Gollum

Remove weight? That'll improve MPG, accelleration, braking, and handeling. Although I don't know what you could remove... I agree though that suspension is very important, but at the same time I realise that the older Z cars are dogs compared to even some of the slowest production cars nowdays. Sure they can turn, but even "sporty" cars compare in the speed department with ease, until turns come up, wich is where modern car's weight will drag them down. I think you should just save the $500. Maybe get some basic bushings replaced becuase they tend to die down a bit after decades on end. Then I'd say save up for some motor plans. If it'll be your only car then best to go with something that's been pretty well documented. If you had all your ducks lined up in a row I bet you could knock out a 350 SBC out pretty quick. But I personally don't have any eperience with those swaps, I'm just trying to be helpful here.

I saw a shelby GT-H today, YAY first siting. Kinda makes me giddy, even though overal I wasn't very pleased with the result of the SVT/shelby colaboration for the GT500. And the proof of airline ticket is only certain hertz locations, primarly the ones close to airports. Hertz usually carries some high end vehicles like jags and such that are primarely used for entertainment purposes, and they know that. So between me and my bro ganging up on dad we're gonna try to get some money together to rent one for a day. He has a long standing hertz relationship with permier membership (whatever they call it I forget) so maybe that'll count for something. But yea, many places are charging around $150-180 per day for the GT-H and that seems like a good deal to me since a pair of nice tires will run for over $500.

Aww, I wish I'd known about the event. Although I don't think i'd been able to make it anyways, i'd just driven in from monterey at 2am the night before. Plus my ZX is out of commission. Well glad to see you're sirring up the crowd larry. Larry was a bit modest to me about the paint when I met him, but don't let that kid you, it's one nice looking ride, really stands out and for good reason

Hmm, i'm not finding any info on NA 20B motors, so you're probly right veritech. The funny thing is that I've seen a NA 20B in person and it seemed to have an OEM intake manifold so I kinda wonder about that car now... Well, so they might not have had an NA 3 rotor in produciton, but there was the 757 3 rotor and the 787 4 rotor race cars that were NA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_757

Some are, but some are NA. But they're all JDM, so if smog is an issue you won't be using a cosmo anytime soon at any rate. I think it was the older cosmos that were NA. I'll do some research because I know there were turbo ones, but I don't know the specifics.

One word: Search If there's a swap done, or to be done, this site will have info on it. Just don't expect for it to be spoon fed. http://forums.hybridz.org/search.php?searchid=516552 Auxilary is the man in the know on rotary motors in a Z. Personally I'd say if you're happy with 250 or so HP go with a renesis and keep it NA, it will save you alot of headache of turbo fitment. It would also reduce the already low weight. EDIT: Also, if you wanted good NA hp from a rotay the cosmo 3 rotor motor. If 2 rotors are good, then 3 must be even better.

well there's already a land speed racer based on the merkur XR4-Ti but I don't know if I could find a link for it again. They were using the stock motor (wich tons of modifications of course) with the volvo head. If it shares the fox platform then it should be nice and "rigid" Well, I hope the project goes well. Good luck.

No, the SVT focus didn't come with nitrous. It had a slight engine tune and a suspension overhaul that was actually well done for a FF vehicle. There wasn't anything very spectacular about the SVT focus, as comparing a SVT mustang to a regular GT. Now, I saw slight engine tune but output was increased from 130 to 170, but lets face it, that's still nothing special. 0-60 was rated at 7.3... yay The focus has sold very well in europe and ford recently came out with a new chassis version of the car, and it's not making it's way to the USA, so instead it's only reciving slight modifications to modernise the look and will be put on store shelves and probly continue it's lackluster US sales. There are also rumors that SVT is dead, but although there isn't much proof they'll be producing anything soon they're obviously the ones who built the GT500 if you've been following that development. In my opinion the SVT focus was a faliure, becuase it didn't capture the import market and most of the people that bought them were muscle guys that wanted a daily driver or other american purists that wanted a weekend autox car.

