JMortensen

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

Just check the wet boiling point of the brake fluid. Motul, ATE Super Blue, Ford HD (supposedly, I've never bought the Ford stuff), pretty much any racing brake fluid will work. DOT3 is unlikely to survive - again, check the wet boiling point. Yes, fluid really makes a difference. Not that expensive either. I seem to remember buying Super Blue for ~$12 quart. As to the pads I don't know exactly how Hawks relate to Porterfields, but I went through a set of Porterfields R4S (hipo street/autox pad) in about 1/2 hour on the track, then the lining went away and I pushed the piston through the back of the pad like it was a giant hole puncher. I'd go with the Blues or a Porterfield R4. Jon

Clean that sticky blue crap off and put some synthetic brake grease on the back of the pads and the shims. While you have the pads out use an old toothbrush and clean all of the dust out. Also put a little bit on the end of the back of the pad where it rides on the caliper. That's what we did at the Volvo dealership I worked for, and Volvos have the most notoriously squeaky brakes ever. Worked for my Porterfield R4's, too and they're a squeaky pad. Jon

PM Terry (BlueOvalZ). He's done a workaround for the Susp Tech bar. I think there is an issue with the MSA bar too, not sure. Never seen the Addco, so I can't give any help there... Jon

Why not get one of those velocity stack sock filters? Of course you'd probably be better off running a pipe to the radiator support and doing your velocity stack/sock there... Jon

Normally you see 10" springs on stock length struts. You could just put it in and see if it is too low with the adjuster all the way up. If so you can pull and replace the spring without totally disassembling the whole thing. Just take the big nut off the strut and lean the strut out and there should be enough room to get the 8" spring off and a 10" spring on. If GC gave you the location with 8" springs and stock struts, then it will probably be OK, but it looks a little suspicious to me from that pic. EDIT--those struts are marginal for that spring rate, so if you have to change springs you may want to step down to a 250 or so. Jon

My old boss had a favorite saying "If you make ice cream with sh!t, you get sh!tty tasting ice cream." I guess what you'd really get is really expensive ice cream. Jon

That would be a pretty big spacer... The whole idea of flares is that you can get bigger tires and wider rims. That's what I suggest. Jon