Hoover

3/4 section mocked up...

Old exhaust...

thanks, Swami!!!!! I can't believe I had all those parts I forgot about........ The throttle bodies can be a royal PITA.....especially the linkage. The Mikuni/side drafts use the factory linkage while throttle bodies use a cable. Sometimes they just don't return well even with our return spring assembly we made. Maybe it's just me......the only problem I had with side draft carbs are the main linkage at the fire wall coming off while on hard throttle....maybe that's just the engine mounts moving too much and an isolated scenario.....more than likely. It's bitter sweet for me.....I'm trying to complete a circle. Somehow when the car cover went over the Z, I went on with my life; I buried the fact that I had this nice car/s and pretended like they didn't exist. Someone asked me where my time is better allocated, but it's not always about the all might dollar, IMO. Somethings, as long as you can afford it, need to be done, if not, sell it and move on with no regrets. My wallet is a bit lighter this past week, but I feel a small sense of accomplishment. Later today, I have a body man coming over to look at my other Z car. I will, again, do most of the prep. work but not the paint work. My goal was only to get this Z back together and I could maintain it without too much difficulty. Yes, I know I'm working fast. I have a major project that will take up the next two months and maybe years (I hope) of business. My goal was to complete something in my past before I could advancee in my career in the specialty automotive industry. I think I'm superstitious, but something just kept haunting me. This time, I promised myself that I would tunnel vision myself and see how far I get........almost there. Placed another order with MotorSport Auto for seat belts this morning........I'm sure they've gotten acclimated to our daily orders........

got the front part of the exhaust mocked up-

going to mount the resonator in the middle. most of the time, Z cars center mufflers are cantered toward the driver side to aim for the exhaust knotch. I don't want my seat area to heat up and will probably install some kind of thermal insulation in the future. I won't drive the car too much, so it's not a big deal..... ordered the rear tires this morning....275.40.17..... i haven't made up my mind on the fronts- a 255.40.17 may be too large and rub, but looks right. the current 245/40/17 fits and doesn't rub, just looks small.

Morning, Well......going to build a 2 1/2" exhaust with magnaflow resonator and 14"L magnaflow muffler..... BUT,,,,,ordered the wrong part for the muffler as you can see. I didn't read the specs. correctly..... OH well.....will make due and build everything up to the muffler. I did find a 4.11 r180 and I'll have that this evening and hopefully installed by tomorrow mid-afternoon..... it's never easy as it would seem, but this re-assembly hasn't been overly difficult, just finding unobtanium OEM parts has been a bit of a stumbling block......and, losing my exhaust header really was a bummer.....

thanks for positng,ezpickenZ. looks like your making some progress!!! what did you do with the transmission mount?

looks like I may have found a 4.11 open diff. I have a quaife limited slip already and will transfer it over. Will make for fun driving and I believe I have the later 280zx gear box with .045 5th. either way....it's going to rev. at 2700 rpm on the freeway.......I havevn't had that experience in a LONG time....

bump steer spacers next........

IMO, I think the best bang for the buck in a fun performance car is an rb engine into a Z. Not only is it a cool install, it's a decent investment as far as a car goes....... I just checked my credit card bill from all the parts I bought then looked at my Z and bottom line- priceless......!!!!!

thanks for your offer, James, really appreciate it. I'm glad I found it as well....... Like we spoke about- I felt so guilty having all this Z car parts and cars and it's just sad to see them sitting there. Once I started shifting the warehouse around, I decided that if I don't attempt this now, I would probably never in my life time complete them; more or less, I will more than likely give them to my kids......maybe.....lol!!!! I pushed as hard as possible for the past few days and amazed myself that I have near all the mechanical completed. A bit of fabrication next week, dump the old fuel/oil and tuning begins. What surprised me is what a Z costs nowadays. When I was 20 years old, you could get a car for under 1000.00 to build. A nice Z nowadays is 30k and a donor 4000.00 to 7500.00. And, the OEM parts are not only hard to find, they are expensive. The Euro tail lights are 850.00. I had someone offer me some big money for the 432 grill that's on my car- I couldn't believe it, but these cars are GREAT investments, IMO. Overall, I'm really having a lot of fun and feel a weight lifted off me.........i can't wait to hear the motor turn over.. I see myself building a few RBZ cars in the future...... so we'll be talking soon......

