Pop N Wood

The 5252 is not a constant. You use that number because you chose to express torque in foot pounds and power in horsepower. If you rated your engine in newton-meters and kilowatts (like the rest of the world) the number would be 9549. The number is simple a conversion factor between units, just like 1 foot = 12 inches. There is nothing nebulous about power. There are very precise physical relationships between force, energy and power. Although judging from the number of erroneous web tutorials I have read, it is not hard to imagine why the average motorhead's understanding of power is nebulous. I wouldn't read too much into the idea that torque is what is commonly measured on the dyno. That is just the easiest way to do it. Under certain circumstances it is easier to measure power first and to derive torque from that. It doesn't change the realtionship between the two, nor should it alter your interpretation of their meaning.

Or because they have personal issues with your vernacular.

The fan could be wired to run backwards, but you would lose a lot of airflow since the blade design is pretty complex to optimize airflow in the other direction. If you were ever to consider such a mod again, I would figure out a way to keep the fan pointed forward when moving it to the other side of the radiator. Or just mount the fan lower on the radiator (if that is an option).

Actually I take that back. I never got past the words "wide body kit" in your original post. Z's, especially the early ones, do experience a good bit of lift at speed from all the air getting underneath the car. The steering gets very light at 100+. In that case a good air dam will keep air out of the engine bay and help keep the front end stable. I guess that is the same as downforce. A G nose looks like it would do the same thing, but I have no experience with those. Try shooting Mike Kelly a PM. He once posted he added enough aerodynamic mods to make a Z stable at 160 MPH. Invited anyone who was interested to ask him how it was done.

I read in Newsweek that the project budget deficit for CA this year is larger that the total budget for 42 states. I don't envy the next CA governor, whoever it is. Or the poor taxpayers and state (soon to be unemployed) workers for that matter.

Doesn't sound like a show car now. The car is probably too far from original to have any collector's appeal. Thus IMO the impressively low chassis number doesn't add any value. Sounds like a good candidate for a V8 swap.

Sounds like the soleniod or ignition switch to me. Did you replace the solenoid when you replaced the starter? The solenoid is the small tube mounted above the starter that the battery cable hooks to. There is another wire that comes from the ignition switch to energize the solenoid. When energized the solenoid pushes the starter gear into the flywheel and at the same time pushes a copper disk across the battery connection and the blade on the starter (exactly what you did with the screwdriver) powering up the starter motor. The screwdriver trick also powers up the connection that is suppose to come from the ignition switch. So what I would do first is connect a test light at the starter solenoid to the small connection that comes from the ignition. Turn the key to start and see if you get voltage there. If you don't, then break out a wiring diagram and figure out when the open circuit is. You could try running a wire straight from the battery to this post to see if the starter cranks. If the test light shows you have voltage, then listen to hear if the solenoid is clicking (a loud click) when the key is turned. If it doesn't make noise your solenoid is bad. If it does make noise, but doesn't crank, than that copper disk inside the solenoid is corroded and needs to be clean up. The solenoid comes apart pretty easily for this.

Hard for me to believe this would be worth the effort. Your engine shouldn't need fans at speed nor should it be overheating. Airflow problems are eliminated with an air dam and chin pan. The shifter is going to move back with the engine. Remounting the 70 diff to the correct place (a very worth while mod BTW) does require a drive shaft that is 35 mm longer. So I assume if you remounted the diff, you could move the engine back 35 mm and avoid having to find a longer drive shaft. But of course that will come at the cost of relocated motor and transmission mounts, not to mention cutting a slug out of the exhaust. But still, I can't believe it will buy much. The weight distribution of a stock Z is pretty balls on as is. Will you even notice a difference in handling with this slight set back? There are a hundred suspension mods that should have a bigger impact. Putting in an aluminum radiator and moving the battery to the back of the car will probably have a bigger impact on weight distribution. Upgrading to an R200 shifts weight farther back yet. Basically why bother?

I think they answered you. Work is force times distance. Power is work per unit time. Torque is the rotational form of force. So for rotating systems, torque times the number of rotations equals work. Torque times RPM is power. If you push (or twist) on something and it doesn't move, you have done no work. Look at the units on each quantity. Force can be measured in terms of pounds (or Newtons outside the US). If you push on something with 100 pounds of force and move it 10 feet, you have done 1000 ft-pounds of work (this is the same as 1355 Newton Meters which is 1355 Joules). If you do the above in 1 second, then your average power was 1000 ft-lbs/sec, which is 1355 Joules/sec, which is 1355 watts, which is the same as 1.8 horsepower.

