Gollum

Well, I was taking a photography class this summer a friend of mine was teaching. Here's some of the shots I had printed up at the end of it: Since everyone asks, this was a candle being dropped into water. You can even see the black wick. The image was mildly photoshopped. There's a layer that's a chrome filter, but I think I had it on Vivid Light. I had another layer with a cross hatch patter to add some texture to the image. I worked on it quite a while getting the lighting and color to feel right, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I have several others from the same series I want to get to editing. We were asked to do a self portrait, with little to no restriction on how to do it. This is what I came up with Here's some other photos I thought about printing, just decided they either weren't on par, or didn't fit well.

That might actually be it honestly, just the fact that they're not quishing like stock rubber. There was a Z at our meet today that was running 245/45/17 in front and there was oodles of room by the fender still. I think there's something going on with those having that much rubbing issue at the fender. Also, user ncfisher that we fit the rims on previous also recalled having plenty of space at the fender itself. The only clearence issue WE were concerned about was if you were running an air dam that came inward quite a ways.

We weren't nearly that close to the fender on our tests iirc. I think the pictures earlier in the thread show that pretty well. How much caster are you running wizzard? Are you using aftermarket tension control arm bushings? To me it looks like the wheel is centered alot farther forward than it can be. When I was changing my springs recently and was hooking my tension rods back up I noticed the wheel had at least 3" of for and aft play while under full static weight. That's a lot of movement for a car not on jacks. So in lue of that information, I'd suggest checking the angle on your control arm, and how much play you have with caster to move the wheel back a bit.

Yes, I was obviously exagerating to make a point. Though search for an old thread about a guy wanting to ho 240MPH in a 240Z, that's some great entertainment right there. That guy might acutally need 10,000hp if he wanted to leave the body stock...

Funny, that's exactly how I measured my hood clearence about a month back. Great minds think alike I guess. New progress pics look great btw!

That motor is going to be a beast. I'm kinda surprised to see you doing the KA tranny swap though. I'd assume you'd move to something a bit more tough, like the Z32 tranny.

I won't pretend to know Phil more than others here, but I don't think he'll buy the bike unless he get's at least a semi-blessing from the wife first. I seriously doubt Phil wants a divorce and shared custody of his precious girl. But he still sees something he loves and is passionate about a his heart yearns for it. Right or wrong, that's the reaction he's developed to some toys. Is he wrong for this? Not necessarely. But he might be wrong for buying anything that suits his fancy. I wonder if it would be better for Phil to stop riding all together. Sometimes it's tough for some people to only do things half way, it's just too tempting. Again, that's SOME people, not all obviously. I'm the type of person that jumps in head first obsessed with most things I do. I spread myself VERY thin across my hobbies and people see my passion in all the things I do. I very rarely do something casually. I know what it's like to want something and know it won't happen any time soon, if at all. I really want to own all sorts of things, but I have to understand that other things in life need to come first. Being a good husband should come before anything else. And sometimes being a good husband is about communcating the desires of your heart. If big phil was the next big stunt rider of our day then he needs to figure out how to lead his wife while following such pursuits. He needs to show her how much something means to her if she's ever to follow him in it. Most women, once they truly understand how much something means, and see that he's thought it all through will allow their husbands to do something they want to do. If they don't then the thing in question is seriously questionable (like going to a strip bar), or she has control issues and wants to be the head of the family. I think Phil will get it all figured out though. I sure hope he does.

Don't take it personally, but I barely noticed you were gone. There's way too many projects to follow around here. Though I HAVE enjoyed the videos of yours on youtube. Good stuff. Keep it comming man.

Well, since there's so much love for the design, I'll be the first to be overly critical. Though first understand I do like it in many ways and find it to be an improvement over the Z33. Though the car's overal shape resembles the S30, a lot of the lines are just plain puke material. At first glace I said EWWW, and then started looking at it and somehow became attracted. It's got that effect going for it. Something to consider though is that especially here in the USA, is that a huge percentage of buyers are female and find them "cute" or "sexy". They're very sporty cars that maintain a very friendly nature to them without looking like a pet. They're like a german shepard, kind natured and friendly, but able to be trained to be a killer. That's a Z car. This concept sends the wrong message. It's saying "hey lady, I'm going to eat your kids, but not before I take over korea. And I'm going to look good while doing it". Rims are WAY too bling/ricey for me. This whole trend towards huge rims is killing me. They've just gone overboard on a good idea. Side is way too busy. Get rid of the grey sections trying to look GTRish. Just doesn't flow with those gorgeous hips. Widen the car a bit, and also extend the wheel wells a bit more. This car will have a tough time passing crash standards and the two occupants not bumping shoulders (lotus anyone?) Rework the entire headlight section. Looks like it's emo. (wearing sad black makeup under it's eyes) The front end roundness is getting to me too. Makes her feel fat to me. Just something wrong about it. Though I hate to say this, but I think in many ways the Z33 has more going for it than this car. I think it would be extremely difficult for nissane produce anything lighter than the 350Z that passed safety standards that was actually affordable like it is. Hopefully they'll be able to use more aluminum in the next chassis and somehow keep the costs down to compromise for us all.

Main reason I could see using a KA throttle would be to have a better TPS for megasquirt. As others have said, without matching headwork you won't see much of any gain in HP. You might FEEL like it, but that's just because your letting more air in sooner, and more of the end of the throttle will be useless play.

EDIT: Woops, double post.

No S30 main cars seen in the trailer. That's a relief. There's hope to keep the prices low. Might not be bad as far as the series goes.

