JMortensen

Quicky trick you can do to remove the preload in the bar: Start with the control arm touching the bushings and the bushings sitting on the center sleeve on the passenger side. Sit in the car and have a person underneath adjust the drivers side by adding washers in between the bushings so that it is the same, with the endlinks set so that the bushings just touch the center sleeve and the control arm. Then tighten both sides evenly. This trick removes preload from the bar and makes the bar act the same way in left and right turns. Swaybar preload is not really a critical thing, but it's one of those little things that adds up to make the car better overall.

Can you show us a shock dyno graph, or are we supposed to take your word that they're "crazy good"?

Can you show us a shock dyno graph, or are we supposed to take your word that they're "crazy good"?

When you keep posting to this useless thread it makes it harder for someone to search and find good info. If he had just searched for subframe connector he would have found my thread where I have all kinds of pics showing the installation of the Bad Dog parts.

Just for Silent's benefit I was originally running a ZX damper and it came apart and started vibrating, and this in turn allowed the front crank bolt to loosen. The pulley wobbled around on the bolt until I finally realized what was going on, and by that time the crank was trash. It does happen. My rev limiter was set at 7000, but I took it off for a while and had a couple instances that were probably 7500+ rpm. I wouldn't be too worried about a couple trips to the dyno. If nothing else just check the torque on the bolt when you're done if you're worried.

Haven't seen John around lately. You might be waiting a while for an answer to your question.

Search. All of your questions have been answered numerous times. And why is this posted in the Chevy V8 board?

The VW's and Porsches you mention had the gas tank against the firewall. You're talking about putting it right out in front. Of course, in the back it isn't very well protected either...

I have that tubing notcher A.G. Works really well, surprisingly. The main problem I have is that it takes a 1/2" drill and my 1/2" air drill must flow 30 CFM or something, because the minute I hit the trigger the air compressor kicks on. Guess I need an electric drill. I did have to shim the notcher just a hair. It was cutting off to one side of the pipe just a bit. I put a super thin washer in between the frame and the part that holds the drill and now it's hitting dead center on the tube. I had pretty much decided I was getting this tool, then the guy who bent my rollbar suggested it as well. He builds rally cars and does all of his cages with the same HF special notcher. I know some guys who build rock crawling buggies and they actually fish mouth everything, and that just seems like a huge PITA. If my cage required more elaborate connections of 3 or 4 pipes into the same node I would definitely consider the tool that started the thread. In fact I was at the welding supply place getting some more gas and they had one on the counter. I asked for a price but they couldn't find it, and they didn't have the right size in stock either, but I did get to play with their demo model and it seems to work really well.

Suggestion: black crinkle paint. When the sun hits that sucker without it you're going to be blinded. Looking forward to pics!

Couldn't tell you Bill, but it surely keeps funds rolling into the state's coffers...

That sounds a lot easier than having bushings made. Good thinking!

No problem on the Jim thing. I'm sure a lot of people think I'm Jim Ortensen. Dumb me for choosing that screen name. I think that is the same camshaft that Bastaad525 had on that same build basically. He lives in SoCal, and was running your crap gas. He said he had to crank the timing on his engine down to about 25 degrees total to avoid pinging, and IIRC that was with a N42/N42 flattop setup, so basically the same thing you're talking about. My comment at the time was that I'd rather have a 9.5:1 engine running 35 degrees advance than a 10.5:1 engine running 25 total. That is the MSA cam you guys are talking about, right? In Bastaad's case with CA gas, it was too small. The problem is that if you go bigger than that then you have to deal with coil bind on the valve springs and get different valve stem seals (search Jessz, lots of info on that stuff). If you were going to pick a cam from MSA, I'd recommend the Stage IV. Really though I'd rather have a cam reground, and for 10.x:1 on CA pump gas with SU's I'd look for something in the .490/280 to .490/290 range. Can't go too much more lift than that or else the pistons start hitting the valves, but those should be safe. Also look for threads about wiped out cam lobes to see why you might want to avoid Schneider cams.

The MN47 is 39cc combustion chamber IIRC. Plug that into the calc and see what comes up. I think you meant me (Jon, not Jim) but I will state again for the record that I think it would be a very bad idea to try to run an 11.5:1 or whatever compression L series engine on CA 91. CA gas is the worst in the country. And as I've said before, you might be able to get it to run by putting in a big cam and cranking the timing back a LOT, but you'd probably make more power with a 10:1 compression engine and having all the advance that the engine can use. And for the record no, I haven't tried it myself, but my ~11:1 L28/E31 combo required 95 octane in CA to run total advance in the mid 30's.

Not too much time to play in the garage today, but I did get the seat bracket modded and in. I had to cut loose the brace that went from the front of the bracket to the rear. Luckily it was only tacked in place, I had planned on welding it in solidly later. So, cut the tacks, get it situated nicely right above the frame rail, and tack it back in place. Then I added a second tube on the other side, so now the seat is effectively attached to both sides of the subframe connector. Then I laid a big weld right through the floor into the frame rails. This was quick and easy to do, and I'm stoked on it. My original welds to the floor were kind of messy because I hadn't straightened out the floor yet. I'm sure it would have done the job the other way, but now it really looks like I know WTF I'm doing! Just a few pics today.

They are just freakin expensive. All the S30s from 70-78 take the same bearings and seals. You can verify that at the Timken website. http://www.timken.com/industries/automotive/autoaftermarket/timkencatalog/PartCatalog.aspx Just use the pull down menu and you can compare the 240, 260 and 280Z. Beware though, they do show 75-78 280Z, ZX. The part numbers are correct though, RW116, RW117, and seal number 224270. Also, when I was replacing mine the quality of the bearings came into question, and it was stated that Timken or NSK bearings were the way to go. I had already ordered mine, they came in a Federal/Mogul box and I was about to send them back, but when I opened the box they were NSK bearings inside.

