wheelman

Before you put gear oil in there make sure it isn't a World Class T5. If it is and you use gear oil it will ruin the paper cone synchronizers and you'll end up rebuilding it. There should be a tin strip attached to one of the case bolts with a 2 part number on it that you can use at http://www.5speeds.com/t5/index.html for identification. Just because it came from an 85 Camaro doesn't mean it really came from that car, I bought one off eBay that was advertised as coming from an 83 Firebird which turned out to actually be from an 89 TransAm. A PO had swapped the electric speedo hookup for a manual one so I lucked out and could use the stock mechanical Datsun speedometer. Long story short is that I think 88 and newer Camaro/Firebird T5s are World Class and anything earlier is non-WC. If it's non-WC then put gear oil in it, if it's not then use Dexron III but be sure to identify it correctly first. Wheelman

Headman tight tubes. I have an iron head LT1 but the basic engine is still the same so they will fit yours. The only problem I've had is a burned plug wire caused by the LT1 routing and the close fit of the headers to the block. Wheelman

I went back and looked one more time and am totally convinced it's a fake scene. When I was a kid we lived in northern Idaho very close to Cour D'Alene (sp) lake. All the roads there are very windy and narrow, subsequently I saw several accident scenes where a car was destroyed in this manner (not totaly ripped apart but roof torn off from hitting a tree, etc..). Anyway there was always lots of dirt thrown around when the car suddenly changed direction as it hit the tree, and yes the tree remained stationary and the car rotated around it doing much more damage to the car than the tree. the tree usually survived while most times the passengers didn't, but the tree did suffer significant damage. In this scene none of the forest floor is significantly disturbed, even the pine needles lay as they would if they had just fallen from the tree, uniformly covering the ground. Had the front and rear separated like the photos show and traveled several meters from the original impact there would have been large gouge marks in the dirt where the floor of the car dug in as it moved. The engine/tranny would have tumbled or slid leaving marks as it moved due to the irregular surfaces in contact with the soft dirt, and why did it separate from the car in the first place? Look at the scene and picture in your mind the kind of energy released when that car hit the tree and then was dissipated by the parts that continued to move. Where did it go? The only place is friction between the ground and the moving parts and/or into another tree. One part is shown resting against a tree but the other is not so again where did all that energy go??? Certainly not into that nice neat forest floor those parts are resting on!!! I also noticed there is no window glass anywhere. A staged scene will not include the window glass as it's to hard to clean up. All the glass must have just vaporized in this wreck. Wheelman

I will miss the P&R topics and agree with those who also want to keep them. This is the only site where I will read and/or participate in them because of the general high quality of the discussion. There have been a few where things went south and got ugly, but they were few and far between and not really all that ugly, at least as far as I can remember (it sucks to get old). I think the discussions add to the general feeling that we are family and can talk about things and really get to know each other beyond just our common interest in "fast Datsuns". I will miss them. Wheelman

A car being torn apart like that from hitting a tree would have spun all over the place. It's just to neat and tidy to be a real wreck scene!!! Wheelman

The wreck scene is a setup. Look real close at the ground, you don't see any skid marks or dirt disturbed at all. Wheelman

Mike, I'm sorry to hear that about the recruiter you encountered, although it's not the first time I've heard negative things about them. My recruiter was basically honest with me but there was only so much he could do to satisfy my desires. Once I was in and had been through basic and tech school it was a good experince and I felt the Airforce (meaning the people I directly worked with) cared about me and wanted to help me with my career. Unfortunately in my short sighted view of the world I decided to get out after my dad passed away and have regretted it ever since. Edit: I think Derek's recruiter was honest with him and Derek was always positive about him. I guess he probably did a better job for Derek than mine did for me. Thank you all for the encouragement and kind words, I feel like you guys are part of my extended family. Derek is a good kid and has had this as his goal now for about 2 years. It makes me proud that he made the decision and has stuck with it and I know he'll do well. Off we go into the wild blue yonder!!!!! Wheelman

