DavyZ

I received mine in the mail a few days ago---it was a very cool article. I hope to see more like that in the magazine. Davy

Actually, yes I did! He was caught up in a book while safely on the couch and must have not noticed the smeared fudge all over the place. I get to have this day off work and help the wife with a buttload of errands, cleaning (did I mention the amount of laundry I'm responsible for now?), and cooking. Good thing there is a party tonight we can run off to Davy

Hey, I didn't leave her alone *LOL* I left her with the 7 year old! Yeah, I did get off easy, but notice how I played my cards right and offered to clean up the carpets! You young guys take notes. Davy

Ha, I'm just the opposite. I like the whole thing really, but I'm not too big on high rear wings on old Z cars. I like the sketch---it is an artist's conception, not true-to-spec dimensionally, but that does not matter. You have conveyed the image well. Keep up the good work! Davy

You can utilize the used lifters successfully in the very way described by David Vizard---they don't call him "Vizard the Wizard" for nothing. However, IMO it is almost false economy to reuse the used lifters. I'd rather not button up and engine, install it in a car, and then find out that I only made 6 passes on the sandpaper instead of 8, or I didn't press firmly enough, etc. New lifters come with many cam kits and they are a good idea when rebuilding an engine. Just my $.02 Davy

Ah, I had posted that and they looked like they would, but Mike (ON3GO) said that he compared a 944 he had in the shop to the Z and he said the sides were not even close to being the same in shape. Still, the price is not too bad and I would give it a go if I had not spent my money on cleaning our carpet last night. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=104198&highlight=bolt+flares+porsche Davy

Cripes, did I have a shocker last night and I was NOT in the mood for it. So, ye ask me, "Prey you, Davy, how doeth this relate to yon Z cars?" Well, I was logging in to hybridz.org at the time and... My wife had gone "shopping" for a few hours while I watched the 5 youngsters last night. All seemed to be calm and cozy so I slipped into my bedroom where I keep the computer to log into my favorite site (no, not that one, this one!). Shortly thereafter, a strange smell wafted about when the heater came on. "What be that strange smell?" I asked myself rhetorically. I wandered about the house and came to the family room where we basically 'confine' the 11 month old baby girlie. To my horror, she had somehow reached in her diaper and pulled out a number of "nuggets" or "marbles" (but not the kind you play with). She, however, had played with them in unsatisfactory ways. I openly delared my faith when I said, "God, I hope that's not poo!!!!" There was poo on her little face, poo smeared on clothes, poo encrusted on her little hands, poo encrusted on her little feet.....and I was quickly able to deduce where those poo foot prints came from that were all over the room, the pillows, the throw rug, and the fireplace hearth. This was a two person clean up job for sure! I grabbed the baby and held her away from me, but she managed to put the poo foot on my black (now black and brown) pants as well as my belt. I calmly placed the child in the bath where I stripped her down and hosed her down with soap and warm water. By enlisting the help of my other older kids, I was able to get the baby in her crib while sorting out what to do with the state of the room before my wife came back from shopping. Fortunately we had some pet stain remover that I liberally applied to the carpeting and everything else I could not throw into the washing machine. I let the stains and all soak while I regained my sanity and waited for the wife to come home. After 3 hours, she finally did---it was 10 PM. "Honey, I have a present for you! I'm about to rent carpet cleaning equipment tonight and I'm cleaning the carpet for you." She understood when she peered into the room... I dashed over to Safeway to rent a Rug Doctor and the related equipment when, while I was there, they decided to shut down the registers for 10 minutes (more like 20 minutes) to do their midnight accounting. I thought this to be stupid since it was only nearing 11 PM (I had wasted time in the magazine isle reading Car Craft you see) and now I would have to wait. The funny thing is, the customer service desk was closed and I had to wait in some loooong lines in the regular isle to pay after they wrote me up. After coming back home I made sure I had an adult beverage before embarking in the cleanup duties. I swear (I'm not making this up) it took me almost two hours to get everything cleaned up and normalized. The bad part is that I logged back into HybridZ.org at about 1:30 AM and read the post someone made about those giant sandwiches (wife was taking a turn at the machine by then) and I was hungry! After eating, I was in bed by about 2 AM. I had work that morning--this morning actually--but hey, my carpet was clean and I gave my wife a Christmas present! LOL! At least I'm laughing about it today... Davy

Wow, it's coming together so quickly it scares me! Looking good from the pictures and I can't wait for the quarter mile times...heck, even a dyno pull sheet will be cool! Davy

That looks yummy! Now I have hunger pangs at 1:30 am---thanks, guys! I swear I'm going out to the fridge in one minute and find something good to eat...grrrr. Hey try a Twinkie wiener sandwich for dessert: take one Twinkie, slice down the middle like a hot dog bun and proceed to put in a Oscar Meyer wiener. Nah, on second thought, nix the idea. Pukola Davy

Looking good! Let us also know about how well you think it performs once installed. You're almost there! Davy

Lunar, why waste time with a rusty scupper when you can get a decent Z in your own neck of the woods? Although illegal, I would almost contemplate swapping titles and vin #'s etc, on a 280Z before I would try something like that. For any police reading this: I said contemplate, not actually attempt this kind of thing... Davy

Cripes! That looks more like buckshot through paper than it does actual metal. Missouri and other states from the midwest/north are NOT the places you want to buy a Z from usually, but this is all water under the bridge. I applaud you for going to such great measures to restore and modify your car. it will be the car you have always dreamed about when you finish---that I am sure of!! Keep up the great work Davy

Hmmm, after reading the JTR description of both kits and their relative features and benefits, a little more detail work with the JTR kit would prove to be a better swap overall....I'm all for getting the engine down and back as far as possible, especially with the benefit of having the T5 shifter come out of the hole in the stock location. All this made sense to me 10 years ago when I was (and still am) pursuing the S30 chassis V8 swap. Same rules apply to the ZX, go figure! Nice work, Mike Davy

Mike, I work in San Francisco and I'd love to meet up with you for dinner or evening drinks. Just make sure you PM me or revive the thread when it comes near to April! Met up with Pete Paraska (is there any other Pete?) when he was in Monterey on business a number of years ago---it was great! Davy

The (used) exhaust I bought from one of our members cost him over $600 when he had it fabricated: 3" mandrel bent exhaust, starting from a 'Y' pipe, into a stainless Borla (to act as a resonator of sorts) and winding around into a 3" in&out Dynomax Super Turbo muffler and finally ending in a large 3.5" chrome tip. All that and labor was over $600. When it arrived at my house I looked it over and could tell he was about right. The Borla itself was over $200. I think you'll get what you pay for, but just make sure what you are getting for $600!!!!!!! Davy

Yes' date=' I do believe that is Richard Hammond doing the narrating. Very cool video and I love the line, "This car was chosen because it is old, it is white, and especially because it is [i']French."[/i] LMAO!!! Davy

4 car garage!?!!! Man, that must be sweet. I can only imagine.... My 2 car garage is filled with everything except for 2 cars... Davy

WOW!!! ALL THE BEST TO YOU AND YOUR GROWING FAMILY!!! Davy

Ditto that! Too funny!!!! Davy

It's official, this is now a sticky---to be read by every newbie to the forum...at least Mike's first post anyway Davy