Savage42 Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Guys, you have heard me refer to my buddy, Dustin, who originally built his first 240Z with a 400 SBC with the intention to go drag racing. Somewhere during the process, he went to an autocross and then a track day and got hooked turning, too. He's got several Top Time of Day at local events and it's damn fast on the road courses. I've added some pics of his car to my album. It's now a very sharp, black car, but it is in it's version 5 form. I believe it started as a red shell, then I met him nearly 15 years ago and it was then converted to it's second shell which was chartruce (sp?), then the orange car (also pictured), then a white one and then the black one. He just found nicer bodies along the way and transplated everything to each one and for the first time he's actually getting the black one repainted, as he's never restored any of his cars. The 400 SBC is the original one he built nearly 20 years ago and although he's been trying to blow it up for years, it still keeps going. It dynoed at only 215 HP at the wheels, but has 400 ft lbs. Torque is king in autocrossing and city driving, anyway. So, I thought I'd pass it along for those who are interested in one of the best looking & performing hybridz in the state. http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=8934 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SigSauerElite Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Nice car, you should work on getting some more hp and torque out of that motor. Like the paint, stock?? Good work overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 21, 2005 Author Share Posted March 21, 2005 Oh, it's got ported heads & cam, but with the stock intake, it's limited. It's getting a TPI setup and supercharger, so it'll do more in the next few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Gary, I saw those pics in your album the other day. I noticed that in the orange Z, it was in a "scarab" type of position, or at least used a small distributor and left the stock hood latch bracket on the firewall. See as I'm open minded about the Scarab vs set-back placement issue as it relates to "handling", I'm wondering if the successes Dustin has had with "Top Time of Day" experiences are with the engine set forward or aft, and by how much compared to the standard "Scarab" placement, however we might define that... Not trying to make flames, just very curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Gary' date=' I saw those pics in your album the other day. I noticed that in the orange Z, it was in a "scarab" type of position, or at least used a small distributor and left the stock hood latch bracket on the firewall. See as I'm open minded about the Scarab vs set-back placement issue as it relates to "handling", I'm wondering if the successes Dustin has had with "Top Time of Day" experiences are with the engine set forward or aft, and by how much compared to the standard "Scarab" placement, however we might define that... Not trying to make flames, just very curious.[/quote'] Ah, nothing wrong with making observations and being curious. He has always run the setup and did it on purpose. His wins have all come with that setup, where it actually sits up and forward more than it has to. He calculated where he wanted the weight to sit and that's what he did. His car is very well setup and does not push at all. It doesn't have a ton of fancy stuff and he still runs as one of the fastest of nearly 200 cars that show up at our events, many who run the National Solo II schedule in Vettes & RX7s, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'm sure Kim would love to hear that . I'd love to hear his full technical reasoning as to why he wanted the weight foward and farther from the CG. Can you get him to get on here or document it elsewhere for our reading pleasure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 I'm sure Kim would love to hear that . I'd love to hear his full technical reasoning as to why he wanted the weight foward and farther from the CG. Can you get him to get on here or document it elsewhere for our reading pleasure? I'll see what I can do. He's too busy running his shop, but I can get the info from him. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 This will make for some extremely interesting discussion. I'm very much looking forward to having him on the forum as I'm sure there are many members who would love to as well. If he can't make it due to his schedule, see if you can get a good explanation of what he did and why and post it here in the thread. Many thanks. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Actually, what would be even better is for him to read the various Scarab vs JTR threads in the forums, so that he can rebut or not the issues contained there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Actually, what would be even better is for him to read the various Scarab vs JTR threads in the forums, so that he can rebut or not the issues contained there. Agreed. (mental lapse on my part) Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COZY Z COLE Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I'm sure Kim would love to hear that . Oh! Boy!........After reading z-car-digest for awhile, this could get interesting........ LARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 OK guys, I went down and talked to Dustin at length about when he built his car. As mentioned, he originally bought a red V8 240Z back when he was 16 years old, which was 16 years ago. It had a scarab kit in it, which worked for the 9 months he had it before "rallying" the car down a gravel road at 70 mph, going off the road, virtually off a cliff, but stopped by the trees. Not a good thing, but neither is a 16 year old with the V8 Z on a gravel road. So, he bought version 2, which was a chartruce 240Z, which he used the kit but built the 400 small block with Pink rods, lightened the forged pistons, extrude honed the intake, major port & polish, cam, etc. He has also run a welded diff in his cars up until last year when he put a ZXT LSD in the black car. Anyway, he went out to an autocross, where the thing pushed like a pig. After moving the motor into different positions, the car finally worked well when the motor was forward 3" and up 1.5" from where the original kit had it. He said this put the center of the motor 1" back from the strut tower center line. He ran the car for some time that way, with lowered springs and stock sway bars. Then the local Z guys started an official club here in Eugene and they went for their first official cruise.....a spirited drive to the coast on a back road and virtually no traffic. With Dustin leading the way, he took a decreasing radius corner too fast and hit the guard rail. The next car ran into him, and the next, and the next, the next car evaded, and the next and the last one just tweaking the front of his car on the rounded end of the guard rail. So, 5 of the 7 cars were toasted. This was a decade or so ago, so most were in their early 20s. Good thing we live & learn, right? So, Dustin found the orange car (in the pics) and transfered all the parts onto it. It also got a set of Motorsport springs and bars (from one of the other wrecked 240s), which made the car even that much better. He then came across a white 240Z (version 4), which was nicer than the orange one, then the nice black car came along shortly afterward and it's been that way since. He's been trying to blow up the 400 SBC for nearly 15 years w/o any luck, even with it floored down the straights at PIR at track days at 5500 rpm and oil blowing past the front main seal. He wanted to go with a 383, but the motor is still going strong. Anyway, he's using the stock struts with motorcycle oil, Motorsport bars & springs, poly bushings and now a LSD diff, along with the 400 SBC and a built 700R4. It does have front & rear strut tower braces, but other than that, it's just a clean V8 240Z. He runs 225-15s most of the time. He's got enough trophies from autocrosses in the state to prove the car works. Bottom line: he built the mounts himself and put the motor where it is to make it handle the best for autocrossing. He stated that it's definitely not ideal for drag racing, but worked the best after moving it several times. It definitely sits about as far forward as anything, where his HEI dizzy doesn't even come close to touching his stock hood latch. He hated having to hack up the latch or remove it to use hood pins with the other kits. I'd like to say that he is one hell of a driver, too. He let me use his car one time and we were within 1/100th of a second in his car. (I edged him out that time) But he is an OSP-O champion and I am an OSP-U champion ("O"= over 2.5 liters and "U" under 2.5) when I was in my 510. Now it'll be battle of the V8 Zs, so it'll be fun stuff that I'll schedule in while I'm using my car to promote the foundation effort. We'll take more pics of the engine compartment and get them on the site, but I hope that answers some of your questions. (or creates many new ones) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 I think Kim Blough just found his poster boy!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 I think Kim Blough just found his poster boy!!!! Guess I haven't been around long enough to get that one. I'm assuming the one person who says that setup is the way to go? It is easy to see how putting more weight onto the front wheels and up a little to get better weight transfer to them would make sense. At any rate, here's some practical application of that theory, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Devil Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Ah, nothing wrong with making observations and being curious. He has always run the setup and did it on purpose. His wins have all come with that setup, where it actually sits up and forward more than it has to. He calculated where he wanted the weight to sit and that's what he did. His car is very well setup and does not push at all. It doesn't have a ton of fancy stuff and he still runs as one of the fastest of nearly 200 cars that show up at our events, many who run the National Solo II schedule in Vettes & RX7s, etc. Gary, What class is Dustin running his v8 z in? Any finish time postings that you could link me to? I am very curious because of trying to learn the art and science of setting up a v8 z for autocrossing. Thanks, Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 Gary,What class is Dustin running his v8 z in? Any finish time postings that you could link me to? I am very curious because of trying to learn the art and science of setting up a v8 z for autocrossing. Thanks, Jim Dustin ran OSPO, which is a street prepared class over 2.5 liters. He hasn't run the car in some time and we pulled the 400 SBC to put in another 240 (to be a race car) and he's putting the supercharged LQ4 into his 240Z. Our local car club is the 2nd largest autocross club in the state next to the SCCA in Portland. Dustin's car was uncommonly un-high tech. He ran the stock struts with new oil until this year, some comp springs and sway bars. No poly bushings, no adjustable suspension stuff, etc. It's just one of those cars that works incredibly well and he can drive it. He threw race tires on it and kicked butt. There are some great books on how to make your car handle and I've just played with camber settings, adjustable sway bars and tire pressures to get my car to be a class winner. We've always run DOT race tires. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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