JMortensen

I don't, but I don't because of the fear of being caught, not because I think that after a beer I'm an inherently dangerous driver. I think drinking and driving is a problem, but it is also a huge revenue generator for the govt, and that's why my sister got pulled over. She did get pulled over just after the bars closed... 2126, I wonder if you feel the same way about speed traps. JUST DON'T SPEED AND YOU WON'T GET A TICKET! While that is TRUE, it is also a big steaming pile of BS and the govt shouldn't be doing it.

I think exactly the opposite of Guy. I think you should be given a DUI if you're .01 or .20 IF you're not capable of controlling your vehicle. If you are capable, they shouldn't be able to give you a DUI regardless of your BAL. My sister in law got nailed with me in the car about a year ago. She had 2 beers (which we later found out were double the strength of regular beers) and she was driving FINE. She got pulled over for doing 39 in a 35. Seriously. She passed the field sobriety test, but blew a .1. Friggin BS! Dale, right now as I understand it the law works against you in both situations. If you fail the sobriety test but are under the legal limit, you're screwed. If you are over the limit regardless of how you're driving, you're screwed.

I measured the Porsche synchro ring vs the Nissan synchro ring and I believe they are identical. It would not surprise me in the slightest if the entire gear cluster was Porsche since Nissan sells the whole thing as a unit and doesn't sell the synchro ring separately. I never got far enough into it to check the ID of the gear cluster to verify that they were the same. The countershaft I believe is Nissan, because all the Porsche countershafts that I ever saw had individual gears on them. That is one of the nice things that I envy about Porsches. If you wanted to get a close ratio transmission, you just buy the main shaft gears and the countershaft gears and slide them on. Costs a lot of money, but you can have EXACTLY what you want.

John I forgot to ask you something: I seem to recall that my Z doesn't have any bumpsteer in the back. Is that right? You mentioned it in the first post, but I measured on an alignment rack and I would swear that toe didn't change in the back no matter where I adjusted my spring perch to...

I think you'd have to measure or be better at math than I am to really say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that with 100% Ackermann you'd have more than 1/32" of toe change on say, the turn onto the front straight at BW going CW. And in that particular turn the outside tire wouldn't be steering 50 different directions as you rounded the turn and rolled over all that lumpy pavement (assuming they haven't repaved it in the last few years). Sure Ackermann would be of more benefit at an autox where you turn the wheel farther, but it should have the same basic effect as your toe out bumpsteer. And after all that, there is still the option to just dial in more static toe out and sacrifice a little stability.

I'll tune it out thanks!!! I'd rather figure out a way to get some Ackermann in the front end to get some toe out on the outside tire than deal with the front end turning when I tell it to go straight. At least the toe change will be dependent on how much I turn the wheel, not how bumpy the turn is. More importantly though, if you're talking about 1/32" toe change in a few INCHES of travel, that as far as I'm concerned is bumpsteer that has been FIXED on a Z. On a Z you aren't going to get it dialed in to 1/32" of toe change in a few inches of travel without giving the front suspension some serious attention. I wish I had measured my bumpsteer before I fixed it, but mine was enough to cause an emergency lane change style manuever on one particular turn at BW. On long bumpy sweepers at pretty high speeds I was sawing like a lumberjack to try and get the car to hold a line. I can only speculate that it was very much more than 1/32" change. In the end I would guess that one in a hundred of the visitors to this site will push hard enough to even notice bumpsteer.

Negative toe is toe out. The shape of the Z does create an optical illusion that makes it look like there is toe in, but if the car feels sketchy have it checked. There are no adjustments to be made but you may just find that the car is bent. Also there have been quite a few reports lately about badly manufactured struts too, and for some the fix has been to replace the whole strut housing.

IMHO it will be beneficial even though you already have the pivots raised, but you'll need to deal with the bumpsteer issues again (assuming that you did when you raised the pivots). You'll either have to raise the rack or lower the outer tie rod ends. The spacers change the camber curve, caster curve, and the roll center. Your sway bar end links will most likely also be in a better position with spacers in. I'm sure there's more, but those are the advantages I can cite off the top of my head. As for thickness, you generally find 3/4" or 15/16" being sold for Z's and some REALLY big ones sold for 510s. I have seen some that I would swear were 1.5". At that point the strength of the bolts starts to scare me a bit. Maybe I'm overly cautious on that one, but I'd stick to a 1" spacer or less. I know I'm running a 3/4" right now and John Coffey ran a 15/16" one.

Just start reading as much as you can. Online articles, books on cylinder heads, etc. Then at least you will have enough info to make a decision as to whether to take on the project or not.

