JMortensen

All of the half shafts are the same size, from R160 halfshafts in a 510 up to the 280ZX halfshafts. There is an issue with the driver's side halfshaft bottoming, and yes, you can shorten it to fix this problem. It's all been described before and I think it was our member 2126 who had actually done it and run the halfshafts. I tried to search for that thread a couple different ways and couldn't find it. I'm hoping someone else can locate it, cause I don't want to go thru the whole procedure again. Here's the short version though. Disassemble the halfshaft, cut 1/2 or 3/4" off the inner part of the shaft and either machine the end of the shaft to fit the ball retainer thing, or I was going to just weld it on. You'll need a saw that can cut the shaft. Best solution I've come up with is a band saw. I don't remember what 2126 said he used. I was ready to go on this mod then said screw it in ponied up $$$ for CVs. I'm 95% sure it was 2126 that had done the whole thing and had run his that way for years.

Actually, it does A LOT performance wise. It affects dive under braking and turns the front suspension into a semi-leading arm, which is not ideal which is why johnc and BRAAP were critical. But to say that it doesn't do much is wrong. It can be done better, but this certainly helps. Anyone who has run Mike Kelly's arms or AZC suspension basically has the same thing. BTW--a search would have found all this info in a matter of seconds.

I would suggest you get slotted, not drilled rotors. Slotting will vent gasses just as well, but keeps the more of the mass of the rotor, which you need to absorb the heat generated during hard braking. Back when I didn't know better I got some drilled rotors from NOPI years back, and they were pretty cheap. They are sold under the name Power Stop, and what came in the box were drilled Brembo rotors. I think the Power Slot rotors are by the same company and are also Brembos.

You can get a new CLSD carrier from http://www.differentials.com or http://www.reiderracing.com for about $500.

Bingo! Seen one like that in person. Truck was a little later than that, but it was built for a 5' 130 lb Japanese man, not a 6' 200 lb American man. The one that I saw had a deeper dish wheel than that and the owner could just barely get his gut between the seat and the wheel.

Well all I can tell you is that my wife felt comfortable enough to get a little sideways getting on the freeway with the SU's, and when I switched to the triples she was literally too scared to drive the car. It was a BIG power increase. I think Dan Baldwin dynoed before and after switching from 2" Jag SU's to triples. Maybe he'll pipe up...

Regardless of whether or not the ebrake is SUPPOSED to adjust the rear brakes, you might want to see if you can manually adjust them. The automatic adjusters are pretty finicky and lots of times don't work at all. Bench bleeding is when you put the master in a vice, attach hoses to the bleeders and run them right back up to the reservoirs, then use a punch or a screwdriver to cycle fluid through the master. You don't have to bench bleed though. You can bleed the master on the car just fine. One thing you don't want to do is push the brake pedal down quickly when you're bleeding the master. You'll see if you do then it causes the fluid to squirt back into the master and you end up with thousands of little bubbles in the fluid. These little tiny bubbles get into the system, and then you're stuck again with air in the lines. So push slowly when you're bleeding the master.

Yes I suppose you could look at it that way. Or you could say my first post was an unveiled judgement that you can get a lot more powerful engine for $17K. Maybe slownrusty thought people might like to see it. Maybe he thought it was funny that people would actually spend 17K on an 2L 6 cylinder engine. We should let him say why it was posted. Regardless, nobody has said it wasn't a cool engine, or it wasn't an interesting post. Nobody has said the engine was a POS. But when somebody else mentioned that you can buy a new LS7 for $5K less, that made a whole lot more sense to me, so I agreed. I'm not telling you YOU don't belong on this forum. I'm telling you that revelling in the marvel of the $17K 2L engine will probably get you some flak on this forum. I'm telling you that this forum will value hp over rarity. That's all. I encourage you to stick around. You might learn something... Not yet. I know I've hurt some feelings when I dared to state the the 240Z wasn't the penultimate car and that it could use some improvement. I don't think that went over too well... buy you agreed with me IIRC. It is for posting threads of a non technical nature which are not political or religious. Ah, here it is. So he had to be an ignoramus to put a Chevy engine in. That unsophisticated American! How uncooth! Actually from what I remember reading about it a while back, I think he made more hp and found the Chevy more reliable. I don't know about the rear end. I would assume if he was smart enough to put a cheaper, more reliable, more powerful engine in he might have taken the time to put a better rear suspension in. But that wasn't the focus of the magazine article so I can't say. If he did change the rear suspension, then I would suppose he probably went faster at the races, so that would be a good thing. No harm at all, and I welcome your posts about Nissan's history and their old race cars. Just don't be surprised or offended when people point out that they could have done the same or better with any number of inexpensive modifications that might "bastardize" the breed.

It's not really going to matter that much, because like you said when they are both open that slight angle of the butterfly won't matter.

I'm not a collector or a restorer. If that's your hobby that's fine and I won't pass judgement on you. But you are at hybridz.org where the focus is less on period correct restorations and more on making the Z as fast as you can make it. I don't think we have too many billionaires here, so the focus tends to be on how to do that most effectively and as cheaply as possible. To that end the S20 isn't even in the running for engine of choice. The Z is the car that I own because it is a CHEAP mass production sports car with decent aesthetic appeal and light weight. The reasons for owning a GTO or a Daytona Coupe are a little different. BUT--I do believe there was a guy back in the day who ran a GTO with a Chevy 350 in it. That's my kinda Ferrari racer. Keep what's good, improve what needs improving, and forget about what the purists think.

