BlackBeaut

Try having a word with Ken at ZXS: http://www.mjpauto.com/zxs-partz/ He's may well have a motor lying around, otherwise zclub.net is the place to be asking. Cheers, Rob

I've not noticed any such problems using my auto-helmet, and the fact you can see what's going on before you press for power and have both hands free makes them well worth the investment. Cheers, Rob

I hear that! All the little jobs I do that I think'll take an hour at most seem to waste most of a day, whereas the big jobs, that look like nightmare, usually are and take forever Glad to hear your car's running well, sounds like some wise upgrades planned on it too. Cheers, Rob

Hi Bill! Things are going well thanks, weather is improving so I'm starting to gear up again on my Z design 'improvements' Just spent the last 3 hours rearranging the dirt in my workshop, I now have maybe an extra 2 square feet to move around in again I eagerly await seeing Steve's beasty hit the streets, as I'm sure he does Like me he seems to suffer from too many distractions. How's your car running at the mo'? Cheers, Rob

Note sun shining in video, definite clue it wasn't filmed in the UK I'm thinking Poland (email addy at end), one of those Johnny upstart east european countries anyway It does seem to have a UK style registration plate though! Cheers, Rob

Good opportunity to slap an OS Giken gear set in the bust tranny. Let's face it, no one really needs 2 kidneys, 2 lungs, 2 livers, oh wait, that bits not right On a more serious note, there's a guy in the UK that rebuilds this tranny and with a bit of treatment to the gear set reckons they'll hold 450bhp (torque figures would of course be more useful) but people with slightly (not much though) less power have still bust their rebuilt boxes. So yes they're not infinitely strong but they can be made stronger, and they are pretty durn cheap to get hold of. Cheers, Rob

That's pretty much identical to my blaster, certainly does the job. I've been using fine sand for most stuff, just recently switched to glass beads to clean up some gearbox housings. Think I'll give copper slag ago at some point as the points made about sand breaking down are very true and not very pleasant to experience. Can be a pain to set the flow up using the ball valves, and every now and then it just decides to quit spitting the media out and you have to fiddle with it, at which point it'll be fine again for a while. I use a kitchen flour sieve to recycle the media so haven't suffered a blocked valve anywhere yet. I also made a large cabinet out of plywood (about 3' square base by 5' tall) which I do the majority of my working in to minimise media loss. Cheers, Rob

Nissan Patrol = 4x4 Early SUV truck thing, not Z related in anyway. Cheers, Rob

Can't give you much detail but I've got a Patrol L28 sat outside from a 1987 vehicle. It's an F54 block with N42 head. Didn't have the carb on it when I collected but judging by the inlet manifold it's a single downdraft thing so pretty useless for a Z. I was also told by someone that a common mod by Patrol owners was to either swap the cam or complete head from a Z in to get a bit more power, which doesn't necessarily bode well for it having a frisky cam. Also had a points distributor, so I guess Nissan weren't fussed about decent performance! Cheers, Rob

The ArizonaZ arms come with a 5/8" bolt to use instead of the spindle pin. I was planning on using some JB Weld to fill up the lock pin holes and then running a suitable sized drill bit down the spindle hole to clear out any excess JB and any corrosion crud. Then loads of anti-seize on the bolt. Not sure how important it is for the pin to be locked in place when using standard control arms with rubber or poly bushes, compared to the heim joints on the ARZ arms. Don't like the idea of tapping the cast steel, it'd weaking that area of the hub too much for my liking. My theory on why the pins seize is the lock bolt gets torqued down to hard and distorts the pin, plus water ingress through the lock pin hole causing corrosion around that area. Prob'ly wrong mind but I've got a pair of struts with pins still well and truly stuck in them! Cheers, Rob

Vaguely on topic, could you tell me what the sleeves and nuts are made of, aluminium or steel? Cheers, Rob

Stout I agree, not that light as it's steel, not vastly heavier than the stock piece though. I know what you're saying about the inside corners but plan is/was to weld square section steel there so it needed to be square. I might weld up a radius in there and clean it up with a grinder if I go another way with my diff cradle. Oh, and obviously I can't take credit for the machining, a local shop did it for me. I still can't quite justify buying a milling machine for the amount of work I'd use it for. Cheers, Rob

S'up? Can't you see the pics? I can email you them if you want to PM me your address. Cheers, Rob

