JMortensen

They seem to be going after harsher penalties these days. I'm not so sure the guy will just get a slap on the wrist. In San Luis Obispo, CA a few years ago there was a guy who was changing the tape in his cassette player and went through a red light and killed a family. The DA tried to get this guy on MURDER! I thought that was a little over the top myself. He obviously did something stupid and he was speeding 75 in a 65, but the intent to kill was just not there. I don't know what the resolution of that was, I think they were going to try him for murder. Obviously a totally different case in a different county, but still. The Vette guy, if he's guilty, should be guilty of manslaughter or perhaps murder 2 or something and that situation is exactly why I always speak up against street racing. On the other hand though, with the guy in SLO, there HAVE to be some situations that are considered ACCIDENTS. I couldn't believe that I was seeing the public's lynch mob mentality picked up by the DA. That was scary!!! Jon

Factory spark starts to scatter at about 7k, according to all the books I've read that's because the gear drive isn't exact enough. Lots of people with Z's are floating valves way before 8K. BTW, I have a friend who tried to blow up his L24 by standing on the gas down a long straight in his town. He ended up blowing the head gasket out of the side of the head at something over 8k. That was with a points distributor. I wasn't trying to say that you CAN'T rev past 7k, I'm saying that 7k is when spark timing gets irratic, and irratic timing at that rpm is dangerous. Also valves start to float at some point, the stock cranks supposedly aren't that great for too much over 7k. Basically if you wanted to do that kind of rpm consistently (like if you were going to build the motor to work at that rpm) then you would spend a lot of $$$ to make it reliable at those speeds. What I found when I was looking into this is that you get more hp/torque from the increased displacement of a 3.1. That extra 500cc gives you a lot more than the destroked engine will unless you spend that $$$. If they're both revved to reasonable redlines the stroker is a better choice. Jon

I just researched this a bit. Seems like the stroker is a better idea. If you do the destroked engine, you won't see the benefits of the better rod ratio until you get to the point at which a standard lubrication system and ignition system won't cut it. A stroker can rev to 7K with no problems, and that's about the limit of factory ignition and oiling system. If you want to dry sump it and to crankfire ignition, then go for it and you should see some good results above 7K. Jonzer makes a good point about the valvetrain as well. Jon

If nothing else, have him take pictures as he cuts out the rust and welds in the new panels. Jon

That is hilarious!!! Thanks for the laugh Evil! Jon

I was gonna make a crack about which was more exciting, racing Porsches or having a Spitfire fly 6 feet above your head... I love the Porsche and Ferrari shows he did. Just amazing. Jon

The Supras ran a 7.5 inch ring and pinion. R200 is an 8 inch. Not sure if they ever got bigger, they may have beefed them up in later years. Jon

I grew up in Agoura, Bastaad. Graduated from Agoura High in '92. Moved to San Luis Obispo about 7 years ago, then moved to WA state about a year and a half ago. Premier Products was owned by this lady named Gail. They had EVERYTHING back then. Dave bought the shop with Paul, then got into RX7's, and changed the shop to IPS. I guess it went under after that. One of my friends Tanya used to date Dave. Small world! Jon

Actually, I originally heard it from the guy Dave who bought Premier Products from Gail. If you don't remember Premier Products they specialized in Z's, they were in Chatsworth or Canoga Park whatever it is considered right there on Deering Ave, but this was 6 or 7 years ago. Maybe Dave's still there. Jon

I think there is something to the shape of the "straw" piece that comes in the kit. I don't know that for sure, but it looks a lot like the tubes in a 4 bbl... BLKMGK, you must have come in on this topic a little late... Read back a little bit. I think I made all the same points almost word for word. Jon

I paid $2500 5 years ago and have cancer all over the car. What's worse is the paint job had a 10 year warranty, but I moved to another state so I can't "redeem" it. I don't know that I would anyway. If they did such a crappy job the 1st time, I don't know that I'd trust them again. I would never trust a body shop to paint a Z, unless it is a personal friend or they specialize in Datsuns. Haven't found a shop that specializes in Datsuns... Jon

Yes, you have the pinion flange stuff correct now. I know if you want to run U-joints, you can grab the side yokes off of your existing R200. I've done that much myself. I THINK if you want to run the CV's that the CV shafts have the side yoke part built in, so you would need both CV shafts and to bolt them to the stub axle on the wheel end, you would need the companion flange. I'm not sure if you need the stub axle AND the companion flange. I'll leave that question to someone else. Good luck with the project! Jon

I still think you're looking at the sides of the differential. I'm talking about the front of the diff where the driveshaft bolts to. There is a circular flange, some call it a yoke, some a flange, that bolts to the pinion shaft. You need to switch the pinion flange or yoke, whichever you prefer to call it. Jon

I'm not talking about the driveshaft at all. I'm talking about the yoke on the diff. The huge nut in the front of the diff holds it on. You need to take that huge nut off, pull the yoke, put it on the new diff, and put the nut back on. Lots of people will replace this nut, but I think it's OK to reuse if you torque it down hard and use loctite. I don't know the proper torque spec, but as I was informed here a couple of months ago, there is no crush sleeve in the Nissan diffs so find the right torque, hit the nut with that torque and it should be good to go. Jon