I don't suppose he put it up with the expectation that nobody would note that there are more powerful engines available for a lot less money. He probably just thought it was a cool engine, which it is. But in a cost vs hp analysis it pretty much sucks balls, even you would have to admit that.

You realize what forum you're on, don't you Alan? Here people are mostly interested in faster.

I did it all by myself. Just kept jacking it up higher and higher. You get that sucker about 3' off the ground and it starts to get a little sketchy. Cherry picker is a damn good idea. Think I might use that to get it down.

Been discussed a couple times. Look it up and you'll get more, but the gist of the threads I've read is that it is not generally thought of as a particularly good way to go. Can be done, but so much harder to tune than FI why bother. Get triple sidedraft TB's and do FI, that's the way to go with turbo.

Yeah, but just think of how much slower and more "authentic" you'd be with the S20...

Mine doesn't have a lockwasher. Just the cam for the fuel pump which I'm not using anymore. Never had it come loose and its seen 7500 rpm a couple times on accident...

Anyone have any thoughts on Idaho? Southern Idaho specifically, like Boise or suburbs thereabouts. My wife found an article and it was named in the top 100 "Kid Friendly" Communities. Looks like suburbs are going in with $400K houses at 2700 sq ft. Figure if you buy a used house it would be EASY to get all of my requirements in at $200 - $250K.

I don't have any personal experience because my head was already very mildly ported and I already had my "big" cam in there when I added triples, but as I've said before it was an INSTANT 40 hp easily. I can't tell you what it would do with a stock cam, but I'd be absolutely shocked if adding 44s or 45s onto a stock head and cam didn't add a sizeable amount of hp. People who have 40's (with only a few exceptions) don't seem to get that big an increase. I've seen that enough that if you offered me a set of 40s for $200 I'd turn you down. But the 44s or 45s are a different story and although as I said I don't have personal experience I'd be really surprised to find out that you were correct on that one. Well as I said before, I think having the Stage I and Stage II sets it up so that the stock FI people can say "I have a Stage III" and feel like they need to step up to the Magnum condoms. Aside from that there are other issues that come into play like the valve stem seals hitting the retainers and coil bind that need to be dealt with, that I'm sure your average Joe just isn't aware of. So instead of being sold a cam that requires a bunch of additional headwork to install, they keep it simple. It's too bad. I really do wince every time I see a "Check out my new L series" thread and they've got a Stage III from MSA in there.

IMHO, you guys are smoking crack. Plenty of good engines to choose from where you won't have to machine a freakin block. I don't understand the purpose of saying "It's got L series rods and pistons." Get something with longer rods and shorter pistons, and a bigger bore. Why you'd go 95% of the way to making another engine and not just go all the way is beyond me. And at that point, you can probably find a more suitable engine to start with in the first place. Just my $.02.

BLUE stripes? WTF? He likes RED!!!

All you need to do to make the image appear in the string is to put the img tags around it. (img)http://album.hybridz.org/data/500/jeffsonlawn1small.jpg(/img), but use the [] brackets instead of the parentheses (). Like so:

I really appreciate all the feedback guys. Keep it coming. I guess I'll address some of our concerns/questions about some of your suggestions. Kentucky - thought of that one. Have to go check it out. I have preconceived notion in my head of hicks with no teeth fueding, but I know that isn't realistic or fair. Looked up Caroline Breeding, my wife didn't know who she was, web says she's in the Dietitian's PAC. I didn't even know there would be a PAC for dietitians. Learn something new every day... Atlanta - isn't it muggy as hell in the summer? Portland - NO. Maybe southern Oregon though. I think it drys out a bit south of Eugene. Milwaukee - I'm such a pussy I can't handle the Seattle winters. No thanks. East Bay area - Seems too anthill-ish for me. The few times I've been through the bay area that weren't at 90 mph at 2:00AM I remember being stuck in hellacious traffic. Raleigh/Durham - we have a couple members out there. Everything I've seen of NC looks pretty damn nice. NC has been bouncing around our conversations for a while. I'm sure it will make the short list. Bakersfield - suprisingly possible. I hadn't thought of Bakersfield. Only about 3 hours from family, but far enough away from LA. Charleston - this crossed my mind. Sounds like summers are miserable. NY state - too cold Utah - my dad's side of the family is Mormon. I probably have 300 cousins in UT. My dad was one of 15 and his dad was one of 21. I know all about UT. Maybe southern, St. George-ish area... North Mississippi - hadn't even considered it. I'll have to do some investigating on that one. Turlock - I'll have to check it out. I kinda think that if I'm going to the Sac area I'll end up in the foothills as opposed to the valley though. Colorado Springs - need to figure out more about Colorado. It seems like the west part of the state is pretty mountain-ish, but the right side is plains-ish. Not sure where Colorado Springs is. Colorado has been mentioned a couple times... Fresno - Lots of gangs last time I was through there. Fresno-Bakersfield-Visalia is a pretty widespread area IIRC. Been a while since I been though. Maybe I need to look at a map.

Sounds like a U-joint to me...

Uh, yeah... that would be a problem for me...