JMortensen

If you change your coolant every 2 years the aluminum won't corrode. You don't need a special coolant.

There was a company back in the 70s that did just what you're talking about. They'd cut right through the middle of the floor then I think they cut the roof at the front or the back. They'd take a good front and a good back and weld them together to create a whole good Z. My friend who was a Z mechanic for a long time told me about these cars. He was test driving a car and it just felt super weird. He said it felt like the pedals went farther away when you went over speed bumps. Scary part was they did. The floor welds were almost all broken and the car was sagging in the middle as he was driving!!!

I LOVE the mid 90's 540. That is one COOL car. I had a friend who was a BMW master tech at the time they came out, and he used to tell me stories about that 540 (he had a tendency to do very "thorough" test drives). I remember they came out with one about 97 or 98 IIRC with some fairly deep dished mesh wheels. Just beautiful. In fact my wife lusts after 3 cars after the Z: M5, WRX, and the new Mini. I think I could get her to settle for the 540 though.

You gotta admit though, it'd be fun to take a car that is that stupid looking to a POC event and whup some *** with it.

I think that comment was more directed to the turbo guys who slip the clutch to get a little boost when they launch, but yeah, if your buddy's clutch can't handle the power he's got then he should upgrade the clutch ASAP.

Valve timing? Don't think that's it. Probably more because the 4 valve crossflow head can flow a heck of a lot more easily at high rpms than a 2 valve non-crossflow head.

You might want to have a look at the gears and the housing. If they're badly scored then that might cause your problem. Never heard of the oil pump spring wearing out to the detriment of the oil pressure.

Are the gland nuts threading all the way down to the strut tubes? If the nuts couldn't tighten on the top of the strut inserts then they would actually tighten against the top of the strut tube itself. That would be a problem.

Price is probably my #1 motivating factor. Next was support. This seat is not as fitted as some of the higher end Ultra-Shield or Kirkey seats, but it is built in different sizes and I was able to pick a size that fit me, which I couldn't do with a Corbeau or a Sparco or Momo. It has 5 harness holes, another plus. I was pretty much deciding between Ultra-Shield or Kirkey, and after having sat in 3 different Kirkeys and talking to friends who had sat in the Ultra-Shields, I decided on the Ultra-Shield.

Search, it's been discussed MANY times.

Good. 11lb flywheel frees up some hp and makes heel/toe downshifting much easier. Only downside is you have to be a little quicker on the stick when you shift. I drove my cammed, 44 Mikunis, 12lb flywheel car with ACT clutch in stop and go daily for years. Never had a problem. The 6 has enough torque to overcome all of the low speed driveability issues.

I bet that caused some interesting handling issues. Is there a good reason why the crossmember shouldn't just be welded in? I mean if you stitch welded the thing you could cut it out fairly easily...

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=84860 You'll spend thousands more than you need to if you do what you're planning on doing. Plenty of people here putting down 300 whp on stock internals, no stroker.

The vents draw in air from right at the top corners of the radiator support. You know those little black plastic elbows? That's what they're for. They take the air from the front of the radiator there and force it into the frame rail thingy underneath the top of the fender, then route it to the vents inside the car. With all of the other holes around the radiator I'm still skeptical that opening those little vents could cause problems. I suppose you could block off the little holes under the elbows with a piece of cardboard and see if that fixes the cooling issue. I'd be surprised if it did...

I have a D6K8 in my car. Works great. Came out of an 80. The later distributor had a 4 plug module that hooked into the computer and would retard the timing under certain circumstances IIRC (what those circumstances are I really don't know). My understanding is that any 2 plug (E12-80) will work. Not sure if you can put the E12-80 on the later distributor and just not hook up the other connections... Hotter spark? Most likely because you can jump the ballast resistor and get a full 12V to the coil. With points you need to run the ballast because 12V to the points fries them.

Sorry about the computer there Cary... Kinda makes me want to design and manufacture an anodized alumium cupholder to ashtray brace or a polished door escutcheon to window crank support.

