johnc

Use an 85W-140 GL5 gear oil and add two bottles of friction modifier. I put a little manila paper tag on diffs, engines, transmissions, and radiators with the word "DRY" written on them whenever I re-assemble or install the part. http://www.uline.com/BL_3018/Uline-Manila-Shipping-Tags-Pre-wired

Your car is basically a street car so what I use in the diff on my track car is not appropriate. Go with what I recommend for a street car. For the transmission, again your car is a street car so go with what I recommend above. I never run synthetic oil in a Nissan transmission because its often too slippery for the synchros.

I know three people who tried that with various seven and eight figure sums. None of them had enough discipline to live off just the interest and only one of them has six figures left in the bank. All three bought $50K+ plus cars, all three quit their jobs and took long vacations, and all three upgraded their homes or sold and moved up. Seems that most people, when they get a million dollars, think they are millionaires and start spending as such.

Gear oil in the diff? Maybe a CV shaft is bottoming and putting a side load on the diff?

The best reference: http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/categories/upload/English_Oil_Guide.pdf Any oil that meets the current API SM standard will work well. I'm partial to Mobil 1 or Chevron Delo 400. I will run Delo in the older street cars I've owned (240Z, Continental, Sedanette, Nova, Falcon, etc.) I run Mobil 1 in my work truck (lots of towing) and cars I run on a road race track (240Z, 350Z, MR2, 325). For transmission oil I use a 50/50 mix of Chevron Delo ESI gear oil in 80/90 and Delo 10W-30 engine oil on older street cars. For differential oil in older street cars I use Chevron Delo ESI 85/140. For track cars I use what the manufacturer recommends in the transmission and for the diff I use an industrial fully synthetic gear oil that meets ISO220/AGMA 5EP standards.

Honda was racing in F1? Didn't notice...

Trends in oil selection for racing or heavy duty use have moved away from high viscocity. Unless there's a very specific need, 50wt is not ideal and using oil viscocity to see a high pressure reading on the gauge is a mistake.

Spend some time reading the Drivetrain section on this site. Its all been discussed before and there are lots of examples.

That's pretty cool. A 2JZ fits pretty much anywhere.

Bose has been trying to sell someone, anyone on their suspension system since 1997. No OEM, race team, or small build manufacturer has stepped up. Why is that?

Define "handling..." Are you talking about lap times, which is what I think since you use the Top Gear example. If so lap times around a race track are a combination of power, weight, traction, and balance. Are you talking about responsiveness? A Lotus Elsie is about the best you can get but a Z06 Corvette will beat it on pretty much any autocross or road race track. Are you talking about ride quality? Any big Citroen is the winner here and they can get around corners surprisingly well. Are you talking about ultimate lateral Gs? George Bowland's series of A-Mod autocross vehicles are the clear winners here. They will crack your neck with corner loads. First you need to define what you mean by handling...

I don't think they round up or down on the displacement number. A 5.3 should weigh 2,260 and a 5.7 should weigh 2,340. I think 2,260 is a realistic number for your car considering the extent of the cage and other modifications.

Not the worst I've seen. Had a customer bring in a car for a complete "race" suspension that had his own welded in cage. I told him his cage was unsafe, he argued with me... I took a 5lb. sledge hammer and before he could say a word, I hit his door bar at the main hoop and it snapped off, right through his "good welds." He was pissed but I told him I just saved his life and he better be thankful. The next day he asked me to build him a complete roll cage.

Its mostly a noise vibration issue although bad engine mounts can affect shifting. When the mount fails things can get damaged. They would be on top of my list of items to replace when you have some extra money to spend on the car. More important then yellow spark plug wires or a CAI.

For the fifth year in a row Bob and Tina McKean at Vintage Motors are holding their Christmas open house, car show, and toy drive in La Habra, California. All Z guys are welcome and Bob is an ex-Nissan/Infinity Master Tech and has owned a number of Datsun and Nissan Zs over the years. The show is Saturday December 6th from Noon to 4pm. Bring a new unwrapped toy to the show and receive a t-shirt and a raffle ticket. Beta Motorsports is a show sponsor and I'll be donating some stuff to the raffle. Its a good, low key family show and there's no marque arrogance. More information here: http://www.vintageride.net/events/index.html

If you are restoring the car to stock or near stock condition, then keeping that engine makes sense. But, since you're posting here on HybridZ, I suspect your car will be far from stock. In that case, the original engine isn't worth anything to you.

Its time to get the car out of the shop. Make a list of the parts you've paid for and ensure you have them in your hands. If not, give the owner a due date for delivery of those parts.

I don't think engines are speed limited, I think they vehicle chassis is speed limited. There are wheel speed sensors that tell the ECU how fast the car is going. When the pre-set limit is reached the ECU cuts fuel or ignition to the engine to limit power and thus limit speed. With your RB25 swap are you going to hook up any wheel speed sensors to the ECU?

It may help to sit down with your existing shop's owner and ask him what the issues are and how you might be able to help. A sympathetic customer might get more of the shop owner's time and attention. There is a learning curve on a car the builder has no experience with. Some shop owners don't want to deal with new stuff and prefer the the cookie cutter approach - which makes a lot more sense profit wise. Is your issue the quality of the work, the lack of progress, poor communication, or all of the above?

I tend to disagree with this. A competent shop with a Datsun FSM (supplied by the customer - hint, hint) can do 92.35% of the work required to create a Hybrid Z. This isn't rocket science.

Actually, you're not doing anything except whining. The idea part of anything is the easy part - the execution is where the real work is done. We appreciate your suggestion, but to keep insisting that we get it done and/or report back to you is irritating. Again, you've got your straight answer, let this go and focus on building your Z.

Here's your straight answer: Its on our list of things to get done on this web site. Its not high on the list because there are more important support, reliability, and capacity issues to address, but its on the list. That's as straight as you're going to get it and no, we are not going to report status to you every hour. One day you'll just notice that additional feature. Until then, get on with your life and let this one go.

They are the same size and piston count as the base 2006+ 350Z brakes. Nissan upgraded the 350Z brakes in 2006 from the Altima setup to the previous generation Q45. They work well enough, with proper race pads, to let me and a friend spend 5 hours running Cal Speedway's Roval course two Sundays ago. I spent about two hours last Wednesday underneath one of the Nissan press fleet 370Zs. Lots of changes under the car and, interestingly, it had an aftermarket diff cooler installed.

I've learned that this is common in the hot rod, auto modification industry. Its basically a death spiral for a company once they start using one customer's money to get work done on another customer's car. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbing_Peter_to_pay_Paul

I can do the work but it will take 3 months... Unfortunately, these kinds of project always take longer then estimated. Its not like a regular mechanical job where a service writer can look at a Mitchell manual and get the flat rate.