Phantom

I know it doesn't seem like much but I managed to get a new clock for my '77 off ebay for $31 including S&H. The big news is that it is QUARTZ and comes with the stock wiring harness connector. Hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week and will be able to evaluate it better.

I'm driving mine.

Guy walks into a book store and says to the clerk: "I need to buy a self-help book for my son" Clerk asks: "Do you know which one you want?" Guy replies: "It doesn't matter as long as it's heavy enough to make an impression."

Be careful - the 260Z is the S30 body while an '81 is a 280ZX, S130 body. They are different.

You might get away with it. Get a local tire shop to mount one up for you. What you'll notice with the 255/55-16 is that the tire diameter will be getting really close to the fender well edge in the front when you turn. I don't think it will hit but you'll be about 3/8" off. Nothing to lose but a little time to check it out.

Nope - still glad I went the way I did. All the other gauges have remained, Plus I haven't had to figure out my high beam light, brake light, and turn signal indicators.

If no-one has ever seen a Zcar speedometer commit suicide let me describe the event. I'm cruising along at a sedate 80 MPH on a rural Texas highway on my way to a swap meet in Fredericksburg. All of a sudden I watch the speedo needle dump to about 40, jump to 120 back to 30, up to 140, back to 0, up to 160, back to 0 then to 200 and stick. Had this occurred in reality and not "Speedo Space" my wife and I would still be recovering from the whiplash. I could actually hear the needle hit the stop over the road noise and the rumble of the exhaust. New speedo going in today.

Not to highack the thread - I have to renig on some of what I said. My LS1 does have the vents and they are routed into th etop tank on my radiator just under the cap. I'm sitting here going - duh! - I've only had that vent line there for a year now!

Nope - on a rural highway in sixth gear.

Well, it can be done. Managed to stick my speedometer needle on the back side of the '0' stop which I guess is around the 200 MPH mark.

Mike, That sure looks like the RX7 seat is sitting on top of the original Z seat??

I've noticed the same and I've also noticed that they are almost always newbies to this site. Maybe we should just consider it the cost of having new members? Most of them probably found out about HybridZ over at zcar.com anyway so they are just doing things the way they were allowed to do it there. I know I answered one question on that site at least a dozen times over about a 6 month period. I think if we all just politely keep pushing the "search button" theme it will all work out ok

Depends on the offset of the wheels. If they are '0' offset the 225/50x16's will rub on the inner fender lip in the rear. If you remove about 1/8" of the rolled in lip you should be OK. If the wheels have a +10-12mm offset you should be fine. No problems in the front at either offset - only in the rear. I had the problem on my non-lowered 280Z on sharp corners & heavy bumps with both 225/50-16's and 215/55-16's with '0' offset 16x7 Center Lines. Finally got frustrated and attacked the fenderwell with a grinder and about 1 1/2 hours later and a couple test runs I had no more problems. Not a real good idea on a car with a nice paint job but I had a track day to run.

Joey, Really looking nice. Excellent install. I am very impressed. Suggestion - try to use the double length brass nuts if you can to attach the exhaust pipes to the headers. They won't corrode up and will make it easier in the future to remove if you need to. Won't have to use a bunch of WD-40. What size pipe did you go to when you dropped down to th e single - 3"? If I remember right that is about as big as you can go and still maintain any ground clearance. I really like the small diameter dual mufflers. What size/ mfg. are they? I may be wanting to add them to my system as I think it's still a little too noisy inside for me.

Naw - Betty died before I got the car. The master warning light works most of the time but it randomly indicates a taillight out (they all work fine) and it got stuck on low windshield washer fluid so I disconnected that function. Car has about 220,000 miles on it and is showing the wear. I'm helping my son fix it up good enough to drive while he finishes out the Seminary.

Thanks, I thought it would be pretty straight-forward. Maybe I'll replace the electric antenna while we're at it.

Now that you mention it - I had to replace my thermostat too. It stuck wide open this past winter and the car was running cold. Let me know on routing - I have a photo of my belt routing I can email you.

Let's see someone put this bad-boy in their Z!! Or maybe the Z inside this bad boy? I-12 engine develops 108,920 HP and 5,608,312 lb-ft of torque all at 102 RPM!! http://www.supercars.net/garages/Duesey/90v2.html

I was headed to a swap meet in Fredericksburg, TX Friday when the ol' speedo needle started the "dance of death". It was running a pretty steady 70-75 when it started bouncing back & forth between 40 & 130, then 10 & 160 and then just 0. Odometer kept working so I know the drive cable is fine. Time to pull the speedo & replace. I notice the FSM recommends pulling the tach first, then the speedo. Anyone done this recently - suggestions/recommendations? Anyone ever fixed a speedometer with this kind of problem?

Michael, I actually had no crud in my LS1 - it was more like air pockets. It took a couple days the first time. Each day I would run the car to work and back, wait for it to cool down, and then go fill the overflow bottle. The first time I added some to the radiator too. The second day I added a little to the overflow. I figure it took and extra 2-3 quarts during that process. Remember, this is an aluminum block and there should be no steel to rust and crud the system up. I'm running a 180°F thermostat and the dual fans from the Z28. On one fan the car runs about 205-210°F. On two fans it holds solid at 180°. If you have a way to make the engine defintiely the low point then you can pump coolant through it for a while. Also - someone help me here - isn't there a bleed valve high on th eengine on some of the LS1's? I thought I read that somewhere. Mine doesn't have it.

Owen, There is a product on the market called "Freeze 12" - http://www.autorefrigerants.com. It is a direct replacement for R12 but is more environmentally friendly and a lot less expensive than R12. You don't have to modify anything to use it in an R12 system.

My son took his '83 280ZX into Hawk Electronics to see about a new head unit and was told it would be $950.00!!!!! Their reasoning is that the 280ZX uses a single wire speaker and that, in addition to the head unit, they would have to replace all the speakers and run all new wiring - as well as a new faceplate. The faceplate I can get from MSA for $18. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. The 280ZX basically has the two big speakers in the face of the deck area behind the seats. How hard would it be to just rework those speakers to a two-wire system and run the wires to the new head unit? At worst case - just replace them? Anyone encountered this?

Hope everone is sitting down. I got an email from John yesterday that told me the guy he has gone to for the headers is out for back surgery the next 6-8 weeks. On the bright side that means he's mostly focused on the trans cross-member and the power steering at this point - when he's not working on his primary Jaguar business or his trains.

Contact John@johnscars.com. He has a kit for the 240-280Z and has S130 and Z31 rollers at his shop so he could do it if enough people bug him about it.

I put my order in yesterday. Stuff should arrive in the next week.