Yea, that's an odd loophole ak-z, and yes i've heard of it before, AND even seen cases of it being done. But it's still funny buisness, since there isn't any way for the current swap system to incorperate legalised imported motors. That hole loophole is even more iffy then the whole fuel rail issue i mentioned before. An RB25 "could" pass smog, with ease I bet as long as it had a cat on it. If you had someone willing to pass you on visual and was a reliable hookup, i'd say the RB25 would be a good swap option. BUT, if that's not the case it's way too much headache to possibly be worth it.

The right intercooler? That's like saying "wich gun is the right one?" well do you want to shoot a plate from a mile away or shoot a rapist from 50 feet away? Handgun vs. Rifle. Same job in theory, but totally different application. A smaller intercooler should work as long as your turbo is working well within it's efficiancy range, run it hard and temps go up quick, and you'll need more cooling capability. But run a large intercooler and it won't cool substatially more, and just create more lag. It's a simple concept - by the time the air in the intercooler gets down to 100-140 degrees the ambient air won't be substantially cooler thus the effect of the intercooler is lost. Basically the right intercooler will probly only have temps a few degrees warmer than an oversized intercooler but the larger intercooler will create noticable lag vs the smaller one and the temp difference between the two will be MUCH less noticable. So there's a lesson in basic intercooling thermodynamics.

Well, being one who's spent alot of time around smog and researching it maybe I can help you out a bit here. 1st off, turbos are one of the greatest things for smog. They give you lots of power potential while still being able to pass the test. The main concern is visual. You'll want a boost controller of some sort, so you can turn the boost down for the test periods, but a boost controller isn't legal, and will need to be hidden well. An intercooler although obvious doesn't get caught by MANY stations becuase many turbo cars come with intercoolers anyways. The things you need to watch out for is obviously aftermarket manifolds, chrome IC piping and things of that flashy nature. If things LOOK stock then they can get passed off by many techs. Aftermarket ECU's are illegal, but unless they're pulling off your interior panels they'll never notice (although a smog ref will want to see it if you get the swap legalised, so best to legalise a swap with a bone stock motor that's running well). Larger injectors are illegal, but usually unoticable. A rising rate fuel pressure regulator is illegal, and infact anything other than OEM is illegal, but would have to be noticed (many cops know this and look for the adjustable kind since they're obviously aftermarket). Fuel rails.... are questionable. There's even disagreement among state refs if they're legal or not, since it's not specified in any law. But in theory it won't increase fuel flow unless the injectors are changes, so why should it be illegal? It all depends on who you talk to. Sure this all sounds like one large can of worms, but think about it - you can have 400hp at 20+psi but still pass becuase you can back it down to 10 psi for smogging it. You can't make a 100% hp gain in a V8 and still pass (depending on motor, and depending on avenue of upgrades). BUT jon makes a good point. Many legal V8 swaps could be done that would reach your HP goals. Ford 5.0 will reach 400hp with legal superchargers (serious EFI work needs to be done to reach good mpg in most cases. apparently the stock ECU is very tunable though) Chevy 350 - came in a slew of cars. Only issue is that it'll need to be EFI, and you'll need 100% of the emission equipment LS1 - umm, need I say more. Might be the same cost as a 300hp L28 or 400hp L28ET, and comes with some serious bang stock, plus lots of 50 state legal parts LS2 - better than LS1 in some ways, as it comes with more power, but of course costs more 1UZFE - 4.0L lexus V8. Comes with 250hp, and stock heads will flow to about 400hp without really pushing them beyond efficiancy. Basicaly requires lots of fuel mods and possible higher compression pistons to reach your goals. Should hit 300hp with basic intake/exhaust/fuel upgrades. Stock motor is quite restricted. KA24DE - Very low power overall, but lots of parts availible for it. I'm not particularly fond of it, but it's a good overal motor. Does alot of things decently, nothing really stands out about it. Virtually any motor newer than 78. As long as you have all the emission equipment you're good to go. I'd recomend looking for a donor car with a good motor choice. Maybe it's been in an accident and was rear ended. Perfect, beucase it'll have everything you need engine wise (except maybe gastank) but will be affordable. Also, it has to be EFI, since your car is already EFI, CA considers going carborated an "omision of currect emissio device(s)" therefor it's illegal. Hope all this helps.

