johnc

Build a heat shield out of the thickest aluminum you can bend. Your intake will thank you for it.

Motul 600.

This is the only photo I have electronically. I guess we need to take some shots for the upcoming web site. On page 40 in the latest issue of Sport Z there's a picture of the GC copy. The only difference is the black anodizing on the GC copy. Ours is polished aluminum and has "EMI" and our patent number stamped on them.

Just to let folks know... It appears, from the photo on page 40 of the latest issue of Sport Z Magazine, that Jay at Ground Control is again copying and selling the EMI Racing camber plate as his own. We have a patent on that design and had sicked out attorney on Jay before. It looks like we're going to have to do it again.

If you're going to weld aluminum and steel, start right off with a TIG welder. You'll need to wire 220 in your garage somewhere but its so much easier using a TIG. For home use an HTP Invertig 200 or a Miller Syncrowave 180 SD are good choices.

I've seen the car in person and in the article. While its a good rattle can paint job, it still looks like a rattle can paint job. The owner works for Balanced Performance in Sugar Hill, GA which is right across the alley from Sunbelt Performance Engines. Balanced has tons of Nissan experience.

> I'm not totally happy with the MSA plates. They > adjust camber using bolt holts tapped into the > plates every .75 inches or so rather than > a "sliding" mount like GC. I bought them sight > unseen (duh) which I will never do again (The > car handles great but I may have some "plates" > made and bolt the MSA's to them so I have finer > adjustablility, and a cooler look!) Jon, MSA sells our camber plates (EMI Racing) and you can get really fine and repeatable camber and caster adjustabily with them. Send me an e-mail off line and I'll help you out.

Any type of fuel, coolant, or brake line deteriorates with age and/or use. If you have an unknown set of lines you should pressure test then first. Its pretty easy to do using a plug on one end and a homemade air fitting on the other. Using your air compressor pressurize to 100 psi for fuel and coolant (assuming you're using braided or kevlar lines) and as high as your compressor goes for brake. As Mike said, most racers use aluminum fittings for everything except brake lines.

Funny... Erik Messley just bought a Geo Metro and we've got a friend over at Suzuki that's dying to give us a Hayabusa drivetrain to put in the thing. Unfortunately, even getting the 175hp Hayabusa motor for free still has us looking at $10K easy to get it installed and working. Stock, the 3cyl Metro makes 51 hp. Even if you could triple that with a good turbo setup you're still only at 150hp for a 1,790 lb car (yes, we corner weighed the thing - perfect cross weights!) I think you're best bet is to just drive it and throw it away when it doesn't run anymore.

Welcome. As with any engine, if a rod bearing is spun, in car replacement is mostly a waste of time and money. Some type of neglect or operating error caused the bearing to spin. Just replacing the spun bearing doesn't solve the problem and it will re-occur. You need to remove and inspect the crankshaft and all the rods to make sure everything is OK. You should be able to easily swap all the 280 parts to the 240 motor except for the FI stuff. You'll have to machine grooves in the L24 head to fit the FI injectors. Also, check the exhaust port shape. That's a good way to keep your car running while rebuilding the 280 block and head.

> You're putting a plate of the engine side of > firewall that goes from about that spot weld > line that indicates the bottom of the cowl box, > out toward the hood ledge? Pete, Yes on everything except we are going UP to the hood ledge. The plate is only about 4" wide. The gussets are vertical with the widest part at the hood ledge. Keith, I don't think you can eliminate the fore/aft forces involved with creating a pretty massive (relatively) bracing structure. As it is we think we are redirecting some of the fore/aft forces around the rear and forward to the other strut tower. Ron, Bill doesn't recall Carl's name but he freely admits that he isn't good with names and has a bad case of CRS. All, Seam welding tip: Pull the front fenders and seam weld the trapezoidal area between the door and wheel well. This is a well known ITS cheater trick. BTW... Bill Savage also had the Nissan contract to do their off road trucks during the 1990s. I have to constantly keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't overbuild things. You should see my radiator mount!