Ah, coincidentally I've just got this back from the engineers. A typical OTT Rob design I admit - designed with my short nose diff cradle in mind rather than to deal with the issue raised in this thread, but I'm sure it could cope. Cheers, Rob

Mate, you're just gonna get told off for not searching so I'll give you a hint. Search for R230 or Q45 or even just 'short nose' and you'll come up trumps. I'm in a very slow process of installing the same diff (S13 3.9:1) fitted with an S15 Torsen LSD. Check out this thread for my long winded road of discovery: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=101723 Basically the tasks you've got to deal with are 1) Rear mount - standard R200 moustache bar will do. 2) Front mount - some ingenuity needed here! 3) CV axles - more ingenuity depending on the type of LSD centre used, which effects the type of output stub shaft. Good luck! Cheers, Rob

Think VashonZ meant to post elsewhere. Anyway, I reckon you should be able to use the gasket. However I think you're a bit off the mark thinking you can mill 2mm of the head. More learned people should be along soon hopefully. Cheers, Rob

If you deck the block by 1mm, then you'll need to shim the cam towers by 1mm otherwise the timing will be right off. The with the cam towers 1mm higher you'll have fun and games setting up the tappets. All gets a bit tricky! Also don't think the felpro gasket is suitable for 89mm pistons, you'll need the HKS metal gasket, 1 or 2mm thick. There's also not much love on this site for felpro it seems, I've no personal experience on that though. Sounds like you're after big hp if you're burning that sort of fuel so it makes sense to be going with some forged pistons. That way you'll be able to run whatever rod you want (longer the better it seems, L14 rod is 137mm for example). Then get the piston made up to give you the right deck height and adjust compression with the piston dish. Cheers, Rob

Anyone else happen upon Dave's new product page lately? http://www.arizonazcar.com/newparts.html New rear end stuff looking mighty nice, typical after I spend months faffing around and learning to weld to get my rear subframe idea going, he just bangs something out on his CNC equipment*. I like the way the cross brace also doubles as the sway bar holder, neat. And new front control arms, apparently replacing his cromoly front arms. Damn, must be nice to have fun machinery to play with! Cheers, Rob * I jest, of course, with the 'bangs it out' comment, I'm sure plenty of thought went into it!

Looks very interesting, also looks like it could be easily translated to the front end of the car. Anyone got any good reading links on why wishbones should be unequal length, something I've not got around to getting my head around, "suspension for dummies" would be good Cheers, Rob

Bloody 'ell! Times have changed back when I had my MX5 (proper name for a Miata ) the cross brace available was a piece of round tube with a bend in it to get around the exhaust. Did make a difference. That Flyin' Miata piece must make a huge change - well you'd damn well hope it would anyway! Cheers, Rob

I managed to blag a test drive in one whilst waiting for an exhaust to be fitted to my Elise at the dealers. It really is just like an Elise that's had a massive hit of steroids. 3l twin turbo Ford Duratec V6 engine with blow off valves going off just behind your head is fun though! Acceleration is also very much in the fun zone. Turbo boost was huge and although on paper it's slightly slower than the TVR I had before it felt much faster because of the boost. Was a same the drives door lock broke and I had to get into position by climbing over from the other side, I guess I was more supple back then If I had the money I'd definitely have one for a track toy, practically zero storage space makes for not much use as a daily driver but of course some folks over here do use them like that. Cheers, Rob

I was looking at the Z32 manual (from carfiche.com) just the other day to see how this might work, but to my eyes it seems that the Z32 front setup is pretty much a MacPherson style layout anyway, with the exception of the weird little link arm bit. I may of course have misinterpreted the not very clear diagrams in the PDF! Cheers, Rob

Eeeek, Mk1 Escort!! The first two cars I have any distinct memories of owned by my parents. First was pooh brown, second was 'you don't need retinas' orange. I seem to remember the 1.3 engine was a bit pants! Interesting that this tweaked one has a Vauxhall (GM in the UK) engine in it - ooo controversy Cheers, Rob

Damn, nasty. I was lucky when I stacked my Liz, another case of list off oversteer and mid-engine layout combining to a nearly impossible to rectify spin. I hit a dry stone wall head on and walked away unhurt and the car was repairable. That side impact is a whole different case though, it will require a completely new chassis plus all body panels by the looks of things. I see a quick visit to the scrap yard! Hope the guy recovers quickly and gets back out on the road - in anything! Cheers, Rob