^ USA bound mark 3 to be precise. Very plentiful cars. You can find a mark 3 turbo in GOOD shape for under 3k around here in CA. I'd imagine it should be hard finding a roller with a decent motor for under 1k to serve as a donor car.

Well the EVO VIII came with an upgrade option to get output to 400HP. Not too shabby. And i'm sure we've all seen plenty of videos of 800hp EVOs online and now there are a couple of companies putting over 900HP to the WHEELS in EVOs. Some 2.0l some 2.2l. And cosworth is making aftermarket heads for the EVO, weather or not all the big HP EVOs are using this head I don't know. And yes the S2k comes with 240hp, but lets not forget the 2.0L is now a 2.2 and the 2.0 was only in produciton a couple of years before raising the displacement due to so many bad reviews about tourque. If you wanna complain about tourque figures go elsewhere, it's basic math. HP = Tourque * RPM. If the S2k can preduce 100hp per liter then it ovbiously has tourque, just not where people want it. The s2k actually prduces alot of tourque in the higher RPM, but by the time you reach those RPM's while driving you'e not going to feel this huge push of power, duh. It's just different, and many people don't like it. That's fine, just don't say it sucks (not saying anyone here has, i'm just saying) Back on topic: Than motor looks so great in that engine bay. I can't wait to see some vids of it running.

BMW motors ain't cheep. And ok, so they made it to 700whp and then had internal issues and found the limit. Personally, that means i'd never push the motor to 600 hp on stock internals, for reliability reasons. Just becuase you can make a certain HP out of a motor or get to a certain RPM doesn't mean it's reliable for every day driving. A 2jZ can reach 700 reliably and even 600 on CA crappy pump gas and drive every day without having to tear down the motor all the time. No THAT'S reliability. There are also other things that matter other than just main bearing count, such as how the bearings are bolted in. How many bolts there are, what size/diameter the bolts are, ect. Then for stock setups you also have to look at the piston/rod/ring strength to really see what kind of power you can make. Just becuase a block's setup might have high potential doesn't mean the internals do. But why am I even talking about all this? Does it really matter? Not to me, that's for sure. I don't plan on putting anything over 500 to the ground anytime soon in any motor, so I guess I should just butt out.

personally i'm of the opinion that ANY car can be drifted. Now, sure not all cars drift equally it just means certain cars and setups require thier own style of drift and driving. But i'm VERY curious to see what you're running for a setup and I REALLY want to see more pics. Personally i've stuck to wet drifting thus far in my ZX. I plan to attend a drift day event sometime in the future once I've got a stable reliable car and some extra money for plenty of tires

I agree mike, and it wasn't until jim's later posts I reconised he was more concerned with opinion than juidicial fact. I'm not going to agrue, beucase I agree with his opinion to a point as well. To me it's all a matter of the attitude of local cops and how long you wanna dodge them. Now to rudypoochris- I personally think you should just go with the EFI. Reasons being: 1) Better gas milage that's better regulated 2) Just as much power potential (or close enough to the same) with greater accuracy in multiple weather conditions. 3) More reliable. People who whant to argue otherwise are probly the same people that keep tools with them to fix "not-a-issue" problems while they're on the road. 4) Cleaner burning. Honestly, if I lived out in the middle of nowhere I wouldn't care as much, but It always comes back to this... Drive-thu's. Sitting there for 5-10 minutes even an EFI car without cats running rich starts to smell like crap, makes you dizzy, ect. A clean smelling vehicle is always nice for anytime you spend time around your vehicle idling away. And I wouldn't worry about the year difference between the block and the EFI. You'd be hard pressed to find a smog ref to prove otherwise. Just say it's the year that the EFI came from. Everything else should be ok. Things they'll check: PCV, EGR, EVAP, and cats. They might also get picky about your gas tank. You'll need to find out if that year of mustang had any type of emission reducing tank. But I'd personally worry about that later. There's lots of SBC S30 cars in the bay area that get away with it (for the most part) so an EFI 5.0 should be even lower under the radar.

