pparaska

I understand the desire to DIY it. I think if you can get it down to around 1", it will work without binding. But if you can do it by creating a pocket for the companion flange bolting rectangle, that would help a good bit.

I'm about 99% sure that you are correct - you are binding the CV joint(s) and the issue is that the adapter is too thick, causing the tripod joint to bottom out in the reciever of the CV joints. Any way you can make them thinner? Cut a pocket into the side shown where the compantion flange bolts to it? Or just buck up for Ross's adapters, which are a proven solution.

When John Hunter Dailey (UK Z Car Club "Z club magazine"'s "American Correspondent") asked me for a one-liner quote about my car, I told him "Pushrods aren't so bad!". That was shortly after he took a few photos of my car at the 2003 Z Convention Track Day at New Hampshire International Speedway's road course. Later in a phone interview with me, he asked me to elaborate on why I said that. (My Z, along with others at the Z convention was the subject of a photo/article spread by John in the Autumn 2004 Z Club Magazine - Thanks John!) I said that it was really just an off the cuff comment I came up with in an environment where I was the only Z owner on the track with a pushrod engine. You have to realize that Z conventions are about Z's, not about HybridZ's with pushrod V8's, so the V8Z is kind of an opprobrium there. I went on to say that many of the younger crowd (that grew up riding in their parent's Honda's, etc.) think that pushrods=junk. I went on to talk about the LS1, etc., and the advantages of the pushrod design, especially if you have no limits on displacement (i.e., Japan's taxation for anything over 2 Liters), and therefore don't need to have high rpm to make horsepower. I got this forwarded to me on another list and think it's a good discussion of the design trades in engines - OHV vs OHC. Notice the issue of engine size versus displacement - the OHV (pushrod) design generally allows for more displacement. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3012/is_5_184/ai_n6055102

O.K. One more post on this. What GWB's plan is trying to do, I believe without coming out and saying it is this: SS is WELFARE for retired folks. We're moving away from it being an entitlement for everyone program to a welfare program. The way we can do that is this: Let people put away money for themselves and pay less SS taxes into the welfare SS system. Some is still needed from everyone, so we will still have you pay that 1.5 or 2%, but we want YOU to be able to invest the other 4% in a tax free way for YOUR retirement. What he's not telling you is that he probably wants to end the "SS is an entitlement for every retired person" system, and make it truly a WELFARE system for retired people that NEED it. That'd be political death for anyone that lined up with him to back it, and he'd get NO help. But I think it's a plausible way to ween EVERY retired person off the system and just pay the retired folds that NEED it. With that message now clear that you shouldn't depend on THE GOVERNMENT to do your retirement savings for you, hopefully people that make more money than they really need will start putting it away in good investment accounts so that we won't have to pay them RETIREMENT WELFARE when they do retire. Believe me, if things don't go down the toilet in the next 20 some years until I retire, I'll be in good shape to pay my own bills in retirement from my own investments, and I'll be working very hard to give the SS $$$ back to the SS administration or just give it to retired people who need it - I'm sure there are or will be charities set up to do that.

