zeeboost

My buddy was bored one night and decided to go roast off the remaining tread on his tires, since he would be getting a free new set from the dealership that he works at. So, we went about 13 miles out into the country, found a good little spot, and lit ‘em up! The next day, we drove out there to observe the aftermath: You can't really see all of the marks he left, but this picture shows most of it. Take a look at his exhuast pipe in this shot: He'd been holding it at 6K for a few minutes, and that pipe started glowing from the headers to the tailpipe -- in the shot above, the tailpipe wasn't glowing yet, but you can see it clearly from his headers to his muffler. All in all, it was worth a good laugh, so I thought you guys might get a kick from it. I have the whole video, but it's too large for me to host. If you think this is bad though, you should see what he used to do in his 5.0

Sorry' date=' I should've been a bit more specific. Here’s a pic of my zx that I just took a few minutes ago. [img']http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/14744/sideshot%20of%20my%20zx.jpg[/img] When I went on one of my junkyard scavenges a few weeks back, one guy that was there saw me pull up in her and was wondering why I didn’t keep it all Nissan. “That body is in such good condition, why would you want to ruin it like that?” He didn’t like the suspension (Tokico 5-way adjustable with Ground Control coilovers) because they lowered the car and it took away the classic Z look. He also hated the fact that I have a 5-lug conversion with 17” 5-star Eagle rims. Then he looked behind the front wheels and said, “I don’t remember the front rotors being that large.” The front discs are 13” brembo rotors, which he didn’t care for either – he thought it looked too “modernized”. That was even before I put the body kit on – I couldn’t imagine what kind of lecture he would’ve given me then. There are a few people like that out there, but I appreciate what’s been done to it, and that’s all that matters anyways.

I hear ya Mike! If somebody gets mad at me for improving my car with my hard-earned money, screw them! That’s their opinion, and it doesn’t matter. Besides, get them to prove how their pure Z is so much better than yours on the track, and you’d leave them crying. I mean, if you think about it, they’re getting mad at you for improving your Z’s suspension, brakes, grip, and power – basically opening up the chassis’s potential. If there’s one Z I could argue about butchering, it would be the Series I. I can see the Series I being a collectable, but a lot of people don’t tear into those. Not too long ago on eBay I saw a well-done L28et conversion into a pristine Series I – no complaints here. Hell, even if you throw in a sbc I still wouldn’t complain, it’s just that if I had the choice to restore or beef her up, I would definitely rather restore the Series I. I once was thinking that I should just stay true to Nissan and throw in a turbo 6, and even though that turbo sounds good when it spools up, it just can’t beat the sound of a sbc’s low grumble as it glides along the highway with ease. Oh yeah, and I know what you’re talking about not having money. I’m 19 (younger than you – HAH! ) trying to afford rent, college, and improve the car by all means. I pray every night that she doesn’t break on me, but I think sometimes the man upstairs gets bored and entertains himself by watching me react to something breaking on the car (say for example, the heater hose that busted and sent coolant gushing all over the interior of the car). But, the compliments that I get on it is worth the trouble, even in its primered shell.

Oh yeah, and, just like you, it seems like my any time I’m NOT able to drive my car, I find all the sports cars. One day when the zx was hospitalized, I drove next to a Crossfire, a C5 Vette, a Porsche 944 and 911, and another zx owner – yes, all in the same day! But the time that I couldn’t drive the zx and I was behind the brand new candy apple red Viper, oh I was pissed!

I hear ya man -- hybridz are a headache! When I first started driving mine on the streets (legally), in the first 50 minutes I had a fuse to my ignition that kept blowing out, so because there was no shoulder I had to stop in the left turning lane and fix the fuse with cars hauling ass inches away from me. Then just a few days later my slave cylinder decided to quit on me – it was relatively new also. I’ve got so many wiring disasters to look into. Then just last week, when I went to work (I work about 45 minutes away from home) my alternator decides to be an ass. It can barely charge enough juice for ignition and the fans – the radio didn’t have enough, and when I wanted to roll up my windows, I had to rev the engine to 4K just to get enough power to feed the electric motors! Then to top that off, that same day, right as I was stumbling into my home town, I see white smoke rising in front of the passenger seat. I figured it was some sort of electrical short, but when I pulled in my driveway I actually took a good look at it and saw that my heater hose busted and I had a puddle of coolant floating on my passenger floor pan with some legal documents submerged in it. I'm glad I haven't carpeted it yet Now, I’m having a cooling problem. New griffin radiator, new water pump, two pushing electric fans, and I’m getting up to about 210 degrees in stop and go traffic. The worst part is that I live in south Texas, and it’s going to be getting a LOT hotter… So anyways, yeah, I know how much of a pain these cars are – and I thought I could make mine a reliable daily driver…HAH! I should’ve just kept the turboed 6 that came in it.

I'm currently working on the 3000gt style with my 280zx hybrid -- I'll post pictures up once I'm finished...it could take a while though, the fiberglass is taking a while It's times like this I wish I was as skilled as Terry...oh well, wishful thinking.

