Andrew Bayley

Last night I pick up the Z from the exhaust shop. It hang's a little close to the ground, but it will work. OK, so I'm all happy that everything works well so I decided to "get on it" a bit. Lay into the throttle and everything feels (and sounds) good. Pull up at the next stop light, and I see a bunch of smoke bellowing out from the bottom of my car. Oh schit! Luckily I was only about a mile from home. Pulled into my driveway and made the disappointing discovery. ...more trans fluid leaking. WTF!!! The whole reason I'm so behind this year is because I pulled everything out (motor and trans) to rebuild what I thought was a leaky trans pump. So now I'm mad. Not sure what to think, I go inside and clean off before bed. While cleaning up, I start thinking about the flex plate. When I pulled the motor this past winter, I noticed that two of the converter bolts were way loose, and the third was finger tight. Also, the round holes in the flex plates were ovaled out pretty bad. So what does my cheap self do? "Just torque 'em down extra tight, that ought to hold it." Stupid, stupid, stupid...!!! I'm thinking that the torque of the engine is moving the converter in reference to the flex plate causing the converter to no longer be centered on the input shaft of the transmission. When this happens, lots of trans fluid finds it's way out of the converter and onto my exhaust. This is the only real theory I've got left. I cannot think of anything else that would cause trans fluid to leak when I driver her hard. Since the front seal has about 20 miles on it, I highly doubt that's the culprit. Besides, a busted seal (I would think) would leak all the time, and not just at WOT. Any / All opinions, advice, theories appreciated. Looks like next weekend I'll be going to Pop's garage for a "Banzai" one day only motor pull and replace. That's the easiest way I've found to get the transmissions out of these motors. -Andy (who now knows the value of a $20 flex plate)

Kevin, It can just as hot up here. In fact, It's something like 92 degrees right now. Since the Z is primarily a summer-only vehicle, it's seen it's fair share of +90 degree days in rush hour traffic. I've never had any problems at on the street, or at the track on these hot days. I've installed a trans-cooler as a safety means, but even beofre the cooler I never had any trans overheating problems. The biggest thing that is heating up my trans right now is actually the exhaust. I get a lot of heat built up in the trans tunnel from the exhaust. I'm wondering how much of that is getting transferred into the actual transmission. Who knows... -Andy P.S. Kevin, when are you coming up here to make good on that "water ski with a 150' rope" promise I made? Summer only lasts a few weeks up here.

Mike, I probably should have replied earlier, but I haven't been keeping up on the forum lately (bad me!!!) Anyway, I've got a 3000 stall B&M converter in my 700R4. I love it! It completely changed the way the car feels. One myth about torque converters is that the car wont budge until stall speed is reached. This is not true. Even at my 1000 rpm idle, the car will still eventually creep forward. However, the more load I put on the motor, the more the converter will stall. Taking off from a stoplight under modest footing, the converter will stall at about 1800 rpm. In fact, it's very difficult to get the full stall out of these converters in a Z car. Only when I run my slicks will I ever see 3000 rpm stall. Even then, it only last's for about 1 millisecond One thing I highly recommend is making the lockup work. Not sure if the "Holeshot" has lock up ability or not... it seems B&M only does it on about 1/2 of their 700R4 converters. If it does have it, try to get that hooked up. It's very easy to wire up(plenty of discussions hidden deep in the archives) and it will redeem all gas milage loss due to the higher stall. $180 sounds pretty good for a trans install. $335, on the other hand, sounds about right for 700 converters. Kind of maddening when the exact same converter for the TH350 is less than a hundred bucks! Oh well, it's the price we all have to pay... well if we want automatic overdrive at least I think you will be very happy with your choice. -Andy

