JMortensen

OK, I've figured out that the wheel bgs are the same. Now I just need to see if I can get that special order from the old employer. Thanks for all the help everyone.

That sounds like "spyware" to me, not a virus. I actually got a call from a guy guaranteeing me that he could get my website onto people's browser for any search term. At first I thought it was a search engine optimization business, but then he mentioned that you need to run this program for the thing to work. Being the dumbass that I am, I installed the program. When you search for something, even if it did not come up in the search results, when you CLOSE the browser it would open a new window with the website that had paid for his "service". This became incredibly annoying in about 30 seconds time, so I went to uninstall the program. You CAN'T. I called him back and told him he was an @sshole and that his service should be a crime, how did he sleep at night, etc. He basically responded that it is not illegal so I could go F myself. Did a little searching on the internet and found Spybot - Search & Destroy. It is free (they do accept donations though), ran it and it got that crap off my computer. Apparently the main way to get this Spyware on your system is to download freeware, and it will install the spyware with the program you actually wanted. Antivirus software does NOTHING to prevent or remove spyware AFAIK.

OK, I didn't think that Timken was an option here, or else I would have asked my old employer who stocks about $500,000 in Timken at any given time. Question though: In looking at the Timken website, they show the following: seal - 224270 1 required inner bearing - RW116 1 required outer bearing - RW117 2 required On the RW117 they say 2 required??? Probably a misprint... but since I'm calling in a favor I want to do it right the first time. Anyone know for sure? Anybody have a Timken book to look at? Also they show the same rear bg for 240 and 280Z, but the guy at Nissan I spoke to said that 240 and 280 rear bearings were different. I thought they were the same, but the 280 stub was 27 spline instead of 25. They don't have different diameter axles, do they?

Finally getting around to ordering parts for this, and guess what? $30 EACH for the clutches thru Nissan. There are 13 clutches in there!!! I think I'd just buy a new LSD before I bought clutches. The alternative is to buy shim stock and do it that way, so that's what I'll be doing. $10 in shim cost vs $390 for all new clutches... So I'm thinking I'll get .004 stock and do one shim, if that's not enough do another on the other side. Not sure how much wear I had before, but I can always just shim it tighter...

Been taking a little break from my project, but I just called Nissan about these bearings in preparation for getting back into it. Here's what I found: front bearings and seals both sides $166 rear bearings and seals both sides $197 WOW! That's a lot of moola for bearings and seals. And I looked at clutches for the LSD, get this: $30 EACH!!! There are 13 clutches in there!!! Think I'm going to try shimming the diff instead. I could buy a brand new LSD for $500, and I'll probably spend $10 on shim stock. My understanding is that NTN or Nissan are the only way to go on wheel bearings on a Z that is raced... So I called MSA just for kicks, and got basically $162 for front and rear with seals. VB was $150. Asked about the brand, and I was told "Inter-American" by MSA, VB wouldn't tell me who makes them at all. Inter-American is not a brand I've ever heard of. Anyone have any idea if MSA or VB sells halfway decent bgs? Should I just bend over for the Nissan stuff? Anyone know a source for NTN bearings? Kinda depressing to spend close to $400 after shipping on wheel bearings, but if that's the best I can do, I'll just have to bite the bullet. Thanks all.

Olie, lots of streetable drag cars drive around with line locks, and I've never heard of anyone having a problem there. The keyed version of the lock would definitely be less likely to be bumped and activated though. The way these work is you step on the brake, then push the button to hold the pressure, so it's not like you hit the button accidentally and it jams the brake on... at least that's my impression of how it works. Juan, what exactly do you mean about "inside the rotor" are you thinking like a drum-in-hat setup? That seems like an awfully big hassle and heavy to boot, and you'd be running the drum on the aluminum hat, which doesn't seem like a good idea. A mechanical spot caliper would be the way to go for an emergency brake, and if you could design it to work with all of the wilwood setups out there you might have a reasonable amount of people to sell them to.

