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Sounds like you want to do more of a candy color. Shoot black first and then spray on a clear coat with a heavy red tint should get you close to what you are looking for. It should look good when you get done but any imperfections in the paint you will see very quickly yourself. Good luck with what your trying to do.

There is also another use for this gas. Well if you are running turbo engines with nitros you can use it to cool down the charge allowing for more boost. The call one guy Coleman in the Viper community that does this a lot. Just some extra info for you guys.

Very very nice. Who did the sewing? Oh yes it got hot in Plano yesterday too.

This might be a bit old school but in a few of the Z's I had in the past that I installed turbos on, well I placed some small washers the size of the stock oil pump spring and placed them behind the spring. This increased the oil pressure just right and allowed a good fill on a gravity feed oil can that cooled down the turbo bearings after the car was shut off. They did this on many of the old IMSA style Z cars including both Bob Sharp cars. This solution did not seem to over work the spring and kept it inside the 80 to 20 percent working range which is perfect for springs. Also it is a very cheap fix.

I have had a Z with Recaro seats that would not move back as far and where a couple of inches taller. Just would not work for me at 6' 8" tall, but if these seats can sit like the original ones or better then I am sold.

Just curious did you measure the seat height difference and if there is any reduction in leg room? They look great and would be great if they work for people that are tall if the seat is not higher but lower and more back.

inner or outer tie rod ends could be your problem or even wheel bearings.

Actually gravity bleeding works very well but it usually takes a few days to do it right so that makes it not an attractive way to do the work. Many people out there forget that they might also need to bleed the Mastercylinder (bench bleed or in the car). So what is the easiest way to bleed brakes and not get your girl friend or wife upset with you because she has to do the peddle thing. I bought something called speedbleeders. I just slightly lossen the one I want to bleed run a tube from the nipple to an old coffee can with some papertowels shoved down in the bottom. I pump the brakes about 10 times and refill the bowl again. These things are so simple and easy that you would think that everyone would be using them especially on new cars. Here is a url if you want to read more or anything and if you have aftermarket brake kits remember that they probably are not the same as the stock ones. http://www.speedbleeder.com/ Good luck guys. Robert

Automatic transmission: Well 1/4 mile track the Automatic will be the quickest without a doubt. You are nearing the maximum power that you should try to put through the automatic transmission. It is easier to drive and very consistant. Gas mileage will be good as long as you get one with an overdrive. You can manually shift the automatic which will get some (very slight) of the manual feel. If you have a wife (like I have) or girlfirend that does not really want to learn how to drive a standard, well that will make it more difficult for her to buy into and share in what you are doing. Believe me it is a lot more fun if the lady in your life says lets make it faster and its okay to spend the money for the better engine and twin turbos. Standard Transmission: On a road course the Standard should be the quickest but that is more driver skill. This should get a little better gas mileage on the highway. The standard is generally stronger and could handle it if you decided to go more power than you have listed so far. The standard in my opinion is more fun to drive, but that is a personnal call (trying to convince my wife the same thing). Basically you will have to make a comparison list and the answer will be there even if sometimes you don't want to see it. Good luck. Robert

Nice job on that one Jaime240Z, who made that one?

that is too funny. there are idiots everywhere

I just noticed from this thread the showcars (http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/240z.html.) url. Is this company making all or many of the fiberglass body parts for Z's and others are reselling them? Like Motorsports, Jm Cook Racing and others. Are Showcars products any good and what is their reputation and quality. If they do things right this could save some weight on our cars.

