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HybridZ

Bought my first Z


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Wow, is calgary the Z capital of Canada or something? hehe. Good to meet another Albertan for sure :) It kinda sucks that I work in Kamloops and my car is in Edmonton. It sure would be nice to be working on the car daily; c'est la vie. I think this way it will be pretty easy to keep the momentum up tho. While I am away at work, I do lots of research and order parts, then when I get home I get a few days of solid tinkering. Ordered myself a wideband O2 kit. I wrote down a ton of specs on those carbs, but one of the things I didnt check is was the size of the needle valves :(

 

I think the next thing on my to do list is brakes. I was thinking of building my own adapter for Wilwood radial mounts until I came across Arizona Z Car. Who has used those kits? What do you think of them? They are a little on the pricey side, but they seem to be exactly what I want (6 piston fronts, 4 piston rears, remote bias adjuster, etc). The car right now has 280zx front brakes and stock drumtastic rears.

 

The other thing I have been disappointedly looking into is what engines I can run and meet both WCMA and SCCA regs. I don't get what the reasoning is behind not allowing superchargers or turbochargers in the SCCA. Seriously, am I looking at some archaic outdated rulebook or is that still the case? WCMA allows it, but with a 1.55x displacement factor; thats fair, at least you can do it. And then comes the hybrid swaps. Thats a complete no no. I would love to do a small block chev or an RB25. Can't run a chev, because thats just straight up not allowed (unless maybe I can call it a Scarab just for the purposes of classifying it). And I can't run an RB as turbos are apparently evil and eat babies or something (I am pretty sure the RB25DET would be allowed in WCMA). Is it just me, or would racing be a fair bit more interesting if you allowed people to build the best car they could. I honestly don't know many car people that run stock blocks in thier daily drivers even. Maybe I am reading the rules wrong, but I don't get how changing every part in the car (even the frame) except the engine would allow it to stay in the same class, yet changing the engine just makes it straight up illegal. Any other racers out there have any insight for me?

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  • 2 months later...

Car looks like a lot of fun. I'm in Edmonton too, but I'm with Calgary (that just sounds wrong) and am running a turbo, I used to run the triple webers though. Let me know if you need anything. I'd love to see that beast.

 

Also, if you're around Edmonton this summer, you should pull the car over to one of the Z club meetings (or to one of the autocrosses) and show it off a little.

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Wow, there are a lot of locals on here. Good to see. Yeah, autocrossing it sounds like fun. I really should take some racing schools sometime. I have been waiting to see when the one at Race City is and start there.

 

Silly question, anyone know where to get a radiator drain plug locally. The car has the stock rad (I believe) and did not come with a plug. I have a Chevy block bolt teflon'd up and stuffed in there right now. Thinking of getting a new rad, but haven't found one that doesn't cost and arm and a leg to get here. Supposedly Sumaru's has one, but I have been there 5 times now and not yet run into anyone competant enough to even sell me a plug. I am pretty sure I am done with that place. Seemed sketchy in the first place.

 

I ordered the ArizonaZcar brake kit the other day. Can't wait till that gets here. Even though I have never really driven the car yet, I am sure it will be a vast improvement over what is there now (Drums still on the rear? Really? Drums? C'mon.).

 

The expensive part is going to start soon, need all the safety gear. Going to get a HANS right off the hop too (going to be required inn 2010 anyway). I have heard that Mopac and Gee's are probably the best places to check out for that stuff.

 

Then all I need is a trailer......hehe

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Supposedly Sumaru's has one, but I have been there 5 times now and not yet run into anyone competant enough to even sell me a plug. I am pretty sure I am done with that place. Seemed sketchy in the first place.

 

Ya I try and avoid that place as much as I can. I was there this summer and I needed a 280Z front wheel hub. First he brought a 280zx, then a 240z and then the third time I went back into the yard with his guy to point out what the proper hub looked like.

 

Not my favorite place to go, but sometimes I have no choice. I try and make a point to walk around pick and pull or karbashers every couple of weeks just to see if there are any Zs there and take everything I can if I find one (which still isn't very often)

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Found the drain plug :) I never knew that aisle of Canadian Tire existed. Can you believe Erickson actually referred me to Arizona Z Car just for that plug, hehe.

 

Its going good so far. It runs; thats a bonus. Got one of the carbs on my kitchen table right now waiting for a rebuild. Just need to order some new chokes.

 

Started taking some body parts off. There is some rust, but this is just a track car and its nothing that can't be covered with fibreglass :)

 

Going to have to break out the grinder and make some minor mods to the roll cage so I can move the seat back a few inches. I was just surveying what needs to be done earlier today.

 

I should have no troubles having the car ready for the school in May. Most of what I need to do is get the safety stuff. Need suit, helmet, hans, belts, fire ex, etc. I was thinking of heading out to Mopac tomorrow to start shopping.

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