HeatRaveR

I installed a Mustang Steeda T5 short shifter on my '82 Turbo last weekend. Ever since then, I've been getting this strong smell of what seems to be manual transmission fluid when I'm in motion (kind of a dizzying, almost vinegary/alcoholish smell). Strangely enough, I only smell it when I have the window down a couple inches. If I have it all the way up, or all the way down, I don't smell it. So I'm guessing the pressure of air sucks the smell into the car at speed when the window's at a certain height. I've tried sniffing around the engine bay, the shifter, and under the car, but can't find the source of the smell. I even checked around the shifter and it's dry as a bone. I'm guessing maybe the smell only appears at speed because the transmission is actually spinning/doing something. Any ideas as to how to track down this leak/smell, and/or what suddenly caused it? I just don't know how a short shifter could cause a leak somewhere in the tranny. By the way, does anyone know where the fluid inspection hole is on the Borg-Warner T5?

You can also get them at automotive stores like Pepboys, Kragen, etc.

I have every Top Gear episode, and unfortunately, this segment is not in any of them. I know Jeremy Clarkson does make a lot of car DVD's/videos not associated with Top Gear, so this may be one of them. I did download a "Top 100 Cars of All Time" video that he made, and the S30 ranked at #33 (not bad). He ranked the Z32 much lower, like in the 80's or 90's of the list, but at least it was there.

Hehe, a couple pics of my 280ZX made it into their Vol. 26 MSA show coverage. It was the only S130 they printed (all the rest were S30's of course).

I suspect that means "Roadster", as in the Miata (aka "Eunos Roadster")

Why would you need a VIN # for that?

I grounded mine to that same head bolt near the top of the picture, but I ran the other end directly the battery terminal. Should that suffice as well, or should I run it to the body (probably near the shock tower)?

Haha, seriously. I wish there was somewhere I could save that music video to my hard drive instead of having to load it up everytime.

I'm actually kinda more interested in doing a Megasquirt conversion instead of the Z31 conversion. But I guess that'll have to wait for the time being..

Even though the old M Coupe had a boxy hatch area (most people expect a sloping hatch like other sports cars), that's actually what I kinda liked about it. At the least, it'd have a lot more cargo room from the boxy, almost wagon-like hatch area.

Making the intercooler out of a more efficient material sounds great, but the reference to "space age" materials makes it sound like it'll be expensive..

I took a close up pic of a WRC Subaru's front lip at a car show. Looking at the high-res pic on my hard drive, it looks like there's a weave pattern to it, as though it were made of carbon fiber.

Maybe the seller used to have some bigger wheels on there, but decided to keep them.

Yeah, I saw this awhile back. I just had to have that song after watching it, and now it's part of my driving mix. ^_~

Palm Desert? That's CA isn't it? I'm in CA too, though up in the SF Bay Area though.

I've seen this kind of thing on rally cars. Does anyone have any idea what type of material they use? Perhaps some kind of abs/urethane? Though from pictures, it kinda looks like rubber or vinyl. So the general concensus is that rubber is too flexible to be effective at higher speed, and that lawn trim (whatever that's made out of) is stiff enough? Does that lawn trim stuff have enough flexibility that it won't bend up the front end it's bolted to if it hits something (ie curb, road debris)?

That sounds kinda like what Subarus do with their top mount intercoolers (horizontal mount with a duct). Though I would imagine that putting it on the bottom risks getting gummed up with road debris after awhile. I don't see how it would get 3x the cooling ability of a FMIC while being smaller, though. Can you elaborate?

I yoinked one of those switches from the junkyard, hoping to adapt it to my 280ZX, but I haven't had time to investigate that yet. Like, if simply wiring up the switch in place of a regular switch will make it work, or if there's other components that's needed.

I've always read so many discussions about the ideal place to put a vent to have the hot engine bay air escape, but it seems to hard to get a conclusion from them. Is the concensus that the ideal place to put a vent is actually near the front, just behind the radiator? (which would be approximately just before the beginning of the power bulge) Or is it better to have it more towards the rear so that any heat generated by the engine itself can also escape?

What about getting one of those metal radiator hose kits?

I wouldn't want them to bring back the "Datsun" name. Having it be a discontinued brand name gives it a certain exoticness that I appreciate. Besides, at the least, I wouldn't want the name associated with a hip-hoppy, youth gen-whatever market. I doubt the Japanese companies are cool enough to bring out a retro-design like the American companies are doing. They're all about looking forward, not back, it seems.

So if given a choice, how does one know/calculate what the ideal breakaway torque rating of an LSD should be? Is the ideal BT dependent on engine output?

damn, I really wish I could've made it last year. I really wanted to check out some of the Chaparrals in person (I'm assuming those don't come out every year?)

I've got em too, on my 280ZX. However, because of the different shape of the curvature on the rear of the angel eyes light housing, it is in contact with the metal frame it mounts to. I don't know if it does that for the S30's though.

Haha, according to the 85mph speedo in my 280ZX, the fastest I've ever gone is....85mph