Gollum

Good to know! I also just remembered.... I swapped a L28ET into a '81 with recirculating ball.... Not fitment issues. EDIT: Just remembered I swapped the steering over, simply because I could since I had a whole donor car. Sorry. My memory must be slipping lately.

I do believe the '81 turbo had the same recirculating ball steering box... you should be fine.

No glass, no crank arm, no interior panel, no window switch, no trim, not a single bolt left on the door, except the hinges. Don't forget those are 2+2 doors which are considerably longer and heavier. But I'd guess all the guts add a solid 15-20 lbs per door.

Okay, get ready for a big one. I'll be straight to the point. Turbo torque converter. Minimal fluid but not truly "dry". 15lbs Evaporator - Removed from HVAC housing. 6.5 lbs Alternator 11 lbs Front brake caliper - no pads 9 lbs Radiator fan - no clutch! 2 lbs AC Condensor 7 lbs Rear Brake Caliper - No Pads 6.5 lbs '81 Turbo Dizzy 1 lb AC Compressor mounting bracket - Includes tensioner 4 lbs EFI Resistor Pack Less than 1 lb '81 Turbo AC Compressor Mounting Bracket - NO tensioner WITH CAS 3.5 lbs Turbo Heat Shield 1 lb Turbo AFM 3 lbs Oil Cooler - No Filter adapter that goes on the block, just the tank + fenderwell side lines. 3.5 lbs Tail Light Assembly (79-81 style) - One side, with wiring harness & bulbs. 4 lbs Gutted 2+2 door: STRIPPED. Only thing left on it that could be pulled was hinges. 43.5 lbs - might have contained as much as .5 lb of leaves, but that's being generous to the leaves. And just for fun, check out the size difference between NA and turbo AFMs!

Ahh, so very correct. I just had my stock exhaust out recently. Amazing how heavy it all is and how it all adds up. Don't forget that the stock tank also has NO baffling, which will cause tank slap. I've experienced tank slap several times when being a bit too aggressive with my weight transitions.

It's been a long time but I've gone over much of that before. I'll highlight the big ticket items. Obviously if you watch the ounces the pounds will disappear. 1. Bumpers. They're heavy suckers 2. Steering. Convert to rack and pinion, if not manual if you can find it. 3. Seats - Non-reclining race buckets are light, and you'll shed even more if you put the seat in a fixed position without rails. 4. AC - Do you really need it? BIG difference 5. Header - Stock cast manifold is HEAVY 6. Diff - Convert to R180 if your power levels can keep one alive 7. Hatch glass. No joke, I was shocked how light a glass-less hatch is since they're so damn heavy with glass! 8. Gutted Doors - Possibly one of the biggest differences if you can stand not having windows 9. Delete needless features: Cruise Control, Vacuum tank/pump, windshield washer tank, etc 10. Hood. Convert to fiberglass or CF. Not insane savings, but worth it in many ways. 11. Tubular rear control arms: Extremely hard to pull off compared to the rest of the list, but 1000000 times worth it! 12. Corner glass. Small pieces but easy to replace in lexan and every pound counts. 13. Dash. I know most won't ever drive dash-less, but consider ditching the center console (upper and lower) and maybe doing some dash gutting. 14. If you don't need heat or general cabin airflow the whole HVAC system isn't exactly light either. 15. Headlights. Get ones with plastic fronts instead of glass. Worth a few pounds each. 16. Flywheel. This really should be listed earlier in the list. Higher priority than many items here. Match with good clutch of course. 17. Battery. Can easily save 5 lbs here or more depending on what you have and how much you're willing to spend. 18. Ditch the corner markers. Might be a pita to make the plugs/caps and weld them, but every bit counts and this helps the looks too imo. That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now. A huge aspect of weight reduction is going to be centered around the intended use of the car and what you're willing to deal with as far as comfort. Is it okay for it to be loud? Does it need a stereo? etc. If it's just a weekend auto-x toy car then you can usually deal without a lot. Just consider how much it might prevent you from driving your car in the future. Trim for trim the S130 seems to be lighter than the later S30 chassis. I know people disagree, that's fine. Most that disagree don't realize when I mean trim for trim I REALLY MEAN IT. The heaviest S130 was certainly heavier than the heaviest S30, but it had power everything and T-tops to boot! So all that said, 2550 w/driver seems attainable if you're willing to gut some stuff. Biggest elephant left in the room if you don't do it will be glass weight. Glass is easily one of the heaviest aspects of something that you can do something about. The pain is that it really kills street-ability factory to just go removing it. I need to get my car to a scale though, because I'm sure I'm close to 2550 right now as the car sits, and I've still got stock bumpers on it. And I see plenty of weight to remove to reach your goals.

I wouldn't have been as harsh as Tony, but I kind of came to the same conclusion back when that was said. I was dissapointed that nobody came back to enlighten the whole world as to how to do it, but at the same time they gave me confidence to try something I've never done before. That said I haven't gotten to it yet as there's more pressing matters in my life than eliminating my hatch key.