I guess I'll chime in here. Scottie and BLKMGK have hit the nail on the head here. From what your setup sounds like, an R200 will be just fine. Sure, I've wasted a few R200's in my time... but these were also the same rear end's I found in junk yards buried underneath three feet of mud. In fact, on of my now-dead R200's had 250,000 miles before it gave up the ghost. The big thing to consider is the half shafts. The CV shafts in your ZXt will work better than the old U-joints, but I don't believe 100% that it's because they are stronger. The CV's are a lot more forgiving at "squat" angles than the u-joints. If the u-joints are setup where the squat angle is at a minimum, they should last. John C from North Eastern Canada runs mid 10's on slicks with an R200 and U-joint half shafts. When building your setup, I would suggest looking into adjustable coilovers. This helps "fine - tune" your half shaft angles while still allowing for adjustable normal street driving. I run down the track with a pretty good rake, then lower the rear's down for city driving. I agree to be careful when thinking about a "stiff" suspension, but they can work out nicely. The big thing to remember is to get the car to sit quickly, and keep it there. A stock suspension will launch nicely with up to 300 hp, but more than that might require a little more spring in the back. I would recommend against lowering the car for drag racing. In virtually every rear suspension design, lowering the rear suspension will ruin your launch. Basically, draw a side profile of your car and locate the center of gravity. Next, draw a horizontal line through the cg. Then, draw a line from the rear wheel contact point, through the cg, then out over the front wheel. Ideally, the best setup is to have the same distance "above" the cg horizontal line that there is between the rear wheel contact point and the horizontal cg line. In fact, sometimes more than 100% (equal spacing) is better for launch characteristics. Of course, ride is usually affected by this. This is why I went with the coil overs. My final though is on the welded rear end. I am currently running an OPEN non-welded rear end. I've yet to have too many problems with wheel spin while running my drag radials (275/50/15... size of choice ). If I ever have problems in the future where I cannot hook up at all, then yes... I will weld my R200. But it has yet come down to that. I've driven a few welded cars on the street and I'm rather glad I haven't had to do this yet. Makes fitting into tight parking spaces a little easier. Good Luck in your project -Andy P.S. Here's a picture of the halfshaft loop previously mentioned: (No Picture? Click here instead!) [ June 13, 2001: Message edited by: Andrew Bayley ]

I know the feeling. Ask me anything about Marysville Ohio (aka - Honda North America)...

Yeah, I remember the first thing that went... My metabolism!!! Not sure what all this talk about a little blue pill is. Please Scottie, tell us all about it (And I was wondering where Scottie had been.. you can go back into hiding now)

Jeesh, uh... thanks Dad! Just remember; it's not the age, it's the enthusiasm. I spent all Saturday with my (53) Dad testing out new props on his boat (dismal results, we're not happy). If my Dad had one tenth the mechanical ability you have, Rick, then I would save a lot of Gas money driving half way across this state to work on all "his" projects. ...but it's all worth it!

Did you know that a small block chevy can "still" run with as much advance as 55 degrees!!! ...Needless to say, I've found my rough running problem. My timing light has been busted for quite some time now, so I've been "eye-balling" the timing then adjusting it on the fly. Well, I guess my eye sight is going with age (late 20's as of tomorrow). As it was running poopy, I decided to back off the timing and watch the idle speed drop a few rpm's. Back off... 1000 RPM Back off a little more... 1000 RPM Back off a LOT more... 1000 RPM Back off even more... 1100 RPM and a very nice idle!!! I think this is when I got the epiphany that my timing might not be right. I eventually dialed everything in, and she feels stronger than ever. My D-I-Y transmission rebuild seems to be working perfectly (knock on wood). I still put in new plugs. I went one step hotter than what edelbrock recommends. Even when she was running good last year, the plugs still looked a little loaded up. At $0.99 a piece, this is something I can play with and bite the cost if it doesn't work. Next step, get an exhaust that actually seals. I think my 4 inch system is going on hold until I find someone who I can pay to have it done. My latest exercise in home exhaust fabrication has quite a few leaks. ...ahhhh, to remember the days when the exhaust never leaked! Anyway, Thanks for all the advice. -Andy P.S. Anyone know of a reputable exhaust shop in Michigan (ahem, Tim?)

Thanks Mike, I just saw something on Edelbrock's Web Page that had the Champion part number "RV17YC6" on it. Then, I look somewhere else and it says to use the RC12YC you mentioned. Jeesh, I would think that this is pretty standard information that everyone with AL heads needs to know. Edelbrock sure doesn't make this information easy to find. Tim, Yeah I was trying to re-attach the muffler while everything was one the car. Fortunetly I was able to use slip connectors and everything seems to be sealing allright. Thanks anyway. -Andy

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm gonna just ditch the plugs I've got and start off with a new set. Besides, I was never really convinced that I had the right set of plugs to begin with. They always looked a little black, even when it was running right. I just can't believe that fouled plugs would cause these problems of such biblical proportions. Oh well, only one way to find out. My next question is: is there a site where I can figure out what type of plugs I should be using? I suppose I can start by looking on the Edlebrock page (I've got the Al. RPM heads) for reference. I kind of feel dumb for asking this, but it's something that is often taken for granted and is really not know by too many people. Thanks for the offer Tim, I'll have to rain check on the borrowed labor. Unless you want to weld up the muffler on my wife's Escort... Nah, I wouldn't even ask my worst enemy to do that job. -Thanks again guys -Andy

