TomoHawk

There should be no problems at the Friday night cruise, or the Sunday afternoon gimmick car show but we sometimes go to Z car shows with the local club.

The only thing needed is to put a paddle switch for the turn signals on the right side, near the light/wipers switch. Sounds simple enough... Thx for the supportive comment, Enrique, at first I thought "if it's not factory (for the stock class), you get points off..." which is the rule, but that means if you are not physically able to drive like most other people, "you can't have a show car and show it." I'll bet there's something in the A.D.A (Americans with Disabilities Act) that should prevent that kind of bias, but I'll have to go read it. nwcubsman- Joke? I don't understand. Can you elaborate on that? thx

I'm helping a guy I know do some small mods to his 280Z because the DMV requires them for safe driving. He also wants to do some shows with the car, and wonders how the judges would react to the extra stuff. opinions? thx

Yeah, that as the basic complaint about the VB harnes: -- It doesn't just plug into your wiring -- You have to cut & splice into your wires -- wires were of nominal size & quality -- Had to cut off & re-attach the headlight connector

Have you confirmed the presence of any fuel leaks? You mentioned fuel leaking. First fix that. You might want to replace any or all the gas tank hoses at the same time for peace of mind, but that's your decision. It sounds like you have a simple problem with fuel leakage. See if that's the problem, and if not, we can discuss further action. The other thing about emmissions equipment is that people immediately associate it with engine performance, and this discussion went on a tangent. There was a part you could buy that could replace the entire evaporation tank. Some kind of filtered vent, if I remember correctly, and it was supplied by a company that is no longer around (Midwest Z?) Somebody has a picture, I'll bet.

I will agree with Boostedz. The evaporation tank isn't an emmissions device like a smog pump or EGR, but it does prevent spillage of fuel and it's supposed to collect and condense evaporated fuel and return it to the gas tank, and both aren't related to the engine's performance. Just a way to prevent gas from getting into the air. Try to keep it in good working order or possibly replace it with one of the accepted devices.

Are there any detaila on the car? Like what engine, trans, what class? And what event was this?

How would you mount your tablet? I was thinking of a bracket that would bolt to the side of the metal frame after removing the center vent cover. Either that or a bracket that comes through a hole where the map light used to be ( after removing it from the vent cover. Either way you'd need a spare vent cover to restore the stock look for showing, and I would prefer to have the thing covering the clock, or better yet, just off the upper-right corner of the steering wheel. That rally clock is a fancy backup for the stock clock, huh? If your rally clock needs a calendar on it, I would think the stages aren't short enough

What are you guys using the rally clock for? My 280Z has the stock 12-hour clock which is keeping good time. I also have some programs on my PalmPC that I use for actual rally driving, and I'm working on my own software.

If you mean the lower part, then you must remove that from below. The upper part of the spindle, which is internal to the distributor, comres out with the removal of the distributor. vielen glueckwuensche

Hey Pete- I've been following al this stuff because I'm going to put on the GTO skin soon, and I always wondered if I can hide a bumper under the fiberglass or add a bar to the outside. As usual, the front of the GTO is long enough for put something in there, but it's low too...

Start with converting it to a jpeg format, and then convert it to black & white. I use a simple program called IrFanView (free) to view and convert all kinds of images.

The expansion tank is there in case the fuel tank overflows due to expansion of the gasoline, which isn't an emissions gadget. It's a matter of taste. Some will say just don't overfill the gas tank, others will say it doesn't expand that much.

Before you start replacing the fuel tank hoses, you should consider ordering the new ones, because some of them have special bends (very tight bends) which you can't make with regular hoses. At the age of your car, you should also consider replacing anything rubber. Just about anything made of rubber or containing rubber on my 78 was dry & hard, or just crumbled when you touched it. Especially the (40psi high presser) fuel lines!

Dave- If it helps, There are these little extender things that you plug into the female blade connectors (like in the fusebox), and you can plug another female onto the tab that sticks out. If it will fit nto the conector housing, then it might make your idea even more useable and palatable. Maybe I can get a photo in the morning (they fit tight).

Well, if you're willing to buy a similar thing from VB or MSA, where you know you'll bre paying retail, Whatever price Dave will charge is probably a great deal, especially considering how bad the VB headlight relay system is.

Just getting to the back of the headlight bowl can be tough. You can get the fender liner out, or loose, but the heads of the screws might be rusted, or the screw sticks, so getting those screws out, IMO, is the pain part. If you do get those screws out, I suggest replacing t hem with socket head screws.

On the Mythbuster show (Discovery Channel) Sunday night there was a white S30 used to test how fast you could get a HotWheels car to go. They jacked up the back, covered a tire with tape to make it smooth, and mounted a hotwheels car to an arm-thing. Then the arm was held so the wheels on the little car were in contact with the Z tire. How fast? The Hotwheels car survived up to 75 MPG before the axles broke. The reason of this was to test the myth that a HotWheels going on a track downhill, could out-accelerate a Dodge Viper (both coasting) in a 1/4 mile downhill drag race. The result was that the HotWheels did go faster for about the first 50 feet, then the Viper caught up, and won with an easy 100 feet difference. How'd anybody ever even THINK of something like that?? thx

Either way you look at (based on Dave's design) you gotta tap into the lights wire (or piggyback a spade terminal?) to supply the extra volts to the circuit. One the 280Z, it's the green-white wire that goes to most all the running lights and one or two other things. I always thought you might run a 12 or 10 gauge wire to the front-left and to the back of the car, in case you need something with an actual 12 volts, then run a fuse/relay off it, with the OEM wire activating the relay. thx

All I was planning on doing was checking the tires any way. I didn't want to start the engine until the spring so the metal was all at the right temperature (>50F).

My 280Z has been in the airplane hangar since Thanksgiving ( in Ohio). Do you think I should go out with a battery and crank it over, or start it up? I'd like to drive it around the airport to warm the oil, but you can't do it by yourself, so I'll have to just let it run where it is. thx

Where do you get chrome tape?

Originally, AMP made those round connectors with the round pins on the 280Z. Made that way with the rubber overboots to keep out the water, and you will find them all over the cart where exposed to the elements. The indoor connectors with the blades are AMP also, but I haven't seen any (under the dash ) with any kind of corrosion. I think the one for the taillamps has some fouling because some moisture can get in under the plastic cover in the back.The problem is if AMP still makes or has any of those. You may not even be able to find the part # it is so old. I wil try to look into it...

Make sure you get FPRs that get you the right pressure for the vacuum applied. I don't think that just 'any' FPR would work, as they are set at different pressures. Mine shows about 37 PSI when I shut off the engine. It takes a wile to 'bleed down', so that doesn't worry me. I'm concerned that I'm not really get a LOT of horsepower off t he line. It could be that the ol' engine (112k miles) just isn't up to smoking the wheels like most people think? I wish I had the $$$ to rebuild the engine. I took a ride at an autoX in a 'stock' 280Z (slightly refreshed engine) that had me pinned into the seat (It was standard trans too, mine is auto trans).

I like the idea of the product reviews, but which products? Who will review? too many variables there, but it could still be done just for others to know what products are out there (struts, shocks, coil springs, CAIs, etc. You'd need a poll just for product ideas! The F.A.Q.s are always needed, and the encyclopedias would go with that. You could do another CD with just that stuff! ( with photos, video, etc.)