JMortensen

If you're going to drag you might still want to consider the CV upgrade. Start searching for threads on broken U-joints and you'll see why. Common consensus from the drag racers is that the U-joints are the weakest link, followed by the stub axles. What John is saying about U-joints may be true in a Viper, but it is apparently not true in a Z when comparing the commonly available U-joints to the commonly available CV joints. My understanding on the Spicer U-joint issue is that the threaded hole for the zerk fitting in the U joint cross is the weak link. The Nissan U-joints are not greaseable, so they don't have that hole in the cross. I have a couple halfshafts I want to get rid of which both have Nissan joints in good shape. Drop me a PM if you're interested...

Air horns on SU's is a couple hp difference. When I bought my first Z the PO had left it sitting for years. I had a similar problem where the car REFUSED to rev over about 4000 rpm. I tried everything, but it finally turned out that the spark plugs were bad. They looked fine, in fact they looked brand new (which is why we replaced the cap, rotor, wires, coil, rebuilt the distributor, etc but never changed the plugs), but new spark plugs were the cure.

Insurance?

Brake FAQ - Hopefully this will be of some use to everyone. What to do about Z brakes? The stock Z brakes are adequate for street driving, autox, and drag racing. The stock Z brakes are adequate for street driving, autox, and drag racing. This is not a joke. Even with a V8 or turbo pushing lots of hp; The stock Z brakes are adequate for street driving, autox, and drag racing. This is especially true if you upgrade the pads to suit your driving. KVR, Porterfield, Hawk, and others make proven pads and shoes for aggressive driving in Z's. If properly maintained and if cooling ducts are added, the stock brakes can even be used for road racing. The faster you get the more intense the maintenance will be to keep them race ready. Bleeding between sessions and adjusting shoes between sessions are common practice. Turning the drums to precisely the same ID is also a good idea for a road raced Z. Stock brakes are lighter than just about anything that you'll put on the car as an upgrade, so autoxers and drag racers looking to put their car on a diet should consider the weight penalty of an upgrade. OK now that's out of the way. So lets look at some braking upgrade options for Z cars. FRONT BRAKES The 4 piston caliper: The Toyota 4 wheel drive pickup trucks from about 79-85 will bolt directly onto the Z strut and will work just fine with the stock non vented rotor. This upgrade will require the minor step of trimming the backing plate to make room for the new larger caliper. It is also recommended that the larger 79-81 280ZX master cylinder be used, since the 4 piston calipers displace quite a bit more fluid. Although the master cylinder isn't absolutely necessary, the pedal throw is a bit long without it. Fits most 14" rims. The VENTED 4 piston caliper: This is the same as above, but uses an '84 300ZX vented rotor and a different caliper from a 89-95 4wd pickup or 4/89-91 4 Runner. This caliper is an S12W and is stamped as such. These parts do not just bolt on unfortunately. A spacer is needed between the rotor and the hub to line the rotor up with the caliper correctly. This spacer is available from http://www.modern-motorsports.com and is a different thickness for 240 and 280 hubs (260s as usual have 240 hubs in the early part of the year and 280 hubs in the latter part). This is a substantial upgrade from the solid rotor 4 piston caliper upgrade because the vented rotor can shed a lot more heat than the solid rotor. Fits most 14" rims. The 300ZX rotor/280ZX caliper mod: blueovalz came up with this one, and I grabbed most of this info off of the zhome.com website, so check me for accuracy Terry. Use an 84-86 NA (which is a vented 4 lug) 300ZX rotor along with a 280ZX front caliper. It is a floating caliper, so there is less potential for interference with wheels than a 4 piston caliper. The Z strut is threaded, and the ZX caliper is threaded. Solution: drill out the threads in the strut with a 15/32" drill bit and slide the bolt through to attach to the caliper. The caliper also needs to be spaced out to center over the rotor. A simple washer of a thickness around .160" (may vary) should get the caliper centered with early hubs. Later 280 style hubs are thicker and place the hub too far inboard, requiring the rotor mounting surface on the back of the hub to be turned down. The outside diameter of the 300ZX rotor is a bit too large as it comes from the factory, so the rotor also needs to be turned down about 1/4" total to fit inside the rotor. From there it all just bolts together. The bad part about this mod is that the rotor is a wear item, and this machining needs to be done every time they are replaced. A different more difficult solution is to cut the caliper mounting ears off the strut, position the caliper correctly on the full size rotor, then weld the ears back on. This will add 1/8" to the length of the ears and then the off the shelf rotor will work, but obviously this is a pretty advanced modification and only those who are very experienced with fabrication should even consider it. The Arizona Z Car Wilwood: This is really a racing brake setup. Aluminum hats attach to 280 hubs (you'll need to swap out your 240 hubs for 280 hubs if you have a 240 or early 260) and then the cast iron 12.2" x 1.2" rotors bolt to the aluminum hats. A caliper bracket bolts to the strut and locates the caliper correctly over the rotor. The calipers are Wilwood Superlite 4 piston calipers. The rotors are just a tad over the weight of the original cast iron Z rotors, but are MUCH larger and can take a huge amount of heat. This upgrade does require some modification to the control arm to allow the rotor to clear the end of the arm near the ball joint. Fits some 15" rims. http://www.arizonazcar.com The Arizona Z Car 13" Wilwood: Same as above but with 13" rotors and Wilwood 6 piston calipers. Requires 16" rims http://www.arizonazcar.com The Modern Motorsports Extreme 13" PBR: This system uses an aluminum hat and a cast iron rotor. The PBR caliper is a stock piece from a Cobra Mustang, so brake pads are as close as the local auto parts store. The calipers have