I've seen turbo honda spin tires at 100mph, and with only 2 liters of displacement I seriously doubt they have more than 300 torque. But thanks to RPM they have 500+ hp, and very low weight on their tires. Remember, HP does mean something. If it was only torque that spin tires and RX7 (without an LS1 ) would never be able to do a burnout. Get an engine that's more RPM based than Torque based up to it's redline, and with a strong clutch those tires WILL experience a ton of load. But lets get our facts straight though. When 1 fast z was at 17 pounds pushing 475hp, he was at 402 torque. If he's talking about how the car is feeling as good at 12psi as it used to at 17, then I'm betting he's in the same torque/HP range. This isn't a torqueless motor, and he's using turbos that the engine should have no problem spooling. I think spinning the tires at 85mph shouldn't be a testement to the amazing torque, RPM, or lack of tire, but rather a good strong clutch that makes it all happen.

I just weighed my new Daily, the 1980 280ZX Factory Trim: NON T-Top! Power Windows Power Steering Power Mirrors OEM Interior A/C 100% Stock Engine Modifications: Stereo w/ 6" speakers behind seats Weight Reduction: No spare tire (didn't come with one) No Scissor Jack (ditto) Fuel Tank Level Between 1/8 and 1/4. A little under 3/8 I think, but close. Items in car: Hydrolic Jack Jumper Cables 2 Ton Jack Stands(2) 145 Piece Tool Kit Hammer Four Way Wheel Wrench PB & J Fixin's for Lunch The weight? ======= 2780 lbs. ======= Remove the tools and I should be nearly down to 2700. I have high hopes that if I was to be using a S130 for a low budget auto-X only type of car I could get it down to 2300 easily enough. With a larger budget I'm sure 2100 pounds is achivable with a cage, though I think we already know that from the S130 race cars from the 80's. What I think this should show though, is that the 280ZX had almost just as large of a weight spread from 79' to 83' as the S30 did from 70' to 78'. I'm betting a 100% stock 79' with out all the power options nor AC would be down around 2600 pounds, while a fully trimmed out 83' would be around 3000-3100 easily. I'm still itching to find out what a bumperless 79' base model would weigh though.

Actually the answer is on this forums in several places. There's a couple ways of doing the swap, and one member here even did it WITHOUT an adaptor plate.

Even if I had the dough I'm not sure I'd want to. The beauty of the idea of putting a flat plane crank in a SBC or SBF is that so many of the parts are dirt cheap. Rebuild costs are next to nothing. Sure you'd be spending some extra change on the valve train and piston coatings and such, but not enough to make a real ferrari engine look cheap.

Further explaination from one of the last members around here that should even be thinking about elaborating: Top speed isn't about power to weight ratios like most other forms of racing. Aerodynamics play a huge role in the game of chasing top speeds. You can NEVER calculate the top speed of a car based upon it's power, weight, and even gearing. The force taken to propell an object (ANY OBJECT!!!) through our atmosphere is not a liniar force. If a car can do 20mph with 1hp, giving it 100 hp doesn't mean it can now go 200mph. The force taken is curved in nature, and starts to make a very dramatic rise at around 50mph, and once you're up to about 100mph the force needed for ever extra 1mph is quite significant. Sure, a stock Z *might* be able to go 200mph.... if it had about 10,000hp, not the 1,000 and under normally seen on these message boards. As people one here, like Tony D can testify to, you'd be amazed at how much power it takes to get a S30 above 150mph. If you took a Z with a V8 that could reach an actual recorded 150mph, and put that V8 in something more aerodynamic I'm sure it could reach 165+ easily. The Shelby Cobra was well known for feeling like it hit a brick wall past 140mph. It just doesn't matter how much HP you have on your side with the force of air increases so dramatically.

Your last sentence there was a bit of a blanet statement isn't it? You later deffended your statement that backpressure could be a good thing. I'm willing to drop this right now though, as we're not getting anywhere. Sure, in the article they might have lost some low end power, but who knows for certain.

You're right, that IS ironic. So should we chop two wheels of a car for you, or add training wheels to the bike?

The model they show is a contained unit, it's not running to a rear diff from the looks of it. One thing that bugs me thuogh, is that wether or not a transsmission is needed isn't based on torque quantities as much as it's based off of rev range. If you can rev to 100,000 RPM, then you just gear it with a 30:1 rear gear and you're good to go. There just isn't enough information I'm finding on their site to make a good comparison.

woohoo... he can beat a Z31 NA... that takes soooo much power, my gawd.

Did anyone else notice one of these would fit nicely in the front AND the back of a Z? EDIT: Thinking about the torque numbers, it's not very impressive. I'm having a hard time connecting the dots, but I think that 350 pounds model is the one they have shown on the axle setup they showed in Chicago. They say it's a 100hp engine. How big would a 300hp version be?... But 700 torque with ZERO gear reduction isn't enough imo. My stock 180HP 280ZX can put down well beyond 1000 torque in 1st gear. Sure 700 might be enough to get a light car off the line, but it's not enough to make for a fun car. I'm also not seeing a redline for the engine.

oh come on guys, he hasn't even mentioned the 200hp shot of NOZZZ yet. Keep digging, and make you'll put a hole through the earth. Then drop the Z through it. It'll hit 180mph for sure! and will less than 400 HP!

Yes I could. It's the matter of time to go to the junkyard to spend X amount of hours pulling a crankshaft for an "engineering excersize". Realistically it would have to be on a weekend, and my weekends have been booked SOLID all summer. Maybe when fall rolls around I'll find some time to pick up a used crank.

When were we ever talking about the article specifically? My first post about the topic was directed at your blanet termonology that me, and others here, didn't agree with. Don't take anything that's been said to you as an attack. I'm just trying to set the record straight, backpressure is never a good thing. Period. EDIT: As per HybridZ rules, I think I should rephrase that. I personally believe that on 99% of vehicles out there backpressure alone is never a good thing.