Dragonfly

May 14, 2003

Dennis thanks for keeping us updated on the trial as I know I have not been keeping up with it myself.

This is going to be my last post on this thread as I can see be re reading the thread that I am letting far to much emotion and opinion get into the way of reality. I am going to try to put into a simple explination of my feelings on the actual incident. The guys racing are the reason for the accident the girl driving the Geo was in a position to prevent the accident from happining but did not. It is now up to others to determine the amount of responsibility each person involved had and how they should be held accountable for their actions. I wish the best for everyone involved.

Dragonfly

May 14, 2003

Mike you are absolutely correct and I know with your background you are one of the people who is truly qualified to state some of the realitys and legalities involved, even though I get wound up I will never take anything said personal. This is also a good time for me to say that everything I am saying is MY PERSONAL VIEW AND OPINIONS and in no way should they be associated with zcsd etc.

I hope to never see 75 mph limiters installed on cars and with the trend from manufacturers I probably never will.

Dragonfly

May 14, 2003

I am going to move away from the theme of this thread for a minute to try to explain some of my earlier comments.

First off it is important to note that people are generaly lazy, most people will not go very far out of their way to do anything they do not absolutely have to. With that being said we could have 25 conveinently located race venues and we would still have races on the streets "why spend an hour of my life going through tech etc. when I can spend less than a minute to show this whimp who is king".

Now where I blame the city of SD, I agree that the city has no obligation moral or otherwise to provide anything to a special interest group nor do I think that the city incourages any one to race. My issue with the city is that they have a piece of unused land (used to be a city dump but has been filled and they put a freeway on one side and a bussines distrect on the other side leaving a large empty area in between) that is sitting there creating dust and has been vacant for over 20 years. The city was asked for permission to use this land and offered a reasonable lease rate, the city said no and did not that I am aware of offer a reason for declining.

The other issue with the city is that they have found that creating revinue by issuing tickets in therre normal fashion has impacted the cities growth (no one wants to live where they get busted constantly), so the city has discovered a great solution if they can create the feeling that racing is a huge problem and that any vehicle that has a visible or audible modification is a racer then there is no public outcry when the volume of tickets is increased dramaticaly for the racers but the general motoring public can cruise around at 85 to 90 mph and not worry about getting a ticket. As an example there is a section of freeway where I was cited for 70 in a 65 zone in my Z but a few months later I was in a hurry and went by at 85 in my beater truck, I saw sitting there the same officer who had cited me in my Z, I thought for sure I had a fat ticket coming to me but he never came after me, since then I have seen several "ricers" pulled over in that stretch. In and around San Diego the only time I ever see a car being cited that is not modified it is only by CHP and never by SDPD.

For the reasons above I personaly feel San Diego incouraging the view of a crises that is blown way out of proportion. Beyond that my feelings are that if you are busted doing something illegal you should pay the consiquences and if your actions cause the death or injury of another the consiquences should reflect that action.

This thread has hit on an aspect in my life that I am very passionate about and that is why I am getting so wound up here.

Dragonfly

May 13, 2003

Jim you are absolutely correct in your post and mine does read as if I feel the racers are getting the short end of the stick, please allow me to clarify a little.

I wrote what I did because I place some of the blame on the city of San Diego, I personaly do not agree with street racing and I only race on the track (that is one reason why I am a volunteer with race legal). I feel that everyone should be held responsible for their actions and in this case nature held the girl responsible for her actions and the courts will hold the racers responsible for theirs.

Here is an incident that happened in SD a little over a year ago to give you an idea why I think the city of SD condones people who do not pay attention to reality. There was a high speed chase where police where in persuit of an armed suspect, the suspect blew through a red light at a very high rate of speed aproxamately 3 seconds behind the suspect where several police cars with lights and sirens going. Sitting in the left turn lane on the side street a lady saw her light turn green she then saw a car blow through the intersection at a very high rate of speed, rather than looking or listining to what was going on around her she pulled into the intersection and was T-boned by the lead police car, she died instantly. The city of SD found the police at fault in this accident.

I once heard a crash investigator say that the best way to prevent crashes was to install a 12" sharpened steel spike in the center of the steering wheel, that way everyone will pay attention and not do anything stupid behind the wheel.

