JMortensen

This is a fair statement, and I apologize if I got a little sensitive there everybody, but I had another guy PM'ing me saying the same thing Tony said, which is basically that the shifter I used doesn't do anything. I know from years of experience that this is absolutely not true. If you want the shifter to be really long then I agree that you might want a shorter shift than the truck shifter provides. But it is designed to provide a reasonable throw on a 2' long shifter, so you have to realize that it is going to be significantly shorter than stock on a stock length shifter.

BZ3099 is what I used in the front. That is a rear 88 MR2 strut. Then I used the 240 front strut in the back, but I don't have the number for that one. When my strut blew it looked like someone took a squirt gun full of shock oil and sprayed it all over the inside of the fenderwell. If you have the struts out the way to check them is to compress them and extend them and feel for "dead spots" on my Tokico that blew you could compress it all the way then pull on the strut when it was compressed and it would pull up about an inch and a half with NO resistance, then it felt normal again. The bluing on the shaft is not an indication of a bad strut, but the ones that were blued on my car also had the paint bubbling off, so they did get HOT. Some people bend the top of the strut for camber. Sounds like yours might have been bent on purpose. I have a friend who had a local suspension shop do that for her, so I don't think it's uncommon at all. I honestly don't know how they do it with anything like accuracy, but it might be that this is the reason why your struts are all bent at the top. EDIT--You can get all the same struts and then put a spacer in the back if you want.

BZ3099 is what I used in the front. That is a rear 88 MR2 strut. Then I used the 240 front strut in the back, but I don't have the number for that one. When my strut blew it looked like someone took a squirt gun full of shock oil and sprayed it all over the inside of the fenderwell. If you have the struts out the way to check them is to compress them and extend them and feel for "dead spots" on my Tokico that blew you could compress it all the way then pull on the strut when it was compressed and it would pull up about an inch and a half with NO resistance, then it felt normal again. The bluing on the shaft is not an indication of a bad strut, but the ones that were blued on my car also had the paint bubbling off, so they did get HOT. Some people bend the top of the strut for camber. Sounds like yours might have been bent on purpose. I have a friend who had a local suspension shop do that for her, so I don't think it's uncommon at all. I honestly don't know how they do it with anything like accuracy, but it might be that this is the reason why your struts are all bent at the top. EDIT--You can get all the same struts and then put a spacer in the back if you want.

Something tells me John does the same thing (not that you shouldn't buy it from him). There's nothing wrong with drop shipping. It's just a way a business can offer you something that they don't sell a lot of. I bet Autopower doesn't even have a whole lot of stock on hand. Roll bars are heavy and they take up lots of room.

Gollum I believe you have to drill a new pivot hole higher than the original to use the really short shifter.

I've been running 200/250 for 8 years on Illuminas, daily driver, about 5 years autox and some track days. I blew one front, but that was on the big track after repeatedly driving over one of the curbs. Oops. Other than that one the rest have held up fine. I'm really looking to go much heavier on the springs since I'll finally be trailering to events, so thanks for all that Bilstein info Katman.

I've been running 200/250 for 8 years on Illuminas, daily driver, about 5 years autox and some track days. I blew one front, but that was on the big track after repeatedly driving over one of the curbs. Oops. Other than that one the rest have held up fine. I'm really looking to go much heavier on the springs since I'll finally be trailering to events, so thanks for all that Bilstein info Katman.

Measurements would be preferred to "what you did doesn't work" for sure. I've tried all kinds of shifter locations, what I have now is what I like best. Tried it right up next to the steering wheel (again with a truck shifter, but this time maybe 4 inches longer than stock and RIGHT next to the wheel) in a friend's car and just couldn't get used to it. Mine is not "reach into the console to shift" short, it's comfortable and it is where I want it. I don't doubt that 25mm increase from the pivot to the ball makes the throw shorter yet, but again, that would be too short for me. Way to short if I cut down the shifter. Techninja points out that he sometimes can't tell if he's in 3rd or 4th. That is too short. There is such a thing. When I get out to the garage again I'll stick the shifter in the trans and take a measurement of how far the throw is. That seems to me to be the important measurement. Get the stick where you want it then get the throw to the appropriate length. 10mm, 15mm, 25mm doesn't mean dick. Comfortable for the driver is what it is all about.

I think synthetic is a waste of money in a non-turbo application because they don't generate heat like a turbo. I use Chevron Delo 15W-40. Cheap as hell (Costco carries it), it's designed for heavy diesel applications. It's not something you can brag about like using Amsoil or Mobil 1, but seems to do the trick for me.

If you built it up comparable to Brian's 3.2 liter, you could expect the following. Brian gets 278 whp out of 3.2 liters, or 86.875 hp/liter. Your 2.4 could expect 208.5 whp if similarly built. You're probably looking at $7K minimum to get the engine built to the point where you'd see that kind of hp, assuming you send the parts out and then assemble it yourself. Won't be nearly as expensive as Brian's because you don't need to source the stroker crank and rods and all that or weld up the combustion chambers like they did on his, just basically a forged piston bottom end with some good port and polish work on the head. That's my best SWAG anyway. Do the same thing with a 2.8L and you're looking at ~250 whp FWIW.