Yea, the hard part would be finding one of the turbo motors. I found the same link when I searched so I read everything I could find on that site. They seems to know a thing or two It sounds like a cool swap, other than it seems they're kinda limited. But I can still be happy with 300hp

I believe the term "gross polluter" is something like 5x over max on anything (wich can happen easily if your air/fuel is off enough). Sorry I misread that you meant 'gross polluters'. I figured you'd know better No harm no foul.

Not in CA. I've had many cars fail a test with no issue afterwards. Also bends1088: Although this is the rule of thumb many smog techs use, they'll have thier license permanently removed for purposly passing ANY aftermarket part without a carb nubmer. Trust me, headers are supposed to have carb numbers for CA, just go look at summit and you'll find that all the CARB legal headers have CARB numbers. I'm not saying your wrong, becuase like I said many smog techs will let it go and just see if it passes. I'm just stating what the law is so that people don't get confused and think thier parts are actually legal.

Hmm, but what car's did the 22R come in turbo'ed? It's a ZX yes, but the biggest hinderence to working on the engine is the hood. I can pull the hood and bumped under 2 minutes. I've gotten pretty good at it. The reason I mention straight edge is that a ruler can be out of square as well. If you want to check if it's REALLY level a straight edge is the best tool to use. (although you can also put the head on and use a feeler quage to check for low/high spots as well.

Don't forget you'll also be removing a bit of weight from the mufflers (since they'll just be open) And if it does add any weight it'll be in back so it might help the distrobution .05% Around here loud cars get pulled over alot, so i like to keep my cars as close to stock sounding as possible.

A pre muffle will make it quieter yes. And there isn't anything illegal that you can do to exhaust (from the header/manifold back) except exceed the dB limit. (make it too loud) I'd say just look for a place that's either pass or don't pay, or a place that has a 50% or better discount if you fail and then come back. Don't put yourself in a position to possibly pay full price twice. (anything under $40 is a good deal here)

I had an overflow tank hooked up. There's a possability maybe the cap in it was leaking. I can't be sre a head at my yard will be closer to $100, and i'm worried the block deck would still be warped. Maybe I can find someone with a straight edge near me (i might even know someone with one, i just have to go through the process of talking to all the people I know) If I do pull a head, it'll be a P79 for sure, and off a car is major body damage that lookls as though it was in an accident. That will be the only way to have a good chance at hoping the motor was in good shape. So, head replacement process: TDC the motor Drain Oil & Coolant Remove spark wires and plugs Remove air box Unbold exhaust manifold Pull off the intake & exhaust manifold and unplug any wires holding it on Pull the tensioner pull Pull the power steering Take of valve cover Unbolt Head Check cam timing on new head (should I get a new timing chain for safety?) Clean surfaces with razor and the fine sand to pull any other crap off Spray gasket Install head Recheck cam timing Install timing chain put back together Did I miss anything? Maybe I should polish the ports while I'm at it I never really reved my old motor past 6k. I wonder if I should do anything to increase high RPM performance. Personally, if I can change the head under $150 I'll consider it.

ummm... why would there be extea weight? Cats aren't light and the key word in hollow mufflers is hollow. Sure they'd be heavier than just piping, but your car as mufflers on it now right?

well, it's almost guarenteed. Your gasket don't blow/leak like that unless you're absolutely reeming the engine or if the head and block are starting to warp against eachother.