ZR8ED

Ok mine doesn't so bad compared to others here... At least my first and only good Z. My 17 other z's...most were real dogs..some not even driveable, yet I did. My GOOD/First Z. (current Z) had a hitch bolted to the stock 280 bumper, but the PO was towing a small laser sail boat, so no biggie. It had deathbeam fog lights mounted in front of the rad, and get ready for it.. I found 2 quarters under the bushing holders for the rear sway bars. It was said that it was done to stiffen up the sway bar for better handling. Oh one more.. a big sticker on the dash covering a crack above the glovebox. I guess I got a good one... oh wait. It was only 11years old when I got it! Nevermind..

The obvious question no one has asked. When is it going to get stuffed into a 240? Sweet vette.

What?! Simmons gone? Dang. Looks like I got some rare wheels now.

Definately speeding. I drive 110KM eachway all freeway through one of the busiest city/highway in Canada, and I drive it just ahead of the rush each way, so I am on a mission to get to and from work each day, or my 1hr commute turns to 2hrs if I don't stay infront the wave of traffic Sucks for my fuel mileage, so I just try to keep a steady speed to reduce accelerating.

It sounds to me like you are just about start a next stage in your life (new job/house) That is definiately not the time to begin a new project car. You sound a bit like I do. The car is certainly "done", and any new work that you do requires undoing a perfectly running car making it inactive all just to satisfy your urge to keep going with it. After all I have spent/done to my car, I would like to to a "frame off" restoration to get the basic chassis top notch, but it seems so immense a project, as I will want to redo everything else I have previously done to the car in new and improved ways with my now 20years experience that I didn't have when I started with the car. My advice. Drive your current car, and do exactly what I also want to do. A trip to CA to get a clean 240 to roadtrip home to tinker and fix up from scratch. Your job and your house will require huge amounts of time/$ A home is a massive investment, that must be maintained (you have no idea how much work a home will become..trust some of us older dudes on this one) It is/will be your most expensive asset you will ever own, and has the potential to increase in value if you invest/maintain it. Not many other items that you can buy and use/enjoy, and NOT lose your investment. Buy another Z fix it the way you want, and sell your old one later on. I have vowed to never be zedless again. I will always have a z to drive when one Z becomes a "jackstand racer" Some here will get the joke. Scott.

Nothing wrong with the stock drums. I ran the Toyota S12W calipers and 300zx rotors on front with stock drums on back. I bought good pads all around, and had SS flex lines and a stock m/c 7/8's. I drove that for almost 10 years, and had lots of seat time on the track. It worked very well. If this is mainly a STREET car, the above setup is plenty good enough, anything more and you would be doing it because you can/want to and/or for bling bling effect. That is just my experience and my 0.02 cents. Scott

I see the humour in the volvo, but at the same time, I'm conflicted with the view that I like to see all kinds of cars racing, practical or not.. or else we might as well ALL drive Camaro's. (sorry to the Mustang crowd. I'm from Oshawa, the home of the new Camaro)

Powder prime is becoming popular with OEM car mfg's. I am not aware of anyone powder "colouring" an exterior body. Powder clear though not nearly as widespread, is out there in the OEM world. I like that top pick of the red interior car. Looks like someone brought a car to work and had it done. Those look like hood/liftgate proprods used in auto mfg. I'd love to redo my car, and bring it to work, and put it through our ecoat (electrocoating process) Dip the whole thing and get every little crevice protected from rust. Then powder prime it inside and out. With the amount of mileage I put on the car, it wouldn't rust in my lifetime.

I have a nice SS garbage pail, and I finally get to brag that it is better than a plastic pail for safety reasons. I'll have to go home and tell my wife right away that it was a smart choice, and that I really DID need a SS garbage pail. hehehe. On a serious note, it is a goood idea. Plastic pails are so common that we sometimes forget some of the safety benefits of a steel (or in my case a shiny SS pail) After reading this post some time ago, I picked up another extinguisher. One at each door, so you don't have to go into the other side of the room to get your extinguisher, and risk getting trapped. Also so someone else can enter the room and grab it to rescue you if you do get trapped.

