PaulR

Thanks, I would have guessed you hook connect both the yellow and orange striped wires to the battery + for the high setting, but it seems to work fine with just the one... and like you said, it the brown/yellow for "high"

OK, I picked up one of these today at the local Pull-A-Part. Anyone know what the wiring is? It has three wires: 1: Brown with Yellow stripe 2: Brown with Orange stripe 3: Black Thanks!! Paul

I live in the relatively cool (temperature wise) Pacific North West and I had never had any cooling issues... but 2 weeks ago, I made a trip south to Mt. Shasta for the All Datsun Meet and I was worried that I might have problems on that trip. They were experiencing all-time record highs and it was 108 when I got there! I know that a lot of you guys see temps like that, but it was a first for my Z. BTW, the guys who ran at the Thunder Hill track in Willows, CA said it was 118 there!!! I think I would have died had I gone. I am running a Griffin 2-core (1" tubes) and a Black Magic fan. It was definitly running hotter than it ever had before, but I don't feel it ever really got close to "over-heating" . On I-5, going through the Siskious (a series of +4000 ft passes) the mech Autometer guage would get close to 220 on the climb and cool back to 190 on the coast back down. The hottest it got was on the "Poker Run" were we drove up Mt Shasta 'till the road ended (about 8000 ft) at the top I was at 230, but still no sign of boil-over. Some research I have done says that an upper safe limmit to run a SBC is 230-240, and that you can run all day at 220. Anyway, if I lived in a hotter climate, I might consider the 1.25" tubes for the extra cooling

Edelbrock's carburetor manual implies you should tune their carbs for about 12.5 at Wide Open Throttle, around 14.0 for part throttle acceleration and 15 - 15.5 for part throttle cruise. You can see their full explanation here: http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/eps_sect1.html#requirements

Just for another data-point, here's what I am running: FRONT: wheels: 17x9 tires: 245-45-17 coilovers: yes, 10" free length flares: no comments: no rubbing at full bump and/or lock REAR: wheels: 17x10.5 tires: 275-40-17 coilovers: yes, 10" free length flares: yes, 1.75 inch (MSA "street flares") comments: no rubbing at full bump I don't think I could go any bigger in front without flares. In the back, I think 295's would fit. Therefore, you should be able to get those tires to fit given you have OPTIMIZED OFFSET . Also, be warned, parking lot manuevers were a B*TCH before I added power steering

My Hybrid Z is celebrating it's 10th birthday today!!! I registered it, after having completed a JTR conversion, 10 years ago today. Its seen a lot of changes and improvements since then (brakes, body/paint, wheels/tires, etc) but its has been on the road for the most part since that time. I've always had that need for more power, so I am on the third engine, going from a basically stock 350 to a 377 and then to the current Edelbrock Performer RPM package. Anyways its been fun and the changes and modifications continue. Here's to the next 10 years Paul

From the Washington State Legislature site: http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/default.htm RCW 46.37.513 Bumpers. When any motor vehicle was originally equipped with bumpers or any other collision energy absorption or attenuation system, that system shall be maintained in good operational condition, and no person shall remove or disconnect, and no owner shall cause or knowingly permit the removal or disconnection of, any part of that system except temporarily in order to make repairs, replacements, or adjustments.

Have you looked at the Kumho Ecsta Supras? Tirerack has the 245-45-17 for $100. They're not the stickiest tire, but I think they're a good value for the price.

The Rod-End is from F. K. Rod Ends (http://www.fkrodends.com) It is their p/n HRSMX8T high-strength, high-misalignment. No kit, all custom fabricated. Paul

Danno, another Hybrid Z'er correctly noted that the tie rod angle is measured from pivot point-to-pivot point. A line drawn from the outer pivot point to the inner pivot point, shows that on my set-up, the tie-rod is, in effect, NOT parallel to the A-arm! To correct this I need to put a spacer between the rod-end and the steering arm. The main reason I created the adapter was because I couldn't find a rod-end that had a 9/16 female thread. The adapter, in effect, creates that from a 5/8 male rod-end.

OK, got a chance to weigh the rear wheels while I swapped them back to the correct side. The wheel/tire combo wheighs in at a hefty 58lbs. Seems a bit heavy I also weighed a OEM 300ZX ('85) with a 225-50-15 tire and it came in at 43lbs... of course this combo is dwarfed (width wise) when put next to the 10.5" wide w/ 275-40-17 Cobra R.

DOH! You're right! I didn't pay attention to the roatation direction and swapped the rears side-to-side last time I had them off. Nice Catch!!

Hi Ross, Sorry, didn't weigh the wheels, but I would guess that being light-weight is not one of the benefits of these wheels. The casting is fairly thick (like an OEM) and at 17x10.5, there is a lot of metal at the outer diameter. Next time I have the wheel/tire off, I'll try to remember to weight them.

