Modern Motorsports Ltd

" i thuoght about using billet adapters too but the cost of them and the wheels i wanted was about the same as panasports and in 16 in zero offset" not pushing my parts....just a comment on above. -going to honda pattern it's a lot easier to get a 1st/2nd set of rims cheaply or just to change down the road if you tire of what you have or come across a deal. I always like moving into areas with more parts offerings...at present I'm looking at cobra R wheels/Z32/Z31 and some others....all with near new rubber and fine deals I can bolt on my 5lugger. Same goes for 4luggers in honda pattern. Just a thought, us motorsports guys never seem to have enough rims/tires!

" What would the reason for the spring over the tire except for addad tire clearance. Are the 8" less effective? Thanks Steve" To most of us it's only that, added tire clearance. Potential downside is less spring travel to coilbind (again, potential downside, I'd rather see coilbind the very odd time than a strut insert bottom out). For the diehard builder/racer....8" springs weigh less than 10" springs.

quote: Originally posted by z ya: Ross, How long does it take for you to ship them to california? What kind of shipping costs???? $15 US shipping costs, I use UPS for shipping as they're much faster than I You could expect them within 3-4 business days. Always email me personally if you need a response from me...current work project has kept me away from regularly visiting this forum.

" Darn it I hate reading stuff like this because one minute I'm told it's ok then there's the "it's evil" opinions....oh what to do." But that's what makes boards like this good...flushes out the opinions and facts... I'm glad to see the factual side of proper spacers presented. They're the same as any wheel etc, bolted up properly they're fine....would you expect a wheel to stay solid if not bolted up properly? No, same goes for a spacer. Aluminum hubs abound on race cars successfully and so do spacers in bolt on and slip on variety.....and over 2" thickness on porsches let alone many others. Mine are all made of billet 6061 and CNC machined. Centre can be made hubcentric (my standard is hubcentric for Z hubs) to whatever spec you like...most modern wheels are lugcentric so the outer face is not an issue. I see a price tossed out above to which I feel I should note my billet set to swap a Z to a honda bolt pattern and offset is $210US. Metric 10.9 grade studs as well. In stock and ready to for delivery I see no issue with highpowered cars using spacers...those turbo race porsches put far more lateral g's to their setups than most any of our Z's. Let alone it's stricly a stud issue if you tighten your nuts as is 2nd nature. All local hybrid Z's running 300hp+ use spacers of some sort. Makes wheel choices so easy and street to race swaps take 2nds with quite different wheel sets. Just an open option I wanted to clearly present. Pics/more info on my web.

" Any help would be great.I have stock 4 lug hubs." You could've run the Konig's with some adaptors I offer. With same adaptors you can pick from most any wheel....adaptors converts you to a honda bolt pattern and offset. For tuner styles enkei makes quite a few you can choose from. goto www.tirerack.com and choose wheels for a '95 civic and you can bolt any of those on your Z with the adaptors. if you're not running adaptors your choices are centrelines/panasports/revolutions/and 3pc and perhaps one or two others if looking for new.

"Tried that nut tonight - whew! Nearly snapped the prybar working it tonight." How much prybar? 4' minimum for Z's I've found. ZX's weren't too different but not typically corroded/locked quite as hard as Z's. A good deal IMO is the cambell hausfield severe (or heavy?) duty 380 or 400 ft-lbs impact. Took care of mine. I've used up to 5' of prybar at yards to remove theirs. On peened ones, a die grinder or dremel end to grind out the peened part works well. If not, one can damage the threads without too much consequence as those threads are not used for clamping anyhow.....just repair with a file if need be.

