Mikelly

...Question, did you have to use shorter springs and mount your coil over perch higher than the tire to get the clearance to allow for wider wheel/ tire combos??? I'm thinking of purchasing the Ford Mustang Cobra R wheels, which are 17X9.5 with a 5.9 back spacing and I'm wondering how to mount my coilovers.... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

My particular unit supposedly generates 1000# of downforce at 120mph... That was what sold me on it, but I couldn't tell you if it does... I have had the car to around 140mph several times and the seem that rests against the hatch cracked paint due to the downforce on the 1st high speed run. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

I have my current set dialed in and I took it to the local commuter lot and jacked it up to 60MPH on th entrance road and did 10 reroeated stops from 60MPH in less than 110 feet. I was very pleased with my small 10.9 inch pad setup. I have been a boig fan of KVR for some time, but currently have standard Borg Warner pads in the calipers.... I suspect I'll be able to stop as consistant or better with the new pads! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Based on what JTR states about TBI setups...I'd be up for this type of swap on my single 4 Victor Jr. as well. I'm curious is GM has an OE TB setup that would support my current powerplant???? Holley does have the 4DI, but I don't know that it would be sufficiant for my system... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

John, Spot on with the comments about cross drilling of rotors. I have them Because I was given the units on the front, and the rears I bought back in 1993 before I knew any better! I'm told that you can offset some of the fade issues by using the front vented rotors and cooling ducts with the aid of duct spindle mounts to plumb cool air into the rotor hat. I'm going this route, as opposed to upgrading the diameter of the rotor upfront to offset cost vs. performance. The calipers I use up front are massive, and if I had my drothers, I'd have slotted rotors upfront as well. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Looked at the rear rotors and they are thin... So, since I'm gonna swap in some KVR pads, decided to go ahead and upgrade the rear rotors to the KVR slotted units as well... Now I'll be running Brembo cross drilled 300ZX rotors with Toyota V6 calipers on KVR Kevlar pads up front, cooled by 4 inch brake ducts and spindle ducts, and I'll be using the 79-81 rear disc with KVR slotted rotors and Kevlar pads in the rear.. Should be a nice streetable, yet aggressive setup! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

I'm gonna pick up a 180 and 190 degree thermo and do a little testing to see what happens.... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

You guys both nailed the formula for building a great conversion! The non-believers will be sick when they read those numbers! I gotta get some scales! Michael, I'm impressed with those numbers based on a big block buildup! Super impressive! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

My fiance's brother made comment last night that it sounded like my motor was running to cool... I've been keeping it at about 180 degrees... Should I be shooting for a 190-200 degree running temp? I think I'm currently running a 160 temp thermostat.... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

You might want to check into the Bridgestone RE730 for a good, cost effective tire. They are super grippy and fairly inexpensive compared to some of the larger names! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Pete, I'll check it and let you know if wear is an issue. I might go ahead and run some aluminum straps to the supports and call it a day... so far it seems very sturdy and the car runs cool. ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

You don't want to run nitro on a stock rear. It won't hold up to the sudden shock to it. I'm running something like 400HP at the rear wheels, best guess and I've done a lot of mods to my car to make it what I would consider safe. A 6 point cage is minimum for safety and structural stiffness. I also am running 2inch X 3inch boxed steel sub frame connectors. I'm also running some seam welding and plates in some of the more flexible areas. I do plan to take my cage through the firewall and back to the rear bumper strut mounts so I can add more stiffening. If you plan to put serious power to the car you will have to upgrade the diff. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

It came with a mounting kit that mounted it directly to the surface of the radiator with a Zip tie like mechanism at each corner. If I have trouble come next summer, I'll be looking at an upgrade, but it seems to do fine. We'll see. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

