RebekahsZ

Consider keeping it stock and installing ceramic pads. The stock system is fine and you'll be driving around with a smile on your face in no time!

I have seen folks do fine (7 second 1/8 mile) with 235/60/15 MT ET Street Drag radials on the 1981-1983 ZXT "Swashtica" 15X6 wheel. That is a good fit for Drag Radials. I have a set of 4 of those wheels that are pretty rough, but I used them and I'd be happy to part with them for the going rate. I need to sell them. I currently have 7" 4-stud Weld Draglites on the back (4 holes are for Mustang, 4 holes are for imports). Since you are flared, I recommend that you go to at least an 8" wheel. Go for the 4.5" back spacing since you have flares-that will keep you off your strut tube by about 1/2 inch. To increase to 8" I will have to get the 5.5" BS and install longer studs and a spacer to keep centered between my strut and un-cut fenders. The best fit for slicks is a MT ET Drag 26X8.5X15. That is what I'm running; 28X8.5X15 is what jnjdragracing is doing his wheelstands with (same tread width). I'm running 15X4 Weld draglites on the front with 155/80/15 radial TAs; I have 24X4.5X15 MT ET bias ply front runners on order. PM Colt45... with the yellow sub-7 second Z. He has run some sort of Toyota celica supra 15X7 wheel if you want to go budget.

Once you get some rest and get moved, I highly recommend some slicks. When you can actually get that torque to the ground it is even better (I do have to work out my handling issues with the slicks, but it is just awesome out of the hole). Congrats!

I jacked my car up and put stands underneath it. Then I removed the tires. I lowered the adjustable spring perch (sp?) on my coilovers and put a jack under the spindle pin. I removed the 4 bolts that attach the outer CV to the companion flange. Then I progressively jacked the spindle pin up from full droop to fully compressed while holding the outer CV to ensure that the clearance between it and the companion flange never bottomed out against one another throughout the entire range of travel. Everything checked out, so I put it all back together and went to the dragstrip. I'm resting easily at night knowing that there are no axle clearance issues.

SUNNY Rzamvilla is taking offers for a 3.70 CLSD in the parts for sale fomto

Every spline in my driveline has a little play, so from the trans to the tires there is quite a bit of play as it adds up at each point. However, my driveline doesn't have that high pitched "crack" sound. Mine sounds more like a "clunk." I have had a driveshaft u-joint to sound like yours, that is all I was thinking. It was on a '56 Ford Fairlane. When I took out the u-joint, there was no grease in the cap and the needle bearings were crumbled into dust. Oddly enough, before disassembling I tried prying it around with a long screwdriver, but there was no observable play. Then, when I got it apart, it just fell into pieces.

It took me about 3 hours of looking, but I found the pictures I saw earlier this year. The hybridZ member name is ckrell - try sending him a private message (PM). He's got a few pictures of the wheels on the car in his suspension modification posts. Ask him to send more pictures and to describe his 5-lug swap. I'm interested too (not for my current Z, but for my next one - I can only work so long without getting my car off the jackstands and into the street for at least a little while). I'm subscribing to your thread.

For pictures, go to my thread titled Project Mentor Wanted in the Gen III forum. There are pictures of the alternator on pages 2,3,5. Boy from Oz sent me some super pictures on one of those pages as well.

I had about 1/4" of slack also, maybe a little less, so my balls probably aren't riding right in the middle (did I really say that?). In my 240z, both sides had about the same amount of slack. From my measurements, flipping the cages shortens the assembly an additional 1/8", which may have made the difference between having room to install my axles and not. Josey, you back on the road already? You are an animal! Post us a video with "one tire on fire." JMortensen personally called me tonight to ensure that I had everything installed properly because my measurements didn't jive with his (imagine, a parts supplier doing a follow up phone call)! For clarification: I had only 1/4" of slack between because I have shortened control arms (13.5 inches in length instead of 14.5") and camber plates pushed in about an inch. How much room each of us will have will depend somewhat on control arm length, the presence of offset bushings, camber plate adjustment and perhaps even toe. I think that ride height will make a difference too: if your car is at stock ride height, the CVs will collapse under load and that if your car is lowered appreciably, then the CV will extend under load (squat). That is why a free end-travel test is indicated before final assembly. I plan to recheck free end-travel anytime I make a significant camber or track adjustment (at least the first time I make that change).

I went thru this same problem recently. Ya' gotta go to the F-body alternator. The rear bracket is like $9 from the dealer, new so go ahead and order the bolts too. You should be able to retain your current front bracket. I tried everything to avoid changing to the F-body alternator (even cut the crap out of my left-side motor mount), but in the end I switched. My swap was from an LS2. I don't know if (or if not) the fore and aft spacing of the accessories will be compatible. There have not been many LS3 swaps. Send a PM to alainburon for other LS3-related issues. He is about 6-months ahead of you on his LS3 project. Do you have any problems with the spacing between the crank pulley and the steering rack? If so, the solution is an underdrive pulley, but that moves your serpentine belt very close to the lower bracket bolt on the front alternator bracket. Remember to tell your electrical harness modifier that you switched alternators so that plug can be re-wired.

Go pro suction mount?

Did you get your companion flanges from JMortensen or from some other source? I think you have those 39 spline stub axle kits. Could the stub axle to companion flange to outer CV stack-up be shorter than it needs to be? That could be another source of incompatability...that test fitting excercise throught the full range of suspension travel is so very important...another step, but an important one. I'm with JMortenesen - I think the jamming up the splines may have happened as a subsequent random act of violence after the actual failure. JMortensen - on the cases that you have seen when the cage is bottoming out due to long shafts: did those folks have damage to their little tin "end caps?" I would think that they would be beaten up a bit. Sunny has not cap damage, so I can't imagine that the shafts are too long.

