bjhines

They ALL have the weld nuts and stampings to accept the factory style cage.... I brought this up.. I was removing ALL of the unused weld nuts in my chassis to reduce weight... all of them... This area came up as a mystery... I posted the pic with the green circles and I was informed that EVERYONE knew about this 30 years ago... How quickly we forget.... In any case... The areas that the factory cage bolted to are some of the thinnest metal in the entire car... I would not rely on these areas to save you in a crash... and the comment was made that that was never intended for use on track in wheel to wheel racing... It was a rally car "safety bar" back in the days when people died on course regularly...

There are more problems with that car than can be fixed... short of a museum visual only retoration... seriously.. you may think the rest of the car is not that bad... but there is no way that is true... Those front rusted areas are fairly well protected.. There is no way that the back and middle of that chassis are any better off... That car is a runner up for the all time worst condition Z car that still rolls under it's own power on all four wheels... That car should not roll anywhere at all... I have gone through many Z cars.. I have scrapped cars that were in FAR FAR FAR FAR better condition.... I can tell you that the rockers and the rear suspension mounting points are gone or going as well... There is nothing salvagable from that chassis AT ALL... I cannot believe it made it this long without killing it's owner... WOW!!!! that is REALLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY BAD RUST!!!!!!!!! incredible... unbelievable... insane amounts of rust... This is structural steel here... It needs to be strong... the cowl box area is also a major component of the chassis.. If that is also rusted the chassis is scrap...

The ignition system on the 1972 240Z has virtually nothing in common with the later 280Z ignition... other than the spark plug wires are the same...

ok... I have seen this before... You have to actually check each part of the system... It is fairly common for someone new to a points distributor to get the gap so wrong that there is no spark... The contacts have to actually open and close for the coil to produce a spark... You don't need expensive tools to check your electrical system for faults... I have seen cheap little Volt/OHM meters on the shelves in Target that would work just fine for you... The other important tool is a cheap DWELL/TACH meter... The thing is... If you don't want to buy a meter and learn how to set points... over and over and over every few months... I would ditch the points system and install a Hall effect trigger like the Pertronix unit... These things simply replace the points with a ZERO maintenance breaker plate... They are easy to install without any meters or even understanding of how the ignition works... Install and FORGET IT... No other changes needed...

I can wait a few weeks... | Just PM me with the total for parts and shipping... I am a paypal member or I can write a check... At this point I only need the pair of rear hubs... I am looking for the 280Z 27 spline versions... I need the stub, the inner flange, and the spacer... Thanks guys... The JY wants me to purchase the entire 280Z rear end... I have no need for all those extra parts...

Michael.... Thank you for posting in this thread... Yes this thread seems to be the kindling for the fire... I think most of us had come to the conclusion that anything more than a basic correlation to any aircraft shapes was leading to more confusion... We have pondered the effects of minor roof modifications to upset the airflow either at the top lip of the windshield... or rearward at the top rear hatch line.... much of the debate has been about using vortex generators or just a simple lip... It seems that the VGs might have less drag... where the lip might be more effective at a shorter height... The Pantera hatch was discussed as another way to get rid of some lift without sticking anything out in the breeze(less drag)... With the addition of a pantera style hatch... How high would a rear ricer-style wing need to be mounted to be effective??? The rear lip spoiler discussion is moot until we get the testing done... There is only one way to mount most of those rear lips.. they are what they are... I have it on good word that the 3 piece style rear wings are best because they actually wrap around the rear of the car... The local land speed 2nd gen. Camaro guys have what look like 3 piece lips on steroids... they remind me of a turkey tail... Turkey bird Trans-AM... Obviously we will be testing these things in the wind tunnel... but it would be nice to have some input on where to start... We have to build these things with some room for adjustment.. It would be nice to know what general range we should be working in... otherwise we just look at what others have done and start from there...

The main participants are going to meet at the facility just a few days after Christmas... I will snap some pics and keep you guys updated... I talked to the Tunnel operators yesterday and the first dates open are at the end of Feb... We are going to put our deposit down when we meet to see the facility... That will lock us in to the end of Feb...ARGHHH I am instructing an event in Feb as well.. It's gonna be a busy month... I really must get to fabbing the Pantera rear hatch... I am going to start a thread about the Hatch project...

It's an engine stand... puller/installer... lol..

pics don't work for me

Either the car caught fire... Or that is a chop shop job...

ok.. Update: I found the 280Z front hubs locally... I think I have found a set of rear hubs...

