SSflyer

UPDATE -- The gauge came back from Autometer and now reads correctly full to empty. It still isn't very linear, full is above the full mark on the gauge and when the sender is on empty the gauge still reads at 1/4 tank. It's a 15 gallon tank and the gauge stays on full until almost 10 gallons have been used, but at least now I can tell what's going on. All in all it was $25 well spent.

Looks like the Highway Patrol took the day off, eh?

How about "Gasoline" by Audioslave?

Why yes, yes i have. I've climbed the twin peaks of Kilamanjaro.

On American Hotrod it showed a scene where the bodyshop guy was adding something to the bondo to make it spread easier. The stuff is called Plastik Honey, and it works great. I always wondered how they got the bondo to spread over a whole panel without leaving voids. Thinning the bondo just a little bit with this stuff makes it spread like cake frosting, and it's way easier to get it to spead out thin. It got to where I would alway cover the whole panel and then use a long sanding board (17") to smooth it out. When the sanded bondo gets to where it's almost translucent, that's when you quit sanding. Try the stuff and you'll save tons of time.

Midlife would be a real good choice, but it's already taken. So is Midlyfe. Dang!

No, no, no, no no! Not a flame! That Crapola is meant out of sheer amazement and awe, as in 'Crapola, how did you do that?!' Cars like that are works of art!

Only one word comes to mind, and that word is Crapola! What's the body weight of a Miata? And what part of AZ are you in?

Four shops and $750 later, the whole problem was a vacuum leak. On the back of the LS1 intake manifold is a vacuum take-off port for the brake master cylinder and also for the vacuum pots under the dash. I mounted my proportioning valve right under the hood latch bracket, and in order to get the engine placed I had turned that take-off stem about 30 degrees to clear the proportioning valve. That little turn was enough to get the stem off its' seat and cause a vacuum leak. Sometimes it's the simplest things! Part two of this post is to get some opinions on a custom plate. Here's some choices that are still available in Arizona: LS1280Z LS1ZCAR 350RWHP 280ZCAR TKTMGNT WHUPDEM ONLY13S CERPRIZ SUDDEN SUDDENZ MYTSLOW NOTAVET MID13S HIGH12S NEVRA12 SLGBATE KLUGED HAULZ NOTBENT SQUIRLZ PWRMAD Which should it be, or do you have other ideas?

What do you guys think of the idea of hybridizing Zcars as a full time job? I am so tired of working for some other guys company, where good work is never appreciated and financial gains are never shared. I really want to get out of this ratrace and do something I enjoy doing. Based on the overwhelming feedback I'm getting on my Z, I'm starting to think there may be a market for these, or maybe Miatas, or some other small V-8able car. I realize that there are lots of shops already doing this, but I suspect most are top end, show car type work. I'm thinking of a level of cost that the average person could afford, a daily driver type car that turns heads without costing megabucks. Maybe I'm being a Pollyanna, but people are really jazzed by the car I did in my garage with Harbor Freight tools and a plastic sheet spraybooth. Looking back now, I could duplicate the car I did for probably less than 1/2 the cost and maybe 1/5 the time, so do you think there's enough average guys who want a sort-of unique car to sustain a business?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-Datsun-Nissan-280ZX-Sports-Car_W0QQitemZ250102832828QQihZ015QQcategoryZ6763QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem How about a buck for what looks to be a good restoration candidate! Too bad it's so far away...

Way to go! I only wish they had used the data port on mine. But noooooo.....not in sunny Arizona, nothing that simple. Dig this, when I rolled up they asked what year car. '1975'. 'Open your hood please', at which time they see the Corvette fuel rail covers. So in the never ending brilliance of a government worker, the guy says 'OK, we'll test it as a 75 Corvette'. 'But it's a 75 Datsun with a 2001 Camaro engine', says I. 'No it isn't', says he, 'It's a 75 Corvette as far as out test go. See it says Corvette right on the motor'. By now there are 5 guys looking at the motor, and the spec book, and back at the motor, and then a little girl in the back pipes up with 'See if there's a 75 Datsun spec in the book'. Bless her little heart, because all five guys suddenly agreed it was a 75 Datsun. It still failed, but at least they had it identified correctly.

Nice paint!

Spotfitz, Where did you get those cool looking tower covers? Did you make them yourself?

I believe the control arm bushings are correct, but if the t/c rod has an influence on caster I'm wondering if there's a problem there. If a spacer was missing or if the nut was improperly torqued, would that pull the control arm back enough to cause negative caster?

Will do.

