JMortensen

2004 Gmc 1500

We haven't had our truck more than a couple years, but so far I've been totally happy with warranty and customer service from our GMC dealer. They've repaired 2 things, a loose steering coupler, and a squeaky interior panel. Both times they got it right the first time, I take it to the dealer for oil changes because they're CHEAPER than Jiffy Lube, and they'll drop me off and pick me up if I need it. Plus the dealer offers free car washes, and I live close by, so I just drive it down whenever it gets dirty. They've also performed I think 2 recalls. No problem, they call, drop it off, pick it up, done. I can't complain at all.

I agree with John and Oleh. This is a car which can perform some truckish functions. If that's what you want, then that's fine. I'm sure Consumer Reports rates independent suspension that gives a nice ride higher than the heavy truck riding straight axle in the F150, Tundra, 1500, or Titan that is built (marginally) strong enough to tow 9000 lbs. Compare to a 3/4 ton or a 1 ton drivetrain and it becomes more ridiculous.

6 piston = impress people at car shows. Use what works. Personally I think either will work just fine on a Z, but you read some of John Coffey's posts and Eric at EMI was complaining that John had the Outlaws. I guess AP's are really supposed to be the poop. But seems like the guys with the Wilwoods aren't complaining at all. Maybe its one of those law of diminishing returns things.

Hahahaha!!!! Speak of the devil: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=616456

Standard transmission = stick.

You DO NOT want to adjust it right to the point of actuating. You need a little free play in there, like 1/8" to 3/16". If not you'll have a thread in a couple days saying "I just replaced my master cylinder, and as I drive the brakes progressively start locking up worse and worse until the car just won't drive anymore. If I let it sit for an hour then I can drive again, but then the same thing happens!" It's come up here a couple times, and happened to me on my clutch. Went to a track day and the more I drove the more the clutch slipped, same deal. The fluid in the master expands when it gets hot and this trys to force the master cylinder cups past the fluid return hole. Once it expands to the point where the return port is blocked off, the pressure in the master can't be released back into the reservoir. You need slack in there so that the master can fully release even when the fluid gets hot.

Fine, but the R200 which you asked about isn't a cleveland. It's a part of the Datsun drivetrain. Post drivetrain questions in the drivetrain forum, post cleveland questions in the ford forum. Even if you install C4 and a 9", you'll want to ask your trans and diff questions in the drivetrain forum. Lot's of people don't even look in this forum, as Fords are the minority here. Just trying to help with your future queries...

Well, Cary's yarn test seems to indicate that the pressure inside is not as great as the pressure at the windshield. Which means you're forcing more air under the car by popping the hood. Cary mentioned vents through the inner fender well, as did someone else (with the CPU fans). I wonder if something like the new Z06 fender vents might be done on a 240Z, maybe with a duct running from the engine compartment out to the fender. Venting it sideways doesn't produce downforce like Terry's car would, but at least it's helping to reduce the upforce. Also, someone commented about reducing the opening in the front and whether that would cause the car to overheat, NO WAY. I think preith has the right idea: close half (if not more) of it off and leave a much smaller duct from the front to the rad support. He had some better pics on classiczcar.com, but I can't find them now. Here's one though:

I think the widespread use of cowl induction hoods tends to point to the conclusion that the area of high pressure between the hood and the windshield is higher pressure than the area under the hood. To my understanding this is why the vents on the 280 hood are so far forward of the rear edge of the hood. Because there is a high pressure area at the front, a low pressure area towards the rear of the middle (about a foot from the rear most part of the hood), then a high pressure area caused by the air hitting the windshield at the back.

We still use that same cutting board too, but the point was I don't know if I'd want my whole kitchen counter done in that surface. Also we cut up meat on the board, then cook it. Our immune system is there for a reason, but that doesn't mean that we need to constantly probe it for weaknesses...

A quick glance at the two will tell you that the mustache bars are totally different. Also, why is this a Ford V8 question?

My wife did a project in college where they analyzed the bacteria on various household surfaces, and the cutting board was definitely the most highly concentrated. The professor was pretty impressed with the uniform coverage on the cutting board. They didn't ID the type of bacteria, but it had a whole bunch, and all over.

If you guys are serious about diving out of the way when rolling over, you can forget it. Not going to happen. I was in a pretty good rollover (went over probably 5 or 6 times) and the shoulder belt slipped off my shoulder and instead of giving me extra room to lean over, but instead I slid that much closer to the roof and smacked my head in the corner between the door frame and the roof really good a couple times. Centrifugal force when you're right side up and your own weight when you're upside down is going to keep you from being able to avoid the roof. A 4 point would have saved me a concussion that time.

