capt_furious

Nice to see traffic here, and glad you could get the Z out! Looks way cleaner than mine. I use mine for Ace runs when I can, but it's just a few blocks. Look, another white Z!

The ol' MK I calibrated butt dyno says the car is MUCH faster with the new seats. We all know that's a lie. My keister's been lying to me for decades. But, I'm much more comfortable and confident than I was with the nearly 50 year old factory seats out of aux's 240. That's got to be worth something. With the mounts fixed and the newer seats, there's much less perceived shake / rattle, and the bolstering is what I'm used to from my much-maligned and departed '94 Miata M Edition. A drive up Suisun Valley, into Wooden Valley and past Berryessa on Saturday had me pushing the car in the turns much more than in the past. Thanks to all of aux's boredom and hard work during COVID, new suspension, tires, and seats really make for an improved ride, even if much of it is perception.

What was Justin's screen name here on HBZ?

Late to the party here, but I figured I'd weigh in. Like others, a Z wasn't my dream car. I really wish I had a '37 Studebaker Dictator Coupe. They're rare as heck these days. I'd try to keep it as close to factory appearance as possible while changing out everything for modern tech. The Vortec 4.3 inline-six would be my choice for the engine. I'd want a 4-link in the back, and coilovers / wishbones in the front. Of course, there are Mustang II universal setups, but I'd want something with better geometry without throwing off the factory ride height too much. Finished out, the car would have adjustable ride height, disc brakes all around, 6-speed manual, cruise control, AC, satellite radio with a nice hidden stereo, and the ability to switch between factory-looking wheels and tires and a set of wide sticky wheels and tires if I wanted to have some fun at an autocross or even a track day. It would be a daily driver when I was done, or I'd be shooting for that level of reliability. Alternatives? '68 Barracuda 340 Formula S, Richmond 6 speed, port fuel injection, stroker kit in the 340 with a nice set of well-matched aluminum heads & intake, Level 3 QA1 suspension setup, and of course all of the other creature comforts listed above. Make it Turbine Red with a black Formula S stripe package. If the Z was the only option...I'd go back to the factory light blue metallic and white interior. Stripe like I have now, but in silver(follows the hood bulge, up over the roof and stops just short of the spoiler). Discs all around. Max'ed out Apex Engineered suspension. Stroker L-series with the full Datsunworks treatment, ITBs and naturally aspirated. Edit: The Hartley V8 would be an awesome powerplant. I'd want that much more than an L-series. Forced induction would be tempting, but I think I'd run out of talent after 400 HP. I'd like to keep the body profile mostly stock, which would limit wheel & tire choices. As for the body, I'd try to mold & reproduce as much of the sheet metal in CF or FG(front clip, roof, quarters, hatch, doors) as possible while still making it look factory. I'd employ as much of the windtunnel mods as possible without looking too unorthodox. Again, all the creature comforts listed above would be on that build. I have neither the time or money for any of these things, so I daily a well-worn Miata and drive my mostly stock Z on Fridays and weekends. Occasionally I upgrade stuff on the Z, with many assists over the years thanks to auxilary. So far, I've been able to put early SUs on the L28, MSA 3-into-2 headers and twice pipes with glasspacks, electronic ignition, I got rid of the stock fan and went to electric, 280 5-speed, and a R200 with Ron Tyler mount. Next up is a Champion radiator and some silicone hoses. It's improved quite a bit in 15 years.

Yikes. That is awful. Drive safely, folks.

aux told me. John's screen name and avatar was always a signal to stop scrolling and pay attention, because I was going to learn something. Rest in peace, sir.

