Dragonfly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The doors from a 260 and 240 are completely interchangeable and if you have access to 260 doors they should work fine for you. Dragonfly

Bad news Tom, the hinges will line up and the doors are physicaly the same size but the latching mechanism is different. I have seen people change the latching mechanism but it seemed to me to be somewhat labor intinsive and not worth the effort. Also the 280 doors weigh about 40lbs each more than the 240 doors. Dragonfly

That little "half a track" will be going on again this Friday night (12-6) and the guy with the 350Z said he is going to be there again. I get the feeling he will beat me this time as I know he has a place by his house were he can practice his launches. I'm not to worried about it though because he is going to grow complacent very quickly then drop a load in his pants when I get the stroker back in the car and stomp him. The only reason I am racing with my spare engine is to practice my reaction times and work on making more accurate and smoother shifts. Anyone in the San Diego area who wants to come out and play is more than welcome. Dragonfly

When I saw those flares on Monday the first thing I thought was "wow those are nice" "I would love to find a set of those flares". Later Monday eavining I got a phone call from a friend of mine in the San Diego Z club who asked if I was still looking for some fender flares, I said yes and he told me he had some flares and other fiberglass parts from his brother and he would bring them to Tuesday nights meeting for me to look at. Last night when he opened up the back of his truck I almost had a heart attack, sitting in front of me was a hood, front air dam, complete L & R front fenders, 2 L front flares (exactly like in the picture), 1 R front flare, and 1 R rear flare. None of these parts has ever been on a car, also he told me he is sure he knows where the missing R front and rear flares are as well as the 2 missing L rear flares. The total package when he finds the other parts will be 2 complete sets of the flares pictured by Jumbo240Z, a hood, full front fenders and an air dam all for a price less than any single item mentioned would cost new. Dragonfly

The charcoal canister is part of your fuel ventilation system, if you remove it from the system you will more than likely get a raw fuel smell from under the hood of the car. If you don't like the way it looks your best bet is to plumb the line labeled "tank" to your air filter so the vapors are drawn into your engine rather than floating around in the engine compartment. Dragonfly

David, you have mail.

Probably not as effective but here is what a friend of mine did with his Z. He bought the offset bushings from Motorsport that allow you to adjust your camber and installed them to lower his pivot point rather than change the camber (he has a camber plate that allows him to set his camber correctly). Dragonfly

David I would like to suggest that you "French" the rear side marker lights. I have some pictures of mine but I don't have any way other than email to show them. If you would like to see them give me an email address or if someone else would like to post them I will email them to whomever. Dragonfly

Good luck with the insurance thing. What I would suggest is try to gather as many reciepts as possible, then get a copy of the Motorsport catalauge and go through it and highlite all the things in it that would require replacement on your car, if at all possible find an auto shop who will be willing to appear in court with you or at least sign an official appraisal of the labor cost. I have found that the insurance companies back peddle pretty quickly when they see you have done your homework and have documentation to back it up. Make extra sure you fully understand what is required on any and all documentation you intend to submit in court. Also I would like to wish you the best of luck and health to your mom. Dragonfly

John I'm glad to see you were able to find a replacement car. My recomendation is to do the body work, undercarrage, and engine bay before installing any of the parts from your car. When you put the engine in you can always do it with the fenders etc. off the car. Remember it is always easier to work on something when there is nothing else in the way than working around stuff to get to what would have been easy to reach. BTW welcome to HybridZ. Dragonfly

The procedure I outlined will work for any vehicle that has pickup coil in the distributor. If the problem is only with the tach and you are not having trouble with miss firing, bogging, etc. the problem is probably in your tach or the wiring to it. A bad pickup coil will cause erattic tach behavior but will also cause erratic missing, bogging, engine dieing while idling, and other various ignition related problems. An MSD uses the same pickup coil that your stock ignition system uses so the procedure is the same. Dragonfly

There is a guy on here who is also named Miles and uses his name in his handle, I remember seeing the post you are talking about, but we are two different people. I have to admit that when I see him post it throws me for a loop at first then I'm like "oh yea thats the Miles with the V8 Z". Dragonfly

TomahawkZ I wish I had a Griffin radiator, what I have is an aluminum radiator from a Fiero, for both upper and lower hoses I had to use a generic hose (corigated with spring inside) and hand shape it to fit. You can buy the generic hose in almost any length you want and almost any diameter you want. Dragonfly