ZR8ED

I have the same volvo i/c. Mine looked kinda crappy to, so I just grabbed someflat black aerosol metal paint and gave it a light dusting.. Looks great.. I have not noticed and cooling issues.. The i/c seems to work VERY well.

Well it was -20 today at mid day with full sun... I'm not sure what it was with the wind chill..(I thought it would be too depressing) Here is a pic of Lake Ontario (north side) looking south to niagra falls/buffalo area.. I took it this morning..and just about froze myself to death to walk to the edge of the bluff and take the pic (40ft high bluffs)

Do you mean which carburation to use?.. or what jetting to use? or both... If yes, then there is no solid answer.. YOUR specific engine details (specs) gear ratios, car use (street, strip, track,) hot climate, cold, or various?...your driving style is key to...do want low end grunt? top end? mid range?.. do you like to mash the throttle?...do you shift smooth? (ie know how to drive your car to get max performance?....ie smooth fast corners, or do you need to make up on the straights for slow corner speeds?) type of fuel, etc etc.. lots of variables...even more than I mention... That doesn't mean its impossible, but there is no "silver bullet" "best" setup..

I've posted before about slot car stuff. I have an old 1/32 scale strombecker set. I have more than 150ft of track and have had some wild track setups (when i was married and had a house) hehe Anyways, I still have the track, and I'm always looking on ebay for additional acessories as the strombecker stuff is fairly rare. (circa late 60's) I have lots of newer cars like the panoz, and the marcos, i even have a vintage 260z.. Well I just found this car and had to have it.

They are actually making this stuff... beware jealous wives/GF's

Bah winter! Why does it always get cold as I get the bug to work on the Z? I have hardly touched it the last 2 weeks, and suddenly I've spent my mornings before heading off to work crawling around under the dash? Today with a couple of inches of snow that fell last night, I'm out in the garage with my buddy hooking up the steering column, and reinstalling the heater control panel and the air ducting.... Oh and I lent my 40000btu kerosene heater out and do not have it at present... The roads were not condusive to a test drive so that was a no go... But as one door closes, a window opens up somewhere else..hehe I just got my hands on some 3" and 2" mandrel bent 316L SS piping!.. for the price of "zero" The two inch pipes are for a buddies i/c pipe routing, and the 3" 90's are for my exhaust! yea baby.. this makes up for not driving the 240 today! Collecting parts for spring is fun!

Well I don't have any pics handy to post up, but I have custom door panels. I used the stock arm rest and window crank. But I showed the upolsterer (spelling?) my z31 door panels with the gathered leather insert above the arm rest, and had use his creative judgement to copy them. I'm very happy with the look. BTW my plastic panels were all off white.. I cleaned them thoroughly and painted them black with vinyl paint...worked great! been like that for more than 6 years...heck at the time I even painted my stock door panels...and they still had that soft flexible feel to them....(280 panels) My next step is to get some thin foam backed vinyl to wrap my roll cage bars.

Tomohawk: I have done this very swap with my 280.. 300zx vented rotors, 4 Runner calipers, .314 thou spacer, etc etc... I left my stock 1978 280z master cylinder. I have run my car very hard on the track with no ill effects. I've heard of the smaller mc giving a mushy feel, but I believe that is from improper adjustment. I've let professional drivers drive it on the track, and have not had any complaints of brakes... When I have to replace my mc, I will probably upgrade then, but certainly not before...waste of money better spent on go fast stuff!!

According to my FSM 1 volt (approx) is supposed to be just leaner than than stoich.. I recall it saying that at idle the z31 should be 15:1 or so... I'll have to look in my manual again, and get the exact #.... I do know that it runs very lean at idle....(factory set) I have lots of tuning ahead next season, so I imagine I'll have to bone up on my FSM this winter...