Thanks Austin. Its funny how situations can change. I see a tuner parts store around the corner from work, and think hey lets see what they have. I find out that they are a Canadian distributor for Sparco seats. They had at least a dozen or so different models lined up so you could sit in them and decide for yourself how well they fit. I have alreadly looked at: DAD, Sparco, Recaro, Corbeau, Ractive, Cobra, Bride, Tenzo, and about a half dozen other foreign brands not likely to be found in a local tuner shop. Let me tell you. Before spending big$$ on seats it sure is nice to see how well they fit you and your car. They are much more specific than an OEM seat that is designed to fit "most" people. I am not all that tall, but fairly stocky, so these corbeau's are making me nervous without being able to sit in them. For the Sparco seats I tried the seats that seemed like they would fit (according to their dimension chart) I liked the R100 but found the material too "cheap" looking, and held me a bit too tight on my sides (chest height) very comfortable otherwise, and it was their smallest reclining seat. The other seat, which did not have dimensions avail, (I emailed the company regarding the dimensions) was the 505 relcining. Very comfortable, and better leg support than the R100, and not as tight in the sides of the chest area. This was my favorite. They had nicer seats, but they were larger seats, and I think fitting them in the car would not work out so well. They had a nice Tenzo carbon fibre seat that was VERY comfy, but could not get dimensions. I need to go back to the store with a tape measure. The staff at the store were friendly, but apparently too busy answering phones to help me much. (kinda tic'd me off when I'm there to spend $1k on seats!! :[ Maybe I should start a new thread to expand on this? Anyone have some suggestions? I will likely go with a sparco seat seeing that I can actually sit in one, and maybe I could bring the car over with no passenger seat, and check the fit. I can always ask how bad they want to make a sale. Thanks for reading my newest saga of "while I'm at it"..looks like the floors will be a piece of cake compared to these seats. I have had stock seats, 280zx hi back seats, and currently Fiero seats. Do I really want to do this again??? hehehe

Ok. I've been reading all of the seat swap threads, heck I have added my 0.02 cents worth a few times. I ordered new floors and frame rails for my Z, and "while I'm at it" I want to ditch my fiero seats. They are comfortable enough, and have ok lateral support, but they don't have the harness holders, and they need to be recovered as well. If I am going to rework floors and seat mounts, I may as well get new seats. I have emailed several companies and Corbeaux A4's (their smallest seat they claim) seem to be a good deal, and I have read that a few guys here have them, so before I fork out cash, I have a couple of specific questions and a couple of subjective questions to ask anyone with experience with the A4's. How well do they fit in a Z. I have a 280z, and they are a bit tighter for space than a 240. Mounting brackets. Did you buy theirs or mod our stock brackets? Headroom? Do the seats seat you higher than before? Door clearance. Do they interfere with the door? do they touch? if so how hard? Wear and tear. How are they holding up? General comfort. I'm 5'7" and 185. I will sacrifice ultimate support (for track events) for cruising comfort. Other options? Is there another reclining seat I should look at? Finding small enough seats has been a real chore, and wrecking yards are well picked over for anything decent. I'm never going to find a miata/350z/corvette etc in a yard around here. They won't even make it past the front gate before they are spirited away to be pieced out/horded etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Scott.

A bit different, but some kinda ls1 or RB or whatever I could easily stuff into a Lancia Stratus, or a Dino. Heck any kinda powerplant would improve a lowered tricked out Delorean. Just lose those crap turbine wheels on the Delorean would be an improvement. My wife would love some reliable swap into an Opel GT. Oh and the Pantera? Can't imagine a better engine worth putting in one of those. I'd leave that one alone (sorry not very hybridz thinking)

Hey Even. JerryB has one, and I spoke to him about his experiences with it. I won't speak for him, but I am very interested in getting one myself. Sure would make continuing with my bellypan ideas much easier to fabricate having the suspension in its loaded postion. I just need to find 1400 bucks that I don't want to put INTO the Z. hehe Scott.

That piece just closes the gap between the body and the stock 280 bumpers. A 240 bumper is much closer to the body, so that "fin" is not needed. It may even interfere with the bumper positioning. Most just take it off, as many are not in great condition anyways.

I can attest to having good tires in the rain, and it may seem a bit outside the realm of practical, but good aero can help. Let me give you an example of what happened to me. I had a decent set of tires (bfg comp TA VR4's) on the back 245/45/16's. I also had a California style wing on the back. I had no issues driving in the hard rain. I had to drive reasonable, but worked well enough for me. At some point I removed the wing. The next time I drove in the rain, I could not see my tire tracks in the water on the road behind me. This told me I was hydroplaning. I had no other changes to the car. I had to drastically change my driving style until I resolved the issue. Fast forward to today. I have a wing back on the car, and Yokohama AVS sport's 315/35/17's on the back. They are a GREAT wet tire. My seat of the pants report is that the car handles the rain just as well as it did with the wing/ and old smaller wheels. I absolutely aggree that a smaller tire that is built for rainy climates (that sacrifices some dry handling obviously) can make a big difference in rain performance. Just something to consider.

