bjhines

The Accusump oil reservoir.

Sometimes noobs will damage the hubs when they try to remove and install new bearing races. Dings in the seat area for the races can be fixed with a small die grinder.

The hot fuse is common and related to the assembly of the fuse panel. The rivets can loosen, causing a poor connection, which gets very hot. I cleaned and soldered the entire panel, after tightening the rivets.

There are a lot of things that can help. The interior drone can also be induced by engine, tranny, and exhaust components touching, or mounted too firmly to the chassis. There is nothing a muffler can do to help that kind of drone. Your floor-pan makes a great speaker with engine vibrations acting as the voice coil. adding a balance tube near the collector can help. Using a larger internal volume muffler can help. a smaller pipe size after the muffler can also help with minimal effect on exhaust performance. Zs have rear mounted mufflers so there is no exit pipe length to speak of. installing a helmholtz branch resonator near the entrance to the muffler using 2 different mufflers in the system can also help reduce a wider range of sounds, each muffler handling different fundamental notes. The initial muffler is really just a resonator because it does not reduce high frequency sounds at all. The resonator needs to be a relatively large internal volume to do it's job, most of these bullet resonators serve no purpose in conjunction with a primary muffler of much larger internal volume.

I have had trouble with rotors in the past. My problems were related to adapter plates, rust and corrosion between parts, etc. The thing I did was to have the entire assembled HUB-ROTOR machined at once. They can chuck the hubs by the bearing races and get the whole assembly unbelievably straight.

WOW!!!!! absolutely fantastic!!!! Post your development notes if you care to share.

You can remove the corner marker lights and unplug the bullet-connectors to eliminate them from the system. There could still be an internal short in the light housings, so completely remove all the corner marker lights. While you are at it, clean up any rust, repaint the areas and put new slip nuts on the body then rub some vaseline on it all and install brand new corner marker lights all around. On my 240Z the green/blue from the fuse goes directly to the light switch The switch output is green/white and feeds all the lights the rheostat has green/white input and red/blue output to feed the dash lights If you unplug the rheostat you eliminate the dash lights. The glove-box, map light, dome light, clock, washer button, hazards, etc are all on a different fuse.

Your test is inconclusive. It could very well be a short though. The marker lights can short out as the rubbers age or the parts corrode. There is a thin insulator in there that is easily bridged by rust. The chrome housing becomes live and the screws holding it in place will ground it to the body clip nuts and then to the body. Some other areas than cause problems are hot spots at the fuse holders, and some of the harness splices can also corrode.

I would think the girl would be the spool. and my wire is more of a hose...

The roadsters are heavier than you think considering they were designed with no roof.

Toyota and Subaru have delivered a modern version of the 240Z. This is a unique little car. I understand the aversion to another 4 cylinder coupe. Like it or not, modern engine design and chassis safety reinforcement have combined to make a relatively light car with the right amount of power, with stunning feel. The outcome is a boxer-4 which is pretty neat innovation in it's own right. This boxer is mounted low and delivers on the promise of LOW center of gravity, unlike the rest of the Subaru line which has the engine OVER the transmission. The suspension allows very little weight transfer at the limits of traction. The ride is firm and FLAT, yet it handles bumps without jarring. The BRZ is not a fancy car. It has stamped sheet metal control arms galore. The engine is sufficient for the ride. I am pretty sure I could make some changes for the better. Battery is HUGE!, it is mounted in the front passenger side, high up. We can change that. The muffler is enormous and takes up the entire rear of the car. That has to go. The control arms are thin sheet steel stampings that might benefit from some some boxing in. add a roll-bar for time trials It has an optional $900 rear skirt aero and nothing for the front. The car sits high with a lot of room for lowering. It appears to have an R-160 rear end, CLSD anyone? The interior is pretty lightweight. The doors are surprisingly light for a new car. I don't think there is much interior to remove for weight savings.

WOW!!!! I drove a BRZ today and I am pretty sure I will buy one. The Scion dealers have more of them available. The Subie dealer has a waiting list for orders taken. That said, The Scion dealership did not have one to test drive so I went to the local Subaru dealer to give it a whirl. I showed up at the Subaru dealership in my track prepped E36 BMW M3/4/5. I drove spiritedly on the way there to get me loosened up and ready for a decent comparison. The dealer had a black, automatic, BRZ ready to go. I drove the automatic and felt like I had one foot tied behind my back, but it could be gotten used to. The car feels great. It is flat and responsive just like the M3, but the BRZ takes up the harsher bumps with grace where the modified M3 feels like it will break off a wheel. The M3 is on aggressive tires where the BRZ is fitted with narrow long life econo tires. The BMW will definitly out-grip the BRZ, but that could just be a tire change away from nothing.

combi switch. I would say it is simple, but it can be a lot of other things. I think it is unlikely to be a problem with the dash lighting or dimmer. You might have one of the corner marker lights grounding to the body. I have had 2 240Zs with corner marker lights causing shorts.

