RebekahsZ

I would be lying if I said I knew ANYTHING about how shocks work. I do all my own wrench work, farming out welding and paint on the top side, but I'm kind of a monkey-see-monkey-do mechanic. I don't always understand how components actually work. Guilty. All I know is that it's hooking better according to the seat dyno.

That's what EastTNz told me-easy lockup, hard to modulate.

PM to EastTNz about his Z32 booster. He is switching back to a stock 280Z unit due to poor driveability.

Was this a road course or an autocross? I'm no expert, and I mean this with all respect. Do you think it would be worthwhile to get an instructor in the car with you on that particular track? That's what I do when I feel like I've done all I can and have plateau-ed. Not specifically in driving, but in all things. Even though you are plateaued time-wise, are you climbing against the other drivers-every day is a new day, even on the same track. If you are advancing among your peers you may be getting better even though the time is staying the same. It's easy to make gains when you are a bad driver like me, but the better you get, the gains are much harder to see....lets see what the experts say...

Tooquick260-your 273 could easily overtake me, simply by being a better driver. I'm very inexperienced and have only been on a road course twice in my life. And there was very little traffic either day. I don't know anything about passing on a point by, nor do I like to tailgate. The traffic for Z Nats is my biggest concern.

Looks like we lost some posts during the blackout. Truck shit its bearings on the dyno and motor had to come back out. Looks like builder didnt clean up well enough when putting bearings in or perhaps he left the old oil pump in. Unless he slivers it to me this week I'm gonna be hunting for a truck for next weekends event. When I went to get car aligned, a slightly loose inner tie rod was found as well as a loose rear wheel bearing. These will get fixed before Z Nationals when Im pounding curbing but I'm not pulling it apart this close to a straight line event. That damn steering rack was just purchased as a rebuilt. Maybe not rebuilt, maybe just new billows and a shot of rattle-can paint(?)! I have fought the wheel bearing for years and have decided to swap out the whole strut as the wheel bearing must not be seating properly. Went to local yard and pulled a strut (I worship the guy who invented the spindle pin puller). Will finish tearing it down this week and get it to a machinist to make sure it isn't worn out to. Then to section it for my konis. I have a month to get that done. Would be easier with my truck...I sure thought 2-1/2 months would be enough for that project. Batter boards are up for my new 30x30 shop.

I can't tell you just how much better my straight line traction is with the Koni shocks in place of the Tokicos Illuminas. With tall street tires, I'm not able to spin nearly as easily once rolling.

I'm loving this! How has it effected your reaction times and 60'? How consistent are your times during an evening at the track? Bringing home any priize money? I have given thought to putting a line lock on my clutch line, but I was worried about the release being too digital. I currently have clutch pedal actuated switches for line lock release (at the bottom of pedal travel) and 2-step (at top of pedal travel), but I'd love to launch off a button instead of my foot. I'm already so busy at the lights that it is pretty hectic. Before the 2-step and line lock setup i was trying to feather my clutch myself and I warped that puppy-how's your clutch handling being squeezed off at 7 grand? I started dropping (not sliding off) the pedal to keep my clutch healthy. But that has cost me three driveshafts and an axle.

Might be a good time to go to extended wheel studs? Once the stub axle is pulled they are super easy. PM me if you need an ARP part number for 3" studs that require on modifications other than hammering out the old studs and pulling new ones in. They are available quickly thru Summitt.

I think just about any 9-inch or 8.8 would need to be narrowed. If I understand correctly, there aren't many ratios available for the 8.8, whereas the 9 has a lot more options (?). I guess it depends on what you want to do with the car. When/if I do a conversion, it will be a 9 inch in order to be able to drop the whole center section and swap it without having to reset the R&P spacing. I dunno, perhaps you don't have to do that with a gear change in the 8.8 (?)

Two popular ways: ladder bars and 4-link. Ladder bars require the least amount of fabrication, but usually leave the car with significantly reduced ground clearance (from the cars I have seen). The 4-link is a much better suspension plan in terms of adjustability and being able to control traction. The ladder bars sometimes promote wheelies, which while spectacular usually result in losing the race and often breaking the car if you come down too hard. I have not done a 9-inch conversion, but likely will in the future. To get educated answers, snoop the forums to look for drag racers and send them PMs (private messages). Otherwise you will get a bunch of bench racing and debate instead of specific answers and good advice. The biggest issue is that there isn't much to weld to in the unibody and some sort of bracing and subframing needs to happen-that's significant fabrication.

You are a god! I will want to talk more.

