Pop N Wood

The one with more HP, not torque, would be faster. Forget torque curves. Only look at the HP curve. When the shift is performed such that the HP rating both before and after the shift are identical. As you round the top of the HP curve you start to go down in HP. When you shift, you will drop back to the other side of the HP peak. If the HP is the same at both points, the acceleration will be the same. Or so says the math. You want to shift in such a way that you keep the highest HP possible, but you also need to account for the time it takes to shift. If the HP curve is too narrow and peaky, you will need a whole bunch of narrowly spaced gears to stay in the power band. So the spacing between the gear ratios will dictate you shift points as much as the shape of the HP curve. Ideally you will select gear ratios in conjunction with the engine power curve. One other thing. Shifting into a higher gear will cause the torque multiplier to go down. But not power (provided the drive train losses don't change much). Power can neither be created nor destroyed. Torque times RPM equals power. This is true for the rear wheels was well as the engine. So if the engine is pumping out 300 HP, you can divide that by engine RPM to get the torque rating. Multiply the engine RPM by the gear ratio (including diff), you can get the revs of the rear wheels. Take the engine HP, subtract for driveline losses, then divide by the rear wheel revs and you now have the torque value at the rear wheels. Because a higher engine RPM means you can select a lower gear ratio for any particular vehicle speed to create even MORE torque at the rear wheels. Or more simply, because it is making more HP. HP is good. More is better.

This should read The trick here is gearing. A lower gear will multiply the engine torque yielding greater rear wheel torque. Pick up a good book on vehicle performance and you may find an equation to compute rear wheel torque from the engine HP. What the equation shows is the maximum rear wheel torque for any given vehicle speed is produced when the gear ratio is adjusted so that the engine is spinning at the HP peak. And the higher the rear wheel torque, the higher the acceleration. No. HP is not a theoretical number. It is just as “real†as torque. HP is a measure of power which is the amount of energy dissipated in a period of time. It is energy that is covered by the first law of thermodynamics (energy cannot be created or destroyed, only altered in form). If an engine is producing 300 HP, that HP has to go somewhere. If it doesn’t go into accelerating the car, it is consumed as heat in the driveline losses or in smoking the tires. Torque is frequently measured on most common dynos. But I have seen dynos that measure power directly. This was on a submarine power plant that used a generator instead of a transmission to gear down the steam turbine. For testing, the electricity from generator was dissipated into a bank of resistors. Measuring the current and voltage at the resistors yielded the power produced by the turbine. Electrical generating stations compute power in the same way. You are correct in that torque and HP are mathematically related. But the equation works both ways. You can just as easily compute torque from power and RPM as the other way around. By it’s very definition, it is power that determines how much work can be done over a period of time. The more power you produce, the more “work†that can be done (meaning the faster you can accelerate). This statement could have a period after it. Go back to the equation computing vehicle acceleration from engine HP. Assuming driveline losses can be controlled, the fastest way to accelerate a car would be to use a continuously variable transmission that keeps the engine spinning at the HP peak. With a 5 speed tranny, you need to match the gearing to the engine HP curve so that shifting keeps the HP from dropping too low. So what you want to do is build an engine that produces the maximum amount of HP over the range of RPM's that it will be used. If your gearing is too wide that a shift takes you out of the power band, then you will be slower at the speed.

Wheelbase length has a lot to do with the stability of a tow vehicle. Engine and braking power are really the least of your worries.

A common grammatical nuance in American English. What is the phrase? Two great people separated by a common language.

That is one of the funniest things I have read in regards to this whole election. I am still laughing. Amazing the wide range of responses. But really, we have enough dissenting opinions of our own. Don’t need another nation of outsiders stirring up the pot. I grew up in the midwest. I think you should heed the warnings about this backfiring on you. I would be interested to see what some of the UK to US emails said.

Bill Clinton has known women. He just denied them his essence. Funny. Had he kept doing that he probably would have gotten away with it.

When it comes to old Z's you live in God's country. I honestly think the overwhelming majority of series 1 Z's never made it past the left coast. You have the advantage of all the CA aerospace engineers migrating to AZ bringing their Z’s with them. Everybody here on the east coast wants to make pilgrimages to the south west to get rust free Z's Start getting autotraders and look for the old cars. LA is a weekend trip so that should be an option for you. 3 K should get you a low rust, clean, running Z no problem. May not look nice, but rust free is the ticket. For 5-6 K you could probably find a ratty one with a V8. As for ebay, I don’t know how anyone could buy a used car without seeing it in person. Just one opinion, but a possible explanation for the low price. You could try contacting the guy at Arizona Z car. I would bet he would have a line on an old Z or two. Only problem is he would know what they are worth, so you won’t steal one that way. 240 vs. 260: the early 260’s had the same small bumpers as the 240’s. Some where in mid development the 260’s went to the fat crash bumpers. Everybody wants the smaller bumpers, so expect to pay more for those. Engine wise (I think) all 260’s had the flat top carbs which totally suck. But for V8 swap that won’t matter. Structurally I am not sure how much difference there is. The 260’s did gain weight, but the early 240’s had some sheet metal that was too thin in places. So the weight gain may not be a bad thing. 260’s should in general be less expensive simply because they are not 240’s. Structurally the 280’s were considerably different. But once again that may not be a bad thing depending upon who you talk to. Do a search to get details.