Cool my original post to this thread is the same as the production # of the car..hehehe HLS0000684

YeeHaww! It is a great day to be a Zed owner!! The wiring is DONE! everything works.. all the lights, signals, wipers, washer, horn, starter, guages...(except the fuel..maybe cause it is almost empty) Whew! what a relief. The GM alternator is even wired corrrectly and working... I fired it up to day (36F outside) it started right up...idles a bit low (2-300rpm... cause I don't have the chokes hooked up yet. But it does run smooth... Man I love the sound of a sweet cammed L6!!! Even better with only a header! hehehe I have a long list of details to take care of, like put the interior back in. I picked up a beautiful set of seats (used stock seats that were modified with extra bolstering etc...) I hope to get them put in tommorow, and take it for an inagural "boot" up and down the street. If it goes well, then I'm off to the ministry to get a temp sticker and take it to parents to store in their garage. That way I can do some tinkering on it during the winter.. I'm VERY happy now!... just in time for Christmas!!... to bad it won't fit under the tree!!... I feel like a kid who gets a new toy for christmas and doesn't want to let go of it and drags it off and puts it on the bed/under the pillow just to keep it close... ummm I'm sick...did I just say that out loud?

I suppose it would also depend on which tank is in a 260?.. I'm not sure.. I think it is pretty flat underneath.. I know the 280 style like mine is VERY low, and can easily be seen under the car.. On a 280 it would be very hard...a 240/260 with the flatter tank underneath would have a few more inches of space.. As for a shield, use aluminum.....heck..while your at it...(oh oh did I just say "while your at it") AAAAHHHHH make a nice wide one....like a rear belly pan...yea thats it...a rear belly pan...have the muffler under it... put in some vertical fences on either side of the muffler, and on both edges, and wala.. tres' cool.. i have my muffler in the stock place, but I'm putting in my belly pan under the muffler and fuel tank.....(my 280 tank hangs lower than a stock placed muffler)

Yo2001: I know the automatic Ecu's for the 300's had a circut that held the automatic tranny out of overdrive till a temp sensor in the tranny let it know that it was up to temp. Hmmm anyone else have z31 ecu knowledge they can share?.. drop it in this thread...

Hey I was just going to post an ecu discovery myself! I might as well put it here.. My Z31 ecu (attached to my Z31 turbo engine in my 280)... I watch my o2 sensor voltage (apexI turbo timer/a/f ratio monitor) At exactly 3000rpm it goes from reading .9-1.1 volts to 4.55 volts (meter doesn't read past 5 volts) When it does this, I really start burning up the fuel... To get any decent fuel mileage, I MUST keep it under 3000rpm.... this is just cruising too.. it reads max voltage when i lay on the throttle and build boost as well. I know in the FSM it talks about swtiching from sequential to batch firing the injectors at 3000rpm i think... There are two other variables..the other with the car being up to operating temp.... I'm not sure what the rest says.. 3K in 5th is approx 120kph.. not nearly enough to keep up with traffic in the city... I'll have to put in a 3.54 diff again to be able to hang with the traffic and get good mileage. BTW I can get as much as 28mpg with the car...Not bad considering all my rolling resistance, and aero mods..

87-89's all had 3.7 whether turbo or not.. ONLY the turbos had lsd's.. both the coupes and 2+2's

Hey Rufus. I've flown out to see the show two years in a row, and had a blast every time. Biggest show around.. it dwarfs the national convention.. almost 600 cars last year.... If your serious about going..and serious about taking your z, then stay in touch.. A few guys at my club "Ontario Z Car" are trying to make arrangements to truck our cars together.. we need 5-6 cars to make it worth while.. looking at 7-900$ Cdn. for a round trip. just drop your car off up here in Toronto, and then fly out and meet the car for the show. I'll be there if we can get this transportation issue solved for a reasonable price.. getting the cars there is easy...getting a group discount is not. I will probably fly out again with or without my Z, but I've had more than a few requests to see the car in person. I'd bring it out just for fun though, since I'd most likely be thrown into the modified class hehe and that is a VERY competitive group, and I'm a full year behind on detailing the car...(it was a brutal summer)

"DeNial" hehe not just a river in Egypt. I remember echoing those very same words... I figured 7 Psi would be plenty quick in my lighter car...hehehe That lasted 1 day before I started cranking it all she could suffer..hehehe

