Pop N Wood

The article says they first spotted the car at 137 yards. It doesn't say how far away the car was when they opened fire. At least that is way I read it.

Sounds good. Pics would be nice. I have quite a picture collection of of diff mount solutions. The clamshell type you chose is probably my favorite, for all the same reasons you list.

I'm with you. Both of my children are miracle babies. We went through 3 years of uncertainty before getting pregnant via drugs and inseminations. Just don't lose faith. It can be hard at times but even in the darkest times I knew it would work out. There was just something inside that made me know we were destined to have children, some how some way. And now that my youngest is 4, my wife has agreed to be a surrogate for another couple. She goes in next week to be examined by the other couple’s fertility doctors. From a feeling of hopelessness to providing the greatest hope imaginable. Truly a remarkable world we live in.

A quick rule of thumb is it usually costs about 10 times the model number. 240's are the cheapest and generally can be done for $2400. 280's are slightly more at $2800. That is why you don't see many 350Z's swaps. Too expensive. If you are really limited to only $2500 you might want to consider trading in your 280 on a 240. Should get you in under budget.

You might want to read some of JohnC's posts about the road manners of a Z with such low profile tires. He definitely knows more about making a Z handle than I ever will. Also, if you bought a crate LS6, if they are anything like the crate LS1's you might be pleasantly suprised. Every car magazine I have read that used a crate LS1 for a project measured an out of the box HP of over 400 HP. Here is one example http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/hardcore/0409em_gmpp/ The article is about carbing an LS1, but note that the stock engine rang up 429 HP. With a cam and new valve springs they measured over 500 HP. Hope you get a chance to dyno your LS6 before it goes in.

It is only worth what you can sell it for. Having said that, maybe it is not worth anywhere near what you think it is?

When I looked into aligning the rear on my Z the shop told me it was going to be an extra $300 if they had to adjust anything back there. I think the words big F'ng hammer were used.

A stuck float with an electric fuel pump will do the same thing. Seen it done. Wierdly enough also with a 396 camaro

Sure. Doesn't really matter who the rider is. More an issue of physics. http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=73

Bikes can't pull sustained G's in a turn like a well set up car can. Of course bikes are hard to beat accelerating out of the corners.

"mechanical" temperature gauges are simply thermocouples. Thermocouples are two dissimilar metals in direct contact which produce a voltage that is roughly proportional to the temp. The "gauge" part is just a non-linear voltmeter. So your "mechanical" temp gauge is an electric temp gauge.

I was thinking of Otis too. Too funny.

Nothing wrong with perfectly restored 240. Wouldn't mind having one myself. It is just that these cars are so much fun to modify and respond so favorably to it. Also a lot cheaper then trying to get accurate parts. The only real problem with purist is their self righteous attitude towards other people's cars. Doesn't sound like you fall into that catagory. I assume you are have visited http://www.zhome.com. They have some excellent resources for restoration Z's.

Smaller tank would help.

The early 240's, through 71 1/2, had the rear diff mounted 35 mm farther forward. Caused a half shaft vibration due to the increased angularity. It is a very worth while upgrade to fix this with the later year mounting brackets and longer driveshaft. But I suppose if you are trying to be historically accurate....

Is this one of those questions you already know the answer to?

When I researched O2 simulators, one board claimed installing a spacer (a taller bung) on the second set of O2 sensors so it doesn't full insert into the exhaust stream will satisfy the PCM logic. The computer thinks the oxygen is at a different level because the voltage output is different from the front set (or so I suppose) If this works, then no cats are needed and the PCM can be left intact. Could this be a work around? Another thing to worry about is ABS sensors. Some cars use the ABS sensor to detect a "rough road condition". If you don't have the ABS sensors, then you are in the same mess as the second O2 sensors. The correct fix is to modify the computer to ignore the no ABS input, which is illegal. One member had his complete LS1 swap rejected because of this. And people wonder why I am still considering a pre 96 LT1 swap.

Walmat sells strap on LED headlamps for dirt cheap. Another option for those of us with trifocals.

Most likely broke the front diff mount. Put a jack under the front of the diff and push up on it. With good light you will most likely see the rubber diff mount has come unglued from the metal mounting plate. Very common with Z's. Probably one of the weakest design features of a Z.

You're going to keep the flat top SU's?

MSA has the real ones http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?

Spent a lot of time in nuclear power school computing energy transference and losses. Electrical, thermal, radiation, mechanical, potential energy even mass. They are all forms of power. Spend a few months working steam tables and you will see what I mean. It is easy to compute how much power is dissipated by the light bulb because it is very easy to measure the electrical power being consumed by the bulb. What ever the bulb doesn't dissipate in light energy, it dissipates as heat. So put the bulb in an insulated box, measure the heat loss, then you now know how much power is beign radiated as light. So yes, the light output can be measured by observing the electrical consumption less the thermal losses. An engine reved against a trans brake can be producing the same HP as one powering a moveing car, yet because the car is not moving some people would say no work is being done. I look at that and know that with the trans brake on, the power is being dissipated as heat in the transmission. Release the brake and the power that was formerly heating up the trans fluid is now accelerating the car. The same amount of energy is being disspated either way, just in different forms. Pick up an engineering text on automotive design. In a good one you will find an equation relating the maximum acceleration potential of a car to engine power. The analysis should include the effect of gearing. What you will find is two things: the ability of a car to accelerate decreases with vehicle speed and the maximum acceleration is related to the engine's mechanical power. Not torque. Torque is actually somewhat nebuluous because it can assume practically any value at the rear wheels depending upon what gear ratios are used. However, there is a limit what you can do with gearing because at a given vehicle speed you can't shift too low or it will over rev the engine.

Like I said, most guys just leave it attached.