wheelman

Listen to what Johnc said and don't start messing with things like tire pressures and sway bars or anything else until you have the basics down. Believe me it'll just confuse you, I learned this the hard way. Once you are comfortable with when to brake and how hard, the turn in characteristics of tha car and timing of corners then you start adjusting things. Working on the basics first pays huge dividends later when you have the suspension setup optimized. On a different subject, Wilwood brakes are not required for auto-x. They look nice but the stock brakes are good enough for the speeds you'll encounter on an auto-x course. You also don't use the brakes enough to get them so hot they fade. Good pads and keeping the fluid in good condition is the key. I did the Toyota 4x4 caliper upgrade and replaced the rubber hoses with braided stainless and find it easy to lock the fronts flat spotting my expensive race tires. Unfortunately I got rid of my stock calipers otherwise I'd put them back on. Wheelman

Grumpy can't be a computer, they are always garbage in garbage out. I don't think I've ever seen a post from Grumpy that was garbage. Congrats Grumpy!!! Wheelman

Mike, Which Ken are you taking about here, cause it certainly wasn't me. I wish I had the time to attend more events like that, it sounds like you all had a blast. So, if I let you drive the Z can I drive your SX? BTW: There's a young guy who lives in Spokane that's building a 2+2 Z turbo. I mentioned the event this coming weekend and told him I could let him ride along a time or 2 if he comes out. He said he might have his car ready so there may be another Z showing up. It's also looking better work wise for me to be able to come up. Isn't there a guy up there that runs an F-Prepared 240? I think he ran with us once last year, came down with Cody. Wheelman

Mike, As of right now I'm planning on coming up but with work as busy as it is things may change. I also just checked the weather and looks like it's going to be perfect. I know what you mean about things to get done, I've got a project car I'm working on for some friends I need to get done and then I need to prep the house for paint (that'll probably end up waiting for next spring). Yes, the torque of a V8 is tough to argue with, it'll be interesting to see how our cars compare once you get the SR swapped in. At some point I would think the suspension setups will be similar, we'll have to make sure to run an auto-x at that point and see what happens. Maybe we could talk Cody into driving both and give us a review, then we could post it here for all to see. Wheelman

Or go to the local parts store and grab a brake cylinder hone, it'll cost about $15.00 and you can use it in a standard electric drill. Just don't take to much off when you hone the bores out and you'll be fine, makes for a very nice finish inside the bore. Using some anti-seize when you reassemble will make it easier to get apart later on. Edit: The other thing I did was remove the yellow (Zinc Chromate I think) coating from the spidle pin before installation. Seemed to help make for a better fit. Wheelman

Hey Mike, Good to see you on the board, This is Ken from the TriCities. When are you planning to start the swap and have you given much thought to what you'll do with the suspension? I think the car you're working with has the Tokico springs I sold to Poorboy. They're OK but I didn't care for them, they lowered the car more than I wanted and the fronts are progressive while the rears are linear. The lower ride height probably came from the V8 in my car, you may have the opposite problem with the SR. If you search this site you'll find a couple guys who've swapped in an SR. I think they all used a cross member setup for the motor mounts due to the thin nature of the frame rails in the Z. After my accident last year I replaced mine with .120 wall 2.5" square tubing, might be an option if you want to strengthen the front end but it's a lot of work. Wheelman

I sliced my finger similar to that when I as in grade school (many many moons ago) and caught the main nerve, still don't have much feeling in my right index finger tip. I also tried to cut the middle finger off of my right hand about 15 years ago, had to have reconstructive surgery in the Deaconess emergency room, lots of fun. Fortunately the bone wasn't broken but the main tendon was cut. It's a really weird feeling when the Dr. says "Ok, relax you muscle", grabs the tendon with forceps and pulls it. Anyway I watched him sew up the tendon together then put wire stitches (not staples) in my skin to close it up. Wore a cast for 2 weeks then had the stitches out which hurt worse than the original injury, then wore another cast for 6 more weeks (I hate casts). I second Jon's idea of how to swap out the strut insert, I've done mine a couple times that way. When it comes time to do the bushings be ready to spend some time as the spindle pins can be a real bear to get out, sounds like you ordered news ones which means you can beat the old ones out without worrying about damaging them. Getting the new ones in can also be a chore though. I used a brake cylinder hone to clean the corrosion out of the pin bore so they would go in easier. A spindle pin puller comes in real handy for both phases of the process. Wheelman