I can only give you a seat of the pants opinion.. I tested a 4.11 a 3.9, and a 3.54 all in one afternoon on my turbo car.. Boost was set @ 11 psi, but only in 4th and 5th gears.. the lower gears, it would not hit much above 8-9.... The 4.11 was still in the car from my N/A days.. No matter what I had the boost cranked to.. with the 4.11's I could not reach my desired boost in the lower gears. The car actually got quicker each time we swapped in the next lower ratio. We had a supply of diffs and kept swapping.. My car was fastest with the 3.5.. I finally reached my desired 18psi in 1st gear! with that diff... Turbos like to be under load....

Rufus. I picked up that car in Aug. I have been bugging my buddy to sell that car to me for more than 10 years... It has just been sitting.. 90% complete... It has been a wiring nightmare solved only by tearing every wire out, and putting in a new (new/used) harness...front to back... been taking quite some time.. I wanted it ready for end of sept..but alas.. lots more wrong with the car since it has been sitting all these years... It WILL be out cruising around in the spring.. my GF thinks its "cute", and she is interested in driving it if we can get the seat to move far enough forward (she's 5ft 1)... I hope to show them side by side at Z fest next year...as an example of "The first and last of the 1st gens"...

As a guy who can say "I had the same challenges for my swap"... my Z31 tranny "almost bolted in".. My turbo interfered with the frame and the steering shaft. and I had to watch where my oil pan ended up... I would have personally left all the equipment on the engine and dropped it in for a "look".... and see how well you can get it to fit with "Zero" mods.... This can tell you what is going to hit where....and while you are "working outside the box", also consider that the driveline is not a heavy... maybe moving it forward..or up..or tilting slightly may help...You can do this to possibly avoid or reduce complications... I can tell you that any swap other than a tried and proven swap like a chevy V8 is going to be drastically more difficult as you will have to "invent the wheel" so to speak.... and most certainly is NOT a budget build up... If you think you can't afford all the little details at this stage (trial fitting of the engine) then maybe you should consider this swap more carefully before you get in to deep.... I would hate to see you get frustrated and/or run out of funds and end up losing interest and selling off your work for peanuts. I know my swap ended up costing me (turn key) slightly more than double what I had thoroughly researched with my mechanic... HUGE PITA! took way longer, and I coulda had a 900hp 6spd V8 for the same/less money....I would NOT do my swap again... but I still love it...its a big enough PITA for me to be one of only a few VG30ET swaps around for quite a while to come... I love the GEE WHIZ factor...can you afford a swap for GEE WHIZZ factor? Sorry to sound like a kill joy...just being honest...I'd rather you be happy with a running Z as opposed to hating them and having one still on jackstands years later.... Good luck if ya keep up with it...Give me a PM if ya need some ideas/advice...

Here she is.. 1969 build date. HLS0000684.. obviously heavily modded many years ago, so an original it is not.. But that is cool.. It is just going to be a blvd cruiser..

I found this posted outside the cafeteria on a bulletin board where employees can post for sale/wanted ads.. Now I HAVE seen it all... keep up with this Auxilary! hehehe notice someone actually took a #?.. and no it was't me...

I know what you are getting at. And I think we are on the same page. BTW I ran 24 laps.. no probs..the only reason I came in, cause my time slot was up..hehehe If your talking lots of track use, then I aggree that stock stuff won't cut it for long... Even the mild upgrade stuff. Also...its pretty hard to compare car to car... some 240's weigh in at 2300 lbs.. some 280's a tich over 3000lbs.... that throws some severe variablility about braking power right off the bat... Suspension and hp are two other factors...a wild suspension set up and a stockish engine car is just not going to approach the ends of straights as hot, as a wild hp car...The more hp and the less the suspension set up, the more brakes required to get ya down to a speed to go through the corner.. We all chased a 944 turbo around the track that day as well.. he was real surprised how well moderately modded Z's could hang all over him... He could pull the stockish z's, but had his ass handed to him by quite a few of the wilder Z's.. (and BMW's that were there to). anyways back to the brakes...For street Z's...not worth the effort..except when looking for bling bling.