I think somebody linked to a "floor bar" the other day. It was a bar that attached to the seat belt bolt holes behind the front seats, and it had a bend to go up and over the trans tunnel. I'm not kidding. Just found the other thread... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103667

The hole in the front of a Z for the radiator is GIGANTIC. The idea that you could somehow alleviate so much pressure in that area that it would make the car run hotter is not realistic. Look right in front of the radiator. There is another gigantic hole that lets air pass down underneath the radiator, and that huge hole will let way more air past the radiator then the little vent holes will. You need to check into your cooling system for sure. If your thermostat is working correctly and you aren't losing coolant, then the prime suspect would be corrosion in the radiator tubes. Here comes trouble once posted about using Jet Dry in the radiator to get rid of the corrosion. You might try searching for Jet Dry. IIRC the idea was to drain the coolant, fill the cooling system with distilled water and add a bottle of Jet Dry, drive for a couple days, then drain flush and fill with new coolant.

That is the truth! I was on my parents insurance for the first 3 or 4 years driving. They had Allstate and had their homeowners/auto/life policies all through Allstate so they got the multiple line discount. Back in '92 I got fed up with the $2100/yr they were charging me for 100/300 on my POS 79 Mustang that I bought for $500. My parents told me there was NO WAY I was going to get a better deal than what Allstate had given them. My FIRST call resulted in a quote for $1200/yr, and I got it down farther after that. I think I got over $1000 off what Allstate was charging. Called them to cancel the policy and they said "We can match that rate" to which I told them I'd be happy to keep them as my insurer if they would give me back the $2000 I had overpaid them already. Needless to say I switched. I think Wheelman is normally correct, but don't buy into the idea that it is ALWAYS cheaper to be on your parents' policy. I think some insurance companies will try and bend you over assuming that you won't shop around.