Dragonfly

May 13, 2003

I would like to put my 2 cents in on this as well. Jirst off I have not been keeping up with this as my wife does not like to see me get that wound up. Everything I have read in this post has been valid in my opinion but here is some more information that you will not see on TV.

The street they were racing on is two lanes in each direction of travel with a center turn lane, on one side of the street are a set of trolly tracks then just beyond the tracks is a frontage road, on the other side of the street is a frontage road. Imperial Ave. is also a very straight street in that area and has been used for many many years by street racers because it is so easy to see whats around you.

With that said I feel that the statement "there is no such thing as an accident" is very true. The guys racing were taking a chance as there is no doubt in my mind that they could see the other vehicles before they started. I also feel that what killed the girl driving the other car her boyfriend and severely injured her brother was a blatant lack of awarenes on her part, as stated earlier the speed limit is 50 mph and left turns have yeild signs, the only driver who will make a left in fron of oncoming traffic that is only a half block away (and for all practical purposes traveling 50 mph) is someone who never looked up before turning or someone who is in enough of a hurry to be willing to risk thier life by turning in front of fast moving traffic.

In San Diego at this time they are trying to make an example out of everyone who has any mods to thier vehicle, and I believe that had these guys been driving at or below the speed limit and not even known each other it would have still been all over the news as a drag race related accident. Something else to keep in mind is that in the past few years in San Diego they have started a program called "Race Legal" that has taken a lot of races off the streets and with that the number of race related accidents/deaths has decreased.

One last thing and I will hop off my soap box for now, race legal has asked the city to allow them to take a piece of city property (which has never been used for anything) and allow a perminant 1/4 mile track to be built (no city expense) and the city turned them down flat with no explination that I am aware of. The message that sends to me is that the city would rather make money off the kids in the streets than provide a safe alternative. BTW no matter what you may hear on tv the city of San Diego has nothing to do with race legal, race legal is funded by a grant from SDSU and is run by voulenteers and set up on private property (Qualcomm Stadium parrking lot), which they have to pay to use. Ok I think I will stop for now before I write a book.

Dragonfly

April 28, 2003

It may not look like it is screwed in but it is, the way I did it was to take a cutting wheel on a dremmel tool and a notch into into the end so it looks kind of like this ( ) the notch should go across both sides but only needs to be just wide enough and deep enough for you to get a flat blade (such as a paint scraper) in it, then you can grab the scraper with a pair of pliers right next to the nipple (but only touching the scraper) and unscrew it. After it is out be sure to clean it before putting it into the good engine, you don't want any metal shavings getting into your engine. Make sure to tighten it into the good engine enough that you can not unscrew it with just your fingers.

If you would ever like to meet me you can look me up http://www.zcsd.org and show up at one of the club meetings, or events (no need to buy me a drink all my advice is free).

Dragonfly

April 28, 2003

I have to agree with the guys above about just using the threaded insert from any L series engine at the wrecking yard and running your engine with a regular oil filter/system and no oil cooler. I had one on my car which I drag race and auto cross and I took it off for the reasons mentioned by Katman.

If you are insistant on running the oil cooler let me know as I have all the parts you need and I will let you have them for a lot less than Lee (the guy at the wrecking yard), but you will see it is money better spent elsewhere on the car.

Dragonfly

April 25, 2003

That sounds to me like the previous owner used the cooler and mounting hardware from a stock 280zxt. The stock 280zxt has a plug in the pressure relief valve location and uses a hallow bolt through a banjo fitting (to the oil cooler) to hold the oil filter assembly in place. If you ever get the chance to see on in person you will no exactly what I mean but it is hard to describe without a picture.

Dragonfly

April 25, 2003

When I was a teenager I learned my lesson about not using jack stands, I was working under my 71' charger when my 4 year old nephew decided to help, he helped by pulling the release lever on the jack. I was very fortunate that he was not able to pull it hard enough to release the jack instantly or I would not be here. I always use jack stands now.

