pparaska

I think all of the forums can attach files now. Let me know if it still doesn't work for you, Ari.

Eeew. Thanks Terry, that was pretty funny!

Strange, the permissions for the forums were different for uploading attachments. Don't feel bad, many of the other tehcnical forums, including the V8 forums - it's not a conspiracy Ari, Superdan, I just changed the settings to allow attachment uploads in all of the forums. Dan, if that's not o.k., please slap me .

FYI, SuperDan increase the Cookie Time Out to 1.5 hours

I call those "three-hundies", as in 300+lb'ers. Lot's in Laurel, MD, Few in Columbia MD, just 10 miles away They also seriously hang out at the Waffle Houses, all over the midwest, central and eastern states.

Amen to all of that, 2126! What I found a bit puzzling were these statements: I'm about 1/2 way through Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos". In it he states that the early clumping of matter into galaxies was actually just an effect of gravity between the small matter particles from the recent big bang. I found that interesting, as it seemed that gravity would interact to keep the homogeous (even) early density distribution of the universe homogeneous, but apparently, the clumping of the matter is what gravity would do. I wonder if that's what they mean by the early expansion wasn't smooth? BTW, Brian Greene's books on modern physics and cosmology are great for the non-physicist. I'm no physicists and I found his earlier book on Super String Theory ("The Elegant Universe") and the book I mention above quite accessible for the lay person to understand. Brian has a great knack for successfully describing complex physical and mathematical principles to lay-people without any equations. I highly recommend these books if you're interested in these topics. His "The Elegant Universe" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Dan, The "Time-Out for Cookie" setting is set to 900sec=15minutes. Could we up that to like an hour or something! That's why I keep getting logged out - sometimes I get distracted while creating a post, or just take a long time to research stuff as I write it and by the time I click "Submit", I've been "logged out" (the cookie timed out) and I loose what I post. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting this increased. But you're da boss. PS thanks for opening more of the stuff up for me to access in the Admin Ctrl panel. Pete

Rufus, I think I see what's going on - the image is too large pixel wise to be an avatar and get's resized. I'm looking into what the max size is before that happens. Pete

Cool! I want the GRX-3 V12!!!

Best price I've found for SPEC stuff is here: http://ultrarev.com/ No word on whether they are o.k. to deal with. Well, they are $305 for the clutch kit for my Chevy V8 with 28 spl input shaft WC T-5 But for the Datsun, $388: http://ultrarev.com/FX300_Clutchmasters_Stage_3_Nissan_240Z_1969_1972_4cyl_2.4L-p24010.html

Thanks, Rick. I'll probably go with the Stage 3, since it's rated above what my torque should be (for the 10.5" Camaro size). Hopefully this SPEC vs Centerforce clutch info is useful to others as well. I was worried about the driveability of the SPEC Stage 3, so it's nice to hear that it's not a problem.

Many years ago, with only 10,000 miles or so on the car, my 92 Eclipse GSX's clutch started slipping in 4th gear when the boost came on (modified wastegate control was installed). At the time, there really wasn't much support in the Aftermarket for Hi-Po clutches, except for Centerforce. The local DSM hotrod shop (ExtremeMotorsports) sold Centerforce, but was already working on a design of their own. The owner's father told me that the Centerforce Dual Friction pressure plate was simply a stock pressure plate replacement - no difference except the orange paint. This pressure plate did not have the weights. Now, mind you, my Eclipse is running maybe an extra 20 hp or so over stock. It's all stock except for the spring-relief type of wastegate control valve. I run about 14psi. But the Centerforce Dual friction setup has lasted over 120,000 miles. I'm not saying it's a good candidate for high performance use though. My point is that the Centerforce Dual Friction (but not with weights) pressure plate in at least this application looks, measures, etc. to be just a stock replacement pressure plate. Speeder : What do you think of the Spec Stage 3 clutch pedal effort, compared to stock? I'm considering that for my next clutch, or even the Stage 2 or 2+.

But if he wants to go really cheap, I think an old SBC will be much cheaper and easier in the long run. If he doesn't mind a few grand on a junkyard engine and trans, the, yes, the LS1/2/6 is a better choice.

David, this is great news! It's great to hear it all worked out! Keep us posted!

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say: Stock Civic Si = high performance FWD car.

I just lost another post due to this. I don't know how long this has been happening but it's at least the last few weeks. I get automatically logged off about every maybe hour or so. I'll be typing a response, not even a long one, and get logged of in the mean time and lose the post. This is getting REALLY annoying! I can't see hardly any of the stuff in the Admin control panel that I used to be able to see. So I have no way of seeing what the default log off time is. But I vote to increase it by a bunch! No, I don't want to "stay logged in forever" either.

