bjhines

I set a Zs on fire with cracked fuel hoses TWICE. The little hoses that run from the float bowl to the jet assembly are easy to miss when checking things out. The fuel feed lines are obvious. You have to remember that the carbys are right on top of the exhaust manifolds. This is a fire hazard under any circumstances. When you are driving down the road and the engine begins to missfire... then the hood paint starts to peel... you have a BIG problem before you even notice the smoke.

I checked around and I got estimates for sandblasting with protective epoxy primer application. The estimates were around $1800. I decided to do it myself. Sandblasting will leave the caulking still stuck in the seams. There is still a great deal of work to get it all out. I picked and scraped the caulking out then I cleaned up the crumbs and the rust in between the panels with a home sandblaster. It only takes a dozen bags of blasting media(less if you recover and reuse), to clean up any areas you can't easily strip with conventional methods. You won't get the "inbetween" areas properly cleaned with a typical sandblasting job on the cheap. They are not likely to remove all of the media that gets stuck in the framerails. I just decided that I was the only person who could actually do any good with a sandblaster, the body shops were going to charge top dollar for a job that would still need a lot of work. You can actually choose to leave the original paint in areas that would be hard to respray.... if you do this job yourself.

I have an E31 head that blew the water jacket though the exhaust port in number 3. I had the head checked to see if it could be welded and the technician found that there were more thin spots in the exhaust ports throughout the head. This particular head had not been ported but the damage may have been due to corrosion over the years. My current track L24 with an E88 gets progressively hotter at WOT. I put a higher pressure cap on it and I used a higher temperature thermostat. The condition improved but it is not fixed. I am considering a "constant purge" water system with a swirl tank for my new track V8 327SBC. I have only begun to consider the plumbing and tank requirements. The Idea behind the system is to constantly purge air from the system using a bypass restriction and a swirl tank.

Hmm... I would check to see that nothing is bottoming or jamming. It seems that the tires would break traction before the shafts failed. This could be something as simple as the tires getting caught up in the wheelwells.

I have been picking up old Halon extinguishers from TV stations and Computer rooms for years. I have 2-10lbs halon and a 6lbs halotron for the garage and trailer, I have another 6lbs that I have mounted in one car. I am going to mount one of the 10lbs in my new track car with 3 nozzels. I also have several Soda extinguishers in the house. Kitchen, Upstairs closet, laundry room, and the garage entry door. I have set a variety of things on fire in and around the house over the years. I have used several extinguishers to date and expect I will use several more in my life.

Is this on a ZX or a Z. They are completely different cars in this area. There are PLENTY of threads to get the nut on with no need for compression of the bushing stack. For an S-30Z you can even add several washers to increase caster as long as you don't bind the inner LCA pivot or the point the TC-ROD attaches to the LCA.

Hi there Russ!!! nice to hear from you. Yes these are your old wheels. I REALLY wanted to use these, but my V-8 swap wont allow me to raise the steering rack and the Revolutions will interfere with the steering knuckles/tie rod ends if I lower those.

ok... My current car has Hyashi reverse mesh wheels. I have a set of 15x10 Revolution Classics with 5.25" backspace I was going to use them on my new V-8 car but It turns out I need 17". These 15x10s will fit over the Willwood and Toyota brake upgrades. I am going to have a fire sale on these and a few other nice parts soon. ok.. here is the last weird wheel set I have to fit a 240Z. These are glass filled Nylon outers with forged aluminum centers. They are made by MRT wheels.

Nice... those links can keep me up late.

Home made gas turbine engine. I big one. I wonder it it works well enough. The exhaust exits the bottom of the black housings in that pic. The big stainless tube is the flame holder/combustion chamber. The metal scaffolding under it is probably the motor mounting frame. That sucker is big and complex with a very heavy scaffolding to hold it together. That contraption is purly "for the fun of it".

Another approach to this problem is the Ron Tyler mount. The R.T. mount was designed to lower the nose of the differential for the JTR V-8 swaps. You will need to adjust the dimensions to suit your engine tranny combo. This picture shows that it lowers the differential right to the crossmember's top surface.

This is what you need to go along with the solid front mount. A solid rear mount. The solid front mount was designed to be used with a solid rear mount. The factory mustach bar is a spring and it bends into an S-shape. This will fatigue the crossmember and the lower chassis mounting points. This is not my picture but one for the record. The crossmember is not only the next weakest link but it will fatigue to the point that it will literally fall apart on it's own. Here are some pics of a cracked but still holding together crossmember. This one was never subjected to more than stock power. The damn thing made all sorts of creaking and clanging noises before I gave everything a good look. This is what I found, cracks everwhere.

Be careful with this fella. There is going to be some developement work to get them right. If he makes servicable parts then he will be able to sell them. I was forced to put some effort into finding 2 good steering systems. I am building a track car with wide tires. I needed at least ONE set of spares to justify using the stock parts. I have had no luck with JY steering parts. Most of the S-30 cars in the yards are relatively new arrivals and they are almost always worn out with a quater-million miles on them. The good finds are at swap meets and some of the E-Bay sellers who pick over swap meets. I managed to find a brand new OEM rack with the matching brand new jointed shaft. Ten years ago I found a nearly new column that had been shelved 30 years ago from a rear ended 240Z. The rest of the servicable stuff consists of really nice low miles parts from peoples aborted projects. I spent 2 years hunting this stuff down. The servicable factory parts are becomming harder and harder to find. This fella shouldn't worry about selling parts. People will demand them one way or another. He should be more worried about another manufacturer making a large lot of them and swamping the market.

