Armand

Mac, look at the first thread in this forum.

Well it's all mounted up. It's pretty solid but I can move the oil cooler a bit with a bit of force. There is no way it's going anywhere but I'd like to see how solid it is with everything warmed up.

Hey guys, I'm currently installing a 2nd generation RX-7 Oil Cooler on my 240z. I already made the brackets and waiting the paint to dry(ya ya, kind of too late to ask) but had a quick question. I've never taken any classes for anything fabrication/auto related, but I've just learned through reading books and the internet. Now I already fabbed up some simple 'L' brackets that attach to the radiator support. I used 16-gauge sheet metal for the brackets, and 8.8 grade hardware. My question for you guys is if 16-gauge steel would be strong enough for a pretty light oil cooler. Thanks in advance, -Armand

When it "coughs" does it make any abnormal sounds? If there is any high pitched whistling or even pinging you should check out all the gaskets from header to turbo or and turbo to downpipe. The turbo on my sr20 was doing the same thing a couple days ago and I tracked it down to that. It sounds like your problem is probably different if it isn't those making sounds.

Here you go, about 27 pages of wheels on Z's. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=124666

Nice find, I'm really liking those gauges.

Why would you go smaller in the front? Although several sports cars have staggered tire setups it is ideal to have the same tire width front/rear. I would say stick with the 225's all around.

Wow small world. When I was on the way to Burning Man from Los Angeles(about 3 hours north of Reno), we had stopped by a starbucks for a bathroom break. While we were there I heard of this guy talking about a 240z, I told him I had one as well, then he had some pictures of his car which is the ones above. He said he was running an SR20DET with over 800hp if I remember right. I was kinda stumped when i first told me that though.

That's a fantastic surprise. I have a quick question. I am 18 years old but I can't get classic car insurance because they don't allow to insure drivers at my age, even though I have no speeding tickets or accidents. I have standard Mercury insurance, would it still be possible for a regular car insurance company to appraise my car in person? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I need to have a long talk with my parents and figure out how every little thing works. Thank you for letting us know about this by the way. Like you said before, we invest quite a bit of our valuable time and money into these cars, and to know that if something does happen to it god forbid it's good to know we can at least get back all the money we invested in it, maybe more in your case.

I bought my 240z 2 years ago when I was 16 as well. I was lucky to find one in incredible condition that needed very minimal body work and zero rust repair. It was simply a matter of rebuilding the suspension, brakes, getting the electrical stuff to work, and a few minor cosmetic additions. The interior was pretty descent but I stripped it down anyway to add sound deadening/insulation as well as some interior upgrades/sound system. In these 2 years I've spent just about 8-9k excluding the sr20 swap. I've been always working minimum wage jobs since I was 15 until 18. As soon as I turned 18 and had a variety of new jobs available, I went into selling cars at a local Nissan dealership. I only worked there for about a month because 55-hour work weeks gave me absolutely no time to go out, study, work on my Z, or work out. So I quit and now I'm working as a waiter in a very nice restaurant, that pays quite well in tips(tax free!). Now working at the above jobs still isn't enough to pay off everything because I still pay for everything when I go out with friends, so I would make money by scalping lots and lots of tickets. I don't do it anymore but I would be able to get anywhere from 350 up to 800 on each concert, depending how popular it is. Yes it is technically illegal because it is not taxed money but whatever. When I was also 14/15, I was into hobby level gas powered r/c cars. I had a few sponsors under my belt, and I started making parts for my cars under the name AKRacingProducts. I made a good chunk of change through that, but then eventually the manufacturer of my trucks started making the same stuff outta china for literally half my price, and that was done with. For my engine swap, I don't have the ability to weld and am very poor with electrical work so I had Vildini do all the work. I payed for all the parts, and my parents were nice enough to pay for the labor. The only reason they would allow me to do such a thing is because I explained to them how with my old l28 w/ su carbs I was getting on average 12-14mpg, and this was my daily driver. If I was to drive about 35,000 miles with the sr20, the fuel savings alone would be enough to pay off the entire cost of the swap. I've driven about 1700 miles so far on the swap and saved just about 70 gallons of fuel. I'd say with the average cost around here of being $4.30 a gallon for 91, thats 300 bucks saved already. This is with about 23-24mpg on average, because I like to get on the boost here and there, but with my 3.7 ratio in the rear if I just stay off the boost 28mpg can easily be seen. I'm just saying all this because there are lots of things to consider with an engine swap. As far as money goes, there are always TONS of different ways you can easily make pretty damn good side money, you just have to be smart and figure them out.