I use Ulead PhotoImpact. It's not free, but $50. I've used it for years. One thing I REALLY like about it is a "before" and "after" window that are side by side, in the "Save for Web" selection. You can adjust JPG compression and see the result real time. Or change the color palette, etc. on a GIF or PNG and see the before after result. Are there any Free programs that do that? I haven't found any, although I do like Irfanview.

This thread has made me realize how lucky I am! During the building of my Z, my quiet, thoughtful father was there many a weekend day to help. He hardly ever tried to change my mind about how I was doing something, unless I asked. He has decent mechanical skills, but not nearly the ignorant fearlessness that I do when it comes to just "trying" something. But he was always there to help! He'll turn 88 this May, but is as strong and sharp as any 55 year old. For many reasons, I will really miss him when he's gone. I'm also very lucky to have met Glenn McCoy at the International Z convention when it was held in York PA many years ago. Glenn is a member here, but has never posted. You've probably seen pictures of his Daytona Cobra Replica, built from a modified Nalle body kit: http://alteredz.com/GlennCobraDaytona.html Glenn has been turning wrenched professionally for over 30 years, and is the best troubleshooter I've ever seen. He's worked on Datsuns, BMW, Mercedes, Mitsubishi's, and probably other brands either at dealerships or reputable repair shops. He's given his body a break now by taking a great job as a service manager at a high end repair facility that works on BMW and Mercedes. I've spent hundreds of hours on the phone with Glenn shooting the automotive $hit, asking questions, getting corrected on my silly ideas about how car stuff works, etc. Glenn will come over and help just about any weekend I would ask, I'm sure. He's raising 2 sons himself, and doing one hell of a job at it, but is always willing to help if he can. He's about 40 minutes away, just about on the edge of too far for quick trips. Mike Kelly and I talk about cars on the phone, but don't really work on each other's cars - he's about 100 miles away. But he does throw his Z "shindigs" (don't worry, there's no dancing - except for dancing girls ) Sometimes we do work on cars at those, other times we talk cars, politics, women, kids, you name it. I always look forward to those. The club thing bores me as well. The local club is more interested in pretty drives throug the country, going out to eat, watching the SuperBowl together, etc. They do at least have an occassional "tech" day, although that's usually about detailing . Fine people, I tell you, just not my idea of fun. With family commitments, I like to use "car time" away from the garage at a track event or at least a cruise in with REAL car guys who build their own stuff. I'm also lucky in that I found a great painter/bodywork crew to initially paint my car and now fix it. I don't do body work. I admit I absolutely suck at it and don't have the patience. I build my own engines, but have a class act machine shop near me that is expensive, but VERY competitent. Yes, I feel very lucky indead! But most of the time, I too am in the garage alone. I do wish I could get my 10 year old daughter or 12 year old son interested, or even my wife to come out and shoot the crap while I work, but I'm usually alone. Which is kind of nice sometimes...

I'm about 99.9% sure that the Rear Flares on that Z in the Scarab Brochure were the Jim Cook Racing "California Z" body kit: http://zhome.com/Oct2000/CalZ.htm I used to have that same California Z photo on my wall as a high school kid. I cut it out of a Jim Cook Racing Catalog. The front air dam on the Scarab Z in that brochure was probably made by another company as well. I have that Scarab Z article and a catalog from them from about 1981 as well.

Thanks, John! I'll get some Argon bottles and some ER308L Mig Wire!

I found some stuff on the internet that said for WELDING austentic stainless to carbon steel, basically that you have to: 1) Use an ARGON mix with less than 5% CO2 2) Clean the metals with Acetone or alcohol 3) Remove the heat tint with something like a nitric-hydroflouric acid to keep weld corrosion at bay. I'm considering silver brazing the two together as well. The project is to install a stainless fuel trap into a stock steel fuel tank. I won't be able to get at the back of the joint when completed, so removing the heat tint from welding or the flux residue from brazing are an issue. My current thought is to braze with a good silver brazing rod, and use a water based flux that is compatible with silver brazing material to be able to wash the back side of the brazing joint by pouring acetone into the tank and sloshing it around to remove the flux. If I could find a suitable adhesive/caulk, I'd consider gluing it in (probably use a few sheet metal screws as well).

OUCH! Very sorry to hear about this! Glad no one was hurt. And I hope the insurance comes through for you!

Sounds like a 6+ liter Turbo Diesel would be a good candidate!

Well, I'm a bit married to the stock tank, since I have the two mufflers and the cut-outs in the rear panel on the one side of the car. I could probably do a cell, but I now have room for a space saver spare.

Thanks, Clifton. That's ANOTHER good reason to look at putting an in-tank pump in the tank WITH a sump around it, like I posted about above in this thread. But it doesn't have the bling factor, hanging out of the bottom of the tank for everyone to see, so I guess it won't be too popular.