spork

If there is really 8 layers of paint plus primer, you'll have a hell of a dip if you're all the way to bare metal. Primer isn't going to fill these too well. You're talking 16-24 coats of paint or even more if any of them were base clear paint jobs. For the rock chips, you may be better off filling them without taking it down to bare metal (incase you haven't already done the whole car). Any cracks need to be taken all the way, but chips don't (unless it's actually peeling paint).

Form what I can tell, this discussion is about forged pistons only and "off the shelf forged pistons" at that. Yes, cast pistons are cheaper (which is what stock pistons are). But if you talk to any of the major forged piston manufacturers, it's basically the same cost per piston, regardless if it's stock specs or not. You can get into more money with special valve reliefs or domes matching the combustion chamber and things of that nature, but from what I can tell, he wants a stock piston, but forged. Not cast.

I'm not sure exactly why you're wanting an "off the shelf" piston, but many piston manufactures have specs for a stock l28et piston. I doubt anyone sells a large enough volume to keep many in stock. Custom pistons don't tend to cost any different than a stock piston either, and you get a chance to change some things to better suit the car and your application.

Sadly, I learned the same way you did. My first project was a one piece front end for a buddies car. I've worked with fiberglass for years repairing large trucks, but never really made a part before. I thought to myself, it can't be that hard. I did some reading about terry's (blueoval) car. Sounded simple. The only part I did right the first time was the mold release. We skimped because he didn't have the money to make a mold and produce the part so we did a skin like you're talking about. I believe he said "It's a race car...who cares...hopefully I'll be going too fast for anyone to see it." Well, the thing weighs a ton. By the time we got everything smooth enough to look presentable, we didn't save any weight, but we did manage to fit his slicks under the front end which is what the main goal was. All that work, and we've decided that as soon as we can, we're going to build a different one, and do it right! That's my buddy in the last picture...possibly a little high from all the fumes...lol

Next time, try using mold release. My local O'Reilly Auto parts keeps it in stock. They are a full line body shop/paint supply store also. It just sprays on, let it flash off, and then lay your glass on top of the thin film...it works great and no need for multiple layers of wax.

Welcome to the "Z" experience. You're trapped now and will never be able to leave. As a newbie in the Z world, I strongly suggest you search the site before posting. It's amazing the amount of information that is stored here in old posts. I wouldn't be surprised if 9 out of 10 questions you have, you'll be able to find the answer by searching. That 10th answer is probably there also, but you didn't quite get the search terms right. Anyways, glad to have another z guy on the board.

I hope I don't come of sounding to rough, but have you ever seen what dust does to a turbo impeller? I'm not talking about sand or large particles, but very fine dust. I see this from time to time on the semi's I work on. Just a slightly loose clamp after the filter and the finest dust you've ever seen makes it in and eventually destroys the turbo. I really imagine that the droplet size is going to still be too big. I run meth injection on my car, and use a system that runs around 120-200psi depending on how you have it set up (Devils Own). I spray mine in the runners, but I am spraying very large amounts because I'm also using it as fuel since my 52lb injectors are too small to keep up. Good luck with your experiment tho, I'm interested in hearing about the results...and I hope I'm wrong, but I'd like to see before and after pictures of the turbo over a couple 5-10 thousand miles of use.

I literally gave one and the thermostat housing away this weekend to a z guy down the street. Never figured I'd actually be able to sell it...oh well

For squeezing out the excess resin they make rollers with grooves in them that work wonders. Too much resin and it's just heavy, but not very strong. It's not always possible, but I like working on big projects like this during the winter. I get the garage cold (50 degrees or colder) and then lay up all the fiberglass and resin at once. The temps will keep it from setting up. Then kick on a couple of diesel forced air heaters...bake at around 110 degrees for a little while and your done. You can spend an hour getting all the glass just like you want without it setting up. For a complete fiberglass one piece front end...its the only way to do it (at least for me). As for using the skin and not going all the way. You will regret it. I know others have said this already, but it will never look right and honestly won't be what you want in the end. Not to mention all the smoothing you'll end up doing on the finished product is fairly time consuming as well.

All rust needs to be removed and then when the repairs are completed, it needs corrosion protection on the inside too! This step is often overlooked and you'll end up with more rust down the road. Some areas are hard to access, but a lot of body shops have wands that can reach into the hard to get to areas to respray the inside of panels to keep them protected. The other thing to watch for is leaves and other crud building up behind panels that will hold he moisture in. I replace floor pans in one car, and ended up with literally a 5 gallon bucket of wet sand that was packed in the frame rails...and the car had been stored in my garage for over a year before I even started the repairs. Once moisture gets in, it has a hard time getting out, so make sure there are no pin holes or missing body plugs.

Glad to here that your debt free! We've been working on that ourselves. Looks to be about a year left for ourselves (except the house). Luckily, we don't owe a lot on that either. Life is yours without debt. Just keep to your way of life with a reasonable budget, and you'll do great.