Have you been to a test and tune night? I find those the most fun and I'm just racing my own previous best performance. I do wish I could get the tower to do an index for me and my buddies, but they won't on test and tune nights. Those are the nights I come home with 25 timeslips. On a race night, I might get 4 or 5 passes, then I'm out. But at least at those nights you can run your dial in.

Swapped a short stock Z31 shaft in place of the passenger side M2 shortened shaft and swapped the long M2 shaft to the driver side and mock up without boots looks great. Time to tear down, grease, install boots and get it back together. These CV axles are easy to work with when they are clean and don't have 40 years sticking each piece together. Need to get to junk yard and pick up another set to have on standby. The splines are tighter on the stock CV axles than the custom shafts that accounts for a bit of my total driveline slack. Back to work so I can drive to work tomorrow. Daughter got a zero on band today cause I drove her jeep to school and got away with her sax in the trunk. Oops. Way to go Dad.

So, did you stay overnight at the hospital? You should have seen the nurse that assisted with my vascectomy-total knockout. It took every ounce of my concentration to stay "at-ease." Then the pain and pullling started....

My shop will be right outside his window. Pool is going in today and that is the big obstacle to getting to the shop.

Sounds great! 11-what? Fiberglass front clip-sounds like a lotta work.

Found problem-driver side axle is too short and the CV cage jumped out of the outer CV housing. Then the axle slammed the inner CV deeper into the case and bent it at the press fit of the stub to the CV housing, the stub pushed thru the CLSD carrier and kicked the passenger side axle part way out of the diff and trashed the oil seal. Weird that this setup held up for two years, although I did mess with the camber some, but I think I actually pushed the wheel in some, but I had just lowered the car which reduced spring pre-load...I dunno. I think all the planets were just in that majic spot to make a borderline situation manifest itself. One thing for sure is that the axles need to be tight enough to lengthen about 1/4" from full droop to full squat. So I now need to make the driver side 3/4" longer and the passenger side 1/2" longer. I have an extra set of CVs to make up a pair of axles and I have some stock shafts. Will mock up several options tomorrow night and see what I can come up with. A modified Z is never boring. At least I now know to mock up totally on the car with the CV boots pulled back. I thought I had all the lengths perfect, but I think the little jiggle of free play that I was feeling in the past was just the play between the inner CV and the snap ring that golds it into the diff. I fooled myself.

Infidel, where's the action? And what has your Z been doing?

Where ya been Infidel? Missed you last couple of months. Good to have you back. I will be putting stacks on my LQ4 in my truck too.

You just need to replace the proportion valve either with some sort of distribution block or remove the proportioning parts from the prop valve. The t-fitting in back doesn't require modification.

mistafosta-why do you feel the 28 is too tall? The tall tire lets me get thru the timing lights in 3rd gear in the 1/8th. I started with a 26" tire, which was great for 1/4-mile using 4th gear. But the 26" tire puts my 3-4 shift at a funny place on the track. I'm trying to bracket against guys with autos (its not a very competitive track), and one less gear change really helps, especially if the 3-4 shift was almost at the very end of the track. It was kind of like, shift to 4 and immediately get on the brakes. Crazy question for the smart guys: if both tires (26 vs 28) hook the same, would a taller tire in and of itself lead to more breakage? I ask this in all sincerity. I have gone back to a 9" wide tire.

I'm kinda screwed not having a forward portion of my roll "cage." A cage is the best thing to mount mirrors to, not only the middle mirror, but also the side mirrors where they are out of the wind. My plan is to epoxy it to an extra stock mirror that I got at the junk yard. It may look ghetto, but it should be removeable that way if I don't like it. It should snap right into the stock mirror clip. Still working on a plan for convex side mirrors, but I have until late Oct to figure it out. 273 hp out of an L6 is plenty badass. You earned that hp-I just bought a motor and made it fit.

I guess my point is that if you put an engine in that is capable of running 10s, and you do it often enough to become a good racer, the IRS gets tiresome from having to fix it all the time. I never seem to have time to get that nitrous kit together because I'm always under the darn car! I dont even know what the top of my car looks like anymore. It doesn't matter how well it handles cause it is always on jack stands, and last I checked, they make you leave your jack stands in the pits before you strap in and out your helmet on. This guys question was about drag racing, a time when rear dynamic camber should be at zero all the way down the track. Sure, the IRS may not break every time you go to the track, but grab every spare axle you can find before I chew them all up.

I think the shoulders on the Ultrashield are more narrow, but I don't have measurements to confirm that. I have driven some mid-engined cars and Cobra replicas that had the pedals offset and it drives me nuts. Thats why getting centered was important to me. No way my big arse would fit in a 15".