I think Phantom has a pretty realistic assessment of the Z06. He has the same basic engine/tranny with less weight and is faster in a straight line, but you've got to really push the Z to the limits to go faster on a track. John's car will do it, I've beaten regular C5s myself, but if a good driver were in the Z06, I think he'd stand a good chance at taking me down on a big track. The Z06 is a really fast car stock. I'm sure you could make one extremely fast given a little $$$, and I do mean a little $$$. 30 years of technology and suspension refinement is tough to compete with, even with the weight advantage of the Z.

Could also be a tooth or two broken off the flywheel, or just a lazy solenoid. Pull the starter, put the car in 4th and roll it so that you can inspect the teeth on the flywheel. There really isn't too much going on inside the starter, you could pull it apart and clean everything and put it back together and see what difference that makes. I've saved a few that way.

Aluminum control arms would be fine. Aluminizing is a coating process done to exhaust systems to prevent corrosion. There are already chromoly control arms available for the front and rear of Zs. Not sure about the ZX, but on the Z they save 2 lbs in the rear where the bigger control arm is. In the front I'd guess 1/2 lb. Not exactly a huge weight savings, and aluminum arms would have to be thick cast arms, at least that's the only way I've seen it done. Then you would probably gain rigidity, but at the cost of weight. Might as well go chromoly at that point. http://www.arizonazcar.com Nobody makes an aftermarket rear semi trailing arm for a ZX that I'm aware of.

There have been a few cases of the spindle pin hole in the bottom of the strut housing being drilled wrong. I know John Coffey posted about that a while back, if you search you may find his old post. Basically if the hole isn't drilled straight then the toe will be off, and probably way off. There would be several ways to fix: offset bushings (apparently not enough), adjustable control arms, or Terry's poor man's toe adjuster. If the control arms, the frame, and the transverse link aren't bent, a poorly manufactured strut could be the cause of your problem. Do you have the alignment specs from the last time you had it done?

I'm not a turbo guy but my guess is that you won't be able to spool those big turbos on a 3.1L until 5K rpm or higher. You really need to do some homework and read up on these cars. A lot of the mods you listed don't make any sense (aluminized control arms (like a cheap exhaust pipe???), aluminum roll cage, 4 link), and your choice of a 2+2 ZX is probably not the best vehicle to start with. Hopefully by the time you're ready to go with this project you'll sort some of that stuff out.

Mmm... I thought I might be oversimplifying it a bit. I know rain would be the biggee. Still thinking I might just go Carreras when I eventually up spring rates, just for the $$$. Thanks for pointing that out though John.

I tried a couple shift knobs and ended up going back to the stock knob. Everything heavier than stock that I put on ended up rattling, despite new shifter bushings and my shorter than stock shifter.

Am I just being completely naive when I think that the best way to get a good cheap strut for racing is to get a Koni or a Carrera valved how you want it. The Carreras are supposedly super cheap and you can get them valved correctly before they even ship them to you. They are cheaper than Illuminas from what I hear. If you have it valved correctly, then you don't really need to make adjustments all the time. I guess what I'm saying is that there is a "right" bump and rebound valving for the unsprung weight and the spring rate, and changing it is not the best idea. I should point out that I have Illuminas and I like the adjustability now because so far I've been driving to events in the car. So I crank them down to 1 and drive there, then put them up to 4. I have used them to adjust the handling of the car, but I'm increasingly convinced that at the track adjustments to the balance of the car shouldn't be made with the struts, but with sway bars instead, and major adjustments should be made with suspension angles. When I stopped trying to rely on the struts and started adding some serious negative camber and positive caster I made huge improvements. The people buying Advance Design struts or running 300 in/lb plus probably aren't driving to events (I think), so my use of the adjustable struts to make it comfortable on the street wouldn't really be an issue any longer. Am I way off base here?

I gotta say I keep hearing that Al Qaeda wants to hijack more planes on the news, and I just can't imagine that working after 911. The shoe bomber had a chance, except for the (professional?) boxer sitting behind him on the plane. But I just can't bring myself to believe that a whole plane full of people are going to sit like sheep now that the stakes have changed. The passengers now know that they are not going to go to an airport and negotiate for the release of terrorists. They're going to die. They have nothing to lose. Apparently it does only take 109 minutes to change terrorist strategy forever. The goal will now be to shoot down the plane or plant a bomb on the plane, but I don't think it will ever again be to hijack the plane.