U-joint axles or CV? How old are the u-joints in your drive shaft? Sounds a lot possibly a bad u-joint. They sometimes make noises like that before there is observable movement in them. If you have u-joints and you can get to the grease fitting, try squirting some grease in there and see if the noise changes at all...

There is at least one forum member running torque thrusts. I'll keep looking around for the post; it may be in the suspension section. The guy makes no mention of using torque thrusts in his post, that is why it doesn't show up when you search. He's out there - I'll help you find him (the Torque Thursts look awesome on this car). I just put a set on my S10 truck - I love them. I had to use Rota RBRs to approximate the look on my z-car.

From my limited experience with the late 260 and the 280z is that the transmission tunnel is wider, which leaves less room in the footwell (narrower) for heel-toeing. It is still easy to double-clutch, but instead of using the heel, one must use the side of the foot. I'm pretty sure the pedals are all the same size. One benefit of the wider tranny tunnel is that there is a little more room for exhaust.

After 20 years of not working, my clock suddently started working again after my LS2 install. The tick-tick-tick is driving me crazy. Go figure!

The Private Message (PM) function also lets you go straight to the person you want to contact and keeps you from getting spanked by the moderators.

Try putting your hand on your emergency brake handle and see if the vibration goes away. That is where my buzzing comes from. Auto or manual trans?

Cool. I watched lots of your videos after seeing this one and honestly, there wasn't a decent tire-warming burn-out on any of them. Your car must be wicked powerful and you must be making lots of speed at the far end of the track, because all the wheelspin I see on your videos has to be killing your short game. I think you actually have a lot more racing experience than I have, so I'm truly learning along with you. I figured out my gopro this weekend and will hopefully have some new videos next week. If you go to my video, you will see what a controlled burn-out can be accomplished with a manual car with a line-lock system. Piece of cake - you gotta get one (line lock) up if you plan to keep drag racing-you will love it. It makes the burn-out and staging SO easy. I do my burnout in second gear and release my line lock button while still spinning so that I can regain traction progressively and do not whiplash my driveline. With the tires wet, I don't have to dump the clutch to get it all started. I burn until I hear my rpm drop, which means that my tires are starting to get sticky. When My tires are so sticky that when I load my car on the trailer to bring it home I bring half of the gravel from the loading area home with me! By using all four of your brakes to limit movement in the box, you are also putting extra strain on the driveline unless you have your rear brakes adjusted super loosely. I'm not sure if what I'm seeing on your video was wheel hop or just camera vibrations (you were in the car, so you would know better than I). But at one point, your car jumps to the side suddenly-I'm not sure what that was-it looks almost like you hit a pot hole between the burnout box and the staging lights. Was it your right stub or the left? From the video, I'm thinking it was the right?? I'm gonna keep leaving the line easily (3,000 or 4,000 rpm) until I get something to limit squat. Looks like your car squats pretty bad on launch, then spins a lot. With my slicks, I'm spinning zero, so hopefully I'm only challenging (yanking) the driveline once as I leave the line and then again for each shift. Hopefully my bias ply slicks are helping me to "yank" the driveline instead of "hammering" it. If we can get your tires hot safely, that will pretty much stop the spinning when you leave the line. Spinning or hopping is like a jack hammer to the driveline. Thanks for letting me learn thru this discussion. PS-just watched the video again. Watch your shifter: the hard vibration it does is wheel hop. Mine doesn't do that.

You guys must have long commutes. Im on a 3-foot straight pipe and it sounds awesome! Try driving faster.

Yeah. Shape of the very top of the insert body varies from brand to brand and from application to application. So, the manufacturer may have a gland nut specific to their insert. I quickly glanced at the gland nuts the last time I changed mine and decided that there was no difference. Boy, was I wrong. With the original gland nut the tube had spcae in it and I could shake a lot of side load play no matter how tight I made the gland nut. Swapped to the propped gland nut and all that play went away. I don't do anything right the first time!

I just saw a photo of a Q45 diff. They have a hose coming off what looks like the diff vent location. Anybody know anything about that diff and if the parts can be exchanged?

I'm sorry, what is a ROPOS? I have been very happy with both EMI camber plates and DP camber plates. They bolt rightin with no cutting or welding. On the tubes: I have always been good at cutting things either a hair too long or a hair too short. If they are too short, some inserts have a little cup on the bottom that can be ground down but some inserts don't have that little cup. If you cut your tubes a little long, you can throw a couple of fender washers in the strut tube to tighten things up. If your inserts lack a cup on the bottom, i'd cut them a few mm long. Use the tokico gland nuts with the tokico inserts.

Camerashy, he wants non-greasesble because they have solid construction. The ones with the grease fittings (which you can't get a grease gun on anyway) are hollow. Theoretically the solid u-joint is stronger.

In all sincerity: Great looking car. Which side broke? From the video, it looks like you had wheel hop during your burn out and that the stub axle may have actally broken then. I'm going to watch that video over and over. I am pleased that it broke in such a way that the wheel didn't fall off and that the car could still be pushed, and that it didn't happen at the fast end of the track. Please tell us more about your setup, launch rpm and clutch release style: slip or drop, etc. Also, feel free to give me advice on my "Learning to drag race a a-car" thread in Motorsports Sub-Forum. Thanks for sharing your victories and trials.