Phantom

Mike,It's your call. YOu know her better than anyone on this forum and there is probably a lot you haven't said that will influence your decision. My only concern is are you willing to take on the responsibility? If you're not ready to invest the emotional and time expense of helping her through the issues she's having to deal with then don't do it. It's not fair to you and it's not fair to her. What yo have said indicates that she has had some very bad experiences with guys and that will influence her reactions to situations literally the rest of her life. You have to understand that, expect it, and be willing to deal with it in a loving and thoughtful manner

There also has been some discussion about the check valves in the master cylinder for rear drum brake cars vs cars with rear disk brakes. I went to the 79-81Zx master cylinder on my '77 for that reason. I have not yet done anything with the proportioning valve. The set-up I have at this point bias's the braking to the front (12.2" Willwood front with 240SX/300ZX calipers/rotors in the rear). I haven't taken the time to determine if it requires a proportioning valve on the front yet or not. What you do with a proportioning valve is extremely dependent on the specific brakes you install.

My LS1 has alternator low on the drivers side. Go to my album and I'll post a picture that shows it.

Well, I think it's about #35 since it appears all that I've posted after update 21 has disappeared. Can't find them with a search. The 280Z28 has 13,000 miles on the Johns Cars conversion to date. It has been driven in the hottest Texas weather and in frog choking rain. The only continual problem I've had has been with the windshield leaking. The car has been in the shop at least 4 times since the conversion and probably 3 times before with this repetitive problem. Yes - it's gotten new seals, both Nissan and aftermarket. Yet, it's been checked out for rust & damaged mounting areas. The windshield is the one that came with the car new. The leak has continually been between the windshield and the seal. As of today, and end of trip #7, it is not leaking. We'll see in another few months. Other minor problems were the failures of the two radiator fan relays, one at a time about a month apart. The good news was that the car doesn't overheat if only one fan is running and I now carry a spare relay. No repeat of the failures in the past 4-5 months so I think it was a fluke. Drive train is solid. Engine and transmission working fine. R200 LSD doing good and half-shaft u-joints showing no signs of failure. Brake upgrade (Willwood Front & 240sx/300zx in back) seems to be doing fine. Car stops straight (quickly) with no shudder. The strut tower braces and 4-pt. roll bar seem to have provided sufficient structural rigidity as I've seen no indications of failure. Once I'm confident the car isn't going to be leaking I'm going to start the interior renovation and sound system upgrade. They've both been on hold during sauna time.

1. The 280Z is a unibody car so it obviously has no frame, so to speak. 2. Mine is currently running 365 HP & 325 lb-ft. or torque with only strut tower braces and a 4-pt. roll bar. It has manged to hold together for 13,000 miles so far with no indication of any progressive failures or cracking. 3. I would recommend reinforcing the sub-frame connectors if they are not in perfect condition if you are planning on more than that. They are relatively thin material and it would not be a bad idea to have some extra steel there just to enable jacking the car with more piece of mind. A 28 year old Z does tend to suffer some degradation in those areas pretty easily. 4. If you're planning on using the car for drifting you may want to consider replacing the rear suspension with a solid axle set-up. The Z is very prone to wheel hop.

Mike, My headers are John's first attempt and are 1 1/2" block huggers. I understand long-tubes are the way to go with LS1's but I don't see how it could be done on a Z and still have any ground clearance without really chopping up the car. Dang, $475 for ceramic coated is pretty reasonable! Bill

The 280's with the 4 & 5-spd manuals came with 3.545:1 R200s. The 3.36:1 was found in the automatics.

Hey guys - Haven't sen any progress photos or performance reports lately. How are the conversions coming? If it makes you feel better I've got 13,000 miles on my conversion now and the worst thing that's happened was some radiator fan relays that failed last summer. No problems since then.

Nope - but I do know that John's Cars has them in stock now.

Two things: 1) Click my link in my signature and you'll see a '77 with the MSA body kit. Some trimming required but not a lot. 2) Bumper shocks - they are liquid filled- not gas - drill away but know some stuff will dribble out on the ground.

The photo reminded me of the red Z32 that came alongside me this morning on the way to work. I noticed two things immediately: The huge tach & shift light mounted to the right of the steering wheel, and That he ignored me as he went by. I caught up with him a few minutes later and a downshift to 3rd followed by a hard shift to fourth ensured that he would pay more attention next time.

Unless there was a dealer added option (like driving lights or a manually activated electric antenna) it had nothing but a blank cover plate.

As far as I know - anything you want. I originally put the switch for my driving lights there.

Guys, The Mustang is supercharged - there is no turbo lag. He's got it all right on the line. That's why the traction problems.

OK for answer to one question -look at my signature. With the pproper modifications you can do much better. Contact the local Z car club if you want a decent body. There is a club in Phoenix and you can google them.

Mike, You'll need to be at 275+ flywheel HP to run even with this guy if you can't beat him out of the hole. Let me use my car as an example. It weighs 2895 lbs. but has 365 flywheel HP for a weight to hp ratio of 7.93. Running on 225/50-16 street tires and a 3.70:1 LSD the best time I ever got was the 12.9 @110. The worst was a 13.3 at about 108. My problem was the launch. The best 60' time I had was a 2.0 and that was on the 12.9 run. Just couldn't hook up - even with 50.5% of the weight on the tail. Bill

Hey, Actually saw a Nissan Micra today. Think of a rounded off half-size Sentra. Not in US market. Kind of an ugly bug looking little thing. Bet it gets good mpg though and it definitely would be no problem to park in a small space.

Mike, If you guys are equivalent drivers and the cars have basically stock tires then do a weight to hp comparison. If yours is lower than his then you can take him. I ran against one with my 280Z28 and it was pretty close.

Have you gotten in touch with the Heart of America Z Car Club in Kansas City? They can probably point you to a car. http://www.HAZCC.com.

Read my signature.

Joey, You could just get your MC from John. The one in mine required two new mounting holes in the firewall but then the piston arm went straight to the bracket on the Datsun clutch pedal. Might just send John a quick email on the trans crossmember. I would tend to think they would be very close because GM made them to mount in the same vehicles. I would confirm with John though. Bill

Dave, No international liscense required as long as US liscense is valid. Only the Brits drive on the left. All the rest of Europe drives on the right like the US. In Europe gas prices are same as US - but for a liter instead of a gallon!!

No autobahn throttle time this trip. Best I ever did over here was 240 kph (150 mph in a Mercedes sedan back in '86. Since then the cars I've had have been slower. This time I don't think I'll be even renting one at all. Here to work and then go home. Lot's of stuff happening there. My mother died about 10 days ago so I have several details to take care of there and then my son and his wife found out that they are having my grandson two days ago. Many more reasons to be home rather than in Europe. It sure has changed here since my last trip. I hardly recognize the place and, of course, the Euro is the currency now which really screws up perceived values when compared to the exchange rate that existed with the Mark.

I'm actually in Dusseldorf attending the "K Show" which is an international plastics industry exposition that occurs once every 3 years. In other words, I'm working. A.G. - Ein Bier? but do you want ein pils or ein alt? We must be more specific!!

Arrived in Germany Tuesday morning after about 16 hours of traveling. Weather is overcast, drizzly, and cool. Work is interesting but, believe me, I didn't lose anything here. Be back home on the 27th but just couldn't keep from checking in on the Hybridz community to be sure you guys are behaving yourselves.