ZR8ED

Hmm how about some rod ends for your linkages. I seemed to have stumbled on a set in my garage..Not sure if they are left AND rights though. Make your own linkage. I've seen some nice custom setups over the years. I had mine modified with return springs on the bell cranks to reduce the stresses on the linkages. BTW it also kept them sealed up nicely for an even idle, and gave enough peddle feel to dial in subtle throttle transitions on corner exits. Congrats on the project!

Hey I hear ya. I ran triple webers, and there was nothing short of a cracked carb body that could strand me, and with my spares, even that couldn't stop me for more than a couple of hours. Yet here I sit. Turbo charged with Megasquirt and Spark. Ok I cheated a bit. I bought the entire kit. Assembled boards, the works. I NEEDED it to work with minimal fuss. Some advice. 1 Read the mega manual, and our megasquirt forum for a few DAYS. 2 Talk to the guys at DIYAuto. They will recommend the board, firmware etc that will work for YOU and YOUR setup. 2a. download appropriate megatune program on your computer and look around and get familiar with it. 3 find others in your area with MS experience. Talk to them, check out their setups, see if they can help you, or at least give you additional advice 4 Buy preassembled kit. Buy wiring kit etc. Even a better idea since you are coming from carbs. 5 Clean clean clean everything before you start, including your work area/bench. 6 make sure the REST of your car is working properly (electrics, fueling etc) 7 take pictures, label as much as you can 8 don't rush to get the car started. Make sure all connections are properly done. It is not that many wires. Make wiring neat..don't fall into the "I'll clean up the wiring later" It makes troubleshooting much easier. 9 Relax. Set up the initial conversion when you have time, maybe an abiltiy to car pool, or borrow a car whether you get the car to run or not just to take the pressure off getting it to run to go to work the next day. Or skip it all and pay someone to do it and rent another car. Not the most practical though. Good luck with it!

Anyone ever see a Z with a metallic black paint job? Ford and Chrysler both have metallic black cars/suv's etc in their colour palette, and it is a pretty nice looking black. I sit here wondering what it may look like on say.. a z just like mine. Classy? cheesy? on a small sporty car? Just thinking outloud, as I send my car into a bodyshop for non paint related work. Opinions?

Funniest site ever?! I thought you were talking about THIS funniest site ever. Yours is ok too. http://www.shavenwookie.com/

There was a "post your garage pics" on here somewhere. Some posted some mighty fine garages, some posted some pigstyes, and yet others posted pics of garages that they were just happy to have. I waited 20 years to finally get my 2 car garage, and I am very very happy to have it, so its a dream garage for me. Been cleaning and organzing it for the last year now, and it is coming along better than anything I thought I would ever have been able to actually own. Scott.

I'd love to have a spare pick up laying around for the odd job, but space, insurance, fuel etc just does not make it practical enough for "odd jobs" Another idea is to buy a smallER fuel efficent "cool car" to daily drive, and put a hitch on it. Get/build a small utility trailer, that you trash all you want with car parts, junk, yard waste etc. Solves the loading issues (Johns loader idea is pretty good too). Keep the wife happy with a clean car, and save the mess for the trailer. Even a small 4cyl car can tow a small trailer with a driveline sitting on it. (secured properly as Challenger says) Something to consider.

In addition to Thrustnut's idea. Don't substitute the aluminum patches with beer can aluminum and don't substitute the rivets with homedepot aluminum poprivets, and don't substitute thick washers for any old washers laying around, or make your own washers out of more left over beer can aluminum. Seriously though. Don't mess with your life. Welding with generous amounts of fresh steel, and buying NEW grade 8 seat bolts/fasteners is worth it. If welding is not an option, as long you follow my above "don'ts", Thrustnuts idea is ok too! Good luck, and don't burn down the car with the welder!

It's too fast or too modified, they day you cringe a bit about taking it out (see below list of possible reasons), and instead go and grab the DD. Fear of tickets/police hassles, fear of parking hassles, fear of theft, fear of rain/getting it dirty, fear of someone crashing into you, fear of breaking something, fear of not being able to afford to repair said "breaking of something" etc. There are a lot of us in or approaching that boat. Yep I said me too. Guilty of taking the DD instead of the risk/hassle of taking the Z.

I am by no means a bodyshop expert, but the only way I have found to get parts as you have described to fit, is to trial fit, mark, trim or fill, then to trial fit then repeat until you are either happy with the fit or are frustrated enough to give up with "good enough" I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but fibreglass parts rarely fit nicely right out of the box, and every vehicle will need different levels of tweaking. Just take your time getting it to fit as tight as possible BEFORE using a bonding process (rivets, fibreglass, bondo etc) This will keep stress levels on the part and your bonds as low as possible. Think of a part being twisted/torqued into place and then holding it there with rivets etc for the next 20 years, being bumped, touched, and further torqued by the chassis natural tendency to move while driving/getting hoisted for repairs etc. What all are you installing? Pics? Goodluck.

