JMortensen

The SX's have either a fuel cut or an ignition cut, I can't remember which, at 112 mph. It doesn't come on again until 50 mph. My friend's boss found that one out on a windy highway and it damn near cost him his life. Middle of a long sweeper right on the edge of traction and the engine shut off... The problem with the SX tranny IMO is the wide ratios. Would be great for a turbo car, but not very good for a triple carbed car. Jon

Plug gap? Maybe try a little smaller... Good luck.

There was a group buy on flares a year ago or so IIRC. We missed the boat. I would like some, but am running REALLY tight on my budget right now (see my posts about JSK brakes for more details about where my $$$ went). Still, if you can gather enough people to make a significant dent in the retail price, I might be interested. Jon

Custom offset circle track steel wheels, 15 x 8 with Yokohama A005 slicks (like the ones I've got for sale in the classifieds section right now). Eventually I'll flare the car so I can run the tires on a properly sized 15 x 9 or 9.5. For right now, gotta deal with one issue at a time! Gonna have to get rid of the old 6 spokes, not sure if I'll even buy another set of street wheels or not. Maybe just another set of 15 x 8 circle track wheels with some cheap street rubber. Who knows? Jon

I agree with Richard. Try 510 forums. I can tell you about the most prepared 510 that I've seen. This is all rear suspension stuff: He runs weight jacks with threaded adjusters out of a circle track car, roadster front springs, Camaro (what year I'm not sure?) rear shocks, slotted crossmember and poly trailing arm bushings, and has solid aluminum crossmember bushings. Also has adjustable rear bar, the kind that hang real low on 510s. I know the comp roadster springs also fit in the 510, but they are REALLY stiff, probably too much for a 510 but might be OK in a heavier ZX. There's a LOT you can do to a 510, and all of it should be transferrable to the ZX. The main thing for drag racing I would think would be the camber and toe change when the rear squats, which you could adjust with stiffer springs and slotting the crossmember. MSA has a pretty slick looking kit for the crossmember. Probably don't need the adjustable ride height or sway bars. Due to the semi-trailing arms, you'll never get the camber or toe changed "fixed" but you can minimize the damage. Some stiffer crossmember and semi-trailing arm bushings like maybe polyurethane bushings would probably minimize the wheel hop on a ZX. Jon

How do you preload a ball bearing? If you push or pull on the center in relation to the outer race, that would just make it wear really fast, right? No preload on tranny bearings, or any sealed unit bearings used in front hubs that I'm aware of. I can't think of a single ball bearing that gets used as a straight axle wheel bearing that gets any type of preload. I'm not exactly the bearing guru, but I've been around a few and sold a few in the past couple years... just never heard of bearing preload on a ball bearing. Jon

The more I think about it, the more I think that the torque on the nut shouldn't change the preload. These are ball bearings, and the spacer sits on the inner race of the bearing. The spacers do not collapse and are not crush sleeves (pretty thick IIRC), so where is the preload coming from??? This is not like a tapered roller where you can set the cone further into the cup to up the preload. Am I missing something? Overanalyzing? Jon

OK, so it looks like the key is really the bearing preload. Thanks.

You do realize that the 928 has a transaxle and a torque tube like a 944 or a new Vette, right? Those transaxles aren't light either and parts would be extremely expensive. That would be one hell of a project and damn near impossible, but I think it fits under the how much money/time/fabrication experience do you have category. All that for ~300 hp out of the DOHC version in stock form. Jon

Sounds like it would work, the Superlite IIA and I think the Superlite 4 work, but you can check all of the pertinent measurements at http://www.wilwood.com. Jon

It would be nice to be able to show link to a url in an ad. I just put one up for tires, didn't see the url tag button, so I stuck it in there myself, but it didn't work. Small complaint, but if it could be changed easily it would be worth it. Jon

OK, because I am currently looking for 280 stubs, I am interested in this. John, are you saying that with my 280 stubs in 240 struts that I should use the 240 spacer? Seems like Jersey's experience would lead a person in the opposite direction, so that the spacer goes with the stub axle into whatever strut is used. Jon

The ones they were using way back when were on a trailer, like one of the speed signs that tells you how fast you are going, but with no display. The one my friend saw repeatedly was red (not sure if that will be a distinguishing feature, probably won't) and was parked on the side of the freeway. There were people manning it, presumably to pull you over and check under the hood if you were in violation. I think he said there was a CHP officer parked right in front of it, but I can't say for sure. This was 10 years and many beers ago... Jon

R4S pads and green stuff shoes, good brake fluid, ss lines, and adjust the rears properly. That should be all you ever need for autox. You shouldn't have that much pedal effort with stock brakes, some, but not stand on it to get the car to stop type of effort. Makes me wonder if something else is going on. Used booster? Rebuilt? Jon

Dispute the charges and let Visa/Mastercard decide who is right. The dispute form is on the back of your cc statement. Just fill it out and mail it in. I think you can make a case against UPS on this one despite the fact that you authorized a nebulous amount. Your expectation was certainly lower than the actual charges!!! Jon

