JMortensen

The only duct setup that I've seen that stays on for street use is what I've got, which isn't very efficient. I ran the duct into the front of the wheel well, then way up high on the fenderwell, then back down next to the strut and out to the strut housing. When you turn the wheel the tire goes in between the sections of ducting in my setup. The problem with a good full race setup is the front tire will knock the ducts off if you have them going straight back on the frame rail like John and Mike said or if you stuck them underneath the frame rail anything like a speed bump or a driveway would probably knock them off, but if you set them up like I did then the air probably loses a lot of velocity by the time it gets to the brakes. I suppose you could limit the steering so that you didn't knock the ducts off, but then you have a 100 ft turning radius. BTW--My brake problems did seem to lessen very slightly after I got the ducts on, so I do think it is doing SOMETHING, just not enough in my personal case. Jon

Glad to help. Jon

Thanks David. Moridin, here's the link to the non music version, feel free to rip it up and use whatever you want out of it. http://hybridz.jimzdat.com/pics/jmortensenautocross.wmv Jon

It looks like the car would have 7" of ground clearance with coilovers with those gigantic wheels. I've seen late 80's Honda Accords with the same thing. 18" wheels, no suspension travel, and really high off the ground. Jon

If you had the VLSD carrier you could measure them out to make sure they are the same. You'd need to measure the diameter, the step, the journals, and the pilot I think. The ABS comment makes me think that it has a "tone ring" (toothed gear looking thing) on the carrier. Most of the time these are pressed onto the carrier near the ring gear, and can be pressed right off. Sometimes the tone ring is actually part of the carrier, but usually the step dimension is the same for an ABS or non ABS carrier, so unless the ring hits the inside of the case, it shouldn't matter. If it did hit you could probably grind a little off the case for clearance. I can't really think of any other problems, other than the spline count on the side gears, or maybe a different circlip holding the axles in the side gears... Diameter = diameter of the carrier where the 4 spiders are Step = If you set it down on end the distance from the table to the surface where the ring gear sits. Journals = where the bearings go on Pilot = The area where the ring gear gets pressed onto the carrier. I would imagine they are the same, but it sure would be nice if someone had the measurements so that you didn't have to disassemble 2 diffs to find out. 4 pinion diffs are stronger than 2 pinion, so the fact that it is a 4 pinion open carrier is only partially bad. EDIT--Reading again looks like maybe the tone ring is on the pinion. Still probably wouldn't affect the carrier. Good luck. Jon

Yeah, I kinda realized that after I put them up on Jim's server. I guess it serves the function of not taking up too much bandwidth on Jim's server. I was just pretty excited to get them up, so I went about it as quickly as possible. Thanks again for offering to do it in the 1st place, Nic Jon

WOW That's a special kind of stupid! Jon

Hey thanks!!! Jon

For Volvos you really should run factory pads and rotors too, unfortunately. And don't ever turn a Volvo rotor. Basically you'll get 2 sets of pads on a rotor, then you just throw them away and replace. The rotors are very soft and they will be really wavy after the 1st set of pads, but you can usually get a 2nd set of pads on there before you trash them. Volvo's parts dept has a special synthetic grease that's about $25 a tube, and the tube probably holds 1/2 your average toothpaste tube capacity, but I've had good luck with the Sta-Lube synthetic brake grease too. Jon

That sucks. Did you chamfer the pads? That's the only other thing that we used to do that I didn't mention before... Jon

That is the 1st question I had for my friend when he did his, and he said that the tubes are too small. He ran a 5/8 ID copper line to preheat, IIRC. The other option was a blanket heater on the bottom of the grease tank, but he didn't have the $$$ for one. His new setup has the exhaust going thru a pipe that he welded into the grease tank. Hasn't got it running yet, but I have no doubt that he will. He told me he was going to do it on the Rabbit, and I called him crazy. A couple months later he drives to my house and rolls down the window and says "Runs great! Only problem is it is making me hungry all the time. Every time I decelerate it smells like french fries!" And it did. Jon

Diesel fuel filters are HUGE, and with good reason. The starter is probably not going to be able to turn over a 20:1 compression diesel motor (maybe a gear reduction unit might, but diesel starters are HUGE). Fuel pumps are totally different. It would be much better for you if you had more than the engine, but maybe a whole diesel Maxima to start with. A friend of mine converted his Rabbit Diesel to grease, and that is a whole other ball of wax. You have to preheat the fuel so it doesn't coagulate in the fuel lines, and he had a dual tank system so he could switch back to diesel before he turned the car off, because the grease will coagulate in the fuel system and you won't be able to start it back up. The grease tank had 2 fuel pumps. 1 to run the fuel thru a copper pipe that was wound around the radiator hoses and then back to the grease tank to preheat it, the other to actually fuel the motor. He also had a fairly elaborate paper towel filter to filter the grease he was getting from the local fast food joints before it ever went into the tank, because chicken McNugget bits will quickly clog your fuel filter and pump. Biodiesel has none of these problems, but then you're stuck with fairly large quantities of chemicals in your garage (methanol, lye, etc), and I heard a rumor that they were trying to make producing biodiesel at a residence illegal in CA. Good luck. Jon

