JMortensen

I think I have that same lawn edging on the front of my airdam... Jon

I always wondered why rally spectators stood at the outside of corners Anyone remember the Subaru flipping OVER a spectator in last season's WRC competition? That was amazing... Jon

One more thing. Most of the guys trying to upgrade on a budget buy 280ZX front struts and swap them in. Vented 10.5" (?) rotors, larger diameter than stock, and they pretty much bolt on. I've been in a few 510's that need 11" rotors for sure, and there are probably more people that want to make the car stop well and aren't so concerned about running slicks on a track, so you'd probably sell some 11" setups, I was just saying that if you look at hardcore roadracing/autocrossing 510's they will have 13's. Jon

True 510 racers usually run 13" wheels FWIW. Jon

That last bit sounds like air in the lines. Jon

Ivan, Put some bump stops in your suspension!!! Get some polyurethane bumpstops from Energy Suspension. Also, if you are bottoming (that metal to metal sound) very often you may want to consider sectioning the struts or running stiffer springs. Jon

Can the pedal go to the floor without actually pushing on the master??? I admit that I am not terribly familiar with the innards of a booster, but I thought it was basically a rod that went straight through and a huge vacuum diaphragm that helped to depress the master and I think there is a spring in there too which helps to return the diaphragm. The point is that I would think that even if the booster is completely wasted there still should be some resistance in the master... Jon

Thanks Yo, I'm gonna post my question there. Jon

I'll check and see if it moves freely. I did the AFM change after buying a cam and reading about it in the Downey catalog. Can't say I felt a difference either. I can tell you that with 2 1/4 exhaust, some mild porting and the cam I could get 32 mpg, and more power than stock . Too bad I couldn't use that head on the new motor. Didn't have time to have it rebuilt. I'm going to send it back to the engine builder as a core. Jon

Tim, I know a couple of guys that have cut the ends off their swaybars, welded on 3/8 x 1 x 3 inch piece of bar stock, drilled it in 3 or 4 places, and made adjustable bars then hooked up rod ends. None have ever had a problem that I'm aware of. In fact I was thinking of doing that myself. The swaybar is more of a torsion spring, so if the welding is of good quality and on the end of the bar it doesn't seem to matter that much. Even more extreme modification: a long time ago, like more than a couple of years - there was an article in Grassroots Motorsports that was saying you could cut a piece of tubing in half and weld it to the straight part of the bar in the middle to get a stiffer swaybar. I never liked the idea because you were welding in the area that gets twisted, but those guys usually know what they are talking about. Jon

I'm not sure what the heck is going on with this thing. I know this forum is probably not the place to ask, but I'm pretty stuck. A week before I moved the old engine developed a nasty knock. So off I go to buy a rebuilt longblock since I don't have time to build one right now, and now its running, but this weird problem develops. Now I'm right in the middle of moving and it's still acting strange. I may just have to take the truck to a Toy specialist. All of my friends in CA were mechanics, and a few of them were particularly good with 22RE's, but none of them has a clue what could be causing this problem. I'd prefer triples and an O2 sensor anyday. Kinda backwards, I know. I did change plugs and wires, cap and rotor looked good, BTW. Jon

Doesn't heating spring steel like that take the temper out of the steel? One fellow Z freak I know snapped his R180 bar after years of autocrossing - he was also known to lay some rubber down on the street pretty often. I hope you don't have the same experience... Jon

Just to give the opposing view here, I drove my Z with 200 in/lb springs in front and 250 in/lb in back, camber plates, TC rods with rod ends, front control arms with rod ends, sway bars, G Machine bushings in back and poly bushings everywhere else on the street as a daily driver for 3+ years. I did turn my Tokicos down to 1 when on the street, but everyone who rode in it only complained of noise, not a rough ride. A couple of times after an autocross I forgot to switch the struts back, and that was brutal, I admit. My setup is way more extreme than most would consider for street driving, but I did it for a long time, and still drive the car to autocrosses (haven't gone in awhile though). I think stiffer sway bars are a must if you're going to drive it hard... Jon

