pparaska

Yeah, it was cool. Great meeting Jamie and his wife, drinking Mike's beer and his food, and watching Mike slave over the grill. Not bad for an old guy - he did it while standing for like 20 minutes Jamie and Mike brow beat me about my carb being to big. O.k., O.k., I'll put the 600 vac sec on and give it a try!

About the wankel sound. It sounded like a really long fart from a giant while idling and at low revs. As he left, he wound it up and it sounded good at hi rpm, but I couldn't live with a car that sounded like that at idle/cruise. It sounded awful to me. To each his own.

Rick - that Z is Beautiful! I love dark Blue also. What color is that? And what wheels? I've always liked 3-pc with black centers. Oh yeah, on your site I saw a pic of some unique mounting for a Diff off the Mustache bar - what was that! I love the Kaminari stuff. To me the BEST body kit for a 280ZX is the Kaminari - it's the way Nissan should have built it! The 240Z Kaminari stuff is sweet too!

I pulled the hood latch release on my buddies Z a few years ago - and the cable snapped. 30 year old cable with a bout 2 strands was waiting for me! We unbolted the hood from the hinges, lifted the hood a bit, and used a long screwdriver to reach from the left side of the car under the hood to move the lever to the left. Took a few minutes, but not bad. Try this for preventative maintenance: Loop a wire through the clevis that the release cable attaches to on the hood release lever and put it down the firewall and wrapped it around the brake lines. That way you can reach up under the car and find it and give it a pull when that cable finally breaks. Last time I checked, Nissan still has the cable assembly in stock.

Huh? Make what, a rally Z? Did you mean to link to a particular part of that site, or a picture from it?

Tom, Funny you mention body kits and spoilers. I was down in Mike Kelly's area yesterday with his step son in the car when I was getting gas at a local station. A young guy with a 2nd Gen RX-7 with dual stainless pipes that truly made a loud farting sound was complimenting on my Z and asked what body kit was on the front. It told him it was just an air dam that's been around for like 20 years. The moral of that story is that the car was DAMNED SEXY straight off the show room floor and didn't need a huge body kit to make it look good! I'd leave the posing ricers alone. They may someday actually add some performance parts to their cars and decide that all the loud exterior stuff is not what they like anymore and all it does is get yo's from their buds, laughs from everybody else, and too much attention from the people with bubble gum machines on their roof of their cars .

Thanks again guys. As for how I kept the flame going, I'll tell you what I think did it. I'm fortunate that finances didn't cause me to sell it, that I have a very understanding wife, that my dad kept helping me with it (that guy has incredible staying power for a 84 year old dude - he keeps up with me on 14 hour days in the garage!) One thing that's kept me going is my extended Z family on the Internet. Really, the people (mostly here on HybridZ) that kept asking me "when is it going to be done?" and "how'd you do that?" really made me feel like I HAD to finish it. I don't like to quit, and I was lucky that life dealt me a hand that allowed me to continue the marathon. Probably another reason was that it was THERAPUETIC. It's a hobby, and the "end" (getting to drive it) was just part of the fun!

MikeS, No, there's just no room above the mount area. That's exactly where the parking brake linkage is. What would be needed is a shorter mount. To get the stock mount in there, it'd take a VERY short mount above it. BTW, my GM tranny mount ripped. This is what was causing all the noise I had, and the diff hitting the crossmember. The mustache bar was holding up the entire diff! I had put alot of stress twisting the mount about a vertical axis when tightening the top stud last. It ripped the plate with the stud right off the stick GM tranny mount. I put an Energy Suspension urethane diff mount in it's place. (Heck, I had to pull the tranny over the weekend anyway! Ugh! It's back on the road and made the 150 mile round trip to Mike Kelly's B'day party yesterday.) Anyway, I couldn't use the "stiffener" plate that comes with the mount, as it spaced the diff down too far. Without the stiffener, I think it will be o.k. anyway. There was no untoward vibration that I could discern. With the secondaries opening up in 4th gear to show a Carerra Porsche that the old Jap car could get bigger FAST is his rear view mirror after he passed me on the highway, there was NO drivetrain vibration - only the sweet sounds of the X pipe dual exhaust going through 2.5" Hemi Super Turbo mufflers, and the induction noise through the holley Anyway, I see NO reason to even mess with the stock mount if you're going to the trouble of the pinion snubber. The Urethane diff mount is an interlocking design and very heavy duty. It serves to locate the front of the diff positively with little gear noise being transmitted, a bit of gear lash take up being transmitted, and most importantly, it locates the diff in a JTR positioned V8 Z at a great angle that gives a 1 degree or a bit more u-joint angle. No driveline vibrations from high torque application - one of the biggest problems with V8 Zs- is solved. The pinion snubber (over-the-diff-mount) design that Ron Tyler came up with is the best of all worlds IMO. It puts the mount in COMPRESSION under severe torque transfer during forward acceleration, and with the Urethane mount in it, it provides ample strength in acceleration and decceleration (taking your foot off the accelerator in a low gear). All this without alot of noise being transmitted. The gear noise coming from the Pro 5.0 shifter in my new Tremec 5spd is louder!