Adobe was a SNL commercial. KFM is one of the best movies of all time! Catholic High School Girls in Trouble will stay with me forever.....

"Hey hey, it's Adobe, the little red car that's made out of clay!"

Have you driven it yet? I think I'd be taking it down the street and back a couple times, or swapping plates with a street car for a couple hours...

I knew a "pseudo-scientific" type years back who showed me the patent for a water based hydrogen bug. He had the patent and he had pictures. The converted VW bug apparently drove all the way across the US back in the 70's. My two thoughts are: 1. The patent paperwork and pics could have been complete BS 2. Another friend of mine in HIGH SCHOOL started drawing up a hydrogen injection system. Drawing. On scratch paper. When he felt he was getting somewhere he called GM. They bought his drawings for $5000. No prototype. Just drawings of a high school senior. They even joke about this on That 70's Show. Hyde is always going off on the govt conspiracy over the car that runs on water when he's stoned. Is there a govt conspiracy? Don't know. Could there be a corporate conspiracy? Well, GM did buy my friend's sketches... Realistically though every time I've heard a scientist address this they always say that it takes more energy to separate the water molecule than you can get back by burning the hydrogen atoms. Jon

You might want to try http://www.classiczcars.com I think they have some info on the 240K.

I can tell you that from personal experience a flat top L28 with E31 head won't run on pump gas. I used the compression calculator and calculated mine at 10.3:1, but I now think that it is actually higher than that. I cc'd my chambers and polished them in an attempt to reduce pinging (even removed all of the spark plug threads that extend into the chamber), but I could only run pump gas with the static timing at about 5* BTDC. The car didn't make very much power with the timing set like that. When I put some higher octane gas in (mixed AVgas with 91 and also used Tolulene) and advanced the timing the car runs GREAT. VERY strong. But for day to day it is too much for pump gas. I think part of my problem was that I cc'd the chambers and then the head was shaved about .015, which upped the compression again. Sorry for the late reply, I read this before but I thought you were just swapping in the whole L28. If you do decide to run the L28/E31, get a BIG cam. It will help to bleed off the compression, and you MAY be able to run pump gas. Something along the lines of 300* duration should work. My .490/280 isn't enough. Jon

Speaking of reaction "disks" or "discs" does anyone actually know when either of those is appropriate? It's disc brakes, buy flying disk. That's about as far as I can take it. Congrats on fixing it though. Nice to end the frustration...

Sounds like the diaphragm in the booster is dead. If the booster leaks then you'll be sucking air without fuel when you step on the brakes, basically you have a massive vacuum leak. If that's the case, just get one from a jy or put up a wanted ad here. The stock vacuum line to the booster has a one way valve in it. When you pull the line off the vacuum you can hear it go Psssshhhh. If you don't have the check valve in your vacuum line then I suggest you get one and test it out. Just start the car and the vacuum should suck the diaphragm, then turn it off and pull the hose, and you should hear the air rushing into the booster as the diaphragm relaxes.

Well having actually used my "emergency brake" once I see your point. When I first installed rear discs I had screwed in the brake lines into the calipers by hand, then when I did my final check to make sure I had tightened everything I forgot to check the brake lines. They held for about 30 minutes, then the pedal went to the floor. I had to use the ebrake getting off the freeway. Downshifting and the slight uphill helped a lot, but I can say that the early ZX ebrake really works pretty good! Sounds like Wilwood's stuff sucks by all accounts, so my idea would make a good parking brake, but it looks like there isn't a good "emergency brake" solution. It will be interesting to see what you come up with Juan, but since I'm not really going to drive on the street, the parking brake would probably work for me... at least it would keep the Z from rolling down my driveway. Jon

I think that would be a little tougher to do on a Z. The pinion sits right over the front diff xmember, so there isn't room for a rotor. It could be done on the driveshaft. How about this? http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10101&productId=1133&TID=101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1 I think I've seen these with keyed locks as an anti theft device, but that was years ago and I can't remember where I saw it. IIRC the one with the key used one of those round keys like a vending machine or a Kryptonite lock. Seems easy enough to install. Jon