Thanks for the call, James. It's been yet another life time! Funny, we've known each other for so many years and never met, but always felt that I had a bud out there I could talk turbo Z's with!!!! How cool is that! That's great information! Thanks for sharing. It makes sense that spool would be nearly identical, since the turbine side is the same. The 82 compare to 76 with .63 ar is the main difference and depending on track configuration, I might even prefer the 71. Power makes a difference when racing in gt-1; especially at Laguna Seca. The top tear runners are 850hp and in the straights, HP rules there. It's just trying to find a balance of where power is needed. For street cars, I'll probably use the new generation gtx29 even on an RB. If I can get spool at 2500rpm, it will be a fun car.

James, Mid-life crisis really. I just got back on the forums; figure no one knows me. I started a thread putting one of my Z's back together- http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/121447-back-at-it/ I will probably build a second Z with an RB conversion next. Things seem much more bolt-in nowadays. I still all the parts I purchased from you back-in-the-day. My motor is v6 3.0ltr. I've used GTX3582 T4 1.06 a/r and now GTX3076 T4 .63 The 35 makes more peak hp, but if I push the duty cycles a little up top, I can make the same peak hp- 584whp. The difference is mid-rangee. I've datalogged and dyno tested both turbos and the smaller turbo/ar are much better for road racing. It takes 24 psi. for the smaller turbo to make 580hp and 21 psi. for the gt35 to make the same. If I ever get to build an RBZ, I will also use a small frame turbo for having fun on the street. The newer X series turbos are very good. I've yet to try the BW turbos, but the seem interesting. Garrett has been trying to fill all the sizes in between like Precision and it's getting a bit overwhelming to keep up.

thanks, terse! I have another project that's arrived already and I'd like to see it on the race track this year. I wanted to button up my past before I head into the future. This work is a bit sentimental and a deeper meaning with all that I've been through.....it's time to close some chapters and not let them linger so long.... I've built a lot of cars, but this Z is going together fairly quickly. With all the research I've been doing, I hope to build an RBZ one day, maybe a customer perhaps..... I have a donor in storage, but priorities dictate.

new door trim. I can't wait to clean the inside. It's probably got a bit of dust that's built up throughout the years of storage.....

Happy Friday everyone!!!!!! This week was fun, but extremely stressful with day in/out of work.......... At certain times, I wanted to put the Z away and focus, but just kept going...... Hope you all hae a great weekend!!!!

this mandrel bent 304ss exhaust is quite a few years old...... i'm going to change to 2 1/2", add resonator and canister style muffler next week. would be nice to have the Z a little quieter.... oh.....ordered new heater hoses from Motorsport, but forgot to order seat belts......

this is an authentic 432 grill. i've had it for 15 years and kept it in mint condition...not difficult, when it just sat under a car cover....

driver door hinge needs work. door moves up and down.......never worked on this before and not sure I know what I'm doing.....

battery arrived, spark plugs and belt.... i was kinda excited about the belt!!!!

...............

went to the warehouse to look for more Z parts- dusty, dirty but no spiders that I could see.... found a box full of stuff..... I really need to spend a day here and just go through things. In the back I did find a set of 15" Hoshino G5 wheels. brought back some parts to clean up for the other Z car, but I still need a 4.11 gear set.... anyone know of one for sale- R180?

new radiator installed..... working on electric fans.... BUT didn't realize that during the time it was running, the fans were running backwards........man, i feel stooopid....!!!

water transfer tube has seen better years. it was really rusted and corroding after I wire wheeled the surface corrosion off. Decided to make a new one out of stainless.

how far back is the motor?