It's a 260Z. Not a huge concern being in CA unless he gets pulled over and for some random reason the cop decides he needs to go to a ref to check on part legality. As far as overall build principle. 10:1 is perfect imo if you're willing to tune it right. I plan to run MUCH higher on that on my build eventually but will also be unconventional in many ways. Right cam and the right tune and you'll be just fine.

Nice list! Your last couple of posts have me itching to get some stuff weighed. Unfortunately I'm out of town on work until mid-july. The only good news is that pretty soon I need to kick some serious butt getting my garage organized and I'll be able to weigh some stuff in the process, especially since some of it will likely just be getting thrown out. I've got some gutted 2+2 doors I need to weigh (gutted as in no windows and the only hardware on them is hinges). And also... either pretty soon I'm going to start doing some cheap fab work on my S130, or ditch it. Either way stuff is going to get weighed for the records.

I'd say it sounds like you need to come out to CA and just grab a whole shell! If your roof doesn't have rust just transfer your roof and viola! Seems like slicktops are getting harder and harder to find in good shape. Makes me want to keep mine forever!

Well how many miles have you put on the car since you redid the dash and wiring? Maybe it's time to put that new "easy to diagnose" system to the test? At any rate mike, it's great to at least see some progress. Seems like this car is in eternal shakedown mode. Let's get 'er rock'n!

Keep us updated on how the valve stem install goes. Even braap says he tends to rip them from time to time.

You've at least READ the head cooling thread, which is more than I can say for many people...

Generally a high compression motor requires less timing to make peak torque. There's a difference between requires and can run timing figures. Higher compression will also ping sooner thus most people don't think they can run as much timing. There's two things going on here in most cases, in that yes the overall timing potential has changed, but required timing for peak power has changed too. The only way to be certain about what timing requirements are for peak power is to run a race gasoline and check timing figures, then mix 50/50, and extrapolate for pump gas. Yes race gas will LET you run more timing, but it also burns differently than pump gas. Just because people put in race gas and turn up the timing and get more power doesn't mean ping is what's holding you back on pump gas. Pump gas has it's own, different, timing for peak torque. Yes a high compression motor might be ping limited, but you can't really be sure until you find out where best torque occurs. The other factor is that usually ping sets in around peak torque OR BELLOW. That's not where peak power is, is it? At lower RPM ping has more chance to happen, at higher RPM it doesn't. You can literally "out run" ping to some extent. The higher RPM you get, the closer you can get to best torque ignition timing, if your motor has ping issues down lower. All this to say.... Did you run stock timing when you got the smog test done or were you advanced? And how much advance are you running now versus before? They're supposed to hookup a timing light and check that you're within 3 degrees of stock at idle.

So refreshing to see someone actually doing something and actually know what they're doing. As opposed to the millions of "how do I xxxx" threads. Thank you for making my day a little brighter.

All looking awesome! Which referee you going to? The one at the Solano Community College is a pretty nice guy. Last time I was there he kept egging me on to do a LS1 swap in my 280ZX!

Mike Kelly's car looks alright with 18's, but it's the minority of the bunch. In theory you can move over as much as you feel like, but there are certainly things that require more engineering than others. Engines are fairly straight forward, while I consider the diff slightly more complicated for the payoff and expense. While you might gain a nice LSD you'll probably spend $1,000+ just in getting custom axles made. You could convert the hubs over, but then things can get real crazy real quick. The project Juke-GTR is a great example of how crazy you can get with an idea like this. In theory it will ALL transfer over, it's just a matter of effort and money you choose to put in. Personally, I'd do the engine, trans, and gauges and be happy with that. And all that said, I can't wait to see progress pics. Helluva project.

Someone needs to get that intake off and check out the ports of the head AND the intake. The stock EFI CAN NOT tune for those mofications. You're either running pig rich at cruise, or pig rich at WOT. A decent tune across the board with any mods like an aggressive cam just isn't possible. And all that being said, the OEM EFI manifold will cause a severe choke past 5000-5500 which looks like EXACTLY what you're seeing. The OEM intake ports are roughly 53% the size of the stock valve!!!! No matter what, even with a stock head, that port is going to limit power. Get a better intake on the sucker, and get megasquirt and I'd be willing to bet you'll see 40+ horsepower unleashed if not a helluva lot more, and that's if the build specs are only HALF accurate...

Subscribed, and it's like christmas seeing Ron with a S30 again. And I have to say I'm jealous in many ways, but in the biggest way is the header clearance. That's better clearance than my L28ET in my S30! But I am sad I didn't see this a year ago. How's the progress been, or are you suffering from project A.D.D.?

In the end though, 75% of the money he's spending won't get re-spent should he decide to step up to 45's. Believe it or not, many people on this board (Leon included I think) would rather spend MORE money on their car in order to have it DRIVEABLE between iterations rather than taking on more at once in order to save money. T-Bone had these lying around, so he figured "what the heck?" and went at it. I admire that. I've got a P90 sitting around that I'd love to weld the chambers on... have I? Nope... What would it cost me? Almost nothing really, just time. I admire those that get out there and actually DO IT! As to the turbo analogy, it's a fair analogy. But again, 75% or more of the time and energy will NOT be wasted. The things you do and learn about tuning a turbocharged motor are a higher priority than the actual horsepower you extract, and in the end a well set up T25 engine cam still make 250-275 to the wheels. Yes you can make more with a larger turbo and yes many of us do. Right now my turbo S30 is stuck in a garage due to not having a functional EFI. I'd rather be driving that car, even if it meant a few less horsepower, just to at least have it on the road. So yes, I understand your point, but at the end of the day, horsepower isn't everything, even on HybridZ.

