silicone boy

Imagine that in a big block

Toluene is a common additive in most aftermarket octane additives, so it's not like your adding something exotic that shouldn't be mixed with gasoline. The following link has homebrew octane bosters. http://www.vtr.org/maintain/gasoline-octane.html

I knew someone else had to be as stupid as me! I was trying to think up a name for those 2 (Mutt and Jeff, Click and Clack). Just so you all know, I don't like the smell of burnt silicone.

Just now, I was working on my passenger side subframe. I was cleaning the undercoating off of where the rear of the subframe connector would be welded to the unibody. You know, the transverse crossmember thingy. Anyway, I was using a grinder. Of course, the brake line and fuel lines are nearby. Sparks were flying everywhere and, you guessed it, I cut both the brake line and fuel return line! Luckily it didn't ignite. I was debating whether to replace those lines anyway. Guess the decision's been made for me. Funny how things work out that way. In any case, I've given myself a suspension from the garage for a week for my stupidity (in addition to the one week suspension my wife gave me--see the Non-Tech forum under "Z cars for girly men" thread).

I'm having the same problem now that I have re-done my subframe connectors. Looks like I'll have to somehow fabricate something so that the front mounts of the rear swaybar sit lower. Not sure how I'll do this, but as I've learned in this project: "for every problem, there is a solution (though not always an ideal one)

Would it be possible to re-create the "featured cars" section that we had before we switched to this new format? I really liked seeing the craftsmanship of others. It's one of my favorite parts of other boards.

My wife just saw #6 above. She was very upset--apparently there is no excuse for ever driving a white neon with blue racing stripes. I'm grounded from working in the garage for a week

Some observations: 1. The Fiero may be a girlie car, but in researching twin turbo chebbys on the internet, I came across a couple of V8 Fieros with large hairdryers hanging off of them. Definitely not girlie cars. 2. I've been outraced by plenty of Neons on autocross and road courses (of course, I was driving a girly VW). Some girlie men drive awfully fast. 3. Just because a car has balls out performance doesn't mean it's a he man's car. I was hanging out with some car guys when an acquaintance of mine drove up in his Audi TT. Not wanting to be ridiculed, I pretended not to recognize him. He later told me that he was very hurt. 4. Other not so macho man cars like the TT: any Porsche, BMW, or Mercedes performance convertible, especially when the driver wears Italian loafers, Miatas, S2000's, Z4, Z3 (see a pattern here?). I do not include the Z3 coupe, which is kind of cool. Also, any Ferrari, even if it is an Enzo or F50 (what kind of sissy name is "Enzo"--would you let your daughter go out with a guy named "Enzo"? Isn't that Italian for "Eugene"?) 5. Calling the Z car a girlie car is worse than my calling it the original ricemobile a while back. 6. If I saw Jennifer Garner driving in a Neon with wannabe blue racing stripes, I would still want to go out with her.

After hearing about your run of bad luck, I don't feel so bad. I'm the idiot who dropped a nut down his intake-had to take one of my cylinder heads off. I got everything back together, ready to fire it up. Then I cranked the motor only to have it get stuck. After ruling everything else out, I tore down the motor and found another nut in another cylinder! This time I put a nice dent in the piston and head. I decided to tear it down and rebuild entirely--it would have been bad karma to continue the present setup . It's good to hear I'm not the only one who's snakebit.

You're right. I've always been a road racer/autocrosser. Never drag raced (might be tempted under the right circumstances, though). I know that the rear end will be the weak link. I'm going to keep boost reasonable because 800 hp would be unmanageable (at least in my hands) in a track car. My second choice would be the R230 or the Corvette setup. Some of these aftermarket IRS's look great and are strong, but I think they are more geared towards the street rod crowd.