dust seals, where Wilwood calipers do not. Opinions as to the importance of the dust seals is mixed. I personally think that they are a good idea on a street car, but not absolutely necessary for someone who is looking at the brakes frequently (weekend warrior autoxer or track day type who regularly bleeds their brakes). http://www.modern-motorsports.com The Mustang Cobra: This braking system uses new hubs from Modern Motorsports and a stock 1994-2004 Cobra rotor, along with a caliper bracket and a 2 piston PBR caliper. The advantage to this setup over the aluminum hat style rotor is that you can go to the corner auto parts store and buy a rotor. The disadvantage is weight. The Arizona Z Car and Modern Motorsports rotors weigh about 13 lbs assembled. The Cobra rotor is much heavier at ~25 lbs. http://www.modern-motorsports.com REAR BRAKES Z-Quip early 280ZX brakes: Z-Quip is no longer in business, but this kit included nothing more than a pair of caliper brackets which allowed early ZX rotors to be used with early ZX calipers on a 1st generation Z car. This wasn't much of a performance upgrade, but did make servicing the brakes quite a bit easier and looked nicer than drums as well. ZX/Maxima swap: The rear wheel drive Maxima (79-83?) had a rear disk brake bracket which could be used on the rear of a first gen Z and would allow the 82-83 280ZX rear rotor and caliper to bolt directly on. This was a very popular setup, but the caliper brackets have become increasingly hard to find. Modern Motorsports 240SX/300ZX: Modern Motorsports sells a caliper bracket which correctly locates a 240SX caliper over a 11" 300ZX solid rotor. Arizona Z Car rear Wilwood: This is similar to their front brake kit, except the rear uses a slip on rotor. The rotor consists of an aluminum hat and a cast iron rotor which is 12.2" in diameter and .83" thick. The caliper bracket locates a Wilwood Dynalite 4 piston caliper correctly over the rotor. This system provides no ebrake functionality, so ebrake is removed entirely. It does come with a line lock which can serve as a temporary parking brake but will not work at all in the event that hydraulic pressure is lost in the brakes. Some have reported that the line locks can leak down their pressure, so watch it if you park on a hill. Might be a good idea to use a wheel chock in addition to the line lock in that event. http://www.arizonazcar.com BACKING PLATES Concerning backing plates and how to modify them: All of these modifications will remove the backing plates, except the non-vented Toyota 4x4 mod which only requires minor trimming with tin snips to work, and alternatively if you want to remove the backing plates you can in that instance too. The downside to removing the plates is that water will get on the rotors more easily when driving in the rain so that first stop after driving in the rain for 20 minutes won't be very good, and there is more of a possibility of a stone or a piece of trash on the road getting thrown up and caught between the rotor and the brake pad. 5 LUG BRAKES Some people are switching to 5 lug hubs for better availability of wide rims (4 lug tend to be mostly available in FWD offsets). The early 300ZX 5 lug front hubs will work on a 1st gen Z with some slight modifications and the vented Toyota brake upgrade from Modern Motorsports is available in a 5 lug version to fit. Modern Motorsports and Arizona Z Car also offer aluminum 5 lug front hubs with their Extreme and Wilwood braking systems discussed above. Rear hubs can be redrilled for 5 lug, or Modern Motorsports now offers a 4340 billet stub axle in 5 lug. ADJUSTABLE PROPORTIONING VALVES The proportioning valve cuts the pressure to the rear brakes so that under very severe braking the front wheels lock first. Front wheels lock = car goes straight. Back wheels lock = car spins. When you change the front or rear brakes from stock you lose the ratio of front to rear brakes which the stock proportioning valve was designed for. The way to properly address this issue is to install an adjustable proportioning valve. The stock proportioning valve must be removed and the adjustable valve gets plumbed into the line that goes to the REAR brakes. Pressure can be adjusted up or down until proper brake bias is restored. Proper brake bias is when the front brakes lock BEFORE the rears. Two types are the knob style with infinite adjustment, and the lever style which usually has about 5 settings and is used by racers to cut down the amount of rear brake over a long race, since the car burns the fuel off and the rear gets lighter as the fuel level goes down. The knob style is probably a better choice for most people since it can be more finely tuned. STAINLESS BRAKE LINES Stainless brake lines are a very good idea and they provide much better pedal feedback. If you haven't replaced your stock 30 year old rubber brake lines, consider this cheap and effective upgrade. MASTER CYLINDERS The stock master cylinder is really unsuitable for any 4 piston caliper upgrade. It works marginally for the Toyota 4 piston calipers, but really increases the pedal throw. A 79-81 280ZX master is a nice upgrade and is suggested by Modern Motorsports and Arizona Z Car when using their brake kits discussed above. There are two masters in the ZX's. The early one has dual reservoirs and fits onto a Z booster. The later one has a single reservoir and has the reservoirs clocked 90º making it incompatible with the Z booster. Here is the correct ZX master (79-81): And here is the incorrect later master (82-83): OTHER STUFF: There are lots of one off setups which I didn't discuss here, as I thought they weren't common enough to warrant it. Big Red Brakes from a Porsche have been fitted to a Z, and Z32 brakes have also been used. There was also another setup sold by JSK and another by scca and these guys are no longer selling their kits, so I didn't include them. Racing master cylinders setups with dual masters also weren't included. This FAQ does not cover every situation and every possibility, just the common ones. Some of the more obscure ones are covered in this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=104735 LAST THING: If you find an error in the above or missing info that needs to be there, please point it out. If you choose to modify or work on your own brake system, you do so at your own risk.

