ZR8ED

In case you have noticed, I have only used the foam on the airdam all the way to the top. Once I get the shape I need, I will build a secondary foam/fibreglass part to blend in and even out the stock fender. It curves inboard slightly. My fenders are steel, so I don't want to blend a fibreglass part onto the panel, so I will make it "bolt on" so to speak. I'll take a pic of my prototype when I get a bit further along. I hope that from the front, you will no longer be able to see the front face of the tire. That it will be covered by the modded airdam. I am using this photoshoped pic as an inspriational guide.

Ok I've jumped in head first on this one. I've got a pic of my new favorite tool. It is an electric metal shear, and it cuts through aluminum with ease, and I can even make decent curves and shapes. It made making the rad lower blockoff plate very quick and accurate to cut. It took me 10 times as long to make the template out of cardboard' I've sanded the lower part of the airdam to the bare fibreglass. Geez a perfectly good airdam. It's making me a bit nervous. I spent quite a while building a wooden platform that will become the base of the airdam from which I measured and placed carefully under the car. That was a bit more complicated that I thought, but I need the lower part of the airdam to be straight, and finding a common measuring point on both sides of a 30 year old car was not easy. I then got the expanding foam and starting shaping the foam into a reasonable shape that when hard, I will then start the process of shaping it with a knife. I used two small cans, and I will wait until tommorow for it to harden. This next stage I think will take me quite a while. I sure hope it works! I know it looks kinda messy, but this is a trial and error project for me.

Ok here is a link to the build thread in the wind tunnel section. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=1027730#post1027730

Ok here is my thread about my revised bell pan. I am taking my experience with the current pan, and expanding on what I have learned from the wind tunnel testing. That is why I have put it in this forum. The belly pan in the pic below has been on the car for about 10 years, and has resulted in the car being very stable at highspeeds beyond 140mph. I am documenting my redesign and extension of the pan. I am also redesigning the airdam itself. I will attempt to resculpt it using fibreglass to cover the front wheels better, and be a bit lower. I have removed my long used lawn edging airdam extension, that has been on the car for about 17 years. I have started by redesigning my lower rad block off plate. I have done this to improve the fit, and clean up the look a bit. Next I will begin prepping the airdam to reshape it using expanding foam and then laying fibreglass to blend and bond to the airdam. I hope "while I'm at it" doesn't get the better of me. Once the airdam is modded, I will make a new template of the bellpan. It will be a two piece design, that will end at the transmission. It will stop where ever it will make mounting it easier. I will also likely add small fins going front to back, but I will get into that as I build my mockup.

As it states. My famous airdam strip made from garden edging is no more. I've been getting email for almost 15 years about that little mod. I am finally moving on. I am reworking my original belly pan, and reworking my block off plates in front of the rad. "while I'm at it" I am going to reroute my turbo intake pipe while the belly pan is off. I am going to extend the belly pan all the way to the transmission. The pic I have is of the now removed lawn edging, the old rad lower block off plate, the old bell pan, with an initial concept of the extension made from cardboard. I am taking what I have gleamed from the wind tunnel analysis to modify the airdam itself. I am going to sculpt it from foam, and then fibreglass it. (my airdam is fibreglass so this will be easy graft onto. I will post the process in the windtunnel area. I just wanted to post that the lawn edging is after almost 17 years finally retired from service. It was an amazing cost effective mod that really worked, and could instantly be felt "seat of the pants" at speed.

Thinking outside the box here, but why don't you buy/make 1 wheel spacer/adapter that will push out the tire away from the caliper. You may still need another wheel, but may open other wheel choices for you. Scott.

Oh and don't forget to not make too big a deal out of the process. It is illegal to paint your car in your garage. Enviromentalists frown heavily on letting solvents flash off to the atmosphere. I'm just saying it so people don't think, "Hey I can paint cars at my house no problem" I painted my car in my buddies garage. We put up plastic all over the garage. Mainly to protect against overspray on everything. We wet the floor and driveway, and parked the rest of our cars well away from the garage door. Thinking outloud, you could probably leave the door open and hang some bedsheets to allow air, but capture some of the overspray from escaping and getting on anything outside the garage. Heck you could use damp/wet sheets to help capture dust. I second the suggestion to blow off the car with air outside if possible, because dirt under the car, on the wheels/suspension etc will go everywhere when you start painting. I'm sure you could get pretty fancy if you wanted to. If you are painting in a home garage, you are likely an ameture, and/or trying to save money, and are willing to live with a less than show quality appearance, so don't get too hung up on constructing a booth. Anyone want to mention a sag or a bit of dirt in my paint job will get a sock in the eye. hehehe j/k. It cost me $60 to paint my Z.