I seriously hope that site is a joke :shock: I mean, some cars are dead sexy, but to take it to that extreme!... That's a sorry excuse for not being able to get a woman

What, you didn't see the trunk? Yeah, I thought about that after I posted, but I figured nobody would catch it...leave it up to dot.

Hell, I'd get arrested just so I could ride in it

OMG!!! That's friggin hilarious!! Everybody's staring at me in my college library because I look like I'm having muscle spasms trying to not laugh out loud!! Man it hurts now!!! Yeah, it's terrible laughing at that stuff, but what did it for me was the idiots' expressions. I'd start laughing before anything even happened. I've actually made some students migrate over to another computer on the opposite end of the library! Oh man, thanks for sharing that one!! :lol:

Not too long ago, I was changing the battery in my hybrid 280zx at night, and I accidentally reversed the polarity when hooking up the cables to the terminals. Man, that was so stupid and careless of me, and it ruined so much. I melted a 2 ga. amp wire/fuse and now I’m stuck with two problems. 1) Unless I disconnect the battery after every time I turn it off, the battery will drain dead on me. I’ve used an ammeter to try and hunt down the drain by pulling fuses to see if the drain would stop, but no luck yet. 2) It blew a fuse between on a wire between the positive post and my Clifford Alarm system. Every time I try replacing the fuse, it blows immediately when I put the new fuse in there. I’ve even tried a slightly larger fuse and it still blew (I didn’t want to go too high because if the fuse didn’t blow then it’d probably damage the control unit.) I’m currently looking into the wiring of it, but again, no luck. If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it – please forgive me for being such a dumbass Thanks in advance

Actually, the guy I talked to was Allan (don't wanna give out his last name). Cool, that's 4 Z owners just in that small area of Austin -- I can't wait to move up there

Sweet, that’s exactly where I go when I take the trip to Austin, so I know exactly where that is. I’m surprised I haven’t seen your Z there – I’ve seen a yellow 240z without a rear bumper (always sits next to a 280zx) and I’ve talked to a guy who has an ongoing 240z project right now – both right around Cedar Park. My girlfriend’s uncle is a dentist in Cedar Park, so when we go visit him next time I’ll have to let you know in advance. Hopefully I’ll get my hybrid running better by then, but at least you get to check out another z…well, zx. See you then

What a Steal! Sometime soon, whenever I go up to Austin again, I need to bring my hybrid by your house and check out your Z's. There aren't many good-looking ones down here. What part of Austin do you live at?

Dude, you suck! I was planning to start doing the same thing on my hood in a few weeks. It's not a huge abstract on the car, but gives it that subtle, factory-looking appearance. Looks great man -- just more inspiration for me to start on mine

I'm not sure if you've heard these before, but I'm sure a few of you would get a kick out of these. Mary went to the doctor complaining of body odor. "Do you wash?" the doctor asked the smelly young girl. "Oh, yes," Mary answered. "Each morning, I start at my head and wash down as far as possible. Then I start at my feet and I wash up as far as possible." "Well," the doctor concluded, "Go home and wash 'possible'!!!" AND Three guys are drinking in a bar when a drunk comes in, staggers up to them, and points at the guy in the middle, shouting, "Your mom's the best ^#%$ in town!" Everyone expects a fight, but the guy ignores him, and the drunk wanders off and bellies up to the bar at the far end. Ten minutes later, the drunk comes back, points at the same guy, and says, "I just @&^#%$ your mom, and it was sweet!" Again the guy refuses to take the bait, and the drunk goes back to the far end of the bar. Ten minutes later, he comes back and announces, "Your mom liked it!" Finally the guy interrupts. "Go home, Dad,... you're drunk!"

No joke Tim, about two weeks ago a cop pulled me over on my way home from college for not having a front license plate on my zx -- but the catch is that it was about 9:30p.m. and there weren't even any street lights on the highway BTW Tim, did you ever solve the problem of your mysterious engine stumble?

Here's the link to the petition http://www.petitiononline.com/txplate/petition.html I honestly don't think it'll make a difference, but its better than sitting around and doing nothing about it. I hate that front license plate -- it hurts my aerodynamics, looks, cooling system, and total investment all together. That'd be pretty sweet if we could get rid of that stupid law though.