I did get robbed! (I wouldn't mind getting robbed like this every day ) I thought those weren't T4's-at least not like any that I've ever seen. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to settle for being like ScottieGNZ with a couple of extra cylinders and an extra turbo . It's going into my 383. The rotating assembly is all forged. The compression is a little higher than I would like at 9.7:1, but with reasonable boost, intercooling, water injection and a top notch engine management system, I should be able to avoid detonation. I couldn't believe my luck when I came across the setup. The seller was real generous and he's throwing in extras that he didn't even list, like sensors, an Autometer boost guage, braided fuel line, etc. I don't think the headers will work for me, so I'll have to use modified cast iron manifolds or make my own turbo headers. Waht's even better is that I already have a single plane intake manifold with injectors and a 1000 cfm throttle body setup. I should be able to sell it for enough to significantly cover my recent purchase. I guess it pays to be an insomniac like me an prowl EBay at 2 am in the morning .

I recently picked a TPI manifold with uprated injectors, 2 T04 turbos, high volume fuel pumps, and a host of other goodies off of EBay for just over a grand. The seller was looking to dump his setup in favor of a supercharger and carb. I really lucked out. I'm not sure of the turbos, though. They look like T03's. What do you think?

All good comments. IRS is certainly better, more compliant in real world situations, as well as road racing over not so great surfaces. On the other hand, if you increase your spring rates to super high rates that some people use on some road racing setups, then IRS starts to resemble a solid axle, so the differences become less important (that's why its OK for Nascar cars to use them and maintain decent handling, yet maintain ultimate durability). I wouldn't trade, though. IRS is just neat.

I'll be testing the limits of my rear diff (R200 with Quaife) shortly with a twin turbo small block. Hopefully, I won't need one of these.

I don't know about the third gen RX7 and the LS1. Great engine, great platform (I have a '93 RX7). I'm not sure if the two of them together are a great combo. The third gen RX7 is so well balanced and handles so well as is. More power comes easily from the current motor ( though this does cause the earlier demise of an already short lived engine). I'm not a purist, though, and if someone else can put one of these together and not destroy the wonderful characteristics of this car, I might give it a try in the very distant future.

I wonder if they could weld a little toaster over where the oil cooler is. Talk about convenient packaging!

That's why I hate Dynamat. It's expensive and really heavy. I'm not sure it makes that much difference with a perfomance exhaust, either.

Cooool. Congrats on a great find. It'll make a neat swap. Keep us posted.

All this goes to show that losing weight is a lot more expensive than making more horsepower once you get past the first few pounds. In the latest Grassroots Motorsports, Dave Vizard goes through how you shed 1000 pounds from a Ford Mustang.When you add in the race seats, lexan windows, tubular suspension components, composite body panels, etc, it gets awfully pricey. On the other hand, just think of the effect on acceleration and handling if you had a 1400 pound 240 Z

The giant tube cutter at harbor freight that costs about $15 is perfect for the job. It comes with a couple of extra cutting wheels and leaves a nice "V" for beldine it back together.

Timeless classic!

Summit is so awesome that they beat Jeg's to my house by about a day. What I think is bogus about both of them is that they claim that they have free shipping. Instead, they have a $7 handling fee, so it makes small orders less worthwhile

Most of us use block huggers, and you'd be surprised at how much room there is in the engine bay. Certainly more room than most modern cars have in their engines. So much room, in fact, that I couldn't stand it and I want to fill in all that room with even more evil stuff like turbos . You're in a good spot if you have more time and money than skills. I started out a couple of years ago just reading on this board without much of a clue about American V8's. Now, with the encouragement of others, I built one and I am working on a second (it's a long, sad story I'll tell you later). My friends ask me why I don't just go out and buy the car of my dreams. I can't think of anything that would give me as much pleasure as a car I reconditioned from the ground up. Good luck, and maybe I'll have to take a trip out to Topeka to highway test my monster when it's done (it should only take an hour to get there and back )

Don't forget the mufflers. They weigh a few pounds. Maybe a couple of Supertrapps instead.

Luv a classic looking Z with an equally classic looking set of Panasports. What size tires you gonna run. Can't wait for the pics.