JMortensen

Looks like a real "enthusiast" Jon

You DON'T need coilovers for 215's or 225's. You do need them for anything bigger. They are expensive, so don't bother if you don't need it. Talk to Ross Corrigan at Modern Motorsports, he can tell you what will fit and what won't. Maybe he'll see this thread and pipe up. Jon

I've heard lots of complaints about Reaganomics, but the best support for it that I've heard is that the GDP to debt ratio improved while the overall debt was increased. It seems to me that I would rather have my company 1.2 trillion in debt, and made 7 trillion dollars in sales, than 500 million in debt and making 2 trillion in sales. I don't know enough about this to make a knowledgable statement about it, but all I hear is rhetoric spewed from the left about "raiding" social security (which is supposed to be raided according to even Democrat economists that I've seen interviewed) and increasing debt. The more I learn the more confused I get. Let's give Reagan a little credit. He did take down Russia, and I think he pretty much did that all by himself and maybe that was worth the debt. I watched some interviews with Gorbachev, who seemed fairly non-plussed with Reagan's tactics. I still think you gotta hand it to the president who sits down across the table from Gorby and starts their first conversation "So let me tell you what is wrong with your system of government." I don't know how much of a rah-rah leader he was either. Seems like he was really involved in day to day operations, especially in his first term. Jon

The F54 turbo blocks came with dished pistons. That's probably what you have. If you pull a freeze plug on the side of the block you can look in and see the bracing inside the water jacket. If you are doing a NA engine you might want to get some flat tops to put in there. Then you can use the quench area. Do you have a P90 head? That would be the turbo combo from the factory. Jon

Nope don't have any pics, sorry. You can get a catch can from any racing outlet, Summit, Jegs, Pegasus, Racer Wholesale, etc. Just an aluminum container basically. For a long time I ran the PCV into an old 1 quart plastic oil bottle (hose straight into the hole) and a big hole in the top so that it didn't blow the hose out of the bottle. Anything to keep it from falling straight on the ground. I suppose the amount of oil in the air cleaner would also depend on when the last filter change was done and if the PO cleaned all the oil out then too. Clean it out and keep an eye on it. If it quickly gets a puddle of oil in it then you may have a problem. Jon

I envy you Inzane. I never made it up there because entry fees were always $350 or more. The walls look awfully close in the game too. Jon

Oops, I just realized that by drop in you mean the new filter fits in the stock airbox. Nevermind all of the hose rerouting crap. Your Z sounds fairly normal, just sucking engine vapors and oil through the PCV into the airbox. Maybe a little tired from the sound of it. Jon

The PCV (crankcase vent) goes to the stock airbox. If your engine has a lot of miles it probably has a lot of blowby which is venting through the PCV to the airbox. You'll always have some residue from this, but it sounds like you've got a lot. You don't have a hookup for that PCV hose on the K&N filters. I used the stock hose off the PCV which is located on the front driver's side of the block and rerouted that to a catch can right next to the radiator support. If you really want to get spiffy you can use one of the vacuum lines off the intake and route that to the catch can as well, so you still have some vacuum pulling pressure out of the block. Also the hose from the valve cover won't have anywhere to connect to. You can get a small K&N filter for the valve cover, or you can buy a longer length of hose and route that to a catch can too. BTW--cut out the stock air horns around the mounting bolts and bolt them up inside the K&N filters. That's supposedly good for a few hp. Jon

$600 for a bottom end rebuild on an L6 is also cheap. Not as cheap as my 22RE, but still too cheap to expect much out of it. I'd do a used not rebuilt motor with reasonably low miles for $600 way before I rebuilt the bottom end in an L6 for that kind of $$$. I have seen engine stands on which you can do a compression test or start the motor, but I think that they are a custom thing, so I think you'll have to put it in before you can test it. If you get a used engine that runs reasonably well you should have some time to build another bottom end on the side. BTW--Go back and see what they did that last time for $800 if you can. And remember, you had no boost back then... Jon