I run 225/50/16 Falken Azeni 615's all around. I used to have Yokohoma AO32's, and bridgestone RE970 pole positions in 195/60/14. Out of all the Yokohoma probably had the most straightline traction but had extremely stiff sidewalls for the street. Doesn't matter really, they're discontinued. I absolutely adored the RE970's. They had excellent ride quality, response, very descent lateral traction, and wonderful wet traction. But then the SR20 came and I had to get something sticky, so I went with Azeni's mainly because they are a little over a 100 bucks a tire for some pretty damn good traction. I should have 230-ish rwhp and I can launch from 4k with zero wheelspin. Ride quality is very descent for a tire this sticky, heat resistance is top notch, and they do wear a bit quicker than most tires, but they're cheap and you can't beat the performance from a tire this cheap. I was looking at RE750's and similiar tires but they costed 30-50 bucks more per tire. Plus the Azeni's have a nice thread pattern that sorta shows you mean business.

Dude you should just add some guns to the fenders and some hidden rocket launchers and your car could totally be in a video game or something.(Like twisted metal for those of you who remember that) HAH

I'm a waiter at a restaurant called Mi Piacci. I also scalp lots of concert tickets for a good chunk of change on the side, and am currently starting my own electric bicycle business with my brother, which will become my full time job in about a month or two. We are still doing testing and R&D. So far we have over 3500 miles on our first prototype and we are currently building our second with several revisions. In our bike design we created our own case for our battery that features a handle, a power port, a charger port, and a 12v cigg lighter(meant to power head/tail lights), all covered in black felt. We will be selling these separately as well because there is a good amount of DIY'ers that build their own electric bikes. Website will be coming soon..

I quit selling cars at Nissan because the 55-hour weeks was just too much and recently got a new job as a waiter at a very fancy Italian restaurant and have been working there for almost 2 months now. Our plates start at around $22 so almost all of our customers are fairly wealthy individuals. There has been a slight but steady decline ever since I started working there. I used to be able to make $250+ on a single Friday/Saturday in tips alone, but with the business now Its more like 180-ish. I mean its still good money for a kid out of high school but it could be a lot better.

I'm in Calabasas in the San Fernando Valley, which is about 40 miles from Torrance, about an hour drive. If you're willing to drive I'll show you my car.

The worst that happens is if you take them to a track day and get them heated up really well the fake rivets can fall off.

You're talking about the stars on the wheel hubs? I dunno where you can buy them from, they came on the car when I bought it. I sold them though.

Here is my 240 with my old 14's. Those tires are 225's but they were more like the equivalent to today's 205's in width. Those were tokico hp's and really old eibach springs. And here was the cover shot of my car back in 1991:

Fantastic swap! I can't believe your one of the first that has done this in a Z car. Please post pics of updates!

Wow that green is AWESOME! Can't wait to see it fully assembled.

1971 Series 1 240z -SR20DET-(Stock turbo/ecu) -Full interior with 100 sq.ft. fatmat and auto-mat throughout. -8 speaker system, 2 amplifiers, rear MSA speaker box -Full Tank -Factory Heater system -Aftermarket seats(shed only 6lb's total) -Rota RB 16x8 +04 w/ 225/50/16 Falken Azeni's(each wheel weighs 16lb's) -Toyota 4x4 front brakes, 240sx rear disc brake setup. (seriously considering dropping the dough on the front wilwood setup, not because i need more braking power but dropping quite a few lb's of unsprung weight would be the best improvement at this point in the game. -3" Mild Steel Mandrel bent exhaust -300zx Turbo CLSD R200 w/ stock halfshafts -No spare tire(subs are in the wheel well) -Huge intercooler -Aluminum radiator That should be about it I think. So anyways with a full tank of gas this car came up to 2400 flat. I should easily be in the < or = 2200lb region with a completely stripped interior.

It's usually cheaper to buy a new wheel. Just think of it as an early birthday gift for yourself.

To be honest that's kinda dumb. Sorry mods, but I don't see why people like myself can't look to the members of Hybrid Z for answers to every section of my car. Sure, I agree I wouldn't like to see fiberglass enclosures taking up the entire trunk of an S30 with 4 subs/amps, but simple questions like the quoted thread is harmless. Nothing wrong with having a kickass Z with a cd player.

So is the BD kit different from the Precision kit? I desperately want new door seals but want to purchase something I know will work well. These Precision door seals suck ASS, they don't even seal the top of my door frame in some spots.