Guys, thanks for making the points I was too tired to make at the time But let me be clear on why I think SS is screwed up: Social Security is WELFARE for the rich. If we can't agree on that point, then we'll just have to disagree and move on. My opinion on SS: SS is welfare for old people who didn't have the ability to save enough for their retirement. My HUGE beef with SS is that there ought to be some kind of mechanism to keep people who have huge bankrolls at retirement from collecting on SS!!!! If it is WELFARE, then the rich retiree shouldn't be getting it!!! The Feds NEVER SHOULD HAVE said this was a system everyone pays into AND EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO DRAW ON. It's welfare for the retired that NEED it. That's what it was really developed for. People like Mike's parents and many others are valid SS recipients. But someone that's retiring today with a huge bankroll shouldn't get a penny. Sure, you paid into SS all your working life. BIG FREAKING DEAL. You also paid Medicare all your working life. You also paid taxes all your working life - which is where WELFARE CHECKS and FOODSTAMPs are paid from. Do you see my point? If we are going to have a socialist systems to take care of people who truly can't take care of themselves (which bothers me NONE) then lets manage the systems in a rational and fair way. Not everyone (thank God) is in need of and therefore not entitled to WELFARE CHECKS. So riddle me this batman - WHY THE F*** should everyone be entitled to SS checks if they don't need the SS WELFARE CHECKS to get along in retirement!!! I've never since I was 13 and started paying SS taxes thought I was going to see one penny from it. My dad sat me down and told me that I should just think of it as another welfare tax that I'll probably never need, if I can save enough for retirement on my own. So that's what I've been doing since I was able to when I got my first real job in my career - socking away as much as I can without going over the $13000 (this past year) maximum before you start paying taxes on it GOING IN. And you know what - it really wouldn't bother me one bit that I've paid (let me pull out my SS statement that I got a few weeks ago) $53000+ in SS taxes, and $12000+ in Medicare - IF it was being used as a welfare payment to those who are retired and actually NEED THE MONEY. What pisses me off is that that SS tax money is going into the pockets of rich people who are now retired.

I think Kim Blough just found his poster boy!!!!

Good info!!! Years ago when I was doing my swap, all I had or could find was the 2.00" pilot flange. I ended up having a driveshaft flange made from a slip yoke and a piece of 3/8" thick steel plate. We know the NEAPCO part number 2-2-899-1 is a functional replacement of the DAT-110 part for the 2.25" piloted flanges. It's nice to know this so you can just source it locally. It'd be nice to know what part number works for the 2.00" pilot flange (like the DAT-110-2.0)

I feel like Johnc starting a thread like this. But the SS thing has been in the media so much lately, and now I find this article in the liberal washington post that doesn't sound so liberal at all. I resonate with what the author writes so much I feel like I wrote it and he stole it! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61696-2005Mar23.html In other words, call the cards as you see them. Social Security is a WELFARE SYSTEM. I've been saying this for years. What got me started on having an opinion on this topic was something I saw on TV probably 10 or 15 years ago. A bunch of rich (many of them with $1M in the bank) retired folks were being interviewed and they were screaming about how they were ENTITLED to every penny of their SS benefits, since they'd paid into the SYSTEM for years. They felt it was their ENTITLEMENT to have "their money" back. I wanted to jump through the tube and punch the old farts. I guess that maybe I should retire early and go down to the welfare office to collect that WELFARE that since I've paid my taxes since I was 13 am clearly ENTITLED TO. Same freaking thing, if you ask me. We aren't ENTITLED to any kind of handouts, if you ask me. This country is going down the tubes - IMO, one of the major reasons are all the ENTITLEMENT programs - oh sorry to be so PC - I mean WELFARE programs and the mindset that Americans have by and large that they are all ENTITLED to these 4 types of WELFARE - Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and good old WELFARE checks. Next we'll offer ENTITLEMENTS to illegal aliens as one of their RIGHTS for jumping the border into our country.

The old Z has such great styling, it will turn heads of every kind of person with a heartbeat. The Sentra and the 350Z mentioned above don't get that attention. I get muscle car people, honda people, Miata people, old people in Mercedes, you name it stopping to talk about my Z and they always gush over the looks. It's very hard to beat the looks of the S30 body. Keep it! There's more to cars than what they'll do in the quarter mile or at the track. Plus, the Z will be cheper to work on and easier to work on. Oh, I can't agree more about it having the CORRECT wheels being driven for a sports car (although AWD is fun too!).

Sorry, I'd be fined, imprisoned, shunned, and lose my job and the chance of getting others in my field. Sorry I can't accomodate you Oops, I guess that smilie was too far away for me to understand you were joking. I'm a bit comedy challenged during these kinds of debates - apologies.

