SHO-Z

How about another Z http://www.desertzassociation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=562 It is under 2K in AZ.

One thing I found that worked good is to build a wood box about 12" deep and line it with plastic sheet. I used it to blast my alloy wheels; they were black from years of neglect. About 90% of the sand stayed in the box for reuse. Wear a good respirator not one of the paper throw away ones and goggles. Also blast in a well ventilated area. Be Safe!!!!

DAW I have a bunch of picts of the coversion if you want to see send me a private message with your email. You have to be crazy to build a convertible in Washington with all that rain, of course I have to be crazy I built mine in Bellingham WA.

Here is a summery of my Z convert. I have not welded the doors. I am to old and out of shape for that and would become impaled on the stearing wheel shaft with a removable wheel. 74 Big Bumper 260Z Convertible. This conversion was done similar to the Z Therapy conversion. I collected through the internet and several Kit Car Magazine articles my plan of attack on the conversion. First I would not do this to a real clean Z, there are enough ones out there with minimal rust and body damage around. This is a general summery of how I constructed my project. Step One Sit down with a couple of beers and think this project out, once you get to Step Two there is no turning back. Remove the entire interior from the doors back and the head liner. Jack the z up level and put the stands on the suspension points. Evan though the car is still a coupe I wanted to make sure that when I added the reinforcement the car was still square. Install the 2†x 1†x 1/8†tube stock under the car, behind the seats and through the floor. The use of a protractor square helps in laying out the angle cuts. I added additional welds tying the tube stock into the existing uni-body frame rails. This does limit the seat travel for some one well over 6 ft. Evan with this there is still some torsional deflection in the car. I am planning in installing an X brace between the frame rails to elevate the problem. After doing this conversion I do not believe anyone who says that no reinforcement is required. Remove the rear hatch and side rear windows, Step Two Now comes the lump in your stomach. Layout a line about 1-1/2†back from the top of the windshield. Then another line from the back corner each of the rear windows to the around 2†from the back of the car. I used both a sawsall and a 4†grinder with a thin wheel to do the cutting. Basically cut on the lines lines, some blocking is required to keep things from binding. Once the top is removed cut the top again just off of where the top and the hatch hinges box section. Trim all of the excess metal from the sides of the hatch area. Remembering to leave enough metal to weld too. I set hatch hinge box section directly over the rear strut towers, leaving just enough room to get a box end wrench on the strut nuts. This will get you the length of the trunk and a hard point for the rear shape of the Z. This is the first section of the car that I welded in place. Welding the box section onto the strut towers is like adding a strut brace and I feel really helps stiffen the car. At this point the edges of the trunk were basically installed. This gives a basic arch across the back of the car. I cut out cardboard templates of all of the three sections that need to be filled in. Two for each side and one for behind the driver compartment. I used 10 gauge sheet steel for my added body work. This is trial and error situation but with the cardboard templates it just takes time. I added ¼†angle iron around the rear lip of the driver’s compartment for stiffness. The radius was bent around a piece of plywood after I heated the angle iron. After all of the basic sheet metal was installed and welded in I fabricated and installed a piece of sheet steel for the bulkhead between the driver’s compartment and the trunk. On both the lower lip I installed ¼†angle and one across the center. The upper end had extended 1†tabs every 5†that were bent over. Holes drilled through the sheet metal behind the driver’s compartment were used to weld the upper end of the trunk bulkhead in place. The rear hatch was cut and shortened in the widow section. I used a 1x2 piece of wood inside of each side to align the hatch and welded it back together. The widow section was filled with sheet steel from the original top with and added angle iron brace from below. The latch end of the hatch lid needs to be modified to clear the back edge off truck. I used a remote trunk latch from a Lancer mounted under the drivers seat. On the windshield header I cut slots about every inch or so with a grinder. These are bent down and tack welded to the windshield frame. Square cut and cap off the ends of the windshield posts. This gives a flat top to the windshield and will make fitting a soft too easier. This will basically finish all of the metal work. Now comes the pain of the body work. Looking back if I did this again I would use some of the new fillers with glass in it. One trick I did learn is using a long board sander to flatten and shape the trunk. I used a 2x12 that I cut to fit long board sander paper, glued on some old rubber sheet that I had and just stapled the sandpaper to end ends. It worked great flatting and smoothing the trunk and large surfaces. I have a top frame for a TR7 convertible that I need to modify to fit my Z. The design that I used does not allow for the top to be folded down. John Washington makes a fiberglass top that could probably be modified to work. Seat belts are from an Acura Integra, 3 point using bolt points on the inside body panel. This is the basics for building z convertible. Lessons learned: I would fiberglass the rear trunk lid instead of adding the steel window filler section, I was never happy about how this worked out. Use fiber filled body filler and less Bondo. Start with a Z that was in a little better shape than I had, found more rust around the rear edge of the hatch on both sides. Use a quality MIG welder. The one I used was borrowed and I fought the thing from day one. One weld would be great the next looked like ****. Maybe I should have had a few more beers put my money into more HP, GTO kit, instead of no top. Trial fit everything at least two the three times to avoid mistakes. Do not hit a truck tire carcass on the freeway on your first day out, it can do a number on the front fender if hit just right. Would I do it again, I really do not know. This is a good exercise in fabrication to lead to bigger projects. I have some pictures of the fabrication that I will send someone who can post them.

I am thinking about picking up some Mustang take off rims and tires for my 260. They are 17 x 8†with 45 mm offset with 235/55/17 tires. I was looking at 4 to 5 bolt adapters that are 32 mm thick so offset will end up at 13 mm. I do have coil overs on the car. Does anyone know if these will fit?

I saw this the other day in a mag. Using both a supercharger at low RPMS and a turbo at high RPMS. It looks like VW is coming out with this set up. http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/more-on-vws-european-golf-super-turbo-122260.php Now someone needs to do a Z this way!