Hey, folks. Haven't been around much, but I had to come post this after an encounter at a parade yesterday. I got dressed up in my AF blues(reserve KC-10 crew chief) and took a friend's '37 Olds to a local parade. He's out of town and I'm housesitting and have permission to flog on the car. I was in the assembly area, waiting for the parade to begin, and a guy in his ~30s in a pleather jacket sporting a barbell bridge piercing comes up to me and chats me up about he car. We get to talking about car in general and he says he likes Japanese stuff, I mention that I've got a Miata and a 260Z. He says he's got a '71 240. Hey, cool, kindred spirit! ...then it gets weird. He says it's been modded a bit. I ask him what he's done, and I don't remember everything, but he quickly rattles off a list of mods that sound - almost - legit, but pretty extreme. Carbon fiber this, cage that, seats whatever, blah blah coilovers, as if he'd been rehearsing it. Then the Duesie: He says he 'stretched the frame' 4" and put in a stroked, twin turbo Ferrari V-12. I told him I felt as if he was bullshitting me. Nope, he says, it was a 'Scarab' before, his dad bought it and put the 350 in, the 350 was blown up, and he found the '5.3 liter V12 from a 556' from some guy in Idaho that wrecked his car. He stroked it & bored it out to 6 liters, put in 'titanium pistons and rods and had a full port and polish job done', and had the ECU custom built along with the turbo plumbing. The whopper was that he somehow caught Guy Fieri's attention, was challenged to a race, and met Guy at Sears Point(fine, Sonoma Raceway), who hired a 'professional driver' for his Lambo. He says the race was 5 laps, and he lapped the pro driver in the Lambo twice. I told him that was an amazing story and it must be one hell of a car, and the folks on HybridZ would love to see it. Of course, he had no idea what HybridZ was. So, yeah...look out for a stretched Z with a twin turbo Ferrari V-12 out of a '556'. Thing must be Indycar fast.

I'm all over the place on shocks. I should just go with Bilstiens like they had on the factory R package, but I really want Fat Cat Motorsports' Elite setup. Not cheap at $2k!

Roakill is all about !@#$ing up. Watch all of the episodes, they're great. Even though these guys are editors for Hot Rod, these are their personal side projects, and it's all done with Vise-Grips and duct tape by the side of the road.

'94 M Edition, all the bells & whistles(AC, power windows, PS, ABS, power mirrors, cruise control), OZ Superleggeras, hardtop, Hard Dog single diagonal roll bar and a nice Rockford Fosgate headunit. Drivetrain is bone stock, but the M Editions came with a Torsen LSD. It's a donut/tailwagger machine for sure. Power steering makes things really fun. Yep, it's slow, but it's FUN as hell, and it's far closer to being track ready than the Z is. Just need some good shocks.

LOVE Roadkill. I'm friends with Mike and Dave on Facebook and tech-inspected their '73 Fury a few times when they were running it at Lemons. Is this the first post about the Rotsun? If so, I'm surprised, I figured it would have got quite a bit of attention.

Greetings from oblivion. I don't think I've posted in four years or so. I got a little distracted. I bought a Miata in 2010 and it bumped the Z to driveway ornament status, combined with some horrible ignition issues that I couldn't wrap my head around. I swapped the coil out for a high performance unit I had laying around last month, and the ignition issues vanished! I've been meaning to offload her for four years and just can't bring myself to do it. Can't really dump any more money into her, either, so she sits, except for the occasional terrorize-the-neighborhood jaunt on the weekends. Just figured I'd say hello.

$3700, as you see it. Hardtop, Hard Dog roll bar, OZ Superleggeras. The suspension is currently stock, but it's not going to stay that way.

Miata. Cheap, ridiculous handling, easy to mod, reliable, fuel efficient, tons of aftermarket support. Wonder why you haven't seen me around much? Yeeeeah, I bought one. The Z sits a lot now.

Lots of disparaging comments about Californians in this thread. Stick it. calguns.net <- Read it, and change your tune. Don't throw out the many for the actions of the few. There's nothing wrong with a revolver - if you're worried about your assailant being able to tell whether or not your weapon is loaded, don't. It's a moot point, you should never point an firearm at another human being with the intent to merely threaten. You do not pull it unless you're going to use it, and at that point, it had better be loaded and you'd better be prepared to fire...if your assailant suddenly stands down when you draw your weapon, good, but you should never be counting on this. In the end, caliber, size, action, etc is a not a question of damage to the target, but effect upon the shooter; you should be able to accurately place shots in vital areas quickly. Shot placement matters far more than wound channel. You can be just as deadly with a .22LR as you can a S&W 500 if you have steady nerves, a steady hand, and a sharp aim. Make your weapon selection based upon what you are comfortable shooting. Accuracy, ergonomics, ease of use and a myriad of other factors that affect the shooter, not the target, are what makes a firearm a good choice. I like my Colt Lawman MKIII, but my Hi-Standard Model B is much easier to shoot. They are completely opposite ends of the firearm spectrum. In a SHTF situation, I grudginly admit that the HS-B would likely be a more useful firearm.