I am going I-N-S-A-N-E-!-!-! I spent the past 48 hours trying to figure out why my P.O.S. wont run right. Let's recap, shall we: Pulled the motor over the winter to redo the trans. Put the motor back in and started up fine with open headers this Spring. I would fire it up ever now and then to "impress" guest's with the loudness of open headers, but I would never really run it for more than about 30 seconds. Finally, I get something that resembles and exhaust on it and I go to crank it over. Rrrr...rrrr...rrr...rrr...rrr... ... ...rrr...rrr...rrr... ... ... ...rrr...rrr...rrr... nothing nadda zero zilch Darn thing wont even kick. I quickly suspect the very old magnetic pickup in my HEI distributor is bad. I replaced the old distributor with a "shiny" new MSD unit (with all new wires to boot!) I get the motor to fire, but it starts running like schit. In my denial of a bigger problem, I take the car around the block for a quick test drive. Wow, she is running R-E-A-L-L-Y bad... were talking Chrysler 3.0L V6 bad! My next guess was that the cam timing skipped a beat. Pulled off a valve cover and checked number one cylinder valves in relation to TDC. Yup, exhaust was still open way past TDC (OK, I know it's not the "real" TDC, but it's when the pointer is falsely point to TDC). Ripped off the timing cover and sure enough, cam gear skipped a tooth. Chain had a good deal of slop, but it was only about 5 years old and didn't really have that many miles on it. Replaced it anyway, better safe than sorry. Get everything back together, say a few Hail Mary's, and take another turn. The cam timing feels correct, but there is still a miss somewhere. Very inconsistant. Runs great when I'm costing with my foot off the gas, but once I get into it, things get ugly. All sorts of popping and farting from unburned gas. First thing, I pull the coil and have that checked at the local speed shop (Hey, those "sparking" MSD display's are good for something after all!!!) Next, I check the power leads going to the MSD 6AL box. Perfect. Next, I check to make sure the engine has a good ground. Yup, everything fine there. Finally, I pull the plugs to inspect their condition. Hmmm... Very blackened. How bad do plugs have to be before they cause an engine to run this rough? I'm starting to wonder if the all the carbon in addition to the larger 0.040" gap I use is causing such a problem. I though MSD was supposed to cut through these types of conditions. Speaking of which, what gap size do other people use with their MSD boxes? Please, this is really starting to frusturate me. Life has no meaning with the Z8... Well OK, so maybe it does, it's just not a fast Any suggestions welcome. Free rides in the drivers seat for anyone who actually comes over and fixes the thing for me! I'm not one to easily announce defeat, but this has been a very long, painful battle. Thanks -Andy

Jonathan, Excelent times! They sound very familiar... to see what I'm talking about, check out this link to a little page I made. I would love to add your times to the list. Let me know if it's OK. Also, if you have a few pictures that you would like to add, that would be great. -Thanks -Andy

I'm running a Holley 650 double pumper in my 350 at around 6400 rpm's. I've gone through and dialed everything in to "supposedly raise the CFM up to 680. But even before I did that, the 650 worked well. The only real problem I had was that the float bowls stuck on me a couple times when I first bought the unit. I guess it's a good idea to pull of the bowls and manually move the floats up and down a few hundred times to break in the needle and seat. Once I did that, I never had a problem with sticking floats (knock on wood). I don't think any more than a 650 is really necessary on a 383. Yeah, you might see a couple more Hp out of a 700, but it's more than likely not worth the extra $$$. A fellow co-worker runs a 383 at 7000 rpm on a 650 double pumper. However, another co-worker runs 6200 rpm on a 350 with a 750 vacuum secondary Holley. I think it's all preference and appearance. I don't think you will see much difference between a 650 and 700. As for the Demon vs. Holley, it was a no brainer for me. I used to work for the old Holley OEM division (now Borg Warner) so Holley parts were everywhere. Also, there were enough old timers still around that knew how to get the most out of my carb. When I looked into the demon's, they were basically the same thing as a tricked out Holley. Down leg boosters, four corner idle, etc... Either one would probably perform about the same. I'm sticking with Holley though, because of the parts availability and common knowledge people around here have of them. Heck, last year at the track I blew out my power valve (timing slipped back 15 degree... oops, should have tightened that distributor down!!!) and within five minutes I had found three separate people with replacement valves. Good luck, -Andy

