Mikelly

Actually Fuel Safe makes such a unit and it holds about 10 gallons. It is SUPER EXPENSIVE, but would do the trick. Mike

I have a shipment of machined parts coming in this week, and I plan to have a prototype done and test fitted by the weekend. The plan as of Right now is this: I will get two sets done and one shipped off to California, one sent down to Richmond for powdercoating. I have an outstanding balance to the machinist, and I have no idea how long it will take to build these puppies, but I have 4 orders prepaid from Mike M, Rubin, Danno74Z, and Tom Sumner. All others please pay asap as I have still got about $200 worth of matterials to buy plus the complete outstanding balance to the machinist. I'll send him a check next week for his services, but I want to have enough orders paid so I can just knock them all out at once... As of right now I have enough matterials to fill the four orders I mentioned above plus 4 extra pairs. I plan to have everything done and shipped before my Honeymoon on Sept. 22nd, and if all goes well, shipped out before my wedding on the 15th! You can send payments to PAYPAL or mail me a check. Contact me offline if you are a previous buyer of the front control arms. Mike ZF Racing LLC

$600 is a bit steep but not having actually done one of these yet, I'm not sure how much time and matterials would be involved. However, keep in mind that the hood is the heaviest part on the Z front end sheetmetal... weighing more than two fenders combined. What do people think would be a fair price? Since Jamie T. and I are planning to make these, I'm interested in what the public thinks is fair for such an exotic part... Mike

Check both MSA and Victoria Brittish, as well as your local MOOG distributor. Don't forget your adjustable control arms from the fine folks at ZF Racing... Mike Kelly ZF Racing LLC

That looks VERY familiar... Let me go to the garage and make sure someone didn't steal my car and paint it blue! Nice looking ride, and I'm running the same wheel and tire size! Mike

I got all my parts except my motor delivered to me throughout the month of November 1998/. The motor was delivered on December 18, 1998. However, I crashed my mountain bike on a downhill run on December 23rd 1998 and fractured my skull, causing a blood clott and swelling on the brain. I wasn't cleared to go back to living my life until end of Febuary 1999. From that point until May 16 I worked evening and weekends on the car until I got it to the point of being driven. From May 16 on I basically de-bugged and refined it until I tore it down to take care of some safety issues in Late September of this past year. Mine is ALL GO, some SHOW Mike

...Good point... Remember that THEY have rules they have to play by as well. He can't just say "Its too loud. There is a tool used to measure decibles and if the officer doesn't have the unit in his cruiser, he can use his discretion to hold you there until one can be brought to him. What your case tells me is that the guy didn't know if you was too loud or not, and your question made him stop long enough to ask himself if he was doing the right thing. Usually the fact that you didn't get a ticket is an indicator that the officer was getting ready to write an unjust ticket and thought better of it. I'd continue to drive the car and continue asking the same questions when pulled over... They have to tell you what the specs are for it to be legal. Mike

RadTad, 1st, Thank you for your public apology. No harm, no foul. Just understand that, as administrators, Pete and I have to keep watch over this site and make sure it doesn't get poluted with a lot of BS that other sites experience. We try to provide categories for areas of discussion that are not technical in nature, so please feel free to use those areas to chat about any number of things. We do encourage people to post and get actively involved on the BB, but keep in mind that free speach applies only where we can all be adults, mature and friendly. We have a great reputation here for keep the peace on this site, and sometimes we rush in a bit prematurely, not that this was one of those times, as I think Pete did an excellent job of cleaning up the thread! Again, thanks and please feel free to post in the approriate areas with appropriate topics! Mike Kelly Administrator

Well it also had to do with the tone of the post and the fact that there was NOTHING of use in a technical nature in this particular forum. Again, please go re-read the mission statement up front on Page 1. We are here to discuss technical matters. Now if there is some part off a Probe or Miata that you have cleaverly incorporated into your Z, please inform us, as we all love hearing about that sort of thing. Mike Kelly

Gang, We have a LARGE number of new members. I encourage those of you who have come to love this place and call it home to use restraint in Hammering the new guys. Newbies, I encourage you all to read the mission statement. We have a large number of folks here who have come from other sites because they wanted to escape mindless banter, and irrelevent ramblings of young or immature people who cluttered up good usefull bulletin boards. This site is first and foremost here to help people build the baddest cars on the planet, not to discuss the merits of the Ford Probe or Mazda Miata. I'm sure there are other sites out there more suited for that type of discussion. This site is a free site provided for our use to discuss how to shove the most unussual or the biggest and baddest motor into the Nissan Flagship sports car from 1970-1996. Thats it. There are notable exceptions, and rare swaps into other small and unique cars are welcome, as are the technical discussions that usually follow. You are all welcome to share in the TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS of this site. Mike Kelly Administrator

Guys, Here is the scoop on Dave at Arizona Zcar: Dave was THE ONLY GUY who stepped up to the plate back in the late 80s and started making race car parts for Zs. Throughout the early 90s Dave sold parts without a limit, answered phones, and tons and tons of questions from people who had no money, no skills to build cars on their own, and nothing but questions that tied up his days. Rather than get work done in his shop, many days he would sit answering questions for potential customers. Bottom line is that over the years Dave got beat down by the business and some of the customers. Yes, Dave's parts require you to finish in the parts. Yes, they require competent body work experience. Many people ordered his parts, got them in the mail, and then declined the charges on the parts, stiffing him in the long run, as someone paid to box and ship the parts, which took materials and time away from the shop. I have several of Dave's catelogs (One of the older ones sold tube chassis for Zs!) and everywhere in the catelog he states that the parts require installation by a competent mechanic. Dave suffered from buyers being WAY to excited about finding parts for Zs and not reading the small print. It has become his undoing. Dave has since become curt on the phone, and refuses to sell his parts for less than the required minimum amount to cover shipping expenses, time and materials. Yes he is difficult to deal with, and last I heard, Dave wanted out of the fiberglass side of the business. However, I can certainly understand how he got there. 10 years of dealing with what he has dealt with might very well make me cranky too! Tim, I'm currently working a deal with someone to possibly start making fiberglass parts over the winter, but I work slow, so be patient. I know that fiberglass hatches are hot items, so I'll keep you in mind when we start. Mike