Matt, What type of job are you interested in? If you want to be a pilot I would look at a technical degree. When I was enlisted one of the criteria to be a pilot was an engineering or scientific type degree, not sure how things are now. A recruiter would be able to answer any questions you have, you might also checkout the Airforce website. It's tough to give much meaningful advice without knowing more about what you're looking for. Being an officer means more pay and better benefits but also has more political stuff to deal with and in the Airforce if you aren't a pilot your promotion potential is limited to about the Colonel level. Being enlisted means a lot less BS to deal with (sort of), more hands on work and with a degree your promotion potential is only limited by you. You also have the option to apply to become an officer later if you want. I was enlisted in the Airforce for 7 years and got out when my dad passed away. Looking back I wish I'd stayed in. I think it was the best decision I ever made to sign up, I matured and grew as a person in ways I never would have any place else and have many wonderful memories of that time. Do yourself a big favor, be open minded, check it out very thoroughly from as many angles as you can and then make your decision. I personally had a very good experience with it and would do it again given the chance. Wheelman

Not sure what his AFSC is yet but all the jobs he's up for have their tech school at Keesler. His recruiter said he'll probably be there for at least 6 months, most likely longer. I shipped off to basic on June 29th in 85, lost my luggage on the way there and had to wait over the 4th of July weekend to start actual training. It really sucked not having any clothes, soap, shampoo, deodorant or underwear for the 4 days it took to get my luggage. After that basic was pretty easy and I have many good memories from it. My tech school was at Lowry in Denver. It lasted just under 6 months so I was there until about christmas time. Denver can be very cold in the winter and is pretty hot and humid in the summer. I'll keep everyone updated on his progress. Wheelman

Yesterday my son Derek left for Airforce basic training. Up until the day before it seemed like just another summer camp type trip but then I realized he won't be coming back home to live with us again, at least not permanent. Boy what a wierd experience. I look at all the things we've done together and think, WOW, now I have to find someone else to do those things with. I didn't realize just how much I enjoyed having him and his friends around, especially the ones that are into cars, I'm really going to miss him. There were things that bugged me, mostly his music and how loud he always had to have it, but they were mostly minor things. Anyway he will be in San Antonio Texas by Tuesday and basic lasts 6 weeks, then it looks like he'll be sent to Mississippi for tech school. He wants to be stationed in Japan or Europe but I think he'll be happy where ever he ends up. A word of advice to all you young fathers or fathers to be out there, enjoy the time you have with your children as they leave before you know it. Wheelman

Actually it isn't less money unless he already had an SR20DET in it and the weight arguement is also debatable when you add the turbo stuff. My guess is it came with a KA24DE which is more expensive to mod because there are fewer parts. The SR20 is much more expensive than the Toyota V8 and definitely doesn't have the WOW factor. Maybe 300HP isn't much anymore but it's still a whole lot more than he started with. The UZ1FE and UZ2FE (Toyota V8s) are much more durable at those power levels than a KA24 or SR20 also. Admit it, it's a bitchin swap!!! Wheelman

Rudypoochriss, Those Toyota V8s are awesome engines and much more compact than the Nissan V8s. Toyota spent millions developing them and they can be made to produce tons of power for a very light weight compact package. Do some more research on them, I'm sure you'll be impressed. I really want ot use one in a future project, just haven't decided yet what it will be, kind of want to do something that will be Street Mod class legal so it wouyld have to be a Toyota brand car. That is a very nice swap BTW. Lots of hard work making it that clean. Wheelman

Yup, thats what Ya told me so I decided to skip the whole thing for now. I've driven the Z around a little and not been hassled so maybe they won't pull me over just because they don't see a shoulder belt. Good luck with you're plan Bart, I don't know that I would trust myself to rebuild a set of belts like you are, I'd be worried the shoulder strap would separate from the main buckle. Wheelman

The easiest way to tell if it's an R200 or R180 is to look at the back cover. If it's round it's an R200, if it's rectangular it's and R180. I'm betting you have an R200, AFAIK the only ZX's that got the R180 were the automatic non-2+2 models, which would mean that all turbo models and all manual transmission models had the R200. Don't take this as 100% truth though, be sure to look at your diff housing to verify which you have. Wheelman

