randy 77zt

you guys on east coast would like to see some of the deals i run into .i have a line on a clean 1976 z that needs a motor for $500.i have a guy on east coast that wants it but havent heard from him for a while.i am thinking about making offer and buying car anyway-i have a motor for it.cars dont rust where i live it rains 3 monthes and is dry the rest.if some body needs a project car email me.

i think scottie has some engineering problems that most of us will never have.he probably needs a r230 with some custom cv axles running some real race car cv joints.when i was off with my hernia surgury i found a magazine in the book store called race car enginering that had sources for this kind of stuff-like cv joints for racing dodge vipers.a ford 8.8 would probably be good for up to 300 or 350 hp and not shock loaded.i havent had any breakage problems but road racing is really only hard on brakes.

sean-when you get stiff enough springs & good shocks/struts it wont squat any more.just drive car to gc and talk to them.you want car to squat a little-this is called weight transfer.if you set the car up as stiff as an indy car it would spin of starting line.the zx hasnt had as much development work as early z.it would probably be fine with some eibach replacement springs.tokico struts-bigger sway bars.i put coil-overs on before i put track tires on my car-mistake.

if you read rules for scca cages the shoulder harness has to go straight back.if harness goes down toward rear it compresses your spine in a crash.i have a thick tube with flat strap welded to the ends mounted to shoulder harness reel holes on rear strut towers.it braces the strut towers and gives a place to fasten shoulder harness.

if you get some rear control arms built like simon's let me know.no heim joints please.i dont reset my car at the track.i set it up at work on 4 wheel hunter machine.simon's arms are what i need-adjustable but use oem or stock size urethane bushings to control noise.this would eliminate need for rear camber plates for me.i want a nice street car that can run hard at road race track when adjusted.i have had many different partson my car in last 4 years-right now i just need rear control arms.i got the noise out of rear.

i have sourced this out allready but dont have the bucks .for a motor try www.corksport.com or raver motorsports in fresno ca.around $3500.has turbos but no ic or electronics.for bellhousing try kennedy engineered products-they list a bellhousing for mazda to american trans pattern.the only fi people i have heard of for mazda 3 rotor is electromotive.also a company called redline that does sand buggy mazda conversions.the sand rail guys are using these and getting over 500 hp on pump gas and 12 psi boost.

when i win the lottery i want a 20bt mazda 3 rotor turbo in my z.these engines are around but not cheap 3 to 4 grand.i found a place that makes a bell housing for a t5 or t56 trans.i like the mad swarm of bees sound.these things make 300 or 400 hp with out turbo and rev to 9000 rpm.

the valve seat is worn.most have have replacable seats-time for the machine shop.but before you spend too much on rebuild a set of old heads you might be better off getting a new set from summit or some of the chevy factory perf heads.i had the v6 heads done on my ford ranger and spent $400 in a hurry.2 seats were sunk 3/8 of an inch-they are flame hardened at factory and some times it doesnt get done.

my front crossmember has been modified by raising front control arm bolt holes about 1" and out .75".the control arms bolt on almost behind ball sockit on rack.the tie rond ends have been heated slowly and the kink straightened out-this makes everything run straight to spindle.i dont use those bump steer spacer things.when i change camber with camber plates i get very little toe change-and it goes toe out.perfect for auto x.on the crossmember i got some big fender washers from osh and welded them in like oem reinforcments for control arm bolt holes.

the stock crank is good for 7000 rpms and 20 psi boost.i havent really heard of many people using after markit cranks.the oem crank just needs good prep work-like magnaflux,oil holes chamfered,balence and throws knife edged.on a high dollar engine you will have more chances of leaning out and burning a piston than breaking a crank.

being a proffesional auto tecnician for a living i have a suggestion for you.use your present motor as a learning tool.find out why it doesnt run well .if it is an ignition or fuel problem fix it your self and learn about it.that way some day when you can afford an expensive hot rod engine you will know how to tune and avoid possable mistakes.this is how i started working on cars.when you dont have much money fine tuning is your way out of buying expensive parts and making the most of what you have.

i can tell about actual track(thunder hill,laguna .sears point)about earlier toy 4x4 calipers on stock rotors.running porterfield track pads the rotors will warp after about 10 minutes but no fade.i have solid rotors now but when rotors were drilled it worked better.in rear i have 84 300 zx rear rotors and willwood calipers and it works great.front needs to be upgraded for track use but always works on street.i run some generic pads on street and they have lasted for 4 years.the race pads last about 4 track days.i will probably upgrade to 300 zx rotors with bigger toy caliprs too get vented front rotors.if you run track pads they chew up rotors .the willwood pads in back are easy on rotors but squeek.there is no such thing as a tame and quiet race car.

280 and 240 struts are not the same-the diameter of the tube is different.if you really want car super low you can put shortened 240 strut housings on 280.the ground control set up i put on a 240 used shortened tubes with mr2 cartridges in front and front 240 in rear.my car runs a ground control set up for 280 with 12" long springs.car will go plenty low but camber plates lower the car too.in the rear i have 240 upper spring cushions with coil over.i used to have some carrera camber plates in back but it rattled too much.at one time i had the eibach lowering springs -stock replacement and tokico struts-car was 1" lower and rode real good.my struts arent sectioned-car works good at race track.some of the guys are using real short coil overs and running wide tires & wheels with offset into wheel well.problem with short coils is the rate goes up fast -very rough ride.i have had my suspension too stiff before-car will push at track.you have to make up your mind what the purpose of the car is-track racing or just looking cool.