Stony, given your scenario I'd find a decent tubing source and make it yourself or have it done locally. Make up dummy pieces from copper pipe or cardboard and take radius/lengths from their. I've known guys to do it both ways and either works....construction sites/scrap yards might have copper pipe fairly cheap (just small stuff for dummy setup) The few street ones I've seen in person weren't 'tight' enough to the cars unibody for my liking. It's a lot stronger/stiffer when it's built tight to the pillars behind your seats and follows the roof line very closely with small tabs tieing it all in. 2 frames tied together is stronger than sum of their parts. Can't recall who it was that passed this on, but their main hoop was purposefully made 'too wide', then compressed with a turfer to get it inside the car, put in place and released and installed. With only that main hoop in and nothing else the car was briefly driven and stiffer just with the hoop. It's preferred not to fully weld the 'sole' plates so they can strain with your chassis and maintain their connection longer(ie. weld 3/4" and leave 1")....fully welded and that 'point' becomes so stiff it has v. little flex and is more likely to punch or pass on unwanted distortion elsewhere in the event of a smackup. good luck

"ya omar I did rip both motor mounts." I shredded my Sealed Power motor mounts, I'll have to get some pics up at some time. Even a metal lip sheared thru. Nothing wild about my mill either. If budget's tight cheaper ones than GM can't hurt, just check them once in a while and when you feel a shudder at start up check REAL close to spare your air cleaner/hood union as the least of your worries. The GM units are smoother than my Sealed Power and in my dad's LT1240Z they're v. smooth as well.

"Those long collars must be available from someplace" Sure, my garage. Just got some going out for a Z. Available for early or late model struts. Can be done with no welding at all. Can even leave the spring perch in place if desired. Simplest is grind off the perch and just leave the bead weld as your lower support for threaded tube. Or grind it off altogether and use long tubes and/or simple muffler pipe spacers as others have described. Can be as simple or difficult as you like. And the longer tubes aren't a lot more money. WOW factor is slick .

Crimp connectors WITHOUT plastic outside (yes, they're available). 1) strip bare ends 2) snip two lengths of heat shrink of suitable diameter/length and slip one over each end 3) dip bare ends inside tube of dielectric silicone (a must for anyone IMNSHO, great for plug ends/plug wire ends/connnections) 4) crimp bare ends inside butt connector, crimp 5) place one length of heat shrink over connector overlapping unstripped wire suitable amount, 'shrink', repeat with 2nd piece. I solicited lots of advice from DIYEFI when extending my proflo harness extensively.....I did lots of bench soldering as well as above method...soldering always weakens wire in point of soldering and for X length beyond solder location..OK if wire is not to be moved much if ever (ie. fatigued). Once I started above method it was quite reasonably fast and I felt v. good about end product. I extended and/or shortened EVERY main trunk of my EFI harness (ie. many hours of work) so tried a few....above is what I preferred and still use. I often use a couple different diameters of heat shrink with a shortern one first and then a longer more overlapping one as an outer stiffener. Ross (my reply for the week....having a busy one) C

Great stuff Scottie! The 'salad-spinners/shooters' are popular with a few local die-hard 4th gen racers(their nick/not mine).....their lightweight didn't pass them by either

psst, don't forget to tackweld your pickup in place and test fit it with pan clearance before doing so...don't recall exactly but 1/4" to 3/8's from bottom of pan seems about right....anyone else??....a VERY worthwhile 'extra' if you can have it done....

You set on slotted rotors and HP pads? (I'm not a big fan of either...., even though the customer is always right ) I've found 280ZX rotors warp enough.....slots aren't going to help that and the slots must be maintained to be of any use (assuming they are helpful...some pads/scenarios I'm sure they are). If you're set on slotted rotors MSA is likely your best bet, not something I've sourced anywhere or too interested in supporting. I'd suggest good/unslotted rotors with KVR carbon fibre pads (kinda cold first stop..they deny it but they are.....and great after that..)/new rotors and SS lines. I can do HP's though if that's a preference for you. I've street & roadraced on KVR's, my fluid boiled before I ever had fade and rotors wore very well which will not happen with HP's from what I've heard of them. Drop me an email directly if interested. I'm not always regularly in here and email is serviced at a higher frequency/priority.

