JMortensen

The only classes you'll fit in for autox are X Prepared, where I believe a V8 Z might be able to compete, or E Mod, where I think a V8 Z will get stomped by 7 clones. Depending on the size of your club and the competition, your situation may vary. For road racing I think you can do ITE, and after that I don't know, but you'd likely be outclassed by anything else out there that would fit into such a wide open category. If you just want to put together a cheap car that goes fast and don't care about classifications or winning, then you can have a lot of fun. I got a ride in a stockish 280Z (chassis, suspension, etc) with a 327 about a year ago at an autox. It wasn't the fastest thing out there by a long shot, but it was a really fun ride. There is a guy in Portland with a V8 RX7, 2nd gen that runs in XP, and it is the fastest autox car I've been in. Very impressive and not a lot of money in it. I don't see why his kind of results wouldn't be just as easy with a Z car.

I had a friend with an HKS that chewed up some teeth with a stock starter. I think the issue might be more with the flywheels than with the starter. I had a gear reduction unit and used it with the old AZC that had a pressed on starter ring. Used it for years, no problems.

I went manual with dual masters which kinda throws it all off, and I returned that setup to Juan because it didn't clear my wheels. He made new caliper brackets and hats and returned them to me.

Yep. I want to say it's a 7/16" bolt size, but don't quote me on that. I take it you have Honda offset wheels. If not, you'll need them.

It will separate airflow from the window. If you're not interested in downforce and you like the way it looks, more power to you.

Get a shorter insert and put a spacer underneath.

Seems like a bad idea as it will cause separation from the rear window and is too small to provide much downforce.

I hit the wheel because I (stupidly) disconnected the shoulder harness. I was turning into a Burger King and in the 72 with the seat positioned correctly and fixed belts, I could barely roll down the windows, so I used to pop the shoulder belt off so that I could lean forward a bit. I just jumped the gun taking it off before I got into the drive thru line. My wife had her belt on and hit the dash. Not sure if hers was just loose or what, but she put a dent in the dash with her forehead.

Seems like the fast guys are going 400+ on the springs. The issue is that your tokicos won't handle it, so then you get into other struts and that's a whole other rabbit hole. If you are driving and tracking this car, I'd stick with what you have and disconnect the rear bar as others have said. If you want to go with sticky tires, you'll have a lot of issues to work through.

Doesn't matter. As Terry Oxandale showed me years ago with this drawing, you won't actually start losing neg camber until the control arm is perpendicular to the strut tube, which I think is practically impossible. He says caster, but meant camber: http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/detailfs?userid={7DC317B0-8EDB-4B2E-A837-F708D07C9769}&ndx=19&slideshow=0&AlbumId={E19B86F3-5BFB-4733-AF72-09BD805A6F1A}&GroupId={832D28D1-26F8-4E35-B3D1-6BB2152C089B}&screenheight=1050 All that happens when the control arm points up is the rate of camber gain changes, and even that isn't a big deal. This post has a diagram of the camber curve on a Z and also talks about something more important, loss of camber due to roll. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/63492-suspension-tech-motion-ratio-unsprung-weight/?p=616174 The more tire you have the more spring you need, so if you're talking about going to sticky tires, you'll be running out of spring pretty shortly I suspect. I ran 200/250 on my car for years and ran slicks with it. Even with the camber plates maxed out my tires ended up wearing pretty badly on the outside edge.

You might try longer, softer bumpstops. http://fatcatmotorsports.com/FCMstops_comp.htm or http://www.koniracing.com/bumpstops.cfm

The axles can also pull OUT and strip the splines, although that's less likely with the 280ZXT axles since they have springs in them. Put the clips into the side gears and then push them into their groove with a reasonably snug socket so that they don't twist.

What spring rates did you go to? I have been told they don't work so well above 425.

What did you do when you had them revalve? Did you give them the 300/100 spec or did you ask them to make it work for xxx lb springs?

There is a lot of structure around those fenders. One of the main body seams runs up the wall just a couple inches away. There are better ways to do it, but the Autopower was (is?) legal for SCCA racing and it had both feet on the fenderwells.

Check out 74_5.0L_Z's album. He has a cage like you might find in a convertible with no bars other than the main hoop near his head. He has a tubed front end, but you could do a dash bar and connect to that and get your two hoops and door bars and connect into the rear struts and then choose to connect to the fronts or not. At 6'3" I think you'll either be in a very laid back seat or you'll be dropping the floor down to make clearance for your helmet if you actually want rollover protection.

BZ3099 has a 14mm upper mount IIRC. I got spacer bushings from GC.

I hear Bilstein upped the revalve charge to $100. Haven't verified.

Just weld a tube across.

Rush songs notwithstanding, the Z isn't that bad in accidents. I got rear ended by a woman in a Firebird who never even saw me in my 72. She pushed me into oncoming traffic where I hit an Acura Legend head on. The rear end hit was probably 50 mph. The legend was on a 35 mph road, so figure maybe a 50 or 60 mph combined hit to the front. The rear end was pushed in about a foot, the front was mashed up to the core support then the frame rails were tweaked off to one side a couple inches. I broke my nose on the steering wheel, my wife smacked her head on the dash. Mike Kelly was rear-ended by a trash truck at speed in his Z IIRC and survived. They can take a hit. If you want to improve the side impact performance, I'd put a rollbar in. A friend of mine was T boned in the driver door of his 510 by a Ranger 4x4 pickup and walked away - the side of the car was crushed up to the roll bar.

You can also buy pre-made links that don't require welding, in aluminum or steel. Technically what you're looking for are turnbuckles, but in circle track land they call them tie rods. Who knows, maybe there is a car out there that takes a 50" tie rod... http://www.colemanracing.com/Tie-Rod-Aluminum-P4199.aspx http://www.colemanracing.com/Tie-Rod-Swedged-Steel-P4057.aspx

I've got the box that my column was shipped to me in, and it says 12.4 lbs. I would guess that you could probably halve that, maybe a little more. I was thinking that the column must make the pedal box more rigid, but there are a few lbs to be saved there.

Can anyone tell me how deep a drop base I will need to clear a stock hood with the dual plane Edelbrock manifold?

That's what we're hoping for, and that's the point of the rad duct. You don't need a lot to make it work. http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles/ctrp_0707_stock_car_aero_downforce/photo_04.html

The low pressure is the rest of the engine compartment. Did you block off all of the holes in the rad core support?