I can understand the starter kill switch but this is what I found out when I lived in some apartments in Houston like 15 years ago. If you have a starter kill switch they will try jabbing a screw driver through your consule area to rip out your stereo and other things. They will cut and tear out what they want right their and then as quick as they can and get away with it. The fuel pump cut off switch has an interesting option. It makes the thief have a false sense of security that he can start the car drive it away to a place where he can take more time ripping things out of and off of your car. The thing I found out about the fuel cut off switch is that you really will not be able to go far. In my case the guy backed out of the parking spot drove like 100 feet and the car suddenly died in the middle of the parking spot blocking the path for people to drive. This was a carbed Z with a turbo so he could use only some of what was in the float bowl until it was done. If it is a fuel injected car he would have been able to back up but probably would have died once he put it in drive either way he is now in the path of traffic in the parking lot. If you have a drive way they would be able to possibly get out of your dirveway with fuel injection and would most likely get out of the drive way with a carbed car but a few houses down it would be over. the good thing about them running out of gas is that they panic and are in the middle of a slight trafic area that could be noticed quickly so they generally just take off without anything else. Also the thieves that steal Z cars seem to have old worn down datsun keys so they can start the car easily. The guy left his in my car at that time, I guess out of fear of being seen. I can only say thanks to an officer I knew named Reggie that I did the fuel cut off switch over the starter kill switch and things went basically as he said they would, but it was a few years after he made his suggestion. So your worry about the thief getting the car from your home driving it far enough to get into major traffic will not happen unless your driveway exits onto the major traffic. I suggest you try setting up the pump kill switch and see how far you can go. I have done this to many cars I have owned and you really can not get very far at all. A friends old VW bug went just over a 1/4 of a mile and then was done and he coasted it down a hill for part of that. Good luck

you guys are really funny, so I figured I would add my own. How a about a flip bar that rotates up from under your seat and nails the guy in the sack. That should put him down for a while. You get these ideas once you have had a car stolen. On a serious note it is easy to hook up a very small fuel pump kill switch and place it in a very well hidden place like under the carpet so you just have to push through the carpet. This is very easy to do and becomes a habit when you start your car.

I think those are looking very nice, but putting an arm rest would be a nice place to place like a tweeter speaker and allow for power switches for like power windows, locks, and door poppers. Just some ideas based on what I have done and what I am working on. But I do really like the results. One question is would the speaker bulge interfer with leg room in any way. I am 6' 8" tall and leg room is very important.

Very very nice Bob H. Which flares are those by the way? I look forward to see the in the sun pictures.

I would say talk with Corky Bell out of the Dallas/Irvine area. I have done a few of his kits that he used to make for Z's and he really knows his stuff. If you need some help with carbs (especially holley) setups and how to play with power valves and metering blocks to get some improved fuel curves (I should say variations to the curves) then drop me a line. I use to do some of the really interesting carbs for some of these old turbo kit guy, like 20 years ago but I still know those tricks. My suggestion would be to actually go fuel injection system since you can actually tune the fuel to air ratio throughout the power range and get better gas mileage. The carb setups are more old school and more tempermental. But if you really want to do carbed I can help especially with that Holley types, including explaining where and how to drill into the body of the carb. Good luck Robert

I would make sure you don't sell off to much of the car until your swap is complete, because you will find out some of the parts that do not seem important at this time will be the parts you will need to go find at a salvage yard for to high a price or buy from the dealer's parts department. Good luck and hope to read about your car as it comes along.

Yes they are Jim Cook Racing "California Z" body kit because I have bought those and installed them twice in the past.

Sorry I don't have any pics of that area, just of the car in general. I sold it some time in 87 or 88 I think. I can try to explain how I did it. If your kit is already installed on the car then you can take some card board and fit it inside to near the fron side of the gas door opening. you can then place the gas door hinge mount against that to create a template location. I actually went to a hobby shop and bought some thin plywood (1/4 inch think) that people use for RC planes. I cut it to size (not on the first try, but little trimming here and there and it fit fairly well with a very slight wedging between the fiberglass and the sheetmetal. I taped it in place, made some marks on the steel panel so I could ge the location right again. I placed the door in the closed position to make sure it fit properly. Almost forgot (don't laugh) used some tooth paste to put a thick coat on the back side of the hinge to mark the location on the plywood and determine where I should put the holes, which worked very well. I drilled the holes, used some longer screws with some washers, lock washers and nuts and tried it on for size. once I had it fiting like I wanted to, I took it out, sanded it slightly smaller, coated it with fiberglass and placed the nuts burried on the backside in the fiberglass. I threaded in the small bolts so they would go slightly through the nut on the other side. Once the fiberglass and resin has cured the nuts where captive and I backed out the bolts. I sanded it some more fitted it back in place (still with a slight edge) and tried mounting the gas door again. Once it opened and closed like I wanted to I un mounted the gass door and fiber glassed in the gas door mounting fiberglass encased piece of plywood. I then just built the rest of the box to enclose that area in the same manner. I did notice one thing that you will need to do which I lucked out with on accident is make the bottom of the box slope to a low corner somewhere make a hole in it and put a small tubing from that hole and run it through the fender cavity to the bottom of the car. I drilled a hole through the bottom of the fiberglass fender to let it out and it stuck out about 1/2 an inch. Also I used aquarium air pump clear tubing which you can get anywhere. The reason for this is that the box will end up holding water because of the opening of the JCR kit and you will want to allow the water and possibly gasoline to drain out and not rust through the inner fender which was your outer steel fender. This worked well for me. Good luck and if you have any questions drop me a message. Robert

