Andrew Bayley

Razor, I wouldn't worry to much about spraying (N2O) something with 10.5:1 compression. Heck, a lot of dragsters are locally running 12.5:1 compression big blocks with IRON heads and are spraying up to 500hp I run a buck and a quater on 10:1 compression with Al. heads and I've never had any problems. Even ran it on 87 octane once. Needless to say, that's the last time I let my old man fill up the tank (thanks for the gas Dad... but did you forget about something?) -Andy

Doh!!! That only leaves me a little more than two months... Let's see now, where did I leave my saw-zall and that 8-71 blower I had laying around Headers: yeah, there is the standard flat flange at the end of the header. The collector opening is 3" and the reducers go down to (ugh...) 2 and a quater inch. I have no problems with the header flange, but the reducers supplied also have a fixed flange. Both flanges were pretty warped from the factory, so I've never been sucessful at sealing them. I even tried the old "double-up" gasket trick and that didn't seem to help any. When I pull the motor out and get the headers coated, I'm gonna try to run the collector flange across a mill once or twice. Also, I'm going to run a ruducer that has the "floating" ring that pinches the reducer up to the collecter. Much better design IMHO. Good luck in whatever you decided to do. I towed the Z(ee) to my new garage last night. Lot more work to do than I remembered. That's what Spring is for... I guess. -Andy P.S. John, when are we going to see pictures of this bad ride of yours?

Rick, Saw a twin turbo 540 BBC in a 26 foot Checkmate a few summers ago on a LAke up here in Northern Mighigan. The owner custom did everything himself. Nothing too flash, but totally professional. He estimated between 700 and 800 horsepower. I didn't believe him at first, but when I was clipping along at a "modest" 90 mph, he blew by us a pretty good rate. I'd estimate at least 105 mph... Tubos are cool. -Andy

I'll agree with Pete that the accuracy of Autometer gauges can be questionable... at best. I would suggest that anyone using Autometer's should primarily use them as a reference to a normal working engine. I.E. don't use an autometer gauge to start troubleshooting; overheating/electrical/oil pressure probelms. Personally, I went with the mechanical Autometer gauges. I felt that with the full sweep, the error would be less than an electrical. Also, with an electrical type setup, there is more room for error (gauge error + sender error). However, I have seen more than a few boost gauges sitting on a showroom floor reading 5 psi of boost!!! I can't believe any company would send a product like this out the door. I don't mean to bash this supplier, but quality this bad is unacceptable in any other industry. On a good word though, they've always been happy to replace gauges for me that were innaccurate. -Andy

John, The 1 and 3/4"s fit fine in my Z with the typical JTR 4 inch set back. I never had any problems with steering shaft clearance. The closest the shaft gets to the header is something like 1 and 1/2". The headers themself came directly from Motorsport Auto. I tried to get the sale rep. to lay out the dirt on the the manufacturers part number before I bought them, but they wouldn't cave in. When I finally got the headers, they just came in an "S & S Headers" box with no part numbers . One of these days I am going to find a set of S & S headers for a 23 Ford coup with a SBC and see if they are the same (they gotta be). As for installation... remember these are "full length headers". It took me an entire Saturday to get these on the car. It was a major undertaking. My biggest recommendation is to replace these headers with the engine OUT of the vehicle. I put mine on without removing the engine and it was a major p.i.t.a. One other thing I had to do was hammer out the trans tunnel a little more to make room for a decent sized collector. The one I got with the headers was 2 and 1/4" which is just too small. Good Luck -Andy P.S. John, you're not allowed to go any faster until Scottie or myself finally brake into the tens!!!

I think it was the "GL" version of the 280ZX that came with a 3.54 ratio R180. It was the base model 280ZX (manual steering, no air, no power anything... this is all from 8 years ago so my memory might have slipped) and I believe it was the only 280ZX to come with an R180. I remember this because I realized how screwed I was when I pulled out what I thought was going to be an R200, then... suprise!!! "Hmmm... I though the R200 would be a little bigger than the R180..." Oh, well. I'm more smarter now! Here's a nice picture (ok, well it's not that nice, but it's still a picture) of an R180 (Left) next to an R200 (Right). -Andy

MSA sells full length headers for a few bucks. The primarys are 1 and 3/4" which might be a touch big for mild street motors, but they work just fine on hotter motors. I run a set of these on a 358ci Chevy and they fit fine in a 74 260Z with the JTR kit. Check the archives, I wrote a nice article about it somewhere. Good Luck -Andy

Mike, Do you mean a 200mph Phantom "Electric" speedometer? I've got a 200mph Phantom mechanical speedoemter for the Z dash. The picture I've got is really grainy, but if look real closely, you can see that it counts up to 200mph in 40 mph incraments. I'll admit that I originally did this for "rice". However, it's very nice at the drag strip because 100 mph is pointing straight up. It makes for an easy reference. -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 13, 2001).]

courtesy of Scotties web page: [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 08, 2001).]