This is even worse than the 6x9 speakers people used to lay on the rear decks of cars back in the '80s. It was a killer mistake then and it is even more dangerous in this case.

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Well.... The 240Z tanks have a handy drain plug. This might make doing it yourself a little easier. There is a product from the same folks that make POR15 that seals the inside of the tank with a tough layer of paint-like stuff. You must remove and clean the tank first. Then you pour the tank sealer in and slosh it around the inside of the tank. If you are going to do this yourself... I reccommend extreme caution when handling fuel. Flushing the tank with water several times is a good idea. That is what the drain plug is handy for(flushing the tank).

ok.... after some research it seems that Shell and others are reducing Zinc in their Diesel oils every year. Rotella may be out by next year and the %Zinc specs vary from different sources. Is there an additive that we can pour into our synthetic oil to increase ZINC???

You problem is more likely ground related. Make sure the unused wires are properly insulated and not short ciruiting. The resistor-to-ground idea has merit too.

I have a flat tappet 1964 Corvette 327 engine with a mild cam and a stiffly sprung valvetrain. I have been told that the lack of Zinc additives in modern oil will cause accelerated cam lobe wear on this engine. E.O.S. or something like it was suggested as an oil additive to address this problem. GM says not to add this stuff to engine oil. I have been told that Diesel engine oil should be used instead of regular motor oil because there is Zinc in Diesel oil. I have been checking specs on modern truck oils and it seems that the Zinc is dissapearing from these oils as well. What product is reccomended? for the early flat tappet designs?

A nice set of gills that can be easily mounted might be a marketable part. I would like to see those when you are done.

If you are not class limited then you have a lot of options. Some issues to think about: The difference in price between the Willwood style brake kits and the factory style disk upgrades is not that much. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it is proven to have proper bias front/rear. If you are going to change the rear brakes then you might as well plan on changing the fronts as well. The main disadvantage of the brake upgrades using factory components is WEIGHT. The stock 240Z brakes are not great performers but they are relatively light. Those Toyota truck calipers are monsters and the rear disk kits are slightly heavier than the stock drums and backing plates. The larger vented front disks are also heavier than the stock pancake disks. All in all the Willwoods are the way to go for track use, but the lack of parking brakes make them unusable for the street.

Just so you know... We put the S-30 cars in a windtunnel to test a lot of aftermarket parts as well as determine characteristics of flow in several areas. The information I am giving you is factual and proven in a VERY expensive series of tests. The vents in the 280Z hoods are there to let air OUT not IN. In fact.... you will cause cooling problems by forcing air into the engine compartment ANYWHERE past the radiator support frame. The problems with engine compartment pressurization have been well documented. If a significant amount of air does flow into those holes you will increase drag, you will also increase LIFT, and you will stall the air flowing through the radiator to the point that your engine will overheat. This hood represents form over function to the highest degree. In fact it IMPAIRS the functionality of the car.

Keep in mind that ross will supply you with EVERYTHING you need including rebuilt calipers. The 240SX rear calipers combined with the largest disks in his kit are a perfect match to the toyota 4x4 calipers and vented disks up front. I went through doing this myself including making the brackets. It WAS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT!!!! Also... get rebuilt calipers... I rebuilt my own and they were the most challenging damn things I have ever torn into. The first thing you will realize is that snap ring pliers WONT get the damn snap rings out of the bores. They used a special tool to do that at the factory... you won't find an easy way to completely tear them down.

I notice something that may be important to choosing the right shifter. The stock camaro shifter is angled/offset towards the passenger side. It is angled right where it pivots, way down at the level where the bolts hold it on. The PRO5.0 shifter is angled up higher where the stick bolts to the stub sticking up out of the PRO5.0 stop ring. The fact that the stub sticks straight out of the tranny a few inches BEFORE it angles to the right is causing it to interfere more than other units. I would like to find a shifter that angles lower/closer to the tranny mounting plate, more like the stock shifter. I think I can use the original boot if I move it over 3/4" to the left in conjunction with a shifter that is more like the stock unit. At this point I think the PRO5.0 shifter's only advantage is the fact that it works better than the stock unit. I think the stock shifter will ultimately be the best choice until I can find a suitable replacement. Thank you very much for posting those mockup pics!!!!

Hehe... If you want an idea of how much the rear brakes do then cap off the rear brake spigot on the MC on any car. Drive that around your neighborhood when there is no one to run over. Assuming you have race shoe linings: The thing about the drums is the way they change shape when hot. As you have already found they will need adjustment frequently. The other problem is that the drums warp into a tapered shape when hot. They will chamfer the shoes under hard braking and then they have poor contact with the drum until super hot(or the shoe are worn flat) again. The braking will be fine for a few(3-6) sessions and then they won't adjust anymore in the pits. That is the point when the shoes begin to noticably taper. From that point on the braking will be inconsistent, depending on drum temps. On a side note: The drums actually cool down fast. I was sandblasting them clean to ensure proper cooling. It turns out that they can get to a point where the rear drums cool off too much between braking zones. Then you have a little extra pedal stroke before the shoes properly conform to the cool brake drums. The pedal will feel then feel hard if there is another braking zone in quick succession.