Modern Motorsports Ltd

First off, can you choose your bolt pattern and offset with the wheels you won? Or was it a single set, take what you get??? Assuming you can get them in a 4bolt pattern you SHOULD be able to fit those but most likely NOT with 245's....225 treads fit front back without alteration when spaced correctly. And so do 16x7" rims fit front back when spaced correctly...with some extra room which 'should' accomodate your additional 1/2" with wider rims. That 1/2" will quite likely require rolling in your rear fender inside lip (do a search/many here have done it). Your spacer will likely be right around 1" (25mm thick). IF your wheels are same as Z pattern, see if you can round up a 'cheap' transdapt bolt on 1" thick 4x4.5 patterned spacer for test fitments. From that you should be able to fine tune it to your exact thickness needs for proper rim placement (unless 1" works). Keep your transdapt receipt as their bolt on adaptors are crap, they've been breaking regularly in our area as they're not made with any respectable materials. Once you know they'll fit and have determined your appropriate thickness I can provide you with a custom set of bolt on adaptors. The adaptors themselves do not put additional stress on your existing studs as they experience the same as a wheel bolted on. Still always a good idea to replace those studs if you can, everything has a design life and if you're not the original owner you have no way of knowing if they've been routinely overtorqued in the past etc. good luck and let us know more about your wheel specs (bolt pattern same? etc). On a different note, do you like your MSA springs? Are they stiff enough for your needs? If you are interested in a change you'll be out the least $ by doing it while your MSA stuff is near-new for resale. Just a thought...sometimes (not saying it's true in this case) we devise the $1000 solution around keeping a $250 part that'd be easier swapped out.

16x7 with 225/50/16's is a very comfortable AND responsive combination in my opinion. A 205 on a 7" rim is somewhat 'tight' but if very tight is your goal that might be right for you. I'm running 245/45/16's on 16x8s and I much prefer the 225/50/16 on 16x7 ride (225/50/16's on 16x8's are tooo tight IMO). Your bolt pattern is 4x4.5 (4 studs on a 4.5" diameter bolt circle). You'll find very few aftermarket 'bolt on' wheels in the Z bolt pattern and offset (typically 0->+10mm for 70-78's). It's this lack of choices that prompted me to offer a set of bolt on wheel spacers for $210 that allow you to choose from dozens of wheels intended for a 4x100 (4") and honda offset (ie. 38-42 generally). You can go to www.tirerack.com and pick most any wheel offered for a 92 honda civic just for an example (over 50+ choices last I checked...). Checking Rx7 offerings gets into some larger wheels which may be offered in honda spec/bolt pattern etc. For Z offerings their are centre lines, panasports, revolutions, and custom order wheels (any others?). good luck and enjoy your Z!

hehe, another fun one I tossed out on a camaro board where it took a bit of convincing that a mid mount battery was superior to a trunk mount in a camaro for roadracing was.....(using a fun board members name as well).... picture Craig in a tutu...once you've got past that he's doing a pirouette with his arms spread out...spinning slow........now he pulls them in and spins faster.....simple effect of PMOI a battery couldn't be much better placed than custom sunken in the passenger tool well behind the passenger seat IMO....an optima placed their and a JTR mounted V8 got miles to improving performance....$$$$ on aluminum isn't mandatory but can be nicely added as budget permits. My last few weight changes made quite a difference in my low speed steering effort and handling did improve but the steering effort was most appreciated by myself (w/ my 280ZX).

