Heavy Z

I mentioned it to him a couple weeks ago, hopefully his car will be done by then too. Redwood road is a lot of fun (yeah, the street next to your shop!), let's plan to hook up for a drive there or to Mt. Hamilton in a couple weeks when it works for everyone's schedule. How's that FD treating you Joey, do you like the change?

Thanks for the news Mike! I'm out of school in two weeks and am swamped with term papers myself, let's hook up for a drive once school is over.

That's the best fix but I've got to get it done sooner than two or three months from now. Last I heard on torquecentral, JTR has a huge back order. Is your RX7 back on the road now Mike?

Thanks everyone for the advice. After taking around to some local shops(and I must say it was fun watching every shop worker scratch their heads and say they'd never seen a collapse like this), here's what looks like will be done on friday. The bent area will be cut out with a plasma cutter and a "metal tupe" cut from a section of pipe will be welded in its place. Not pretty, but I knew I'd mess up the ceramic coating any way I go. I have to drive it like an econobox right now and want to get past this stage asap, wish me luck and I'll post pictures once it's done.

Hi everyone, I know I don't have a Z any more but I'm in need of help with my Sanderson long tubes and this place seemed perfect to get this problem solved. I hit something on the highway saturday night that collapsed one of the pipes on the drivers side header all the way down to the collector. Does anyone have an idea as to how to fix this? Here are some pics to give you a better idea of the damage, it's crazy how concaved in the pipe is! I'd like to fix them if I can, thanks for your help in advance. Brett

All torn apart? Those halfshafts can be out in 10 min (8 bolts) each side once the car is jacked up, the driveline is only 4 bolts so maybe 5 min. It's not like they have been doing much, pay them for the work they've done and tow it to Joeys if you don't want to deal with their BS. Or, tow it home, take the halfshafts to a driveline repair shop, have them install new ujoints, and put the halfshafts back in yourself. Good luck man, I hate dealing with chumps like the ones who are currently holding your Z hostage. Brett

Welcome to Hybrid Z, I like your name... Congrats on buying my old car. I'm sorry that things didn't work out so that Shan could keep it but I'm glad to see you're psyched about owning the Z yourself. There are some pics in my gallery if you haven't checked it yet. It's kind of funny, my Z ends up going to walnut creek and that's where I bought my LS1 FD. Once you get it we could meet if you want to and I could give you a rundown of what's been done to the car, my brother lives only about 10 min away from walnut creek and I'll be there often to run Mt. Hamilton in my FD now that the rain has stopped. Brett

Sorry I can't help you out man, I'm enjoying your old LS1 in my FD though. Good luck on the swap!!

Glad you guys liked the story, I wish we had more stories like this.

Saw this over at Elisetalk, watch the video on the right. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/23/earlyshow/main1339324.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=HOME_1339324

My old 327 Z has a single plane and I loved it. Don't fear this manifold, in a lightweight Z you don't need the low end torque like some other road pig.

You'll like the combo!

I wasn't clear in that last post, it's an FD + LS1

More detail as to why I sold my Z... My last Z was my second 240, bought it from a guy in so cal that had done the swap and needed the $$. The car still needed work and so I swapped out the interior, diff, suspension from my other Z and got down to customizing the body and adding power. The car was on the road in no time, 'finished' in about a year and was my daily driver ever since. 3 1/2 years of hard driving and only left me stranded once from a bad starter. The problem I ran into wasn't that the Z was a bad car. The problem is that the FD I bought outruns, outbrakes, outcorners, outeverythings my old 240 and it gets near 30 mpg. This costs $$ though, and a Z is definitely a cheaper route. Anyway it wasn't getting any road time so I decided to let someone else have fun with the Z, now it is their daily driver and I'm driving a car I've wanted for 13 years.

Yeah, me too. Then I got another 2 seater, V8 hybrid and in two months my resolute attachment to the Z is waving goodbye to the new owner, watching him drive down the street thinking to myself "damn that thing looks good." Never watched anyone else drive away in my Z to appreciate the accustics of the exhaust either, all in all I have nothing but great menories of this car. It was good to me and got me out of plenty of jams as only a V8 Datsun can.

