Bartman

Thanks Vinny, the engine bay will be looking quite a bit different in the not too distant future. Don't want to give away everything...but the SLP Firehawk Ram Air system I have sitting in my garage along with my Bower's Low Hood Style compressor relocation kit might be involved. Again, it was really a pleasure meeting and talking with you. You have a great deal of knowledge and experience (Z and non-Z).

There's still a picture of the one Tim240 made at his web site. It's still working great for me with my install: http://tim240z.iwarp.com/photo6.html Don't know if this link will work, but this is the actual picture: http://tim240z.iwarp.com/cgi-bin/i/images/R230_mount_top2_small.jpg

I didn't realize the picture was going to reveal my secret. I thought some of you might realize the truth if you looked at my personal profile (something to do with 6's ). The air dam isn't as low as it appears in the picture that Vinny posted above, but I think it is a higher quality product than most of the other one's you'll find out there. P.S. - My engine is an LT-1, not an LS-1

Here's a local source for Z's that would be good candidates for a HybridZ. http://www.zcarsource.com/shells.htm Good Luck.

I'm not seeing anyone talke about horsepower gains. For the most part, everyone on this site wants to get the most horsepower possible out of our engines. If you can get a couple more horsepower out of switching to synthetic oil, it's a cheap upgrade. Maybe some of you just don't believe you can actually gain horsepower just by switching to synthetic? For me it's a no brainer. More horsepower, less engine wear, more miles between oil changes, etc. P.S. - I'm running Mobil 1 extended performance

My understanding is that you can pick up some horsepower by doing nothing else than switching to synthetic oil. At the Royal Purple site they have the results of several independent tests that confirm horsepower gains. http://www.royalpurple.com/techrp/summary.html Is this true or not?

Thanks Danno, I should have that issue at home and I'll be sure and check it out.

I've talked with Zoops, March Performance, Vintage Air, and a couple of other people. I think the only real options are the Bowers bracket or making your own like love-my-V8-280Z did. All the other kits are very expensive and are either too wide or too tall. The stock alternator is mounted as close as it can possibly fit on the passengers side, and in order to move it to the driver's side it needs to be pushed up or out (the stock location fits in front of the head, which it cannot do on the drivers side because the driver's side head is farther forward than the passenger's side head). So...that leaves dealing with running the lines around the back of the engine bay before going through the firewall. I just got an email from 240playtoy, and he's thinking maybe the lines could be routed along the frame rail to the front and then across and back to the firewall. That sounds like a pretty good solution, thanks Andrew. One of the problems for me was that the Bowers bracket is made for the stock LT1 compressor and not the Sanden 508. Vintage Air ensured me the stock GM unit will work, and they even sell adapters that go on the back of the compressor that will allow you to install the Vintage lines. I don't have the stock compressor, but that issue was solved when I talked to Joe (Bowers) and he offered me a good used one for $50. So anyway, the compressor and bracket kit should ship out tomorrow and soon the real work will start.

Even though the consensus was negative on your other post about these wheels...I still like them too.

I was looking at MSA to find out if they make one for an 82 (couldn't find one), and I found out why kraymond's looks so different. Kaminari makes a 3-port, like J. and I have, and a 5-port like what kraymond has. They actually make quite a few different models, just search for "kaminari" at MSA and you'll see them all.

Using a V8 can meet all your requirements. Based on the amount of money you want to spend you should be able to find an LT1 V8. It has aluminum heads (at least if the engine comes from an f-body) to keep the weight down, and it get's pretty decent fuel mileage as well. Put a K & N air filter, some headers, and 300 hp or more is easy to achieve.

I met with the owner of a local hot rod shop late last week. He seemed interested in helping me out, but he's supposed to call me this week. If I don't here from him soon, I'll just assume he's not really interested. He suggested using steel braided lines, which I may wind up doing. I'm still planning on using the Gen II mini, the stock vents, the proline bulkhead plate, and probably the same upgraded oval control panel that fastzcars used. This might be a little expensive, but this March LT-1 serpentine kit may just be the way to go for me. http://www.marchperf.com/pg18.html Summit Racing carries their parts, so I'm sure I can get one for at least a little bit less than the price listed at March (Summit's web site has the #20921 unit for $831.69 which lists at March for $979.42). I'm going to measure tonight and see if it will work for my install. The guy at the hot rod shop already suggested changing the alternator to the driver's side and the A/C Compressor on the passenger's side. This should make it easier to route the lines into the evaporator. Any comments or suggestions?

It was a small group, but I had a great time with Vinny and Dave. Lot's of Z talk, car talk in general, and other interesting stuff. We also enjoyed a couple of brews and Vinny and I tested the racing video games. Too bad more people couldn't make it out...but maybe we can try again some other time.

Here it is:

Last time I checked, you could still get these at MSA. That's where I got mine from within the last year or so. They're more expensive than the other one's they carry, but they told me that the Kaminari air dam is higher quality. I'll try to post a straight on shot of mine later today.

Here's mine...sorry haven't painted it yet.

I used Premium Black Mat that I got from an auction on eBay. It's really good stuff that was much cheaper than dynomat or brown bread. I don't see any auctions for it, but here's a link to the company I got it from. http://www.perfectionsound.com/index.html

I can swing by if you need a ride. PM me with your info.

Unless I hear anything different I'll be in front of D & B's at 6:30.

We could schedule a later time if that's more convenient for everyone. Besides...if you want to see my car, it looks better in the dark.

What time could you get to Ontario Mills after work? We could meet later...or if others want to get together earlier, you could hook up with us after you get off from work.

How about we get together somewhere around 3:00? Most people have the day off, but it's the biggest shopping day of the year so it's going to be really crowded at Ontario Mills. Is Vinny working on Friday?

Why don't we just try to setup a time and place for people to get together? I was thinking of next Friday November 25th at Dave n' Busters in Ontario. Late afternoon or early evening (I have the day off). Maybe we can checkout Zhadman's RBZ as well. What do you think?

You may be right. I need to take mine apart and work on the body, but I'm enjoying being able to drive the car once in a while. Lately I can always come up with another reason why I shouldn't take it apart again (a show I want to go to, someone coming to visit that wants a ride in the car, etc.). It won't be too long before my car will be off the road for a while.