RebekahsZ

Its easy: my IRS is held together with MONEY! Z31T CV conversion with JMortensen shortened axles, noisy-ass R200 CLSD, billet stubs, wrinkle wall slicks with low air pressure, bump stops, 2-step, prayer. I'm sure my days are numbered all the same.

Went and looked at the 260z this morning on 3 hrs of sleep. Pretty solid chassis, but after looking at it for a while, I started having unpleasant flashbacks to 20 years ago scraping tar from the inside of my car, sandblasting, wire brushing, etc, and I just didn't have the energy to pull the trigger. A great starting point for someone with more energy. So, I put up a classified add for the car to try to help the dude sell it. Functioning seriously sleep deprived right now.... Timeslips from last night: TnT Hour Rxn 60' ET mph Comments 7:25 .6478 1.72 7.38 97 Win 7:34 .5717 1.69 7.28 97 Win 7:45 .5778 1.69 7.30 97 Win 8:34 .5660 1.68 7.40 97 Win 8.39 .2107 1.62 7.39 96 Red Light-big time! 8:45 .6184 1.61 7.27 97 Win, but over compensating for red light 9:06 .4967 1.67 7.39 97 Red light-but not by much! Got spanked by 6-sec car 9.11 .5712 1.65 7.42 97 Solo 9:18 .5520 1.62 7.32 97 Solo 9:21 .4580 1.60 7.27 97 Red light Bracket race-7.25 dial-in, full tree 9:47 .5328 1.60 7.37 96 Slow shift to 3rd, hit rev-limiter and lost, but other car broke-out WIN 10:06 .5045 1.62 7.38 82 Ran down slower car, finished hard on the brakes-WIN 10:34 .5501 1.60 7.31 97 Bye due to odd number of cars (neither win nor lose) 10:55 .5243 1.62 7.25 97 Lost to a 7.00 sec 67 Chevy II with a Powerglide who finished on the brakes-LOSE. This car wound up winning the money. Didn't realize 'till this afternoon that I had hit my dial-in (pure luck) and still got beaten. Freakin' game of chess! More practice: 11:16 .5079 1.62 7.26 97 Win 11:19 .4558 1.61 7.18 97 Solo-Red Light. Can you tell the temp is dropping? 11:23 .5394 1.62 7.16 98 Solo 11:29 .5082 1.57 7.13 98 Solo-last car off track. A good run to end on. Carnage for the night: one brake light burned out on trailer. 18 runs-kind of a slow night.

Wow, that's pretty! Solid mount the motor and you shouldn't have trouble with hitting things due to engine movement? You are gonna have one hot hood! But, that's so pretty you should run without one.

Was on call for the hospital again, which restricted my racing radius to 30 min, so I went to N. Alabama tonight. Was joined by Terry and Dwight in their SBC/T350/280z after wrenching till midnight last night to get a new diff and axles into their car. They went from one axle to 5 axles in one day of scrounging, got the axle installed and still beat me to the track; sitting their waiting when I arrived (we all have jobs too). First two cars on the track for TnT-very hot and humid. I still can't seem to hook this car: 12psi in the slicks, rear shocks on level 1, all droop limiters removed-nothing seems to help. Anyway, Dwight got eliminated in the third round and I got eliminated in the 4th round, having a bye in the 3rd. I finally got my shi... together with the light, but can't get a decent 60' due to spinning. Their were (I think) 17 cars in the field. This track is not super popular and their are few really fast cars. The track eliminated the "Pro" (transbrake) class and required all cars to foot brake. Evidently this is going to be going on all fall, which gives me some chance of participating with a clutch to release. As usual I was the first car on the track and the last to leave. No carnage from either of us. Timeslips tomorrow. Up early to go look at a "rust free" 260z about an hour away. Will buy it if it is truly rust free-will walk for the slightest cancer (been there done that). This would be a chassis to hold in storage to either swap my components onto when I have destroyed my chassis, or for a dedicated back halved, 275-series drag radial drag car with an 8.8/9", Powerglide and NO2 equipped 5.3.

