aviatorx

Seems to be a few of us ex-military trained types here: Mother Rucker 1984, Commercial rotorcraft-helicopter w/ instrumet privledges, Huey, Cobra & Loach ex-Cav and plenty of ass/trash time flying Part 135 in the NE before settling into the midwest.

great restoration! Same color as my old '73...... but without the 2400 lbs of rust .... Very nice, and something to be proud of.

MRE's back when they were first issued. But as Army aviators we soon learned about the effects of the soon developed internal gas and altitude! It's all fun when the fart contest begins at 5000'.... but quickly ends when someone sh*ts their pants and ruins it for everyone else. They eventually figured out that the more gaseuos producing MRE's were not to be issued to aviation units .... good times Great story

Unfortunately, rack bushings are no longer available but can be manufactured by your favorite machinist - but that isn't the problem you described. Look at the diameter of the OEM steering wheel - it's huge! It's designed that way to help overcome the forces required to move the front wheels in an unassisted rack and pinion set up. The only way to truely get 'better' low speed steering is to upgrade to a power rack, and that has been done and documented here at HybridZ. Worn rack bushings would exhibit themselves as front end wobble at higher speeds, and even then you have a better chance of feeling worn outer / inner rod ends before a worn rack bushing. It is too bad that the rack & pinion rebuild kits are NLA, though .....

http://www.blackdragonauto.com

...never go higher than you're willing to fall

Do you have a vacuum autoclave to be able to properly set the prepreg? There probably isn't alot of aftermarket availability on prepreg sheet (carbon or arimid) but try http://www.torayusa.com/tca/products/prepreg.htm and see if you can locate a local rep who might help you out?

it looks like the California Z kit from JCR

Mine simply refers to a former occupation as a helicopter test pilot in the US Army

a core plug with a remote pressure gauge to see if you are really boosting coolant? Strapping or screwing a fixture to keep the plugs is only a temporary fix if you have a pressure leak into the block, so why not (in the interest of pure science if nothing else) confirm or disprove a possible head leak by monitoring the colant pressure? Otherwise, throw in a radiator cap with a lower blow off rating. If it's a reoccurring problem, there is certainly something that is constant that needs to be addressed...no?

The rails are hollow over the full length. An even older trick was to use a combination of oil and wax to coat hidden body channels for rust protection - this was before asphalt types of undercoating were developed. Provided both rust proofing and sound deadening attributes, but tended to slowly melt away .......

http://www.rsphysse.anu.edu.au/~amh110/16_valve_turbo_volvo.htm The B234F 16 valve head was highly sought after by the Merkur crowd, and has also been used as a high flow head for other Volvo turbo conversionss. The Ford application is not a direct bolt on job, but the power gains are reportedly great. The link above shows some turbo conversions on Volvo B230 blocks .....might be an interesting conversion into a Z. Come to think of it.... I'm driving a '90 Volvo 740GLE wagon with a B234F 16 valve head right now! Here's one conversion: http://www.sounddomain.com/id/qwikxr Let us know how it goes

OK.....my mistake for falling into the trap I should have put "what Bush has reputedly done ..." in that last paragraph, but the point was made that the Heinz holdings have no relavence to the outsourcing comment.

no offense - but none of those manufacturing sites export back into the USA. This isn't outsourcing.....it's global business. Now if those products were to come back to the domestic market at prices that undercut N.A. suppliers due to a foreign labor cost advantage, you'd have a leg to stand on. What Bush has done is given tax credit to companies that have exported manufacturing jobs offshore and then import the manufactured goods into the US - BIG difference.

The list could be as short as transmission, clutch master and slave cylinders, new pedal box, flywheel and clutch asembly, and finally driveshaft. Another route could be the entire engine and tranny out of your favorite wrecking yard queen - to include all the above items and: accessories and plumbing, ecu and wiring, perhaps an R-200 rear end.... the skys the limit. As far as what fits what - any first gen series 4 speed and zx 5 speed tranny will mate to the bell housing. Driveshafts are not always interchangable, so search for threads on that issue as it has been well covered and documented. ...have you thought about swapping in a turbo motor and trans from a ZX?

yup....essentially a trade off of a small camber control surface to a very large one that sometimes also incorporates differential (stabilator) control for increased roll authority.....cool stuff!

Conventional subsonic aircraft, have fixed tail surfaces, which have hinged elevators at the rear to control pitch. Supersonic aircraft however are fitted with all-moving "flying" or slab tail surface. This is where the whole horizontal stabilizer fins are able to move at an incidence relative to the aircrafts fuselage. (The T tail is one of such design- but think F-15 for a good example)) The advantage of this design is that in supersonic airflow, changes in camber do not significantly effect the lift (compressibility in the supersonic airflow will keep a hindged device - like a trailing elevator on a fixed horizontal stabilizer- from moving. Deflection of the hinged elevator on subsonic aircraft does produce a lift, because the angle of attack is effectively being changed. Supersonic airflow can readily negotiate the sharp inclination of the slab tail surface, and a further advantage is that there is less drag than on the camber surface. The control force is also greater with the slab tail design, it helps to avoid stall of the tailplane in violent maneuvers.

....the fix (then) was the incorporation of the flying tail.

Meigs is closed forever, and is in the process of being converted into a lakefront park in loving memory of the current Mayor........ Regarding the F-86 - I'm a seriously subsonic guy!

....functional armament would be highly frowned upon. There are a lot of warbirds flying around the Chicago area, even some Korean vintage jets (one absolutely gorgeous F-86 with polished skin) and ex-soviet jet trainers. You could probably pick up a T-6 Texan in flyable condition for the price of an inexpensive house (or expensive car!) and have something classic looking that's aerobatic to boot.... Personally, I'd like a Beechcraft V-35 with the turboprop conversion - would make for a nice all weather cruiser.

...over 3000 hrs in helicopters (Master Army Aviator) ~1200 in airplanes of various types - all over a 25 year period, and some of that time is as a commercial pilot in an air taxi/aerial photo/part 135 operation. Phantom's experience would be radically different than mine - he flew 'em high and fast (I'm assuming F-4's?)..... nearly all my helicopter time is as a Cav pilot between the trees (AH-1/OH-6/UH-1) and forms the bulk of my experience. Unfortunately, commercial piloting bores me by comparison.....

Retired Army Aviator

NOTHING looks better than a Talbot mirror! http://www.alfacybersite.com/ACSTalbo.html

Several threads since this one have been written on the lack of any further response from Showcars regarding any replacement of my g-nose. In short - shop elswhere unless you really, really, REALLY have to have that look and are prepared to put at least another $500 into correcting their shabby work and poor fit. I've put my nose on the back burner while I focus on the chassis and suspension... that g-nose will be one of the last things I get to. ....no new pics due to no new progress

Thanks for sharing those photos Alan - they give all of us with knock-offs a look at what we SHOUlD have. Those are beautifully made pieces, and show the myriad of modifications required in a cheap imitation. You get what you pay for ......