Take a closer look at those two bellhousings: Hays/Lakewood one you linked to: ...and the Sonic/Tilton one. Look at the picture at the bottom of the 1st page of the pdf: http://www.tiltonracing.com/pdfs/stellhousing.pdf I think the Sonic/Tilton one will give you a lot more ground clearance and room for long tube headers/exhaust.

crazy, I'm done debating you on this. By my count, before I gave up, you just rebutted everything I said with your own opinions, basing it on things you believe from what you've read from a few sources from what I can tell, but won't consider that some of us with connections and security clearances that can see the intell might have a different story, for one matter. Believe what you want, I can see you'll take some media response or Hans Blix complicit word for things before looking any deeper, on just that one point. Read this, if you want some CORRECT info on dual use technology in Iraq.http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5.html#sect0 On the rest of it, we'll just have to disagree. What I'd love to see happen in an alternate universe where time travel exists is take you and put you in pre 2003 Iraq, put a turban on your head and make you a Shiite or Kurd. I wonder what song you'd be singing then about we should have waited for MORE diplomacy with Saddam, or that 150,000 soldiers were a waste. Calling GWB names (BASTARD) does seriously take away from your argument - again, you can't seem to hide your emotions even when you're trying to. I've got better to do things than continue this any longer.

Some of the racing 153 tooth bellhousings won't accept a 10.5 inch clutch, since they taper quickly. This one however supposedly handles a 10.5 inch clutch hat. I may be buying one of these and selling my Lakewood to enable me to make long tube headers more easily. Notice I say "may". Depends on if I decide to make my own headers or not.

This would help the V8Z crowd quite a bit, if starting from scratch with a T-5, Muncie, T-10, Tremec 5spd (with GM bolt pattern), etc. I used the old Lakewood bellhousing that is for 168 tooth flywheels (http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=TIL%2D12003) I had to cut the bottom part of the flange that hangs the lowest off that piece to get ground clearance. It also made getting the exhaust around it problematic, but not too bad. With the recent talk of long tube headers, it'd seem that this new piece would be a welcome addition. http://www.tiltonracing.com/content.php?page=feat1 http://www.tiltonracing.com/pdfs/stellhousing.pdf "Sonic Formed Steel Bellhousing Sonic's formed steel bellhousing is specifically designed for short track racing, offering excellent quality, performance and value. Unlike other formed steel bellhousings on the market, this bellhousing is designed for the 153-tooth flexplate and eliminates the need to cut the bottom out of the bellhousing to gain ground clearance. Features: - Specifically designed for 153T flexplate for the most ground clearance no cutting required - Blueprinted for accurate driveline alignment - Lightweight: 24 lbs - Extra rigid for reduced power-robbing driveline flex - 1/4" thick steel meets requirements of many racing series - Accepts stock-type pivot ball/mechanical release bearing or Sonic's bolt-in hydraulic release bearing - Fits a wide variety of clutches, including small diameter multi-plate clutches and 10.5" OE-type clutches - Powder coated for long-term durability" http://tilton.carshopinc.com/product_info.php/products_id/74063/12003 $340.95 Coleman Racing Products sent me a flyer quoting a price o $349.95

Amazing stuff! What racing class is this being built for?

http://www.enotalone.com/books/1400053153.html Let's not forget how mainly France, and also Germany and Russia send critical weapons technology to China and other parts of the Eastern Communist Block without a second thought as to the impact other than the $$$$$$. Another reason I could give a $hit about what France and Germany think of what we do. As one of my favorite philosophers once said, while standing on a street corner in London: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1363329/posts "England Show, Part 1 (0624) Al at Speakers Corner: "Am I alone in hating the French?" Crowd: "No!" Al: "I thought not." " And it's not because they are socialist, stuck up Aholes either. There are good reasons for us to hold the French government in contempt.

Actually, what would be even better is for him to read the various Scarab vs JTR threads in the forums, so that he can rebut or not the issues contained there.