ZR8ED

I mostly agree with Bob H. Stock brakes with good pads went a long way for me. My car was getting pretty fast, and on the track my stock brakes were not cutting the mustard. I first upgraded my pads to KVR carbon fibre/metallic pads. HUGE difference. My brakes were once again more than able to do the job. ie 5 hot laps before fading with stock brakes, to 14 laps before fading with KVR pads.. no other mods.. same track... I don't truly agree with the rear disc swap. I have found so far, that they are not needed till you are talking about very high hp applications/ or full track cars. The rear only brake 30% or less of the car.. (unless you install an adjustable bias) I have the Toyota 4 runner 4 piston caliper swap with the 300zxt vented rotors and Axxis metalic pads, with stock aluminum drums/ with good pads. The rear won't lock up under severe braking, and on the same track, I ran 24 laps with NO fade.. (I was waved off because my lapping session was over) I don't do too much competion anymore, (mostly lapping days with my Z club etc..) The car stops unbelievably well. I don't feel I need the rear disc swap yet..I may still do it, as I want to swap to 5 lug, so I may do it at the same time. But that is just my 02 cents. I am not a brake expert. Vented is the way to go for the front. I have heard many horror stories of drilled rotors.. funny thou..I have never heard about vented rotors. Even though it is a bit more expensive to convert. 4 piston with stock rotors are more than enough for a street Z... If you can lock your front wheels during braking, you have enough braking force.. (just an indicator).. doesn't take into account repeated stops... How you intend to use your car is the main factor.

I drove with a welded diff for 2 summers.. VERY hard on the arms to steer. I wore out new U joints rather quickly... very hard on my street tires they drag the inside wheel in corners, and I found for tight tracks, the car wanted to understeer noticeably more. GREAT for hole shots drag racing!! My car consistantly pulled under 2 sec 60'ft times with reasonable street tires. In general I would not recommend this solution for the street... Parking lots alone where murder, and pushing the car around in the shop needed 4 to 6 guys to push it!!! (dragging the inner wheel remember)

I would assume that the expensive ones are made by Charlie of Zeddfindings... And YES they are most definately worth the money... top notch pans.

Sorry for the weird q's. JWT turbo injector upgrades for the Z31's require the use of the 84 300zxt fuel rail (for the Mercedes injectors) Now is it only 84 rails? The engines had significant mods between 84-86 and 87+ models (lots of different details) Anyways, I'm wondering if the fuel rails are the same between 84-86, or is the 84 rail somehow different than the following years. The reason I ask is that I have a spare 86 fuel rail an 87/ and an 88 fuel rail... I have no idea if the 84 is really different? JWT doesn't get into details why? I'm still working on the supra 440cc injector deal with my supra buddies, and now I'm wondering if they will work with my 87 fuel rail (currently in my Z... or do I have to dig out my 86 rail?.. or do I have to go the distance and track down an 84 rail?... Geeezzz.. how do I get myself into these things?.. I thought my car was done? Luckily time is on my side.. winter is a long way from over.

I have heard the same rumors, but so far I have not seen anything... I'm sitting here looking out of my office at a small fleet of 2004 Grand Prix's.. several of them Competition Group packaged. (paddle shifters on the steering wheel) 255hp 3.8L supercharged engine.) A few weeks ago, I had the GForce show car here on display. (the one you may see in ads deep red colour) Now I'm certainly not in the know, but I work with the team (oem paint finishes) that is preparing them to be built here in Oshawa. We're building 400 of them now for testing purposes..Nice cars.. quick too..Even the competition equiped cars are no match for my Altima though! hehe These guys are not all that thrilled with me showing up at the GM site every day driving my 03 Altima...

Well I have a very Modified Z31 engine! Just not in a Z31. I have it stuffed in a 1978 280Z! More than happy to share performance info!