You might also want to factor in the cost of fixing the tranny if that should happen. If it costs $1500 for a new trans, or $600 to fix the old one, or $xxx to buy a used one, is fixing it later going to be cheaper (potentially a LOT cheaper I'm thinking) than losing money on the trade now.

Keep it and pay it down. I don't see how you could possibly trade it and not lose thousands of dollars. When I bought my house in CA I had to trade in my Outback because it was too damn expensive to make the mortgage and the car payment. I had owned that car for 2 years, and it had very good depreciation. I ended up with a $2000 downpayment on a 94 Sentra, which my wife drove until she got hit by a Hummer. But that's another story. The bottom line is good car, good depreciation, owned for 2 years, wasn't upside down when I went to trade it in. Your car, being a kid's sports car type in the same genre as the WRX and EVO, is probably going to depreciate faster, just because you can assume that anyone who has owned it has thrashed on it. Plus you've only had it for 6 months, right? I can't see you being anything but several thousand (I'm thinking $5-7000) dollars upside down at this point. I hope I'm wrong, but I kinda doubt it.

These last two posts make good points. Here's how my dad explained it to me when I was looking for insurance for my Z(he was lawyer for an insurance company before he retired): Pop's point is also unfortunately correct, but it's true with ANY car. The insurance company is going to try to low ball you regardless. Having an appraisal and an agreed value policy just makes it that much easier for you to prove your case, and the most important thing is that you've paid premiums based on the value of the car. Even that doesn't mean they won't try their hardest to screw you over.

One way to do it is to run a 240SX ebrake cable. Thats what I did on my 280ZX rear disk setup. Got the cable at the JY for $5 and installation was pretty straightforward. I removed the rear bell crank and attached the front of the cable directly to the ebrake handle. then I hung the cable from the springs at the back of the trans tunnel just like stock. The cable housings have a mount on them that slides over the cable, so I just attached the cable to the calipers at the back and held the cable up to the bottom of the floor and moved the mount to where I wanted, then attached the mount with nuts and bolts wherever it was convenient. It was really easy to install and worked great. Either that or I believe Ross sells a little adapter piece you can use.

You don't think that has something to do with the rise of the internet and the fact that everyone is videotaping their outings now? That's my theory. Just because you see it more doesn't mean it's happening more. Kinda like Ferrari crashes. I don't think more people are crashing Enzos than crashed F40s, but I've never seen an F40 crash, and I think I've seen 3 Enzo crashes. Not to defend the idiot driver at all, but I also think it's a bit weird that a club running an autox would do a long straight right at a curb, then do a sharp left right in front of said curb. Hopefully your autox location doesn't have any obstacles, but if it does, you generally want your cars going SLOWLY around them, and you want them on the INSIDE of the turn, not the outside...

I'm talking about a 15x9, not a 9" wide outside to outside rim. My 15x8s are particularly wide lipped circle track steel wheels and they have a lot of clearance, probably 1/2" to the rear fender and I have not rolled the fenders. Based on this I think a 15x9 would fit just fine.

9" rims will fit in the front with coilovers. There is a bit more room in the front than in the back. The problem is that at full lock the tire will hit the TC rod. Terry devised a steering stop that is easy to make and works, you might want to check his website for some pics. 15 x 10's are hard rims to find street tires for, no doubt about that.

Connectors are on! Well, at least the back to the front frame rail, but not the part where the new TC bucket will eventually go. Surprisingly it was easier than I had expected to get the floor to meet the rail on the passenger side. Took some massaging, but what I did was to tack the frame rail at the back, then screw it in place at the front, being careful to align the front of the rail for the next part of the project. Then I screwed in all my sheet metal screws, and where I still had gaps in between screws I just used a big punch and my BFH and pushed the floor out to meet the rail. Made welding the rails on reasonably straightforward. I think this project is looking pretty damn good if I do say so myself! Now that the subframe connectors are on, the next thing to do is to get the rectangular tube on there, then I can connect the short span from the connector to the TC box. Pics: Look at these pretty welds! I love my MM135!!! The subframes are technically connected... I did get SUPER LUCKY with one weird coincidence. My seat bracket just happened to line up PERFECTLY with the frame rail, by pure chance. So I think I'm just going to weld the bracket straight to the rail through the floor. I can even add another tube on the other side and connect to both sides of the rail. I don't think that this is absolutely necessary, but what the hell, right??? Here's something a little weird. The way the BD rails come, the rail is spot welded to a piece of angle iron. The angle iron gets welded to the car, then you have to weld the rail to the angle iron. Not a big deal, but you end up with two welds right on top of each other. After first weld: 2nd weld:

There is another reason behind drilling a hole in the thermostat. I don't think this is a common problem on the L series, but on my Toyota P/U with a 22RE there is a fairly common phenomenon where the temp gets REALLY high, then suddenly drops back down to normal. The problem apparently is that the pressure of the coolant will prevent the thermostat from opening. When it gets really hot, the spring eventually overcomes the pressure, and once the thermostat opens just a crack then it suddenly is able to open all the way, and the temp drops back to normal. The "fix" for this is a double thermostat which has a tiny thermostat facing backwards and then the normal size thermostat in the correct direction. The tiny one doesn't have the coolant pressure fighting it, so it can open, thus relieving the pressure on the normal sized thermostat. OR... drill a hole. So owning the Toy is where I picked up the hole drilling trick. At this point I still have the bypass hose on my Z, but I had intended to remove it. I'll make sure to drill the hole...