Agreed with Terry....and your high psi won't prevent starvation...that's pretty much a volume relation. I recall something round abouts 45gph being lots for 400hp? I'd always thought it'd be nice to have a return line plumbed with carbs but haven't seen a system (that I recall) to do that yet. You'd have nice cool fuel constantly with your pump and a return that's for sure.....(sometimes it's our return line size in EFI app's that is just as important...)

quote: Originally posted by Dan Juday: My consern is that with the bracing I have done the energy of an impact would be transfered directly to that area. What do you guys think? Who has "been there, done that". I got put into a sping and my rear hit two jersey barriers and then I got hit dead on my right front corner by a speeder (can't say what speed...perhaps 30mph at impact..hard to tell at night with his headlights blinding you). My front 'crumpled' as intended (280ZX's have 'crumple' wrinkles in front fender intending them to buckel and twisted a bit but overall car from firewall rearward was basically straight. Entire rear of car required NO repair as the bumper took the force and absorbed it on both ends with no damage transmitted to rear of car. So rear bumper took the bounces as I deflected off jersey barriers and front crumpled OK. It had me leary of ever having frame rails extending past my crossmember as I got nailed sharply, car spun an instant 180 and stopped and I jumped out and wasn't too sore from the incident. I just wish we had more 'side' room for a side impact crumple zone in our z's....I'd keep my back rearward of strut towers and front fwd of xmember 'non trussed' if possible and when altering exhaust/fuel pump locations try to keep in mind the concept of shielding them from debris or hot areas.... Just my .02c. Too bad the 70-78 bumpers are so poor as my ZX rear bumer saved me a LOT of expense and headache. The front 'shock' absorber worked as intended but couldn't take all the force.

You may have retarded your timing too far and dropped temps too much ....6 mos. ago when I had to pass I paid $20 to a shop to use their 'sniffer' and had my carb setup in 30 minutes as I tweaked and a tech told me what the meter was saying (ie. rich on load etc) and it barely ran but passed.....quite a variety in the archives. Make sure your timing is not negative at idle. Just disconnecting vaccum (or a ball bearing inserted if they have a visual) can help;^) http://www.hybridz.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=000233 http://www.hybridz.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=000319 and a number of others I haven't listed good luck

Thanks Jim, glad they work for you I haven't a clue how 'flowtechs' measure up so can't compare that...my ZX and steering is very different from your Z setup. Plug access still very good with them? (at least we have the same rpm straight plug heads for comparison....) look fwd to seeing your pics

Ordering various catalogs, www.summitracing.com etc help out in some thinking. Chevy mags like carcraft, chevy hp, hotrod etc will help as well....sometimes enough can be read at the newstand, othertimes I have to buck up . I got 99% of my info years back before hybridz etc from a diehard few on a mailing list AND being subscribed to a classic fbody (camaro/firebird) list and a 3rd gen fbody list......they're all playing with chevies and tons of info.....I'm sure fbody websites would have tons of info for you. If you find any free dyno software it can greatly help as well......then their's David Vizards books and many others which are quite helpful. Just searching this forum for 'cam', 'timing', 'intake' etc etc will yield lots of reading....early on a good printer can be handy if it's all new to you. good luck with your reading....don't mind Owen, he's just glad he's nearing the end of his plethora of q's we've all had a few q's and have to start somewhere...... Lots of links.....camaroz28.com

Great to hear Jim, I've been checking each day awaiting your update! Can you pleeeeeze measure their 'profile' from the header flange 'surface' to the tubes........ie. if I extend a line straight down from my heads exhaust ports what are the measurements to the closet edge of the tubes and the outermost edge of the tubes? and if you can measure dead centre of the collector in same axis with it's width (or diameter), that'd be very kewl! I was looking at my drawings last night and debating 2.5 or 3" collectors.....