" Btw I did tell Ross my back spacing measurements a couple of days ago." Ron, here londehdrider states his combo that clears some backspacing comboswith stock spring perches. The reason I don't just say go with 1-3/4" (lonehdrider runs 4.5"BS OK, and your wheels are 6.25 so 1-3/4 would place inside lip about the same if rims are v. similar in lip design, ie. extra 0.5" per side) is because you're fitting 7.5" width rims in a taller rim/tire combo, so just knowing what works to fit 7's isn't enough. I'd ask Lonehdrider how close he actually is to his stock spring perch/spring and see if his tire overall height is same as yours or if yours will be located higher allowing more or less room due to strut angle. If lonehdrider has 3/4" room to outside fender lip or more and 3/16's minimum on backside then it should all work out back. His front clearances would be of equal interest inner/outer etc. As initially suggested I'd just measure up my own (meaning yours) cars clearances along with the specs on the wheel/tire you measured up with. If you're fitting them that tight it may in fact turn out you need slightly different spacer thicknesses front to rear.

If it's higher than stock that has to be attributed to major weight loss/non OEM struts I'm guessing? Why not cut more from your current springs? Not uncommon for someone to take out 2.5 coils etc. Thats free parts $, labour as per usual rate

Sorry about the bouncing, thanks for the 'flag' though...some ISP's are 'banned' by my ISP provider it seems. You can email me at rossc@shaw.ca if the sales@modern-motorsports.com doesn't work for you. Once the ISP suffered a power failure so everyone bounced........ Yes, the adaptors are available for any 4lug to 4lug wheel (or 5 to 5) wheel combo. email me at above with your specs/info

Thanks Terry, two buds I saw on the way home suggested I clean out that epoxy where it's separated, then pressure test to find leak....if weldable weld it up and then epoxy on top and then pressure test....if not weldable epoxy on a best cleaned surface....their has to be something that will bond to this? 15-17psi doesn't seem like that much pressure to blow a bond on such a fine hole/hairline/whatever it is if a decent epoxy/glue/metal is used??? It's getting going shortly that I'm most concerned with, doing that without wasting dough.

(long post as usual)18mos. ago I was in an accident......griffin got bent (if laid flat bend up one corner of it 1.5-2" or so and that's what it looked like), it was not leaking, rad shop straightened it back out......worked fine but I did have a nagging small seep I never could track down (very slow). When I did my EFI I had it pressure tested to 10psi or so and it held fine....now in last 2-2.5 mos. it's been leaking at a significantly higher rate, a gallon of coolant every 3wks or more...till last couple weeks and it's wanted a gallon/week. I pulled the rad last night (wifes away two days so her car was available for me to use), took it to a couple shops today. Epoxy is visibly separated in some areas at top 1/3 to 1/2 of drivers tank and leak is from that top area somewhere. One shop that was most friendly said they'd clean it up and then have a welder look at it.....2nd shop (that seemed very 'premium'/spotless place, cleanest testing tank, could've swam in it) didn't want to touch it, said I could spend a few hundred having it fixed and next week it could be leaking again. I spoke with the alum. welder across the street at a specialist shop and he said he'd have to hack part of the tank off for access assuming leak is on the header/tube interface...if tube on outside then he said it's not repairable/or block off that tube/s and reweld on header tank. Mine is a griffin 26x19 2x1.25" rows with AT cooler. Cost me $230US at my door plus taxes some 5 years ago. I doubt I can swing that deal again nor do I want to buck up that much. I'm tempted to stick in a new OEM 280ZX rad despite it's weight....the car is as usual my daily driver and I need it back running shortly...hurts to spend $150US for a new OEM rad but I'd know it's a good rad I can install fast and easy, I suppose till/if I get to a griffin/howe again? It was too late today to call Griffin and see if any sweet deal thru their service group could be had. I could toss in a used cheap rad but just seems best to stick a new one in given priority of keeping it all good mechanically (daily driver/$ in engine etc). I'm tempted to clean out that epoxy that's separated and have it tank tested at a local shop (they don't touch alum., but would test it for me) to see if it's an obvious accessible repair or FUBAR. Anyone know how well the OEM rad can perform? I know a shroud would become a lot more important, it's lapping day's I'd be curious on. thanks for reading my babbles.....having a long/hard week and just tired of making decisions for today PSS checking out a new OEM one on the way home...hoping it's not as heavy as I recall they are.

