JMortensen

If you're an AAA member they have a speedometer dyno that they trailer around to AAA offices and they'll test your speedo free of charge. I tested my Z after changing the speedo to Autometer along with the wheel size, diff gear ratio, etc, and by some miracle mine read 99 at 100 mph and was dead on at 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70. If you needed it fast they could probably tell you where there is a dyno and you could drive to it.

I would do that, but I'm still going to use the floor pans and the front frame rails, so I don't want to damage them during the removal process. I drilled out all the spot welds on the seat bracket and man did I screw up the floor pan trying to get all those welds removed. Granted I'm probably not very good at it, but it was a real mess. So this time I figured I'd try and do it as cleanly as possible.

That would be a good idea for sure Lighft01. I'm not cutting the whole rail off on my car though, just the part under the floor.

I'm a believer in the mechanical oil pressure gauge, but I'm sure your aftermarket electric gauge is still a lot better than the stock unit.

Perhaps because the sender needs to do that. A recipient can't make a claim on a package. The sender does, then reimburses or reships to the recipient.

The crappy stock oil pressure sender is a likely culprit for low oil pressure problems as well. A test with a mechanical gauge might be in order, it's reassuring to know that the pressure that the gauge is showing has some relationship to reality.

While I'm sure it makes a difference you have to put it in context. There is a reason why they're putting that on a convertible. Instead of having a butterfly brace on the bottom of the transmission tunnel, you could think of a Z having a brace attached to the A and B pillars that we call a roof. I remember when I was working on Porsches the 944 convertible had something that almost looked like a double floorpan. It literally looks like a floorpan, then another one about 1 inch below the first. Convertibles are notoriously flexy. Then again, so are Z's... I don't doubt that it would add stiffness to a Z. I just have to wonder how much, and whether it would be worth it.

100lb boost in a 50 lb bag...

Hahaha!!! That's EXACTLY what it felt like' date=' but we didn't take any pictures. I believe that was the first time I've ever been motion sick though. His lines were way different than mine too, which was throwing me off. It's definitely faster to drive over that one, good for the suspension components is another story!

John you know that one on the left at the end of the bus stop on #13CW? That's the one that took out my LF Tokico... Big F'er that one... Doing 13CW my buddy would go over Lost Hill and he'd clip the bumper at the top on the right and come about 1/2 of the way down the other side with the two right wheels still in the air. I don't think that was the fast way around, but it was such a freaky floaty feeling that he pretty much made me car sick doing it. This thread makes me glad that I stitch welded my control arms!

Seems like a waste to put 2 turbos on an engine to get 5 psi of boost. You could run that craptastic turbo that goes in place of the muffler and do better than 5 psi at 1/2 the cost, and probably more like 1/3 or 1/4 when you factor in the plumbing etc...

I haven't come across a Miata on the big track, so I'll have to take what you guys say as true. It's pretty apparent that it is a lack of power, not a lack of handling that makes them moving cones though. Go to an autox and you'll see what I mean. Just because you passed a car like it was standing still doesn't mean the other car doesn't handle.

Did you try searching and see if anyone had used it? I know I've seen a couple threads, one in the last two weeks or so about that part.

You could also do the johnc/katman thing and run it backwards and also tilt the fuel cell forwards 7º. Supposed to have a good effect with aero, and also makes the front mounted pickup that much less likely to run dry...

You must be encountering some bad drivers. Go to an autox and watch BS stomp most of the Street Prepared cars in the field. Miatas are an excellent handling car that usually posts .92 or .93 on the skidpad in bone stock form, and as stated the aftermarket is huge and that number can be improved considerably. Your bad handling Miatas remind me of that "slow" 996 Turbo I LAPPED in a 20 min session at an open track day. In my case the car wasn't slow, it was the driver. I suspect the same in yours. EDIT--Forgot to mention bone stock Z skidpad figures (granted with the old tire technology) was .73 IIRC. I looked this up a while back and if you want to compare with new cars that's about what the Kia Sorrento and the Jeep Liberty. Granted g forces aren't that good a comparison with regards to how a vehicle can transition weight and all that, but it's still an eye opener! Where are they both going to end up on the racetrack? That depends how much money you have to spend and how good a driver you are.

One more here.

