Zfan1

I found that the stub axles on my Zcar were the weak link. I would brake stub axles regularly at the track. I am currently running a beefed up R200 LSD with CV axles and MM 39 spline stub axles. My car is nowhere as fast as some of the others, it runs 6.40's at 110 in the 1/8th spraying a 175 shot at the 60 ft. mark.

Good luck with her, that's going to be one helluva ride!

Grumpy, I am thinking of deleting my pcv valve and just run dual breathers on my Zcar. I have had issues with oil getting into my intake by way of my pcv valve. It's like running a 2 stroke not to mention the adverse affect of oil in my combustion chambers. A friend said he runs a Fram fv184 pcv valve and it helped tremendously with the oiling problems. Care to chime in with your thoughts on the subject? Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, Thanks for the quick reply. What would you recommend using to gauge/measure the space between the intake and head, a feeler gauge? I hate to think I just wasted 150.00 on a set of Felpro mls head gaskets if I have to tear her apart because the rings didn't seal properly but I guess until I do a compression test I will not really know. I really don't know what else it could be because when I hammer the gas or make a run down the track I have oil on the valve covers, in the pcv valve line and breather which points to major blow by. Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, Got myself in a bit of a pinch I think. I partially dropped a valve on my new AFR 210 heads, when I pulled the heads off the short block I found where I had been getting oil in the runners on the heads not to mention oil residue in the intake as well. The very bottom of the intake gaskets around the ports appeared to be leaking / not sealing. I had the heads milled .010 and the block itself is zero decked. My machinist said it could be the intake isn't seating now and needs to be milled. He said to drop it in the valley between the heads and if the bolts hang up when threading the intake bolts in it will probably need to be milled .060. I put the intake on and checked the intake bolts and they lined up just fine so I put the motor back together. Low and behold the motor is smoking at idle and using oil again. I am also having issues with possible blow by already. I figured I would run a compression test this week to see if the rings just never really seated. As far as the intake is concerned I am scratching my head. Th intake seats both front and back and the bolt holes on the intake line up with the holes in the heads. Could it just be warped? Any input you may have would be appreciated as I just freshened the motor up in march of 08. Maybe the rings never got seated correctly. Thanks, Mike

255/60-15 Mickey Thompson drag radials, used to run 245/45-17 BFG G-Force Sport radials, loved them for all around driving.

That's pretty impressive numbers with the IRS still underneath her. I am going for a 9 second pass as soon as Texas Motorplex in Ennis will open again for TNT or fun and grudge. I have a 1971 240 Z with a 385 sbc in her, all forged internal 11 to 1 motor with AFR 210 heads and a small Crane small base hyd. roller cam. 248 duration at .050 and 588 lift with a 110 lobe seperation. I am running a NOS nig shot with just a single 175 shot for now. Transmission is a built 700r4 with a 9.5" Edge converter, 3500 stall, transmission is 4 yrs old and still holding...I just jinxed myself:roll: Rear end is still IRS with a 300ZXT center section with added clutches, Modern Motorsport CV axles and 39 spline stub axle swap with disc brakes and line lock. Since I run around on the street alot:biggrin: I am running Mickey Thompson 255/60-15 drag radials. I have run 10.80 at 125 on the motor and would like to bust off a sub 10 second pass with the juice hopefully. I have never hit it out of the hole only in second gear at 4200 rpm's and fully thru 3rd gear and went 10.34 at 138. I watched you run her on Pink's before and have seen a video or two of her as well. Thanks for the info on your ride, it's pretty impressive. Thanks, Mike

What set up are you running in that Z?

Grumpy, Thank you for the info. One more question, why did you recommend retarding the cam 4 degree's? Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, Just trying to figure out the correct compression for my 385. My build is a 6" rod, .40 over forged SRP piston with a 5cc total 2 valve relief piston, zero decked with .054 mls gaskets. Afr 210 heads with 65cc chambers, milled .010. Also if you could figure my dcr, I switched computers and lost all my goodies. I am running the Crane billet roller 119651, installation is straight up with 1.60 roller rockers. Hopefully I am not missing anything.

