lesd

35 psi with about 20 psi turbine side back pressure will give you about 500 hp Reading off PSI numbers is almost like kids looking at the speedo in a car and rating it's top speed by what the dial says while parked. -Les

Ross must be swamped now. I put two emails into his company with the answers to the questions he had for me , but no response. Maybe he does not like my car ? Even a short email back, like " Got it, stand by a bit" would be curtious and polite. -Les

Anyone know a place to get a 200-R4 in southern California? I really like that overdrive ratio. I don't want to be one of the old school hod rod drivers on the freeway puting along at 65 mph on a long trip with all the house wives passing you in modern cars. There has to be a nice tranny shop in Los Angeles somewhere... -Les

Modern motorsports cobra brake kit with some 5 lug hubs. I have the money, but the business seems to be non-responsive.

I'm sold on the idea of using Cobra brakes. But my dilemma is where to get a kit for the install ? I would prefer to buy a complete kit from someone. Modern motorsports seems to be overworked and VERY hard to get a dialog with, so is there anyone else ? I need 4.5 inch 5 lugs as well. And coil overs. I want the hand brake and dust seals, so the Arizona z car kit is a 2nd choice for me. I have money and want to purchase. It's a bit depressing how you can't get parts for these cars anymore. Geeze. -Les

Ross, I responded with some details of my project a couple of days ago. I hope you can have a look see at my needs soon, I want to order parts now. -Les

So far no response from Modern Motorsports. I'm looking to order $2Kto $3K of stuff from someplace, I wanted to get availibility and suggestions from Ross, but no luck so far. Is Modern still ' above the ground' as they say in Iraq ? Can someone mail me a number ? I like the Cobra disk brakes deal, it even has a hand brake... -Les

I really want to order a bunch of parts in the next 2 days. Ross has not responded yet to my email sent via his web site. Hello, Ross, please email me so we can talk ! -Les

Anyone have a phone # for Modern? Searched the Internet, people seem to complain that they don't answer email very well. I sent one yesterday. Website lists no phone number. Or address! I'm not into the 'click here to order' style of business for things other than computer hardware. -Les

Thanks for the info, Mike. What companies might I ask to provide such a 'complete' set of parts? The coil overs can be separated, but I'd like the hubs, CV stuff and brakes to come from someone who knows they will all be compatible, etc. -Les

Nice project car! ( mine's black too.) I'm in Los Angeles. I'd be fun to hang with some other Z people, count me in as well. Mine runs, with an old Scarab 327 conversion, but I have an LT1 on an engine stand, waiting for me to attack it. Problem is, the day job is sapping all of my energy right now. Spring time and a couple of cases of red bull should get things going -Les

I've been searching around for a few days, and am still a bit foggy on this. I want to switch to coil overs, 5 lug and CV hubs at the same time to avoid buying parts that won't work together. I have an R200 in my '73 . Does anyone sell a parts kit together? I'd feel more comfortable to get everything from one outfit. Doing this all at the same time lets me switch wheels at the same time also, avoiding the cost of gradual upgrades. I want to avoid the 'leftover parts' syndrome Please, can someone point me to a company who can cover this? Thanks! -Les '73 240Z , 327 chevy.

You guys really know your cams ! Can someone help me out and make a couple of cam suggestions for a LT1 with stock Aluminum heads and 8.5 CR ( turbo motor build ) ? Revs will be limited to under 6000. Boost target is 12 - 15 PSI. 42lb injectors, after market computer. Low stall speed , street car. Thanks a bunch! -Les

I'd love to simulate that bar as well. I am learning Inventor Pro right now, for a project at work. I am hoping to make a model of the Z in sheet metal, and 'try out things' with it. It will be tricky I think, to combine sheet metal elements with some frame rails, while keeping it workable for the stress analysis portion of the software. As you can see from the connecting rod a few posts above, the program has the ability to show you where the highest loads are. It can also show you an exaggerated view of the parts deformed under the stress of the load. I don't have to make an exact model of the car, just something that is structurally similar. So it may not look like a Z , but the fenders , inner fenders and frame rails need to be in the right places. Unfortunately the models of the Z car that I've seen so far are just external skin representations only. Have to make something more suitable for engineering purposes. -Les

I am learning Inventor Pro. So far I have figured out some basic modeling and how to do the stress analysis on it. The deformation simulation is pretty cool! Anyone know how to model an object in sheet metal? Do I have to make the planes have some thickness, or is there a way to just add thickness to the model after I am done with the basic shape ? I want to model the front clip of my Z so I can strengthen the chassis with more knowledge of the subframe connector needs, etc. -Les

Tony, no need to tell me the great things about diesel, I drive a TDI VW that goes over 700 miles between fillups. It's my daily driver. Better than hybrid type mileage. Here is the deal, I do know that some people get diesel cars , rip out the diesel, and install a hi-po gasser in there. It's a common scam. They just want to avoid the smog inspection. Also, Diesels weigh a bunch.