He is specifying a stock 240 block, so I'm thinking that getting 220 whp is probably not going to happen. 220 bhp is within the realm of possibility if everything was done well which equals roughly 187 whp. I have reservations about putting big valves in when you have to notch the block for them to fit. Always seemed like a bad idea to have the valve that close to the cylinder wall. If there is no room or very little room between the valve and the wall then how is the air/fuel mix going to flow around that side of the valve??? Not very well I don't think... If you got a 2.8 block with flat tops that would give you a big boost in compression and displacement. 16% in displacement and 22% in compression by my calculations. That would make it a lot easier to hit the numbers you're looking for. Then again my L28/E31 takes 95 octane to keep from pinging so there are other problems to deal with if you go that route.

Neither of those pages look too good Norm. Good luck, I hope it isn't serious.

You didn't address your question to me, but having some experience with the Intermediates I'll go ahead and say that I would not use them for a daily driver. The padding really isn't the problem, they're actually pretty comfortable. The problem is that the side bolsters are so big that it is tough to get in and out of them, especially in a low car like a Z. One of my friends installed these in his 510 and then went to a detachable steering wheel because he couldn't get in and out. Don't get me wrong, for the price on a race car with one driver I don't think you can beat the Intermediates but they definitely wouldn't be my choice for a street seat.

With no engine is a different story altogether. You've got boots on the struts, but if you didn't I think you'd find that the struts are pretty much topped out. The front end of the car is very light so there just isn't enough weight to compress the spring. If you just stuck the engine in and it looked the same, that's probably due to the tires being "under" the suspension. If you roll the car back and forth the side load comes off of the tires and the suspension will settle in. To think about it another way: If you figure that your LT1 and radiator and hood and all the other little odds and ends weigh (for argument's sake) 700 lbs altogether, then you would have to have 700 in/lb springs for it to only sag 1/2 under the weight of the engine, assuming that the weight of the engine was carried only by the front struts and equally side to side. This doesn't include possible transmission weight some of which would also go to the front struts too. I think the Tokico springs are ~140 in/lbs. The stiffest springs I know of for the stock spring perch like you have in the pic is the 180 in/lb springs. So those would compress at least 2-3 inches. So something still isn't right. Maybe the suspension was not settled before, maybe the struts are frozen or something, but it should compress a lot more than 1/2".

Is that up on jack stands?!?

Hmm... found a thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=71077. I think I had just seen one picture of the steer knuckle before, not the whole thread on how it was done. I guess it is a Z31 strut not a R32 strut. Still, looks like it has a different offset on the caliper and a slip on rotor to allow more Ackermann in the front end. Stony used the AZC arms, which seems to indicate that a stock arm would work as well. Looks like he had problems with the tie rods being too short, not surprising with the steer knuckles shaped the way they are. Also had "too much" caster. Anyway, interesting experiment but probably not the be all end all we were looking for. IIRC the Z31 spindle has a different angle to it too, so it might give a completely wrong camber setting on a S30, so if you don't have a whole lot of adjustability, might not be the best idea...

Here is a spreadsheet you can use to figure out what size masters to get. http://sth2.com/Z-car/Brakemath.xls In talking to Cary about this previously we were figuring on about 1.5g deceleration. That would be truly awesome if I could get my car into that realm. I think Cary is already there. Anyway, you'll see that the bigger the rear master the less the ultimate g force you can get, because you'll lock the rear up first. If you go tiny on the rear, you can get ridiculously high g forces on the spreadsheet, but that basically just means that the rear brakes aren't doing anything, which is also something you don't want. So my plan was to go with something that got me in the 1.1g range or 1.0g range, then cut that rear down with the prop valve. Don't think there is a "right" way to do this, but if Cary or anyone else has any input on my plan I'd love to hear it...

Some progressives like the Eibach's have lots of tightly wound coils at one end. That end goes UP, because the top half of the spring is sprung weight and the bottom half is unsprung weight. What difference does that make, really? Not much at all, until someone who knows better sees your car and says "Hey, did you know that your springs are upside down?" Your situation with the front end 6" too high is pretty much impossible. As I recall the Z suspension only has ~7 inches of travel. So something was big time wrong if you REALLY had 6 inches of clearance. If you're exaggerating, then it may be that someone put the front springs in the rear and the rear springs in the front. The front end of a Z sits high from the factory so almost every aftermarket spring lowers the front end more than the rear to compensate.