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Kevin: If it's the engine temp you're concerned about, I'm running from 160-170 on the highway. I was overheating, but a Griffin radiator and dual pushing electric fans fixed that problem. As for my exhuast, it is a true dual with 2.25" pipe all the way out. The only thing is that the car has been lowered approx. 3", so there's really no way for me to avoid the "excessive" bends because they were necessary to fit. Now, my air intake does need improvement -- it's a K&N air filter, but I draw in all of the hot air in the engine bay. I want to get ArizonaZcar's twin turbo hood, and have a T-fitting over the carb and run dual cone filters right next to the openings to help solve that problem, but if it doesn't work out, I'll probably just end up cutting my hood to make way for a scoop. I have the stock hood vents (280zx) to help vent out the engine bay, but I'm also thinking about making a couple of vents on the front fender right behind the front wheel to help with the venting. I think I may just throw on the Edelbrock this weekend to see how she runs. Thanks again

Whoops! Sorry for the typo Guy (Hey come on, I posted this at 1:30 a.m. ) The headers are Headman block huggers; the collecter on the driver side was relocated down around the steering shaft. My setup is supposed to have around 430hp at the crank, but I doubt I'm pushing that much. I need to go get it dynoed, but something always breaks on it before I can take it out I have considered buying a 3.54 diffy, but I would be seeing around 1600-1700 rpms on the highway, and with my cam and carb that wouldn't be too favorable. I have three things I'm still looking in to: 1) Running rich (friends have seen black smoke dump out when I'm gunning it, so I'd say that's a pretty good sign), 2) The carb will bog down pretty bad during takeoff (I'll try a bigger accelerator pump), and 3) It backfires pretty bad out of the exhaust when I let off at high rpm - not just a little burble, I mean LOUD like a shotgun backfiring. I've heard this could also be the symptoms of a rich condition, but I'm not sure. I'm contemplating just throwing on my Edelbrock 600 to see how the condition improves. Perhaps after I fix these problems, I'll be able to hang up with him next time. Hopefully this time the Sheriff won't catch us

Well, it was a Supercharged Bullit dynoed at 458rwhp, but still, it makes me feel like crap. My engine must not be tuned too well...setup is: 350 bored . 030" with 10.5:1 flat tops, 280H cam, Holley Systemax aluminum heads, victor jr intake, Holley street avenger 670, MSD ignition, t56 tranny, 3.9:1 diffy, and hooker headers w/flowmaster exhuast. We were neck and neck through 2nd gear, but when I went into third he started pulling on me. All in all I ended up losing by about three car lengths. Good thing I didn't race his other car ('95 Cobra with headwork, supercharger, and 150 shot of nitrous ) It feels like the zx doesn't want to pull at top end. I'll get to about 130mph and it slowly climbs after that - I'm pretty sure the gearing wouldn't limit me at that. I don't know -- maybe I just expect too much of her, but it sure does make you feel slow when you've got the pedal mashed and all you can see is the taillights of a heavy rustang pull away from you. I apologize to you for not properly representing the Hybrid Z community. Hopefully I can redeem myself soon

I'm in for a group buy in TX. I want that twin turbo hood BAAD! He told me shipping would probably be around $430, which is more than what the hood costs! Anyways, just trying to generate some interest for those in TX. If I can't find anybody else, then it's time for a road trip!

Yeah, they do make those in Dallas, but I believe $50,000 is the base model price for them. You can buy larger packages, (basically more HP, suspension upgrades, etc.) totalling to around $110,000 I believe. My best friend's, brother's, best friend is one of the people that builds the Eleanor replicas in Dallas. I'll see if I can get a hold of my friend tonight and see if he remember's their website.

Let me start by saying that I'm in (or was in) your exact position about a year ago, and I agree with everything said above. I'm currently 19 and going to college, and my daily driver has been my 1997 Ford Ranger. When I was 18, I decided that I was getting sick of driving that slow, boring pickup, so I bought a 280zx and began the hybrid project. A year later, guess what? There has been over $15,000 invested in the car (the car is still primered in the interior is still torn up -- the $15,000 has just been on drivetrain/suspension/braking/etc.), and my Ranger is still my daily driver. The only way that I've been able to afford the car so far is because I've been working ever since I was about 10 (mowing yards and such), and then at 16 I was able to get a real job, and up until 18 I had been saving it all for the right moment. Now I only wish I would've put that into college, because I'm going to be paying back so many student loans. Even though the car is running right now, it's running like crap, and stuff never stops breaking on it. I've had it running (street legal) for about three weeks now, and within that three weeks the clutch slave cylinder (T-56) broke, the engine still needs to be timed and tuned, and just a couple of days ago, one of my ARP wheel studs broke off of my rear passenger wheel. So now the car is on jackstands right now, and I have to order ARP studs again because nobody carries them (I have spacers, so the studs are pretty long). This is going to cost me even more $$$. Oh and did I mention the thing guzzles 93 octane gas like a SOB! That's one thing you don't want right now with the rising prices. I'm already taking five classes this semester, and in order to afford my hybrid, I have to work a job ranging from 30-56 hours a week. Try finding time to work on the car AND study. My grades show it too. This post is not for you to feel sorry for me -- I'm trying to show you all the crap that I have to go through just to own a hybrid. I'm trying to show you how difficult it will be trying to own / maintain one. I agree with above, just get a stock Z for a few years and go from there. If you want a mildly fast car and still want the Z, get a stock turbo ZX. They can be had in good condition for under $2000. There will still be plenty of time to do your hybrid project. If I had to do it all over again, I would've just bought the turbo zx for now, and done a hybrid project later. Good luck.

Good analogy utvolman99!