And people look at me like I'm crazy sometimes when I mention EFI as a "budget" solution compared to any form of triples... That said, I'm always happy to see another engine bay like this, even if it is sad/funny.

What forged piston? What head? Which comp cam? What size intercooler? What FPR? T3/T4 Specs? You say you want to get it tuned soon, but it's SDS, how much tuning has been done so far? How much boost you can run is directly related to knock. You can run as much boost as you want as long as you keep it out of detonation, but at some point diminishing returns will make it almost impossible to get more power because of heat. Where that is can depend on a million of factors, but it all comes down to one - HEAT!!!! Why do we add an intercooler? To reduce HEAT!!! What's the main thing that makes alcohol so bomb-awesome? It reduces HEAT!!!! Why do people add water injection? To reduce HEAT!!!! Why do people run larger turbos and get more power for a given PSI? Because it creates less HEAT!!!! Heat is detonations best friend. Keep things cool and there's almost no limit to how much power you can run. If your longblock was built correctly, there's no reason it can't see 500+ hp...

1st off, where's the car located? I consider myself a pretty stand up guy. I've never had someone act as a broker of sorts for me, but I've been the middle man of many other people's sales. The most important thing, as always, is to have very clearly written out expectations and have it SIGNED. It drives me nuts when someone is willing to put a deposit down for a car but never thought about writing up a simple contract.... As far as who to trust, I'd say find someone that has some connections to mutual friends/people you know. If there's at least some personal attachment the person is much more likely to go all the way to make sure you're happy.

Leon ~ Have you sat in the MX-5 / NC chassis miata? In the older NA miata I feel slightly cramped, the NB is really nice to me, and the NC I have to sit 2 or 3 clicks forward from the back on the seat, it's really that much roomier than the older ones. The handling on the NC is definitely not the same as the older ones, but it's still far better than SO many cars out there. I'd forgotten about the sky/solstice! I'm not fond of the solstice front end that all the magazine journalists seemed to love so much, but I though the sky was pretty hot looking. The best part about them though, imo, is that there was a company with a LS1 swap kit before most dealers had their first cars! And don't be scared to buy one because of the brand name being gone. GM has been very clear about supporting these cars, and they shouldn't be any less supported than any other car. You can still get parts for a Z33 can't you? But it's out of production... You can still get parts for a Z32 can't you? But it's out of production.... You can still get parts for a Z31 can't you? But it's out of production... That's my point, those companies are just small little monikers of a much larger company. GM closed those branches because they were needing to downsize to keep their budgets at least somewhat realistic. That doesn't mean the companies making the parts are out of business... Most parts in those cars were generic GM parts anyhow... That'y my 2 cents on the pontiac/saturn thing. If you fit in the NB miata, it's certainly a perfectly good car that should be well under budget, new enough, and a great platform. You won't have to give up on having fun and CHOOSING to work on your car and improve it like the S30, whereas many of the cars that have been brought up are either hard to modify, or get quite expensive to improve.

I've driven ONE S2000, which is far less than the other cars I gave my input on, I admit. But I could just never get around that FOR WHAT THE PRICE IS, it's just meh. If Mazda offered a Miata for near or over 40k you can bet it'd rival the S2k in just about EVERY way. But they've never wanted to target their market that high. Even the turbocharged version didn't near S2k prices. In all honesty I just don't see it as that much better of a place to start as a platform, unless you're just willing to spend the extra money to save time and energy to start at a higher level of performance all around, which is a perfectly valid reason and opinion to like them and buy one. Just doesn't excite me which is something I want a car to do, ESPECIALLY if it's replacing a S30.... Maybe YOU haven't driven enough miatas I'm 6' and 200 lbs now and have never had an issue climbing into a miata, especially the new ones. The latest revision that you can find for decent used prices now is quite room and I feel 5'-10" to 6'2" is the sweet spot that they designed it for. It's definitely geared towards the american market. And remember, the S30 is fairly tight too, which is something many of us like about it. I'm sure you understand, since you drive a S2k. Bold quotations for highlight of truth. Ron explained my issue with the Z3 platform as a whole. They're just not a DRIVERS car, which is hilarious because that's something the M3 has always killed at, so you'd have thought the M Coupe at least of all Z3 cars would be golden.... Exactly why I didn't bring up the Z4. Way out of budget range we're talking about for the most part. Hard to find them even for S2k money, and they're going to be expensive to work on once they start breaking. To OP: I'd also look in to turn of the millennium M3's. I know they're not a 2 seater, but they're more of a drivers car, more fun, and more just all around awesome than many of the cars we've been talking about. After Ray's post I couldn't ignore the recommendation. There just hasn't been a bad variant of the M3...