Well, as of 30 minutes ago I no longer own my Z. I am bummed of course, but happy that I found a buyer who appreciates the car. Now I'll focus my time and energy on the RX7, but will look back and miss this car I can already tell. It wasn't getting driven though, and I felt that was somehow a crime every day I walked by it to get in the RX7 and it was just sitting there. This site made this car happen in the time it happened and for that I'm grateful. Here's one of the last pics of the Z when I was up in the hills last month:

Hello everyone, it looks like Holley just released a new TB that will fit on the stock LS intake manifold. Any word on the street about it? I was thinking about this for my FD LS1 and wanted to get some feedback first if I can. I it too soon to tell or has anyone seen these or read any tests? Thanks! http://www.holley.com/HolleyNews/article.asp?ID=62

Well I went to see Rick again yesterday at Synergy Motorsports and was again impressed by his thoroughness and by how great of a businessman/person he is. He got it running real consistent, the best pull being 442 WHP/408 TQ!! Now that this is finished, I will turn my attention to other areas of the car. mas280, you're going to sell the Z? What a coincidence, mine will be sold in two days. I still love the Z, but I don't drive it these days and really feel the car was built to be used. So it's going to someone who will appreciate it and keep it on the road every day. As Dale pointed out, they are a great bang for your buck and I know eventually I'll miss the raw sensation Michael describes. More info on the sale to come.

I've been thinking about the fast setup myself. As for the TT vette, I want a ride too. The one in Rick's shop was stock internals, pushing 5 lbs of boost it made 505 WHP:-D .

Congrats on the numbers Mike, what cam are you running in your Vette? Yesterday I saw two vettes at Synergy Motorsports - one had a procharger and the other a new twin turbo mounted out back. You would've dug the installs and the way they sounded.

Hah!! That's funny Mike, funny and true at the same time. The thing with the Z was I didn't mind giving up creature comforts for performance. Safety and dry balls are nice though.

Hi chevy crowd, I thought since it has been over a month since I bought John's (LS1240Z) 1993 RX7 LS1 conversion I'd let you guys know how the transition has gone from old tech to new. I've been very happy with my 327 240Z daily driver over the last 3 years, it's a proven runner and has a great muscle car feel to it. I've also been a big fan of RX7s from the time I started driving. I had a 1st gen and used to drool over 3rd gens back in the 90's when they were first introduced so buying John's car was pretty much decided within 2 minutes of reading his ad. John is a cool guy and the car turned out to be just as he said it was, clean and fast as F@(k. Mike and Joey (MAS280 and LS1Z) have also been helpful and I look forward to meeting up with them at the track soon. As for the LS1 RX7, here's what I've come up with so far... The package is amazing and has tought me a lot about the benefits of new tech over old tech. The cars have an entirely different feel though so it's hard to really compare them. The car is really refined in a lot of ways - stiff chassis, precise cornering, .29 drag coefficient and adjustable intermittant wipers . Feels really SOLID. About the T56...anyone thinking about buying one of these or a T5? IMO, go with a T56. I had two T5s in my Z and this tranny is a lot better. I used to reason that a T5 was better because of the weight, but after driving them both around I'm sold on the 6 speeed for how solidly it shifts and for the extra gear. The fuel injection on this car is wildly efficienct too. How they can pull close to 30 mpg in a V8 baffles me. The AFR heads pull hard and are street legal to boot. It's so Jeckle/Hyde whereas the Z pretty much lets you know where it stands up front. I'm still waiting on wheels and tires and then the car will be painted, hopefully finished before summer. I went on a drive yesterday with the Golden Gate Lotus club, here's a link to some pics if anyone is interested. The RX7 is hiding a couple places but there are plenty of nice Elises. Brett http://homepage.mac.com/gsnow/Lotus/PhotoAlbum101.html

The shroud had a 1" gap between it and the radiator, I got rid of the gap and things got cooler.