Curtis, I played around a little with water injection on a suck-through type carb turbo system. It was not worth the effort. The water inside the combustion chamber takes away a significant amount of energy. For instance, 10 psi without water injection was way faster than 14 psi with water injection. Also, on the suck through system, I was spraying the water in before the compressor. Most people agreed that constant use would result in the little water droplets destroying the compressor wheel. I was worrisome about this too, but I could not get the correct air/water mix any other way. I'm sure I could have dialed the system in a little better, but the initial results were disappointing. IMHO, water injection is a band aid fix. Unfortunately, people running carb setups don't have many other choices. Three words: Fuel Injection + Intercooler ( = No need for water injection) I don't mean to poop on your parade, but I just remember spending a lot of time and a few bucks making my own water injection system and I was very disappointed. There are kits out there for carb type setups, just keep in mind how water injection works. It's not an intercooler, it's water... that's getting dumped into your combustion chamber... instead of air and fuel... which makes power. -Andy P.S. got that roll bar mounted yet?

Dang it Scottie, You're not even gonna give me a chance to get my own 1/4 mile time spot back.. are you?!?!? Well, good luck anyway. Nice looking install. Keep us posted. -Andy

OK Pete... I've never heard that one before. Even now, I'm still learning something every day. Jim, what size resistors did you get? The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do this would be to use a simple load resistor for each LED, then run all the LED's in parallel. Voltage regulators can do the trick, but there is more involved. Besides, voltage supply in a car is fairly consistent and LED's are very tolerant of voltage fluctuations. For current calculations, assume the vehicle is running at 13.6 volts (typical GM alternator output). Next, subtract the 0.7 voltage loss across a silicon LED (only 0.4 volt for germanium). With 12.9 volts remaining, divide this number by a common sized resistor. Using 1K ohms, I came up with a current draw of about 13mA. This is a little low for most LED's. Most of them like to run around 25mA. In order to run 25mA, a 500 ohm resistor would be needed. Of course, my calculations are given on a very old knowledge of LED's. Some of the newer units can probably tolerate much more current draw. As for power dissipation, 25mA will only draw about 1/3 of a watt. Getting close to the ½ watt limit of those resistors, but nothing I'd be too concerned about. I've seen many automotive products get released drawing many many many watts through ½ watt resistors. I wont say who, but it's a lot more common than you think. Anyway, good luck -Andy

Nick, OVer here in the states, the biggest concern on 1st generation 300ZX motor's in early Z(ed)'s is to get the steering shaft around the turbo. With a right hand drive car, however, things might be a little easier. Either way, I've seen it done a few times before so it's very possible. -Andy

Hey, what's this about law suites? I know I shine in traffic court, but I've never doen anythin bigger than that. But since you've got me thinking, how much cash flow do you think I could tap into for a "Monkey Bar" related injury...? I'm just kidding, people who abuse injury laws really piss me off. Anyway, I've also been searching for a nice tip to adorn my my four inch exhaust system. However, the biggest 4 inch tip inlet comes in 2 inches. I want something that looks nice, but is not obnoxious. A 4 inch tip is borderline (IMHO), but to put on something smaller than the actual pipe diameter doesn't make any sense. But hey! I might be on to some new trend for domestic vehicle exhausts: exhaust tip REDUCERS!!! I'm thinking about getting a cheap four inch tip and just cutting the reduction down so I can weld it directly to my muffler. I did this with a 3.5" tip on a 3" muffler. It looks pretty good I must say. An extra half inch shouldn't look much bigger. -Andy

At Summit, have you ever witnessed anyone buying those Akimoto "Monkey Bars" yet? You know, all the pain and hassel of a roll bar with none of the added safety features? ...just curious. -Andy

Yeah... that sure got my attention. A subject like that from a new guy looks a little scary. Anyway, welcome to the "Dark" side of Z cars. To answer your questions; a) Most people use a hydraulic clutch for manual transmissions. The popular choice seems to be the T-56 found in late model F-bodies. I) I'd say a little more than half the people on this board run a carb. Fuel injection is becoming more and more affordable, but is still not as inexpensive (I say this, because nothing we do is cheap) as the faithful old carb. II) A few people have the LT1 swap, a few people are in the process of LS1 swaps, and a newer member to this site has just completed an LS1 swap (we are all still awaiting pictures... ahem, DAN?!?) c) Displacement of motors do not neccesarily determine it's "potency". A lot of people here like the idea of destroking a larger displacement motor for a few extra RPM's. Search the archives for "377 small block" and you find tons of opinions on this concept. A 327 is essentially a destroked 350. d) Indeed, the JTR book does leave out a lot of time saving information, but it is the bible, none the less. Besides, there are enough people on this board to answer most any questions you might come across. e) I'm doing an outlined style letter because it's late, and I'm anal. Also, another thing I suggest new people do is to visit the links in people's websites. most people have them and it opens many doors for new ideas. -Andy P.S. How does that R/T run with all those mod's? I've heard dismal reviews about them in stock trim. However, a friends 98 Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited will run 15.0 all day long and is bone stock.