I actually had a 77 that I did the rear fenders with those quarters. I built a fiberglass box that made like a rectangular tube around the opening on those fiberglass panels and then continued and went around the original gas door opening. Since I made this box I was able to put a piece of metal that I taped with the holes for the gas door hinge. This worked well and fit well also. The only thing that seems different is that when you fill it with gas you have to insert the nozzle deeper into the car to reach the original gas hole. It does fit ans work well if you build a simple fiberglass tube/ box between the two fender panels. Good luck Robert

You may also want to check into powder (I believe it is talcum poweder) blasting which does not get the metal, lead or anything else hot. It also does not pit the softer areas. Sand, egg shell, pecan, and most others are very abrasive on the metal not just the paint, but the powder blasting is supposed to be very nice. Some or the restoration places here in Houston use that and I have seen the results of a stripped car, it was very nice.

Actually you should not see any oil at all, but when you do it means that the bearings/bushings are wearing to much and you will be rebuilding the turbo in the future. With stock turbos or buying lower quality (cheap turbos as I would call it) you can end up with that much quicker or from the beginning due to poor design. Check your impeller for play. Since you probably do not have a run out gauge you should try moving it back and forth with your fingers, if you think you can feel some movement then you know it is worn. Turbos only leak oil or cause smoking out the exhaust when they are starting to go out or they have gone out depending on how much smoke. About the different materials, lets say they used a oil light bronze bushing and you have a carbon steel shaft, well the fit of the two together with tempertures will expand each in different amounts. Designers for turbos realize this and the tolerance of the gap between the shaft and the bushing is always tight enough to restrict oil from boing through at either cool or operational temperatures. In most cases it is tight enough to keep air from going through which has to do with oil surface tension and the tolerance and allowable gap between the impeller shaft and the bearing or bushing. If you are having problems burning up turbos or creating varnish of bearing or bushing surfaces that lead to oil leakage, well then you should invest in a better oil cooling system for your turbos. You could use an electric pump that has a time shut off, you could use a gravity feed lubricator, or you can idle your car after a hard run for a bit to cool it down. You just do not want to cook the oil around the bearings or the bushing because then you get a carbon like varnish type of deposit which makes your impeller run not true to its intended axis by even a thousands of an inch and you will end up causing irregular wear. Just look at all the old Trans Am turbos that there where and they had really no way to cool down the bearings/bushings of the turbo, well you will not find those stock set ups anymore because of the poor design. Factory turbos are generally designed so poorly that they will not last. Diesels are a bit different because simply the fuel and how much unburned oily fule comes out of the exhaust manifold actually helps lubricate some so they last longer in stock setups. Sorry about the long info on turbos but I have been doing turbo and supercharged cars for more than 20 years and have destroyed a few but many successes.

There is another possibility which I hope it is not for you. Please check each cylinder with a compression gauge if you find one that is a little lower you broke a ring or piston land. You will really only notice the bucking under good boost and not at light boost unless you have really borken the pistons where pieces are in the pan. If the piston lands are floating in position they will still run and under higher boost you will get that bucking because the lands move around and allow the air to blow bye easier and you will hear some poping on the oil pan from the cylinder being fired off. Once again I hope this is not it. Also open your oil cap and see if your engine is puffing air then it has gotten bad. I wish you lots of luck

This would be a good time to increase your oil pressure especially if you turbo the car. You just remove the large fitting on the oil pump and go to your local hardware store and get some stainless steel washers that fit behind the spring. I believe I used two washers in the past that where somewhere around an 1/8 inch think total or just under that. This works very well and will not cause any problems.