Gollum

unless you just so happen to have a couple of those lying aroung.... By any unit of measurement he's a real oddball... we should get him on our forums!

Hmm, I don't know much from the tech side of it, so I won't comment on that. But people that do circut/drift racing don't think much of a miata's turning capability, but you also have to think about the fact that miata is so popular because it's "fun" to drive. Personally I believe a well built street/circut car needs to have a balance of these two ingrediants. The one thing to think about is how much that rear end could hold. I wonder what people who make monster miatas do with the back end of things.

Is there all that wrong with a 4 speed? IF (Big if) you have the horsepower to drive it, it can be quite nice. A friend with a 1000+hp stang runs a 2 speed on his 67'. Pretty crazy. One speed for town, and one for highway, and 2 for going down the track. I'd imagine that with a good rear end set up with lots of low end tourque a 4 speed would be fine. But now we're talking about HP numbers that would destroy these stock trannies... Personally, i've never had the honor of seeing a 5 speed Z. But I love my 5 speed ZX

So why does the stock oil system not work for the RB26DETT in a Z? Due to steering rack clearance issues? Do you think the mods you made (talking to stony) would make the engine more suseptable to drying up during hard accelleration and braking? It might not be an issue until you start hitting barelly streetable numbers though. I plan to go with a RB26DETT for my future project purelly for the wow factor. To do a 2jz would be almost as much, and your initial motor can be hard to find. Most wreaked supras around have already had the motor taken and such. There are less than 12k supras in the USA... that's not many to jump on. I have a huge smile on my face though thanks to the new lexus IS300 having the 2jz non turbo. The more blocks the merrier. V8s are cool (i'm a huge muscle car fan. favorite car always having been the A/C cobra) but the sound of a V8 coming from a Z just doesn't seem right for a road racing car (like i'm going for) and if just seems right to stay with nissan. Love all the work you've done stony in keeping it all documented. Job well done m/ o.o m/

wow, sounds like you got all the help you'll need... aren't web forums great? I hope there are plenty of people around to help me once I get around to my project.

if only i had a P90 head.... I could convert over to a turbo L28... that would be nice... too bad though. Words of encouragement: I couldn't do that stuff man... nice work.

well, the grinding isn't that bad. If I don't shift hard (like downshifting into 2nd at 40mph) that it's fine. No grind. The engine is only 28k miles, but I think the tranny might have been swapped from an older engine, seeing as the guy I bought it from had another project Z who lied about what what missing from the car. With the state they left the car in i'm possitive they didn't change the motor, not a single thing they took off they did well. Like the overflow tank being taken out and not a single hose plugged, or the steering wheel taken apart and with nothing missing... like they took it apart for jollies. I got the feeling that if the motor had been swapped none of the guages would work from lack of electrical fallow through. That being said the only explaination to the tranny grinding is VERY exessive misuse for what few miles there are, or they swapped it out to use the practically new one. Are there ANY other explainations? Low tranny fluid? This car had been sitting from QUITE some time. I don't know what that could do to a tranny. It's not a BIG problem, but something that i'll want to fix if i'm to invest much money into this motor.

ok, yea now that I think about it they where nylon. They're just the little bushings that mount the shifter into place. By twisting i mean one you were in say, first, the shifter could rotate about 20 degrees each direction. This was due to lack of the nylon bushings. So, is this problem fixible? Or do I basically have to either replace the tranny and/or rebuild it?

Ok... this is kinda weird, and for a long time I was like "ask the guys at hybridz, they'll know" and so finally i'm getting around to it. My first ZX (80) liked to grind going into 2nd. Either when I was accelerating hard and was shifting above about 3k or so and when using 2nd you deccelerate hard coming from like anything above 2500 in 3rd. Now the shifter from my new ZX (81) was twisting due to lack of rubber where the shifter mounts. So I took the shifter from my 80' and it does the same thing. Now, i switched it over before I had my exhast done so the revs never really went above 2k (open headers) so I don't know if the old shifter did this or not. I should have kept them both around. So, is this common in ZX cars? Or do I have a lemon of a shifter? If would give me an excuse to get a short shifter, but if it's not going to fix it than that's a waste of 70 bucks for me right now since money is tight. Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

true, this is kinda a dead horse since nobody is gonna do it. Personally, i'll leave MR cars to comapanies to engineer.