Hi Hugh, I don't know if Inventor Professional can do this, but what I can see doing is modeling the firewall forwards in 'skins' or sheet metal if they implement that. It would not matter if compound curves and surfaces were not all that accurate really, because it would still be very interesting to do a stress analysis of the unibody. We could then try adding braces and struts in some of the popular locations and see how the car and it's sub frame can be made stronger for todays high torque engines. Heck, even if the fenders were modeled in a simple extruded upside down 'J' section, with a cutout for the wheel, it would be a good 1st approximation of how the loads are distributed. To many here, I think that this may be as interesting as the wind tunnel tests on the car. If one searches for "sub frame connector" you can see many variations of stiffening methods. Can objects made from thin mesh type models be stress analyzed with Inventor Professional ? I'd learn it for just that purpose, I think! -Les

How do they define running on e85 'exclusive' , I wonder. With my fuel system, I could program it to different maps without a problem. They know people can rejet as soon as the inspection is over as well. Then again, I don't have smog issues with my car anyhow. -L

Yes. I'm not sure what the details are, but they can do that here. A bunch of kids were getting killed a couple of years ago, so along came this law. Maybe it is regional. I'm in So. CA.

Nice work on the CAD models ! What software did the stress simulation on that rod ? Can it do stress analysis on the 240Z chassis so we can take some of the guess work out of all the subframe strengthening projects ! That would be too cool! I'm not very CAD savy yet. I did some work with Rhino cad before. -Les

Tony, I believe the 'spirit' of the diesel swap, if you will, is to not have to get the smog checks from then on. Legal ? Certainly not if you are hot rodding around in Cali. and a cop pulls you over, he may ask to pop the hood, to see if it has a modified engine. If at that time you have a 'gasser' installed you are in *big* trouble. What's the fine for tampering with smog here in Cali. anyways, wasn't it up to $25,000 ? I'm a bit worried about the new law that lets them take away your car and crush it, if caught 'street racing'. I wonder how much that law has been used ? -Les

I live in Southern California. I flew up to Sacramento and rented a car, drove another 2 hrs to get mine. Drove it home at night with no tail lights ! The can has pretty much zero rust as far as I can tell. Oh, it came with the 1964 327 in it, and a BAR sticker to boot. -Les

I agree, under many circumstances it is not easy to beat GM for power. GM spends millions of $ on their engine management. They do a lot of cool things in engine control that the 3rd party guys don't need to consider because they aren't smog or millage driven. For example, GM watches the crank shaft velocity to help balance cylinder firing. They also watch the ABS sensors on the wheels to see if a rough road is causing the deviation in the crank velocity. They tune the knock control with careful signal processing to identify cylinder knock and retard just that cylinder. Even more advanced: they can modulate the injector pulses to purposely change the crank velocity and make a good estimation of A/F ratio independent of the O2 sensors ! Most of this is ODB2 related, but they impress the hell out of me. I could have gone with LT1edit, a tuner program for GM ecm's, but they only seem to support forced induction motors in a primitive way from what I could tell.

Ron, Thanks so much for your response. Indeed I did not see your response to my earlier email questions trying to find some leads in Maps, etc, for a Wolf 3d. I will email you directly soon. I apologize for sounding angry, I didn't mean to offend anyone. I have studied the Wolf 3d a lot, and think it has a lot of great features. I have the previous generation, V4, but it still looks better that the megasquirt as far as a robust system. It's funny how a lot of engine management systems are from AU! Bright Lads! I lived there when I was a kid, very 'practical minded people' I'd say. I think it would be interesting to the competition if Innovate would do a EMS. I started to write some micro controller code for an EMS a couple of years ago, but the devil *is* in the details, for sure! Wolf should consider making a user forum, like Innovate has, for tuners and users to share information. Now that AEM is combined with Wolf ( True?) , how do they differentiate the products?

I've searched and searched, but it seems that Wolf 3d is targeted for import motors. I've been hoping for a guide for timing maps as a starting point for getting the engine running. I know it's a mortal sin to hand out a EMS map to a person for fear they will not tune it and blow an engine and bad mouth the EMS company. Wolf seems to not have any dealers in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a few car enthusiasts,, I'm a bit surprised by this... I emailed Wolf in AU, after I told them where I was I think they were embarrassed that they have no support in LA. I'm not worried about tuning the fuel map, the innovate Wide band should help a lot. But the spark map is a little more tricky. Anyone have a 'stock' timing map for an LT1 ? I can use that as a start. The version 4 Wolf I got from another car to use in my project does look like it has a good set of features. They are a little muddy about the closed loop with wide band settings. FAST ems lets you adjust the fuel map with a quick tap on the keyboard based on the wide band reading and what you want the AFR to read at any given fuel map position.