FYI and FWIW I'm having Bill Savage at TMag Racing (he built the suspension uprights and many of the other chassis and suspension components for NPTI and their GTP cars) build some strut tower bracing for my car. In addition to the bar going across the strut towers we are also running two diagonals from the strut towers to the center of the firewall (my hood latch is removed.) What's important, based on our flex tests with a hydraulic ram, is to tie the firewall mount of the strut brace to where the lower panel inside the cowl meets the firewall (you can see a line of spot welds inside the engine bay) with the upper lip on the firewall. This is true regardless of where (horizontally) on the firewall you are. It requires a fairly tall plate with a couple gussets. We looked at adding some internal bacing inside the cowl area but our tests indicated that a tall plate fitted as stated above was strong enough to accomodate the expected loads.

Install a diesel engine and satisfy most of your VE phobias.

Everyone asumes the strut towers move side to side and front to back. They actually twist with the right side turning in a clockwise direction and the left side turning in a counter clockwise direction. In fact, the shock or strut towers on most cars twist in the same directions. That's why a big triangle works so well (like the Mustang/Falcon export brace and a lot of the factory braces on older big cars.)

Take all the plates off. Diffuser disc technology is over 40 years old and only really works if you have lots of plates installed.

Cool!

The big question with a Continental convertible is: Does the top work and does it work quickly and correctly? I had a Continental restorer tell me that there's barely enough money on the planet to get a non working top working.

Lone, Its got the stock am/fm stereo, power antenna and two speakers (on in front and one in back). The people that seem to go most crazy over the Lincoln are high school Latinas. I've had them run across the street and beg for rides. David, I would love to see photos of the black '64. Thurem, VIP has a nice Imperial for sale: 1968 Chrysler Imperial

I bought the car from these guys: VIP Classics down in San Diego. Ended up hooking the owner (Roy) up with our carbon fiber guy so that Roy could get the tub widened on his mid-eighties Indy Lola. I also looked at a few convertible Continentals but they were at least $10K more than my sedan in the same condition.

Don't ever discount a 914. This car was the overall winner at the OTC. 450hp single turbo 3.2L, 1700 lbs, 14" wide rear slicks, 12" wide front.

In some of the photos I've posted there has been a large car under a car cover in the background. A few folks have asked me what that land yacht is... 1964 Lincoln Continental Sedan. Silver Sand with Ivory Leather interior. 430 Continental V8. 145,000 original California miles. Power windows, brakes, AC, etc. Everything works and the car drives great. Its our "going to dinner" car. Valets love it and usually park it right in front. They've even moved a Mercedes or two to get the Lincoln front and center.

Douglas, There was great article by David Vizard in a back issue of Circle Track Magazine about building pseudo expansion chambers in a dual exhaust setup. For some reason its not on Circle Track's web site and if you do a search on their site you get links to every magazine but Circle Track. I did find it here: Vizard's Exhaust Tuning. Print it quickly becuase I bet this site goes away soon.

Circle Track Magazine RaceCar Engineering MotorTec Magazine SAE International SAE Motorsports Engineering

Careful when you say "top dollar." We just fabbed and installed a "real" GTS-R carbon fiber wing on a Viper and it will cost the owner thousands. The front splitter and rear diffuser will triple his total outlay for aero. We can do the same for your Z if you want...

The Koni's are a good choice and you can get them revalved fairly cheap from True Choice and Tri-Point Engineering. Bryan Lampe runs the 3012s on his ITS 240Z. Carerra's are also a good shock and Wayne Burnstien (east coast ITS racer) swears by them. Tokicos are OK but they go woogy with spring rates over 275 lb. in. They don't have enough rebound control at that high a rate. Front anti-roll bar sizes: 27mm big, 25mm medium, 23mm small. Rear anti-roll bar sizes: 22mm big, 20mm medium, 18mm small. And yes, Erik still makes the camber plates and he's got a couple sets machined. He just needs to assemble them.