This reminds me of my weber tuning days. Don't blame anything until you check condition/gap of plugs. Once fouled. Ditch em! Keep using fresh clean gapped plugs until tuning is done. I am having trouble picturing what you did to the plugs. Do you have pics or link? Makes me want to check my plugs too. (not that the car is running poorly) Just a good reminder. Soooo does this mean that your compression IS ok? Did you check it?hehe Glad you sorted it out.

I had two. Well one was a Capri does that count? An 80 and an 81. A coupe and a hatch. The hatch was better in the snow than the coupe. Heavy steering, lots of rattles, never wanted to run in the rain. I would pull over, and shut the engine down, and let the heat dry off the motor again, and then keep driving. They were both dd's, and saw your typical Canadian winter, which the auto choke didn't like. My stock 280 that replaced them was older, and had more mileage, and would outhandle and outbrake, and was more reliable, though more expensive to fix. The 280 was a DD for one year, and saw one FULL winter. Still have that 280. see sig pic. I loved watching the 87-88's back when they were new, though they didn't handle much better than my old ones.

Why not a Licoln MXZ or Zepher? Not luxury enough? oh wait..they are for old dudes. Sorry about that. I guess a Buick won't fit the bill either.. Ok I'll shut up..

Love those Vans! I had a murdered out BMX. Painted the spokes black..everything That was a long time ago in what seems like a galaxy far away..doh enough with the cliche's "The Car" That had quite the famous stunt on the bridge with the bicycle dude. Futurama! great retelling of the werewolf story! Ahhh crap. Everyone is going to know I'm a geek now.

Been keeping an eye on this thread to see where it might go. I have not done any serious searches recently, but I have not come accross any "bolt on" kits other than the dry sump full race stuff. I'm am starting to think of playing with a spare pan. I've seen the trap door ideas before, and have been interested eversince my "incident". Except any mods will neccessitate another rework of my new bellypan. I should have had that "while I'm at it" thought before I redesigned the pan. Anyone have pics of what a stock pan looks like WITH the pickup tube in place? It may be useful for pre planning/mockups. Thanks for the great info so far!

I've been back researching in the site archives, for a couple of different projects I am/planning to work on. There is a ton of excellent info I've been digging up, but I have found a lot of posts have had lots of good suggestions/ideas, but no final wrap up of a problem/issue or project. It would be really benificial to future seachers, if you have posted a question/problem, if you could post back on what eventually happened. Even a simple "It worked" or It didn't work" I read through pages of threads sometimes only to find it just die out, and I was waiting/hoping to find an ending, happy or otherwise. Just thinking outloud folks. I am sure I have not followed through with some of my posts as well, and I will try to do better in the future. BTW if you have read one of my old posts and find it needs clarification, let me know, and I will go back and update it.

By your title, do you have a 280? If so, have good look at your hazard switch/wiring as well. It can affect your marker/signal/brake lights. If you unplug the switch, you will see what I mean.

They may sound basic, but several types of clamps, C clamps, vicegrip style clamps etc. Small and large. I have a couple of very small ones, and they are great when working on small parts, and I still need room to get in with the mig tips. Don't forget some basic safety stuff too. fire extinguisher, Goggles, half mask respirator, good welding helmet, welding gloves, heavy jacket, disposable gloves and mechanics style gloves. Metal is sharp, and gets hot, and there are lots of filings/burrs etc when working/welding it, Oh and a nice slab of heavy guage sheet steel to work on (if you don't have a metal bench) And for luxuries.. beer fridge, dvd system, and comfortable chairs..uh we are still talking about garages right? hehe S.

I think most of the fit issues, are not about the diameter of the rotor+the caliper fitting inside the wheel, but more often, about the "inboard and outboard" positioning of the caliper. I had something similar happen to me with my front brake upgrade. I had 16X7 Epsilon mesh wheels on the front of my Z with 300zx vented rotors and S12W calipers, and I required a small spacer on the hub to push out the wheel away from the outside face of the caliper. The back side of the rim was nearly flat. What I mean is the mounting surface was the same backspace as the mesh part of the rim. Not sure if I illustrated that very well, but without the slim spacer, I could not bolt the rim up flush. It contacted the caliper before it would sit flush on the rotor hat. Try a small test to see if the wheel is contacting the caliper face before the wheel sits on the rotor hat, or if it is an overall diameter issue. Its worth the check before you write the cheque. Scott.

