cygnusx1

Interesting. If you are willing to cut a new slot, it looks like any of them can be made to work with any pinion.

OK I got to the bottom of it. 1) It appears that when you change the gear size, you also need the appropriate pinion body. 2)There is a "cut" in the side of the body that looks like a place where you can use a flat screwdriver to pry the body out of the transmission. That slot is where the retaining tab goes. 3) When I rotate the body so that the original slot lined up with the retainer tab, the pinion was so far back off the drive gear on the output shaft that there was no meshing. I had to turn the body 180 degrees for the pinion to mesh with the drive gear. That meant that I had to grind a new slot 180 degrees from the original slot. Note: I have no idea what year/size pinion body I am using. It is made out of steel and had a black pinion on it for a 3.54 rear. I have seen most of them made out of aluminum, so I don't know for sure where it came from. Note: Don't tighten the retaining tab against the outer edge of the pinion body. Use the slot in the body. If you don't, the pinion gets pushed too far into the tranny and causes a bind and mis-alignment of the gears. Pictures would help. I'll try to get some.

Still on jackstands in salt, ice, and snow country. Fingers crossed, I will hit the ground running in a few weeks.

Here, here...that's a man who has spent some time in a machine shop!

Yup, I used them in my OBX intstall and didn't even need to trim them.

My son is two years old and he tells me that he wants a yellow Zcar with black wheels...so he says. He can already put on lug nuts! I lifted the Sportmax wheels into place and he started the lug nuts. I am amazed. Besides the thrills of driving them, Z's are good cars that can keep the family together. When it's bedtime, we have "talk time" and nine times out of ten he wants to talk about Zcars.

Check out H264WebCamPro it works well. http://www.h264soft.com/h264webcam.html

Stock setup swaybars are for understeer (front slides out in corners). If you retain all the stock parts but change all the bushings to urethane, the car will feel tighter and more responsive but it will still be balanced for understeer. Not a bad thing on the street. When I bought my bone stock '76 20 years ago, the first mod I did was the urethane rack bushing kit, and sway bar bushings. Shortly thereafter, 225 tires. Open the hood and look down at the rack with a flashlight. Grab the steering wheel and force it back and forth. You will be amazed at the amount of slop in the rack. It should not move...but it does with the factory bushings, even when new. List all of your suspension parts and specs so we can guesstimate.

That is an elegant Z. I like the attention to detail. I love the way the spoiler and the rockers are made to line up with eachother perfectly. I don't like the wheel style, but it does not take too much away from the overall look. !?Is that a rear wiper?!

I opened mine and cleaned them but if they are worn, this won't help. If they tick very loudly at start up and occasionaly at idle, they are worn. You can usually just sort of hear which one is ticking and find a decent used one to drop in. I have a bunch of them which are mostly still good. You will know right away when you hear it. It's either good, or ticking really loud.

I use a shield that I covered with reflective fiber cloth. I have a 76 with no hood vents and a turbo. Parked hot, it will run like A$$ 15 minutes later if I dont prop the hood up. I would shield if you don't mind the look. People think I open the hood when I park my car to show off the motor. They are partially correct...only partially.

Honestly, just look for another trans. They can be had for MUCH cheaper than the labor and parts cost of repairing one. As long as the ratios are the same, the four and five speed gears should be the same...asides from the 5th gear parts. However, if chunks floated around the trans, you don't really know which bearings may also be bad, and what other parts might be worn.

Hydraulic "rocker posts" can bounce at high loads, reducing valve lift. In good condition, they are fine for most applications. They are really nice and quiet with low maintenance when they are in good shape.

Count the input turns of the shaft vs a single output shaft turn in all the gears and match it up to one of the trans ratio charts around here. 80-83 were all the same if they were US 5-speeds.

Very nice Z. I imagine you have quite a bit of money into it. Sorry to see you selling it. I bet you can get ROUGH GUESS ---- 6-8K realistically, based on other sales in this day and age.

Old thread but I want to revive it because I just took apart the entire drivetrain and re-assembled it with the OBX LSD center. Here's What I noticed. 1st Biggest Culprit: (bjhines called it) The axle splines are definitely not a snug fit into the diff. They were somewhat loose in the spider gears and equally loose in the OBX. 2nd The ZX Turbo CV shafts that I am using had noticable play in the outer tulips when I cleaned out the grease. 3rd The OBX has some lash inside of it because of the nature of the backlash of all the helical gears involved....and relatively loose tolerances in manufacturing. 4th The rear u-joint in the driveshaft has a tiny tiny bit of lash to it. 5th My rear wheel bearings have some play...within spec but it's there. I just finished the assembly and still need to install the transmission. I should be test driving it next week, pending weather. I expect as much or more clunking that I had before, due to the helical diff. At least I know it's not a failure. It's just a tolerance accumulation. Side note. My dad is retired and offered to help me out by doing some work on the car during the week. I discussed fabricating a stainless strap to hold the front of the diff down. Well, he thought it a good idea to drill two holes front to back, clear through the front diff mount and crossmember, and install two horizontal 3/8" carriage bolts. Effectively making a solid diff mount! Ughhh. I didn't want a solid diff mount but leave it to an old Italian engineer to go overkill! I need to keep my eye on the holes he drilled for stress cracks now. If it's too noisy, I'll re-engineer his method. LOL.

OK, All the ratios match up to the 81-83 series trans. I guess the manual shows all the possible sensors even though there is only one sensor on some transmissions...like mine and yours. Thanks

Here ya go.... Pressure plate bolts for the Fidanza flywheel. They are a tad bit short when used with a thick lock washer but they are going to hold fine. Bolt the PP down with the stock bolts as far as they will go and then pull each one out and replace it with one of the McMaster bolts below. The McMaster bolts are not long enough to pull the PP in from fully extended. I think Fidanza drilled shallow blind holes because they didn't want the bolts to interfere with the starter ring gear. They should supply bolts or at least a recommendation. The dowels will hold the shear forces. McMaster Screws 1 98093A530 1 Pack Nonmarring Class 10.9 Flange Head Cap Screw, Steel, M8 Sz, 12mm L, 1.25mm Pitch, Fully Threaded

I thought this was pretty funny...someone emailed it to me. Hope it's not a repost. Why Men Don't Write Advice Columns Dear Walter, I hope you can help me here. The other day, I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't driven more than a mile down the road when the engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help. When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbor's daughter. I am 32, my husband is 34, and the neighbor's daughter is 22. We have been married for ten years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that they had been having an affair for the past six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him. He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant. He won't go to counseling and I'm afraid I can't get through to him anymore. Can you please help? Sincerely, Sheila ****************************** Dear Sheila: A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors. I hope this helps, Walter

I have what I thought was an '81 5-spd N/A FS***B tranny. According to my factory manual, there should be four sensors on the ZX transmissions. My transmission, which appears to have about a 3:1 1st gear ratio in it, only has a boss for ONE, reverse sensor? I don't need any other sensors, but I am just curious? Missing sensors and bosses? Do I have a "special" trans? Do you think I got a close ratio comp unit? That's the only other tranny with around a 3:1 1st gear. I will check the rest of the ratios tonight.

I have an older MSII and I did need to move/add/subtract a couple of jumpers. Things may be different now. Email Matt Cramer at DIY he might know.

Nice, how do you love it?

What is the junction block for? I don't think expansion is the issue...maybe cooling?

I already have a turbo and misc parts! Seriously, you can get a good RC car with a radio for around $100-$150 used or less. If you are just going to use it for an occasional blast around the backyard and not get into competition, it will do fine.

Buy used RC stuff and you dont need a fortune.