JMortensen

I'd also make sure to get a PRE-TEST instead of a test. If you fail a pre-test no harm no foul. If you fail the actual test and you're a gross polluter then you have to smog every year afterwards instead of every 2. Real PITA. Frankly I think if you get a smog tech with 1/2 a brain he'll fail you on the header.

We went through this a couple years ago and the control arm weights were within 1 lb of each other IIRC. The AZC stuff should be more rigid being tubular chromoly vs stamped sheet metal, but weight isn't going to be much of an issue.

Well then I guess it's perfect!

Nice looking car, nice looking house. Looks like you need a deck or a patio in the back. With the slope a deck might be easier. Very pretty though. Congratulations.

Try searching for "R180 R200" and see if you can find a post with pictures of the two. I've seen quite a few posts where the question was answered by somebody posting a pic of the two right next to each other.

Looks like you need to make it a public album or something.

I'm still not buying the "everything forward of the strut towers is just dead weight" argument. This may be true if you have a serious cage/strut tower bar setup, but if this is just a regular old Z you're using everything up to and including the core support. Is your splice forward of the sway bar mounts? That IMO is the end of the really stressed area of the frame if you have the aforementioned serious cage and strut tower bar.

I don't think so on the muffler. K&N I'm not sure. You might contact Pacesetter for the sticker.

Wow. Thats a ton of caster and a lot of weight in front. Sounds like a project, and it ought to be fun to be able to compare later and see where everything ends up.

75 and older in CA, and it doesn't change anymore so if you have a 76 you're stuck smogging forever.

It will have to have a CARB sticker. If you have the CARB sticker then you're OK. I had a technically legal header but didn't have the sticker and was failed once. If it is required to have a cat it won't pass the visual inspection for that reason either. Get a CARB approved header (if you have to have one) and a high flow cat would be my recommendation. Also I'd skip on the Pacesetter. Pacesetter is kinda junky IMO. I don't think that anyone that makes a really good header has CARB approval.

I ran a .490/280 cam similar to the Stage 4 MSA cam on my 8.3:1 compression L28 daily driver for 5 years with a 12 lb flywheel and ACT clutch, and now I'm using the same on my 11:1 compression L28. Everyone tends to go small on L cams. My take: Stage 1 isn't worth the effort Stage 2 isn't worth the effort Stage 3 is a MILD cam, but it's as big as you can go with CRAPPY stock FI Stage 4 is a medium sized cam Stage 5 is big Regrind is a better idea IMO (better metallurgy) and a hell of a lot cheaper. BRAAP had done that .520 lift regrind for Silent. That's the sort of thing I'd be looking for. You've got BIG HIGH RPM induction. You're going to be bummed if you use a small cam. BTW it looks like the thing that is preventing you from using a larger cam than that is the springs. A set of Schneider springs is good for over .600 lift IIRC. Stage 3 MSA cam is the third stage of wussiness.

The clutch LSDs have the same spline count as the open diffs and the side stubs from an R200 open diff should plug right into the LSD. Sounds like you are trying the R180 stub shafts and they're not fitting. I think you need the R200 stubs. Or you could convert to Z31T CV's with a kit from Modern Motorsports. http://www.modernmotorsports.com

No, definitely do not tack weld the frame together. If you replace the front you're probably going to have upper and lower frame rails and fenderwells to weld together. I'd cut them in a Z pattern to get the most surface area to weld, then once the rails were welded together I'd grind it down and put a big piece of 1/8" plate over the joint and weld it all the way around the perimeter. The fenderwell I'd stitch around until you had the full seam welded. The tack welding is just for putting a small patch panel in. The stitch welding is for strengthening the frame rail at the seam, not splicing a rail in the middle. All that said, I've never done that type of job, so I'm just telling you what I would think would be the right way, you might get a more informed opinion on that by asking someone more knowledgeable.

Illegal in most racing classes. I think they did end up doing that on the Porsche in the end, but they put the holes way up top. Something about the placement of the gigantic CF wing on that car. If you put them down low on a Z I think you'd get MASSIVE fumes in the cabin. Might get away with them way up top though if it's legal (or if you don't care). Yeah, the 510 is nice. When I was originally building up my Z about 8 years ago, his 510 and my Z were both our daily drivers. We were roommates, he was a Nissan Master Tech at the time. We were always within 1 second or so of each other, sometimes I was faster sometimes he was. Then all of a sudden I buy a house, and he flares his car, widens the track about 3 inches in front, buys the lightweight Panasports, switches to Wilwoods, and goes to cantilevered slicks and installs the Lexan and a full cage. He was then about 2-3 seconds ahead at autoxes, but I still beat him by 5 seconds on the big track. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I get done with my project, although I might never race against him again if I don't move back to someplace in CA. He's DOMINATING the local Porsche Owners Club autox in his area though.

