silicone boy

Wonderful job so far. What is that fuel injection unit. It looks like my electromotive setup only without the direct fire ignition.

That is so cool, Vette. As for me, I didn't have the patience of fabrications skills to do a vette IRS. I am doing a serious HP upgrade, so I felt a rearend upgrade was in order. I wanted to keep it simple though, so I'm using an R200 with 83 turbo CV halfshafts with adaptors from Ross. They are works of art and it almost seems to be a shame to use these beauties on a car. As for the LSD, I took the plunge and went for the Quaife. I know this setup seems like big bucks, but compared with the time and effort that would go into installing/fabricating what is needed for an R230, the cost didn't seem that different. As for the late 80's 3.7 R200 w/lsd, it seems to be non-existent.

I have to agree with Pete here, that 1/16th of an inch is not a big deal--it might even average out between the two holes once you get the bolt through it. I took my crossmember off to do the modification recently, only to find that my current holes were nowhere near where they were supposed to be according to the pictures in the JTR book. Mine were closer to the modified location. I think someone had already done the modification, but they did it so well that I couldn't see any evidence that it had been tampered with. However, the holes were slightly off (slightly more than yours)and I never noticed it while driving--and I'm like the princess in the fairy tale who could tell that there was a pea under 20 mattresses. When it comes to suspension tuning, I can usually pick up subtle abnormalities, and I didn't even notice anything was different, except that I had never noticed any bumpsteer.

I went the "build it yourself" route, knowing that there was no way that I could build it cheaper than I could just buy a 383 (factory GM or any number of builders). With the cost of specialized tools, minor supplies, etc, I've gone way over budget. On the other hand, that wasn't the point. I've learned so much by doing it myself, and my confidence with SBC's has gone way up. I wouldn't do it any other way.

a big thank U pete.

Greimann, are you sure that CV axles won't fit into an R200 originally equipped with U joints?. I'm about to make the conversion, and I have '82 turbo halfshafts. You made me panic just now and I went into the garage to test fit them. They fit, thankfully

I've ordered energy suspension bushings for several applications and found them to not quite fit nearly every time on many different vehicles. I don't know why I keep going back to them. I often end up "machining" the bushings on my sander. It works, but what a pain. I hear than the MSA bushings work just fine.

I bought some high temp coatings from them as well. Nice guys. No complaints

Y'know, 12 second Hondas are real commonplace, especially off the showroom floor. 12 second 0-60 mph that is

I'm trying to convince the wife that the wagon version would make a very practical ski car

The purpose of my car is to delay my retirement, being such a money pit, right behind the wife's shopping habit. Also, I plan on getting my butt spanked by a SBC powered Spitfire at the local autoX....At least I'll have air conditioning and a stereo--his Spit is totally stripped.

I've seen this topic before, about putting oil in the strut housing like the factory manual says, to act as a heat sink. The only reason I'm bringing this up again is because I'm putting my front suspension back together and it's easier to do this now than later. Is this really necessary? I have never done this for any car I have ever owned, and I'd rather not cause it's seems kind of messy (and a waste of oil to boot). How many of you people use oil and how many have not?

There goes any thought I ever had of doing an LS1 swap in the future. Man, what a pain!

Sleeper, What does your car look like, in case I mistake it for a pansy garden varity turbo Z when I'm driving around town. I would hate to have my head handed to me by mistake. I too worry about the problems with thin air, but my solution was stroking my V8. Only time will tell.

I agree with Doody. Rally drivers are the best I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They basically drive really fast under all traction conditions without the benefit of ever seeing the course ahead of time.

Regarding Victoria British, they have been wonderful to me. I'm close enough so that it's like next day shipping (if I call early enough in the day, I see it the next day). I think their prices are fair (as Tomohawk said, they have to keep a lot of inventory, and boy do they. You could build an entire car from the catalog if you wanted to)

Do you know of a source for Nissan Motorsport LSD's?

I've been going over the LSD thing in my head for the past 2 months, not sure of the best way to go. I've even gone as far as closely studying Scottie's Corvette rear end and saying it's not really that difficult. Then there's the R230 and the non-existent late 80's 300zxt unit. Then I got to thinking (always dangerous). When you consider fabrication and hassle costs (and possibly labor for stuff you have to farm out), wouldn't it be almost as cost effective to just drop in a Quaife at $1100? Combined with turbo CV halfshafts (I found about 25 sets on Car-parts.com--bought a set for $100), it's a piece of cake compared to the others, and after all, time is money, and the less time I spend working on the car, the more time I have for driving it. Besides, I have always wanted to own a quaife because it looks sweet. A phantom grip would be even cheaper (not sure about the long term reliability as a daily driver, though). Any thoughts?

I recall watching the legendary Elliot Forbes Robinson racing in the Chimney Rock Hillclimb outside of Ashwille, NC in a custom built sucker car. Here's a guy who doesn't need any help with driving who uses a leaf blower motor to create suction that results in phenomenal stick to the road. I'll bet it takes some of the challenge out of cornering till your ears bleed.

Mike is right regarding the Dalmation coast. I saw something on it on the E! channel and "Holy Cowabunga!". Then again, E! misrepresents reality just a little bit, don't ya think?

Y'know, I've found that Russian girls in general are a lot different than the image we were brainwashed into during the Cold War. Our government lied to us. A lot of these girls are hot! And to think that we were prepared to nuke these people.

Actually, I would give the Electromotive Direct Fire Unit a look. It uses a crank triggered sensor and obviates the need for a distributor. Yes, you can get it packaged with the TEC3 system (I have one ready to install) or separately.

I bought a used clutch pedal and brake assembly for my conversion, only to find that, after taking out a zillion bolts and banging my knuckles over and over again, I only had to add in a clutch pedal (my Z originally came automatic and could still accept a clutch pedal). You will have to obtain a brake pedal specific for a manual car also--they are different.

I was just going to ask whether anyone has ever done a Northstar in a Z. I thought that would be high-tech, but this one's sweet. Direct injection and variable cam timing? Awesome. Probably costs about 30K a piece to produce

Count me in as well