What's so difficult about getting these wheels to fit? I just had to make sure I "selected" the right area before I copied the image onto the picture with the old wheels. For reference though, the original picture can be found here. The wheels are 17 x 9 and hold 275/40/17 rubber. A 9 inch wheel will hold these tires nicely. I run the same sive on an 8.5" rim and they too look fine. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 07, 2001).]

I think (read, think...) the reason for all these adapters is because the CV has a conical shaped protrusion on the stub axel end. The main idea is to move the CV axel inwards so this cone shaped thingy can have some place to fit into. I have been thinking of milling this protrusion off and doing Pricher's idea of just bolting an adapter plate up. Of course, I'd like to find a dummy CV axel before I go hacking up my nice ones. -Andy

Ron, I take it you won't be renting the movie "Alive" any time soon...? P.S. XANAX is a paladrome(sp?). Spell it backwards and read what it says. Try: Mom; race car; a man, a plan, a canal, panama. Sorry guys... it's been a REAL slow day at the office and I'm going stir crazy.

...I was thinking the exact same thing about the guy in the Miata. Probably had a look on his face like: "Gee, I sure wish my car could do that." -Andy

Lone, The old man bought a few subscriptions to a couple of "Pilot" magazines over the winter. I keep telling him if he's looking for places to throw money away, I'm always available I can agree with the aircraft quality. If your boat motor goes south, big deal. Call a tow boat, crack a beer, and wait a good four hours for the tug to arrive. Airplane motor failures, however, tend to sound a little more... dare I say, uh... fatal? As for "Marine" carbs. I asked some of the old Holley guru's this question. The only things that are differnt in the Holley's (this is from memory, so I might be missing something): 1) J-tube bowl vents 2) Poly floats (Coast Gaurd doesn't like you to have brass ) 3) Specially grooved throttle shaft, for gas vapors ...that's it. Worth the extra $100? You be the judge. Sorry to get side tracked here. Superchargers? Yeah, they kick ass. Get one! -Andy

While I was working hard at my job (OK, bored out of my mind) I came across a neat idea. I took a picture I had of my Z parked head to head with a 95 Mustank with Cobra R wheels. Hmmm... a little cut and paste in "Paint" and tada... a nice 260Z with custom Cobra wheels. I left a picture of the old rims below for reference. ...enjoy -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 06, 2001).]

Whipple seems to be very heavily invested in the Marine industry lately. I've been doing a lot of research on them over the winter and it looks like I will be installing a set on a pair of big block EFI marine motors. I think their claim to "most efficient" blowers in terms of positive displacement blowers. A screw type blower (like the Whipple) is far superior to the older three lobe "roots" design. However, today's centrifugal blowers are far more efficient at making boost than any positive displacement models. The down side to centrifugal's, is that the boost curve is RPM dependant. The boost at 3000 rpm might not (and usually isn't) the same as it is at 4500 rpm. In the marine business, this creates a big problem. Most offshores need all the low end grunt they can get, once they start swinging big props. With a positive displacement, however, boost is relative to the drive ratio. If the engine uses 500 cfm at 5000 RPM, overdrive the blower by xx% to supply 1000 cfm at 5000 RPM. This would create something like 15 psi of boost. The same boost pressure would (theoretically) be had at 1500 rpm. One bad thing about Whipple chargers is the difficulty in intercooling them. In a marine application, cold water is abundant. Therefore, making a super efficient H20 to air intercooler is a breeze. Things aren't so easy in an automotive application though. I've seen it done before, but it looked like a plumbers nightmare. Take a look at a Thunderbird Super Coupe and you see what I mean. These were screw superchargers with intercoolers. Also, GM is still using a screw type supercharger in it's 3800 engines (Grand Prix GTP, Pontiac Bonneville, Buick GS) but is non-intercooled. I'm scheduled to get started on the Whipples - Boat project in early April. I can send a little update if you are interested. Price is a little steep (OK, a lot), but it's nominal with every other type of system out there. Besides, anything that says "Marine" next to it is gonna cost double. For example, ONE system is running $5500. Don't forget that most offshore boat have two engines. Oh well, that's the beauty of O.P.M. (other people's money) -Andy