Out of curiosity, what is a V3 kit?

IMO when you do this stuff at higher speeds it is worse for the drivetrain because at lower speeds you can get more wheelspin or more acceleration. When I test a clutch for slippage I drive maybe 40 mph, put the car in 4th rev it up and drop the clutch. If the clutch slips and the engine doesn't immediately match the road speed, then you've got troubles. Note that this test doesn't work in 2nd gear, because you'll just spin the tires or the car just accelerates very quickly. In a higher gear the drivetrain doesn't have that as much leverage over the weight of the vehicle. So when you do what you did the tires can't break loose and the car can't instantly accelerate, so the drivetrain really takes ALL the load, where at low speeds in lower gears this wouldn't be true. It's a bit weird, but that's how I always think about it. That make sense? There was a thread by 260DET and ezzzzz (not sure how many z's on that one) where they were both doing CV's on R180s using different parts. Search for that one and it should answer your R180 CV questions.

Sometimes the truth hurts...

Digital multimeter and one wire O2 will work, but it is a rough tuning tool. If you're still running a carburetor you can't fine tune like these guys can, so IMO the wideband is a waste of $$$. If you have the programmable injection then narrowband is a waste of $$$. I did the O2 multimeter thing, shot for .8V under full throttle which is ~13.2:1 AFR. I wasn't trying to get mileage so I didn't pay attention to the cruse voltage. I think there is an old post here somewhere that says what voltage = what AFR. Advance = power & mileage Retard = resistance to pinging Not a big vacuum advance fan here. You're right, you can get better mileage with it, but it can also start advancing timing when you're at the end of a long WOT pull, pushing you past where you want the timing to be and into the pinging area at the worst possible time. That said there is probably a ton of advice elsewhere online about vacuum advance. These guys are controlling advance and fuel with a computer so your question doesn't really fit with what they're doing. Might want to start another thread.

Exhaust Gas Temperature and Air Fuel Ratio

Yup. Yours are in need of some attention if you can't stop from 90.

Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Streets of Willow would be the closest I think. If you want to start slow find out when the next HPDE is at Buttonwillow. I think they run $150 and you get a lot of instruction from guys who have raced a lot, then they ride with you around the track and show you what you're doing wrong, where the line is, etc. Next step up would probably be an Open Track day, not as much instruction, but same basic premise. Then you might try a Porsche Owners Club slalom. Basically you show up and run 3 or 4 practice sessions then do a timed run at the end of the day. The only autox I know of in that area was the UCSB Sports Car Club. They used to show up at the Cal Poly Sports Car Club autoxes (which got shut down a long time ago), but the UCSB guys were mainly ricers and didn't know what the hell they were doing. I seem to remember some friends going to an autox that UCSBSCC set up and saying it was LAME, but maybe its better now. Anyone attending UCSB at the time would have graduated a few years ago by now. You might check it out and see if that club still exists anyway.

13" rotor on a 510 = And I mean that in a bad way...