My $.02 on the Northstar is this: Just like any other GREAT IDEA, it will have teething pains. That motor is an engineering beauty in my opinion. Talk to me about the silly way you have to remove the crank pully to change plug wires on a new LS1... That is SUPER STUPID. Still a nice motor, but a stupid design.. These engineers are doing great things in motor design and developement, but often times, there is little follow up to fix the minor issues that grow into larger ones. Demand for a product overtakes the need to redesign or fix engineering flaws and pretty soon the manufacturer is found playing catch up to public need, until the warranty and repair costs surpass the profit margine on original sales. Only at that point will the manufacturer step up design review and come up with a better solution. I think JamieT is gonna have one hell of a ride with that NorthStar! Would I do it? Maybe. It certainly will be different! Mike

Eric, What Rob just described is exactly how I have spereated welds in the past. What I actually did was make a tool with round steel stock for the handle, and used a piece of 1/8 inch thick 1 inch wide and 4 inches long that I made an edge with (Very Sharp, I might add..) to use as a chisel of sorts. I took a torch and heated the spot weld and then took a 2# hammer and drove the homebuilt tool between the two sheets and the spot. Popped right off, and I was able to do this quickly on several sections. Mike Kelly

If you are looking at adjustable suspension parts, check out the HybridZ store... Also, I was informed by the machinist today that my parts to build the rear control arms will be in my hands by next weekend! I plan to start taking orders immediately. Mike

Sounds suspiciously like the same type of 350 that is in my GMC truck... BTW, that 4000# truck runs 9s in the 1/8 mile... Should do well in a 2800# Z car! Mike Kelly

Jim, What do you mean 2piece? Mine was the factory shifter that I had cut shorter, then rethreaded... I don't understand.. Anyway, Mine was a standard shift knob from Pepboys, carbon look and cheap, like $30 or something in that range, but I already had it, already knew I was re-threading the shaft to something more common than the odd-ball size that came on it. The re-threading only cost about $25, so I figure that ot was worth it. Now that I'm in the machining business, I'd be able to do it myself for the cost of a $5 die. Mike

I had mine re-threaded when I originally installed the unit... At the same time I had the shifter shortened. I use a Carbon look Drake style knob. Mike

Welcome Macdaddy... Where abouts in Culpeper do you live? I know A LOT of people over there... You are 35 minutes from my house, so anytime you are coming to Fredericksburg, let me know, and you can stop in! Mike Kelly

Vihn, Do a search in this category... Lots og good info on 383 strokers in Zs... A 383 stroker is basically a 350 chevy with a 400 Crank and 5.7 or 6 inch rods. That is pretty much the jist of a 383 combo. They make great power and lots of torque and getting 400HP out of a basic build is almost hard NOT TO do! Mike Kelly

...I'm making the control arms, not Pete.. Scottie, Can you possibly have an additional Single adapter made when you place the order? I may need one fo my personal car, since I may have messed that one up. Mike Kelly ZF Racing LLC

I'm interested VERY much but can't do anything until after the wedding... I'm officially cutting off all expendatures between now and then, unless it has to do with the control arm production... So if you wait until October, I'm there. If you can't wait that long, I certainly understand and will just have to go it alone at a later time! Mike Kelly

Mike, I'm glad to hear that. I'm gonna re-plumb my whole brake system, and I had planned to run the park lok just aft of my brake proportioning valve so I can have them both in the ****pit. Nice to hear it does its job... I'll be talking to you about upgrading the rear brake calipers to something larger... Mike Kelly

Let me shed a little light here as well... I have Scottie's units and they are a work of art. I'm happy with them and they are very stout pieces. The only reason I wanted to get Ross' unit is also for the same reason someone else had concern over... Fitment on my rear control arms. My rear design should no help create more bind, unless for some reason you wanted to dial in a bunch of positive camber, and that typically isn't the norm. Most folks want more negative camber, pushing the stub axle further away from the half shaft, and therfore pulling the shaft out, not compressing it in. The matterials I will use to construct the arms will not be of a larger diameter than the existing factory sized control arms.... Again, Scottie's units are fine, and I just want the bolt on units as a test fit for clearance issues... I have the adapters for the 240 & 280ZX units already and they clear the control arm design, but I would still like to have the other design as well for peace of mind in the developement process for the product line. Mike Kelly ZF Racing LLC

I had a set of Aluminum Heim Joints that held up for 7 years and several airborne "Hops" over rises in road courses. No noise or harshness that I could tell. Mike

$800-1000 is cheap depending on what you are getting, or expensive for the same reasons... If they are just doing valve guides and seats, then it is expensive. If you are having the bowls blended, ports polished, exotic valves put in, cam towers shimmed, custom lash pad alignment done, then that is a VERY Fair price. Add in any bench flow work and you could see MUCH HIGHER prices. Damn, sounds like I know a thing or two about L6 motors doesn't it??? I agree 100% with Ross though, for that money you could be well on the way to having a V8! Mike