Check the clutch master. Most people replace both the master and the slave because they tend to go in pairs. I blew my slave out about 3 days after installing an ACT pp and I've heard others say the same so I think that part of your problem is fairly common FWIW. The other thing to check is free play in the rod that connects the pedal to the clutch master. I kinda don't think this one would cause the symptoms you're describing, but there needs to be some free play there, like 1/8" to 3/16". EDIT - One more thing. Make sure all your connections are tight and that you're not leaking anywhere.

I gotta disagree here. I think that even a person with little or no experience who has patience and a good idea of what they're doing can make some pretty decent improvements on an L head. As far as consistency goes, when I did my head the chambers were up to 2.5 cc different from the factory (and no it wasn't from previously cutting a warped head - #2 and #6 were the biggest IIRC), and the shapes of the chambers and casting in the ports wasn't anything remotely close to "uniform". I didn't open my ports up huge, just cleaned up the casting in the runners, and cc'd the chambers and unshrouded the valves. If that's jbwetzel's goal, then I think he can do a hell of a lot better than the factory. If you're trying to make the ports a lot bigger than stock then I still think it can be done with a reasonable amount of accuracy with a few simple tricks like sticking a valve into the port to measure the diameter, but obviously having a shop with a flow bench would be the preferred way to go. Regardless of your goal, READ as much as you can from as many different sources as you can before you start cutting.

Yep. I thought you had the wheels already. Sorry.

I did a little checking, and I'm not sure if I'm right, but what I found was .5 for the convertible Viper with no top, .45 for the convertible with the targa cover on, and .35 for a GTS hardtop Viper. I only found one site which was like Joe's Aerodynamics site that had those numbers. It did also say that a new Ford Ranger had a .4 if that puts it into perspective at all. The numbers makes sense to me because the original Viper targa setup was definitely not very aero looking. Here's a better site: http://www.vipercentral.com/buy/specs/specs98.htm

Regular parts: http://www.courtesyparts.com/ Nissan Comp: http://www.courtesyparts.com/nms/s30/index.html

I'd put a 1/2" spacer in there. Looks like you've got the room for it. Do you have long studs? You'll need them with ANY spacer on a Z. The stock studs are really just barely long enough. I believe the 2nd Gen RX7 studs are what I have, they are 12mm x 1.5mm threads, and they press right into the stubs without having to redrill or any of that crap.

Negro Modelo, Newcastle, or Pike's Scottish Kilt Lifter. For something a little lighter a Modelo Especial usually hits the spot. Lately I've been more in the Merlot or Syrah mood though. I'm with you Davy. All my friends love Guinness and I can't take it. The only thing worse is that chocolate stout, Mac-something or other. That stuff is so nasty it probably tastes BETTER when you're vomiting it up.

The camber plate won't change the relation of the stut tube to the tire. I'd go with Isk's suggestion and try a 1/4" lug centered wheel spacer. Coleman Racing sells some billet aluminum ones. They are kind of pricey but much better than the crappy tire store ones.

Check Pete Paraska's site for the skinny on stub axles (see links below). My understanding is that the 280ZXT used a 240 stub with a different companion flange, and that the 280Z used the bigger one with the 27 splines but I'm too lazy to read it for you. http://alteredz.com/240ZCVHalfshaftConversion.htm http://alteredz.com/280ZCVHalfshaftConversion.htm

This is the best deal I've found so far. http://www.optionimports.com/suspension-sway-bars-suspension-technique-nissan---datsun.html

Aux you gotta photoshop a giant penny in a giant slot in the back... or am I the only guy who remembers Penny Racers???

Hey just had a thought. Did you lose the little button inside the cap in the middle?

The spark goes to the path of least resistance. There has to be a reason why the path of least resistance is OUTSIDE of the wire.

If you're using an R180 I guess you might need to fab your own, but for the R200 there are some existing covers with cooling fins and bigger sumps already out there. 240SX R200 covers are available, and the 300ZX covers have extensions with cooling fins from the factory. Here's the aftermarket style (too pricey IMO): http://store.240sxmotoring.com/grr2s14dico.html 300ZXT style: http://www.mygen.com/users/dbruce/myz31/r200_37_nismo_lsd_upgrade.htm

I've never seen a car run so rich that you get 8 mph. I suggest you put it in 2nd gear. That ought to get you at least 15 or 20 mph. If you have sparks jumping from the coil wire to the terminals, your coil wire doesn't sound like it is plugged in all the way. Electricity takes the path of least resistance, and if the path of least resistance is to the terminals on the OUTSIDE of the coil, that is a sign that you have a serious problem with the coil wire. If your sparks aren't going to the spark plugs, it isn't going to run right. Did you check the end of the coil wire? Is it broken off? Did the boot slide down the wire so that the termination on the wire doesn't go all the way into the socket on the coil or maybe it doesn't get all the way into the distributor? Did you try replacing just the coil wire? ANY car that has a bad coil wire or coil wire connection is going to hesitate and shudder in every gear, and it will get worse with load.