JMortensen

Nice Juan!!! Let me just say that I have been collecting parts to set up my fronts and I can't wait to get them on the car. Maybe this weekend. Excellent parts, even better prices. At some point you'll definitely have more business from me when I buy a set of rears. Jon

Any news here?

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1783&prmenbr=361 Just weld the fitting into the collector and connect to the valve cover. I guess you could connect via a tee to the vent on the side of the block as well, but if you look in the How to Modify book it warns about having too much vacuum. For this reason I was thinking I would put a breather on the side of the block (just a little K&N filter) so it would really just get rid of pressure and not create a huge vacuum. Or vice versa, maybe connect the hose to the side of the block and run the filter on the valve cover. I am going to do this as part of my latest round of modifications, if you want I'll buy this and I can send you 1/2 for $20. You really only need the nipple and the check valve, the other stuff fits V8 valve covers, and the L6 already has a built in baffle in the valve cover. Jon

So cyl #2 is getting air/fuel and oily crap out of the crankcase. Have you considered a catch can, or routing it to the exhaust? I can't imagine that routing the vent to #2 only is doing you any good. Jon

The bigger the brakes the better the capacity to remove the heat generated from the friction of the pads on the rotors, so in that sense bigger is better. There is a point at which it just gets ridiculous though, and you lose out because you have to spin more mass with brakes and wheels. These two (brakes and wheels) are strongly linked. The smaller brakes and the smaller wheels you can get that will still stop the car, the better IMO, because you'll have less rotating mass to turn. Imagine the wheels and brakes as though they were a flywheel. You want a light flywheel on your engine because of parasitic drag, same thing on wheels and brakes. Bling usually means that you throw function out the window in the pursuit of form, so if that's what you're after I suggest the AZC or Modern Motorsports setups, because they are huge, and you need big blingy wheels to fit them. If you want function over form, then the fonebooth setup is probably the lightest, and if it works for John Coffey's race car, it should work for you. If you're like me and you just want it to work in all situations on a budget and you want to run 15" wheels, then JSK is the way to go. EDIT--Looked at the AZC site, I thought they had a 13" rotor and 6 piston caliper for the early Z, looks like their stuff is basically the same as JSK's, so you can get equivalent bling at less cost with the JSK setup. Just as a side note AZC used to advertise their brake kit saying "for Z's that regularly see 200 mph". Still haven't seen that Z.... My $.02, Jon

Chances of one breaking are relatively low if it wasn't exposed to the poly bushings for a long period of time. I've never heard of one breaking on a stock bushing vehicle. You could always shot peen the new one it if you're really worried. Adjustability is nice, and was worth it for me, but it may be overkill for a lot of people. Jon

The age old test for master cyl is to push soft and slow. If the pedal goes to the floor, the master is bad like Pop said. If you stab the brakes, the spike in pressure will make the seals expand and the master will work fine. So hard stab works, and soft push doesn't. Pop is right, replace the master with an early ZX master. Get an adjustable prop valve while you are at it and try to dial in the bias. Rears should lock just after the fronts if you have it right. Jon

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