Yeah, ask him. Thanks. I'm betting it includes rocker arms at $500. Not a bad deal, but I've got other places to spend $500, since I already have a fairly similar cam now. It would be a small step up for me, but a huge one going from a stock cam. Thanks, Jon

I haven't even gathered all my parts yet! Got stuff shipping from the east coast, special order, etc. It will probably be another couple weeks before I have everything in hand. I figure a slight gain in the rotor weight, which is rotating mass and the most important weight on any car, so that is a bummer. Also Juan says you need 280 front hubs, which are also a little heavier than 240 hubs. But there is a big reduction in caliper weight, which is unsprung weight. The NDL's are supposed to weigh 3.2 lbs. I don't know offhand what the Toy calipers weigh, but I'm going to guess 10 lbs at least. I'm not going so much for the lightest braking system I could find, more something that I can beat on that will not fail like the current brakes do EVERY time I go to a big track. If you want light, you could probably shave a pound or two going with something like John Coffey has, but I think it is at least $100 more IIRC. You do not need a spacer with the JSK setup. It comes with an aluminum hat that bolts straight to the hub, and has the correct offset for the caliper and rotor. JSK does make a 5 lug hat for the 300ZX hub, so you wouldn't have to change any of that either. Jon

Please let me know if and when you do that .500/300 and what it costs. I might just have another cam reground if it is really expensive. Thanks for the update. Jon

One more thing, the SCAQMD had a "pull you over and check your emissions" plan about 10 years ago in the greater LA area. They had a roadside infra red (?) emissions tester that hung out on the 23 freeway near LA Ave for a while in Moorpark. I had a friend who worked right there and had a 510 with Mikunis on it, and he told me all about it at the time. He never got pulled over though. He said he would get up to speed and then throw it in neutral and idle past the sensor at 65 mph... Jon

Grumpy, did you ever hear about Gore's book? I never read it myself, but I understood that he outlined a plan to completely irradicate the internal combustion engine. The democrats' agenda is not all about gun control and abortion rights. As hybrid Z drivers we all have at least one reason not to vote left. Weigh that reason against all the others to determine your vote as appropriate of course... Personally I want to see how Kerry tries to spin his strong support for a failed proposal for a $.50 tax hike on gas now that gas prices are such a big issue. This was a few years back, but CA gas might be hitting $3 per gal now if that had gone thru. And who would that tax hurt? Certainly not the rich people he so badly wants to overtax (guilty conscience maybe???). Jon

It really doesn't get any easier than that when it comes to increasing compression. The shims are cheap and easy to install, and you can buy an old N47 for $50 and take the valves assuming they're in good shape. You could try the Z22 slack side chain guide as someone else suggested (DAW or Lockjaw I think) and not shim the cam towers, but then you'd have to switch out all the lash pads, which is not hard but is time consuming and ~$5 or $6 per pad IIRC and you kind of test fit until you find the right ones unless your machinist has some (not likely) so you might have to buy 4 or 5 sets, and your cam timing is also off at that point (not sure of when that will start to affect valve/piston interference). Either way gets it done, but I'd shim the towers and get longer valves. You can also just have the machine shop order 280Z valves if that's easier. Jon

I think the P79 has the same chambers as the P90. If that is the case, then this site has good info: http://geocities.com/zgarage2001/p90.html Basically you just mill .080, run the .080 longer valves from a 280Z, then shim the cam tower .080, and get 10:1 compression. Don't even need to change the lash pads! Not sure on the N47. Is that the same as the N42, but with exhaust liners? If so, I'd say find a P90 and do it right. Jon

Granted, I've probably got more suspension and tire than most track day types, but this is what happened to my PORTERFIELD R4S pads in a single day at the track. This was with SU's and a lower compression L6. Probably have 40-50 more horses now, maybe even more, but certainly not as much as the V8 guys or most of the turbo guys on this forum. http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=lastup&cat=14901&pos=0 http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0 Not sure why I can't get these to post right, but the link works anyway. I've run R4 pads on the street, and I don't think its a good idea. They work ok if you keep them warm, but I had a long commute where I wouldn't touch the brakes for 20-25 minutes, and they'd need to heat up before they would work when I got back into town. I just left a lot of breathing room and was extra careful. I have nothing against the R4S pads, in fact I think they would work great on a JSK setup like Afshin is doing, but for the stock setup they can't take the heat that I was able to generate. Note that there is NO pad material left. I got them so hot I'm pretty sure I delaminated the pad material. The rest of the brake system at the time was 280ZX rear disc, ZX master, adjustable prop valve, ATE SuperBlue fluid. This happened at Buttonwillow going clockwise at the end of the bus stop at 95-100 mph (this was the first time that I was able to get on the gas off the hill and keep my foot in it all the way to the end of the bus stop--what a rush! ) . Luckily there is nothing to hit right there. No damage to me, my passenger or the car, just a lot of dust inside, and the Mustang got away. Went to the local parts store, bought some semi-metallics and drove home. Jon

FedEx ground USED to be the way to get around this charge, but they just instated a similarly huge surcharge as well. I agree that they should have told you. Also, shipping is cheaper if you go direct to UPS vs the UPS store. Jon

JSK doesn't make one. The only wilwood setup I've seen for the rear is at http://www.arizonazcar.com. Jon