As others have commented it can be done. By what you are describing what you are trying to accomplish, it sounds like you are trying to do what I have had done to my car. My rollcage is A VERY tight fitting 12 point, custom made chromemoly cage. It is not obvious to see, except for the diagonal brace from the drivers to the passengerside. None of my interior panels were removed, and now most can never be removed. My A pillar bars go around and under my dash down into the foot wells, with approx 1/2 inch clearance of the dash. The cage was built properly, and is mounted in the proper critical structural areas. I had it professionally installed and designed by a Z car racer/chassis/engine builder. I had it kinda easy though. I was given a free, full tube chassis 240z race car (rolling chassis) I used this pro built chassis as my donor so to speak. We chopped it up and installed/further customized it into my 78 280Z street Z. Not an easy chore, and cost me 20 hrs labour.. With me helping cut up the race car. He did an awsome job welding it all in with most of the interior installed (minus seats/carpet) Not one burn mark on any of the panels. All seam welded and reinforced with gussets where required. I still have not installed the side impact bars either. I figure it is not required for structural integrity.. except in a car accident (T bone) I may dismantle my doors and put in additional side bars inside the doors to save space, and to ease entry/exit. (280 has side impact beams standard) Good luck if you go for it. Take your time, creative solutions are neccessary to maintain the strength of the cage and keep it tight fitting to the body... also becareful about racing rules if you are going to be racing this car.. if it is a street machine (like mine)you have more leaway...just don't underbuild it...Mine may not pass all racing bodies tech inspection, but I guarrantee it is stronger than what they require! PS I have an additional 14 points of bracing that is mostly addjustable, and not technically considered part of the cage. Total weight gain was less than 250 lbs... no match for turning up my boost to compensate.

I hear nothing but good things about tokico's. That is why I use them. I'm mearly going to upgrade my rear Tokico's to the adjustable ones.. I hear they are stiffer. On another note on my rear suspension. I also slotted my shock towers and brought out my rear struts more outboard... (less camber) To help with the lowered suspension, and now that my rear track is much wider. 3" wider.

I was.. guess I still am...Kinda heavy into slot cars. I have a 1/32 scale setup using 1/32 Strombecker slot car track/controlers/power. I had as much as 75ft of track set up on two 4x8 sheets of plywood table. Overpasses.. the wack.. took my months to assemble and buy parts/cars from Ebay. I've had the original set since I was just a kid. Big deal right?.. except I hunted on Ebay for quite a while and really had to duke it out for a slot car... a blue 260Z!!! It can't hold a candle to my FLY cars, but I sure enjoy drving it... sliding the tail around corners! I now have almost 200ft of track..but it is all packed up from my move..and will stay packed till I settle into another place with lots of room. It sure kept me busy all winter... took me weeks just to paint all my scale pit crews/spectators. Anyone ever see a 1/32 scale Z? please direct me to one. I'd like to drop it on one of my FLY chassis...hmm maybe my Panoz FLY car? hehe Talk about traction.. magnets front and back..the FLY car really haul!!!

Sorry about that. Yes it is a V6 and is still in the z engine bay. It is a mid engine by technical definition.. engine "between" front and rear axle centre lines. It is totally behind the front crossmember. McGyver? naw..learned about the trick from a budget racer friend... back when I was a poor college student. Works great!

All this talk about suspension the last day or two in the posts below made me think of my unusual setup. Granted part of my suspension is not really wierd, but considering the mid engine configuration..... I have stock 78 280 front springs with 4 coils properly chopped (maybe a bit more...) Tokico shocks. 1.25" sway bar. lots of urethane, and an official NHL hockey puck as a steering coupler.. yea I said hockey puck.. finally replaced it with a new one after almost 9 years with my last puck. The chopped springs were a bit soft on the front with my L28 sitting on them, and I was going to change them...but after the VG30ET swap.. it was not neccessary (after some road tests) The back are 78 Chevette HD front springs with 1.5 coils cut out (approx) Tokico shocks, urethane, and a 1" sway bar. Car was near neutral (still understeered) After the swap, the car is VERY NEUTRAL feeling now.. may want to oversteer slightly now (haven't been able to get enough track time to test yet). Very little squat/lean (less than 1" of lean in turns on the track) yet soft enough to not skip my CD player during normal driving. I had stock cut springs on back before and they were great.. till the new engine put out so much torque I was almost bottoming out the suspension on launch! The only slight problem now is on the highway, I've had a couple of pro race drivers drive it, and they say my rear shocks are not quite stiff enough when I'm on the highway going over "wows" in the road. It reacts too soon after the front. (hard to describe) I will upgrade the shocks in the back this summer I hope. Now my same mechanic does this same chevette spring swap on many of his customers Z's I have driven several of them on the track (with l28's) and solidly believe that this set up is not a fluke. Now these other cars have chevette springs upfront as well (I'm the only one that doesn't.. but then I'm the only one with a mid engine placement. ) The added hp/weight changes, just make the car even more fun to drive. It feels very stable, and easy to steer, and has eaten up every mistake I made on the track this year while testing the setup... ever drive a 4 wheel steering car?.. same kinda feel.. feels like it piviots around corners. Not saying this is the ultimate setup.. just one that works for me, and is very easy to do... the only better setup for me is coilovers..