Used to work with a guy who had a Turbo 240 wagon with 5 speed. It was pretty damn cool. He got a Dana 30 Trutrac for it (like a Quaife, but about $300 instead of $1500) and had IPD swaybars and springs and whatnot. He could lay two LONG stripes out of the driveway at work.

Weren't the 350Z's having all sorts of trouble with the 3rd gear synchro?

You would expect less vacuum therefore less assist, meaning a harder pedal. Weird that you would describe them as grabby, unless maybe you're getting a bit of assist and then you lose the vacuum, which makes the pedal harder... Vacuum canister or a vacuum pump off of a diesel might be just the thing for you as SHO-Z suggested.

Why not go with one of the other solutions? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=100963 In the stock Z drivetrain every part has the ability to move: engine, transmission and differential in the front and the back. If you solid mount any one part of the driveline then all of that torque goes straight to the solidly mounted part. So the engine torque transfers throught the transmission and the driveshaft and acts directly on the front diff mount, which can cause trouble with ITS type hp and torque. I can only imagine that 400 hp would shred it pretty quickly.

Why not just run the same tires front and back??? I don't get this skinny up front and wide in the back thing... not like we're driving Porsches with 65% of the weight in back.

No problem. Just realized I was thinking of the lengths if you sectioned them. So you can section a 280 strut 3" where you only section a 240 strut 2". So really the 280 strut is only 1" taller than the 240 strut. Oops. Also the fronts are the same length IIRC.

Do you have any extra material left? You could weld 2 pieces together, stick them in a vice, then beat the crap out of it with a hammer and see if your weld fails. Cheap and easy failure analysis. Here in the US we have 110V and 220V welders, not sure what you've got over there. If you were using a 110V welder here you would have to have it cranked all the way up to do 3mm thick material. Seeing as how you'll be bolted at 4 places I think you might be able to get away with not using those inner bolts. You could oval the holes on the top part of the frame so that you can get the bolt through.

I'm not sure on a 280, but on my 240 I removed the stock prop valve and installed the adjustable one right in it's place. I know its in a different spot on the 280, not sure if you can do the same. Other than that, sounds like you've got it going. Glad to hear that the calipers weren't as tough as I had previously thought.

The pistons on the early ZX rears are not very big. They are a 2 piston, with a bizarre setup. The piston located on the inside of the car pushes the big slider thingy on top, which pulls the outside brake pad against the rotor. The piston further to the outside of the car pushes directly on the inside brake pad. If the big slider thingy doesn't slide, the inside piston will still push the inner brake pad into the rotor, but the outside pad won't move. IME the stock master is too small for the 4 piston caliper upgrade, so adding the calipers on the back is only going to make the problem worse. Even though the rear pistons aren't very big, they're still quite a bit bigger than the wheel cylinders they're replacing. I think if you had stock fronts and rear ZX calipers you could probably get away with the stock master, but increasing the volume of both without adding a bigger master is too much. The proportioning valve might not be right, so the adjustable valve is not a bad idea. I had a similar setup and ran no prop valve at all.

Something's not right there. They should be 2.x inches, not 4.x. Regardless, if they're different then you know that the earlier one has the 240 struts. I think the strut housing is 3" shorter and the spring perch is in a different place relative to the later struts. Also the rubber isolator at the top of the spring is taller on the later struts and shorter on the 240 struts. The Konis are a tight fit in the 240 struts and sometimes require removing the paint to get them to fit. They'll slide right into the 280 struts. The 280 struts are stronger since they have thicker tubes, and they have 27 spline stub axles. The 280 front hubs have a 10mm different offset, they're a wider offset which seems to be an issue since all the aftermarket brake kits require them. I think they allow more room between the rotor and the control arm. I think threaded coilovers are more common in the 280 size as well. Downside to the 280 struts (and hubs) is more weight. That's about all I got for you. Yes, the 280 stubs will fit in the 240 struts. They take the same bearings and everything, just have a bigger splined end.

I think it's a combination of things. Instead of bolting the rotor to the hub and that being it, you are now bolting a rotor to a rotor hat and bolting that to the hub. All of these fasteners getting torqued twists things a bit. We know the hats are all CNC'd. I'd bet money that there is a very expensive piece of equipment machining the cast iron rotors, and the hubs were never a problem. Put all three together and then you get issues. I don't think it's cheap parts, but hey, if I was wrong it wouldn't be the first time...

Lots of people are having this trouble with aluminum hat setups. I checked around and Wilwood's website suggested checking the rotor runout with a dial indicator, then using little shims between the hat and the rotor where the bolts are to true it up within .001". Personally I'll run the dial indicator and if there's a problem I'll just have the rotors turned. Not worth hassling with the shims IMO.

Well he shows the AZC suspension but the car doesn't have camber plates. That is enough to make me suspicious. Other than that looks pretty nice.