Why were you idling at 13's before? May this be a long term issue getting worse? You should have no issues idling into the 15's even down in the 5-600 rpm's. Misfire? ignition? Idling into the 10's beware of dumping too much fuel into the exhaust and causing a fire. (don't ask how I know this can happen) Scott.

Hey. "while your at it" Why don't you polish up the inside? I see some farily rough casting marks on the outlet side. I'm not saying to port it out, just polish it up a bit to reduce turbulent air flow. Might help a bit by reducing lag. Ok its a bit anal, but hey you are the one that started polishing the thing. Looks great by the way. Scott.

Ahhhhh. I hope I don't go that far. Besides. Once I have the new floors/rails done. I will prime and paint them for protection purposes, but from there? I'm thinking even more extensive belly pan work. I'll have fresh metal to weld and bolt to. Delusions of vast expanses of smooth shiny aluminum under the car..maybe future integration of sideskirting. Don't get me going I'm already doing the "while I'm at it". Someone help me please..

"while your at it" You can make the fix permanent by having a piece of SS tubing bent up to fit perfect in YOUR engine bay. Just use a short section of rubber at each end to "take up" movement/vibration of the engine. I know its not the easiest fix, but looks/works great! Scott.

Thanks for the link Craig. Not that I take it to the track all that often, but when I do, I don't want to increase my issues with head clearance with my helmet on. My Fiero seats are slightly higher than stock (maybe an inch) With my helmet on, I can easily bump my head on my cage (side). I know the whole discussion of cages in street cars, but mine is in and welded, and I'm not taking it out anytime soon, so I am going to have to work within the confines of my cage. I have turned my attention to Sparco seats. Mainly because one of their distributors is so close to my work. I have found from Sparco that the 505's are the same as the Torino 2's in dimension, except they have different fabric availabilities. I prefer the look of the Torino fabric, as they offer a black on black while the 505's don't. I want to look at them in person again and take some additional measurements that are not listed in their guides before I make a final decision.

Figured this is a good place to post my next project. A project that I have been putting off for too long. I had patchwork replacement floors done 15 years ago, after patchwork was done 3 years before then. The work was done very well, and has lasted all this time, BUT time has taken its toll. I was putting it off as long as I could up until the car was improperly put on the hoist...After I specifically demonstrated HOW to put it on the hoist. It was lifted on the frame rail near the firewall. Yeesh. Crumpled it up pretty good. Good thing I have a cage. Well I have put this off for too long now, and its time to "Nut up or shut up"! (zombieland quote.) Sooo I picked up some floors and rails from Zedd Findings. Charlie lives relatively close, so Yesturday, I made the 2hr drive to pick up my stuff. I have spoken to the bodyshop that did my original flares/paint job, and they are just waiting for me to get all the parts I need. I've been waiting until the end of the season because the car has been running well, and I didn't want to miss the summer. I already have a full interior with new door seals, windshield and windshield seal, dash cap, custom door panels, and a new carpet kit. I will remove the carpets/seats etc, and cover up the rest of the car for the welding process. This is making me pretty nervous taking apart a working car for some serious structural work. Anyhoo. The floors/rails look great, and hopefully will be a snap to install. "while I'm at it" has crept in, as I am unhappy with my modified Fiero seats. They are quite comfy, but have no provisions for my harnesses, and they need to be upolstered anyways. I am looking closely at installing some Sparco Torino 2's. I'm sure there will be mods neccessary after the floor work to put ANY seat back in, so I might as well get what I want, and only have to cut my new carpet up once if required. I will post updates to this project, and hope that it won't take too much time. I will post before/after pics, and hopefully get some unusual shots ie through the floor while its out just for laughs. I will also continue this thread as I go through the seat ordeal..uh I mean project.

Hey I had a phone just like that.. Indestructable!. Hmm not shiny either. There may be something to that. As for cars, since when is the most dreamed of car feature one that allows the car to park itself? I have to spend extra $$$ on a car, and its greatest feature is that it parks itself?! wtf. I want a car that is cheaper, and gets better gas mileage AND is faster. Parks itself? whocares? I'm in the car anyways, I might as well do it myself. We are going to have a whole generation that can't manuever a car in a parking lot! Oh on the same rant, why is Ford bragging about how fast the hybrid fusion is compared to Honda/Toyota? and it gets a whopping 15-20MPG LESS?! Who cares! Now you can buy a car that still has performance, and can make you feel good to say that it is a hybrid..even though it doesn't save the environment all that much or get very good mileage (in comparison) Yeeesh! 60mpg... its right up there with an early 90's civic (civic vx) Frustrated with new fangled useless but expensive bling. I want another 240z.