i'd like to see an F1 car drift a 20mph turn. Cuz they don't. They slow down to minimal speeds and bank on grip on the exit. A good street/track car could drift through the same turn at around the same speed and have better exit line to use the track more. Although this eats up tires, it's the optimal line, and the only way to hit it. American driving (i think) is too focused on endurance. I'd like to see american races be brought down to (on average) 30 minutes max. This would really make the cars go all out. We would see faster lap times and more fierce competition. Another thing to remember is that F1 cars ARE the turning machine. They actually don't have many course top speeds, but have best lap times everywhere for thier ability to hit the apex and stay there as directed. Peronally, i think some people are too focused on making a fast car. What many people don't realise is that a truly fast car isn't fun to drive. In other words, the best setup isn't fun. But, a true street driven race car will be fun to drive and maintain as much speed as it can muster. This is the reason i'm not really into drag racing. I've been around it all my life and at the end of the day i just simply can't respect them because they're (usually) not all around cars. I want a car that is predictable, gives me great road responce, has good play in the suspension, has high speed stability, and has good all around balance. Now, why do you think the old 80's FR carollas are world known? Because they where a simplistic, fun to drive, well balanced car. With good tuning they're still one of the fastest cars you can get for turning. Now... anyone who's spent way too many hours playing gran turismo, what car do you have the most fun driving? For me it's one of the fallowing. ZZll, Lotus Espirit, Rx7 RZ, WRX (can't remeber model... spec c?), and AE86 trueno. Cars that at first I thought I'd love i actually didn't end up liking. Like the supra.... It's so hard to find a good balance of power, because with too much power the back end floats around too much. It's a very hard car to tune well. The viper is one boat to drive. It's near impossible to turn in unless you have massive brake-oversteer. The cars that really grabbed my attention I usually tried out of boredom, like the Rx7. I had owned one before, but never really got a feel for it. I bought one and set it up with multiple HP options. And I found that I could tune the car with any tires and keep it controlible and fun, even with simulation tires. And there are cars like the AE86. Take one lap on complex steering and the hill turns are SO thrilling. The car slides into the turns as if driving for you. And it's turn in acceleration is so addicting. Now, after having fun with you favorite cars to drive in GT3 go drive a F1 car... was it fun? Personally, I think they're too point shoot based. With thier long narrow stance they rely on early braking and good lead in before throttle. If you have a banked turn lift can cause spin outs, so if you come in too fast it's very hard to adjust. A well balanced street car won't have that problem. A good tune should give the driver a nice cushion. Anyhoo, i'm gonna stop all this nonsence. Most people probly know this stuff.

hmm indeed you're right. But sometimes it's better to buy a cheep(er) tranny every two years than to buy a full on racing tranny that CAN cost well over 10k. A T-56 costs just a little over 2k depending on where you get it and "should" last quiet some time on any track/street car regarless of HP. If you have enough hp to kill a tranny like that your car probly isn't very streetable. And by that time you've probly invested enough money into your car you can afford a bulletproof tranny.

johnc is a wise one indeed. although, it should be noted that for drifting or rally racing weight distrobution is what your car's set up revolves around. You need a good place to start and then make everything else compliment that setup. I agree that a FR set up can be just as fast and even faster than a MR setup. Personally I like the FR setup better because it lends itself to better all around performance. A MR car is really made for one thing, citcut racing. It's ok for drag but you don't have the room for a great drag suspention setup. Top fuel cars layout works because they don't use rear suspension that's funcional. It's all in the tires for them. A FR car cas great low speed turning, awsome street drivability and it's much more novice friendly on the track. The fact that a FR can be as fast as a MR is all the more reason that FR is a powerful setup. Note: MR cars really start to shine in very small compact formats. The MR-S is an awomse car that can take mountain passes like a real champ once fitted with some extra ponies and a good suspention with good play that's not too soft. But, small MR cars like the MR-S don't lend themselves too well to tracks like Fuji (short for full name that escapes me), tracks where high speed cornering is crucial. Now, a large MR car like a ferrari won't handle on tight mountain type hiarpins but it will take a huge fat 4 lane hairpin at 90mph and say "what turn." So you begin to see that charictaristics of a MR car. Not to say they're not any good or such obsticals can't be overcome, it's just that this is the way they start and you have to work from there. Sorry to make such a long and pointless post. But if anyone learns something i'll be more than happy. Hope all goes well thevodka

http://www.download.com/Convert-It/3000-2056_4-10108812.html?tag=lst-0-14 Download that program. It's awsome. For 8 bucks it's worth it to have around. If you can find the older verison it's totally free. 16 gallons is 60.5 liters. Basic run down of what this program can convert... Accleration, angle, area, computer, concentration, custom, density, distance, energy, flow, force, light, mass, power, pressure, speed, temperature, time, tourque, volume, volume-dry. And in every section it's very comprehensive, they have means of measurement i've never heard of. Well, anyways, try it out. (i'm in no way connected to the makers of this program... i've just been using it for free for 5 years... gotta love freeware.)

