AkumaNoZeta

I thought the older turbo rotaries were horrible on gas, got like 17 mpg. If I could get 30 mpg with the Nissan engines I rather do that, its an attractive quality. How come it seems like absolutely no one has taken the time to weigh the 13Bs while there's tons of sources for the weight of other engines? I know the Mazda guys are over-exagerating how light it is, but there's no factual figures to prove any of it. Sounds like a conspiracy, maybe Mazda deletes any info about its weight just like the government does with aliens...sorry, I've been up all night and now its 11:30am. My imagination is run-a-muk right now.

Ok, I eliminated my "out-there" plans for the car and just keeping with what I really want. A nothing too extravegant daily driver. I have limited my engine choices to 3 engines (but still open to more choices when I hear about something good): 1. Nissan CA18DET 2. Nissan SR20DET 3. Mazda 13B RENESIS 4. Mazda 13B single turbo from FC It should be appearent that I was a small, lightweight engine. The type of info I want is accurate engine with transmission wieghts including accessories, or without if they're all without for comparison. I also want to know the general MPG for the different engines in stock trim. I can find the SR20 and CA18 weights fairly easily but its super hard to find in Wankel weights. As the Rotaries go, I know the RENESIS would be lighter than the turboed one because it doesnt have the turbo, intercooler, and piping but does the turboed one have enough potential to make up for the wieght? Lets put it this way with the Mazda ones. If the non-turbo weighs 50 pounds less I would go with it, but if the turbo one can get to 350-400 horsepower without that much complication than I think that would make up for the extra 50 lbs. Pretty much I just want the accurate engine/transmission weights and mpg (since its for daily driving) to have for comparison's sake. Dont even think about the availability of each engine (RENESIS mainly) because its not gonna be anything too soon. By the time I get to it the RX8 engine may actually be easy to find

I have question. Does anyone have the wieght figures of the FC single turbo 13B with 5-speed compared to the new RENESIS with the 6-speed (5-speed available)? I'm looking into wieghts instead of horsepower figures, the engine could wiegh only 50 lbs but if the transmission weigh 400 lbs then you might as well do the SR20 or CA18. Exageration but gets my point across, I want total package wieght and not just a part of the package wieght.

How about a photoshop to get a general idea of how it would look? I've seen a lot of good photoshops done on here. I'm interested in how this would look too, I think it would look a lot better if the letters on the tailgate were recessed and not popping out like that

Ah! Thank you, those are actually the same pics I've seen before but couldn't find. It looks so much simplier than what I was imagining looking as supsension and drivetrain related pictures. It helps a lot. Thank you.

I want some photos of the underneath of the Z completely bare. I remember seeing a few in posts about rotisseries but I cant find them again. I don't have my car to look at and want a better idea of what I'm dealing with

The only way to make an AWD Z that I liked is to take a SR20DE (or any other FWD) transaxle, mount it longitudily and use the half shafts as driveshafts for front to rear differentials. That way you can have a pretty much mid-engine all independent AWD

This wasn't literal, I just have a period of 2 hours total during my day where I have nothing to do but stare at a wall. So I tend to come up with ideas like that. The 5.0 Mustang is actually a really big car (in my mind) and in my opinion anything can be cut and welded to be anything you want. I'm not the type of person afraid to cut stuff up though. For my Z I'm just gonna take everyone's advice and drive it until I get on track of what I really want to do with it, but while I'm driving the Z I'll be re-framing the Mustang and put that BMW IRS I bought in it with custom double A-arm suspension. There's motor work I'll like to do with the Mustang but I'm satisfied with the stock engine enough to not be worried about it at all until after I have all the other things I want done first...in fact probably never do motor-work. After I get that done I should have what I want for the Z all in my mind and the Mustang oughta be worth some buckaroos to be able to sell in order to pay for the Z's mods. I think about this a lot and my plans are constantly being altered

I get random ideas all the time, most of them are either boring or completely impossible. But today I thought that maybe an AWD 5.0 Mustang can be made using the transmission from a Skyline GTR. Considering custom bellhousing, dry sump oil pan, and heavy frame/suspension fabrication. Just thought I should share because I think it sounds cool. I would love to build one if I had a customer with an unlimited budget hire me to make it. (I don't have a shop, just saying)

Number 2 was the best one I ever did, I actually smiled after seeing it. I would have kept it going through the whole plate if I didnt run out of rod. Then I completely messed it up when I continued it (Number 3) and that made me sad again. When I did Number 6 I didn't think I got penetration at all and then I flipped it over and almost freaked out, it looks like a slug on the other side...too much rod... Just a little adder, when I have a collection of short filler rods I like to weld them together to make a long one that I can use. I hate making excess waste

I have them labeled from order I did them, front to back, and direction they go.

