Gollum

Am I wrong? The SS & WS6 are american. The weight of the R43 is close to the weight of a STI and/or EVO wich are 4 doors that also have AWD systems... EDIT: The 3000GT AWD is also heavy though.

Ouch, I think that had my name all over it... I'll admit, I have a hard time holding back knowledge on sunjects and asking questions. I'll also admit, that I'm young. But I won't say i'm ingorant or an idiot. I'm always trying to lear something new. I've been working on cars for 10 years now, and the first car I ever worked on was a 10 second del sol, so I don't consider myself a mechanical idiot. I helped rebuild that motor every weekend before going to the track. So, can I make a deal admins? I'll try to post less, and if I make a post in a technical section that seems pointless PM me ok? I won't be offended. But I'd like to be told when I'm approching that line not to be crossed. I've been registred over a year and still consider myself a noob here. That's not to say I don't feel welcome, but rather everyone else here seems to know so much more and have been here so much longer. Sorry for the off topic post. Back on topic. I agree that many accidents could be avoided if people were paying attention. Me and my brother always talk about "idiot #1" and how idiot #1 always gets away. It's idiot #2 and inocent #3 that are always in the ones exchanging inssurance information.

If you look at a skyline engine bay, the motor sits foward in there as well. The problem is the Z has such a long nose and the front wheels are so far out. Skylines have thier front wheels far back compared to a Z. http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/articles/i14/1411_4mg.jpg see, even in skylines the motor isn't very far back. But i'm not a guru on the subject, so maybe you could suspension tune it to handle even with the massive front weight bias. my main concern is that a skyline is so heavy to begin with. Gotta be close to the heaviest 2 door in japan's history.

It didn't go over any edge. It when about the distance of a house into a tree. If the tree hadn't of been there it would have ended up in a house. I can assure you it was in gear though. It stayed there for 30 minutes with a faulty ebrake that wasn't enguaging before it popped out of gear. You could say it was my fault because I didn't check if the ebrake was working before I started driving the car (only had the car about a month before this incident). I've got the newspaper clipping too. Gotta love benicia. It states something like "unmaned car rolls down hill into a tree. The tree was ok." When I saw it I was like "how can they care more about the tree than my car?!" But that's bay area for ya. All in all it wasn't that bad of damage. I hammered the wheel well out and drove it for another 6 months almost. I'd bought my black ZX for $500 about a month after the tree incident, but didn't have time or cushion money to start getting it in running condition. In the end I blame my ignorrance, but I can't say much would have changed the situation. Even if I had known the ebrake wasn't working I wouldn't of had the money to fix it. Only thing that might have been different is I might have parked a block down the hill on flat ground.

All of what muspuppis said is true, sorry if I made it sound easy. But it's still relatively cheep. You should be able to do it for around 3k methinks. The upper intake as mus stated, is pretty good. Even the afterket ones are darn close to what the stock ones are. If you really wanted to you could get fancy and cut the manifold in half, port it, then reweld it. But it should be fine. Even in the article I posted, some mild lower intake porting was done. I agree that some major porting would be recomended for 400HP aplication. I'm still not positive either way weather or not you'll need a larger TB, but if muspuppis thinks you will i'm not going to disagree with him. One thing I didn't list was pushrods, those you'll want to change out. But what are we looking at? Full head build up, cam, exhast & intake upgrades, and some mild work to the FI system. But you don't have to go outragously expensive on any of it for 400HP. I think the heads will be the largest investment, and they'll flow fine well into your needs and them some.

DANG. Time to do some research on TZ flares... That's gonna be sexy. I really like the lines of the wheel arch over stock. Much more circular and looks to encirlce more of the tire. Very nice. Looks really well done too. Can't wait to see it painted. This might seem odd, but seeing the first side shot, I for the first time envisioned a S30 coupe... Man, the places my mind goes sometimes. At the very least thanks for that mental image.

