Phantom

Well - I have the 280 back less a parking brake for the moment. Savage42 is being kind to me and sending me the one out of his car. Thanks Gary. The Z32 'vert is still in the garage. It's in the reassembly stage and looking good so far. Since it's a holiday week I doubt if it will be done before Friday and definitely not in time to cruise around on Independence Day. At least it will be safe from the space aliens and Will Smith.

Heck, as long as your this far north it's just a short little jaunt over to Yakima. Oops - I forgot - we've already met!

Gary, Address is; 93 Old Naches Hwy Yakima, WA 98908 I'll take a look at the car and see if I can get some numbers off the radiator hose and AC compressor.

Gary, FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much. I'm running ok as of yesterday but obviously without the e-brake. Whenever it can get here is fine. Let me know what I owe you for parts, shipping, etc. FWIW - the cable, from end of clip to end of clip is about 100" long. I'm estimating a bit, +/- 2", as mine is a bit torn up. How are you coming on the car? I know it's been quite the saga. If I remember right you're putting the Corvette IRS under it? Anything to the point of some good pictures yet? I've wandered into your photo gallery off and on to see if there was anything new. Thanks again! Bill

That's about what it worked out to for my slow trip through the quarter at Renegade Raceway and I still haven't found an e-brake cable so the cost will go up. I must confess, however, I took advantage of the down time to repair a leaky radiator and replace some rear wheel bearings that were starting to go that weren't part of the actual detonation in the rear half-shaft. I did set a new personal record for the car - 20 seconds. The track is closed in July so I'll get a shot at it again in August once I'm sure everything is solid. In the meantime - anyone have a spare e-brake cable for a late 77 or 78 280Z? Evidently it's about 2 feet longer than the earlier model S30's.

Pete, Good to see the website back. I notice Chaoticmass is webmaster again. Good. Great guy. The site looks really nice and, if you guys will be nice enough to approve me, I'll drop by and post periodically. This little incident o the strip has kind of fired me up a bit. I feel robbed because the car is a super strong competitor in its class and I really want the local scene to recognize its presence. Also, the local sports car club is desperately needing some new blood. I think the average age is in the mid 50's. I might be able to do a little recruiting at the strip or get a small eastern Washington Z club going. We'll see. Hey - I haven't heard anything on how your car is coming. You need to fill me in when you have a few minutes. I know you have "plans" for it! Bill

Pete, He can go to www.brokenkitty.com to get details on the components that are offered and he can do a search in the Chevy V8 forum here under "LS1 / T56 Update" and read most of the posts I made during the conversion process. If he has other questions he can PM me and I'll be glad to answer. On another note - any news on when the Cowtown website will come back to life? Bill

Update: The 'vert is coming back together. The damaged panels have been replaced and have their first coat of paint. The new rear view mirror has arrived. I went over a list of about a dozen items with the body man, Fred, last night and it looks like the car is going to turn out really nice. The 280 went into the shop yesterday and "ouch!" The good news is that the stubaxle going through the hub isn't what broke. It was the part of the universal hub that was attached to it. In the process, however, it took out the brake line, the e-brake line, and the 240SX caliper. Good news is that this is a shop that also builds high performance vehicles so they have a source that will provide some solid universals that will take the abuse so I can find the next weakest link. Also discovered a bad wheel bearing in the process and, while its down, I'm going to get the radiator out and have a couple things fixed on it. Should be back on the road sometime next week.

SRGUNZ - Looks like you were right. Even though I called them twice to ensure things were right MSA sent me the lower A-arm spindle shaft instead of the axle spindle. Now they are trying to find one. In the meantime the car is in the shop without the necessary parts to fix it. At least I can get the brakes fixed and the disassembly done while the parts are coming.

Talked with the shop today about the Z32 'vert. It's going to set me back just under $4k plus the insurance companies contributions but it will have a new fender and door skin, the last new windshield in the continental US, and a fully dismantled 3-step paint job with 3 coats of clear once it's all done. I've also located a local pin stripe artist that I may have do a little work to add some distinctiveness once it's all done.

Your correct, it's one stub axle along with its related bushings, bolts & seals for $61 plus shipping. I'll confirm once the box arrives this week. Did I mention that I get a discount off retail at MSA?

Posted the info over in the other thread. I sure hope the new MSA shafts are tough. The class I was in at Renegade is for 13.0 & up street cars which makes my Z a real class contender. The last time I ran 3 years ago it ran 12.9-13.3 and those times were better than any I saw Friday night and about a full second better than a couple LS1 Camaro's that were running. That 2.1 60' time would have put me between a 13.0 & 13.1 based on the previous runs. Interestingly enough the owner of the shop I'm going to use to replace the spindle - once again I don't have the right tools - was out there Friday night and watched my demise. I also had one of my mechanics at work come inand let meknow that one of his buddies who builds race cars is looking for a job - and I have an opening in the plant. Hmmmm.

