JMortensen

Is it the right size?

That number and hp increase is figured for a race 510. When they are lowered a lot the U joints are at really severe angles, much worse than a Z. You could feel vibrations just driving in a straight line in my friend's 510 due to U joint angles. I've never heard of or seen that problem with the halfshafts on a Z. Not trying to talk you out of it, just doubting it would make as big a difference on a dyno.

In retrospect I think this is wrong. I think it should be double the rear and then subtract that from 100 for the front... never trust my math!

The reason you don't want the prop valve in the front is because it is not a linear valve, and it is not proportional. So the harder you push on the brakes, the less pressure gets to the system with the prop valve in it. If you put it on the front system, the harder you hit the brakes the more rear braking you'll get. I don't think you followed what boodlefoof said about the single piston rears. They will give the same clamping force as a double piston rear, so your initial calculation is off. So either halve your numbers for the front or double them for the rear to get the correct result. That said, I don't think the rears will be big enough. I'm just trying to make sure you get the idea that they aren't really 90/10. You might look at Mike Kelly's new rear brake setup. Has an ebrake and should match the fronts better.

The leverage on the stock Z pedal is surprisingly low. I think it's about 4:1, but it's been a while since I measured, but I remember this because I redrilled my pivot upwards when I modded the stock pedal box for dual masters and was almost able to get it to 5:1. That little difference has a pretty big effect on the numbers you guys are throwing around. If someone had a spare pedal hanging around it would be good to get a correct number.

The one thing I don't like about the twin SU's is the tiny air cleaners. They seem very restrictive. I wonder if the Z K&N's might fit. They would fit if you bolted up Z SU's. Had a friend do that years back. Ported the crap out of the manifold and the head and ran an L20B off of Z SU's. Worked pretty good too!

Tony, if you install them at an angle then you might not be able to square up the car. Pretty common for one side to have a different camber measurement than the other. If one plate needs to be moved farther than you're also throwing off the caster. I'd adjust caster with an adjustable TC rod and stick to adjusting camber with the plate.

My point was that they'll need to be changed because of the different cam, not that they can't be reused in general.

With the exception of the lash pads, yes.

There was a link to that at classiczcars.com. I think the guy wanted $1000+ for it too. It was just a not a very good frame rail with some strap steel bolted across. Bad design and bad implementation at the highest price possible.

Wow, that's impressive; a completely full IMSA flare... If THAT doesn't hook up I guess your only other option is to start moving weight to the back.

That is a hell of a trans crossmember Cameron. Nice work.

Oh man that sounds painful...

I haven't seen those plates on a Z in years, but I remember them being installed like the Sharp car has them. Doing it the other way would give you caster adjustment, not camber. You could also redrill the holes in the strut top to clock the plate the way you want it. Might be able flip it around 180 from the way Sharp's car had it...

The Z tunnel is super weak. There is no bracing of the tunnel on my 240 at all. The trans mount doesn't go all the way around the tunnel circumferentially and doesn't attach to the frame rails or anything else. I think a lot could be done to strengthen the underside of the car by attaching the frame rails or better yet subframe connectors with a big X shaped structure under the car. This would lessen the vertical and horizontal flexing of the center of the car. The problem seems to be the exhaust is in the way...

John's suggestion sounds pretty ultimate to me. I'd use more displacement to get the 500 hp though and get more torque down low. On a more realistic note, MONZTER's project would also qualify as fairly ultimate. Can't forget Terry's car. Within my meager means and skillset, I am building my own ultimate chassis, although it's looking like it will be going together with the L28, at least for a while. Terry raised his rear roll center by extending the rear strut under the axle, that is one of your items on your list. I'm convinced that a 2200 lb Z doesn't need 13" brakes, and the smallest brakes you can use that consistently get the job done are the best choice, since you can save a lot of rotating mass. Lower is better from a cg and aero perspective, so the smaller diameter wheels would be superior as well.

