byunique

Yeah, one day my buddy Bert and I were driving our Zs up this road and smelled like my car was on fire. $hit I thought, I gotta pull over ASAP and pull out the fire extinguisher. I hit the brakes and found they went to the floor!. Oh man, luckily it was uphill, so car slowed down in a little bit. After it slowed down, I jammed on the emergency brake to halt the car. I saw the smoke come out of the rear of the car, and thought what kind of fire was that? I could see there was brake fluid gushing out to the floor and my steel braided brake line was on fire. I yelled to my buddy that my car was on fire, and he was just kind of dumbfounded because a fire should not start at the rear of the car. I pulled out the fire extinguisher and just put it out before anything worse happened. I then popped the hood and found out the generator ground wire had melted it's sheathing because of extreme heat. I thought what was going on? After taking a look around for a minute or so, I found out the the new battery I had put in a few days ago had slid and the (+) terminal had grounded out to the battery bracket on the car. The new battery was undersize of the battery bracket so, it had room to move and they way I had installed the battery would allow the terminal to touch the side of the bracket. At that point, the light bulb in my head came on!! Yeah, the battery shorted out and the current took the path of least resistance and that happed to be the stainless steel brake lines and the generator ground. Ouch!!!, a embarassing moment, but luckily I was prepared with a extinguisher. Brandon

Thanks, Yeah, it was a dream come true. All I can say is the Z is a worthy car on the track with a few basic modifications. On this particular day, I went out with Touring Car Club http://www.touringcarclub.com of Los Angeles. What they required for "driving school" was a safe car with seat belts, full clothing, gloves and a approved helmet. This type of safety is pretty lax, but considering people are there to learn as opposed to take the cars to the absolute limit justifies it. Not to mention, it wasn't wheel to wheel, but more of a time trial kind of setup, where each car is separated by time and passing was not allowed except on the straights. I did have a rollbar myself, but besides that, nothing else. If you ever get involved with SCCA stuff, there are FAR more requirements. (rollbar, 5 point harness, fire extinguisher system, etc) Seca itself, is a very dangerous track and it not very forgiving (lots of places to lose control at high speed) but very fun. Coming through the corkscrew is the best!!! The best safety is knowing your limits and driving conservatively! Best Wishes, Brandon

My site, My car, More z pics 73 240z pleasure car GroupZ members!!! (hey guys, my car is faster up here in colder weather!! 13 years in the making Designed for Just Fun Low 14's in the quarter mile street tires 280 motor, 9:1 compression, N42 ported head, Mikuni 44s, 286/294 split duration cam 5 speed 280b, 3.90, 16" Mesh Wheels Tokico Illumina 5-way, HRE swaybars, quick steering, urethane bushings, front strut tower brace Lightened Flywheel, Mallory Unilite Autopower Rollbar, custom mods. Email Me

Yeah, you are right the flatop '73 carbs are known to be junk. I have a '73 too, and when I first bought it, it was allready setup with pre '73 carbs. The '73's are big ugly things with flat tops as compared to earlier ones. Yes, you are indeed on your way to a $$ project. Words to the wise...have you defined your project yes. The most important question...Weekend warrior or daily driver? or full race car. How much power, etc ? Yeah, its not easy, but it will help you figure out where to spend the money ( just considering you don't have unlimited cash flow ) You can't spend the big bucks on everything! I am just envisioning of a 350hp turbo motor in a stock looking z with 14" tires and rims....<grin> Anyway, I have tried a number of cams, but it kinds of goes with displacement, head, carbs, exhaust. For ex. I used to have a 304dur/.515 lift cam on my 240 with triple 40 webers, headers, stock E88, msd igntiion. It was very unstreetable. The power wouldn't come on till 4500, then the motor would stop at 6200, because it needed a rebuild. Later on when I upgraded to a 280 motor, with ported N42 head, 44 mikunis, I went with a Schneider 270/280 split duration .515 lift. It ran good with good power from 3000-6500. My buddy just recently rebuilt his 240 motor. He went with a 284 duration .515 lift, with stock E31 with bigger valves, header, exhaust and it runs pretty good w/ good streetability. It comes on at about 2500rpm and goes 6200 or so. But, at this point he is limited by stock SU carbs. The SU carbs just don't provide enough breathing for his setup to go higher. Yeah, lots of things to consider, but basically you have to match cam to carbs, compression ration, displacment, head, exhaust.

What you have is a great car to keep in it's pristine condition, just because of the low mileage. That is the biggest consideration I would have if I were to modify the car. For me personally, I have a car that is moreless a weekend warrior. The motor puts out over 210HP, fancy paint job and moreless a pleasure car at heart. I set it up no so much as to retain its original value, but rather to have fun with it. http://www.brandonyu.com. I would consider power to the motor and power in the turns to make your car come alive. And remember to keep all those stock parts just in case you want to sell it someday. How bout the header for start, with a 2.50 inch exhaust system from the header back. That should give you some good bang for the buck, plus a healthier sound. Next, look at sway bars and gas shocks. Check out suspension techniques and consider Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks. The adjustments are nice because they have a range of settings. The ride will be firmer of course, but the car will handle like it wants to slalom after that. Try a friends car first to see if you like it, if you can. The difference is night and day, the best money you will ever spend on the z car. A cam? ...won't pass smog. Did you put in a K&N air filter for full breathing? cheap and more power. Also to compliment the new suspension, you should get yourself some new 15" or larger wheels and low-profile tires. The list goes on and on, but these are the best things to do first in my mind.

I recently moved up here to SF from So. Cal and am looking for a painter to do some repair work or possibly more. Have any recommendations? I don't need showcar work, but good quality work.