pparaska

I really like the look of that red car AND the airdam/bumper. MSA ought to source that for us!

Sorry Kevin, all my funds are tied up -- in the car!

The A4's come in black cloth for the $320 list price. You can get leather in any color for more money. I have two black cloth A4s, one bolted in. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

The A4 is called a "touring seat" by Corbeau. You can check it out at: http://www.corbeau.com/brochure/a4.html Good padding in the bottom cushion. Sounds like you were sitting in the Clubman, or some similar "racing seat" ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

Sounds great, Dave!

Tom, I'd love to hear more about your V8 RX-7. Have a web site on it? Thanks, Pete

WOW! Somebody, if they have ever seen something as deep and thought provoking posted on a car related web site, chime in. Michael, that was very impressive and informative! Thanks! ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

I test fit a Miata seat in my car and they fit very well. I also test fit a 1st Gen Eclipse seat in and they are a bit too wide and too high in the seat bottom. I then had a Sparco "Road" seat (a bit upgraded from the Sparco seat that Chris Cloude has in his 280Z). They fit well, but getting in and out of them was a bit too tight for me, in the seat. Plus they didn't have a recline function, that I wanted. The Corbeau A4, Mike Kelly told me about. OG Racing had no problem with me returning the new Sparco to get the A4. I added Lumbar adjustment bags to the order (they need to be put in at the factory at $69 + $25 labor) so the price was over $800 for seats. Yeah, pricey, but remember guys, I've taken 10 years to build this car (still not done) so these money hits don't all come at once . Think of it as amortizing the project cost over the length of a short mortgage period . The Miata seat is a good fit. I just was not too impressed with the feel of them - I didn't think they had the kind of support I was looking for. The Corbeau A4 has nice side bolsters to keep you in, and the rest of the seat fits me very nicely, like a glove so to speak. They also have cut-outs in the seat back for the harness I want to run. They don't weigh much, less than 10 lbs each as I recall, and the have reclining mechanisms that the Sparco Road did not. But then again, $800 is almost that set of Al heads I want - I guess they'll just have to wait. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

RatedR, welcome! The kinds of questions you are asking are good ones. Definitely get a copy of the JTR book on doing this conversion (click here for an intro to the book and ordering information links). The automatic transmission is easier to drive in a high powered light car, and easier to convert. However, some of us prefer shifting our own gears, especially for street and road coarse use. Drag racing, usually people want the automatic for that. The JTR book is the bible on this - read it several times and then come here, read the old posts, and ask questions. Cheers, ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited March 01, 2001).]

tjc74 (what's your name?), I haven't heard of a kit for the 90. I believe I've heard of it being done though. Glad you found us. With the power that the 90+TT makes, I can see why that crowd might not approve of the V8. But the v8 gives you a different power band, etc., so let's just say "we understand your desires". Welcome! ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

Just my unqualified opinion, but the Z is one of the easiest car's around to drive at the limit. I used to spin/slide around every corner in the rain, snow, etc. with the 6 in there. Granted the V8 will cause it to be even more spinny, but I can imagine how it will still be very controlable. That's exactly why watching Darius's spinning in all gears video didn't bother me too much. It seemed he was letting off and the car was back in control immediately. But this is also the reason I went to the LSD - to get better control leaving the turns under throttle. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

Michael (Ol), our resident aerodynamicist, will hopefully chime in soon. The way he explained the spoiler to me (let's see if I get this correct) was that it helps create a stationary vortex just in front of the spoiler, and this causes the flow to separate higher up the hatch, which shortens the streamline path over the car, and reduces the lift. I don't know if it does much to kill the effect of the Kamm (sp?) tail of the Z, but it might cause the flow to detach enough that it won't just hang behind the car as much. That's my shot at "winging" this topic . Go ahead Michael, try to teach me this stuff again, please. . ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

That's the right seal, if it's an R200 pinion seal. I'm guessing your housing is at teh low side of the build tolerance. Was it cleaned out well where the seal goes in? If the seal is in there and parallel to the face of the opening, and it doesn't ride on a rough part of the companion flange, or interfere with it, it should be o.k.. But I know I'd be concerned as well. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

quote: Originally posted by Mikelly: A half in spacer puts the wheel way close to the strut coil over adjuster (Within less than 1/8th inch) so I got a series of billet spacers and moved the wheels outboard 7/8th of an inch and I have plenty of room. Bottom line is if you don't want to use a wheel spacer, plan to buy wheels with no more than 5.25 inches of back spacing. If you've got flares, I agree. If you have stock fenders, you won't have the luxury of spacing the wheel/tire out from the strut. This is why I had to use 8" coil-over springs on 17x9 wheels and stock fenders. Those wheels look great on there, Mike!

Not to be a mother hen, but driving around with a fuel leak is pretty dangerous, especially if the car backfires through the exhaust. That backfire your friend helped with through the carb might have blown out the power valve - if it's a Holley carb. Holley and Spectre make a simple to install check valve to keep that from happening. Of course, you'll need a new check valve too. This is really common on the older Holley's that didn't have this check valve in them from the factory (like the newer ones do). Good Luck, Pete

I agree on all the points DavyZ made. The cam is too big for the street, and if it's JTR, that's easily remedied.

I used a hammer and chisel at/near the spot welds where I couldn't get to them with an angle drill motor and spot weld drill. A gas ax, would be easiest, a buddy did it that way. Go for the welds. There are a bunch of spot welds, and some short beads where the stiffener and the actual flanges attach. I left the stiffener (only about 3/4" high) in the tunnel to help with stiffness/ringing of the tunnel sheetmetal.

BLK, you mean like this? : (larger version at: http://members.home.net/pparaska/image/body/coveredtunnelleft3v.jpg It's about 6" below my knee, in easy reach. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

Terry, I love all the pics. As much as I love your car I think I found the Tesla Coil pics the most interesting! That look on your face at the workbench is priceless !

BLKMGK, you might want to find a clutch rebuilder. They should be able to disassemble and resurface the PP. Then again, if it's smooth and flat, a brake glaze breaking disc on the drill motor to break the glaze and put a swirl pattern back on the disc might be the way to go. Oh yeah, see if you can get a dual friction disc from McLeod, etc. That'd give you a bit of margin on holding power with the stock PP. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

I grew up with buds with Chevy's, Mopars, and Fords. Seems the Mopars could run quite well! A bud had a 70 AAR Cuda with a hopped up 340 w/ W2 heads, single plane, solid cam, 4spd, 4.11s NICE ride. I say go for it! John, I'm very disheartened to hear that you kept quiet about this swap for fear of ridicule. That's exactly what we try NOT to have going on here - we want to hear about all kinds of swaps! I can't wait to get SuperDan to make up a Mopar V8Z Tech Board! ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited February 24, 2001).]

Not much room under there for that, with big exhaust, the front diff cross member, parking brake mechanism above the diff nose, etc. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

Check out: http://24.4.88.29/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000408.html There's a discussion of wheel/tire sizes there. I doubt the 255/50-16 will fit easily, as a coilover, fender lip rolling, and a short spring is needed to JUST GET a 255/45-17 under a stock wheel well (see my site for details.) I'd think that with the strut being farther out 1/2" below compared to where the 17x9 and 255/45-17 come close to it, you'd need that much less backspacing, pushing the tire out too far for a stock fender. Maybe a fender trim or slight pulling out would make it work. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited February 23, 2001).]

I agree, sounds like a head gasket. Are the surfaces of the heads nice and flat, and have a good surface on them? Any sign of oil or water going into the cylinders?

Well, I don't know, but if my company went belly up, I'd yank the web site. http://www.arizonazcar.com is still working.