Not impressed. Maybe I just don't get it. What movement is it trying to prevent? Here's one that looks like it does something (keeps the frame rails parallel): http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=4538&parentid=0&stocknumber=13-69920%20%2090-97

Tony and Dragonfly have this right. I used the same principle testing breakaway pressure on my LSD. Made a long extension bar and then plugged in the torque wrench at the end. This allowed for less pressure at the handle and accordingly more accurate readings. Austin did the same and took pictures of his: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=117818

This "you'll starve to death without a college degree" thing is one of my pet peeves. You don't need a piece of paper to make money. You might need a degree to get a particular job that starts with a high wage, but that is far from the only way to make money. I've worked for and with too many self educated and self made millionaires to believe the BS about college degrees being a prerequisite for a successful life. The pressure put on me as an adolescent to achieve in school and go to college made my middle and high school experience pure agony, caused me to rebel in a self-destructive way, and was in retrospect totally unnecessary. So far as I've been able to identify them, there are two main factors that dictate "success". Ambition is the most important, and intelligence is secondary, but also very helpful.

As everyone else has said, this is just one more physical manifestion of awesomeness that you can claim as your own handiwork. Congrats and good job.

I've got four: Breaking a 928 front crank bolt loose I ended up hanging off of the breaker bar and bouncing, and snapped the end of it off (found out Snap on tools will also snap off from time to time). Fell about 4 feet on my hip. Hurt pretty bad. Big bruise. We had an automatic oiling gun at this shop, where you turn it on and can walk away. Much like a gas pump, but no automatic shut off. Boss starts putting oil in a 911, phone rings, and he goes and answers it and leaves the oil pumping in the car. Ended up putting about 25 quarts of oil in the car, capacity is 11, I think about 8 or 9 qts hit the floor. I didn't realize what was going on until there was a lake of oil on the concrete floor. Stupidly I RAN to shut the thing off and when I tried to stop my feet came straight out from under me. I felt like my body was completely horizontal about 5' over the ground, then I just fell straight down into the oil. Hit my head, had oil covering me head to toe, basically it was like being body slammed onto oily concrete. Doing an alignment on the rear of a 911. There is an allen head bolt which has to be rotated to change toe/camber in the back and they can be really hard to turn. We had a bit of a allen key about 1.5" long which we stuck in there and then put a wrench on it. This one was really tight so I double wrenched it. The first wrench came off and it flung straight into the bridge of my nose. It hurt, but it wasn't really that bad. Funny part was I went to show my boss and there was a customer in the office and she just about fainted. I had a big goose egg and a cut right between the eyes dripping blood down my nose. I guess that was a bit much for her. All time stupidest injury: Friday at 4:55. I was maybe 19 or 20, and I was doing a used car inspection on a Jetta. I had already completed the inspection and test drive and was just looking in the engine compartment to give everything the final once over. Saw the flywheel inspection hole. I was not familiar with this hole at the time and wondered what it was. As I pried off the cover and looked in I could not see anything. Then I told myself "Don't stick your finger in there" while I stuck my finger in there. Turns out the teeth of the flywheel are really good at tearing the end of your finger off. Mine was attached only by a tiny flap of skin. Put it back on, wrapped it up really tight, and went home to be in pain and embarrassment for the weekend. I never went to the doctor but it did heal. That finger is still a little sensitive and the nail grows in a little weird, and this was 10+ years ago.

The only "extra" pieces are the bolt on adapters. I think it's a nice setup, especially for a 510 where using an R200 is just massive overkill and the halfshaft angles get really funky when the car is lowered a lot. Gives you a strong Porsche CV upgrade and works with R160, R180, R190 (I'm guessing), and R200.

Yes. I have a run and some dust in the paint and a couple other little flaws that will require wetsanding of that coat. If I didn't have those flaws I would probably leave it alone and just wax it. It came out that flat. It's shiny too. I expected dull, but it really is shiny.

Hey I did just think of one tip. I had a bitch of a time getting the old seal out and was worried about scratching the crank. Ended up screwing in a couple sheet metal screws on either side of the seal and using a slide hammer on them, and that worked quickly and easily.

There is no magic to installing a rear main seal. Just lube and install. I've had the opposite experience with the stock seal, by the way. I installed a cheap aftermarket gasket set (except head gasket) when the machinist I was using assured me it would be OK. Needless to say it wasn't. The rear main was too tight or couldn't handle the heat from racing and burned up. It had probably 50 tiny pie shaped wedges that were just completely missing when I pulled it out. I installed a Nissan seal and no more problems. The Nissan seal comes with red grease on the lip. I used assy lube on the cheap Chinese model. I think oil would work as well. No mystery though...