DVST8U , AV8R [ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Ross C ]

teflon tape works well on swaybar's & other bushings/bearing points to eliminate noise. so can antisieze....

12's minimum for my chevy builds, depending on cams I've needed more. I need 15 minimum with my current ZZ4 cam or it would spit as yours is....FWIW mine did exact same thing UNTIL (long trial period....I'd assumed if it was timing it would have corrected by 12 degrees, I was wrong) I got past 13/14 when it started to lay in......at 15/16 it just hauled ass and lit up instant Just be sure your total timing isn't exceeded as you bump in initial...

not my area of knowledge at all....just passing on what looked like a rather interesting excel spreadsheet some of you might enjoy turbosize.xls

"but they are the same length as the 240 stubs" Hmm, Scottie and at least one other confirmed that 280ZXT stubs were longer than 280Z stubs and thus that's why 280ZXT stubs when used on 70-78's with CV axles can get bound up.......and why I'm making this adaptor to go with 280Z stubs and CV axles. The bolted up companion flange location is same position b/t 240 and 280ZXT? Should be ~2" difference from what I was told.

Their's autometer mechanical and electrical signalled speedo's, and they can be calibrated to your combo. Is their not a 16" tire combo that comes close to your stock speedo? 225/50/16 & 245/45/16 is v. close to my OEM ZX setup. I know Z's had a little smaller OEM issue tread, their are various Z diff/speedo gears available as well if you target a specific difference. Given my speedo is only really needed to be accurate at slower speeds (school zones/city driving speed traps) I'd be open to a few % in error if it allowed more fun You can recalibrate an OEM speedo as well by altering the tension of the spring steel or similar piece on the back, at least one fella did that before.....I thought of making a new guage face and altering my 120mph unit to 160mph so I'd know what speed I was doing most of the time

"So if I have a stock 350 bottom end with a 400 crank = 383? Doesn't the bore size matter to make it into a 383" Yes, and the bore size is referenced as the block in above note. Here's a summary (displacement being area of cylinder (3.14 times r(radius) squared) times stroke of crank x 8 cylinders) Chevrolet V8 Bore and Stroke CID Bore Stroke Notes 262 3.671" 3.10" (5.7" rod) 265 3.750" 3.00" ('55-'57 Gen.I 5.7" rod, '94-'96 Gen.II 4.3 liter V-8 "L99" 5.94" rod) 267 3.500" 3.48" (5.7" rod) 283 3.875" 3.00" (5.7" rod) 293 3.780" 3.27" ('99-later "LR4" 4.8 Liter Vortec) 302 4.000" 3.00" (5.7" rod) 305 3.740" 3.48" (5.7" rod) 307 3.875" 3.25" (5.7" rod) 325 3.780" 3.62" ('99-later "LM7" 5.3 Liter Vortec) 327 4.000" 3.25" (5.7" rod) 350 4.000" 3.48" (5.7" rod) 350 4.000" 3.48" ('96-'00 Vortec, 5.7" rod) 350 3.900" 3.66" ('89-'95 "LT5" in "ZR1" Corvette 32-valve DOHC) (5.74" rod) 350 3.900" 3.62" ('97-later Gen.III "LS1")(6.098" rod) (actually totals 346 cubic inches) 364 4.000" 3.62" ('99-later "LQ4" 6.0 Liter Vortec) 383 4.000" 3.80" ('00 "HT 383" Gen.I truck crate motor) (5.7" rod) 400 4.125" 3.75" (5.565" rod) Two common, non-factory smallblock combinations: 377 4.155" 3.48" (5.7" or 6.00" rod) 400 block and a 350 crank with "spacer" main bearings 383 4.030" 3.76" (5.565" or 5.7" or 6.0" rod) 350 block and a 400 crank, main bearing crank journals cut to 350 size data source, and some 'car math' etc..... hope that helps