....And it is working well. What it isn't is hi-tech. It is a 16inch Allstar fan with the Tornado Swirl blades. I already had a Hayden adjustable fan regulator laying around, and I wired it up last night and tested all the wiring out. Drove the car 63 miles each way to a car show today and found that it works great! Thing ran for 10 minutes at 200 degrees idling without trouble. This is telling, because I'm running a Griffin Radiator, Edelbrock aluminum pump and I'm running about 65% water, 35% antifreeze and running a 165 degree thermostat. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Camber plates are by far the best way to go, but another alternative is the lower control arm modified like AZ car does it. I had a shop in Roanoke Va do me up a set of factory control arms like the AZ units, just using the factory portion on the hub assembly and the Heim joint on the crossmember point and they cost me $100! I do use the camber bushings on the rear, but I'm gonna change this when I go to coil-overs... ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

I know BLKMGK personally, and he has been in my home. A little back ground on him.. Jim is a techno-freake, and I mean that in a good way. He knows a lot about turbos and superchargers, as his mustang had dual turbos in it and now has a 351 windsor with a supercharger... I'm sure he has a pretty good Idea about the fitment issues, so you should feel pretty comfortable taking his advice when it comes to forced induction...Years ago (about 6) I was hearing about this guy in my professional circle who had an awesome twin turbo 5.0 stang... It was Jim... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

I personally think that going to a vented rotor of the same size (like the 84 300zx rotor I'm using) gets you some added benefits that keep the swap less expensive. You get a cooler running rotor, that is 50% thicker and sheds a lot of unwanted heat. The V6 toyota 4x4 caliper also uses a much larger pad and clamps a larger swept area. This helps as well... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Darius, Sounds like a sweet setup. I'd be real interested in more info on that rear to! And I'm gald you decided to take part in our forum. Sounds like you have a lot to contribute here! Stick around and keep us posted! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

OK guys, Maybe I have missed something here. I sense a bit of animosety coming out in some of these posts. Dude, your car is a rolling work of art, and naturally people will speculate about internals and whatnot. As for the most previous posters comments about your internals and compression etc... Everyone has a hypothesis about engine building and what works vs. what doesn't. You know your car. You built it. If this version holds up, great good for you! Nice project, happy it turned out well for you. If it was wrong, then throw some more cash at it and do like the rest of us are doing... getting dirt under your nails and sort it out! Bottom line here is you have a common bond with the rest of us... you're among friends... drop the defenses and lets get on with the technical discussions! Can't we all just get along??? Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

....I'd make sure your wire is 10-12 guage wire all the way through the circuit. I'd also make sure your pump is atleast 6-8 inches away from any exhaust pipe. I wouldn't recommend driving the car until you sort this out. You are basically killing that $100 pump, taking many hours of service off the life of the pump with each overheating cycle. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Yup, Mine was cut down almost 1.5 inches on my old Z 5 speed. It worked well.. Just section it and make sure the wled is strong! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

Thanks to everyone for cleaning this thread up... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

This thread has been modified...Sloh5oh and I chatted offline and I have removed the flamish posts... Mike Kelly Moderator/ Administrator ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk [This message has been edited by Mikelly (edited September 11, 2000).]

Well you don't have to look any further than this site for support. Go down to the "I'm telling ya" section and read about my recent trip to the drag strip. Don't get a camaro or mustang, 'cause you will just become another face in the same car everyone else is driving. I can't tell you how many original hotrodders have come up to me and expressed admiration for what I have built. The car is everything I dreamed and more. And the looks I get from people when I drive up to the local cruises... Priceless! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk

I'm using the 1988 Toyota V6 4x4 truck caliper, the 1984 300ZX 10.9 inch rotor and a custom 1/2 inch spacer on existing 260Z hubs. Mine stops great, and I'm running the small 79/81 280ZX rear calipers... You could go the same route, but I think Mike Gibson's prices on his brake kits are reasonable. To see the difference in the size of the calipers on the 4cyl. 4x4 toyota and the 6cyl.4x4 toyota, go to my tech article on the Brake conversion I describe above! The pads on the V6 caliper are almost 1/4 larger than the 4 cyl. and 1/3rd larger than the 260z pad! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk [This message has been edited by Mikelly (edited September 10, 2000).]