Ya I remember seeing them. I was always curious about how well they did/didn't work. Never heard a peep about them in years.. the only thing I can think of for them disappearing is that not many new cars being made these days doesn't have abs brakes. On an unusual note on abs, later model 1st gen Z's came with some kind of brakline pressure bleed off for the rear breaks to keep them from locking up. I tried it when I first had my Z. On dry pavement I COULD NOT MAKE THE BACK WHEELS LOCK. Looked it up in the service manual, and apparently that is the only test to see if it works or not! Not really abs.. cause in wet/snow.. they lock..Cool feature just the same.

Get the seats out out of a rally model car, and drop them in... or do it the hybridz way!.. make your own.. heck paint them on the seats!! Don't forget to lower that Z!.. hehehe also drop on a belly pan! It will be the easiest belly pan install ever! just don't cover it with stickers!! it won't need any more hp after that vette engine goes in! Oh yea, were sick boys alright! who's worse? the guy for buying the models, or us giving him ideas on how to mod it?

There are a ton of good Mad Max sites. There is a site out there with loose instructions/comparisons to build a look a like. The car supposedly had 600+ hp (movie).. reality it was under 400... ie fake supercharger.. One cool movie! I must have seen it 200 times now.. I too was thrilled with the DVD.. neat hearing the original accents!

Cool, Then the deal is on! I called the guy and he has spare connectors!..another hurtle... Once I get them, I'll look at what else I need to get them installed. I'll have to have the ecu reprogrammed... have to dig up one of my spare ecu's..Cool winter project... not sure if I'll install them right away..may mid summer?.. ahh we'll see... oh ya..I guess I should have them cleaned and flow tested right?.. Thanks guys.

Go ahead and ramble. Your in the right forum! I too am considered "not 1 step over the edge.. more like 47" As mentioned by some of my Z club members, family, and non-Z friends. I take it as a compliment now..I don't mind..I like to do things different just to be different. Though different sometimes means "the hard way" or "the $$$$$ way" Its nice to have some off topic posts to read..kinda learning what other Z folks have done/doing/plan to do.. in Z's and life! I read as much as I can, and stop in multiple times during the day.. even right now I'm at work.. Ramble on guys! Its amazing how many of us are in similar boat..or have been/will be!

Just had my monthly Z car meet last week. Lots of fun as usual, and for the 3rd month in a row, at least one member has shown up with a 350Z! There are at least 5 350Z's in my club that I know of already!!!! Anyways on with my topic. At the end of the week, I attended another monthly meeting that I try to attend.. Toronto Supra Club. They are about 50 cars.. from mild to wild MKII's to mild and wild MKIV's!! I'm not a paid member.. I just hang out with my best friend that happens to own a nicely modded 82 MKII (see my video) I attend their shows, BBQ's, cruises and drag events...A wolf among sheep if you will. Anyways.. I enjoy hanging with these guys, and they definately respect Z's and don't mind me attending their events. They are a cool group, and they are slowly trying to convince me on the benifits to adding a supra to my stable of Z's...though I have better luck at converting their members to adding Z's to their stables. (really)..I'm a very honest convincing enthusiastic Z owner (their words) I like the supras in their own way, and there is a ton of mods for them. (I'll never buy one tho..)more Z's yes.. I'm trying to get the two clubs together for some track events. road and drag events. Not as a competitive thing..just fun. My Z club is much older, larger, better organized, and some of their executive have attended our meetings to get ideas on how to build and run a car club. Someday we'll get it together. Anybody else attend other car clubs? Anyone do "multi-club" events? So far I like the idea.. I can get my turbo/speed fixes twice as much per month...hmm maybe I should join a few more clubs? hehe.. No ricer clubs for me thou..I still have more HP than stereo wattage No more club events till after new year..It'll be Z's on the internet only till then! Thank heaven for this site!

