Mikelly

SilverTurbo, Your pics link won't load for me either! Mike

As I stated before... I have 255-40-17s on the rear of my stock bodied 280Z with coil overs... I am running 245s up front in the same specs... THEY DO FIT... 275s stick out about half an inch past the fender well... You can see all the fitment you want at: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Mike

I'll be interested in your results... I have a 19 year old son somewhere out there and I've thought many many times about finding him... Mike

You'd have a real big issue with the torque tube configuration, as well as the space for the Rear diff/ tranny to sit in the engine bay... When I pulled mine out of my C5 to do a clutch, it was B-I-G! Mike

Wel today they will finish the paving of the auxilery drive at my shop... No more riverstone gravel... Looks like it is going to be nice. I also got most of the sheetrock installed in the 2nd story, and once that is complete and mudded and painted, I'll be moving ALL my car parts that are hidden in my shed and th attic of my house out to that location so I can see what I have, what I'm keeping, what I'm selling, and what I'm trashing... Additional 300+ Ft of space will be much appreciated! Mike

Well I'm stuck locally with a Dynojet. That said, If you have the option of tuning on a dynopack unit or a DynoJet unit, Don't spend any time on the dynojet. If you want big numbers that won't match your street performance, Go ahead and do a few dynojet runs... And like Scottie and John C. said, NEVER compare different dyno sessions or dyno equipments... Mike

We had members who felt the need to do one of three things: A: Hijack Someone's forsale thread for their own gain B: Misrepresent items and SCREW MEMBERS out of a sale C: Debate the asking price vs. worth of parts... Quite honestly we all miss the old format, and I'd like to have it back as well... But our membership RUINED it for YOU, ME and everyone who could act mature and adult on the FORSALE BB... And those who ruined it KNOW who I'm referring to, since I PMed and warned them time and again about their conduct. These days we just ban people for being jerks, so maybe it would survive in this ONE STRIKE era! Mike

Yes it is... I'm running them... Mike

I just pulled a set of these of Jim McNemar's car and slipping them around might set the motor back 1/4 inch... These are THE original Scarab mounts and don't do much of anything to set the motor any further back if you flip them... Mike

You can run 255s. I have a pair on the back of my Z on stock 2003 Ford Mustand wheels with no problems at all. THey even clear the fender lip. You can see pics of the car at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dat74z/album?.dir=3b79&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos Scroll through the Zcar pics... When you see the stock bodied car with the painted silver wheels... thats them! Mike

You don't... You broke her trust... However, You should seriously ask yourself 2 questions: Why would you want to be with someone who treats you so rude? Why try to be with someone who doesn't want to be with you? Move on, have a good cry, and find someone who loves you for you... and don't make the same mistakes again. Mike

Just be forewarned with the aluminum tubing. We bent those on our very first event at MSA, which was a bit embarassing for me, since we hadn't fully tested them yet and wanted a "Bling" factor for the car... Big Mistake. I'd opt for steel or steel swagged, although Jon seems to have been able to make them live... I know Ian and Steve killed those on slicks in an autoX... Mike

Anything by David VIzard is well worth reading...Go to borders books and start looking at the selection of books.. Grumpy and others can recommend books, as all mine have walked off with others who have borrowed them over the years... I just rely on "How Tos" on the web now... Mike Mike

Jon, Yup that's it in a nutshell... You have about $100 in parts and then your time to make them... Need a 3/4 inch drill bit to open up the clevis unless you can find them pre-drilled, and you need to cut the flat end down to the lenth needed for the TC rod, then dril two new 3/8th holes and you're there... Assemble everything and you're done... Those types of TC rods are the strongest in my opinion, which was why ZF Racing eventually switched to that design... Cutting threads on the existing rod was a biatch! Mike

Owen, The Jbars COME threaded already... Mike

Magnum, Check your PM... Mike 8)

Baracu and Dan, you guys are based in the real world... Lets face it guys, these are 30+ year old cars that are getting more and more rare, and less and less desirable... Gets harder and harder to stay motivated on a project where there is ZERO support from the "Home" team... Mike, You might have some success with that Titan motor... WOuld be an interesting transplant and a cool project... Still would be a HybridZ in my eyes. Phantom, Don't mean to poo poo it and BY all means, Give it a try... I wish you every success... Forgive me if I don't hold my breath, But I'll buy a round of drinks if you hit pay dirt! Mike 8)

Z31 Drifter, My question for you is this: What do you intend to do with your car? Will it be your daily driver? Do you plan to put 100K trouble free miles on it? Will it see 6K RPMs of hard reving on a daily basis? Is this car your only means of transportation? IF you want to build something reasonable and cheap, GO the route that Magnum has set up for you. It will probably get you into the 13s (Check here with other members who have built budget motors) and will probably feel faster than anything you will imagine. However, If you truly plan to build an 11 second car, you should seriosuly consider a NEW budget and a NEW set of expectations for parts. Racersoutlet is a vendor on ebay who sells performance parts very reasonably... You can get a Scat 9000 crank, Hbeam forged rods with ARP Capscrews and a set of Wiesco Forged pistons W/ oins and rings all for about $800 shipped. That is an internal balance setup and would be good for well into 450HP range for many many miles... I'd start sourcing a block and buy some books and learn how to assamble your motor properly... Or talk to a local builder who could assemble the parts for you... Mike 8)

Mine are common SCP parts... It is a 5.5 inch Jbar Strut rod that is threaded for 3/4 inch tubing. I then cut the new mount holes, use the clevis bracket drilled for 3/4 bolts and use a 3/4 heim. After seeing some failures in other designs, I decided that going with larger diameter tubing on the control arm and TC rod made more sense... The front end suspension really takes more of a beating, especially if street driven. Mike 8)