i think most people would be suprised to find out how much power a mild performance tranny can take. The T-56 is only rated at 440 lb max tourque (summit racing catalog) but it will withstand well over 800hp no sweat. I think companies just like to cover thier bottom end about these things. Rate then low so nobody breaks one and blames you.

well, here's my piece of the weight ditro puzzle. What happens on launch? The weight flies to the back of the car. Cars like nascar that drive oval all day need to achieve as equal tire pressure as possible. By either making springs stronger or messing with tires and what have you. Now, what happens on deceleration? The nose ducks down and the front brakes take most of the load. The more weight you have in back the more stress the brakes have. Weight in the front is better for the brakes. Ok, now tell yourself, "when is it most critical to have equal weight distro?" In the turns. And when in the turns do you want to be as equal as possible? When your foot is on the gas and you're pushing through the turn. If you have equal front/rear weight when you're punching it you'll have as nutral steering as possible and your car will be managable with minimal oversteer and if you're weight is as perfect as it can be there shouldn't be any understeer. It will be a very stable set up. This being said, you'd be suprised how much weight flies to the back during turn aceleration. AND having a heavy front nose helps turn in (even the drift king of japan himself admits this). So now you see why the lancer and the wrx both keep a good bit of weight in the front. Beucase on a heavy turn where countersteer is crucial you need to have an even front/rear weight distrobution. Now, this all also doesn't mean that it will be the fastest set up, because it won't, it just simply will be most stable all around set up. The most important part of this ideal is that you have more weight in the front for braking, wich will save brakes quite a bit. And to conclude all this, I'd like to say that I'm still learning much about these theories and understand how they work in theory. I have to learn much more about how they work in practice to ultimatlly have an idea on my set up. MY wieght distro might end up being more like 51/49 or 52/48, but we'll see. I have some idea to work these things out. ================ Now, about the RB. I simple plan to buy one out of my knowledge of how with the right turbo/head setup they can be one of the most throttle responsive beasts out there. I can't think of an engine that will hit the racing type feel i'm looking for in such low HP numbers. To get a supra motor to have response like that it ends up putting 800hp at the wheels. I don't want that much. Plus being at the track in the USA and having an RB motor.... you're not likely to ever randomlly meet someone with the same motor, let alone in the same car.

well brandon, at least the test is standardized. It's the same company that tested the mclaren. Oh yea, the mclaten has a 650hp V12. It should also be noted that mclaren himself used the ultima kit to test his drivetrain and basically built his chassis around many of the principles that makes the ultima so fast. Not saying that the mclaren is a piece of stolen technology, but rather mclarens ideas didn't come from nowhere. I'm sure the ultima ranks high in his inspiriations.

well, personally I'm very dissapointed in nissan's pick for the new GTR motor. I was REALLY looking foward to nissan coming out with a new version of the RB motor. I wanted it SO bad. When I heard that nissan was going to produce the skyline in the US i was like "THANK YOU GOD!' and then I found out it was going to be a V6.... It was a very similar emotion as when I found out the new supra was gonna be a v8. But i'm still jazzed about the altezza engine so that keeps toyota in my happy boat.

Ok, so I was thinking about a 13B-REW conversion but i'm having second thoughts.... Do you guys know how much gas those things hog? I was gonna keep my eye out for a JDM 13B-REW front clip and (there is actually one for sale right now but no cash) I found out they're factory rated at 15mpg hwy and 11mpg city with 280HP. And rx7 people say that if you put your foot into it you can kiss your gas goodbye.... So yea... I want to "enjoy" having a 20gal tank... I was thinking... and then thinking... and then thinking some more... and ah.... here it is.... ...My ZX will NEVER get a MOTOR SWAP. I'm gonna wait till i'm outta trade school and have a job hopefully as a network admin and once I have a place to work i'm gonna start looking out for a pre76 Z. Totally gut it, build up a total tube chassis for the car and gut anything and everything. Get my center of gravity as LOW as I can and REALLY build this thing to race. I plan to put a RB26DET into it with taget HP around 400 no more than 500 to the wheels. I want to have a STONG reving set up and i'm currentlly looking at severaly setups that popular shops in japan are running. I want to build this car for the track only but until I have a trailer and such it would have to drive itself to the track for test runs and such. Just gotta keep it slow and pray no cops feel like being asses. Does anyone have any opinions or suggestions on a better motor for a good power/weight ratio for a Z? Problem I've been finding is that either the motor i'm looking at is A) too big not enough weight for my target 53/47 F/R weight distro C) Not enough reliable HP potencial D) Too expensive. I hope to have around 20k saved up before I start this project. I'll have a sperate pot set aside for the car itself. The 20k has to cover all parts and work i'll need to have done. I hope to do most of the work myself and/or help from friends. There should be very little I'll need from an outside shop. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is someone who does driveshaft shortening but i'll just end up buying a custom length aluminum anyways. Anyways, i'll shut up now. I'm rambling like I always manage to do. PS (i had to) a factory five project might get priority before this one, so i might end up with even MORE money for this project (as long as the FFR holds my addiction for some time)