I don't think many people "fear" the PA as much as just don't like it. I know a lot of the ideas I presented were more to illustrate a point or to place things into an historical perspective than to predict where this act will lead us. A big part of the "system working" is convincing others that this is not the way things should be done. The jury is still out on the PA. But the one thing in this thread that amazed me is the apparently large number of people who argued in favor of the act.

Shoot. Me and old Sam Colt will take him on. Just not in an elevator.

Trial and error? Also get some play dough. Put a ball on top of the high points and slowly press the hood shut. Can then cut the mushed play dough to measure your exact hood clearance. Also see how most people attach some type of upright bracket to the strut plate to get the bar ends higher. MSA sold a straight bar that "almost" cleared my L6. They claim it actually works with some cars, so the amount of bend you need may be different then other people.

How would you have avoided "paint, interior, or suspensions work" by going turbo?

The guy who wrote the JTR manual is a member of this site (screen name MikeJTR). He wrote in another thread that one of his primary motivations for the setback position was to get the shifter of a T5 tranmission to come out in the stock position. All the stuff about weight distribution was more to "promote" the kit. So auto or manual will be a consideration for you.

Old Z's make excellent daily drivers, as long as you don't monkey with them too much. My 1970 240 was my only source of transportation for several years. I kept the engine smog legal but managed to completely upgrade the suspension while living in an apartment. All without missing a day of work due to downed transportation. A stock inline 6 will run forever and parts are still readily available. You can go a long way to upgrade the suspension and handling by only bolting on aftermarket pieces on the weekend. Since you are buying two, pick the one in the best shape and get it road worthy. Keep it near stock. 5 speeds are bolt in (mine has one). Keep in mind they are 30+ years old cars so some electrical gremlins and misc broken pieces are to be expected. But heed Mike's advice about contracting out any any large scale performance upgrades.

Do the dealership a favor. Take the keys home and go in the next work day and give them to the owner. Ought to be good for a test ride at least.

$85!!! All I could afford is the $30 unit that hooks up to a gas grill tank.

Can't wait to hear your take on how well the gear ratios work out. Really not a lot more money than some of the used ebay T56's go for. Guess need to factor in the price of a shifter and clutch assembly though.

1/4 plate will be too thick to allow putting the nuts on the top of the strut isolators. Besides. John once said nothing on a Z car requires 1/4 steel. Hollow vs. solid: the majority of the strength comes from the outer diameter of the bar. If given a chance, you want a larger diameter, hollow tube rather than a small diameter solid one. The solid core just adds weight and not much strength. Look at Cannondale bikes. Use light weight aluminum with a large diameter to retain rigidity. Another case in point. Air craft carriers use propeller shafts that are hollow (well, filled with sand).

They? Who were "they"? What was motivating it? The search for truth? I think not. Nothing in Washington is investigated for it's truth, anymore. So you understand the realities of life in the big white house. Just wish Clinton had understood that before doing what he did. He should have known what a diversion such a controversy would create, so how could he have felt it was worth it? And if he didn't know or simply didn't care, then he is an idiot and derserves such contempt.

I am still mad at Clinton BECAUSE of the 50 million they spent investigating him. All moral issues aside he should have known better from a strictly political point of view. He didn’t show the office the respect it was due and we as a country had to pay the price. And no, I don't think anyone agrees with Bush 100% (hell, even 70%). But the way election year spins go, people take things to extremes. And one last thing about Kerry's military service. I don't think anyone should ever have to apologize for serving their country. Kerry did his time and did what he was ordered to do. We should do nothing but thank him for that. But at the same time, that guy was only in Vietnam for 4 months before his third purple heart became his ticket out. That raises a lot of questions in my mind. The guy is no Sergeant York so he should quit trying to sound like one.

Tell me about it. Been there, done that.

Don't want to answer for the guy who made it, but the allen bolt is probably so the bar can be removed for engine access. You want to mount the bar as rigidly as possible, so the pivoting ends could be replaced with something that bolts solidly to the mount. I have seen strut bars made by simply flatenning the end of a piece of heavy conduit and drilling a bolt hole in it. Not pretty, but it doesn't get much cheaper than that. Just try to keep the bar straight if possible. Also, I think the idea of wrapping the bar in aluminum was just to get the "look" of aluminum but still have the strength of steel.

When that happened to me it was a piece of dirt on the needle valve seat. The gas overflows into the carbs so the only way to keep the engine running is to rev it. Replace your fuel filter and open the top of the carb to clean out the bowls. You might consider rebuilding the carb if it has been awhile since that was done. At the very least use some carb cleaner to get rid of the soot and do a visual inspection of all diaphrams and gaskets.

Wasn't passing judgment on Edwards one way or the other. Simply making light of Jon's faux pax.

Unfortunately he was (is) a personal injury lawyer. Doh.