pparaska

Excellent point. The way I like to see the grounds run is a large cable from the battery to the engine block, or even on a starter mounting bolt. Then a good sized ground strap from the engine block (near the negative battery cable connection on the block and/or starter) to the frame or sheetmetal. The starter needs far more current than the rest of the car (except for maybe a competition stereo ). That's why the ground cable from the batter should go to the engine. Actually, on the Z, I ran dedicated ground wires (as large a gage as the wire on the Positive side of each circuit) to various know bad ground paths. Such as the front and rear light circuits.

Ross, structurally, I agree. But it can make for a cleaner looking install and helps seal the radiator to the support.

Nope. They're Moroso tall cast aluminum no-logo crinkle black finish ones. The black was a sacrifice to the issue of heat rejection versus shiny looks.

Mike, sounds like a nice system and a good deal! Congrats, Pete "green w/ envy" Paraska

I also think that the 240Z looks alot better without a bumper, if the body is smoothed in that area. But I don't like having a calling card for being pulled over, so I still will have one. I took a 240Z bumper, and cut 3/4" out of the top horizontal "depth" of it. (BTW, it's so thin, I cut this off over teh entire legth of the middle portion with tin snips!) This makes the bumper shallower and it won't stick out as much as stock. Of course, the brackets need to be shortened (easy) or make new ones (easy) to mount it close to the body. Also, I'm having it painted the same color as the car to help "hide" it. I cut it off one each side of the car and I'm making ends for it to taper it down to just reach the corner at the 1/4 panel and rear panel. I used 280Z 1/4 panels and had the bumper mounting hole filled. I don't like the "wrap around" look of the OE bumpers either.

I'm going to be the devil's advocate here, guys. When first raising the aft end of my R200, I drilled new holes 3/4 of a hole above the original holes and filled in the bottom 1/4 of the hole with weld. Then Paul Ruschman emailed me when he saw that on my site and said he was worried about welding on the spring steel of the mustache bar. After talking to some materials engineers and a specialty spring fabricator, they agreed that I probably took the temper out of the bar and weakened it. Weakening it in that area is the worst place (highest stresses there, and the holes are stress concentrations). So I got another bar and did a mod similar to what JTR recommends for raising the diff (removing the top isolator washer). Just be careful if you plan to weld on this piece. Drilling that bar is a pain, BTW - get some cobalt bits. Does the R230 swap mean that you are just enlarging the holes, possible offset a bit? As long as that's all you're doing and you don't heat it too much with the machining operation, you should be fine. Maybe something like a side milling of the holes would introduce less heat? [ May 22, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

Jim, the Cobra fan is big - over 19" shroud diameter. I had to cut off the "arms" and make up my own brackets to mount to horizontal bar I ran across the bottom of the radiator. The top radiator had tabs sticking down from it that I made small brackets from. Luckily, it just covers the Camaro radiator (JTR spec'd one) I think the Taurus fan is a better way to go, as it has a full shroud over the core and is easier to mount and probably cheaper in the yards. I imagine it has the same motor in it as well, although it'd be good to check that. I have part numbers off the Cobra fan motor if we want to check that. BTW, I made sure my radiator was well sealed to the radiator support - so that no air could flow through the big hole in the support and go around the radiator. This can make a difference at speed. I also made sure that the A/C condensor was sealed to the radiator support - all air that enters the A/C condensor is ducted to the radiator core - no leakage from the front of the A/C condensor to the back side of the radiator core.

If the price is right and you can swing it, and it is as nice as she said, GO FOR IT. On the trans crossmember - I'd just design a different one. The JTR on is not as conducive to exhaust routing as it could be. If the humps on either side of the trans were higher, I would have more clearance in that area, which is my lowest point. I'd get some sched 40 black pipe, some of the bar stock they use, and make one with taller "humps".

Dan, for the money of buying a tach adapter, I'd add a bit more and just put an aftermarket 5" tach in the thing. Easy to do and not a ton of money. Alot more accurate I'd imagine, also. Any idea how accurate the OE tach will be after the adpater is installed?

Make sure the powdercoater does a good job - It's not easy getting it to go inside the parts. My crossmember is somewhat bare in the very middle inside due to probably an inattentive powder coater.

Damn, too late - my car will be in the paint shop Monday.... If this comes together soon, let me know, I'd love to yank that one-piece Jap spec spoiler off and use yours, Terry. Thanks for initiating this!

Call Mardi at Raxles.com He's very helpful and if he sees you might have him do a set, I'm sure he'd help. Cool guy.

If it is reverse rotation, the cam is of no use to you. I don't know about the crank, probably o.k.

I don't think it's much of a big deal to use a 240Z. If you're going to put mucho torque in it, it should have some stiffening if it's a 240Z or 280Z IMO. If it has no rust, you're that much better off. I like the looks, interior, and light weight of the 240Z, personally. I'd go for it.

Hi Stealth, glad you found us. I remember seeing your car at the Atlanta convention in 95 (in primer) reading about your car and the dyno runs on your setup on the Z mail lists, etc. 450hp out of the L6 - that's impressive. What kind of torque did that setup (T3/T4E stage V 69A/R 50 trim) have at say 200 rpm? Also, what do the ball bearings buy you, even lower spool rpm? Welcome,

Stony, I have a picture of the parts laying on the floor after I unbundled them. I believe some of the other suppliers (Allison?) also make roll bar kits that are maybe better than the S&W one. Some people don't like the fact that the S&W on is not seamless tubing, but that doesn't bother me. I'll take pictures of the roll bar install once I get the car back out of paint jail and post them. Cheers,

Any 280Z will have the correct stub axle. The flange will end up in the same place, so brakes, wheels will be unchanged.

I was thinking about an old Volvo with a JTR V8 conversion for my next daily driver. I'm not kidding .

Welcome! Sounds like a cool project and you've hooked up with some knowledgeable folks there. Can't wait to see pictures of the entire car underneath and all...

Funny, I was reading my dad's Mustang (Monthly?) magazine the other day and they were showing formulas to go from backspacing to offset and left out any mention of lip width or where rim width was measured from. Very bad misinformation, I was annoyed with that in a major mag.

Terry, you are a man of many talents. My wife just came in the den to see what I was laughing about (read your post above and couldn't help it.) I was picturing your disgust and hugging the Z . Thanks, better than Benny Hill, Eddy Murphy, and Monty Python rolled together! So, was the Red Z still it good shape externally?

Webwalker, did I miss something? We're on different planes of conciousness, I believe....

Like scca-Mike said. And the CV shaft swap can't use the 280ZXTurbo companion flanges for this reason. If you change to the 280Z stub axles, and want to do CVs, you need an adapter like Scottie did a GP of.

Hmm. That's pretty much what I was thinking - that off idle the response might not be as good. As for the question as to whether I'd still think it's acceptable, I agree the only way to know is to put a Vic Jr. on there.