Cal Poly Zmanaustin

240HOKE, just took look at your cage and paint job. Looks awesome. Nice work.

Welcome. Just Type R200 in the search and you will find more than you need. Good Luck.

Well my old 240z set up had a lightly massaged L28 and I was running 200 in front and 225 rear. This was actually a set up to prep for more ponies later, but the car got sent to the grave. I would think you want the rear higher otherwise the car won't be tuned properly. I hope I say this correctly: If you compare the frequency distribution of the fronts and rears you want the rear to be shorter so that when any movement occurs the rear is in balance with the front. In other words the rear needs to be stiffer to catch up to the front so that the car settles quicker. Also, I went with this stout set up because I didn't want the rear to squat too much. With my little 2.8 I could've gone with 175 front and 200 rear no problem. A lot of this has to do with preference, whether you want a car that moves a bit or is really tight. I like it a little loose so I can feel a little more what the car is doing while road racing. You ask 10 guys you will probably get 10 different opinions. Good Luck,

I agree what a tease! It just goes to show that some of us (the entire Z community) cheap bastards can find success. Great find. Congrats.

Any good sources you recommend for acquiring the entire drivetrain for the swap? Thanks.

do a search for Terry Oxendale (aka Blueoval) I believe he has them and not sure about this, but John C. might have them too. good luck,

There was a new member inquiring about LS1 stuff that had Outlaw brakes on his car. Don't know when he purchased his, but he might know the latest. I thought his site had a link also.

Right on! Hilarious caption with the photo too! LMAO.

Congratulations!

Wecome to HybridZ. We can already tell you are a sharp guy since you picked about the best resource for these cars out there IMHO. I would concur with the comments above. I will add one other thought. Think about what you want. I know you listed a few possibilities, but actually plan them out on paper and get an idea of the scope, cost and down time involved. If you don't know, keep reading this site and do some research. The best part about doing this on paper is it costs nothing to change your mind. Wished I followed that advise years ago. I changed my mind countless times after I finished. Not efficient and often expensive to do. Also, would like to agree that you should stay away from the RB swap if you are on a tight budget. I would argue that if you are on a tight budget and limited in skill the L28ET could be a tough one too. Lots of choices for upgrades and you can fall victom to the "what if I upgrade this" syndrone. With that said my recommendation is to stay focused on school and start looking over the weak points in your car: brakes, suspension, cooling system, etc., to see what needs attention first; that way once you decide on a motor swap or upgrade the rest of your car will be up to the task. Good Luck,

Great topic and great information guys. Thanks.

My buddy owns a shop in Northern California and his answer to your question is RB25. He is doing the RB25 swap for his personal car after weighing those same decisions. I have not personally done either swap, but have read a ton about it and talked to some of my gearhead buddies about it. The general consensious is the RB25 is a cheaper swap. If you want to go beyond 500hp then it can be argued a bit more. Also, someone with good fabrication skills and high comfort with the wiring it becomes less of a cost issue and more of a time issue, because the RB26 is clearly more difficult. If you are not doing all your own fabrication and install work then the cost will obviously go up significantly. With that said IMHO based on my knowledge of this swap the RB25 is still the cheaper route. Good Luck,

sounds right.

Unless you find some "special" 6-piston calipers I seriously doubt it. The 12.2 rotor is pushing it with the 6-piston caliper. Doable, but you are going to have something that is really tight in the wheel and barely fits. Just my .02. Good Luck,

Probably a little far for you guys, but "Tom Brown's House of Miracles" in either mountain view or cupertino (I forget which) does excellent work. Or call Rob at Zcargarage...he has a guy he likes in San Mateo a lot. That's even closer. Good luck,

That's some really good information. Thanks for the post Dave. I still say salt belongs on pretzels not the road.

Hey Terry, I like your setup very much. I see so many setups I like that are incredibly expensive and overkill that I keep thinking there has to be a better way. I noticed you are running a 15/16 master. What pads are you running for street and track? How much maintenance does your setup require? The only thing that scares me about your setup is welding to the strut assembly. Is there anything special you need to do for the strength of that weld to be completely safe? My comment is not questioning what you did, but rather questioning if I wanted to do it what are your tips to make sure its completely safe? Or is it no big deal to weld to that location? Also, I was surprised you changed location of the rotor to behind the hub (OEM location). Was there more work/problems associated with putting the rotor in front of the hub? I thought it would be the same amount of work; is this just a preference or did I miss something? Always appreciate your comments. Thanks,

Right on! Did you happen to take any pics to share?