Uh, Yea Magnum I've PERSONALLY broken cranks in 350 Chevys... And What I typed above I stand by... Cast cranks are fine for production cars that won't see severe duty, but anything I'm building won't have that garbage on it... as for those heads, yea they are nice... But not on a Zcar project...Not in my opinion anyway... $800 for those heads, when you could have the same performance for about $350 more and a LOT less weight, yea that makes sense... But again, you get what you pay for. But I guess everyone's budget is different and everyone's version of "Hard Driving" has a different definition... Mike 8)

Vince, This is going on Jim McNemar's gorgious Scarab project and it has GOT to look sharp... We need something in hand within four weeks MAX... Mike

Guys, I'm on a short timeline and Need a Carbon or Fiberglass dash that could be shipped out within a week... CONTACT ME ASAP! Thanks! Mike 8)

So lately there have been some folks dicsussing building a Z, going 3.1 turbo, or V8, auto or manual, LS1 or traditional V8, Ford or Chevy? So many choices and so few Zs... One thing that I've learned over the years, and re-experienced on Jim McNemar's project is planning. You must look at every aspect of a project and what areas each mod will effect. Jim's car started out as a "My car brakes and handles horribly so lets fix it" project and has ended up with the following: Modern Motorsports Differential, axles, Extreme Brakes, Coil overs on Sectioned struts, Custom Koni Racing inserts, Heavy bushings, HEAVY springs, Custom CCW wheels w/ Michelin Cup tires, and custom five lug conversion with aluminum hubs, and custom control arms and TC Rods... All in a relatively short turn-around, Minus a few bumps, a few assumptions, and a few calls to Ross... We were done with phase 1... But now we had other issues... All this suspension and brakes would beat up the Uni-body pretty good and Jim's 4 point bar wouldn't hold the car together... AND Jim had some serious underbody rust issues... Phase 2, the JTR conversion and tranny upgrade would have to be pushed back... We sent the car to a shop around the corner from me for a new set of floor pans, frame rails, removal of the rear storage boxes, and a custom multi-point Chromemoly roll cage. Four weeks later, they have JUST completed the floor pans and frame rails, and rear strut bar. There was lots of tar and Zbart like stuff on the underside of the car, and removing that and getting the pans and rails correct took some time... Plus other customer cars took some time. So On Saturday Jim, Dan (Owner of the shop), John (Lead fabricator for the shop) and I sat down to lay out a NEW plan for completion of this car. We had decided to go ahead and pull the motor, since it was obvious we had a leaky rear main, and it wouldn't hurt to take a peek in the pan... We found some things that ended up requiring a tear down of the motor and some unforunate findings... So now this "My car brakes and handles horribly so lets fix it" project has turned into a FULL rebuild to include a new motor, and an addition of a fuel cell, custom dual exhaust, relocation of the battery to the rear, prep and paint of the newly welded in metal and cage, and we're going to install a Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass dash (I'll be contacting the vendors here!!!!) to the project... Now go back and look at this project and see how this project has escallated in short order... This is a HUGE build.. Jim is going to get custom FI on his small block, and we will be doing a few other neat tricks, including building a nice forged lower end, and picking some nice heads, and other choice bits... But this project has now increased by a large magnatude from just a "Suspension and brakes/ JTR and tranny update". Plan for the unforseen and do your homework. These projects, as Grumpy stated earlier, are supposed to be fun... Set realistice budgets and guidelines, and make sure to consult both vendors and manufacturers for your parts selections before you spend a dime. I'll add more to this later, but I really want to stress that you guys set realistic goals... We're fortunate that Jim wants the exact car we're building and he has the means to afford the escallation. But this could have become a real source of headaches, given the surprise we found in the engine bay... another "Custom" built motor, with less than honest backing has really taken this project to a new direction! And for the record, this has been a very rewarding experience, in many ways... Most of all, I've been happy to get to know Jim a lot better, and fortunate to have friends who have come to my aid, as well as gained some respect from a local fabrication shop within 3 miles of my house... I also have some new found respect for the parts making process! Mike 8)

I'll echo what Grumpy and Pop said... Further, I'd NEVER buy a JUNK AutoZone motor... and throw steel heads on it???? One of the reasons to go to a V8 configuration is due to the ability to obtain near stock Ls Motor weight with the SBC properly equipped with aluminum heads, intake and water pump... I'd also check that AutoZone motor for PM JUNK rods, a Junk cast crank, and Junk "CLAIMER" pistons, stuffed in a 2 bolt main block... Cheap ussualy means Short on life, long on cost... Good luck! For the original poster... I can tell you without fail, I have spent a SMALL FORTUNE over the years on L6 motors and getting REAL and USABLE HP out of them... You will not build a stroker L6 for less than ANY of the crate motors PERIOD. For $5000 you can have a 400+HP motor in your Z, including the JTR kit installed.. The tranny and other parts will have to be sourced, but that will be a TRUE real numbers car... You will be hard pressed to get the same performance for the same money spent on a stroker L6... read that again... You can't do it.. period. A rebello engine for $4200 sounds good until you add up everything you'll need to complete that install... Do you have the plumbing, intercooler, exhaust and other associated gages and electronics? Fuel Management? Do you have an upgraded clutch assembly for the added power? Regardless the direction you plan to go, you might want to make a PLAN and stick to it. Don't spend a dime until you have every aspect of the build sorted and resolved... Mike

That could possibly work... I'd make it all 3/4 16 as far as diameter... Stronger is better... There was a reason we moved away frmo the 7/8th stock... It worked, but the inch diameter stuff was stronger... Mike 8)