Mikelly

OK, My secretary just came into my office to see what the hell I was laughing at, and then she still didn't get it... To damned funny John... True, we won't get the real scoop until the NEXT engine you build after this one, which be out-dated info!!!! LMAO! Mike

UPDATE: Just got an e-mail back from DATAfast and the price for JUST the ECU is $1245 US. This puts it in the same price range as Electramotive. I can get EVERYTHING I need from Holley for the Commander for $900 shipped. I'll be interested in feedback from John Coffee! Mike

Randy, I downloaded the demo last night...Very cool stuff... I sent them an e-mail with a host of questions. Mike

I know all to well about leak down and losing serious HP... My 10 second 1/4 mile passes when the motor had 200miles on it went to 8.75 second 1/8 mile passes after repeated fuel problems and several cylinder wall wash downs... I'll be going through my motor over the winter and doing a complete internal balancing, as well as re-ringing the pistons with total seal rings after the cylinders are properly honed... John, I'll be waiting to hear about your FI setup... Mike Kelly

Les, Go to http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z and scroll through the pics on that site... Mike

Well guys my Cutler FI harness and computer are on E-bay and not doing well at all... However, I'm moving forward with research on EFI ECUs (Programable with Datalogging) and harnesses... I'm still leaning towards the Holley Commander, since I can get pretty much everything I need for $900, but I'd like to investigate other options before making the final commitment on one system... Mike

Guys, I'm posting this here, even though we have a forsale section... I have a one piece MAS front end that has 2.5 inch flares attached and the hood cut out for mounting seperately. Trying to sell this unit at a loss to move it out of the garage. I have a little over $600 in the front end, the flares, and shipping... If you are within 300 miles of my home in Va., I can deliver it to you... Make me an offer... Mike

Well I'd be cautious, but not write it off just yet. If the guy has receipts for the parts (Take notes here fellas...) and you can hear the motor run, or possibly drive the car it is in, and do a leak down test for compression, then I'd offer the guy $1500 for it, based on what you are getting. However, you could also have a FI motor pulled from a Pick-N-Pull complete with all the same stuff, minus chip and cam, and put that stuff in yourself as you re-ring and re-seal the motor anyway... Might just break even. I doubt the motor has aluminum heads on it... And that note above about receipts...I'd keep them all for several reasons... A: trying to sell parts to others, you can have a measure of proof that you atleast bought the parts you are claiming are in the motor, and B: if it every get involved in an accident, you now have leverage with the insurance company for settlement.. I got $8000 for a 74 260Z when I was hit by someone else in 1996... Mike

Jeromio, Sounds disheartening... I have yet to bend anything to 90 degrees, but I have seen two other guys do it, and it is time consuming and requires much patience... My rear cage was already prefabricated form an auto power bolt in unit that has since been seriously modified. However, I have bent 45 degree angles without a problem, and rather quickly. Mike

Mike, Sounds like oyu have an internal issue. You may have to have that thing gone through... I'll take a look when I come out on Friday, but it sounds suspiciously like an internal Syncro/ gate/ rod issue... Mike Kelly

I make them... Contact me at dat74z@yahoo.com... Let me know what you need... I should be selling the rear control arms by the end of the month if the machinist can get me the parts in time... Mike

MikeKZ, The bell housing and clutch assembly can be left in the car IF you remove the clutch fork from the slave. There are 6 bolts holding the bellhousing on. You may find that you have to put that assembly back in for it to be consistant. I'm just guessing at that one... Jim & All, I think somewhere on the tech article I wrote there is a pic of my shifter.. It is only three inches long. My trans shifts PERFECT into every gear including reverse... I have no idea why they made those shifters so darned long, other than the fact that they don't seem that long in the cars I have driven with them installed. Maybe they have a deeper trans tunnel than our Zs? Anyway, I run the Syncromesh fluid and my trans shifts into reverse, or any other gear without trouble... Jim, the reason your clutch assembly didn't give you any trouble is because your presure plate had the release bearing assembly already installed in it. Mine wasn't and nobody in the Fredericksburg area understood the reverse pull design of the system. That, combined with the balancer plate issue caused a grown man to lay in the floor and throw fits like a two year old... Mike