Yeah, I know Jon, I was just smarting from the trouncing I got this weekend and really shouldn't have whined about it here (or anywhere), showed poor sportsmanship on my part, doesn't reflect well on my local club or the sport. It won't happen again!!!!! My car is very under prepared and has tons of room for improvement and I can either spend the money or just have some fun. This is exactly how I looked at it last season and was thrilled to place second on the season, especially after earning the cone killer award and sliding the car into a curb. I just got caught up in the tension and excitement of the points race this season and then when I was beaten fairly didn't like it, lesson learned. It's all about the fun and when it's not fun anymore it's time to quit. As for the midget and the oil, at first it appeared to be a vent tube that had popped off and was fixed but as the day progressed it became apparent it was much worse. The first 2 runs the car seemed fine but on the third he spun it and then found the entire engine bay covered in oil when he got back to the pits. Looks like the oil was coming out the dipstick tube which to me indicates bad side seals on the rotors but I'm not a expert in rotary engines so thats just a guess. Derek, The club in Spokane is hosting an event at the Deer Park airport the weekend of Sept. 20th-21st and another Oct. 4th-5th. My club has one more event this year scheduled for Oct 11th-12th at TriCity Raceway. I'm going to try to make it up for the weekend of the 20th-21st, if you want I can let you know so you can come out and maybe get to ride in the beast for a run or 2. It'll give you an idea of what riding in a V8 powered Z-car is like. Wheelman

Ok, I just need to vent and figured many of you guys here would relate. This last weekend my local auto-x club hosted 2 of our points events (Sat and Sun were separate events). The weather was perfect and the courses were a nice combination of tight technical and high speed elements. I was really looking forward to it and was in a very tight season points race with a guy who drives a rotary powered midget. The other guy in our class runs a 1997 Porsche Carrera 4S that he just dumped $8500.00 worth of suspension, wheels and tires into. I run EM and the club groups all Prep and Mod cars into one class. The Porsche guy is only running in our class so he can get a season trophy. He's really ASP legal but runs with an FP PAX. First day I'm walking the course and notice someone who had helped with course setup the day before had dropped oil on the course in the racing line. (People who help with setup are allowed to make a run or two ). It was a small amount of oil so no-one worried about it much. Turns out it wasn't much of a factor in the first run and I only mention it because it turns out the guy who dropped it was the midget driver who's engine is in the process of self destructing. He's able to make his 3 morning runs but during the 3rd his engine pukes almost all of it's oil out the dipstick tube, he puts down a good enough run to get me by 7 tenths but the midget is done for the day. Meanwhile the Porsche driver is making runs that are 4 - 5 seconds faster than they would've been before the suspension and tires. He dominates our class that day and almost sets FTD. (The car can make the difference) By the end of the day Sat. I'd run my 6 runs and put down a decent clean one about 2 seconds behind the Porsche but 7 tenths behind the midget. Going into Sat. I had a 4.5 point lead in season points, at the end of the day the midget guy was ahead by 1. This was due to the Porsche who will get third in season points no matter what he does. Our club figures points based on how far your time is behind the leader of your class for each event. So Sun. the midget driver shows up and I find out the Porsche owner is letting him drive the Porsche. I had a tough time with the course this day and don't get a good run all day. My one clean run as an early one and is about 2 seconds off my fastest of the day and about 3 seconds off the Porsche. The midget driver actually beat the Porsche owner in his own car this day so now I'm way behind in the season points race but there is no way the Porsche owner can take second from me unless I don't run in class at either of the remaining events. What is really frustrating me is if the guy driving the Porsche would run in his own class it would have been an exciting season finish for the midget guy and myself, now he has the season points race wrapped up. Not only that but the midget guy actually ran with the FP PAX in the Porsche instead of running with the EM PAX he would have had in the midget. Looking at the points standing right now if he'd run EM PAX it would have made the next event the deciding factor. I would have had to beat him pretty badly but at least I would've had a chance, as it is now there is no way and I only need 1 point to wrap up second. Kinda makes me wonder if I want to stay in class next season or run time only. The Porsche driver intends to run in my class again so I'll have to spend some serious coin on "good" race tires to be competitive. I'm such a penny pincher I would have a tough time justifying it but then it would bug me to lose all season. Any words of advice??? Feel free to tell me I'm whining and need to just suck it up if thats what you really think. Editted: I re-read my rant and there were a couple statements I made that were unwarranted, unfair and needed to be removed.

MMMM, what's for dinner??? What part are you trying to get apart? If you're attempting to get the spindle pin out you don't have to in order to replace the strut inserts. If you're trying to take the spring hat off be sure to get a spring compressor before you loosen the nut on top otherwise the spring hat becomes a nice projectile. If the nut is rusted to the top of the strut an impact wrench works pretty well. Wheelman

My 73 also had the current sensing tach. Wheelman

Shouldn't the HP and torque curves cross at 5250 rpms on runs 1 and 2? The scales for both measreuments are the same, if they were different as in run 3 then I understand. Wheelman

Which master and slave cylinders are you using? Have you cut the stop from the floor under the clutch pedal yet? I first used a 3/4" master and cut the stop from the floor but could still not get enough throw to fully disengage the clutch. I switched to 13/16" master, that gave me enough throw to actually reweld the stop back to the floor. The pedal is pretty stiff and the engagement is fast but it works. Oh yeah, I'm using a stock Camaro slave cylinder. Wheelman