" Some folks HAVE managed to get them, others haven't. This is why Mike and Ross are going to the trouble to make these brackets.....Ross, you and Mike any further along with that bracket? Yes, we're further along. Details with drawings/formats/machining details have delayed the prototype which will hopefully be produced within 10 days depending on how some current drawing details work out. These delays haven't been too upsetting though as our committments have slowed right down at the mid-20 mark so at some point Mike & I will have to decide how much we want to finance this effort to ensure that it does go ahead. We'd aimed for 50 pairs and even getting a lot closer to 40 from our current mid 20 mark would really help matters. Details here under products-rear disk cnc bracket Modern Motorsports Ltd. quick details: 88-94 240sx calipers Z31 11-3/8's rotors site details also list some pros/cons of using maxima 10" 280zx calipers vs. our setup (Note to newbies, this project started as a total need for a rear disk solution was apparently needed after existing 'solutions' were either quit (JCR) or NLA (maxima brackets).) -we're not reproducing maxima brackets, that'd be easier.....we're making unique cnc brackets (model on web to be viewed) which have much improved ebrake cable geometry, braking leverage, and overall function. Thanks to the 20+ already paid up and committed, we're working thru marketing etc as time permits to increase those numbers and make the product available ASAP. If you know anyone that could be interested please pass the word.

John, thanks as usual for your well informed reply. I've contemplated softening my rear suspension (swapping out HD rear sway bar for the OEM one) but haven't gotten to it. I suspect that alone would increase my rear traction. At Seattle International Raceway you can take an FIA curb quite quickly and perhaps tag a little air, I recall one at Thunderhill also on a high speed exit in which one isn't purposely punishing your suspension, it's just the fastest line around the course (as I was told) occasionally. Kissing the edge of one and nailing it higher up can be vastly different as well I've been keen on the quaiffe stuff for some time and have enjoyed watching it come available and especially the price drops in recent times (I can match any pricing on quaiffe units, including that above).

"How do I change gearing ratios to make it fats. " Add a donut holder on your console Seriously though...do you have the JTR book on order? fine reading even if you never acquire a V8Z. For improved acceleration you want to numerically increase your differential (rear end) gears. ie. changing from a 3.54 to a 3.9 will increase your rate of torque application and subsequent acceleration. HOWEVER, V8Z's have lots of torque already and I'd recomend to anyone building one to try their stock ratio first (unless you're building serious power and know all the ins/outs etc). Often traction is limited in your first 2-3 gears with a mild (ie. 300-350hp) V8 let alone one prepped more, so increased gearing is NOT typically needed. To change your rear gears you only have to change out your differential for one of higher numerical gears. You'll often see hipo Z's reducing their rear gear ratios for greater range and topend as some are destined for truly high speed If you have mechanical interests that you've never explored and have the hobby time it can be very satisfying to build your own ride. Noone to blame or compliment besides yourself. A truly unique feeling that's hard to explain. But nothing wrong with using your checkbook as your main tool either. We all have our fav. tools

Well it may have been alright in the end, what happened with me: car's in Laintzville, Scott Fielding (well he's the owner/builder was an employee) builds tranny in Nanaimo, car moves to Vancouver....trans is installed, I returned to Scott for him to setup my TV cable within 3 wks of starting it up over here....he couldn't get decent shifts so just made sure he had minimum TV and I'd have to come back another day. PITA as I was no longer near Nanaimo. IMO he should have gotten the 1st build/setup a lot closer than he did. It was shortshifting itself all the time, his governor wasn't close to being adequate. If I'd returned and left it with him a few days perhaps he could have gotten it right. He'd sold me that he'd done them before for lightweight hotrods and it was no trouble......then on payment time he came in ~$200 above the max. price of the range he'd quoted me, which at the time was $1400 AIR (CD). Just didn't all sit that well, maybe mine was a unique one. He was late getting it finished and I'd given him lots of time....my father and I had to wait when we showed up (after him having a few weeks leadtime) for the builder to finish assembling it/choose a tailhousing/speedo gears etc etc. Get your goals etc in writing and agreed to if he is the main choice you have. At least you're closer to follow up with him than I am/was!

quote: Originally posted by pmsimkin: I was reading a page about going 5spd or 700r4 and BLKMGK mentioned" get someone who knows what there doing and the TV cable adjustment" I am about to put a700R4 into my 72 SBC and would sure like to know,what you mean Thanks guys TV cable controls the line pressure and subsequent shift quality in combination with other factors. 'search' function has lots....'700R4 TV' had 10 matches and their's likely more. I wouldn't rec'd CS Transmissions in Nanaimo

Their was a set of 1.5" block huggers posted here used/forsale just the other day....they might suit your bill.