Compomotive USA has custom wheels which were not too badly priced. I ended up with Simmons wheels (custom made 17x11 4.5 backspace, and 17X8 zero offset) I worked a lot of overtime for them, but it was a one shot deal. Got what I wanted, perfect fit, excellent quality. I won't need rims again for decades...I hope. hehehe If you really know what you want, don't skimp on quality/fit. Unless you buy wheels every now and again to change the look of the car.

Ok That's how NOT to heat your coils! He should just man up and accept being part of the "bolt on" generation before he kills himself.

I get it at least once a week in the summer when I drive it, but what really gets me wondering is when these soccer moms in their SUV's blast away from me at the light, and I figure they must be at 3/4 throttle! If I wanted to keep up, I'd have to get into single digits of inches of vacuum!! That is fast enough that I would NOT want to do that infront of a cop. I don't get it? I try and ignore them. I did ignore this kid in a 90's Talon, and he blasted off spinning all 4 tires, then his girlfriend leans out the window at the next light, and yells "we really handed you your a$$" I was dumfounded!? Sooo we start pulling away in heavy traffic, and I pull away very slow, leave some room, and accel enough to hear the BOV go. I look over, and they are no longer looking at me, and rolled up the window! They just tucked their tail and stayed behind me. Yeeesh. BOV scares them most of the time now. I just don't care about those idiots anymore.

Sideways. Why would you say that? Its been a long time low buck mod that if done correctly works very well. I have had cut springs on my Z for about 17 years now. I have thoroughly thrashed my car on the track, and have had several far more experienced drivers in my car, and they thought it handled very well. I think there is more stigma attached to it now that custom springs are much cheaper and readily available to most applications. A set of of coilovers can be had for a few hundred dollars, as opposed to a few thousand back when I started with my Z. Again a warning that if done incorrectly, and/or cutting too much can be dangerous to your car and possibly your life.

Don't skimp on the insulation thats for sure. And for lighting, I have 2 4ft banks of lights (one over each car) and its not enough. I too painted everything white. Walls and ceiling. It REALLY helps. With my fully insulated but non heated garage, I had beer,wine and cola in the garage all winter and it didn't freeze, so it did its job. I will be adding another 2 sets of lights, now that I have been working in there during the winter, and more lighting would have been great. Btw. For keeping the wife happy, anything you can do to keep noise from getting into the house is highly recommended. Plan storage along the wall to the house to slow down sound, and mount your aircompressor on rubber..even if it comes with rubber feet. I also built an enclosure for the compressor (not fully enclosed to allow for heat dissapation) I also used sound deadner on the inclosure to further help. keep the wife happy. It worth it.

Ahhmmm. Pull the diff cover and look for a number? If your serious, and want to replace fluids, take stuff apart unnessesarily, then go for it. IF you are just curious, you can put a mark on the input shaft and case, and simply turn a wheel (car on stands) and count how many times it turns. You should be able to tell if it turns 3.54 times and 3.7 or 3.9 or 4.11 times etc. Simple, clean, fast.

Cutoff wheel works, but using the torch to heat the springs, you can heat the top up, and slightly flatten the top coil, so it sits more flush with the top spring perch, and distributes the load away from just the tip of the spring. (kinda hard to picture) but the top coil on stock springs kinda flattens out so it sits neatly in the spring perch. I only used the chevette springs because "at that time" I had seen it proven on a couple of race prepared Z's, and were extremely cost effective. Importing parts from the US to Canada, and the outragous exchange rate made looking for local alternatives worth the effort. $50.00 for a new pair! and were always in stock, as opposed to $700-$800 for tokicos (after exchange rate, shipping and our lovely Canadian taxes/import duties.) Again this was 10++ years ago. Now chopping 3-4 coils will mess with your geometry, and will make you regret that choice. Ahh the memories of my early days. I should start up an old school modding tip/history lesson sticky. hmmm

Sorry but your description is a bit vague. A Z31 with what engine? The engine you list does not come with that car..was it swapped in, and from what? If it is the stock engine for a Z31, then what year? Different engine years had slightly different configurations which dictate the possible power output. For now I assume it is a 50th anniversary 300zxt 1984 with a vg30et making 200hp and 220ft/lbs of torque. Z31.com has some good write ups about making cheap hp, and how to do it. In very general terms, 250-300 rwhp is possible on an all stock engine. Change exhaust, injectors, ecu, intake, turbo etc etc.. 400++++ all depending on cubic $$$$

Well there is a little more to it. What is your current ride height? stock? wheels/tire combo? It is looked down upon, but if done correctly is a budget upgrade. Heating the coil, then coil/cutting, then cooling slowly (by reducing the heat, not just turning off the torch.) 1-1 1/2 coils is typical When I was starting out with my 280, I cut out the coils and ran that way for years, and was happy with the improvement. It was noticeable. To this day, I am running cut chevette coils, and I am happy with them. I have threads out there about using the chevette coils. Good luck