It is very nice isn't it, even with those wide tires you sold me BRAAP the Z is almost a civilized street car, wait a minute, did I really say that. This car is an animal, my son calls it Cerberus (That 3 headed dog thing chained at the Gates of Hell). Thats a direct quote of his description. Anyway, the steering is light, very quick and in no way vague. This rack seems to me to not be completely linear. It might be that I'm not used to it yet along with the wide sticky tires I'm running or it may be a little understeer I didn't have before. Turn in is real quick but then I need to feed in more input to maintain the turn. I suppose it could be bump steer as well. Bottom line, the install was a lot of work but was worth it in the end. Wheelman

Hey Braap, what's that dog chain for? Wheelman

I've seen this subject come up several times on different boards now, go figure!! My response is to drive less if at all possible, make sure your car is in the best possible tune, all the "gas saving" things are done to it, learn to drive with a gas saving style and then get over it. Buying a POS econobox simply to save gas is a false economy and always will be. If you find one for $1000.00 or less in todays market there's a reason, it'll cost you lot more in the long run to keep it running. Adding another car to your "herd" incurs other costs to the initial price including insurance, registration and maintenance. Gollum, Sounds to me like you need to concentrate on getting your DD running right before you work on anything else. Once you have that taken care of then look at Megasquirt or other alternatives. In the mean time turn the boost down and drive it on vacuum as much as possible. There's my $.02 worth. Wheelman BTW: johnc's idea of a 4-cylinder truck is the only one in this thread so far that makes sense to me.

The GA16DE is a front wheel drive motor, might have problems adapting it to a rear wheel drive setup as the distributor will end up at the back of the motor facing the firewall. Other than that it is a great little motor. Wheelman

Shouldn't be a problem, just press them in and go. Wheelman

The pump from the projection setup won't work with a stock Z EFI system. The projection injectors are low pressure/high flow so the pump is more like a carb pump and only produces about 15psi. Wheelman

As the thread subject says, what do you guys think about platinum plugs? Give some experiences in NA and Turbo/Supercharged engines. I ask because I'm putting together a 1990 Talon TSi and want to know what peoples experiences have been running platinum plugs in turbo engines specifically, but in general also. Wheelman

The fittings are metric but so are the GM pump fittings, at least the pump that came with my LT1 had metric fittings. I bought the fittings I used from Speedway Motors, here is a link to the catalog page for the fittings: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/965,471_1980-Up-Power-Steering-Adaptors.html The Forrester rack accepts the 14x1.5 for the high pressure line and the 16x1.5 for the return line and the GM pump's high pressure output is 16x1.5. I bought all 3 but found I couldn't use one of the 16x1.5 because the return hose was then aimed right at the bottom of the cross member. I solved this by cutting a short section (~9 inches ) from the original return hard line and wrapping it around under the rack so it came around to the front near the high pressure feed line. If you look at my PDF you'll see how I did it. There's very little pressure in this line so you can just clamp the return hose to it. I also bought one of Speedway's hose kits. It includes enough hose to do the feed, return and reservoir connections. If you get one of these kits and are using the LT1 pump be sure to get the AN10 version. The inlet at the pump is AN10 size so the AN8 kit won't work. It's a bit spendy and you end up with a couple extra fittings but then I didn't have to find the parts individually and I'll probably end up using the extras for something else. BTW: Speedway also sells fittings that should work with an older style pump, here is the link to that page. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/3243,471_1965-1979-GM-Power-Steering-Adaptors.html Be sure to check before buying these as I haven't worked with an older style pump to verify whether these will work. Wheelman

Hey Paul, I just remembered I told you I'd send the old Subaru Forrester outer tie rod ends to you. Do you still want them for mock up purposes? If not I'll toss them. Wheelman

When I was running the bracket I fabbed that included the PS and AC delete pullies the belt was 60". The way to figure out the correct length is cut your existing 64" belt, route it around the pullies allowing for some deflection of the tensioner then cut the ends to mate up. Either measure that belt or take it to your local parts store and they'll measure it for you. Then request a 6 rib serpentine of that specific length at the parts counter. I can't remember what the 60" belt came from but when I reinstalled the PS pump the length went to 61", turns out a belt from an Isuzu fit perfectly. Hope this helps. Wheelman

I have one of those Projection units sitting in my garage The ECU is an analog based unit that uses potentiometers to adjust low, mid and high rpm injector open times based solely on the TPS and RPM. I'd switch to Megasquirt control if I were to buy that car. Then whether to convert it to a more conventional EFI or stick with the TurboTom setup is a matter of taste. I would probably stick with the current setup because it's different and I'm cheap. Wheelman

I used Headman Tight Tube headers. They hug the block very close and have a flat collector that positions the primary tubes parallel to each other rather than forming a square. I have no problen getting at the plugs and they give a little more clearance for the steering shaft. The spun bearing was probably caused by low oil pressure and high rpms at some point. I bet it was marginal when you bought the donor car and finally let go when you were messing with it. Wheelman