johnc

3 stage pump - $750 pan - $200 drive kit - $100 pulleys - $65 belt - $25 oil cooler - $200 plumbing - $350 tank - $250 heater - $50 scavange filer - $50 filter adapter - $100 mounting kit - $250 Total parts cost - $2390

Air chisel, air chisel, air chisel! As Jon said. One buuuuuurrrrrrpp and its done.

Increasing spark plug gap tends to help low rpm while hurting high rpm. That's a pretty broad generalization but it reflects the affects of cylinder pressures on spark. In your case, the difference between .045 and .050 is probably not measurable. I ran .050 when I had an MSD6AL on my BSP engine. MSD recommends a .060 gap but I found a little bit of misfire above 6K with that large a gap ona 9.5 to 1 compression NA engine.

Well, you picked a solid rear axle with one of the worst geometry's out there. I would pass.

You need to spend a lot more time researching and learning about the early Z chassis and suspension. If you're a drag racer, the basic chassis and suspension works well until you break out of the 11s. Some things need to changed/upgraded but you don't need to swap out the front and rear suspensions on the car - at least form a performance standpoint. Take a couple months and read/learn before getting out the cutting torch. Welcome to the group and enjoy the ride.

Just drive up tp the north side of Monterey Bay and go to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, visit the surfing museum on Lighthouse Point, and wander around in downtown Capitola. You can also visit the cement ship (the Palo Alto) just south of Capitola in Aptos (I think). You can also see the world's largest Artichoke in Castroville and Watsonville (they both make the same claims for their largest Artichoke). Hang out at the intersection of Espinosa Rd. and 101 during the evening rush hour and watch people try to commit suicide getting onto Espinosa from the northbound 101. Drive hwy 17 between Santa Cruz and San Jose and watch people bounce off the K-rail.

FYI... in case anyone's interested. I'm doing some research on rear wings for the 240Z. These are REAL race wings and are a Trans Am design all in aluminum (only a 1lb difference between AL and Carbon Fiber but there's a $250 price difference). They will have to work in conjunction with a good front end aero design because they can generate lots of downforce. I'm working on the front end too. Most likely a dam, front underbody tray, a 6" splitter, and some tunnels with vortex generators in front of the front wheels. This will be a a track only setup (ground clearance issues with the splitter) and I'm hoping to get them done by the end of March. We'll see if it pans out. And the whole setup will be expensive.

If you want to get fancy you can build boxes, drill 2" diameter holes in the inner fenderwell and run blowers. But, most important, is a can over the rotor that distributes air to both sides of the braking surface. Page 80 in Carroll Smith's Prepare to Win has a drawing of the can I'm talking about.

Ducting on a street car is a real pain. The ducts get smashed/scrapped off in tight turns and tend to fall off over time. Basically you run a 2" duct from an opening in the front spoiler, under the radiator core support, against the inside the fenderwell, and then out to the brake from above where the lower control arm is.

Everyone's welcome. Mike, bring the blue car and put a for sale sign on it.

I installed that Aeromotive pump on a customer's car. Its the heaviest damn fuel pump I've ever seen. Must be 10 lbs. And it has -10 AN fittings!

I think the confusing parts is "...the same lap times." If you're willing to sacrafice some time per lap then going easier (less pedal) on the brakes over a longer time will make them last longer. You're just backing off a bit.

Cool!

I'm just repeating what I was taught at the Skip Barber school. Either be on the brakes or not. Trying to save the brakes through medium pedal application over longer periods of time reduces the amount of time that the rotors get cooled. One instructor said that even a light brake pedal application puts more heat into the rotors then the flow of air can remove. The only time the rotors are cooling is when the brakes are off. More time off the brakes, more time for cooling. For example: some will argue that cooling the brakes from a 1000F hard brake application down to 500F cannot be accomplished in the additional 8 seconds per lap (of no braking) allowed when compared to a medium brake application at 800F down to 500F. Can you pull 200 degrees out of a solid rotor in 8 seconds? Most likely on a 70 degree day, maybe not on a 100 degree day. All this is assuming you're trying to maintain the same lap times. Lifting early and coasting for a second or two before applying the brakes is a brake saving technique but your lap times will suffer. Using understeer to scrub off speed is another way to save the brakes. Early apexing is yet another technique but that can really hurt lap times.

I run the Bosch Porsche pump. Part number is something like: 0.580.254.979. About $225 new and $100 rebuilt. This pump and the Walbro unit do not pull fuel very well. Mount them lower then the fuel cell or put a helper pump in the tank as a feed.

A lot of it has to do with how you use the brakes. Medium pedal applicaiton over a longer time (easing into the corner) puts more heat into the rotors per lap then getting on the brakes hard and then getting back off quickly. Also, as you gain experience you'll use your brakes less.

As the guy in the other topic figured out, use washers on the lugs until you get the wheel where you want it then measure the washer stack and you'll have the thickness of the spacer.

Sounds like you have it figured out.

It depends on what you want to do with the air. If you just want to get it out of the way and reduce drag, spill it to the sides and keep it from going under the car. If you want downforce, make it square and vertical so you build a nice high pressure area in front and then put a splitter on the bottom that takes a lot of the high pressure and creates downforce. I'm probably going to be building something for my 240 in March.

I've been to Alice Springs and spent a night blowing up long drop dunnies.

Maybe Hawk doesn't offer the blacks for the stock front caliper. HP Plus should be fine. Don 't use DOT 5 (synthetic) brake fluid in a performance applicaiton. Get a good DOT 4 (Motul 600, ATE Super Blue, Catrol SRF). And getting air to the front brakes is always a good idea.

An anti-roll bar is a torsion spring, just like a torsion bar, and a coil spring (which is really a wound up torsion bar). The anti-roll bar does not "see" separate arms, it just sees one arm that's the combined lengths of both arms. That's why the blade adjustable anti-roll bars run on many high end race cars only have one adjusting blade.

For a stock 280Z brake system run on a track you'll need brake pads that can handle spikes to 1,000F and brake fluid that can stand at least 500F. Hawk Blacks can go to 900F and are ok on the street. Also use Motul 600 fluid and switch to Ferodo Green stuff rear brake shoes. You should also get in the habit of checking the rear brake adjustment after each session and bleeding the brakes before each track event.

Quiz: Does an anti-roll bar with different arm lengths induce asymetry into the suspension? ie: if you adjust only 1 arm on an adjustable anti-roll bar, does it make that end of the car handle differently in left and right turns?

Saturday March 6th at 2:00pm PST. If Erik can make it sometime and talk about Z suspensions, great. I'll spend some time talking about welding and do some demostrations. You'll get a chance to try some MIG and TIG welding too if you want. If you have a welding helmet bring it. I probably don't have enough eye protection for everyone. I'll supply the pizza, you guys will need to bring the drinks (soda, beer, etc.) The shop address is: 637 S. Palm St. Unit G La Habra, CA 90631 (562) 691-4412 http://www.betamotorsports.com