Great vid! I just had to show it to my Supra buddies!..they get a bit cocky about the MKIV's..They still give me a hard time about my claim to beating a stock TT...well..except for the dude who owned the MKIV..He was in total disbelief.. I'll never forget him saying.." ALL I could hear as you went by was your TURBO!!" hehehe Those vettes really rocked!..I would not want to meet them at a light!...yet...

Well I have access to wiring harnesses for supras...maybe I could just take a few inches of wire and the connectors and splice them into my harness....That doesn't sound too complicated...As far as the "bolt in" factor..fuel rail hook up etc... it should work?.. How about impedance..? I understand my ecu will need to be reprogrammed so I don't run pig rich at idle...no probs there.. I can deal with that easy enough. I am really out of my element with injectors...Never see any on a bench to compare....just the odd pic I see on the net... Now weber jets... Those I know inside and out!

Hey guys. I've been offered a set of supra 440cc injectors, and am curious if they will fit a VG30ET? Not too sure here, I know I sold a set of my VG turbo injectors to a guy who installed them on an NA L28 280Z.... Dunno if that helps figuring out if they fit even an L28? The price is right.. all I have to do is trade the guy for my spare Z31 turbo injectors..(I have 2 spare sets..so no biggie..) But I don't want to waste my time either.. Thanks.

I'm a believer of the Victoracer 700's. I run them on my VG30ET 280Z. 265/46/16's. respectable in the wet..(not rain) Wickedly sticky in the handling department.. The car just wants to turn faster and faster. It ate up corners at a startleing rate, and even ate up my mistakes. Now I'm a long way from taking on Micheal Andretti, but I do have plenty of training and practice under my belt, and know how to drive my Z on a track, and can push the car near its limits. I'm a bit concerned about tire wear, but over the summer, and lots of tire melting launches and demonstrations, they still look pretty much new. 4/32 tread depth I think.. It was my only solution for traction in a WIDE low profile tire 16" (widest you can buy for a 16" rim..)

I like both of those ideas! Thank you very much. I can make either of those with no serious troubles. I will actually have a quiet car again! Its a good thing there are always Z's at my buddies shop. I'll be able to fab something up over the next few months using a Z on the hoist...(mine is tightly packed away in non-accessable storage till April) I'll most likely make extras though, as most of my buddies customers copy my mods anyways. ie brake swap, suspension tricks, bracing, etc... My car has sort of turned into a demo car to demonstrate my buddies mechanical abilities...ya know the ol story "I want what he's got".. good for his business, and I'm usually the first kid on my block to get the new toys...even though I'm always the guniea pig...

Thats awsome! I just want to post them for while so you guys can have a look. Drop me an email ZR8ED@hotmail.com If you can set up some space, that would be perfect.. Hmm I have kazaa...I wonder if that would work?..I suppose it would..Anyone else use Kazaa?

More fooling around with my new computer..I found a video editing software package on my computer..Works pretty good too! Anyways, I've been capturing video with it, and started practicing editing with it, and I have some need videos that I'd like to share. Unfortunately, I'm new to this editing stuff, and I saved the files in a less than friendly email format.. files range from 2mb to 48mb.. the 48mb files being my ameature masterpiece.. So... how can I share it with you folks? anyone out there can re edit it? I'm going to try again..but I don't want to start from scratch on the video, cause it took me several hours to edit all the clips together, and line it up with music. I'm going to try to resave it in a smaller format..???? Thanks.

I believe Charlie at Zeddfindings has built such a rear clip replacement for the 240's...not sure if it is ready for sale...or how much..or what exactly it replaces.