I have an idea. After I get the L28 running again I could use the Z as a daily driver like it is now and fix up the Mustang, maybe make the chassis eligiable for 9 second runs (because drag racing is so popular everywhere) and look really good. Then I could sell the car for probably around 5, 6 thousand (I've seen full caged rolling chassis without engine and trans go for higher) and use that to buy another Z car. Then I could have the classic looking Z with just an airdam and probably just a stock CA18DET and then have one with the 280YZ body kit and twin turbo LS1 running 20 pounds of boost. I really love how my Z looks right now with no flares and the 14" rims. Maybe if it runs alright with the Arizona Z car manifold I could just slap on the airdam with bumpers (I have none right now) and just drive it like that while I build the race car one in my 5 car garage right next to my 2 story house with the 100 acre race track in the backyard...I love daydreaming.

I have pictures, but I cant seem to attach them. It says it failed to do so. Same thing when I tried to attach pics of my IRS in the drivetrain forum...I did better today than I did before...but why cant I add photos anymore?

Looks weird with it resting in the upward position like that...I don't think it would look much better if it was laying down on the bottom...it makes me think of the rusted out cars in junkyards with missing wiper blades, lol.

It would be interesting too see...I like to see new things being done

It would probably be a while from now because on the 27th I'll be going back to Arkansas and spending the 6 days I'm there trying to get the thing running good again so I can bring that back up to Pennsylvania. Building anything on the Z will be a few years from now. When I get into my Street Rod class I'm gonna shave the emblems and fix my floorpan and the big hole under the battery tray. I'm finally getting close to how I envision the finished product, which I've heard is a bad to have when working on a project...but I guess I'll learn that the hard way.

I went to a swap meet today and ended up buying the entire IRS from a BMW 750 I think it was. It has a 3.07 VLSD and it came with everything including halfshafts, control arms, driveshaft, and disk brake set up with 5X4.75" wheel stud spacing. I'm also getting an open diff R200 from a classmate of mine that I'll probably clean up and sell.

Thanks for all the advice. After class tomorrow I'll take some pics of my welds and stuff

I got bored, started thinking about the Lotus Elise for some reason and rememered how they had a single windsheild wiper. I just think they are interesting and I didn't see any other threads about on here. I don't think it would look good on the Z, but I figure I'll start a thread in an attempt to spark a muse for someone who needs a little project in their free time. Heres a video if no one knows what I'm talking about

"Torque is what makes it fun to drive, not power." Thats the main reason why I started to think about the LS1, getting my Mustang running again also made me turn towards V8s again. It is almost 50/50 from the factory, but I want more weight to the rear. Like 54, maybe 56 to the rear. Especially since its IRS and you cant get anti-squat from it, now if I was to put in a solid rear axle then I could use the rotation of the axle housing to my advantage but I want the smoother ride and lessened unsprung wieght from the IRS. Plus with the 4/4 cam the LS1 would sound a lot like a Ferrari and I think that would be nice for a small sports coupe like the Z

Yeah, I am trying to learn how to TIG but its so much harder than I thought it was gonna be. I used to be the most patient and calm-headed person I knew until I got to the butt weld, now I'm pounding my head against the table.

We all cant be as optimistic as this kid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_CiUxJBc0s I'm fairly proud of my MIG welds though, they're not the best in the world but I feel I did good on them considering I've never touched a MIG before this class.

Depending on how much boost is run, it can be as low as 600 horsepower or up to 800 or more. And I love the inline 6s but I love having all the wieght of the engine behind the front axle more, thats why I prefer the inline 4s, V6, and V8 swaps. Weight distribution is the biggest deal with me. It wouldn't be built just for drags, but a drag strip is the only type of racing close to me so I want to be able to have some straight line speed. But I also want to tackle the corners, note the 15X12 and 15X10 inch wheels I mentioned. Like I've said in so many of my posts, this is gonna be a long term project and I only have a for sure plan for the chassis and suspension, I still dont know what I want to do driveline wise.

I think maybe I'm going to fast causing me to tramp on the peddle more for more heat. It also seems no matter how much I clean the tungsten, it's never clean enough. I clean it before I tack, after I tack, and then after I go for about an inch on the weld because I see the blue and yellow colors going out in a cone. I may hold it too close while going to fast, or maybe I'm not getting down far enough to see it and I'm actually running the tungsten against the very top of the bead. I cant seem to get good control of the devil's eye either. I will play with the peddle and angle of the torch to try to get it in front of the puddle, but lose control of it after a few seconds.

Ok, off topic question. I just put a new altenator on my Mustang because the old one only pulled 25 amps (supposed to be 75) and the new altenator tested good because I had them test it before I got it. Well, at idle the voltmeter guage goes down quite a ways and picks back up whenever the revs rise above 1000. I never drove the Mustang with a good altenator so I don't know if its supposed to do that (because its a Ford) or if theres something else wrong. Anybody know?