Well, umm when I called my local honda dealer and said I wanted to know how much an s2k replacment motor would cost it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5k not including wiring harness, intake, exhast, basically just a long block. Now, although expensive they have lots of potencial that people take for granted. It already has HIGH compression, but yet a mild boost from a supercharger can manage california emission test. NO OTHER car has hit compression like that under the knife of california smog. If you lowered the compression and got about 16lbs of boost from a supercharger that thing would give more than 400hp with ease (based on my experience with honda engines, i've co built 2 10 sec hondas and currentlly working on a 12 sec daily driver crx). Now, add the fact that honda's VVT system is WAY better than anyone else's and you have a motor fit for a king. Almost any review of the s2k will talk about how under 6k the motor feels lifeless and like an every day honda, but between 6k and 9k it's like having your own F1 car. This is perfect for a street driven car. It's easily managable in the rain and get great gas mileage around town and when called for it revs like a beast. Oh yea, and its light, just like all honda motors. (honda 4 bangers that is....) Well, yea... It's expensive. honda parts are expensive. Brand new machined heads for a B16 cost over 2k. Used type r motors cost an arm and a leg if in good working order and the S2k is barelly starting it's career as a sports car. I'd personally wait about 10 years so that the S2k has been replaced by something else and they've become a bit cheeper. Then buy a wrecked one with a motor, or maybe get a front clip JDM and then get the USA wiring harness and electronics. Hopefully by then this whole honda craze will have died down a bit.

wat about using a transaxle such as the G-50 porshe tranny. It can handle about 700hp 600hp no sweat and it would put the engine as far back as you can get it. The ultima kit from england (just beat mclaren's factory guiness record) and factory five kit in development both use this tranny. It's something to look into. http://www.ultimacars.com/ http://factoryfive.com/table/ffrkits/GTM/gtmprototype.html

So, first off... does a pink slip for a 280ZX turbo actually specify turbo on it? Now, my friend who works for the smog ref thinks I could pass off a N/A modified to a turbo as a stock turbo car, unless the person I brought it to actually knew something about the ZX cars, and even then as a last resort I could get a motor swap bar from the ref. SO... What is actually needed to change a L28E into L28ET? Intake (obviously), exhast, what else? Is the compression different? Is the head different? Different cams? Odds are i'll end up canibalising a dead turbo motor since my motor is just over 27k now. But, if the compression is actually different i might just end up buying a L28ET in good shape, or a rebuilt L28ET. (anyone have a link to the person that on3go is getting his motor with? I lost all my links in a recent format doe. Always something i forget to back up.)

ok, so i was thinking that i'd check the fuel filter till i had some other ideas from other people.... I feel so dumb... i can't find it. It should be right before the pump right? Is it an in tank filter? And could such a low milage ZX have a dirty fue filter (25k miles)? hmm, i'm still totally lost. My bone head brother that doesn't actually enjoy working on his own cars keeps saying "it needs a tune up, just let someone who knows what they're doing take care of it." Well, with a tune up they only check and change timing correct? My buddy checked my timing before he smogged it and he said the timing was fine, but i'm still running lean. I can't see how a tune would help... any thoughts?

well, i'm not familiar with first gen Z cars, but if it was a perfect mirror position to something else it would be for right hand drive. Such items inlude things like lighters and such. Things that are biased towards the driver.

ok, the machine measured a 17: air/fuel raio mix on the 25 mph test, the 15 mph test had a slightlly better air/fuel ratio. Any ideas on what it might be? The HC was 82 and 61 both about 60% of MAX. The CO was 1.47 and 1.44 about 150% of MAX The NO (aka NOX, the new gas tested for) was 68 and 108 about 10% of MAX. EXTREMELY LOW!!! WOW for those that didn't know this gas is mostlly determined by the heat of the burn and generally the higher the compression the harder it is to pass. My friend who smogged it said it felt like it was misfiring wich might contribute to why it was so low. But still, I could put some huge injectors in and a new fuel rail and still pass i'll bet. This makes me happy as it also confirms the mileage on the engine, noting that there is almost none if not any carbon build up inside. I'm as giddy as a school girl. Anyways, I hope it's something as painless as the fuel filter or O2 sensor. The other readings for those curous were CO2 10.7 and 11.6. The O2 was 5.0 and 3.6 And for those who didn't realise, i'm in california.