Be sure to check that battery tray area over very thoroughly, it looks like there's quite a bit of rust in there. I had to totally remove that area and replace it and also found a couple small rust holes in the driver footwell while removing the sound/heat insulation on the interior. If you don't deal with it now you'll have to at some later time so do it while the engine is out. What Bartman said is also a good thing to consider while the drive train is removed. Wheelman

I've got the 2 1/2" offset inlet/center outlet Aero-Chamber on mine with a resonator tip and it's actually not that loud. Before I put the tip on it was pretty throaty but the exhaust exited under the car and filled the cabin with fumes. The tip was just to extend the exit past the end of the car but it also muted the rumble a bit and now it's hard to tell what's under the hood, more because it has a very unique sound than because it's quiet. I was wanting to have the sleeper sound and I came close but I have an LT1 so your final result may be different. I think you'll have a very hard time getting it quiet with large diameter piping and a free-flowing muffler. My full system is Headman Tight Tube headers with 1 5/8" primaries and 2 1/2" collectors (I think) into 2 1/4" pipes back to a Y just behind the tranny, then 2 1/2" to the muffler. I'm very happy with how it sounds although I'm probably leaving a little power on the table with the smaller piping. Wheelman

Just call it Cybil. Wheelman

Check this out! http://www.v8mr2.com Wheelman

Do us all a favor and put it out of it's misery. JK I think I might like the body kit if I could get past the color. If I remember correctly from the other thread this is a temporary thing and was done with stickers, is this right? What are your ultimate plans for paint? SleeperZ It's a 240SX not a 240Z. Wheelman

I agree with Jon, it sounds like you boiled the brake fluid somehow. How old was the fluid you put in the system? Did you flush the entire system during or after the caliper install? How did the fluid look, was it dark brown, clear tan or somewhere in between? What type of fluid did you use? Did you replace the rear shoes along with the front calipers? How badly does the wheel jerk when you apply the brakes? Do you have to maintain pressure on the steering wheel to keep the car straight while braking or does it straighten itself out after the initial jerk? Maybe the rears are shot so the fronts had to work harder, getting them hotter and in combination with moisture in the fluid it boiled? Maybe the fuild in only one caliper boiled? The one doing more of the braking, which causes the jerk. Wheelman

Larry, Sorry to hear of your loss, you and your family are in my prayers. I also suffer from type 2 diabetes and so far have been able to control it with diet and excersize. Everyone should be tested for this, especially if you are feeling run down, thirsty all the time and have to pee alot. This is one of the most destructive preventable malladies we struggle with today and the sooner it's caught the better chance you have of avoiding the severe damage it can cause and live a "normal" life, whatever that is. Wheelman

LT1 V8, straight plugs, block huggers, plug change in 15 - 20 minutes. While the engine was in the donor car, 45 minutes just to get them out. Changed plugs, wires, cap and rotor in my GMC Safari mini-van, V6, 2 hours. Billable shop time 4 hrs. Requires going in through the wheel wells to get at most of the plugs. The shop wanted to charge me $400.00 bucks parts and labor to do it, I said "I don't think so!!!!". Wheelman

I've found that when my GSL392 is having to pull the siphon it's much noisier. Based on where you mounted yours, above the tank, I think it's always trying to pull a siphon and consequently is noisy. Try mounting it lower and see if that helps. Wheelman

I've been messing with TunerCat over the last few days trying to get my fan to work the way I want and adjust some other parameters. There are several on/off switch parameters that aren't documented anywhere but the one I really can't figure out is "Crank AIR Select". Does anyone know what this parameter controls? I've removed all emissions components so the EGR and air pump controls now do nothing and this one seems to have no effect either on or off. Wheelman

So Bart when are you going to post a sound clip for us? Looks very nice and is similar to mine back to the x-pipe where mine is a y-pipe into a single outlet. Wheelman