Davy, I agree - MikeS has a nice spread, car AND skills! Did you check out the quality, ideas, etc. in his work? It looks like the stuff you see in Rod and Custom, etc. Beautiful work, Mike!

Ugh. Typically, I've seen 1/4-3/8" or 3/8" to 1/2" spec'd for this. Doesn't sound good. But at least an oil pan on a JTR type V8Z is easy to pull!

Well, if I wanted to never know my kids (they're growing up fast and need more quality time) and I wanted a divorce, it'd be very soon! But since I don't want any of that, I guess it will wait 25 years or so until retirement! Plenty of time to plan! Until then, this "project" has plenty to keep me busy - with tinkering, improving, etc. They're never done!

Thanks again guys. LightningZ, that's the Xenon Urethane airdam that many vendors sell for the 240Z. Although I'm not crazy about the styling, I didn't want a fiberglass one, as I KNOW I'd crack it someday parking the car. BTW, it needs some reinforcement across the center and a bracket in the center to hold it up. It sags just sitting there, and with the air pushing on it, I bet it really sags. The 280Z version is similar, without the holes for the turnsignals.

Guys, I just wanted to make an update to my info here. As soon as I backed the car out of the driveway, I heard a banging noise in the rear. When I put the mount in, there was about 1/4" clearance between the bottom of the differential nose and the front crossmember, with the stock mount removed. Well, that's not enough. The diff hit the crossmember everytime I backed off. I band-aided it by putting some rubber between the two parts with a nylon tie, but I need to get the front crossmember out and take a chunk out of the top/center of the crossmember to make some clearance. I want to keep the crossmember there to hold the stiffen the front mount points from moving toward/away from each other due to cornering, braking, and acceleration loads, so the idea of hacking the ends off and just using them is out for me. 11 years, and it's still just a prototype .

Thanks for all the kind words . Lone, it was supposed to be a surprise. I had lined up a babysitter a week ahead of time, and was THRASHING Saturday afternoon trying to get her seat mounted, etc., etc. She came into the garage a few times, saw the commotion, and said "I know what your trying to do..." Oh well, I'm pretty easy to figure out. Anyway, then she started helping me clean the windows, put in some rugs, etc. So that was cool. Yes, she likes it. She always has like the car, but not the amount of time and money I spend on it. But she really does like it, loves the wheels the most, the paint next, and the engine after that . She even had me stop by a her friend's house that evening to show it off. Of course, after all those years it was a blast to actually drive it. I took it down the street and heard a banging underneath. The diff was slightly banging on the front diff crossmember, due to the above-the-diff mount pushing the diff down so much. 10 minutes to jack it up, put som rubber between them, nylon-tie it, and we hit the streets . The carb is screwed, as the off idle sag is DEEP and it falls on it's face until you open the throttle enough for the power valve to get a low signal and then she pushes you in the seat. It's much easier to drive hard than easy . It seems pretty quick, even with two barrels running. John - you funny guy - no valet will ever get the keys. Wouldn't do them any good anyway. I have a few tricks that need to be done to get it started . utvolman99 - I had all the stainless (except the door & hatch locks) powdercoated semi-flat black. I just like the trim blacked out on a dark car. Scottie-GNZ As soon as I break it in and get the carb issues straightened out, I plan on hitting the tracks - drag and road course. But I have a Road Dyno that I'll be using to do tuning analysis, etc., and some estimates of rwhp, usig their software. I wired a tach wire to the ashtray area, so hookup will be simple. Now, to figure out why I have a leak coming from the front of the Tremec ... (leaks out between the bellhousing and the tranny - but the hole I drilled at the bottom of the bellhousing below the clutch is dry - so it's not a rear main seal). Always an adventure!

