BLKMGK

Okay, a decent pic at last! 146K but I did try to cut it down and it IS interlaced at least Okay guys - little better? Photoimpact rox! Thanks Pete! [ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

Hrm, yes this is a stress area but it seems to me that the loads aren't in a flex sort of direction but more a compression load. Is that clear as mud? In other words the loads will be trying to rotate the bracket not flex it where it's thin. Yes? Wouldn't that allow it to be thinner and still be strong?

New pics are up including one of th ecage routing in my car. It's DOM steel not cro-mo an dit's not going all the way to the floor. It's on the wheelwells and reinforced. http://216.254.117.47/development/testweb.nsf/4691e0edd8a01bd6852569ae0075e9c4/bfde2094dd10c02085256a6a00050714?OpenDocument Beware that the pics are bigger than previously taken. I've got a new camera and am still getting used to it. Should be interleaved pics and none are bigger than 250K but still - much bigger. check out the Konig wheel shot - much better no? Just played aorund and took a ton of shots, threw a few away, cropped like MAD, and then posted them. Wish I'd had this from the beginning! Lemme' know if anyone wants anything in particular taken.

Okay guys - low mount alternator on a JTR setback Z is a big NO-GO! It obviously works on a ZX that's not got setback plates in the way but this puppy hits the crossmember, setback plates. You name it - it hits it. Drat! I don't think a more tucked up bracket will help - SWP only spaces this sucker about an inch from the motor and the setback plates are right there. Looks like I'm going LWP and with a setup like Lone's if I can source the brackets. I'll take a loss on the pump but it'll be done at last. Boy was the SWP a bad idea for me. Lone - you got your brackets from a local shop. I'm going to hunt through Summit and Jeg's for something like them - wish me luck! Bleah!

Doh! Today I managed to pickup a fan wiring harness that had been promised to me sometime ago. It had a pair of relays on it already and I bolted them on today but am still working on the rest of the wiring. These are NOT as good as the HELLA's though. I've gotp two relays for fan, two for headlights. Checkout what I found at the site you mentioned -> http://www.rallylights.com/hella/629-02.htm VERY nice! That site looks to be just what I was looking for. Now I've got to decide if I want to keep my somewhat attractive hand formed aluminum relay bracket (okay, somewhat ugly) or switch to that one and have to do a little reqiring on my headlights. Thank you - that link is exactly what I was looking for and even if I don't get the 4ganged relays I may very well get a couple of their relays. That's exactly what the Doctor ordered, MUCH appreciated! Pete - you're using lot's of relays right? Check that site out - lot's of good stuff. Didn't know Hella made interior lights - hrm!

E-bay... do what others have done, post it with a low initial price but a very high reserve or what you'd be willing to sell th ecar for. Watch to see how high it goes. You'll have to pay E-bay something for not selling on a reserve bid auction but it's a cheap way to know what it's worth...

/ME thanks you a great deal MikeSCCA is making those puppies for my car and for others that follow me - easy means cheaper and I like cheaper I can hardly wait to bolt those suckers on and drive this thing.

Reminds me of a local guy that made the Darwin list (it's real!). Jumped off a railroad overpass with Bungee cords tid to his feet. Length of cords was greater than distance to ground - I kid you not! I've got Simpson belts in my car. Realize too that these can be "seasonal" in that during certain parts of the year they're not as stocked up. Since they have a "shelf life" you can understand why Mine are 3inch wide I believe and will be using the stock lap mounts and the rollbar to hold them down. I've got crotch belts but haven't mounted them and may wait a bit. Pyrotechnic pretensioners? Wazzat? First I've heard of them....?!

So Scottie - how do YOU know it's blue?!

Yes, Scottie that is exactly what occured. I can't help but wonder too what the torque rating of the T56 is in 5th and 6th gears. I know some of the transmissions out there have very weak OD ratings - the stress could kill it. Never NOS a T5 in 5th BTW