Specs were thoroughly perused in advance (you ninny!), which is the whole point of this thread. When squeezing 10lbs of stuff in a 5lb bag, the difference between fitting and not is a very slim margin. Even after doing research, the only way to know if a tire will fit is to buy it and try. Looking forward to some BAMF flares before spring. I want to run a 10" tire next year-still spinning off the line.

Just got estimate for chrome moly 6-pt bar with extensions to support the diff. ($1100). Looks like a competent drag race chassis shop in Lexington, AL. Hope to have that off the winter list by the end of November. Says it should be certifiable to 9.99. Chassis builder says he knows a guy who can certify a car in Nashville, TN (2 hours away).

Tell you what, you start driving this way, and I'll put some beers in the fridge to share when you arrive. Headed to the track tomorrow night.

Just experienced the snap ring thing. My racing buddy had cross shaft wear which let his spider gears bind, sheared off about 6 spider gear teeth, locked one side of the diff then destroyed a halfshaft u-joint and wiped out the halfshaft yoke on the differential end. At least that's what appears to have happened. Well, to help get him back on the track, I opened up a 3.70 that I had robbed of the CLSD carrier about a year ago and swapped in an open R200 carrier, torqued the ring gear and carrier yokes with locktite and installed new seals. Went to install his stub axles, and what do you know (?) the axle retention snap ring inside my 3.70 diff was missing on one side (argh!). The stub slipped in and out with ease. We robbed one out of his wrecked diff using flat head screwdrivers and then started wrestling the snap ring into my diff. After about an hour of wrestling with screwdrivers and needle nose plyers, I recalled a post on this site that described using a socket to get the snap ring started into the carrier. A 24mm socket (with an extension and a couple taps of a hammer) was perfect for getting the snap started down the splines squarely, then we used the stub axle and a hammer to carefully advance the snap ring into the groove inside the carrier. Perfect. Glad I live on this site! Thanks hybridz! Now I gotta find him a driver side halfshaft.

KIND OF OFF-topic, but anybody got any drag racing experience with the Shiro VLSD? I'm getting kind of tired of all the chatter and bang of my CLSD. I autocross once a month tops, track day twice a year, but try to drag race at least a couple times a month. The shimmed-extra clutches-CLSD bangs so much. You would think after two years I would be used to it, but it still makes me think I've broken a half shaft everytime it hits. Never bangs under power, it does it in traffic, parking lots, return track and paddock. It's a low-power thing.

The maxima caliper has a big lump of steel on the back of it for the emergency brake assembly. That is where it hits-it sticks way out. It hits where the inner fender and floorpan meet. I should have used a different caliper that was non-Ebrake equipped. AZC kit on order so moot point now-though I will miss my handbrake. No good for drifting, but good for starting on hills and staging at the strip.

I LOVE those Torque Thrusts too.

The thing I like about a cap is that 1) it is fast so you can move on to more interesting matters 2) how long will it take for your NOS "new" dash to develop a crack? My next z will have no dash-problem solved. Under the dash work is the closest thing to burning in hell that I can imagine. Exposed wiring is sexy.

If you have a short throw from a short push rod and an ovalized hole in the clutch pedal you need a bigger diameter MC. If everything is fresh you can run a smaller diameter MC. Smaller MC gives lighter pedal. I have a sore foot after racing with a 1" MC-but I need it for good disengagement.

SunnyZ's link takes you to our last discussion on this topic. Take his scolding as a noogie from a big brother-it was cool that he included the link. If you can get the line with a 90-degree bend in it, 32" is great. If you have to get one with a straight fitting, I would do 36" - you want a little slack in it for vibrations. The Wilwood MC uses a 1/4" NPT fitting. You will then need an adapter to go from the 1/4" NPT to AN3, which is what your line will be. I get most of my AN fittings, lines and stuff from speedwaymotors.com or Summitracing.com. They both ship really fast. When looking for a line, look in the catalogues in the LS section, brake section, and clutch sections to see all the different styles available. I really like the Tilton MCs because they use AN3 and all their MCs come with the adapter, so you don't have to buy anything extra. Other than that, they are pretty much equal products. I went thru like 5 MCs before I got a good one-the quality control on these MCs is terrible-either that or I was sucking the seals to death with my vacuum bleeder! Make sure you get a speed bleeder in your clutch remote bleeder line-I recently converted all my hydraulics (clutch and brakes) to speed bleeders and life is wonderful. I can't recommend them enough. I got my remote bleeder with speed bleeder from eastcoastperformance.com. The 18" remote bleeder from speedway is too dang short-you gotta get under the car to bleed it. Much more fun if your bleeder is higher than the slave cylinder (air rises) so longer is better (no dirty jokes). Last thing: change (cut and weld) the nut on the Datsun clutch clevis so that you can use the longer wildwood push rod included with the MC. For me, the Datsun push rod was just short enough to give me limited clutch pedal throw, which kept my clutch from fully disengaging-resulting in poor high rpm shifting and a burned up clutch and warped flywheel. You need all the travel you can get. Get 'er done and lets race!