Do a search for "TR6 supercharger" on the internet, they have about the simplest set up. Single JAG SU, Eaton supercharger.

I am planning on using the Mallory pressure regulator and connecting the boost reference to my air box up stream of the carbs. This is where the float bowls get their positive pressure from and where the connection should be by my logic. The planned set up is L-6 Triple 45MM SK Carbs M62 Supercharger 12 psi of boost w/ intercooler. Malloy fuel pressure reg. 280zx distributor with no vacuum advance/ mech only. I wish there was more info on triple carb forced induction jetting.

I will put in a picture when I get home from this buisness trip after the 8th of next month. Its on my home computer.

I made my own adjusters out of 2" pipe nipples. Had the guy at home depot tread them about 6" long. Get conduit couplings. Cut the nipples too length and split down one side. Do the same with the conduit coupling. Thread the coupling on the nipple Use a chisel to spread the nipple and slip over the strut. Use and extra heavy hose clamp as a pinch bolt on the coupling or weld one on.

Tony How much do you want for the SK plenum? I am still working on my SK blow through supercharger project. I have had most of the stuff to do in for over a year and still haven't gotten around even mounting the carbs. Here is a picture that I received of a SK blow through setup.

Heat travels from high to low. If the air going into the manifold is at a higher temp than the under hood temp. the webbing will cool the air. If you have an intercooler on the car your air temp will probably lower than the under hood temp so the webbing will heat the intake air.

I am only guessing on this one but you might need a new cat or 02 sensor. They do not last forever. I would have someone look at those numbers an give you an estimate on what it would take to fix it and go from there.

I had a simular problem on my brakes. Bleed the all 4 brakes and still had air in the system. Found out I needed to bleed the master cylinder. I have a ZX master on my 260. Two squirts and the brakes worked great.

I think you need to examine how the stressed are distributed now through the strut itself. Draw a moment diagram of all that is going on. I think you will see that the bending moment is supported by the strut and not the housing. To do you design I think you will need to machine a solid piece to replace the strut housing. But I am a field mechanical piping engineer and not into machine design. I will be interested in what you come up with using the FE program and what forces you use.

Here is another thought use a jag suspension in the back. Relatively cheap to get at the local yard or about $200 on eBay. Looks like mounting could done without major headaches. They use them in Cobra kits for years so power should be no problem. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/images/tech0009b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/tech0009.html&h=450&w=600&sz=38&tbnid=3byh4ax2S2-YRM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=133&hl=en&start=9&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djaguar%2Bsuspension%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jaguar-Rear-End-Differential-with-inboard-disk-brakes_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33731QQitemZ8031755132QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Check out the factory five cobra set up http://parts.factoryfive.com/newcatalog/chassis/irs.htm It does look like it could be a good basis for a design.

Modern plumbers solder is 95/5 and would be hard to deal with in you situation. I have soldered up gas tank holes with 50/50 with no problem. Remember to purge the tank when soldering it or you might end up in the next county. I have used the soapy water methold a couple of times. Washing out the tank with hot soapy water 4 or 5 times. I then refilled the tank with hot soapy water so only the area where I was doing the repair was out of the water, less volume for any vapors. I used nocorode soldering flux and a propane torch for the job. Clean the area real well and then tin it first with solder and whipe with a cotton cloth. Then solder up the area. When welding or soldering on a fuel tank it is very dangerous and please take care.

For low end torque you need a supercharger so boost comes in at a lower RPM. A supercharger has a real flat torque curve. A smaller Turbo that boosts up at a lower RPM will also add lower end torque, but you will lose upper end boost and power. Nothing comes for Free!

I use a Black and Decker electric DA sander for my body work. All of the paint prep sanding I do by hand with a block sander. I have one of the harbor freight DA sanders and after I got my electric DA sander I have never taken it out of the tool box again.

You might want to look at the Mercedes SLK "Kompressors" They have a electric clutch like a air conditioner and use a by pass check valve when not in use. That was you can have econ no boost and flip of the switch instant passing boost.

This is the cleanest I have ever seen. I did a calculation for one of the guys I work with; he has a 67 Z28 stock eliminator. If I remember right I calculated about 10 added hp @ 100 mph around a 2.5% increase. It was a couple of years ago so; I think it was around that number. This did not account for the change in air temp.

I do not know if this will fit your set up. I was looking at installing a SHO engine and t5 trans when I found this info. Ford Aerostar hydraulic throw out bearing slave cylinder inside the bellhousing see for more detials and pictures http://members.cox.net/rdgrauman/Healey.html

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

This is some good reading on the basics. Engine Compression There are a couple of areas in which optimizing an engine for naturally aspirated power and forced induction power are at complete odds with one another. Static (engine) compression ratio is one of those. Most musclecar enthusiasts are readily aware of the fact that increasing the compression ratio of a naturally aspirated engine results in more power per unit of fuel combusted. The amount of engine compression that can be run is limited by the fuel octane that will be used. Forced induction engines are fundamentally different in that two sources of compression are available: the compressor and the engine. Effective compression is the term often used to describe the impact of the external compressor on the combustion efficiency. So how does a lower static compression benefit a forced induction engine? Let's look at an example. Compare these two situations: 1) On a stock 5.0 with ~9:1 static compression it is found that a non intercooled supercharger can run a maximum of 9psi of boost without detonation. The effective compression is ~14.5:1 and 320 peak rwhp is produced. 2) Same engine/supercharger combination but with low compression 8:1 pistons installed. It is found that a maximum of 13 psi can be run without detonation. Effective compression is again ~14.5:1 but significantly more air is allowed to enter the combustion chamber. Peak rwhp is now 380. In both cases the same octane fuel is used.