Grumpy, One other question. Was wondering what you have heard and your thoughts on the AFR 210 Eliminator heads. I put a set on my 385 sbc and since have heard that I should have run 195's not the 210's on my 385 stroker. Several folks/builders say that the 210's are to big for a 385 and that they should only be used on a 400 cu inch motor or larger. I dyno'd the motor recently and found the hp numbers were a little better than my 195 Canfield heads but the torque numbers were down significantly like 40 ft. lbs. I got to thinking that could be more the cams fault than anything as I swapped out a Comp cam xr288hr-10 for a Crane cam 119651. The car is a tad slower in the 1/4, going from a 10.80 to 11.00's but on the hose it's slightly faster. Anyway I was just wondering if the larger runner is hurting the performance. Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, I checked out all the wires and they checked out ok. Next I replaced the Ford remote soleniod and that checked out ok but the problem still persists. I guess I'll go ahead and pull the starter and see if I can fix it otherwise I guess it's time for a new mini starter. Oh well if it's not one thing it's another. Thanks, Mike

Got another one for you Grumpy. Last weekend my 385 sbc powered Zcar was giving me fits starting. Sometimes it would start right up and others it would make a single "click" and nothing. I would turn the key again and it would fire right up. I ran into another problem that necessitated swapping intake gaskets out on my Z the next day and after getting the intake back on I went to drop the distributor in so I used my remote starter to bump her over and when I did the motor kept turning over until I hit the emergency kill switch out back. I am baffled as to wether it is the starter or the Ford remote selenoid that I use? Got any idea's before I go dropping the exhaust to get to the starter for nothing...LOL Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, I have a quick question for you, on my 385 sbc I am running a set of fabricated aluminum valve covers. The covers have a non baffled breather on one side and a non baffled pcv valve on the other. The pcv valve is sucking oil and spitting it in the intake causing a smokey mess. I was entertaining running two breathers and deleting the pcv valve all together. Do you see any problem doing this? My other option is to get a set of fabricated valve covers with baffles built in them. Thanks, Mike

Grumpy, A few years back you posted up a place where I could find a cheap oil pan that I could cut and weld up to get more oil for my 385 sbc. I cannot find the info for what ever reason but I remember the pans were nice and cheap and allowed me to keep my long tube headers in my Z. Thanks, Mike

I didn't know that Edelbrock made a 700 cfm carb, are you sure it's not a 600 cfm electric choke type? If so it will kill it. How much cam do you have in it, type and duration, lift, lobe sep. What do the plugs look like? Lean, rich?

Just ordered a pair of the new 39 spline axles and companion flanges from Ross at Modern Motorsport. Can't wait to go to the track and get that 9 second pass:biggrin:. I snap those stock 280z, 27 splines like pretzels:eek:

I would be very interested in a set of larger axles. I have the r200 lsd 3.70 rear end with added clutches, MM's cv conversion and billet adapters but stock 280 stubbs and they last for a half dozen to 2 dozen launches in a 10 second Z and snap they go. I am afraid to hit the juice anymore for fear of snapping one and hitting the wall. My 9 second time slip is still a dream until I do something about the axles. Mike/Zfan

How about the stub axles though, don't you snap them pretty regularly? I run low 10's and will snap them at will...Damnit!

It is amazing what some cars go for! Heck look at what a mid 60's Chevy II SS goes for today, back in the late 70's they were a dime a dozen.

Nitrous system, cheap power! LT1 should be good for a little 100-125 shot.

Upgrade your fuel delivery and run a MSD digital retard box so you can pull timing automatically when you hit the button. I use a full throttle switch and a button, reason I do is to limit the mistakes. Expensive mistakes! I have mine set up with a seperate fuel delivery system, meaning seperate fuel cell, electric pump, and regulator, MSD digital retard box, full throttle switch and a button to push, it's probably overkill but thats why my motor is still here! Take atleast 2 degree's of timing out for every 50 hp of nitrous. I run 32 degree's total timing on motor and 26 total on a 150 shot. Thats very conservative I know.

Whats the octane levels in your neck of the woods. Keep that in mind when choosing heads if the octane is 90-91 for super I would keep it in the 9.0-9.5 arena. Maybe with a set of aluminum heads you could go 10.0 but I sure wouldn't go any higher. In Texas we still have 93 octane and I have approx. 11.0 to 1 compression but run only 32 degree's of total timing and would be screwed if they drop the octane levels a few points. Oh, and my vote is for AFR heads:burnout:

What are you going to use for stub axles, I snap them like pretzels and thats launching on the motor and my 383 only makes 400 rwhp and 400 rwtq thru a 700r4 transmission. I have a NOS big shot kit on her and am currently hitting it with a 150 or 180 pill, out of the hole you can forget it. I usually hit it in 2nd gear and run 6.50's at 108. If I could really hit it out of the hole I could run low, low 6's. With the new AFR 210 Eliminator heads and cam swap I have yet to see what it will do now but can't wait. Maybe 5's are in my future after the solid axle swap. Either way, good luck with your set up! Keep us posted on your progress.

What a mess, what was he thinking or not?