stock oil pressure sending units will fail. I would reccomend hooking up a mech oil pressure guage and check for pressure. If it shows ok then install a permanent mech oil pressure guage (recommended) or you need a new sending unit. For me I don't rely on electrical guages. I use mechanical whenever possible. Rick

The ampmeter in the dash just shows if ther is a load on the system or not. It is not a good indicator of your charging system! The main problem is that your electrical charging has to run thru this ampmeter and if it goes out then you loose power. This is why you don't see ampmeters in newer cars. I recomend replaceing this with a voltmeter. The previous posts are correct, and you should have a standing voltage at the battery of 12-12.5v and with a properly working charging system between 14-14.5v depending on the system load. There are several alternators made that eliminate the trigger circuit. These are known as "one wire" alternators and only require a 8-10 guage wire run directly to the battery. Use a Hydrometer to test your batteries specific gravity also as alot of alternators are thought to be bad because of a dead cell in the battery. If the battery has good specific gravity and pasts a load test (the voltage should not drop below 10v under a 300amp load and then recover to 12v or better quickly). Another thing to check is for a voltage drop between the alternator and the battery. To accomplish this put on lead of a hand held voltmeter on the battery + post and the other lead on the alternator + post (the big wire on the alternator) now turn on your lights (this will put a load on the alt) You should not see a drop of more than a few 10ths of a volt. If you see more than this there is a bad connection or a bad wire fron the alt to the battery. Hope this helps you out. Rick

I am running the 215's with a comp cams xtreme 294 kit. I have a 750 Mech secondary on mine with the powerband of 2800-7000 rpm. If you are useing a 264 or 274 I would recommend the Holley 650 unless you go with a bigger cam and turn higher revs to take advantage of the 215 heads. Hopefully Grummyvette will give you some advise as well. Just my .02 worth.

If you can get a Haynes manual they have the wire diagrams for your car. What you will need to do is make a copy of this diagram. Now starting from the component ie Headlamp and trace back with a highlighter any circuits you will need, ie lighting, Starter, Oil Pressure Sending (if not useing an Mech guage), ect. Then when you have done this start at the Junction block and remove any of the non highlighted wires from the harness. Be careful to insulate any splice points or bare wire end against possible shorts. This should elimate alot of wires from your harness. At this time shorten or lengthen the remaining wires as needed, if unsure leave some extra wire, you can always trim later. Also if you are adding anything now is the time before you wrap up the harness. I used Mil spec harness clamps to hold the harness. These are the metal clamps with rubber around them. They can be bolted in or you can drill and tap the blind spots. Good luck and let me know if you need any more help. I did Avionics on F-18's for 5 years, worked at a Electrical Shop for 3 more, and have a father who is an Electronic Engineer. You can say I know a thing or two about wiring. Rick

Congrats on your purchase! I am running the Dart 215's also. You will love them! I am running the comp cams Xtreme Energy 294 cam split duration 519/523 lift. I would suggest a smaller cam with an automatic,but Grumpyvette knows MUCH more than me on parts selection!! The one I use has a very noticble lope. I mainly chose this cam & heads to bring my powerband up from idle-5500 Rpm to 2800-7000 Rpm. This to me keeps the car driveable at low rpms and a BLAST when you come up on 3000rpms. With my old set up the torque was breaking every part you could think of. A good way of finding those weak links in the driveline, but not a reliable daily driver.

Normally this function is accomplished by application of the E- Brake several times. I am assuming you still have the e-brake assy on the slave cylinder itself with out the cables. If the cables are still atached, remove the clevis pin where they attach to the lever protruding from the backing plate. Adjust the shoes out as far as you can and still put on the drums without force. Then take a screw driver and pry out on the lever where the cable attaches. This simulates the application of the E-Brake. You should here a ratcheting sound as the adjuster self adjusts to the drum. Keep doing this till the ratcheting stops. At this point the shoes should be adjusted. Now with out an E-Brake you will need to do this adjustment periodically to keep the rear brakes adjusted properly. You will notice increased pedal travel and a tendancy of the front brake to lock up first if the rear brakes are out of adjustment.Rick

In addition if your planning on turning past 5000 rpm I highly recomend a Fluid type dampner or you can find out the hard way like I did that a stock type dampner will blow apart. I use a Fluid Dampner on mine now for over two years with no problems and it sees 7000 Rpm on a regular basis. Rick