There are several bolts that are shared between the intake and the exhaust manifold. They can be kind of heard to get to, but you'll need to remove them as well.

One thing I've always made very clear when customers ask about what size TB they should run, is that bigger isn't always better. This usually gets into discussions about my car (running a 60mm 240sx TB) and making around 600hp or (insert name here)'s car and how it works great with a large TB. Ultimately in the end, some guys either just want the big TB or I get them talked down to a more manageable size. On a side note, if this is the intake I'm thinking, it was very custom setup that has bigger runners than anything we have ever done before. We were sent a tracing of the port layout on the head after port work was already done and then asked to make an intake fit the head. Then that particular project fell through and everything was sold off (including the intake). It looks like Big-phil is getting everything sorted out to fit his car, but I hope the extremely large runners don't cause issues with port velocity in his particular set up.

If you can source a friend with a cylinder leak down tester, you may find that all your cylinders aren't near as equal as the compression test shows. A bad piston oil ring may mask a cylinder that has bigger problems. A leak down test will find the problem with the lower numbers (if warming the engine up prior to the compression test doesn't help).

I would recommend either feeding it to separate vacuum block with individual ports, or at least tap the manifold for several fittings and "T" off from there. If you do a separate block, feed it with a large line so there is little to no variance in vacuum when the brakes or other items are used. I tend to like the individual lines to each acc. directly from the manifold, but in a complicated turbo set, you'll end up with more holes in the intake than most people want to drill and tap.

I don't know if James Thagard is still willing to make any more adapters or not, but he did a run of them at one point. I have one of his adapters. Send him a message and find out. If he doesn't want to make them, I may be willing to do some if it's okay with him. I just figured that if he was making them, there was no need to add a second vendor to an already small market area.

http://forums.hybridz.org/timeslips.php? It's also listed in the menu on the bottom of the page under "forum jump"

Here is the picture I use for my background

As for the Harbor freight bandsaw, I've used it with their wood blade and cut aluminum blocks 3" x 3". It actually cuts through it pretty quick. just set the blade for the highest speed and go to town.

It is also wise to have the flywheel re-balanced when you're done.

I'd like to appologize, not sure where the phone messages went, but I've called everyone back that I know left a message, maybe yours were deleted by accident. We've been extremely busy and I haven't been on hybridz for quite some time. Honestly, I've missed being able to sit down and read/reply to messages here, but time has been short. At one point, I know there was a mix up with our phone number as well. Somehow the number on the site was changed and wasn't correct. Anyways, feel free to e-mail me anytime at contact@lonewolfperformance.net, respond through our contact page on our website http://www.lonewolfperformance.com/contactus.htm, or call at 785-227-8438. I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.

Sorry, I missed his thread, been pretty busy and haven't been on the forums hardly at all. One thing I want to point out is that while the runners flow great, you'll be limited to the size of the TB. Thats where a custom intake can come into play. Our flow bench doesn't have the ability flow much past 340cfm at 28" and I've never bothered flowing it at a lower number and doing the math to see what the entire intake is restricted at. The big point is, that there are major increases that can be had over the stock intake, and having an intake ported (by us or anyone else) that does it this way can be a cost effective way to give the car that much more potential for power. Just a note for everyone reading... remember, everything on your car is a package and needs to work together. A fancy custom intake will only do so much with a stock head, stock exhaust and so on. It seams that so many people tend to forget this and think there is one magical itme that will net them big power. If any one figures it out...let me know, and I'll take 2!

If It's a 3000 grit disc like mentioned above, then heres how you use it. If you have a hood that needs polished, you can hit it first with 1500 dry on a DA Sander with an interface pad (its a foam pad that will make it easier not to dig into the nice flat surface you just painted.) Then after you get the orange peel or dirt out of the finish, you'll go back with this 3000 grit disc and use just a little bit of water and run this over your hood. This 3000 grit disc will take out the 1500 frit scratches and actually start to bring some gloss back to the panel. Then you hit it with a buffer and you're done. It'll cut down buffing time and woks pretty good. They're kind of expensive for the do it at home guy though.

I doubt it's a coyote as well. as stated earlier, it would be rare to see one get that big. My grandparents and uncle would have a coyote from time to time. They tended to mate with their bull mastiff. They can be dangerous, so I'd still be cautous even if it's just a coyote and not a wolf. By the way, is it just pure coincidence that there is an ad that states "Put an end to you Dog's Agreession Towards People & Other Dogs" at the bottom of this post on myscreen? lol

To get a little more information out there to help with your decision, maybe you should define "modifying your intake". There are quite a bit of different things that can be done such as going as far as cuting the plenum off and designing a new one and porting out the runners while you're there. What all did you have in mind? Also, what kind of head work has been done? Stock cam? All of these answers will help guide you to a decision.