First, I'm not sure that's a fair trade. Older 240Zs can be had somewhat cheap if you look around, the ZX you've got may be worth more than the 240Z. You said his car wasn't in good shape - what's wrong with it exactly? Just drivetrain stuff? If it's running poorly perhaps he'd sell it cheap? Cost of a swap - that's a really tough call! My swap has NOT been done low dollar so I'm not the best one to talk to. However some areas to consider upgrading is a somewhat easy one Suspension. MAybe not swapping in coil overs and crazy things liek I've done but a good set of busings never hurt anyone and aren't super expensive. Expect to spend some time doing it though! Brakes. This puppy will COOK when you're done, even with a mild V8. there are upgrades form mild to wild - I went for wild with 12+inch brakes in front, 11inch brakes in rear - billet calipers. Mild(er) would be to upgrade to Toyota 4runner calipers up front an dvented rotors. Milder still would be to use stock rotors and a different 4Runner caliper. To do this cheap I'd leave the rears drum but upgrade the linings, use braided hoses on all 4 corners, and make sure the rear stuff is in good shape at least. Drivetrain A). If it's a 240Z it'll need a different rear diff. A fairly easy swap to do but diffs for the rear are pricey if you want limted slip. An open R200 rear is easy to find in bunches of ratios. Oddly enough - your 88 Turbo has the limited slip R200 that we all desire for our cars Drivetrain . Motor and trans. You can go nuts here but if you do the chassis will need a rollbar to hold it together or at least subframe connectors. You said this car was "rust free" - better check under the batter box and look at the framerails closely before you say that. Anyway, GM sells mild crate motors cheap that make over 200HP that would work fine but I'm unsure as to cost. My motor isn't super wild but it was over $4k Things like a carburator, distributor, alternator, water pump, and on and on can eat you alive! Hint: get a long water pumnp not a short one (sigh). It's also possible to buy a motortrans from a wrecking yard. Consider this to do this "cheap" but you may get exactly what you pay for. Others can weigh in on this one better than I. Transmission - you want a stick with that? GM 6speeds can be as low as $1K or as high as $2K, shop around. Clutches aren't cheap either! T5 5 speeds are more reasonable both for clutches and the transmissions - just don't beat it to death. Automatics - I don't know these well but get an overdrive trans like a 200R4 or a 700R4. Last but not least - before buying ANYTHING or starting to turn a single wrench there's a book you shouldMUST buy. It's by a company named JagsThatRun and they can be found at www.jagsthatrun.com It's not super expensive and not a "step by step" but you WILL need it and it WILL give you a VERY good idea as to what's involved. I'm NOT a super mechanical wiz with tools and I've done this swap working by myself 99.9% of the time - you can do this. It will take time and money though so don't kid yourself. More of one elimiates some of the other BTW IMO I'd expect to spend at least $4K over the cost of the car, possibly more. Little stuff just eats you alive and if I listed it all here I'd cry at the total. (shrug) P.S. Welcome to the board!

Do remember that the TH350 will NOT have an overdrive. Others who have put in non-overdriven trannys have NOT been happy with them as they buzz the motor pretty good at highway speeds. Consider continuing to look for an OD tranny....

Heh, shipping on these puppies from here would be a bear. Had hoped you were closer...

I'm looking to find a good source for Hella relays. I've currently got a pair of them for my headlight harness and would like two more for my electric fan. These puppies look mighty rugged and having a matched set for all woudl allow me to hot swap if needed in case of failure. I'll be mounting them all side by side on the fender So far th ebest source for them I've found is here -> http://www.classicgarage.com/classicgarage/hellarelay.html However they don't appear to sell the nice weatherpack type bases for them. The set I've got now is weather sealed and darned nice IMO. I believe these came from PainlessWiring but looking at their catalog http://www.painlesswiring.com/relays.htm I can't tell if these are the same ones or not. Painless is also usually pretty painfull in the wallet area (ahem). The relay they supply with their fuel pump kit is fairly light duty and looks liek whet they're selling seperate. Any good leads much appreciated! I went through MANY pages on Google to find the link above. Not sure I'd have luck finding them local - most places sell the cheap junk relays here...

Heh, now take the info we have on the Z's aero - or lack thereof - and see what sort of HP it takes to push 200+mph. Drag goes up exponentially and pushing a .5 OD at speed it tough to say the least. The torque load on the trans is incredible and most cars end up seeing faster numbers in a non-overdriven gear. 124mph seems awful low for 4th though - is a 3.7 really that steep? Must be these short tires we run

Correct Lone. The OEM stuff is probably not too good after a few years either. How many people get into a fender bender and replace their belts? Think insurance would even cover it? It's supposed to be done but I don't know anyone that's ever done it! OEM belts stretch too, I've hit mine hard enough in the past to actually feel it. Sometimes the mechanism that holds them tight gets worn too and the belt can fray there as well - not cool. Wonder when we'll see a 60Minutes special on this? Will TRY to get out there for some pics today. Was supposed to have a new camera by now for better pics but the guy on E-Bay is hosing me. Grr!

I've got two '72 driveshafts but you've not listed where you're from

They have a phone number at the bottom of the page - try calling them during business hours - let them know their page isn't working too! They were pretty good to me. Boxed set of bushings in just a few days with confirmaiton e-mails etc.