I have done this with my LS2-MSD makes a slick little kit especially for LS motors. I think you would want to get an old-school MSD ignition kit working on your car first. Do your research and figure out what kit includes a 2-step function. I have a switch mounted on my pedals that turns off the two step when my clutch is fully released, so that I control rpm thru the clutch engagement period from all the way in to all the way out. Then the throttle goes all the way open. My kit doesn't limit throttle, it causes a random miss that holds the rpm down. You should also plan on installing a roll-control system-lots of fun burning tires and making smoke! By using the 2-step I can adjust launch rpm to track traction conditions. Lots of VHT lets me turn up the rpm to as much as 4500rpm, but with no VHT I have to turn it down to 3000rpm.

I just figure air rises so I put the steam vent outlet at the highest point in my system: top tank of radiator. Sounds like you are making progress.

Just disassembled and inspected my spare open 3.70 diff, retorqued ring gear and carrier yoke bolts with red locktite, installed new cover gasket. All to help "loan" it to my buddy to get my competition's 280z back on the track. Hope to press in some new u-joints for him tomorrow night. Don't you guys wanna come race (?)-I'll even fix your cars! Love a close race.

Hate to break it to you fellas, but if your Z doesn't have rearend clunk: there's something wrong. They all clunk like hello. Lets you know its a z. Get used to it an keep driving. Oh yeah, the diffs whine like a mother too.

I hope someone can answer your question, but on my car there is a lot of variation from even the left rear fender to the right rear fender. I'm sure there is variation from car to car within each series.

I mounted my drift brake caliper that way and it slaps the floor pan on a hard bump. Didn't work out well for me.

I have an S30, but I'm jealous of how much tire you can fit in those wheel wells. I think you can squeeze in a 10" slick. Great project. An S130 makes a great drag car.

Just looked at timeslips. An even 20 passes. Best light: .512; best 60': 1.566; best ET: 7.13; best mph: 100. A lot of crappy driving and poor traction otherwise. That is 48 full throttle passes in two weeks without a motor or powertrain breakage running thru three gears a pass. Knock on wood-going back to Lawrenceburg Friday-I need another DQ Blizzard! Focus this trip is part throttle launches off the two-step and timing the lights (as always). Gotta go thru my 3.70 diff tomorrow night to loan to Dwight and Terry so I have somebody to race. Hopefully I can press in some axle u-joints for them Wed so they can reassemble on Thurs and join me at the track on Friday. Watch 'em beat me!

Josey, with your sense of humor I'm afraid of what you might be suggesting-you spend money like water! We need a z-car drag racers forum. I have millions of questions but they are spread all over the forums from tires to suspension to drivetrain to safety, but it all has a drag emphasis. It all gets mixed in with the road race and ratsun stuff. We could talk about tree, launch, hook-all that stuff.

I have 2 of them and 3 open R200s. They all sound like that. Imagine how that makes your axles and driveshaft feel with a 4500rpm clutch dump! I think the fact that you have it sitting on a folding table accentuates the noise. It will be a little quieter if you set the diff on the ground. Don't know if that is normal, but mine all do it. Get an automatic and footbrake it and you should be fine.

Sent an email to MT and Hoosier. Haven't heard back from Hoosier, but MT tech said with my weight and hp, my tires should be aired to 6-12 psi. 6psi! That's like driving on a dish rag. They said that the tread "peeling" was normal but undesireable. Said that when that happens, I should just swap the tires side-to-side to spin it off by reversing the direction of tire rotation. I'm learning.