My ZX's dead future (don't worry, she's fine)

[Gollum]

Ok, so I was thinking about a 13B-REW conversion but i'm having second thoughts.... Do you guys know how much gas those things hog? I was gonna keep my eye out for a JDM 13B-REW front clip and (there is actually one for sale right now but no cash) I found out they're factory rated at 15mpg hwy and 11mpg city with 280HP. And rx7 people say that if you put your foot into it you can kiss your gas goodbye.... So yea... I want to "enjoy" having a 20gal tank...

 

I was thinking... and then thinking... and then thinking some more... and ah.... here it is....

 

 

...My ZX will NEVER get a MOTOR SWAP. I'm gonna wait till i'm outta trade school and have a job hopefully as a network admin and once I have a place to work i'm gonna start looking out for a pre76 Z. Totally gut it, build up a total tube chassis for the car and gut anything and everything. Get my center of gravity as LOW as I can and REALLY build this thing to race. I plan to put a RB26DET into it with taget HP around 400 no more than 500 to the wheels. I want to have a STONG reving set up and i'm currentlly looking at severaly setups that popular shops in japan are running. I want to build this car for the track only but until I have a trailer and such it would have to drive itself to the track for test runs and such. Just gotta keep it slow and pray no cops feel like being asses.

 

Does anyone have any opinions or suggestions on a better motor for a good power/weight ratio for a Z? Problem I've been finding is that either the motor i'm looking at is A) too big not enough weight for my target 53/47 F/R weight distro C) Not enough reliable HP potencial D) Too expensive. I hope to have around 20k saved up before I start this project. I'll have a sperate pot set aside for the car itself. The 20k has to cover all parts and work i'll need to have done. I hope to do most of the work myself and/or help from friends. There should be very little I'll need from an outside shop. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is someone who does driveshaft shortening but i'll just end up buying a custom length aluminum anyways.

 

Anyways, i'll shut up now. I'm rambling like I always manage to do.

 

PS (i had to) a factory five project might get priority before this one, so i might end up with even MORE money for this project (as long as the FFR holds my addiction for some time)

[ZROSSA]

Why do you want that weight split? If it were me i would want a little more on the rear then the front, hence i would look for the largest displacement lightest v6 i could find and turbo it. Not all that thrilled buy the rb motors. Here they are all over the place with some skinny little worms driving them with there hats on backwards, base turned up and no exhuast. They do sound good though.

 

Douglas

[Gollum]

well, here's my piece of the weight ditro puzzle.

 

What happens on launch? The weight flies to the back of the car.

 

Cars like nascar that drive oval all day need to achieve as equal tire pressure as possible. By either making springs stronger or messing with tires and what have you.

 

Now, what happens on deceleration? The nose ducks down and the front brakes take most of the load. The more weight you have in back the more stress the brakes have. Weight in the front is better for the brakes.

 

Ok, now tell yourself, "when is it most critical to have equal weight distro?"

 

In the turns. And when in the turns do you want to be as equal as possible? When your foot is on the gas and you're pushing through the turn. If you have equal front/rear weight when you're punching it you'll have as nutral steering as possible and your car will be managable with minimal oversteer and if you're weight is as perfect as it can be there shouldn't be any understeer. It will be a very stable set up.

 

This being said, you'd be suprised how much weight flies to the back during turn aceleration. AND having a heavy front nose helps turn in (even the drift king of japan himself admits this). So now you see why the lancer and the wrx both keep a good bit of weight in the front. Beucase on a heavy turn where countersteer is crucial you need to have an even front/rear weight distrobution.

 

 

Now, this all also doesn't mean that it will be the fastest set up, because it won't, it just simply will be most stable all around set up. The most important part of this ideal is that you have more weight in the front for braking, wich will save brakes quite a bit.

 

And to conclude all this, I'd like to say that I'm still learning much about these theories and understand how they work in theory. I have to learn much more about how they work in practice to ultimatlly have an idea on my set up. MY wieght distro might end up being more like 51/49 or 52/48, but we'll see. I have some idea to work these things out.

 

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Now, about the RB. I simple plan to buy one out of my knowledge of how with the right turbo/head setup they can be one of the most throttle responsive beasts out there. I can't think of an engine that will hit the racing type feel i'm looking for in such low HP numbers. To get a supra motor to have response like that it ends up putting 800hp at the wheels. I don't want that much.

 

Plus being at the track in the USA and having an RB motor.... you're not likely to ever randomlly meet someone with the same motor, let alone in the same car.