Yoke or pinion flange for the 280 driveshaft. The 300 driveshaft has a different bolt pattern. Your old one should work. Just swap them out and torque the pin nut down really tight, use a little red loctite on it. Jon

Well I am soon to be a member of Jack Stand racing I think... I've got a bunch of stuff to do to my car. I'm definitely doing this, but you all probably won't get a report from me until spring. Also, looks like I am changing out my MSA header for a Nissan Comp unit, so I probably won't have anything like verifiable results... Jon

I think that little rubber just keeps the spring from rattling. If you are going to make your own pillow ball mounts, this may help: http://sth2.com/Z-car/shocks.htm At least it may give you some ideas. Jon

Duh. Thanks for pointing out my contradictory argument. Feeling a little stupid here... The few people I've talked to that have done this have said that it works, but they have claimed 20hp. I am not expecting to get that big an improvement, my gut tells me that is a little unrealistic. I agree that this is better than routing to the intake, since you aren't sending crankcase fumes and oily crap back into the intake manifold. Especially in a case like mine when running triples, where it is a PITA to route the PCV to every runner on the manifold. Jon

Get a manual or do a search, the rear wheel bg thing has been discussed before. It's kind of hard to explain if you haven't seen it before. Cruez's idea is a good one to check too. You can check runout on the hub with a dial indicator, or take it to a shop that can do that for you. Jon

I'm guessing that BOZ moved the crossmember forward to lessen the amount of twist on the front control arm bushings. You would still need a longer TC rod if you were to move the crossmember. The stock "bucket" is pretty flexy, and if you already have an adjustable TC rod with a rod end, it should be really easy to make a stronger mount from 3/16" plate or similar. Be careful of getting the angle wrong on the mount, or you will twist the end of the TC rod where it bolts to the control arm when the suspension goes through it's travel. I would suggest that you only move the mount if you have rod ends on both the control arm and the TC rod, then you should make your bracket and tack it in place, then bolt everything up without the strut in, and make sure that the suspension doesn't bind when it goes through it's range of motion. If you already have adjustable TC rods, it kinda begs the question of why you don't just adjust caster with them. Even if you wanted to make a better mount, you could still leave it in the same place, and lengthen the TC rod to get the caster. HTH, Jon

OK, maybe it is the wheel bearing. Yes, that is the wheel weight I was talking about. I once had a situation where I did not realize that I had interference between the tie rod and the wheel weight, that's why I mentioned the weights, I thought maybe the weight was hitting your brakes or something. The rear wheel bearings are not fun to replace. Make sure you cut the peened area of the nut on the back of the stub axle ALL THE WAY OFF before you remove it. Possibly upgrade to the 280ZXT nuts to reassemble. Jon

On the camber plates there is a monoball at the top which allows for the strut angle to change relative to the strut tops. I thought that the rubber performed this function in the stock unit. There is a bearing in there, but I don't think it pivots IIRC. I think if you take the rubber out you will have massive suspension bind because the top won't pivot in relation to the strut. Something has to give... This is all from memory, so I could be wrong. Just check and see if the bearing in there pivots to allow the strut angle to change. Jon

Usually a wheel bearing noise will change under side load. Go down a street and swerve hard side to side, and you should hear the noise change. Generally wheel bearing noise is a groaning type of noise. Did you pull the wheel off? Maybe you've got a wheel weight coming off or something. It doesn't sound like a wheel bearing from your description. I'd check the brakes too. Jon

I seem to vaguely remember a science project in 8th grade or so where we took a straw in a glass of water, and blew past the end of the straw with compressed air, and watched the water go up. I can't remember the name for it. I looked a bit on the internet, and the only effect I could find that I thought was even remotely similar was siphoning, but I don't think that that is the correct term for why this works. It's like the gas in a carb though. Think about your old SU's. Was there enough engine vacuum when you were driving to suck the gas out of the nozzles? If you stopped the air flow, and just put those carbs in a case filled with vacuum, would the gas fly out of them? No. What pulls the gas out of the nozzles is the air rushing by them and into the motor. There is no vacuum in your exhaust. There is velocity in the exhaust gas. It's counterintuitive, but this idea does work. I'm done trying to convince though. I'm just going to do it and let you all know what I think when its done. Probably have an update on that for everyone in the spring time when I drive the Z again. Jon

Regardless of whether there is another piston going up, can we all agree that there is pressure in a crankcase? Can we all agree that it gets higher with rpms? I would think so. Anybody else ever seen a Volvo 4 cyl in a 240 or 740 with the PCV plugged? It blows oil out the valve cover, oil cap, and anywhere else there is a gasket or seal. How about a newbie hot rodder that plugs all the PCV ports because he wants to eliminate all that smog stuff. Fire it up and it leaks immediately. With this in mind, when the piston goes down, it is still compressing the air underneath it, and that air is pressurized. It may be less pressurized because of another piston going up, but it is still pressurized. And there is still the issue of wind resistance that putting vacuum to the case would alleviate. Jon