Thanks all. I lost all my old pics of the Z (formatted my hard drive and thought they were all backed up), so these videos are the only record I have of it, aside from receipts. It's nice to be able to share what it can do, but it has gotten quite a bit faster than 4 years ago. Higher compression motor from 8.5 to 11 with a lot more headwork, 1.5 degrees more neg camber in front and 1 in rear, more caster, carb tuning, rebuilt distributor, better clutch, etc. I am trying to start the next phase of the car, with the adjustable rear toe that Jeromio, Terry, and I came up with, brakes, tranny rebuild, exhaust mods, new tie rod setup, better camber curve, hopefully better rear gears and a severe diet. Oh and maybe some flares. Hopefully when I can get all that done I can make another vid... My wish list is long and my check book is empty. But my business is growing and my wife will be done with school in a year. We'll see how it all turns out. Jon

Thanks! I feel like a kid on show and tell day. Jon

Jimzdat was nice enough to put these up on his server. I've been sitting on these for a LONG time. Thanks again to Jim for doing this so I can share this stuff!!! And thanks to Drax for getting my @ss motivated. This video was taken 4 years ago when I had just installed my Mikunis. My brother in law and my wife and I all drove the Z that day. I was at the end of a run group and didn't get a chance to drop my rear tire pressure between runs. Having the rears about 3 psi too high made for a fun ride! There are 2 autox runs, the first one shown from inside the car and outside. The run with my bro in law was made right after he had driven his last run. The video with music has some swearing in it, so if you've got kids get the other one and listen to the Mikunis singing all by themselves. Here's the URL: http://hybridz.jimzdat.com/zpics.htm Here are direct links to the vids: http://hybridz.jimzdat.com/pics/jmortensenwithmusic.wmv http://hybridz.jimzdat.com/pics/jmortensenautocross.wmv Enjoy!!! Jon

Did it take you long to find someone to insure the car with? I had to look for a LONG time, then provide an appraisal before they agreed to do it. The whole time I was saying that I was going to PAY RATES AS IF IT WERE A NEW $15K CAR, but no one would deal with me. I finally did mine through State Farm. Now I have it insured as a classic, at something like $60 for 6 months. Jon

Ricer girls have gotta be better than biker chicks. Ever picked up a copy of Easy Rider? Jon

Well that would be a heck of a lot easier than what Terry did (maybe he needed a different size bar). He used a totally different bar, cut the ends off and used a shorter end link. Just using a shorter bolt = EASY. Jon

Thanks!

Thanks Drax! Wait till you see the whole thing!

Drax finally got my butt in gear with his video project, and I made a little compilation of some autox footage. I'm going to put it on Nic's FTP site, but figured the more the merrier. Anyone else interested in hosting it? It's my first time editing anything, but I think I did a good job. 14 megs, about 3 minutes long with and without music. It's got good sound from the Mikunis, and a really long (for me anyway) lift throttle oversteer induced powerslide, and my bro-in-law has some funny stuff to say at the end. Thanks, Jon

Doesn't the sway bar hit the control arm at full compression??? It seems like it would if you had no spacer in between the bushings. Jon

Wayne, your saran wrap thing didn't work but I can tell you what does. Get a broom handle, 2x4, or just random stick and use it to push the brake pedal about 1/2 way. Pushing the brakes a little closes off the port to the reservoir and for the rest of the system is basically the automotive equivalent of putting your finger on top of a straw and holding the liquid in when you pull the straw out. Works great. Jon

OK, well I was told the opposite by Dennis and Peggy Hale, and by the racers from Maximum Motorsports, and I think it was in the book Driving Faster. Unfortunately, I can't seem to control myself - I always brake hard, always drive deep into corners, and I always overheat my brakes. I guess the real solution is get a brake system big enough to take whatever you can throw at it. That's how I'm going to deal with it, but maybe some ITS guys will have something to say on the issue. Don't really want to jack this guy's thread, but this concerns him too I suppose. Jon

John, I've heard the EXACT OPPOSITE from roadracers before. I have had this argument before, but it had been settled the other way the last time. Now you just opened up a big can of worms in my mind... Tim, I drove to the track on R4's and didn't really have any problems. Whatever you get, test drive it around the block, and I think you'll see that only an endurance pad is really unsafe on the street. Jon