I installed a ~$10US 80's camaro throttle cable I got over the counter at my parts shop, single plate at firewall with 4 screws and it's near ideal length for me. Don't recall my connection style to the pedal/lever but quite simple.

depending on your rear end ratio and what rpm's you want to run at.......assuming 1:1 3rd gear as those have, a 3.54 diff with a 24.7" tall tire puts you at 4000rpm at 83mph 5000rpm at 104mph 6000rpm at 124mph if your diff ratio is otherwise then just alter by the percent difference....ie. 3.9 diff is 10% higher geared so just drop 10% from figures above.......4000 rpm would be (83-8.3)=~75mph, same applies for a different tire height. hope that helps, you can do a rather simple wheel turning excercise to find out your current diff ratio if interested, it's been posted here and is at www.zhome.com as well Here's an Oz site for calculating this Oz site, result is kph but it converts to mph as well (times 0.6) and here's anothermph ratio calculator I also have an excel sheet I've used that I can send to anyone, just drop me a line. [ October 10, 2001: Message edited by: Ross C ]

Here's my mostly street/some lapping day input: 1. When using an OEM LSD unit, how do you know when the co-efficient of tire traction exceeds the break away torque of the diff clutches? Does it matter? you'll start breaking your tires loose.....the better the traction the tighter you could tolerate your breakaway torque spec, so for general weather/traction the ~40(38?) NISMO spec seems good IMO 2. How tight can the clutches be packed to improve breakaway torque and has anyone got solid test data on the results? Ron Tyler went up to just over a 100ft-lbs spec and then later backed off to ~70ish if I recall correctly (he was top gun in his autox class with his lt1t56240z. Contact me for his email. 3. Have you found anyone LSD lube to be better than another and why? never compared them, local nissan dealers said they used GM POSI Additive and I've found it to be most commonly available and a million milllion chevies using it gave me some confidence as well. I add enough till my unit doesn't 'crab' at low speed crawling corners. 4. When using stock half shafts, do they need to me milled to align with the snap ring grooves in the carrier? nope. 5. Does anyone build a shim for the ring to allow the use of stock ring & pinion assys? If so, do they supply longer properly shouldered bolts as well? I've never heard that the ring gear depth changed and made the spacer you speak of neccessary? 3.36's to 4.11's have been installed in R200 LSD's to my knowledge without such ring gear spacers (common in domestic posi's to use such spacers)

quote Do they still have them available? I thought it was just posted last week that they're no longer available thru Reider? John, do you know what one should expect to pay to have gears setup? ie. buying a clutch or quaiffe posi and having unitrax set it up with gears etc should cost approximately how much?

Ruben: have you purchased all new bearings, seals, bolts etc? I recall this adding up, if you have sourced this all out it'd be great archive info to have the PN's/costs here. Parts/labour..seeing the whole cost picture would help some of us budget/plan as we've 'admired' the quaiffe from afar for sometime now. I recall pricing out a clutch type full rebuild and bearings/discs/seals etc all added up let alone gears if you don't have them. From scratch I'd want to build a quaiffe if $ wasn't an issue. I hope someday here to be able to enjoy one, till then the clutch one will have to get me by. We all look fwd to hearing your reports on it, I KNOW it's fine stuff as John's backed up. Oh yeah, a few rather 'hard' parts users have posted here who go thru diff's quite quickly pegging it ....quaiffes will send an immense shockload thru your drivetrain IF they go from poor traction to great traction AND you're really putting the power down. That is the only downside I'm aware of (sides $) and not one that influences me. I don't peg it on washboard or slick surfaces waiting for the hookup on the dry surface. It could also happen if a rear tire (or two) caught some air AND you added extra rpm/power while in flight so it again induced that shock on landing (no clutches like other diffs to take that shock in a quaiffe). It's circumstances like this that have snapped a halfshaft in a quaiffe setup. John, have you done some lapping days etc and caught any air on the FIA curbs etc? I recall you've done your share of roadrace lapping days.(ie. beyond autox speeds)Any factor or that's not a common WOT location...?