Friday night, June 8th, I went out to Renegade Raceway in Wapato, WA with the 280Z. First run started with a .2 second reaction time which was pretty good since I hadn't been on the track in nearly 3 years. My 60' was a 2.1 which again was not too bad because I was trying to take it easy on the car. Grabbed a good shift to second and the car really hooked - and then it broke an axle. Not the half shaft but the stub shaft that runs through the strut. Thus ended my first foray into racing in the fine state of Washington. Flopping half shaft took out the brake line too but fortunately I was able to coast off the track (20 second run) onto a side road and call a wrecker. He was there in less than an hour and I was home by 8:30 PM. Called MSA Saturday morning and have a new shaft, bushings, bolts and seal on the way today for $61 plus shipping. Obviously drag racing will do a stub axle in. When I inspected the carnage I noticed that the stub showed signs of an existing crack that was slowly propagating. The 1-2 shift finished the job abruptly. I'm sooo glad it happened on the 1-2 shift and not the 2-3 or 3-4 shift and that it happened at the track and not on the street.

Not a good week. On Saturday, June 2nd, a Dodge Ram truck backed into the Z32 convertible. About $6k to have the car back to pristine but down for around 4 weeks. Only one windshield in the entire US and that was at a Z dealership in Tennessee at a price of $1,038. Friday night, June 8th, I went out to Renegade Raceway in Wapato, WA with the 280Z. First run started with a .2 second reaction time which was pretty good since I hadn't been on the track in nearly 3 years. My 60' was a 2.1 which again was not too bad because I was trying to take it easy on the car. Grabbed a good shift to second and the car really hooked - and then it broke an axle. Not the half shaft but the stub shaft that runs through the strut. Thus ended my first foray into racing in the fine state of Washington. Flopping half shaft took out the brake line too but fortunately I was able to coast off the track (20 second run) onto a side road and call a wrecker. He was there in less than an hour and I was home by 8:30 PM. Called MSA Saturday morning and have a new shaft, bushings, bolts and seal on the way today for $61 plus shipping. Down to the Suburban - which I had to replace the battery and three lights on on Thursday, June 7th and hopefully a rental car sometime today.

The subwoofer box is a one-off custom wood/fiberglass piece. You can see the balancing tube mounted in it and the 10" sub is an Alpine. The specs on the 10" sub are in one of my "LS1 / T56 Update" posts near the end. I had 40 some odd of them. The area was measured out, initial design work done with cardboard and tape to ensure proper dimensions and then the fiberglass box was built. It is covered n Katzkin leather.

I buy about 50 lbs of "omnivor food" - AKA "Trout Chow" every month. The Rainbows and bass are my wife's pets. I have rainbow trout about 20-24" long and up in the 8 lb area. We've allowed a little barbless hook, catch and release, when young children are over but none of them have made it to the dinner plate yet.

Evidently some were in the pond while I was in Texas last week also as I have dozens on fingerlings swimming around in one area of the pond outflow. Nice to know that some of them have a shot at getting back to the Pacific.

HawaiiZ - go here. They are mixed in with the other photos. http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=8281

Salmon swim up the Columbia River from the Pacific to the Yakima River, then to the Naches River and then to Buckskin Slough(creek) which is fed by the springs that feed my pond. After hatching the fingerlings reverse the process to get back to the Pacific where they spend their juvenile & adult lives. When it comes time to spawn they return to their birth point to spawn and die. It's kind of like how birds fly south for the winter - Salmon return to where they hatched to spawn & die.

Not exactly Z related but the pond off my back porch used to be part of a hatchery system. This morning several pacific salmon showed up. Each female loaded with egs has a couple males following her - along with catfish, bass & trout standing by. It will be a wonder if any of those eggs ever make it back to the ocean.

Go to my personal album here on this website ane look at the photos in it for a 10" subwoofer installation in the spot you're planning. It came out really well and has excellent sound.

Mike, Any news on Donna? How's her recovery coming? Bill

My '77 280Z has the Autopower 4-pt roll bar in it. I bought it primarily for side-impact protection and then roll-over if I even caught a curb sideways on after hydroplaning. I'm 6'4"o the main hoop is about 3" behind my head which makes it a potential skull crusher in a rear impact situation. That is where heavy padding on that section of the bar comes in. Easy to do and acts as kind of a head rest extension. Fire extinguishers. Used to carry one in my '70 Cuda. Put out fires in two other cars but never my own. Still not a bad idea for anyone running a '75-78 280Z with stock L28 fuel rails with all the hoses and clamps. I had fuel leaks a half dozen times over 10 years that could have resulted in a really nasty fire but I lucked out.

Somehow I got stuck in the 30's & 40's with aircraft as there was as much design as there was utility in a lot of them. Some of the Beechcraft from the 30's, the infamous BeeGee, P-51, P-38, Spitfire, Fockwulfe. I have a cousin, Sam Smyth, who was an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed for 50 years. He was involved with the Skunkworks for part of that. He had some projects he worked on that he'd still have to kill you if he told you about them. Anyway, he has a library (Smythonlyan) of information on military aircraft from around the world that would rival those run my most state governments. I even have a photo he took in the early 50's of an ME-262 that had been brought over for testing & evaluation after WWII. Amazing collection. He's in his mid 80's now with failing eyesight and it's tough to see him slow down after so long watching him traipse all over the world gathering his photos.

List of repairs/mods: 1) fix small leaks in radiator. 2) Install adjustable proportioning valve and get brakes properly balanced. 3) Replace struts - KYB's are blown i the back. 4) Replace halfshafts to eliminate the universals I keep breaking. Once I get that done I'd feel comfortable putting it back on the track.