Ok, I'll preface my question by saying that my entire knowledge of Zcar suspensions is what I've read here, so be gentle with your answers. My alignment guy says that there is so much negative caster (-2 degrees) on my front wheels (actually on one wheel), that he can't even set the toe-in. I just finished painting, so I'm not real anxious to do any cutting for caster/camber plates, especially if the caster part of their adjustability is suspect anyway. My question is... could I gain some measure of adjustment by slotting the crossmember mounting holes? ps. If it matters, I've done the lower control arm pivot relocation, up an inch and over a quarter inch. The struts were sectioned 1-1/2" , and there's bumpsteer spacers.

Ok, I've done some looking around since yesterday at it appears I can get the parts I need for less than $200. I also ordered a pair of the Maxima rear brake brackets and they came yesterday, so now I can swap out my homemade units. (Courtesy Nissan in Dallas still sells these things for $54ea!) Hopefully all this stuff can get done over the weekend and retest again next week. And actually it was good news that they found some problems. It would have been WAY worse if they said everything was good and there was no options for getting it legal. jmsmith37.... I have early 80's Mustang Cobra rims, 17 x 9-1/2 on the back.

Well, the newest news is that I failed emissions again! The idle hc reading was almost 4 times the limit (875ppm to a limit of 250ppm). I called the tuner to see if they had missed something, but his records showed every trim was spot on. So.... I went to an emissions specialist place today and really got schooled on LS1 engines. Turns out that all the stuff I've done to make the engine run cool are really problems. They said to reconnect my MAF water jacket, and to loose my 160 degree t-stat and put the stock 180 degree unit back in. The engine was flipping between open loop and closed loop operation because it couldn't tell how hot it really was, and open loop equals very rich. They also said my intake air sensor was bad, adding to the temp problem. AND the biggest fubar was that the shop who reflashed my computer last year was supposed to turn the back two O2 sensors off, but they didn't. So now the front sensors are reading at one end of the scale, and the rears are at the other extreme because there's nothing plugged in to them. Again the computer is confused on what to do, so it dumps in more fuel. Oh, and the two O2 sensors that are on the car are slow responding and should be replaced. So now I need an IAT sensor, new O2's and simms. Another $500 or so to piss away. I sure hope all this works, cause I'm about out of options and patience (not to mention money!)....

I'm running 275's on 9-1/2 rims in back and have been thinking of dropping to 255's because of clearance problems, but I don't want to loose the traction. I have Nitto drag radials on my Camaro and they hook better so I'll probably go to those at the next tire change. I wish I could find some 275-35 tires. All my problems would be solved. Horsepower is still a pretty nice problem to have though!

Never did figure this out, so instead I moved the perch rings up an inch, so the sleeve is right to the top of the strut tube, and started adjusting again. I seem to have found the spot where the body lifts, but it takes some muscle on the spanner to turn the adjusting ring. Now there's no more rubbing and the ride is still ok, bit it took 4 or 5 adjustments to get it to where it is.

My thinking was that to get more disengagement of the clutch, I'd need the slave to extend farther to push the clutch fingers sooner. The instructions that came with the new clutch said that to gain pedal travel, shim the slave cylinder, but there's no way I was going to pull the trans, and exhaust, and console, etc, to fix this. Then I remembered that there's some adjustment on the length of the master cylinder actuator rod on the clevis on the pedal. I hate to admit this, but when I got down there to see how much the rod could be adjusted, I found that the carpet had shifted and wadded up between the clutch pedal and the floor. Problem solved. (Just one of the bugs on a new car.) So, bottom line is that a 1" master seems to be ok...

Got the car Dyno Tuned at Extreme Motorsports in Tempe yesterday and found out why it had failed smog. It appears that every adjustable setting was way off. First pull showed only 275ish hp, but he had shut it down early. The maf was all gummed up (along with my shorts at that point!), so after cleaning the maf the next pull was in the 330 range, and the final numbers are 347hp, 344tq. I was hoping for more, but the numbers are what they are. I guess that for just a hotcam and headers that's a reasonable increase over stock. I'm glad I hadn't been out hammering on it before the tune because the air/fuels were like 16:1 above 3k rpm. BUT, there was some hammering later last night and it appears than tire spin is going to be a problem, he said with a big grin on his face. So now I'm wondering how you 400+ hp guys even drive your cars. I have 275's on the back of mine, and it spun those up just punching the gas in second and spun them with no problem in third. It seems that adding another 50+ hp would be like driving a 280 death wish. Now I can look forward to getting to the track to see what sort of times it can do. Gotta get there while it's still cool out...

I have a Tilton 1" master but am thinking about going to a larger size. Right now the clutch grabs right off the floor. I had the flywheel resurfaced when the trans was put on, and added a 1/16" shim behind the slave to compensate, but I don't like the result. Maybe a larger master will push just enough more fluid to move the pedal travel up a little. I think there are previous posts about what size master others are using...

Yup, I have two sheets left. Each one is about 3' x 4', so there's plenty to do the rear of a car.