Bad dog also makes a complete subframe connector that I don't believe is advertised on the site.

Supposed to save 40% of the weight of the glass IIRC, which isn't going to be anywhere near 40 lbs. I think a stock hatch weighs 50 lbs with the glass. I'd guess this saves 10 lbs, maybe more like 20 if you remove the quarter window frames entirely and just use the lexan instead.

Here is a pic of a friend's 510. He uses the stock gasket and has 1" wide by probably .060" thick aluminum straps. The straps are contoured to go over the gasket and pop riveted above and below. The Porsche that blew the rear window out used a bunch of small pieces of aluminum angle to fit the Lexan flush to the outside of the car (really cheesy). When the window blew out we replaced it with 3/16" thick Lexan, and we also used button head pop rivets and put a thin rubber washer between the angle iron and the Lexan. It worked for a couple more races then I left so I can't say if it was successful in the long term and which if any of those changes made a difference.

Is Hines german? That sounds overly complicated John. Seems redundant too. If I read that correctly you have an evac system, AND a catch can, AND you're connected to the intake, AND you have a vent to prevent it pulling a vacuum. Wow. That's one complex PCV setup. Preith, you're right, it's illegal. Not too important to me, as I'm not going for a national championship anyway. If I did decide that my car was of that caliber I could always retrofit on some drip rails and the change out the rest of the illegal stuff so that I could run legally.

You should put straps on before you drive it on the street too. It needs that support in the middle, otherwise it will blow out. I have also seen 1/3 of a Lexan window blow out with the straps on, but that was at 160+ mph.

How are you going to do the straps on the rear window? Must have straps, that's for sure...

You're right in the comparison to corporate sponsorship. But I think you're wrong in the idea that nobody wants to donate if they don't get to touch the car when it's done. How many people got to be involved with the Pinks build? 10? How many people touched the car? NOW--How many people donated? There is something to be said for not getting as involved, and for this reason corporate style sponsorship just seems like a better idea to me. Ultimately it's not up to me, and it's not up to you, and it really isn't for us to put to a vote. I'm just stating my opinion that a group build is going to breed conflict and suggesting an alternate idea. I'm not suggesting a completely finished alternative with all the logistics worked out, just a direction that may be more easily followed. For instance, the decision to give a guy like you $500 to buy some slicks and some signage to put on the car might be a little easier to make than the decision to spend $20K on a ground up build of a drag racer, especially when there are already a whole bunch of purpose built drag cars here. Who makes the decisions about sponsorship or dollar amounts? I don't know. Right now I'd say Dan, but he may have some idea about putting it to a vote or something amongst us admins, or something else entirely I really don't know. As to group input, well I'm going to have to take issue with you on that one. Just speaking from personal experience, my car is being built with tons of membership contribution. Specifically tube80z, Jeromio, blueovalz, John Coffey, katman, 74_5.0_Z, preith, ZRossa, gnosez, ZR8ED, heavy85, PUSHER, clarkspeed, Mikelly, gramercyjam, 260DET, Jolane, Mat73GNZ, bjhines, Phyxius, and probably at least 20 others here have had SPECIFIC input that helped determine what went into my car and how it was eventually built. I really hope that they will have some sense of pride when they see how they helped shape the design of my car, as I know I do when I see someone else's project come together that I helped with. I tend to think immediately of the toe adjuster that blueovalz, jeromio and I came up with. That part is DAMN cool, and I know it wouldn't have happened without the three of us coming together here on Hybrid Z. So unless you hide in your garage and build something and then display it to the Hybrid Z world as a finished product, it is a group project IMO.

Truly a sweet Z car, and it's very clear that every part that was used had time and energy spent to use it to it's best advantage. Excellent job!

I ran that master with 4x4 front calipers and 280ZX rear calipers and had a firm pedal. That's a two piston caliper vs a 4 piston caliper in the back, and I am not sure but I think the piston size on the front of the Toyota piston is smaller in front too.

Bigger master cylinder seems to be the common theme here guys.