Bastaad, Don't get your block rebuilt for $600. Trust me. I just made the same mistake. You may or may not recall my 22RE question a few weeks ago. I was in the middle of a move, and paid for a rebuilt motor instead of doing it myself. Nothing but a big headache. I paid $895 for the rebuild which is dirt cheap, put it back together, couldn't get the vacuum hoses right (looked at the damn diagram about 50 times too), had a honking sound from the AFM. Finally got fed up and took it to a shop, they fixed all of my driveablility issues and set the low speed air/fuel mix on a gas analyzer. So far so good. Then a couple of days later it starts making an exhaust leak noise. Take it back to the shop because by now I don't even want to look at the damn thing. Turns out #3 intake valve seat had FALLEN OUT OF THE HEAD and was following the intake valve up and down. Also, #3 intake valve guide was also LOOSE and you could slide it in and out of the head with your FINGERS!!! You get what you pay for. I already knew that, but somehow I was unable to pass up a good deal. I got into a quick and cheap frame of mind because I was moving and had no spare $$$. Had to swap the head for another one from the same builder (covered under warranty), now it seems to run OK, but we'll see how long this one holds up. If you want to crank up the boost, you can figure forged pistons, resizing the rods, balancing the whole assy, boring, honing, etc. I'd fix the current motor and build the other one on the side. If you add in head studs and good rod bolts I would expect $2500 or so minimum. But then you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. $600 is gonna get you the cheapest cast pistons available, a crappy bore/hone job, and that's about it. Take your time and do it right like I DIDN'T! Jon

That's why I love the game Kid-Vid. I had been to Laguna Seca watching the races, but after playing GT2 and GT3, when a race comes on Speedvision, I know exactly where they are on the track. Same thing with F1 at Monaco. My main beef is with the lack of tracks. I'd like to see a track list for the new one. I wish you could do a whole rally too, instead of looping around a small portion of one of the stages. That'd be a lot of programming... Still, its one helluva game, and the new one looks WAY better. Jon

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME THAT WAS A SPELLING ERROR!!! I'd hate to think otherwise... Haven't seen a real life bigot in quite a long time. Jon

I got this from the zhome.com list. Gran Turismo III is the only game I play now. I have to say that after seeing this video and the car list, I can't wait for GT4. Note the Z's on the car list and in the video, also the Suzuki Hyabusa formula car... http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/t-24370.html http://www.playstation.jp/ch/asx_tgs/pv_gt4.asx Jon

Someone changed the rear wheel bearings and used the other nuts??? Do the ZXT's have the flat on the axle, or no??? Jon

If you need to remove a peened nut again cut the flattened part off the nut with a cutoff wheel. If you don't you end up with the buggered threads. If you cut it off nicely no thread damage is done. The junkyard obviously just put an impact on it and hit it. The threads that were damaged were from the peened area at the end of the nut and further away from where the nut actually screws on. Sometimes you can fix with a thread file and reuse because the nut isn't actually tightening on the damaged part of the threads, but it's a big PITA, and if yours are the same spline then you'd save yourself some hassle to take the nuts off the right way and use them. PParaska has a detail of the stub axle differences on his website: http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/240ZCVHalfshaftConversion.htm and http:// http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/280ZCVHalfshaftConversion.htm Jon

Slot mags don't have a 0 offset, I recall that my 195/60/14's rubbed on slot mags. With a 0 offset you can safely fit a 225 under a stock fender, you may have to roll the fender for clearance, but I don't think so. Lots of guys put 225's on a 7" rim, personally I wouldn't go more than 215. I would go 8" rim for a 225 or 235. Putting a 275 on a 7" rim would be ridiculous. That tire should go on a 10 or 11" rim, which would require flares and 2.5" ID coilovers. The "benefit" of progressive springs is that you don't feel small bumps in the road, but when you push it there is a stiffer spring rate to deal with body roll, bottoming, etc. The bad part is that you always have 2" of mushy spring to get through before you get to the "real" spring rate. We just had a pretty long post about a Tokico spring set which had progressives in front and linear rate springs in back, and nobody thought that was a good setup. The general consensus was that progressives in general were a bad idea. Do a search in the suspension forum. Modern Motorsports makes a wheel adapter that allows you to use most of the aftermarket Honda wheels available. That would probably be your best bet. Keep in mind that going to huge wheels will make your car slower due to the increased rotating mass, and having really low profile tires means that you can very easily damage them on curbs and potholes, and they won't have as much traction if straight line is your thing. I traded a set of 15's to a friend, she gave me her 14" ZX 6 spokes. Her wheels weighed 14lbs each, mine weighed 25 or more each. First thing she says is "Now my car feels really slow. It doesn't stop good either." She likes the look though. Jon