Actually Both. What I've learned from several Chassis fabricators who I I've chatted with recently is that they ussually will go with a smaller tubing diameter as well, like a 1.5 inch tubing, but go up in wall thickness, but only slightly. I have had one of the local fabricators come out to my house and inspect my work, and other than a few tubes that needed to be re-welded because of the other issues with the older welder, everything I have done to date has checked out OK. However, he did comment that had I been able to use Cromo, it would have been much easier to route tubes that are smaller diameter. This was also news to me Pete! I always thought that with cromo tubing you would use thinner wall tubing and the same (Normally 1 3/4 or 1 5/8 tubing) size tubing. Mike

Bobby, My pics are to numerous to send you here, but you can see some of the work at http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z I have a 21 point unit I'm constructing and installing as I go. I highly recommend that you weld the unit in, and if you can afford to go with Chromo, it is stiffer, and you can get away with smaller diameter tubing. Mike [ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: Mikelly ] [ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: Mikelly ]

Man that is a wierd one... Did you put any power to the skip shift solenoid? I'm clueless here, as I had all sorts of problems with my trans, which I documented in my T56 article, but had nothing like that happen. Its shifts through the gears well without the car running? You don't have a balancer plate in behind the flywheel do you? Mike, this is No help at all, but I removed my transmission 8 times before I got it right... I was reduced to laying on the floor in tears, and basically let my car sit through much of the summer of 1999 due to trans woes...All because the clutch kit I got had no visual aids and wasn't assembled from the factory, and noone in my neck of the woods had ever seen a release bearing go in between the clutch and presure plate... and I had a balancer plate installed on the back of the motor, which I didn't need (Thank you to Kip at BowTie Performance for being so insistant on me using it...) Mike Kelly

....Exactly, Not saying that the Yokohamo AVS isn't a good tire. And it comes in a wide range of sizes. However, it an "OK" Performer if compared to newer technology tires that are currently available. If I were in the middle of upgrading suspension (Like I am now) I'd go ahead and convert to a five lug pattern and save myself the headache of trying to find an OK wheel I canlive with, instead of getting the right wheel for my car. Les, I had some nice 15 inch wheels on my car that I was really happy with, but saw 15inch tire selections going away quickly... There are about 12 tire makers out there (Or more) and only two of them make a Vrated tire in sizes above 225... Not very inspiring. One of the things to keep in mind when shopping for a tire is how well the tire performes in ALL conditions... How sticky it is, and how well it sheds water. Mike

Brian, In another post you mentioned that you plan to do the Silver State Challenge at some point down the road... If this is the case, I don't think the brakes you plan to install will be sufficiant if you are looking at making "450+" hp at the rear wheels... You might want to Look at Mike/SCCA's Outlaw Caliper/ 12.2inch brake kit. Mike Kelly

Les, I think what Pete was refering to is the fact that getting a decent speed rating or compound tire in a 15 inch tire is non-existant. There are only about two makers that make a Vrated or higher rated tire in anything wider than a 225. BFG used to be my brand of choice, but the widest Zrated tire they make in a 15 inch tire is 225-50 and that is woefully to narrow for many of our applications. I can get 275-60-15s all day long (Which I run on my Puckup truck) but the highest rating I can find in those is an H rated tire with a UTG rating of of 350+ which isn't very sticky at all. Mike

Brian, by having the motor sit in the Scarab position means that it is broken. SuperDan (Owner of this site) finally broke down and swapped his Scarab setup to the JTR and his car is NO LONGER the same vehicle. Handling, braking, EVERYTHING is ten-fold better with the JTR position and I would recommend making that mod the first in your list. Ask others on this site, you'll get the same exact asnwer. Mike Kelly

I just bought a complete TBI setup off ebay for $145! It included the intake, TB, EGR, and all the misc. sensors that plug into the intake. I've been running a TBI 350 in my GMC for 4 years and put 200,000 on the first motor and am 12,000 into the rebuild. My 4000# truck runs 9s in the 1/8th and handles like a dream...for a truck! I'm a BIG fan of TBI units!!!! Mike