Ok time for my .02 cents. I have heard these arguements for MANY years now. I have the stock rear drums (aluminum) and the 4Runner calipers on the 300zx rotors in the front, and SS flex lines. Pretty straight forward. I take my car on the track regularly, and as i have upgraded the car..the suspension and the engine, My braking system was upgraded to the large front calipers several years ago. I have not had any troubles stopping the car...could it stop better with rear calipers?... perhaps... Will the average Z out brake my 280 on a track?... not likely... True story: I let a solo 1 and 2 national champ drive my z this past summer... We were drving behind a full tilt 240Z race car.. 2100lbs.. (2.4L 6 in it with Su's) My car tips the scales at 2900 with no one in it.. so at the time it was in the 3200lb range (driver plus me riding shotgun) We chased this 240 all over the track (no passing allowed) we would back off for a lap or two to give some space, and next thing we knew, we were all over him.. my car obviously out accelerated him..that is not the point. We dove into the turns deeper and came out quicker, always feathering the throttle to stay off his rear end. The guy in the race car knew what he was doing, and was even running full slicks.... Now the point of the story: We tailed his ass for 9 laps, and I had zero problem with the brakes... and we were driving HARD... it was actually scaring me a bit.... The moral... The average street Z...heck even some of the meanest STREET Z's will never be able to fully use the potential of a good braking system....better brakes are for REPEATED stopping(unless you need to stop full tilt from 130+mph).. I don't know about you guys, but my stock brakes with good pads could lock up my sticky yoko AVS 225 in front and 245 in back....That indicates i had enough braking....It would not be wise to try it repeatedly.. ( I did this on the track for a direct comparison) I went from 5 hot laps on the same track with stock brakes, to 14 with good pads, to 24+++ with my new 4Runner brakes... ALL with the same rubber.. no mods except for minor hp tweaks from event to event... ALL on the same track in similar conditions... I would only put on rear disks for looks on my car... I have not had a need for them yet... Now I'm not saying my Z is super quick, but I think it ain't your average street Z. I would put this mod low on the MUST have's..... Just my opinion though.....

Ok you guys are talking about power and how great turbos are.. some of you touched on the gas mileage issue, but I think you may be looking for more what you are in for... 1: Turbo cars are far more sensitive to oil... you MUST change your oil and filters.. that turbine spins 100,000rpm + and it needs good oil. If you think you want to abuse your daily driver with minimal maintenance, then don't even think of a turbo car. 2: Turbos need cool down time. You can't go tearing up the road, and then just park the car and shut it off... again.. the turbo is still spining and needs oil... Cool down time is MANDATORY!!!!!!!!!! or ELSE expect big $$$$$$ and short engine life. I ALWAYS take it easy for the last mile or so heading home. I just keep the rpms low, and stay off the boost. I then pull in my driveway, and listen to the radio for 1 song.. 2 or more if I have been driving the car hard. This gives the turbo time to spool down, and cool off. Purchasing a turbo timer is an option as well, and lets you leave the car with it still running and it will shut down on its own after a preset time. I have had turbo engines with 200K on them.. no problems...(all Z's of course) 3: You MUST use high octane fuel, and if you turn the boost up, you better be running it. 91 octane is not high octane.. so if you can't find anything higher than 91, then beware. Where I live, I can get sunoco 94.. this gives me more room to run higher boost than someone who can only get 91 octance.. PS more people should consider this when reading about other peoples cars here on the forums... (altitude is a factor as well) 4 Turbo cars are (personal opinion) easier to drive in the winter... as long as you stay off boost, you are effectively driving a low power low compression engine.. I've had excellent success in the snow with turbo cars... 5 Gas mileage can be pretty decent if you stay off the boost. nothing like having a 12 sec car, that can get 20+mpg when just cruising...hehehe hmm maybe this should be a sticky up at the top for guys wanting to go turbo and some things they better know before doing a swap...