Nice work! Keep us updated on how it goes when you test it out.

The ZX drive train can all be swapped into the earlier 70-78 Z-cars. Yes, you can use the earlier 70-78 motor mounts and attach them to the ZX blocks. It's been done countless times and if you search you can read anything and everything you may need to know. This is if you opt to go that route. Good Luck,

cyrus, I think the Wilwoods are great. I would second 2fiddyz too. I wouldn't be worried about air pumping into themselves. Brad-ManQ45 commented on what my preferences were: reliability, dust covers, pad choices. The Wilwoods don't fail, I just didn't like that they don't have the dust seals and that you have to swap pads from street and track and that the track pads weren't problem free. Brad-ManQ45, I think your setup will work great for your application. I would argue if you are doing mostly auto-x your new setup is overkill, but look who's taking I want total overkill myself and no maintenance. Actually since the early comments I think Terry O. (aka Blue oval) has a very interesting application on his car. If you check out his site his brakes use OEM parts easy to find and has dust seals and according to him a good feel. Terry if you chime in on this one I would like to know if your setup requires much maintenance. Are you swapping pads from street and track? I think you were doing a lot of road racing which is my application specific interest. Maybe I am just too lazy. I just hate having to swap out pads, bleed the system and have to worry about the basics so much. I want my cake and to eat it too, yet I don't want to have to pay a fortune.

Hi cyrus, I too have your same concerns. I don't want to start any bleeding hearts that love the stock brakes. I have done track events with the stock brakes before with high temp pads and bled them in between sesssions. For the street the stock brakes are fine. With that said IMO they are not something I feel comfortable on the track for a number of reasons I will leave out. Okay, I have tried the Wilwoods and I really like them with the exception of limited pad choices and in my experience I seemed to always get something in the pads that lessoned their performance. I have not tried MM's package so I won't even speculate. I am sticking to only ones I have physically touched the parts and driven and seen long term results on. No speculation. The best brakes on the Z cars (I am only referring to 240Z application) I have personally tried and they were not on my car were the front and rear "Big Reds" from Porsche on a fabbed application by Greg Scott of Scott Performance in Santa Clara, CA. I am not endorsiing this product, only giving feedback. I am sure these are god awful expensive. The kit was front and rear, had custom hats and uses the stock Porsche master. Again, not endorsing just talking here. What I did like is the fact it was complete. If and when I purchase brakes for my car there are elements in this kit I believe are very good. I like the fact that the master and 4 calipers were taken as a complete set up. The modulation was excellent. The thing many people may not care about that I really like about a good setup is no maintenance. The track cars with this setup go from street to track then back to street with absolutely nothing in between and barely any wear. I would like a setup that is balanced and has great modulation. I really would like to use the brakes off the Z32. These I personally have not driven on a 240Z (only on Z32's), but have been exposed to by some of my track buddies that had them on their 240Zs. The consensus was that the brakes were great on the street, but were not a great track appliation. The reason I was given was no one really liked the modulation and commented not enough feel to them. Okay, I think this could be a great set up that would be inexpensive and effective. I believe the trick is to find the right master to give the right feel when modulating the brakes. The rest of the components are great with plenty around. I would like to hear from anyone who has solved this problem or can confirm on way or another if/how it can be solved. Good Luck, Mark

Jersey, I am not an expert on this, but on the track days I ran at Buttonwillow in CA when it was 60 outside 32psi was like driving on ice in some spots. Your pressure doesn't seem that high, but the outside temp seems like a factor. I say you wait until it warms up a bit before casting final judgement. I am really curious how much of a difference it will me. I expect you to notice a difference; question is how much will it be. Good luck

What tire pressure are you running? Not trying to over simplify things here, but did you compare tire pressure vs. your old setup. You might try dropping the tire pressure down a bit and seeing what happens. Don't know if it will help you, but its a cheap option to test. Good Luck,

Nice job. Very impressive work.