I also use a jack stand under all 4 corners, here is my procedure for that: I jack up the front of the car place my jack stands lower the car onto them, check the fitment (adjust as needed) lower jack to about 1 inch below crossmember then forcably shove car from all four sides, remove jack and do the same procedure from the back. In doing this I know that the car is not going to slip on the jack stands no matter how much I try to torque something from under the car.

Dragonfly

April 8, 2003

Yes I did drill the oil holes into the small end for pin oiling, I also chamfered the holes using a 100 deg. chamfer bit. What I found out the hard way is that in the book "How to Build your Datsun OHC Engine" (I believe that is the correct title) by Frank Honzowitz that when he talks about things like that he is refering to full race engines that will be taken down and inspected/rebuilt after every one or two races. My engine was holding 20psi oil pressure at idle and 70 to 80psi when driving, the pins were brand new and the rods had been lightened, polished, oil holes drilled, balanced, and shotpeened, that left me to believe that the problem was I was not tearing the engine down and inspecting these wear surfaces like they should have been.

The primary reason I am saying anything about this is to save some others from falling into the same trap I did by thinking you could build an engine by following the instructions in a book for building race engines then drive it on the street and feel like you do not need to tear it down for inspection because it is not being raced.

I'm not giving you a hard time for asking a legitamate question I am just realizing that I did not go into enough detail in my last post.

Dragonfly

April 7, 2003

Here are some lessons from the "been there done that / learned the hard way" section of my engine build-up. This is concerning the use of free floating pistons. Also the following comments are for engines that are going to be street driven and not torn apart for inspection and rebuild every 1000 miles or so.

No matter where you read that you do not need to use a bushing for free floating pins ignore the urge to cut that corner (I ended up with 4 siezed pins in the rods). If you have a chioce of retainers for the pins use "wireloks" as they will not under any circumstance allow the pin to exit the piston. If you use a "spirolok" to retain your pins be aware that they are made in specific sizes none of which are the correct size for our rods which means the piston manufactuer has to compromise on the retaining grove for the spirolok (that one cost me a complete teardown and resleaving the #4 cylinder). Aviod using teflon plugs if you can as they will wear a grove into your cylinder wall over time, and if you let them go long enough they can come out and break the skirt off your piston.

Make sure when you have the work done that the shop doing the work documents there measurements of center to center length of each rod after they have been fitted with their bushing, this is very useful if you are doing a true blue printing of your engine and it can allow you to optimize piston and rod configuration (this is also important for your bearing shell selection on the rod big ends). What all this stuff I am telling you now adds up to is trying to make each cylinder cary as close to an equal load as each of the others as possible.

The last of my rambling... be careful of what corners you cut to save a buck, I saved $12 going with "spiroloks" over the "wireloks" and I also saved $72 by not using bushings in my fully prepped and balanced rods, I then spent $1200 to repair all the damage done after about 5000 miles of driving.

Dragonfly

February 28, 2003

I understand that this is one person who is playing nice nice to a special interest group but what is of concern here is that it was known for a long time that when we reached the 'date' that was on the original SB 708 an ammendment would be written by someone to 'update' the bill. It is very important that we make our represintatives aware of our feelings on this in order to avoid having one of them swayed by some special interest group (besides us).

Here is a copy of the letter that I have written, I did not put the name of my rep because I am faxing it to all the reps for San Diego County rather than just one person:

This letter is concerning the proposed amendment to SB 708. I would like to let you know that I am steadfastly against this amendment. There is no justifiable reason to punish the owners of classic cars in an effort to meet clean air requirements, it is well known that the majority of the cars that will be affected by this bill are very well maintained and seldom driven. My suggestion is that you look into taking care of the air at the primary source (large businesses that buy up air â€œcreditsâ€ so they donâ€™t have to lower their emission levels) and allow the general public to enjoy their mobility and their hobbies.

Please represent us by voting against SB 708. I would like to know that I made the correct choice in my vote.

Thank you,

Miles Gray

President Z Club of San Diego

If anyone else would like to use this with their name I have no problem with that. I also have no problem with constructive critisism of my writing skills - just be aware its to late to make changes in it now.

Dragonfly

February 27, 2003

Outside of CA you can contact your own congressmen and tell them of your dissatisfaction with what CA is trying to do and see if you can get them to apply some peer presure to the CA polititions. Also get involved with your local car clubs, the stronger the car clubs are the more pull they have.