Clifton, have you seen the video? They hook birfields into a jig and pull on them with a lever and a FORKLIFT. The "super" birfields shear the axle shaft (and they have big shafts) before the CV breaks. AMAZING! Lots of Toyota guys are trying to get Dana 44 axles to fit into the front, I'd go Super Birf anyday. Great idea about having him do a ZX CV. I'm sure they would be bulletproof if he will do them. Jon

John, I suppose for that price you get to choose all of your gear ratios. That must be pretty damn cool. Isn't it possible to get a Jehrico with straight cut gears and adapt sequential shifting mechanism onto it? I wonder if that would work with a T-5 turbo bellhousing... Not that I'm looking into this myself. Just curious. Jon

Most masters that I've come across come with a "bleeding kit" which is 2 short pieces of vacuum hose. you just set the master in a vise, route the hoses from the bleeder screws right back to the reservoirs, and pump the master with a screwdriver. The problem is that when it shoots air into the reservoirs the fluid gets thousands of tiny bubbles in it, which kinda ruins the whole "getting air out of the system" thing. The original problem in this post was obviously that the guy had the rear calipers on the wrong sides. If the bleeders are on the bottom, you're going to be bleeding forever, unless you have a rotisserie to help you out... Jon

I've been able to get my 3/8 impact on the halfshaft bolts with a long extension. You just need to rotate the wheel until the U-joint moves enough to get the socket on. Jon

My pleasure. That's why we're all here... Jon

There is another way to retain the axles, I've never seen it done in a Z, but I've seen it in Ford TTB front axles when installing aftermarket LSD's that don't have circlip grooves. You pull apart the slip yoke and put a spring in there, so that it is always pushing the 2 halves of the axles apart. There is still some room for compression, but the stub axles won't work themselves out. Works for F150's that are rockcrawling, should work for Z's. The trick would be finding a spring that is the right diameter. Jon

I just put a long block in my '93 Toy 2wd. I am having a strange problem with the AFM. It is honking! Sounds like a very quiet car horn. It does this at idle, but then it seems to go away when the truck warms up or when RPMS get over about 2000 (no tach, so that's my best guess). The only previous experience I have messing with this AFM is about 10 years ago I opened it up and richened the mixture to go with a camshaft I had purchased. Other than that, its been doing its job with no complaints. I am not really fond of FI, and I don't really know much about it. Maybe if I was a little more FI friendly I'd learn something about it so I didn't have to ask questions... I also had a idle surging problem, to fix that I cleaned the throttle body and reset the TPS. That seems to have fixed the surge, but I still have no clue on the honking AFM. Any help appreciated. Jon

"butt" some of them... That's FUNNY. Jon

A real Daytona wouldn't have 6 spoke ZX wheels on it... Jon

I just thought of something. If your mechanic didn't use a "sleeve" to put the valve stem seals on he may have ripped them. This sleeve I'm referring to is like a drinking straw that is tapered at one end, and you just slide it over the valve spring retainer groove. If you don't use one, then the seal gets caught in the groove, and it is very easy to cut the seal. If you do a normal compression test, you can tell if you've got bad rings or bad valves. Just check the compression then squirt a little oil in the cylinder and do the check again. If the compression jumps up, then you've got bad rings. Jon

If that's the stand up unit with wheels to roll around like a dolly then it is the quietest compressor I have ever heard. My buddy has had one for a few years now. I envy you both. Jon

Mid 80's Civic or Integra blower fan bolts right into the early 240 Z just make 2 new wires, not sure about the later Z's. It gives more airflow, still not "blow your hair back" power. I read once about putting a GN (or Regal I suppose) blower in. Don't remember the specifics, I think it required more mods. That was really supposed to push the air around. I always equated the stock fan's power to having an 80 year old with emphyzema stuck under the dash breathing on you. Jon