Hey, thought you might like this article guys (24 oz & rudypoochris) http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2003/06/afrinstall/ Good article on a shop doing an install of the AFR emissions legal 165 heads. They're in CA so i wouldn't be surprised if they had the CATs on, and the cobras had 4 cats. They list the differences between the regular HO motors and the GT40 motor in the cobras. But in light of this article (that i read forever ago and forgot about till now) I'd say the AFR 185 heads with aftermarket rockers, ford racing E303 camshaft (CARB legal), aftermarket FPR (illegal, have to hide it), and aftermarket headers you should be close to your 400 mark. If you aren't at that point you might need to start upgrading the intake (upper, lower, TB). I'm almost positive the EFI system will be fine, if it isn't just upgrade the injectors and voila. Just make sure your O2 sensor is good so you don't detonate during part and off throttle. Spend the money to take it to the dyno once it's done. Hope this help some.

Ahem, car WAS in gear. And my wheels WERE turned. There wasn't a curb to stop it though... I never said I didn't have alot to learn

Why? Did that happen to tim?

That would give you a shot to get to 300HP on the stock turbo as well Need a driver to get you into the low 12's? (my only reason I could recomend myself is weight, i'm not gonna call myself a better driver )

Not if you're the only one on it... ...aparentlly this guy didn't think about that.

Hmm... I totaled 3 cars my first year, but I have a 100% clean record 1. Driver at fault didn't stop, cascade effect. I was labeled 20% at fault in the report (I was also told most of that was due to age) 2. Rear ended Hit and Run. Chaced the guy down and he's in jail now, for DUI and many other offences commited that day. 3. Car rolled down a hill unmaned... Not REALLY my fault. E-brake was fault and it popped out of gear on a hill with no curbs ;( That's the brown/gold ZX in my sig. Parents thought there was a consipiracy... I don't think more driving school time would have helped me, but I definatelly would have driven differently those first couple of months. I had a few of "scary moments" not watching my mirrors enough and letting people into my blind spots. Those are BAD. I'm lucky I actually learned to look before changing lanes though (unlike many people on the road).

What about that new speed glass stuff? I keep hearing about it but havn't seen it yet.

Yea... well.... ... .... ... ...do you see that view in my sig? I see that and better every day... ...that's about all I got man. I'm outta ideas...

You live in the bay area... I'd say a 90% chance. And they'll use any excuse. Expecially becuase of your age, not joking. I assumed your 88' motor was from a stang, but if that's not true there are other things to consider. The stang motor is much easier to start with. Rudypoochris, you're set then if you ever do need to bring your car to the ref. The 351 motors were availble till 75'. So just say it's a 72' 351 cobra jet motor. There isn't much to worry about. They didn't come with cats so no worries there. Just make sure you have a VERY low cfm carb to make sure to pass smog. Should be cheep if you do end up needing one in the future. We can talk more about it later when you get closer to complete 8) Now, I still have yet to ever hear about a cop that got on the ground to check for a cat. And I've known TONS of people who have been pulled over several times and told to pop thier hood. When they can't get you on anything though, they'll very often sucumb to things like "bald tires" that are practically new, forcing you to get it signed off by another officer yada yada yada, front license plate bull, they'll find SOMETHING to write you up on most the time. How to avoid these things? Look as stock as possible. No big muffler tips. It's better to run straight pipes than have a huge muffler tips. Just try to make the car look clean and unmodified. That's one reason I really like the ZG flares, they almost look stock on the car. Now, I'm all for a car that looks really awsome, i'm just saying the more you bring attention to your car you'd better be ready to BS with cops. Example, my friend with a legal CRX jspec B16 has gotten pulled over more times that I can count. How many fixit tickets has he actually paid for? 2. How many has he gotten off of? More than 10 in 3 years. Why? Becuase it's yellow and has a huge crome muffler hanging lower than the gas tank. Is it loud? No, not by the local standards. Is it obviously not stock? Yes. I don't know anyone who gets pulled over more often than him. He doesn't have a single point on his lisence, to attest to the fact that he doesn't actually ever get tickets. It's always listed as a "suspicious pull over". That's the BS i'm talking about. This is the only reason I'd recomend going to a ref to get a swap legalised.