Read up on the information posted on the SEMA website http://www.enjoytheride.com so that you can be better informed of what is going on not only in CA but in every other state as well.

Dragonfly

February 27, 2003

This post is much more serious than my last one. Take a look at this http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0701-0750/sb_708_bill_20030221_introduced.html this change will most likely be voted on by March 25th 2003 and will have a detrimental effect on all California HybridZ'ers.

Please take a couple of minutes to find out more http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=31171 and do your part to help get this turned down http://www.congressweb.com/framesets/sema.htm.

Dragonfly

February 26, 2003

I'm glad Hamilton is enough of a crack-pot to not be taken overly seriously when he starts jumping up and down on his soap box. What scares me more about him than anything else is that he puts all kinds of bizzare ideas out knowing that sooner or later some bone head who wants to make a political name for themselves will try to make it happen.

Dragonfly

February 25, 2003

There is a whole lot of BS in that article but I think if you read between the lines this is what the California government is trying to say "if its not a solar powered golf cart we don't want it on our roads" and "we will do whatever is neccesary to make sure it is impossible for you to operate an internal combustion vehicle in our state."

Of course that is my blurry view between the lines other people may see something else between those lines.

Dragonfly

February 25, 2003

I was checking a website for local gas prices and found this link http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020829/60939.html I doubt if this will happen but it is scarry that it ever made it to this point.

Dragonfly

February 21, 2003

I looked at the Biondo linelock in Summit but it appeared to me like it did not have any of the extra's ie wiring, release/lock switch, etc. did any of that come with it or did you have your own? Where did you put the release/lock switch at in your car? Are you using your linelock at the tree to "load" your drive line before launch?

Sorry so many questions but you have the same year car as me and you are running the same tires I am planning on getting for racing. BTW that is a great picture of your car (I also liked your launch photo).

Dragonfly

February 20, 2003

Yep, I'll be at MSA this year and if I am lucky enough to talk my wife into letting me (MSA show is her birthday weekend) I will also be at the MSA autocross/driving school.

You will have an email soon.

Dragonfly

February 20, 2003

Thanks for the info guys, I am going to try the 3/16" brake fittings first but if that does not work I will be paying a visit to Nappa.

Dragonfly

February 19, 2003

I have a book at home (ASE Drive train study guide) that says the ring gear and pinion are lapped at the factory as a set and should only be used together as a set. With that being said you should IMHO replace the ring and the pinion into the LSD then check your wipe patern and shim as needed.

Dragonfly

February 19, 2003

I know several people on here have linelocks on thier cars and I am looking into putting one on my car. My question is that I was looking in the Summit catalog and there "line lock kit" does not work on metric systems, since everything else on my car is metric does this mean thier kit will not work on my car?

Does anyone have any recomendations for a line lock kit for an early (72') Z.

Thanks

Dragonfly

December 12, 2002

Here is what I did to get mine in:

I used a large pry bar to get past that 1/8" lip then a very smooth and long drift punch inserted into one side to line it up. After it was lined up I was able to push the spindle in through. I also used a floor jack to hold everything "up" while I put the spindle in.

Almost forgot one thing, while using the pry bar to get past the lip on the bushing I put grease on both side of a 2" wide putty knife and used that as a surface to slide the control arm over so I would not damage the lip on the bushing.

Dragonfly

December 11, 2002

When I did mine my car was in a similar situation as yours but I put the rear suspension in place on the car to support everything. What is funny is how cursing is so uneversaly used but never seems to work (never has worked for me and I try it all the time).

Dragonfly

December 10, 2002

David I am going to toss in something that no one else has mentioned yet that I feel may have a more direct impact on you.

Since you are using a spring that is longer and you are creating a stiffer assembly in doing so you still have only two things that keep that spring contained, the first is the weight of the vehicle and the second is strut. Because of this one of two things are going to happen either your car is going to sit higher because of the longer spring or your strut is going to have its valving jammed into the top of the tube. If your ride height is increased you increase the height of your center of gravity and get less stability, if your valving is hitting the top of your strut tube you are going to be replacing struts on a very regular basis.

Dragonfly

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