Leon

The sad truth about aftermarket stuff in general... is that it's crap. I've worked in motorsports, including development of aftermarket components, and I've worked at an automotive OEM developing production vehicles. The time and money spent designing and validating OEM components is multiple magnitudes greater than anyone in motorsports or the aftermarket. Now one may say, "but we're replacing parts that were designed 50 years ago". That's true and I agree, there's room for improvement but that still takes a lot of thinking, time, and money. The John Coffey's of the world understand this very well, that's one of the reasons why John moved on from running Beta Motorsports to work at a high-end Porsche shop. Those guys are willing to pay. The classic Japanese market is slowly working on catching up... More power to the folks that try to make it in the aftermarket stuff but the vast majority of customers just aren't willing to pay the money that it would cost to produce well thought-out and validated components. I'm not saying that there's ill-intent, it's mostly well-meaning enthusiasts who may have some design and fabrication skills and want to carve out a niche in the market. This market has a lot of maturing to do. This is why HybridZ is, or certainly was, such an interesting corner of the internet. There was a core group of folks gathered in one place with a level of awareness to be able to understand the limitations and trade-offs of what they're doing. All of this is to say, this is why I maintain a healthy pessimism when looking at shiny things.

FWIW, the F20C of the Honda S2000 has an 84mm stroke and revs to 9000RPM from the factory. The F22C1 has a 90.7mm stroke with an 8200RPM limit. The pistons are forged but you get the point.

Hello Paul and welcome! I'm not sure where your notions regarding the L28 come from but I'd disagree. What you describe above is totally doable via "Option 1". I wouldn't consider a 79mm stroke as particularly long, you can build an L28 to happily spin to 7k RPM all day long. Balance the engine, bump the compression, put in a hearty cam, some headwork, triple carbs (or ITB's), a lightweight flywheel and you're set. On the topic of gearboxes, there are multiple options out there, e.g. the FS5W71B box from period Nissan/Datsuns, FS5W71C from later Nissans (240SX in the US), the T5 from the 280ZX Turbo, along with less often used boxes like the CD009. I've built pretty much what you're looking for so please feel free to reference. I apologize as the information is sprinkled throughout but there's enough L-series content in there to keep you busy: https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/111062-leons-other-260z/#comments There's enough great reference material here at HybridZ to keep you reading for days. The Z-Car Blog has some great inspiration as well: https://www.zcarblog.com/

Nobody else combines the mustache bar with the LCA mounts, take another look. This is a fundamentally flawed design, in multiple ways.

As zboi rightfully points out, they've coupled the differential's torque reaction to the aft control arm pickup points. Not only that, but the fore subframe mounts will now be working harder to keep this whole thing attached to the body. If this was actually done by an "engineer", I would question their credentials.

Hello and welcome, Michael! ClassicZCars and HybridZ fill different voids. Come here for performance modifications (mild to wild) and engineered-solutions. CZC is more active and a good source for general Z knowledge, especially for stock and mildly modified cars. You'll have to weed through some junk but it's typically pretty good, especially if you're seeking something specific.

Here's the first thing that pops into my head. If you think this looks good, I say go for it.

The setup is looking good, I like the vision of the project.

I can see why he'd be confused, as you quoted him!

Choosing your brakes, as with many mechanical systems in the car, is part packaging and part math. You can only exert so much force on the pedal and have so much pedal travel available, these are the bookends of your master cylinder size. On the wheel end, as rotor diameter increases, piston size and/or pedal force/g decreases but wheel diameter requirement increases. Rotor thickness depends on how much thermal mass you need for the intended duty cycle of your system, cooling can help here. As for the dynamics, brake balance depends on CoG, wheelbase, and available grip and is determined by effective piston area, effective rotor radius, and pad friction. Dual masters or a proportioning valve is typically used to adjust, although prop valves can make more efficient use of the brakes (less wasted area under the ideal brake distro curve). That's the high level, the rest is in the details.

You're next door to Rebello, might as well take advantage of your resources! Suggest starting with an L28 if you haven't already.

Thanks!

"h beams"... One of my favorite interview questions/engineering thought exercises is, "why is it that all connecting rods in modern engines have I-beam cross sections"? As to the topic at hand, I'll be honest and say that this reads like a list of parts that sound "cool" without any further thought behind it. If that's what you want, go for it. But you asked for suggestions on anything you have "wrong". I advise to keep it simple and actually build it rather than slowly melting in a sea of self-created and pointless complexity, eventually resulting in abandonment of the project. Start small.

Hell yes! What did it put down on Rebello's dyno?

William is pricey and will take a while but his work is fantastic. Rob at ZCG sends a lot of his cars through William's.

Congrats Takashi, the Z is finally driving! Drove mine to work last Thursday and Friday. Looking forward to a drive sometime.

Thanks Takashi, I look forward to it!

I have a buddy running 235/50-15 Toyo R888R's on a 15x10. There's a bit of stretch but not a silly amount. The Achilles ATR-K come in a 245/45-15. Both tires are R-compounds, essentially semi-slicks.

I've been driving the Z sparingly due to work and family but I dusted it off this week while I had a couple days off and actually put a wrench on it. I replaced a frozen fan clutch. Yay! I've also been having an issue ever since I swapped out the struts, the rear brakes lock up after parking the car. I transferred the brakes over to the new struts so something happened in that transition. Turns out just the right rear parking brake adjuster keeps adjusting, every time I put the handbrake on. I can yank on the handle multiple times and it just keeps on ratcheting until the brake locks up. I haven't have time to diagnose yet so I've disconnected the right rear clevis for now. Still plenty of things to do but I'll whittle away as time allows. Happy New Year everyone!

If I'm remembering correctly, there was a migration quite a few years back where inactive accounts were erased, or something to that effect. @SuperDan can elaborate, I'm sure. Welcome back to the game.

Welcome! You picked the best year.

Nicely done.

I'm not familiar with the EFI stuff but where is the PCV valve located on that manifold? Are there any other possible oil paths into the intake that you haven't explored, outside of the stem seal and piston rings?