"Now that being said this .071" valve will only keep you in fourth from 3/4 or less throttle allowing you to cruise at high speed in over drive." So, what's needed for full WOT in 4th to redline? That 3/4 throttle stuff I've had for a while and does not suit my highway jaunts or lapping days at all. "Was not this the reason we put over drives in our cars in the first place?? " Nope, so I can do over 120mph without going over 6000rpm oh yeah, and daily 365day/yr driving I suppose

quote: Originally posted by Tim240Z: Check out this site for TV cable setup...loks like a very good unit (patent pending I think) TV made easy Tim Looks promising...as long is allows swing arc adjustment and not just cable length. Ahh, now I see that fuzzy pic enlarges and shows they're using various slotted plates to allow positioning the TV end differently. The actual TV mount off the carb plate looks good and MUST be very sturdy as most carb only mounts are not stiff enough for good TV setup (ie. flex of 0.5 to 1mm is too much). That part I can't use as it won't match my proflo base. [ October 04, 2001: Message edited by: Ross C ]

quote: Originally posted by Indiana-Z: OK, I have a 700R4 in my 355sbc 350hp '74.5z. The shifting never has been right. If I adjust the kick down for decent shifting through the first three, then I can't get it to stay in 4th without downshifting. How do you get it to stay in 4th by downshifting? Mines been worked over heavily by a few guys now and I don't have 3-4WOT, I think their's some ghost they've all missed. FWIW, I was once given the 700R4 TV cable 'pivot point' location and it did not match my 1406 edelbrock carb....I made an offst stud to correct this (AFAIK, nooone offers this) and that greatly improved my overall shift points/quality, smooth bottom and top with improved shift points. Previously I could adjust TV for good smooth bottom or good smooth top.....never both (one would be harsh). Another fella backed that up saying Qjets don't have the correct swing arc either, so if your TV isn't seeing the correct pressure transitions relative to throttle it will not be ideal....I'd love to see those issues nailed down.......mine's an '87 or '88 I believe. search the forum...it was covered heavily on governor and specific springs before...and I've been told as well a corvette governor is a cheap piece ($45?) to step to a more calibrated setup for our Z's than OEM camaro etc, it's in mine but still not ideal. I expect 383Z will straighten us out here......

quote: Originally posted by tommyz: Ross, How safe are the spacers with V8 power? A spacer properly made is no hazard at all. Your hazard is the same without spacers, keep your lugnuts properly torqued (proper/not overtorqued...can be as bad or worse than undertorqued) and you have NO worries IMO. I run 1.25" slipons up front on ARP 1/2" studs and out back I run 1.5" bolt on adaptors with OEM Nissan studs. All 3 local V8 z's doing track stuff use spacers and they've been common on porsches for years (H&R got started doing that marquee I believe). You'll find 2.25"+ bolt on spacers for porsches.....they do have a larger bolt pattern and thicker studs but we're not doing Lemans in 930's either I'm slowly planning a new rear brake setup for my own ride and will be going with 7/16's studs....what drill size for .580 knurl ARP's? 9/16's seemed most appropriate at 0.5625 for the .580 knurl on the ARPs (37/64's is .578 so too large....~10 thou or more pressfit generally correct?).

"They are 15 x 6 with a +35 offset. I know that the bolt pattern is correct but will I need spacers for this offset?" Sure you'll need spacers. Z's are right around zero offset so you'll need about an inch minimum up to 1.5" spacer. Nothing that bolts on 90's cars bolts on Z's. If their were more options we'd stick with 4lugs and no spacers.(I bet 'spacer' would get a lot of hits via the search engine ) If you really like those I have spacers at $210/set to bolt 'em on, your 'deal' dynamics change obviously.