Mike, Did your stubs have the "crush" nut on them? When I first pulled my stubs off, I though the exact same thing: "G-damn m-f'er cross threaded the g-damn p.o.s. m-f'ing axels!!!" I later found out that since I didn't pry up the crushed part of the nut before I took the nut off, my threads were trashed. The crushed part of the nut was so subtle that it didn't look like anything, but in turn, it ruined a perfect set of axels. Oh well, live and learn. It's a lot easier to blame some one else Good luck -Andy

Hmmm... I would say anywhere from 13.2 @ 105'ish to maybe as good as 12.7 @ 109'ish. This is assuming you can get it out of the hole. If not, add a good half second to these times. I cannot stress the importance of a good converter. 2000 RPM is O.K. for the street, but it will have it's limitations in even mild drag strip application. I figure since you asked about performance, this is something you are probably going to do more than once in the car's life. The launch is what makes the Z such an incredible drag terror in street trim. For example, my friends supercharged Firebird used to (read... used to ) run away from me on the highway. At the track however, I could run consistant 13.0's to his very traction limited 13.9 - 13.8's It's all in the launch and a converter is where it's going to happen (assuming the tires stay planted). I've made a little web page that has fellow HybidZ members quarter mile performance numbers on it. Feel free to to browse around and ask any questions. Most of us tend to enjoy the occasional "bench race" here and there. http://grannypotts.freeservers.com/Times.html -Andy P.S. I no longer have a problem with those pesky SC Firebirds...

Holy crap, You MADE money on the sale of a boat? You must have sold it for what... $500? Just kidding, I am all too familiar with the pain of selling a boat. Remind me again what the two happiest days of a boaters life are... -Andy

...shoot, aint that bad. Anything's easy after the seventh or eigth time you do it... Of course the first few times were a major p.i.t.a. Also, I can't imagine pulling my dash anymore now that I have a large side bar in place now. That swing-out side bar sounds more and more appealing every day. -Andy

Morgan, Jim Biondo "tried" to use CV's with 240Z stub's. I guess he broke them pretty quickly. Of course, he's running around 500hp... 500hp tends to break things in Z cars. Since then, he's switched to the larger 280Z stubs and hasn't had any problems. I think most people want to do it for a piece of mind. Better to have too much and and not need it, then not enough and... well you get the picture. Tim, Any date on rolling out the Z. I'd like to check it out some if you don't mind. I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I'm working at Lear Corp. at Ford Rd. and Southfield. Let me know. -Andy

I don't mean to stir the pot here, but I believe there were a few Z cars that didn't have any vacuum lines controlling the HVAC system. In the two 280's (both '77) and the one 260 (late 74) I've pulled apart, they've all had cable operated heating and cooling systems. It could be that early Z's had vacuum controlled systems, but all that I've ever seen had cable controlled systems. What happened to all my Z's was that the doors all became sealed closed after many years of sitting and not doing anything. Then, when the cable tried to pull these immovable doors, the chinsy cable attachment (a simple 'S' bend in the cable) to the door would pull itself off. I eventually had to re-attach every cable in the heating/cooling system. Everything works great now, but I had to attack every moving part of the HVAC with loads of WD-40. The best way to get this job done is to remove the entire dash. I know that sound like a big job, but it's the only way to really get in there and find out what needs to be fixed. Besides, pulling a dash isn't nearly as big a job as most people make it out to be. Good luck. -Andy

Get some ear plugs, I run 2" to a single 3" just past the trans and run it through a THREE chamber Flowmaster. It makes some noise, I can imagine the two chamber being a little bit louder (meaner too!) Let us know how it turns out. -Andy

Scottie, How much wider is your welded design that the bolt on adapter (ala - Biondo)? I've already got the machined adapters, but it looks like the CV's are going to be a very tight fit. Wondering if you idea opened up the distance any. I had my adapters professionally machined for a cost of $0.00 The shop at my work was being eliminated, so all the skilled workers pulled massive G-jobs for everyone (OK, mostly me!) before they left. It really sucks not having them anymore -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited January 29, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited January 29, 2001).]

Pete, It "should" be very simple to control 1 LED array with multi levels of intensity. Something as simple as this: "should" do the trick. Don't quote my resistor values, I just used a ballpark figure. I am getting more and more interested in the project. Keep me informed on which you LED's you guys decide to go with. -Andy