I'm pretty sure you're correct. But the way the law is written they encourage you to see the ref. But I'll guarentee thatif a cop pulls you over, and he wants to be a jerk, he can send you to the ref if you don't have a swap plate. I've even had a ref tell me to "just drive the car and try to get away with it. Worry about it AFTER you get pulled over." Nice ref eh? I'd just keep all the emissions stuff to be safe. If you do get told to go to the ref, just put the motor back to stock and then get it legalised. Now, if you want to REALLy get tricky, you can try to pass it off as an old 351 motor. They're VERY similar blocks and with some cobra labeld valve covers you might be able to do it. In 72 ford ofered two 351 motors, one a CJ spec and one was a HO motor, but it was basically a low compression boss 351 motor. Most refs won't be able to tell the difference. But you have to make sure you say it's from a car "the same year or newer" for it to be legal. But doing this would allow you much more modification within what any cop could visibly detect. They'll see "72 351 Mustang" and only be able point fingers in very few locations. That's when the lovelly inocent grin kicks in and you get to have fun with a cop, as opposed to the other way around. EDIT: What year is your car rudypoochris?

So you cut the 4 speed just to put the shifter in the correct locaiton in relation to the diver correct? If I understand you right... 4 speed shifter _0 _| -/ |< cut here? o | o (had to use spaces to make the kink work...) If I understand you correctly you cut just above the pivot? Is the 4 speed too long? Why not just cut and weld the 4 speed shifter? I'm really thinking about doing this. It would probly be much cheeper than buying a shifter. So how much does it reduce the throw?

Any swap IS legal, as long as the motor is legal. If you go thowing on totally illegal heads and then go to the ref they'll send you home and say you can't drive your car till it's fixed. With any motor swap legalisation you have to pass a visual test and then the emission tests. On 75 and old vehicles this is a one time even. After that you're golden.

Oh, and the 205 would be perfectly streetable with a mild enoug cam. lets compare some things. Now, the 205 with .300 lift would me more streetable than the 185 with .400 lift. Stick with a mild cam to get your power and you'll be fine. See though why i'd say go with the 205? It has much more potential at high lift.

Yes, it's a S30. If insurance is an issue, leave it be a L6 on record then. I'd opt for the emission legal 185 heads then, so in the future if you get pulled over you can legalise the swap. I'm 18 and my insurance is cheep. Cheeper than some of the girls I know (1 point can make a big difference). My brother had a 93' cobra at 21 and was paying around $200-250 a month for insurance. He took out a loan for it so that was full coverage. He was quoted $550 a month from the same company when he was looking at the mustang bullett when they came out. Year usually makes more of a difference than actualy car specification. You could always get a quote from your insurance. The DMV also won't say anything about smog. BUT if you take a car with a motor swap to the ref they can make sure everything is legal (stock from the car it came from) and put a plate in your engine bay saing you have a 87-93 mustang motor. So NO (big point here) CHP, city police, OR sheriff could send you to the ref unless it looks like you have illegal mods on the motor you've got in there. If you don't have that plate in there to begin with, ANY cop could pull you over and force you to go to the ref, and if anything isn't legal on the motor you'll have to change it. BIG problem and BIG hassle. Hope this helped.

I wouldn't put FG or CF doors on my car unless it had a FULL cage with good side protection. CF might be strong, but it's easy to penetrate, wich is why it won't pass DOT certification.

Is this going into a presmog vehicle? If so, get the motor into the car THEN deal with getting an engine label put in from the ref, THEN you can get the AFR's with BIG ports. Totally illegal if you put them on before hand and then had to go to the ref later. In my proposed idea you wouldn't have to worry about cops giving you a bad time, since it's legal. They won't be able to tell you've got aftermarket heads, so they can't send you to the ref. There isn't a HUGE difference in price between thier emissions legal 165 & 185 heads and thier VERY not street legal 205 & 225 heads. I also agree with the fact that a supercharger would be as much if not more expensive than going NA. Being a competative option it would have to be used. But as you said, it has to be NA. Just the AFR 165 heads and a medium cam could get you what you want though. I'd just recomend going with the 205 race heads becuase it would have lots more potential for the future. I agree with what was said about fast, reliable, cheep. But I thing 400hp is conservative for a 5.0 motor. So if I was to rate a build like this, I'd say it'll be 5 out 10 for fast, 7 of of 10 for reliable, and 8 out of 10 for cheep. If you can only have 2, then that would be 20 possible points on my system I just wrote down. Notice my quote equals 20. I think 400 HP is a very good number to go for in a 5.0 without breaking the bank. Where do you live? I'm in the bay area too and could explain more smog laws if you wish.

Ditto that. I might do that for my 81' ZX. I think it should work as it's that style of shifter. It's just a rod with a ball at one end and a hole in the middle for mounting it.