I have 12 inch ground Control coil overs and I also run a 3/4 wheel spacer on the 5 7/8 back spaced wheel. The front wheels actually allow the tires to fit Just at the edge of the fender on an unflared unit. They don't require a spacer. Mike Kelly

You might think about converting to 5 lug. I have fender flares and I'm running 17X9 inch wheels with RE730 Bridstone Potenzas in a 275-40-17 in the rear and a 255-40-17 up front. I personally wouldn't run anything less than a Zrated tire on a Z if youplan to hit above 120MPH. Mike Kelly

Frank, Educate me on this site please.... A: I can't view the products, and B: If you are gonna show me glimpses of naked girls, ateast create a gallory where I can go see the whole image... Mike

Man-O-man... I've been to busy to keep up with this thread... I'm located in Fredericksburg, Va. I'm well aware of the airstrip in North Carolina. I've been told by several guys who have run that event that speeds there aren't that high, although it is a good place to start close by. John C and Frank, you both make excellent points. I will not be making my 1st attempt with this car at the unlimited class... You work up to it as John says. My first try will be in the 150mph class. I'd like to shake it out first. Others, I had a sponsor years ago who has connections to a group in Georgia who do weekend track Lap days at both Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motorspeedway. My goal is to go to the Oval at Atlanta and hit some 150MPH+ laps for several laps at a time to shake the car down. As for using the cardboard tunnel, I'd be up for using it when I'm ready as I believe it still would provide valid data for other areas of the car. I'm gonna remove the filler door and smooth it over the winter, and I'm gonna have a chin splitter on the front of the car. Friend of mine in Arizona has put one on his road racer and noticed a huge change in the stability of his car at speeds over 120mph. More so than the belly pans he installed. He claims that he actually felt preasure buffetting under the car at speeds above 140mph. He is in a 2nd generation RX7, which is fairly aerodynamic.. Point to that last paragraph is that some of the more technically gifted guys here are correct. These changes and additions of parts should NOT be taken lightly. I'm not gonna do anything without validating its value, or accepting its detriments, and then only after knowing the max. Thanks guys, and keep this thread going... VERY GOOD DATA FOR ALL OF US HERE!!!! Mike

If you are using these strictly for OFF-Road use, I can recommend Marsh Racing wheels. They make several styles in several configurations, including a three piece unit with Billet aluminum center, Carbon Fiber outter half, and aluminum inner half. The 15X8 wheels I used years ago weighed less than 10 pounds. Centerline wheels are VERY light for aluminum wheels. The 15X8 wheels I sold over the winter weighed in at 15.5pounds per wheel. The Eagle Alloy Cobra R knock-offs I just bought in a 17X9 are 24pounds. One thing you have to be carefull of when looking at light wheels in a plus size is what the weight of the tire brings. Imports are suffering with this right now, as many of these kids find their little street fighters (Coming to a gun fight armed with a water pistol in my opinion) actually loose LOTS of power when going from a 14inch wheel to these MONDO 17-18 inch wheels. On a HybridZ with MUCH more torque and HP, we do have an advantage of added UMPH to spin the heavier wheel combo. Just remember, it is harder to spin up that spinning combo, and much harder to slow it down. One thing you want to look at when selecting a racing wheel is to make sure the wheel allows plenty of air into the rotor/ caliper area. If you have dust shields on the back side of your hub and caliper, those would be the first thing I would remove to allow heat to escape. Two benefits come from using light wheels: Improved acceleration, and improved braking. Many folks in the racing community have claimed significant improvements in lap times by going to a lighter wheel/ tire combo. Some manufacturers claim that removing 10 pounds per corner has the same effect as adding 100HP. Not sure how accurate this is, but as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, you can go to light. Make sure your wheels carry european safety certifications. Within the SCCA community, those certs are well regarded for durability. Mike Kelly [ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: Mikelly ]