FWIW- I bought my Mikunis from a guy with a D50 Mitsubishi that ran 11's (383, nitrous). He ran the 4 cyl rear end until he broke the ring and pinion. He marked the axles at both ends, and after running it for a few years and breaking the R&P, he checked the axles. They had twisted less than 1/4". Jon

Ricer to me is a state of mind, its not whether you drive a Honda or a Z or a Vette. It has little to do with the car, the car is simply one piece of the ricer persona. The car - regardless of type - has to have both stereo and exhaust be as loud as possible, so that you will be noticed. You want to piss people off because it is so loud, but then get in their face if they say anything about it. In ricer terms this is called "gettin' respect." The car is supposed to be fast, but in actuality it doesn't have to be because you are too cool to race anyhow. In addition to the car, you need a bimbo girlfriend (preferably with fake boobs) and a wild hairdo (preferably 4-5 inch spikey type) that takes at least 1 hour of preparation every morning. The girl and the hairdo are much like the car. They have to be as "extreme" as possible. Fake boobs and huge hair are the human equivalent to a giant spoiler and painted interior trim pieces. You must walk around like you've got a chip on your shoulder at all times to get as much "respect" as you can. The end result of ricerism is to create the most anime-like existence possible. If being an enthusiast is as easy as installing decals and different color turn signal lenses and mufflers that were ONLY designed to be obnoxious on your car, then they are enthusiasts. That doesn't make any of them any less a ricer, or any less an a-hole. Jon

I think I paid $399, but I bought it from Arizona Z Car. I would buy it from Malvern, I think they are a little cheaper and they include the cap screws and a comp oil pan gasket. I wish I knew that when I ordered. One more thing. That oil pan is HEAVY. I never weighed it but its gotta be 10-15 lbs. Thick cast aluminum. They say it adds rigidity to the block though, and a stock one doesn't because the sheetmetal flexes under load. Jon

A good machine shop will have a Stone gasket. Nothing but good things to say about those... Jon

I'd do trap doors, crank scraper and windage tray. I have the Malvern racing pan and they use really simple hinges and sheet metal for the trap doors. The doors are arranged in a diamond shape so that they don't work only front to back or side to side. Here's a link http://www.malvernracing.com/showcase.html My pan doesn't have a scraper, and when I put it on I didn't have time to make one. The windage tray seems much better than stock, but I don't think it is shown on the website. Basically it just has one hole big enough for the pickup and multiple small drain holes back to the sump around the edges. Jon

How old are you 75280z? I was just like you till I hit 20 6' and 121lbs. I just couldn't break that 121, no matter what I ate (was up to about 4500 calories a day). Metabolism went from ultra hyper speed to normal, and over the course of the last 8 years I've managed to pack on 60 lbs. I like it though because people see me now even when I turn sideways Jon

Actually I kinda thought Arnold was more like Jessie Ventura. Economically conservative socially liberal. I think we are beginning to see more backlash against the parties, since both have their problems. Anyone who votes for Arnold because he is a Republican is going to get a surprise I think. I heard Richard Riordan on some news show last night talking about how he and Arnold agree that health care is the "God given right" of every American! I wonder how that will be worked out with the budget deficit... Jon

Well that puts a damper on things, doesn't it. Jon

Doesn't the Mazda engine run around 25psi boost? That's why I think a turbo wouldn't work well. You need some rpms to get that kind of boost from a turbo. A drag only car might be able to use a turbo, but probably not a street car. I'm sure if someone wanted to try it you could get the cam profile from a Millenia and make a pretty good guess on the cam. I like Drax's idea of a DOHC motor though, because you could tweak the cam timing easier. Jon