This is a perfect example of parts car woes... I pulled the hubs off the 280Z parts car I purchased... and I got the shaft on the hubs... The front hubs look like 280Z hubs but they are actually 260Z hubs(wrong offset)... and they are shot.. the studs are loose and the bearings just drop out of the seat areas... someone buggered these things up real good... I pulled the rear stub axles today.. one of them is pretty nice(280Z -27 spline) the other side had a 240Z -25 spline hub installed in place of the 280Z stub... So.. I am back to nearly square one on the hub search... I only have ONE rear 280Z hub.. I need one more rear and both front hubs.. please look through your parts bins... pretty please... I am in North Carolina... This is what I need for the other rear...

nice.. but what width...???

We are meeting at the facility after Christmas to get more details ironed out... It looks like Feb will be the target....

I will say that the SUs perform very well indeed... You need the later model N-36 intakes for the SUs... The biggest issue that seems nearly unsolvable without buying the Z-Therapy rebuilt SUs... is the throttle shaft leaks... Forget about finding a good factory set... The Z-therapy SU carbs are THE BEST SOLUTION for a new Z owner... They work like magic... That said.... The triples get some attention... especially if you open up the airbox and let them howl... I swear the triples make as much noise in front as the exhaust does in the rear... You will REALLLY turn some heads at a Honda meet... An aggressive cam also helps them make noise... I would go for a new set of triples... unless you know how to look a set over and determine their wear factor and rebuildability... also look for consecutive serial numbers (or very close at least)... The DCOE 152s are the latest and most managable versions of the Webers... The Mikuni-Solex versions are fantastic... they are often harder to find here in good shape or streetable form...

We run tracks in both directions... Mine has an internal sump... but the bottom is flat... there is little room for me to angle mine... I am actually considering raising my tank to clear a rear diffuser...

engine mounts... transmission mounts

I might chime in here.... I looked at the tanks with the top flange... That is what I would have preferred to use... For the mounting system I would have made the same frame I made for my cell... then drill holes to clear each fastener... I would then use 6-8 clamps held with 3/8" hardware the went through the square tubing...

Hmmm... Obviously the track car will see more cycles of repeated stresses... but keep in mind that the loading is much lower for the track car... The chassis flexing IS FAR more pronounced on the drag strip... The Dragster will see body flex that the track car will never achieve...

I was comparing the spectacular failure of the drag race mount vs. the low horsepower road race fractures(and impending failure).... Drag race mount... and then the lateral cracking of the road race fractures near the center bolt hole... Just for fun... Some nice cropped close ups of the rest of the mounting hole fractures... One in the middle just for fun ...

I added the pics to my initial post.... check em out...

Finally I got some time to get this thing off the parts car... Here are some pics of a unit that was mounted with an Aluminum solid front mount, Stock type mustache bar, with poly bushings on the mustache bar ears... Track car, no street miles, several seasons with less than 200 HP.... And the tricky thing is.... The bottom shows no signs of damage... even though the top was about to let go.. it already made weird creaking noises... and there seemed to be a lot of play in the driveline... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

The crossmember has FAR MORE than enough strength to withstand the pulling force of the differential... It is fatigue that kills... If you reinforce the center bolt hole in the crossmember then the next failures will be in the inner bushing mount holes... If you reinfoce the entire piece and all the holes then the weld nuts will crack out of the chassis... The problem here is that the differential is ROCK HARD... It wont bend.. It is very heavy.. and the mustach bar twists into an -S- shape under pressure... It will force the differential to move even if you weld the stock mustache bar to the chassis.. It is a spring... You must replace the spring -or- allow the front of the differential to move... The slight give in the poly mounted AZC mustache bar is nothing compared to the amount of flex the stock bar has...

The wind tunnel has a force table... as well as many different sensors for flow and pressure through ducts and pressure at specific points on the body... 32 channels of data... The force table can be raised and lowered as well as pitched while the tunnel is operating... The spin up time for this tunnel is no more than 2 minutes... so we can shut it down.. change parts and fire it up again fairly quickly... Rolling wheels are also an option...

Well.. We are going to try 2 very different air dams.. We may find time for the stock valence with the spook... There are a dozen various airdams and I have it on good word that there will be very little difference between them aside from actual clearance to ground.. that can be made up with lawn edging on any of them... The ureflex will provide data on common streetable air dams... We have an MSA type3 that has some unique features that allow for blocking off most of the airflow through the radiator openings... If someone can deliver a G-nose to either Raleigh NC or Greensboro NC.. then we can get it in the plan... keep in mind that we need to drill a few holes and we cannot be financially responsible if something bad happens in all the handling... That is a tough pill to swallow considering the rarity and expense of those G-noses...