Avoid the Blitz models at all cost! I put one in my Talon TSi and the thing is a piece of crap. First of all, it uses an open loop control system. Even though it has a boost reference line going to the microcontroller, all it does is serve as a digital boost gauge. When setting the actual boost with the controller, all your doing is setting a "percentage" of how much more boost you want over the stock wastegate. Basically, is an electronically controlled bleeder valve. The boost is still dependant on temperature and will not be consistant thru the RPM range. For example, if the car has been sitting outside in below freezing temp's all night, I can easily hit the 22psi warning. However, with the same boost setting, I can barely hit 15psi after driving around on a warm (+65 degree... that's warm for me) day. Also, cruising down the highway in fifth gear at 3000 rom would yeild 20psi of boost, while at 6000 rpm, the boost would only be 14 - 15 psi. Not exactly what I bought the boost controller for. Do yourself a favor, skip the Blitz -Andy

...Uhg!!! Don't get me started on the whole SUV thing! I'm currently wokring on a Japanese (won't say who, since they are putting the bread on my table) SUV for 2002. It has a "supposed" 260 HP DOHC V6 (with variable valve timing... I think I just gave it away). This is by far, the most anemic 260hp I have ever felt. The engine is totaly gutless until 5000 rpm. Even then, it only get's slightly better until it's 6000 rpm shift point. Whenever I drive this "vehicle" I always hold the shifter in gear for that extra 300 rpms of power where I expect the power to jump up to it's claimed 260hp. Yeah, right... it's a futile battle with this engine. At best, it feels like it's got half the advertised output. Anyway, the reason I'm saying this is becuase my old(er) motor in my Z was making around 270 - 280 hp and turning low 13's in the quarter mile. Is this new GM motor going to turn anything close to this? Probably not. Does my Japanese "Brand X" SUV turn anything even close to that? Hell no! When people say "torque is king", they are generally telling the truth. Bottom line, these motors (at least the Japanese version) have Z-E-R-O torque. I don't know what these people (they are not engineers... an engineer would would do the right thing ) are thinking by putting these type of motors in SUV's. Dumb, just plain dumb! -Andy (I told you not to get me started...)

Too bad you didn't post this before last Wednesday, the guy in Arizona I got a Z from had two Five speeds laying on the floor, free for the taking. I replied: "Nah, I don't know of anyone who needs one." ...sorry -Andy

I'll agree Pete, Eye too is a Engeenear. I think you'll find a few more on this board as well. Also, I don't think any of my "tinkering" skills came from my formal education. Granted, I did get an Electrical Engineering degree... but I still had to take my fair shore of Mechanical classes (more than the Electrical classes those Mech. Engineers had to take... ) Bottom line, anyone who's good working with their hands will prove sucessful in this type of hobbie. Heck, one of closest friends is a UAW mechanic without a shred of Engineering knowledge. However, he is very gifted and creative when it comes to car projects. On the other hand, I had a roomate that graduated with a 3.9 gpa in Mechanical Engineering... yet couldn't figure out how to remove a battery from his 83 Grand Marquise ...just my $0.01 (can't afford the other penny these days) -Andy

Unless this Mustang owner just happens to go by the name "John Force", I have a pretty good feeling that you will be Molly-Maiding his little old fox body (molly maid = clean house). I must warn you, this type of criticism is normal. Because the V8-Z has such a small following, (in comparison to F-bodies or Mustanks) us Hybrid's are forced to use common sense and practical designs and innovations. I have yet to find this much creativity with any other car group. I also find that with larger groups, there tends to be a sort of "mass concensus" meaning that if the majority of people say it's true, than it must actually be true. Example: solid upper control arm bushings = good thing in a Mustang This could be why your friend with the Rustang thinks your Z will be slow... because the majority of people out there know nothing about it!!! Take pride in your project. Tell your Furd owning friend that he is right, and that nothing will beat his Mustang. Once you are finished with your "slow" Z car, ask your friend if he wants to line-em-up. I can guarantee his opinion will immediately change. Good Luck -Andy