Well for starters: The L6 vs v8 debate was finally solved. They won. There is a way to get 500hp for under 3K$ To improve the power vs weight advantage, we all aggreed that a 240 now weighs 1800lbs with driveline and driver. There is a "BEST" Suspension setup and brake setup now. Beware the cigarette lighter of doom thread. Newbies with less than 5 posts DO know more than the rest of us. And to top it off, "the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything is... 42" Oh and on a side note, I have been voted as god and king of hybridz, and all my mighty slaves must submit their car for me to drive...When do I get to drive yours? Welcome back! Scott. (not the hybridz god/king)

Lots of good ideas. Under 1K$. Best bang for your buck. Swap to a lower gear. if you have a 3.9, find a 4.11. You will feel that right away. A weber big throat throttle body is also seat of the pants noticeable. John has it right with the basic list of maintenance, It will make a noticeable difference. Keeping it under 1K$ is the trick, there are a ton more mods if you want to spend more.

It has been done, but I recall that it does provide "some" level of strength, so adding in some reinforcement after removal would be a good idea. Have a look at this thread. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=139690

Ok you guys are a bunch of video geeks. Now cut it out or I will smote you with my plus 2 mace..Darn it where is my 20 sided die? My game of choice was the Ultima series. I spent an entire summer playing Ultima 2 and 3. I am a recovering geek.. don't get me started again.

Once upon a time, I would get tailgated while in my Z, and I would get the "So ya wanna go fassstt do ya?!" thoughts, and drop a gear or two, and see ya later charlie. UNTIL once it was a cop in an unmarked tailgating me on an onramp.. so close I could not see his HOOD! needless to say, it took him 5km to catch back up to me (I had tromped on 2nd gear on a long 270 degree slow sweeper onto the highway) At which point I was in the slow lane driving the limit. Long story short, car impound fees 150.00, lawyer 100.00 and 6 months worrying about court, then the crown losing the case, then appealing and losing again. Not worth it for me, or the cop who "appeared to be driving recklessly/drunk/agressive" and I thought I was being carjacked/robbed etc and defended myself by getting away from the clown. BIG hassle for everyone. Lesson learned: 1 You never know who may be in the agressive car. 2 You never know what the passive car may think/react to the situation. I just move out of the way when I am able, and if you continue to hassle me, I will dial 911, get your plate, and then I will put 350ft/lbs to the ground and get away from your dangerous ass. Scott.

Engine won't rev huh? Did you power wash the engine bay? If so, you could have water in the afm electronics (moisture is enough to mess it up) Dry it out with a hair dryer. Do simple stuff first. Check grounds and wire connectors. Don't just look at them, unhook, clean, and reattach a use a bit of dilectric grease on the connectors. Keep us posted. The more details the better. Scott.

I don't have my time machine working for me to go back 9 years, but this is what I can recall. When installing my VG30ET with matching t5 tranny into my 78 280, We removed everything from the engine bay (left the diff in), and placed the engine/tranny into the car. We then grabbed a scrapo driveshaft and I think we cut it to a length that would fit (I needed a custom driveshaft made afterwards) and moved it all over the place (fore, aft, left/right, up/down) until we got the engine sitting where I wanted, the gear shifter where I needed it, AND the driveshaft lined up with minimal angles. It was a game of give and take, as I could not get every measurement that I wanted (I wanted the engine futher back and down) but was not possible to maintain clearances and driveline geometry. To make it short we used eyeballs to get it close and measured angles (angle finder/protractor, tape measure, and a med sized level) to get the best compromise for all of the requirements that I listed above. Once in position, carboard templates were made to fit, and then recreated from mild steel. As stated above 30+ year old cars with questionable known history, close is about as good as you will get. A laser pointer is great, but if it is not locked down precisely, all measurements could be affected. Edit* That was 9 years ago, and I have had zero issues due to the install/physical layout of the driveline, and I had zero information regarding previous swaps like mine (I'm sure I wasn't the first, but maybe the first to put it on the internet) Good luck with your install! Scott.

As some already know, I have been recovering some old vhs video that I have had sitting for far too long, and I've started to sort through it and put together some fun vids. The quality is degraded, but good enough to still be usable. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgvNXJoJheM&feature=channel

Yep. The drivers side motor mount is I think the largest hurdle. The turbo crossmember is different than the N/A one. It is done this way for clearance of the turbo. Depending on the year of engine, there may be minor differences, and I do recall that there are differences in early 1986 and late 1986 300zx's.