Thanks for all the compliments... here are some answers to your questions: >Paul, >Nice Job! Are you using coilovers? What kind of fender flares? Car looks awesome. >I need fender flairs badly but don't want to start cutting until I find the right ones. > >-------------------- >John >77 280V8Z >66 383 Charger John, Yes, I have coil-overs all around. The rears are flared with the MSA fiberglass "Street Flares" P/N 50-1552 >Paul, > >Very nice machine! Are you using the original 240Z struts? If so, did the '86 300ZX hubs >bolt right onto the spindles withou any machining? Which wheel bearings did you use? >Thanks in advance. > >RacerX > >RacerX, > >Don't want to step on any toes here. The 5 lug hubs will fit on the existing spindle. The >bearings are the same but the rear dust shield is different and should be replaced with a >new one. I would also update the bearings. > >The five lug 300ZX hub has a different offset then the 4 lug hub. You can swap the two >but be aware the wheel mounting point moves outward about 1". Your new rims need about >24mm of offset to counter this new mounting location. > >Danno74Z Danno74Z is correct, the 300ZX hubs slip right onto the 240Z spindles, but changes the offset. Turns out the 9" Cobra R's I bought have 24mm offset, so they work great with these hubs (no spacers). As I mentioned earlier, though, the rotor needs to be spaced back by 1.40 inch to line it up with the caliper. >Paul, you said "aftermarket" Cobra R style wheels. What brand and model are they? They >look perfect on your car. > >Mike Mileski >Tucson, AZ Hi Mike, I got these wheels from www.performancewheeloutlet.com The rear wheels (the 10.5" wide) took a long time to get. The fronts, which I ordered separately, showed up in just a few days. There are other aftermarket suppliers of Cobra R wheels, but not many that have 10 inch or wider, which is what I wanted to fill the rear flares. Prices are pretty good too... $185 ea for the rears and $150 ea for the fronts (painted) Paul

RE: Short steering arms. Yes, I've noticed its more sensitive to input, but its not too bad, even at highway speeds. (It might be a problem at the track, though) Another thing is that initially, I was tending to cut the corners at intersections a bit short. Just takes a little time to adjust to the smaller input needed... probably made worse by the fact that I've been driving a pick-up truck during the time I was working on the Z and it has about 4 turns lock-to-lock. RE: Mounts Below the Crossmember. I had to mount it below in order to get the rack to clear the harmonic damper. Not only that, but I had to tilt it, putting the back sides of the mounts lower that the fronts, in order to get the steering shaft to clear the motor mount. I think these issues may be unique to the JTR Chevy installation and not an issue for the Ford engine.

The rack and tie-rods are out of an '84 Thunderbird. I used 1/2 inch, high-misaligngment rod-ends to connect to the steering arms. BTW, since I was adding the power assist, I decided to use the shorter steering arms to give a quicker steering ratio. I made steel couplers with both a 9/16 and 5/8 tapped hole and threaded the tie rod (9/16) and the rod end(5/8) into it. As you can see in the last picture, the tie-rod is parallel to the A-arm, which is what you need to eliminate bump steer. The power assist works great! Even with the wide tires (245-45-17) and the quick ratio steering arms, parking lot manuevers are a breeze I am using a Chevy pump mounted in the stock location. Oh, one last thing. Special thanks to Alsil and BlueovalZ. They had both done similar conversions in Ford powered Z's. Mine is Chevy powered, and there were some additional clearance issues with the harmonic balancer, but they provided a lot of the basis for my conversion.

The stock rear hubs were re-drilled for 5 lugs. I then added a bolt-on, 1.25" spacer (like Ross C. sells). The front hubs are from an '86 300ZX. These have the correct offset for the Cobra R wheels, so no spacer was needed for the wheels. The rotor, however, needs to be spaced back to align it with the caliper (Toyota 4x4). I got these spacers from Mike-scca.

Hey, we've got to get together sometime to compare rides... You're like, about 10 miles from me

At full right lock, the left tire rubs the sway bar. At full left lock nothing rubs. I will try to adjust the tie-rods to see if I can get everthing centered and hopefully not have anything rub. BTW, the steering is not stock. (see my other post about Power Steering) The tires are Kumho Ecsta Supra 712's

Oh Yeah, and to help turn those big tires that I just added, I added power steering. I plan to go into more detail at some later point, but here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea.

I just finished the installation of some aftermarket Cobra "R" style wheels. I'm really pleased with the outcome The fronts are 17 x 9 w/ 245-45-17 tires and the rears are 17 x 10.5 w/ 275-40-17

I wrote that article on zhome.com about 6 or 7 years ago. Here is some background on the part number I mentioned in the article. I a local driveline shop (Drivelines North West) made my drive shaft at the recommendation of a local Z shop (Z-Sport) that had done several V8 conversions. I asked Drivelines NW which flange they use and that is the number they gave me (NEAPCO 2-2-899-1). Several years later, I changed transmissions and needed a new driveshaft. I went back to the shop and again used this same part number for a new flange on the driveshaft. The flange I have uses the Chevy U-joint and bolts up to a 280Z R200. Its interesting to me that this number isn't working for other set-ups. Paul

I was wondering if any of you have recommendations on which wheel bearing grease to use on our Z's. The shop manual specifies NLGI No. 2 Lithium soap base grease. Is this adequate for the higher speeds, more weight, heavier and wider wheels and tires etc? Or, Is there something better I should consider??

I don't think its that much. My measurements put it at .740 out from the stock location. (I'm the process of converting to Z31 hubs now)

Yes, you need a spacer. I don't remember the exact thickness (I have the drawing at work) but is was around .7 inch. You can see it in the previous picture between the hub and rotor (its steel so it has some surface rust like the rotor). The 4-lug rotors are from 84-85 non-turbo 300ZX's. Z31 refers to 1st generaton 300ZX's (84-89) Z32 refers to 2nd gen 300ZX (90-96).