Iceman

Got some seats this weekend. Here they are set in place. Will have to fab new mounts, but that shouldnt be too much work. I pulled these from a Nissan Pulsar, I think. Not certain about the model, and dunno what year.

So what time do we all synchronize our watches for so we can do a Moment of This is kinda inspirational. Now i'll have to see if I can get my '70 resurrected for his birthday

I bought my '70 in 2002 for $3500. The other element of your equation is competition. Back in the 70's there was a lot more competition between all of the makes. Now, there is much stronger make and model recognition, resulting in cars selling what they are perceived to be worth, as opposed to what it costs to make them. Chevy, for example, tells you what the Corvette is worth and isn't about to drop it down in price to compete with the ecplises, WRXs, RSXs... oh, and not to mention the field is too big to try to price competitively with everyone.

I'm planning on rolling on truck bed liner and then putting in carpet and marine vinyl.

I actually found a picture of a Z almost the same color that I am planning.. It's a little closer to "baby blue" than I want though

Here are a couple pics. The floorpan area isnt cleaned up yet, I just threw down some rustoleum primer to protect the bare metal for now. You can see there's still a bunch of leftover spots here and there. I didnt get any dry-ice since I am just doing this a little bit at a time and a little chizel I made out of a putty knife is going pretty quick. The whole right half of the hatch area took me about 20 min.

Hey Grumpy.. I have an '88 350 that I am planning on dropping into my Z. My question is: Can I use the Datsun T-5 that I already have, with the 350? (My T-5 is from an '83 280ZX). Everything I have found refers to Camaro and Vette transmissions, but doesnt specifically say that a Datsun transmission cannot be used. I am planning on going for no higher than 300HP.

I was just thinking of the cool ignition code module that is in the movie The Transporter, and was just wondering what cool ideas people have used in their Zs for ignition controls. Seen a lot of toggle switches and a couple push-buttons. Anyone have something to show off?

I had almost the exact same thing happen once, except it was someone saying they were in Canada. I knew it was a scam right away, but I figured I'd play along and see how far they went. They actually went as far as to have their "Agent" call me. What was really weird was that when the "Agent" called me and was asking scripted questions about the conditions of the car, I could hear others in the background talking on the phone, asking the same questions. Bottom line is.. don't sell something of high value until you see cash, money-order, or cashier's check.

28 yrs old. Loved it! Especially "Enough, Nickelback"! I am so sick of them that I don't even listen to their old stuff. Thanks for the great laugh. Great way to start the work day.

Just about finished. :twothumbs" Thanks for all of the input. After grabbing a putty knife instead of the pry-bar that I was using, it started going faster. I think the pry-bar is too thick to work optimally. It's nice to see all of that bare metal, but it's even nice to see that it's almost rust free. Can't wait to roll bed-liner onto it and get some sound mat in there. I'll get a pic up later. Yet again it amazes me with the condition that it's in for being an early edition 1970.

Well, since it's a 280, modifying the chassis wont be absolutely necessary unless you get up in the high HP ranges (most seem to agree on 350+). I think a roll-bar, at least, is a good idea just for safety. As you will find from searching/reading, it REALLY depends on what you plan on doing with it. Oh, and WELCOME! Love the S30s!

My sentiments exactly! I'll add "inspiring"

If you have a new clutch, it is possible that it isnt fully engaging. This would cause slipping when the load is heavier. This would be the only way that your RPM could be higher than it should be for a given speed. Your car wont spin a faster RPM just because it's a smaller engine. If it did, then my commuter CRX with a 1.4L would blow up before it got to 60mph, If we assume that your clutch is NOT slipping, then only one of two scenarios could be occuring.. 1: Your tach is off like folks are suggesting, or 2: Your engine is revving according to the gear ratio. RPMs and gears are part of the mathematical equation that can tell you your speed that you see in the calculators from the links that have been posted. There are only 2 places that slipping can occur.. clutch, and of course tires. If nothing is slipping then your RPM is where it should be. I have really low gears in my Z. It has been off the road for a while, but if memory serves correctly, in 4th gear the RPMs were pretty high at 65mph. I know my tach wasn't very accurate, and I never paid much attention to it, but the engine at 65mph sounded like the bottom end of shifting range (probably ~3500).

If you can leg-press 300lbs and your buddy can only leg-press 100lbs and you peddle a bicycle in the same gear at the same RPM, you go the same speed. Your comparison does hold some value in the case of an automatic transmission, or a manual transmission with a slipping clutch, however, as the engine will strain more to make the same speed. With a properly functioning clutch or a lock-up converter, the gear ratio is static so it doesnt matter how much HP the engine can make. When lack of HP becomes a factor, the car just simply wont reach a higher speed.

You are getting what you should be expecting if you have 4.11 gears. If you have anything in the 3.xx range, then you may have a problem with your clutch slipping. What does it tach at in 4th gear? In 4th, it's 1:1 just like his. Half the engine doesnt mean that it should run at twice the RPM. There is no correlation.

Ok, so I finally made some decisions for my project. Currently I have a 1970 240Z with an '83(?) L28 with SUs After going back and forth between building the L28 a little more vs going with a SBC, I have finally decided to go with a SBC I also FINALLY decided on a color: Subaru's "Newport Pearl Blue" Here's a pic of it on their Forester model. It's a very electric blue. Looks even cooler in person. Coincidentally it kinda matches my Iceman nickname since it's kinda like ice. My SBC is going to be an '88 350 that is currently in my '65 GMC. I have a nice old OLDS 455 that is going in the truck. I think the setup that I have on the 350 will be nice for the Z. It has an Edelbrock Performer intake with a spread-bore Quadrajet carb. Most of the time I will be able to motor around on the 2 barrels, improving fuel economy, but then I can mash it and open the secondaries. This has been very nice in my truck because it gives me a lot more control before WOT since there is a very noticeable resistance before popping the secondaries open. It also is a lot of fun when I am playing around because I can make a challenger think WOT on the primaries is all I got, and then open the secondaries next time

Well, I wasn't really think of it as re-inventing the wheel, since I recalled seeing it done before. More like just choosing a different wheel I also thought there would be some pros-cons to each.

zlalomz hooked me up. thx mod can close

Thanks Davy! I think you hit the nail right on the head I was thinking about doing this because I think it would make the engine compartment look a little bit cleaner and look more like the engine was supposed to be there. I seem to recall some benefit to having it mounted to the frame-rails as opposed to the crossmember. I was talking to someone, and he was saying it probably wouldnt be that hard as long as the engine is parallel to the frame, and the output-shaft is parallel to the ground.