Diff problem when accelerating or decelerating = ring and pinion. Diff problem when turning = spider gears in the carrier. At least that's usually the way. This might help: http://www.ringpinion.com/content/technicalhelp/default.asp?pid=109 http://www.ringpinion.com/content/technicalhelp/default.asp?pid=110 I don't imagine that it's the halfshafts needing lube. What you're lubing in there are the ball bearings that allow the halfshaft to extend and compress. But the lube doesn't come out of them, and I pulled a couple apart and they didn't look like they needed any attention whatsoever. The grease didn't smell burnt and they were working fine. Pretty easy test would be to pull the halfshafts off and extend and compress them. If it's frozen or doesn't move smoothly I'd just replace the whole shaft. Assuming the halfshafts are good like you said, I'd be looking at the diff or the wheel bearings, because suspension doesn't make noise according to speed.

Wilwood is supposed to have one of the more flexy calipers. Haven't heard complaints from the people I know that use them though, and they can sure outbrake me.

Anthropomorphizing Americans.

search for iskone's post. I think he found that they did fit. Not positive.

Just don't turn it, right? Isn't that the reason Mitsu is denying warranty claims, because they starve for oil in turns?

When I was working as a mechanic I dropped my car off at a body shop just for that reason. They screwed with it for a couple hours then told me the doors couldn't be adjusted to work with that weather stripping. And this was the best body shop in town.

Let me say that I feel that if my shifter had less of a throw I think it would actually be a bad thing. I think there is something of a balancing act, between how short the shifter is and how short the throw is. I like the shifter fairly short. I haven't seen a stock 5 speed shifter in a long time, but I seem to think mine is about 3" shorter than the stock one. Basically the shift knob starts about an inch or two over the top of the boot. If you want the shifter the stock length then I can see that making the throw even shorter than what I have might be beneficial. I'm not the type of guy who breaks shifters and all that (never understood who did), but I can say from my years of autox and track experience that I feel that the amount of pressure needed to shift from one gear to the next is NOT excessive by any stretch of the imagination. I can also say that the throw isn't just "noticeably decreased", it's WAY shorter. Maybe what we need here is a measurement of how short the throws are, but as I said before, I literally don't think I'd want the throw any shorter than it is right now. I'm hoping that tec280zx will pipe up again since he actually has direct experience with this currently. Tony, I think you know that we're normally on the same page. On this one I couldn't disagree with you more. I think the MSA short shift kit is a complete waste of money. Not that it really matters. Bottom line is if I recognize your MSA shifter I'll probably laugh to myself, and if you see my truck shifter you'll probably laugh to yourself. Just to restate the case though--the truck shifter fits right in, the stick can be bent to the appropriate shape easily in a press, it costs $5, and it works with every type of 5 speed that I've seen it tried on (which is everything NA). If it isn't the "ultimate" short shifter that's fine. It's a hell of an improvement over stock and I wouldn't want mine any more "ultimate" than what it is with the stick at it's current length.

We HAVE been over this a bunch of times. I would again like to relate my story about Nissan door seals. Bought them for $180 each IIRC. Had to SLAM the doors to get them to close. Driver's side came apart, took it back to the dealer, their explanation was that the seal probably sat on a shelf for the last 20 years. They replaced the seal, new one was just as tight. It also came apart a few years later. So I had a $360 experiment in crappy overpriced factory weatherstripping. I'd suggest the Precision kit with some JC Whitney / McMaster Carr weatherstripping for the doors. Search and I think Tim240z has provided the door weatherstrip part numbers from http://www.mcmaster.com several times in the past.

You'd probably want to find someone prettier than me...

I think it depends on how you drive. I have some friends who autoxed a 510 wagon. They got tired of swapping the tires all the time, so they started leaving their Kuhmo V700s on all the time. The tire life was surprisingly good and the tires stayed on the car for over a year, although I don't know how that translates to mileage. I'd guess 8000. Maybe a bit more. I would suggest that you don't shave them if you're going to drive on the street. By way of comparison, the Toyo has a bit deeper tread depth of 8/32" and a 40 treadwear, and the V700 has a treadwear of 50 and a tread depth of 5/32" The A032R is a really crappy tire IMO. They don't stick and the huge gaps between the tread blocks makes it sound like your driving a helicopter if you run lots of neg camber.

Aren't you the same guy who regularly defends the "doriftos"...

Aren't you the same guy who regularly defends the "doriftos"...

Similarly bad Discount Tire Co story here. A friend of mine went in with a bent tie rod on his 240Z and the jackasses told him he needed a new steering rack. The problem was the idiot mechanic didn't realize one side is reverse threads and stripped the **** out of the locknut for the tie rod on that side. Luckily my friend called me from the shop and I talked to the service manager before they sold him the new rack. He was ready to buy it, and it was totally unneccessary. After I realized what morons they were I told him to take the car home and walked him through fixing it in his driveway. Took a torch and a big pair of vice grips to get the thing off after that retard worked on it. Of course that's just one idiot mechanic and one idiot service manager, can't say they're all bad on account of that one experience. I should also say that their internet sales are fine IME, and I've never had trouble with any tires I've bought from them which is probably 2 or 3 sets now.

Put the overgrown stickies in the FAQ section would be my suggestion. Unfortunately people don't seem to use the FAQ section. Maybe they think its a HybridZ FAQ instead of a FAQ for Z info.

Who did you use to get the Bilsteins revalved katman?