i have a smog license for enforcement counties(dyno smogs) in california.my turbo z got one of those TEST ONLY license renewels last summer.will it turned out that it made me have to get the swap certified at referee.it passed no problem but it helps being able to pretest any time you want.if some body wants to put a v-8 into z i suggest using a late 80s efi engine and not 70s vintage v8.the 70s had smog pumps and too much egr and retarded ign timing-hard to make good hp and loww emmissions at same time.a 74 car wont need cats .the law was written this way because cars with cats have heat shields for them on body/chassis.if somebody goes to a really late model swap (1996 or up) you will have a efi system with obd2 and these run a o2 sensor behind cat to monitor cat wear.you can get pcm reprogrammed to ignore no cat.it seems like 70 to 73 z goes for higher prices in ca because of smog law exempting them from smog checks but there is a rumor about going back to 1966 again.that will kill the muscle car aftermarkit though and sema will be doing some major lobbying to keep this from going through.there are a few counties in ca that still only smog on transfer of ownership.mountain counties in sierra and far north.i am thinking about getting a po box in another county.

ross -i know i over-torqued the pinion flange.i used a torque wrench and put pinion flange in vise and torqued to 180 ft/lbs but wrench didnt click untill i put lots of torque on it.i usually just snug it down with impact gun & red locktite.the ford dealer where i work is cool about working on you own cars after work .if i wrench hard i can probably do the bearing & seal job in 4 hours.i found and old chilton manual at work with specs and instructions.i want my car to work like a new car.this last minute thrashing before motorsport show is killing me.

i have a 88 3.7 lsd in my 77 turbo z.the lsd makes doing darius donuts easy.i put one wheel on the chassis dyno rollers at work and lowered the dyno and left one wheel on floor.car pulled it self out of dyno rollers so lsd unit must be ok.i put it in at work last saturday and screwed up the pinion preload changing pinion flange so i will have to pull it and replace bearings and seals after work cause car is going to motorsport show on friday.ordererd all new bearings & seals from nissan.

to kevin & drax-i run a 82 trans with 3.54 but last saturday i changed to a 88 3.7 lsd.one of the reasons for my post is that i suspect the east coast members dont drive as fast as west coast people do.at 80 with 3.54/82 trans with 205/60 15 tires it is running 3000 rpm.drives ok but i have subconsciously reached for another gear a few times after settling in at cruise speed.to drax-when you can ditch the 77 trans for 82/83.77 trans has big ratio gap between 2nd & 3rd and 5th is to close.at sears point between turns 2,3,4 that trans has wound in 2nd or dogging 3rd.i will be running 3.70lsd and 225/50 15 kumho slicks to motorsport show.hope it doesnt rain.

what gear ratios are most of the members running?what to you use your car for?i ask because i use my car to commute to work and freeway speeds are 70 to 85 mph steady.the 1 time i was on east coast there were speed traps every 3 miles.i am glad the highway patrol here in california have more to do than wait for people to come by.

hoover-can i get in on a dyno run too?have 77 with 81zxt engine.when are you testing at sears point?will help pay for track time.

i am rebuild my interior right now in my 77 cause its going to motorsport show.had that crummy white interior.i have had the changeover parts and a molded motorsport carpet set for a couple of years but i am tired of old insides.the vinyl strip around the top of the doors and windshield -i got some black vinyl spray for that .i am going to mask it off and spray it with out pulling it out.i have some trick looking cloth for headliner.i am just going to use some jet ski mat glue and glue it up.i fitted the front carpet section and pulled it out to get a leather boot sewn up to hole for shifter.forget the console-i just going to have carpet.i bought some 4" boston coaxial speakers for oem speaker holes.i put more carpet padding in for noise control.the plastic panels and door panels came from pick&pull-$30 for all and door panels were just replaced on the car i got them off of.i hope it looks good when i am done.

i just put a 88 300zxt lsd into my 77 turboz and it howls loudly on accel-loudest in 4th on boost at about 4000 rpms.i swapped the pinion flange and torqued it to specs.the 3.54 r200 i took out had a noisy diffcarrier bearing-you could hear it and 20 mph coasting with engine off.the lsd has a little hum at steady freeway speeds.i dont really like the 3.7 gear as freeway speeds in my part of california are fast<75 to 85>.i am probably going to try to get some of those glacier bushings and new oem bearings from nissan dealer and build a 3.54 lsd.has anybody done a rebuild on a r200?i work on ford rear axles at work so i dont mind trying one out.the only problem right now is i have to listen to this thing for 600 miles going to motorsport show and back.

it might be hydralic cam followers -when motor runs for a while it might go away.

the body shops are using a kit that spot welds a little pull rod to body .then you have a little slide hammer that comes with kit and pull out dent.when pull rod is bent sideways it breaks off of body and it takes very little grinding to remove the spot weld that is left.i have seen 50 or so of these welded to a car .after that you shoot some grey primer on and spatter it with black spray piant and long board sand it.if black is not done right it will show every dent you forgot.take pictures of car with rings spray painted around dents before starting work.

when i put bigger exhaust on my z <77> i left the cat converter heat shield in and put muffler where cat was.the console is out and floor gets too hot to touch.got a molded carpet kit-no more cracked up console.i gat some of that car rug padding to put under new carpet.

i have same sway bar on 77.i was thinking about cutting off ends and welding a 2x2 piece of square tube below new end on control arm the putting a frame clamp and bushing (the kind of hold down on front sway bar to frame)on top of 2x2.i have just put parts aside for know.my car is not for drag racing-it is used for sears point ,laguna seca,and thunderhill.i have spent 3 years getting it to handle good enough to out run some race cars.know i REALLY dont like messing with handling.i have some parts around that were tried and then pulled off .expensive r&d.