More seat of the pants commentary. Front of airdam is approx 4" from the ground. (mirrors are stock) Ok on to the commentary: I logged a good 800km's on the Z yesturday on a day long Ontario Z Car fall cruise through north eastern Ontario. What a blast. Seat of the pants description. No issues other than one of my holders came loose on one corner giving me less than 4" of clearance. It may have rubbed during some particularly bumpy sections. Zero issues with the car wanting to be like an airplane, though it did feel like a rocket ship passing in a few areas, and going through some fast S's, W's, L turns and maybe even a Q! hehe I think that pretty much wraps this thread up. Got a Q? PM me. I'll add to the thread if anything pertinent comes up. Thanks, Scott.

What?!! Now we're beating broad's?!!

Well if your ok with spending some $$$ to get you started, nothing wrong with that. I started out paying for all major work to my Z. It was my "baby" and I didn't want to screw it up. As time went by, I learned to do more and more to my Z, and began to rely less and less on others to work on it. I only farm out work that I am simply not interested in doing myself, or do not have the proper equipment to do it. Be prepared to spend some serious money for custom made stuff. Even some "bolt on" stuff needs a bit of work to get it to fit/work right on a 30+yr old car. Are you looking for some ideas on paying someone for a complete swap? depending on what you supply, $5-$20K is quite possible. If you supply every part, you would still be lucky to get away with my low end figure. Anyone who says they can do it cheaper, walk away. quickly. Unless you think Ghetto rigged cars are right for you. My 0.02 cents. Scott.

Well I can only speak to my situation, but I had a very well prepped engine by a trusted builder. There are no certainties with custom work that it was built perfect, but I think/feel that it was well built with no issues. Anywhoo. My engine with only 2500Km on it let go at my first road track event. I ran the 1/4 mile the night before with no engine issues. After a couple of warm up laps and then into a 8/10th's lap, I heard a bit of a tapping noise exiting a hard turn. My lapping day was done, and the motor let go on the way home from the track. It spun a connecting rod bearing. After some investigation, we decided that it was likely losing oil pressure in hard turns. I have no other proof that is was something else, and it matches the series of events of the day. I have not taken it on the track since. Maybe once I build a larger baffled pan, but not until then, and I have no immediate plans to add it to my project list.

You could drill a small hole in the bottom of the headlight bucket to give water a place to drain, and air to get in there to dry it out. Then all you have to do is remove the headlight to get in there and clean once in a while. Just a thought. Scott.

Al. There are two main reasons why I did not continue the pan forward of the airdam. The primary reason was pure streetability. My new airdam is almost a low as my air dam was with the rubber strip attached. It is also further forward (away from the front wheels) So I was taking into account getting up driveways etc. Second reason and also a big part of the desision, was that I have a very streetable suspension setup, and from what I understand there is not enough of an effect to make it worthwhile to figure out and setup/build. The car needs to be pretty low, and at least have a very stiff suspension setup to be able to take advantage. Scott.

I vote for the first pic. Definately helps "even" it out vertically.

If a woman doesn't find you handsome, she better find you handy. Or some variation of that quote. Go Red!

Customizing is not as easy to accomplish as one thinks. I think you are doing a good job thinking it through. It is a shame the bodyshop got ahead of you there, but you will just have to work around it. An unfortunate side effect of this type of work is that it is extremely difficult to get things "just right" and more often than not, you need to make compromises (unless you have loads of $$$$/time) Many of the small details may bug you, but most others will not notice, so make sure you can live with it, and don't sweat too much about the rest. There are lots of visual tricks you can use to help you, from a decal/badging to pinstriping, to a hybridz sticker in the right place to "fill up" some of the space above the lamps. "Fake, functional, show, bling, needed, wanted" mods/ideas/parts can be your friend in sorting out any visual incongruities. Kinda hard to explain what I mean, so I'll stop here. Good luck with it. Scott.

Whoa here folks. I'm just generalizing as he is the most recognizable person attached with the car through the stages of its evolution, its image as an attractive, affordable, competitive sports car, the communities of enthusiasts, Z lore, the Z genre, his support of our z clubs/car events, and all things Z. He has attended more Z events than I will ever have the chance to attend in my lifetime. At almost 100 years old he is still very much attached with the Z communities! That is a huge commitment/achievement, and that I commend and thank him, as I am now able to share and enjoy the Z and everything associated with it as well. Thanks, Scott.