See how much they weigh....

Email or call Ross C, the guy at MMS that made the kit. He has an excellent reputation on this site. I am sure he will make it right.

Damn, Big Phill. You just whip that list together or does that come from past experience?

Isn't HybridZ member Rick Bowers on the other coast of Florida? Give him a PM and see if he knows anyone. Grumpyvette is down in lockahatchee or some place like that. One of those two should be able to hook you up with someone fairly local.

Do a search on posts by member "greimann" He is one of the resident ZX experts. His car is a work of art.

How are you going to switch to carbs and remain emissions legal? For the paint question you may want to send a PM to RacerX. He will give you a more definitive answer than I can. If all of the rust is gone I would just primer and paint. Since your car will be street driven you will want some type of undercoating to prevent rocks from chipping off paint and causing rust. But if this will truely be a race car, then you shouldn't be worried about sound deadening. Skip the weight of the rhino liner and just live with the painted floor. You may want to do a search on POR15. If the search engine is working there are numerous post about people's experience with that stuff. If you aren't covering rust then I don't know why you would want to use it.

Park all the running vehicles outside and take over the garage for the collectables/workshop. Marriage is a series of compromises, for both sides. Tell her she is not losing a garage, but gaining a very happy husband. Another option is to buy a run down house with a nice garage. All of the non-running vehicles go there, along with the boat and workshop. As Thoreau once said, we are possessed by our possessions. No way around it, that many toys are going to cost some money to own. It doesn't sound like you are hurting for money.

Japan fought a world war in part due to their lack of natural resources. Japanese cars are heavily taxed based on displacement, or at least they use to be. That is why so many Preludes had 2 litre motors.

Don't they make rubber freeze plugs with a bolt assembly that expands them? Not on my car, but if really can't get to them any other way. You will still have to pry out the old plugs.

I think our local cable company offers an internet connection only. No TV package required. We are lucky in that I have two different cable companies providing a fibre link to my curb. Every year we call both companies and play them off each other. My cable TV and internet link are 1/3 that of a buddy who lives 3 blocks away, but who just outside of the second cable company's service area. If you still wanted dial up, then Erols was good to us for the years we had it. BTW, you can also get phone service through your cable. Might save some $$ on the package.

Why a custom build? Quite a number of people here are using standard Griffin rads from summit. Some are even pushing 600 HP. Also I hear what you are saying about the welded vs. glued, but glues these days aren't what they use to be. I read somewhere that Humvee bodies are actually glued to their frames. Why not buy a standard unit and save some bux?

I don't think this is the type of problem you can/should diagnose over the web. Your front end has worn out parts that need replacing. Any halfway competent shop will be able to list all the bad parts without needing to drive the car. Like said above, replace all of them. Your car is unsafe to drive right now. Not to be disrespectful, but his stuff is pretty basic. The fact that you turned to the web for answers to these questions tells me you are (possibly) rather new to working on front ends. I would strongly suggest you get your car checked out at a competent shop. You can do the work yourself, but you want to make sure you know where all the problems are. For example, you need to check the U joint at the end of the steering shaft. This is a weak link in the early Z's (and BTW replacement joints are hard to come by). While you are at it, better have the rear end checked also. I apologize if you are experienced and just looking for other input, but better safe than sorry. Getting rid of the steering coupler is a great idea. Datsun used way too much rubber in the front end, and the steering coupler is the worst part. One guy drilled 4 holes in an actual hockey puck to make his own coupler. Others have completely removed it altogether and just bolted the two metal pieces together.

Antifreeze not only prevents corrosion of engine parts (in particular aluminum parts), but it lubricates the water pump. Not sure what the advantage of running other than a 50-50 mix would be. Besides, never can tell when you might make a road trip into the mountains. I have also read ariticles claiming Toyota's antifreeze is incompatible with standard antifreeze. Thus when switching types make sure to flush the system to completely remove any traces of the old antifreeze.

It could be the voltage regulator, or maybe you fried a couple of the rectifiers. If the thing overheated you might have shorted out some of the insulation in the wiring. Is the rotor grounded? I have watched a good mechanic rebuild an alternator at his workbench. GM sells rectifier kits, internal voltage regulators, even replacement bushings. But makes sure you use a good shop manual to check out all the other components so you don't waste money replacing a part, only to have it fry again because you didn't fix the real source of the problem. A good shop manual will usually have a step by step guide to cookbook all the tests I mentioned above.