Bumpsteer FAQ Bumpsteer is a condition where the toe changes as the suspension moves through its travel. It is generally not noticeable on street cars unless they are being driven "arrest-me-officer" fast, but is an important factor with regards to how a race car handles at the limit. Bumpsteer curves can be plotted out, and generally they follow the following rules: when the suspension droops the wheels toe in, and when it compresses the wheels toe out. A car suffering from too much bumpsteer generally has the following symptoms: Bumps in the road hit by one wheel cause the car to jerk in one direction or the other even though the steering wheel does not move. When driving through a bumpy turn the wheel must be constantly moved back and forth in order to keep the car traveling in a continuous arc. Why does my Z have bumpsteer in the first place? Bumpsteer is engineered into most cars direct from the manufacturer. They use bumpsteer as a safety mechanism. The more the suspension compresses, the more the front tires toe out. When you turn very sharply and load the outside front suspension that tire toes out and makes the car want to take a straighter path. This will contribute to understeer and understeer is considered to be a safer and easier condition to control than oversteer. What causes bumpsteer? Bumpsteer is caused when the tie rod and control arm are different lengths, or sit at different angles, or a combination of the two. In a Z the tie rod and control arms are the same length from the factory, so the issue in the Z is that the two are at different angles. How do I measure bumpsteer? Bumpsteer can be measured with a bumpsteer gauge. Wasn’t that easy? A bumpsteer gauge is basically a glorified pair of dial indicators. Usually a bumpsteer gauge comes with a steel or aluminum plate which gets strapped to the wheel. A stand sits next to the front tires that holds the dial indicators in contact with the plate. The suspension is moved up and down, and the front and back dial indicators are compared to measure the toe change. Unfortunately, you want to do this measurement right in the car’s normal ride height, and through a couple inches of suspension movement on either end of that ride height. To accurately measure the front springs and sway bar must be removed, then the car must be placed at ride height with relation to the suspension and moved up or down while monitoring the toe change on the dial indicators. How do I “fix†bumpsteer? There are many ways to fix bumpsteer. Probably the most common modification available is the bumpsteer spacer which can be purchased from just about any Z parts supplier. This is a spacer that fits between the bottom of the strut and the control arm, and “restores factory geometryâ€. It doesn't really restore factory geometry, and it really does not fix bumpsteer either. What it will do is return the ROLL CENTER to a position closer to stock on a lowered Z. What bumpsteer spacers really do is raise the roll center of the car which makes it have less body roll in turns with a given spring rate. The bumpsteer spacer does not eliminate bumpsteer. The next most common modification is the JTR crossmember modification or some variation of it. This involves redrilling the control arm hole up ¾†or 15/16" and out ¼†in order to reduce bumpsteer and add negative camber at the same time. Moving the pivot out ¼†will gain more negative camber, but it also exacerbates bumpsteer, because now the control arm length is now shorter than the tie rod length. Again, this approach will be helpful to the roll center, but will not “cure†bumpsteer unless the pivot is moved to the correct height. In order to know what the correct height is you really need to measure on YOUR car, because a 30 year old car is going to vary chassis to chassis, plus some people want to run the "bumpsteer spacer" to raise the roll center AND fix the bumpsteer in addition to that. Now we’re into the not-so-common methods for dealing with bumpsteer. One method I have used is to slot the front crossmember. I did this by drilling a hole directly above the original control arm pivot hole then connecting the two holes with a cutoff wheel. I then measured the bumpsteer with a gauge and adjusted the pivot up until it was at 0. I've run my Z this way for more than 5 years, autoxing and doing track days on slicks and have not had the pivots move at all. So far all of these methods have dealt with moving the inner or outer end of the control arm in relation to the tie rod. It is equally possible to move the tie rod. One way to move the tie rod is to modify the steer knuckle that the outer tie rod attaches to so that it will accept a common bumpsteer spacer kit. These kits are very common in road racing and circle track racing, and generally replace the outer tie rod with a rod end, then use spacers to move the rod end up or down in relation to the steer knuckle. Cary (tube80z) has pointed out that a standard bridge ream can be used to ream out the hole in the steer knuckle. The bridge ream has the same taper as a Ford, so a Pinto bumpsteer spacer kit available from any circle track racing parts supplier will work once the steer knuckle has been modified. One issue with modifying bumpsteer on the tie rod end is clearance between the wheel and the tie rod. Sometimes there is not enough room to move the tie rod down far enough to get rid of the bumpsteer. Another way to move the tie rod is to raise or lower the steering rack, which then raises or lowers the inner tie rod. This is not an easy option in a stock Z, but can be done with some fabrication if desired. Where do I want the bumpsteer to be? Opinions vary. Some like me prefer 0 bumpsteer, some like John Coffey prefer to tune the car by changing the bumpsteer and roll center characteristics by varying the thickness of bumpsteer spacer used. What is a fairly universal idea is that little toe out on compression makes the car more forgiving and toe in on compression is not a good thing. Is bumpsteer worth messing with? If you have to ask this question it probably isn’t worth it. 99% of street drivers will never notice bumpsteer or will consider it cured by the JTR mod or a bumpsteer spacer. For those that do drive hard enough to notice it can be very worthwhile. Modifying your suspension is potentially dangerous and you do so at your own risk.

The best way to make your 72 street legal is to not do any illegal modifications to it. It is already street legal. As to insurance that seems high to me, you might want to shop around.

Gas prices might be a motivating factor. A carbed V8 is also more likely to trip one of those smog sensors. Would something like MSnS take care of all your problems with the turbo setup? Would it give you the power you're looking for? How does that compare costwise?

I have sat in the Kirkey intermediate, but not their road racing seat. This one is much more comfortable than the intermediate for me. The intermediate holds your thighs in a particular position and they feel like they are really close together, like your knees are pretty much touching all the time. The other thing about the Intermediate that was a big problem was the side bolsters. They stick out pretty far, which gives you a ton of lateral support, but if you have more than one driver in your car the smaller person will hit their elbows on those bolsters. My buddy and I used to swap cars during fun runs after autoxes pretty much every time, but it got to the point where I couldn't drive his car anymore. He's a lot wider than me, and every time I drove his car I ended up smacking my funny bone on those bolsters, and that hurts!!! Plus as I said before my friends who got Intermediates all shortly thereafter got detachable steering wheels. It's just really hard to get around the bolsters and into the seat. I think that was the key thing for me in deciding on this seat. I just didn't want to bother with the detachable wheel at this point.

Wonder if the US version has heavier crash bumpers. Remember those butt ugly bumpers on the Countach?