RebekahsZ

What LSD did you get?

Who cares about the splitter(?)-the thing to love on that car is the sequential!

I would start at the fuel filter.

Alignment settings? I love how you kept it off the pavement. What top speeds did you see? How long were you on the track and how did I your brakes hold up?

Have you thought about what you WANT from your power plant? That's super important. The difference in power between a stock LS and a super-de-duper souped up L6 is just incredible! If you are going to street drive and autocross and even drag race your car, I recommend you go with a stock cam. The factory engineers have done a really good job with the LS series and a lot of times we only screw up what they have done well. With my stock cam LS2, I can lug around corners in 3rd gear with ease. I can stop momentarily at a stop sign and take off again without depressing the clutch using first gear. I can cruise at 70 in 6th gear at about 1500 rpm (tall tires). I can autocross in 2d gear if I want to try for a faster time, but I can keep the rear under me better and not exceed site-restricted dB limits by staying in 3rd and running a lower rpm. The car does 1.43 sec 60' times and runs 7.0 at 100mph in the 1/8-mile, 11.0 in the quarter at 126mph and 148mph in the standing 1/2-mile, and Im hoping to break 160 in the standing mile. It doesnt run hot and i can hot-lap 26 passes in a night without a mainenance issue. ALL WITH A STOCK CAM. As for me, I plan to spray this motor to an extra 150hp before I remove the water pump to install a bad idling cam that gets me MAYBE 70 more hp AFTER adding a FAST intake ($900), larger throttle body (?$), and cam kit ($1000 after cam, lifters, springs, retainers, pushrods-and a chance to kiss a valve with a piston). Just my 20-cents worth. Get the dang thing on the road!

Is that surface rust on the left stub in the photo or is it just the picture or a shadow or something? If both axles actually look as good as the right axle, I'm interested. What do you want for them (just your price, shipping will be whatever shipping winds up)?

15x7 zero offset, 4x114.3 gunmetal RBs. I paid $650. Virtually new, but there is quite a bit of color variation from one wheel to the next (the lightest colored one is almost silver), even though they were bought new as a set. Gonna try to sell locally for $300 for the set at ZNationals in two weeks. Shipping is the rub. Where are you located? Send me a PM if you decide to pursue these.

johnc and tube80z, those answers were the best, most helpful answers I have ever seen on this site on any subject. Thank you for being complete and descriptive in your answers. I know you know what you did, but you two covered so many topics in your answers from: street vs race, roll cage design, to the "domino effect" that stiffening one part of the car without stiffening another creates, to spring rates. Guys like you are why I love this site and its on-line community.

Johnc-I hope you know that I was tongue-in-cheek mentally linking to your other thread. If you are an ass, then I am an askhole. If a triangulated strut bar makes you happy, do one-Im not against bling. For me, it's in the way of my motor. If it were attached THRU the firewall to a cage, I would expect it to actually do something mechanically. Johnc, just for perspective, the brace let you raise the spring rate from what to what?

An ass who knows what he's talking about.

Stock diff is fine, stay focused.

Just try to find out if there is a swap kit (engine and trans mounts, header set) available from someplace like JTR or JCI. Then we get my buddy Terry to build you a budget 300hp old school small block from parts he has laying around. I think you could be driving 7s in the 1/8-mile) for less than $2000. Getting hard to find good manual trans for cheap....and you don't need a 6spd, although they are nice. I just went 148 in 4th gear.

Others will argue with me, but I think these triangulated strut bars are just so much bling. They look cool but don't do much of anything. The firewall is a but flexible noodle. So, make it the blingiest bling that you can. Just remember that your little 6-cylinder motor has to tote it around.

Power steering? I just switched from drag racing front runners to my road race tires. Holy-moly! I gotta hit the gym!

NewZed-that was a great explanation. We all want to have "fast cars" but most of us don't get it, that most racing parts are designed around wide open throttle. Then when we get them, we complain that they drive like crap. Problem is, they weren't designed to drive, they were meant to race, which means foot either hard on the gas, or hard on the brake. Case in point: the relatively mild soup-up cam in my truck helped it make about 70 hp over stock (along with some other parts too). But, it really hurt parking lot driveability and the idle has to be set higher, and the tailpipe fumes from un-burned fuel at idle make the truck so stinky my wife won't ride with me. Everything is a trade off. That's why there is no "best" on hybridz. It's a good rule.

As opposed to rolling, you may get the clearance you need by cutting off some of the extra flange before you get to the actual spot welds that join the inner and outer fender skins. I just carefully ground mine down with an angle grinder.

I like them. How will you deconflict this space for brake ducting?

Please, oh please, post lots and lotsa pictures of the 8.8 setup when you do it.

Marry the first girl who likes your Z.

Crazy cool! I especially like the shot taken from the ceiling-what are you: Spider Man?

I drive mine regularly but I wouldn't call it "daily." Most days it's on jacks because of this or that breaking after racing. I drive it when it's not broken. Most of the rednecks that like my car want to know if it is one of them old "270" Z-cars. "I had me one a them-used to beat all them Corvettes!"

Why so expensive? Come on over to Alabama-we would treat you right-anybody who talks funny is an instant movie star!

That's great, especially being a heavier model! Keep up the good work. I think until we go to a solid rear axle that some degree of breakage is just par for the course. I'm trying to get used to it. Hopefully most of it will happen at the line rather than at the fast end of the track.

Thanks for the pic. Never would have believed that! What's the cars run at the track (when it's not breaking drivetrain parts)?

I recently bought a similar wheel from Marsh Racing Wheels to use for mock up trying to build steel landspeed wheels for moon discs. When I saw the bolt-up surface I said to myself "I wouldn't put those wheels on my trailer!" Marsh was terrific and let me return it for full refund. I just couldn't bolt that stamped surface up to my car.