It's late, but I will be in meetings all day tomorrow and I wanted to sign in and say thanks again for all the kind words. I'm trying to not get a big head with all this! BTW, I had a pint too much fluid in the trans. I had drained it when I pulled the engine/trans last Summer, and I filled it through the shifter hole (easier), putting the required 3 quarts of Synchromesh in it. Stupid me, I never pulled the fill plug on the side later to check the level. I pulled it tonight with the car up and level and an extra pint poured out! Hopefully that fixed the dribbling. There's a seal in the bearing retainer between it and the input shaft (per Fred at Darkhorse Performance - he always is willing to answer my questions!) and I think I overwhelmed the seal with all the fluid. Either that was leaking or I didn't put sealer on the longer bolt I used in the bearing retainer for the hydraulic throwout bearing! I hope it's not the latter, because that means the engine/tranny comes back out! I'll know tomorrow. Dr. Graham, that, the carb, the banging of the diff on the lower crossmember, it wasn't a clean "launch" out of the drydock. (Oops, ships get out of drydock quicker than 11 years - even cruise liners! ) Sounds like you're having a tough time of it - don't give up hope! Sean, tha paint color is an Audi 95-97 color, Color name: Europe Blue Mica. Color Code: LZ5T (Be careful, Audi used the same paint color name for the later (98 and newer), but it's a lighter blue, but not as nice looking IMO. The paint code for that color is also close to the earlier, nicer color, LZ5K, not LZ5T as used on my car.) Guys, I agree - the wheels do it. I can't take credit for really picking them - Jim Biondo did that years ago when he had them custom made. Without a wheel like that, especially with the polished rim, the car would not be as eye-catching. Scottie, I'll let you know about the Road Dyno. I think the literature talks about using it on EFI as well as other stuff. All it is is a time versus rpm datalogger. The software does the rest (calculates the torque, hp, etc.) All it needs is a hookup from a tach signal. I'll wait until I get the grill installed and the other mirror, and finish the interior before I do a photoshoot. Wonder how long that will be? Thanks again guys. It's pretty amazing to me that people post here and email me saying that I'm their inspiration. It's hard for me to swallow. I'm just glad that anything I've shared over the years was deemed useful by others. Cheers,

Thanks, guys. Owen, I took the 240Z center section, cut 3/4" out of the for/aft "depth" of it, and made some ends that taper/curve down to a point against the body at the edge. Since the stock bumper is only 16 or 18 gage steel, I just used 18 gage steel. I welded them on, and had the body guy do the putty thing to smooth it out. I also made new heavy duty mounts (steel, 1/4" angle, flat stock) to mimic the stock brackets, and between them welded a length of slightly curved 1" black pipe. So the bumper you see is just a bumper cover, and the pipe will transfer the loads to the stock Z body (which I left stock, but should have beefed up in retrospect - they're kind of flimsy).

...in the Z! I put some pics (it's not completed, but close) HERE . She said she never thought the day would come...can't blame her - it was 11 YEARS. The ride is a bit stiff, but not bad, IMO. The engine (carb, I think) needs ALOT of help. I'll post elsewhere about that. It was a lot of fun though!

denny, I'm glad you didn't get burned with the Klez. And no, I don't think this was a Klez thing either. It just didn't work the way Klez does. There are some issues with some other email addresses, but I won't go there here. I'm pretty sure this is a deliberate act. I laugh everytime they come through and Norton clobbers them!

Yeah, I need to talk to the heat transfer/ fluid dynamics experts at work. I'm having trouble believing that the scalloped edges are more than a secondary contributor to cooling. Thure, I want pics if you put those wheels on the Metro! Talk about the perfect "16 year old girls car"!

Thanks guys, after a small slap by someone on the 240Z-club mail list today, I appreciate those sentiments. I dunno about a million though!

My vote: SECOND CAM!

Nice score! I also think that GMC/Chevy screwed up when they changed from the 68-70 body style. Those have been my favorite for a long time. Plus the following model was a TOTAL RUST BUCKET.

Owen, I know a bit of what you're going through. Having to pull that motor that you thought was fine is a real pain and depressing. These projects can get strung out because of bad luck, stupid moves (not saying you made any, but I have!), and just good old "I might as well" and "ooooh, I need to do that to MY Z". In the end it will be all worth it! Good luck with the motor rebuild. Look at it as a opportunity to upgrade some of the internals .

Oops, I was talking about automatic trannies, as were the others. I'd say look for a Super T-10 or Muncie M-22 if you want a manual. These don't have overdrive, but are pretty strong. As for a clutch, there are many. I'd call McLeod and talk to them about what you need as far as a flywheel, clutch PP and disk.

I agree - run Norton with daily virus updates done automatically, and run auto-protect on all incoming files and internet web accesses. Just being a vocal anti-purist surely has made me a target - I could care less if they keep sending me viruses. Too bad their little world is so petty that the spawn negativity and closed mindedness instead of just DOING SOMETHING COOL. The admins here get lots of viruses emailed to us. We just laugh it off and let the software trash-can it. Such losers. I feel sorry for them.