260DET did that, and he had them cut and welded back together at a different angle. Basically you want the line from the tie rod through the ball joint to hit the center of the rear axle line. In this case since we have the steering rack in front of the crossmember that means you want the knuckles bent out towards the rotor to accomplish that. Unfortunately there just isn't much room. On a rear steer you can really change it a lot, since there isn't anything in the way and you're moving the pivot inward away from the rotor.

Nah, its the fronts. Especially at full lock the difference in the radius of the arc cut by the inside and outside wheels is pretty dramatic. If you have 100% Ackermann then the wheels follow the arc regardless of the steering angle, then you get no scrub. Z's have very little Ackermann. When you crank the wheel the wheels turn basically parallel. One tire has to scrub. Short steer knuckles make this problem worse too. One test you could do is mark the position of the tie rod, then open up one end and give the car a whole buttload of toe out. Try your cranked turn again. I betcha the skittering is reduced dramatically if not entirely eliminated. Only problem is toe out wears out tires really fast, especially if you've got neg camber too.

Either that or you could use more Ackermann.

I think the ST bar comes in 3/4 for the rear mount 240 version, and 7/8" is the front mount 280 version. 99% on that, but not absolutely positive.

Mad props yo!!!

fastzcars is right about squeezing the tire on the rim. I really wanted to run a 10" rim but didn't want to flare the car and the tires were cheap, so I forced them onto the 8" rim. Probably doesn't matter so much for drag racing, but that really is too wide a tire for the optimum handling on that rim.

Looks like a tight spot you've got there. No room to mount below the subframe connector, and binds above, huh? Well, you could go to the rear mounted 240 bar. My front mounted 240 bar from MSA bound like crazy too, FWIW, so I switched to a rear mounted bar. Quick test for you would be to disconnect one end link and see what happens. Won't fix the bind, but will eliminate the sway bar aspect. You can drive it around a bit and you'll feel the effect anyway. As to whether the rear bar is "necessary"... well not required in absolute terms, but it can definitely make a pretty drastic difference on the balance of the car. If the car pushes a lot when you take it off, then you'll want to consider some alternative like the rear mounted 240 bar instead. I'd also take a look at the front bar. If you have the 280 front bar at 1 1/8", then you'll probably need something out back just because the front is so freakin huge. In that case you might consider a smaller front bar, like the 1" or maybe even smaller.

I'm running a 250/45/15 tire, 23.5" tall, 8" rim, my fenders are not rolled. I use 10" coilovers, not the shorter 8", and I have 250 in/lb springs in back with Tokicos. Suposedly the 250's in an 8" length have binding issues, but maybe you could run a longer bumpstop to prevent that from happening. Haven't blown a rear strut yet in ~8 years hard usage including 5 seasons autox and a bunch of track days. I did blow a front (200 in/lb in front) running over curbs at the road course, but it had nothing to do with the spring rate and the other front is fine years later. The tires are about 1/4" away from the adjusting nuts on the coilovers, and probably 1/2" away from the fender lip. I ordered the wrong size wheels and I had to space the wheel out with a 1/4" spacer, but if you do it right you definitely can get them stuffed in there with no issues. Don't ask me what my backspace is, I don't know and I'd hate to give you the wrong info... Ground Control/Modern Motorsports coilovers are supposed to be slightly higher quality than the rest. I don't know that it matters that much though.

I agree with you in this case, because they've screwed him a couple times already, and I've seen enough other businesses that run the same kind of scam hoping people won't notice the charge, or will be confused and if there is more than one person making orders with that card they may not know whether the order was legit or not. In general though, don't just dispute a charge. It's a prickish thing to do if the merchant is legit. I used to work for a LARGE (legit) mailorder company, and it really pissed me off when people would dispute a charge without even calling us first. FWIW, if a merchant gets over 4% of their charges disputed, or has 3% of their charges reversed for unauthorized charges, Visa/MC regs say that their merchant account will be shut down completely. That used to be my job for a while. Shutting off accounts and holding money. You want to talk to a PISSED OFF criminal, take $250,000 from his bank account and tell him you're putting it in a holding account until you can verify the charges. Kinda fun when you were SURE they were criminals, but it was pretty stressful when you weren't sure!!!

There is a form on the back of every credit card statement that is specifically for disputing charges. Disputing charges should be done as a last resort, because it costs the merchant money. Anyone with a problem on their bill should always call the merchant and try to work it out FIRST. There is however a time limit. You can't say you had a fraudulent charge a year ago and have them take care of it. I think the reason why the dispute form is on the statement is so that you can dispute the charge BEFORE you pay the bill. So basically you have 30 days IIRC. Visa/MC/AMEX/Discover basically all have the same protection for the cardholder, but Visa/MC are definitely more customer oriented, and AMEX/Discover are more merchant oriented. You have to play by their rules though.