There is no "matching" set up. The rear wheels have an entirely different set of dynamic conditions. Watch the videos and learn.

The last part of this video shows some of the compromises of brake biasing. After I pass the 911 on the downhill straight I have to really toss out the anchor. I know this and I am overly cautious on the downshift because I KNOW!!! that locking up the rears will put me off backwards. I eventually lock the the front inside wheel as I am forced to turn in with WAY TOO MUCH braking left to do. You can see me modulate the pedal to ensure that the front tires get rolling again while I continue to trade braking effort for turn in until I get it sorted.

Alignment is important. You need to get that right first. You can use a combination of BOLT-IN upper and lower modifications to get the front end right. You will have to get a LOT of aftermarket parts to get a proper alignment. A long time ago, I managed to get a decent handling 240Z with stock horsepower WITHOUT welding and cutting very much. I also managed to get a decent alignment with mostly stock parts by elongating a few bolt holes and adding some washers with a few KEY components. It was very hard on tires, I had to rotate and flip them often.

I am trying to arrange a test drive of the Subaru BRZ /Scion FRS. I was looking at cars twice as expensive, but those little cars might actually be what I want. I would love to compare them to a Lotus Elise.

You have to balance/bias the brake system. This is experimental in nature. I think you choice of rear compounds is fine, You might need to try a few different front compounds. The concept of brake biasing is simple; You want front and rear brakes working at the limits of tire traction. The rear brakes must not lock before the fronts. Dragging the rear wheels will cause a total loss of control. The fronts must lockup first. The real world of biasing depends on vehicle dynamics, driver technique, track conditions, and carefully considered compromises.

Cryo and unicorn tears. They are trying to use stock fitment parts and make them a tiny little bit better. We are discussing an entire brake system refit in many flavors. You have to reline the rear drum shoes. Grab an old set and get it done.

I would agree that heat buildup is a big problem with the stock setup. There is also the problem of low thermal mass, so the heat builds up quickly. Venting the front disks is a big help on track. Brake fluid is important enough that most organizations require that it be less than 90 days old. I use Ate blue, and flush alternately with Ate gold. The stuff is only $12 a quart and it will work at high temps. I tried pads from Ferrodo, Carbotech, Performance Friction, Hawk, and others. I decided that they all offer something that will work at high temps. I was never happy with the performance "street" pads, as they do not work when hot(they just have a higher coeff. of friction). You really have to go with the race pad compounds on track, I never needed high coeff. of friction, especially on the fronts. The rear shoes can be custom relined by several companies, Carbotech is a small company and they have experience custom relining 240Z brake shoes. Just send them old shoes and specify the thickness of the material they apply. The biggest problem with race compounds is that they do not have good initial grip when cold, so they can be inconsistent on the streets. Many of the race compounds will wear the disk much faster than street pads, Hawk Blues are especially bad about turning your rotors into glitter if they run cold.

I think the 240SX came in a 5-lug version. Might be able to use something there. You might be able to get billet stubs with a 5 lug pattern by request. They are expensive but easy to replace. I used the large piston front calipers on vented disks. I used the early 240SX rear calipers on the larger, pancake 240SX rear rotors. I would say that the rear brakes are doing plenty of work after the first session out, brand new rotors are nicely heat colored. I used the 1972 master cylinder, 1972 proportioning valve with Hawk Blue Z32 front pads and Hawk Black 240SX rear pads. I had to grind a little off the corners of the front pads due to interference with the caliper mounting ears. This set up worked well for me with stock horsepower. I have since moved to a V8 car with AZC brakes with John Coffey's brake balance bar MC with no booster. That works very well and offers unprecedented bias adjustment in addition to unlimited pad choices.

One of the things that leads to disappointing results from upgrades is the lack of ability to tune the modified brake system. No one here has stated which compounds they are using. Friction compounds come in so many flavors that it will make your eyes pop out(lol!!!). Biasing is part of the job. This depends on the dynamics of the car as well as the brakes. I tried several compounds front and rear before I arrived at the best combo for my car. I have a shelf full of slightly used brake pads to fit the common upgrades that did not work well.

I drive a BMW M3 that weighs 600# more than the 240Z and it will rip your head off after your eyes pop out. It will REDEFINE your ideas of proper braking even with all that extra weight.! A stock 240Z is light.. That is the ONLY factor that makes the stock brakes even remotely adequate. Even then they don't stop as well as a lot of newer cars that weigh considerably more. For a stock 240Z; A braking event from 110mph to 50mph in 200ft will cause significant fade the first run. It only gets worse after that. Brake management is a nagging issue the whole time out on track. I can see a few situations on mountain roads that would induce that kind of fade, especially after heat builds up and surprises the driver at the wrong time. That is an example that I have encountered on public roads with a stock 240Z. Modern friction compounds can work at temperatures that will destroy seals, warp and crack the rotors, blow off the grease caps and push out hub seals. I did it and suffered failure of the next weakest links with little overall improvement in lap times.