Inertia switch not needed - it will shut off the pump in an accident and it sounds as if you have a running pumnp so no worries there. Are you getting spark? A voltmeter on the injectors or even a hand on the rail will tell you if they're pulsing or not.

Ys' - I know that the circuit is only as good as it's weakest link. i'll likely use both the unibody and a dedicated wire to run grounds. If I run into problems I'll go even bigger! Drilled th etool box etc. today, mounted battery box, waiting for more parts. Don't think I'll be as overboard as yuo but it'll be fairly beefy. Having a switch on both ground and hot sides makes sneaking dedicated circuits out harder but either a circuit breaker or fueable link should work. Anything I sneak out will be drawing millivolts anyway so maybe just a blade fuse assembly for that. About to make a bracket up front to hold my headlight relays and cooling fan relays I've duplicated your cooling fan top install and will be working on th elower portion soon - it's sturdy enough that the lower mount need not support any weight. A shame it doesn't look as good as your's but it IS functional! Getting into the final stretch slowly but surely! P.S. On the subject of juice, accidents, and safety... anyone running one of those fuel pump cutoffs that kill things in the case of an accident? EFI cars run them and my Mustang has one. Am considering it for the Z...

One thing that bit me when the cage was first put in my car - main hoop! The installer put it just UNDER the trim where the dome light is. I couldn't see out the back and my head was actually as high if not higher than the bar I'm 6 foot 2 BTW. So, I took it back, explained the problem, it was replaced free of charge I don't recall where the main hoop mounts but I think it was on th elittle shelf. Bars going back hit the towers and were reinforced - the rear area is a crush zone. Side bars touchdown up front where the front hoop also touches down - reinforced. I still have my armrests, they touch but it fits with no cutting (shrug). I'll take pics if you'd like to see anything special. Crossbar in back is a little below shoulder height and should be higher. Lastly, you're supposed to have DOT stuff on your car. Things like braided brake hose that hasn't passed the "whip test" or brake lights that don't have DOT markings are supposed to fail. Seat belts aren't tested like OME stuff is and even though it might be better it's not DOT. I'll be using them anyway Look at it this way - an OEM seatbelt is put in the same for every car an dit's been tested. A race belt could be done any weirdo way and there's no consistant way yo test them. It's a CYA move to help protect the public is all...

Kevin mentioned replacing hoses. I'm not sure if th eZ has this problem but... hoses cansometimes collapse. If the overheating is occuring during steady-state driving conditions it could very well be the hose collapsing to the pump. Just something to consider - feed us more data!

My tenous understanding is that the longer rod motors tend to have different piston acceleration and dwell times at TDC. This effects power, wear, and knock tolerance. Longer rod motors make more torque and apparently don't knock as easily. IMO if you're building a motor from scratch and have a choice ot build a longer rod go for it so long as cost doesn't go through the roof. In my case I simply set a HP target and let the builder decide. I'm NOT even sure what length rods I ended up with but it should run close to the number. The only thing I would NOT want done is to put the rod pin into the ring package and not to have a real short piston. With high rod ratios a short piston is liable to rock and the pin in the ring package - well that's obviously not good Other than that I let the builder decide. Sure, a roller cam and longer rod might have gotten me more power under the curve but I'm not bench racing this puppy, I'll be driving it. As was stated earlier - chances are if you drove two nearly identical motors back to back you'd probably not notice the difference just due to rod ratios. Know that longer is better to a degree but don't go nuts with the cash trying to get an extreme

This kind of thing has come up before - and guys note this is an RX7 When the starter gets hot it's harder to crank. Research I've done seems to point to a hot starter needing more juice and that the GM solenoid not performing as well hot. Remote mounting a Ford solenoid has cured this for many people. I don't understand why mind you but for the $15 it cost me I'm doing it! I'm using a solenoid from an '88 5.0 Mustang myself. Heat wrap is another suggestion but airrflow is an even better one. Get as much air space around the starter as possible. You've said something abut a high TQ starter - is it an OEM or aftermarket starter? I've never had a warm fuzzy about aftermarket starters after seeing so many people have problems with them. As a result I'm running an OEM starter on my car. However it's not yet been heat tested so I can't say that it makes a big difference - just know that not all aftermarket starters are created equal (shrug). Oh, and run good cabling. Stereo shops and welding supply stores have the good stuff, welding cable migh thave a more abrasion resistant jacket though - I'm not sure. Make sure the starter has a good ground - I'll be running a few to mine. Good luck, please let us know what the solution ends up being!

http://www.suspension.com/ Master kit for the older cars for about $150 http://www.suspension.com/nissancars.htm They did me right and shipped quick.