jmortensen

If it's flat it's probably a "helper spring" that prevents the main spring from flopping around when you lift the car with a jack. Not a necessary item to have and doesn't do anything at all when you're driving, because it's compressed all the time. Here's a helper spring with a description: http://www.paragon-products.com/product_p/cs100-2.5.htm Here's Cosmo's webpage clarifying spring rates (280 in/lb and 336 in/lb) and also showing pics of the flat springs: http://www.cosmoracing.com/productinfo.asp?cid=259&pid=1340 It certainly looks like a helper spring to me. It would be pretty easy to take a picture of the springs with the car on the ground and figure out if they're doing anything when you are actually driving.

I can tell you one thing that ZX's are great at. Find yourself an auto trans ZX. Put it in reverse, stand on the brake and hit the gas, then put it back in D and hit the gas (still standing on brake). Do this back and forth as many times as you like to amuse your friends as the arse end of the car rises and falls 10". It's like free hydraulics.

You can't get the cover off with the diff in the car, but try tightening the cover bolts as they can loosen over time.

Welding isn't rocket science. Find a community college with a course and take it. Or just have some friends who took such a course give you some instruction (that's what I did).

That stupid hatch strip is the worst. Always falling off, and a little leak means you're breathing in enough exhaust to get high after 1/2 hour. I haven't tried to find a replacement strip yet, but I actually ground the lip off around the hatch so that I can run a door type strip that will slip onto the edge rather than being glued down. Getting close to needing the stripping, probably will check JC Whitney and see what they have, or see how much different the gap is from the hatch to the frame vs the door to the jamb and try to use some door w/s.

Constant velocity joints. Popular upgrade for people with lots of power (turbo, V8) who have issues with breaking U-joints.

My 70 had them.

As the others have said, this sounds like you need to adjust the drums. If you don't have the drums adjusted properly you have to push the shoes out to hit the drum before you really get a pedal, and that's why it goes down so far. The S30 master doesn't suck. It should be fine until you go bigger with the calipers or install rear disks that use more fluid, at which point you can make a case for a larger master. Going to a larger master will require more pedal effort for the same amount of braking. It will make the pedal firmer as well. If having a hard pedal that you have to step harder on suits you, then go for it.

Dumm dumm is aka butyl tape: http://www.dkhardware.com/product-8349-1401-1-4-round-autoglass-butyl-tape.html

I followed panchovisa's example and put a gusset between the strut and the flat spot behind the spindle, you could do something similar to what I've done. I'd be looking other places first to solve the problem with the pedal though. Pad knockback on a Z is not something you hear about very often, even with the fast autox guys who would presumably be totally screwed at the end of a slalom if this were a common issue. The caliper mount is integral to the spindle in the front and back, so it's not as though flex between the spindle and strut affects the relationship between the caliper and rotor. There could be some flex in the caliper mount, seen that on Hybrid Z in this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/70436-wilwood-caliper-damage-pics/ That thread wasn't complaining about knockback though, the problem was found incidentally. Stupid question: are your wheel bearings tight? Here are some other interesting threads on knockback: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/89473-at-cmp-with-the-13-inch-floating-rotor-set-up/ http://forums.corner-carvers.com/showthread.php?t=29864 http://forums.corner-carvers.com/showthread.php?t=42896

POR is for Paint Over Rust, but if you can't encapsulate the joint in its entirety (meaning all the way between the panels), I think it's a bad idea to use it in the frame rails. Even if you seal both sides of the joint with the POR, it has to maintain an airtight seal to stop the rust. Putting stress on the frame rails or hitting something might again expose the joint to air and allow the rust to continue to grow. I did try to use Zero Rust inside my frame rails before I found the oiling method and I found it damn near impossible to get anything other than splatter out of the end of the wand, I certainly didn't get the "fan" of paint that you would from a HVLP gun, as I had imagined. After giving up on that method, I found a link to Krown oil somewhere or other. I like the oil method because it is "self healing" and you can reapply as many times as you want or as often as you want without a whole lot of hassle.

You may have a point there. Mine has aftermarket U-joints on it. Someone posted on Hybrid Z a couple days ago about a guy in AZ who has found an ATV U-joint that replaces the stocker if it's worn out. I couldn't find the thread, but I'm sure someone else saw it.

I think it's kosher to post this here. Coming towards the end of the auctions and I'll be out of town until the weekend, so I wanted to get another push on these... Complete lockset w/low miles: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270573288193&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT Series I fuse block: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270573296505&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT

That car has dual master cylinders. Very common in racing as they allow you to actually proportionally affect the braking bias (a "proportioning" valve does not). Vacuum assisted boosters don't work real well on race motors because they don't produce much vacuum. Plus it's another potential failure in the system. So these are just as effective, less prone to breakage, more tunable, and simpler. Better, better, better, and better than stock brakes. Here's more info on that if you're interested. http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_proportioning_valves.shtml And here are a couple of modified stock pedal boxes for dual master cylinders: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?showtopic=67941 http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/89873-plumbing-race-brake-system/ Not sure why the stock steering column is considered a hindrance to turning. Mine seems to work fine... The Primadonna car has gigantic wings and all that, but it's all business underneath. I'd drive it. Not going to buy it for $100K, but I'd drive it.

I would get another housing.

How does it perform at the Marina autocross?

There used to be a Central Coast Z Car Club that was basically run by Steve McConnell. He got into Porsches and racing and I think it kinda fizzled out, but Mark Belrose from Lompoc and others in the area were involved for a while. I went to one of their get togethers on the way down to LA from San Luis Obispo which was held in Avila Beach. Basically just a bunch of car guys in a parking lot with their hoods popped BSing and checking out each other's cars. If that's what you want to do I'd suggest starting a Yahoo group or similar and then just find a restaurant in a relatively central location and ask them if it would be all right to have a meet there. Especially if you eat lunch there, chances are they would appreciate the business and there you have it. No frills, low cost, easy to do. You'll probably get a couple racers showing up who try to get people out to an autocross or a track day (maybe Mark or Steve), couple guys who do real car shows, Roadster or 510 guys, etc. Just don't try to make everything a big production, and it should work out fine.

The RT mount will handle 400 hp no problem. The stock mount... not so much.

I have a bad feeling about any shop that says they'll do this job for $50 per corner. I would expect you to pay 5 or 6 times that amount per corner to do it right at a minimum. Andy: $50 for 2 hours labor? The last time I worked in a shop was in the mid 90's and we charged $75/hr. 15 years later I know the economy sucks but I can't imagine shops making any money at all without that labor rate at least staying flat if not going up.

Did you read 240hoke's thread on Hybrid Z and then make sure you cut the fenders high enough to clear the tires? Seen a few done wrong here lately. What pulleys are you going with? Stock LS6 stuff? Trying to figure out what to do with my 5.3. It has LONG pulleys and water pump I'd like to get rid of.

Just watched it. Was for some reason a limited run of 3000, I thought all of the 1980 cars were 10th anniversary. Maybe it's the badging, don't know. The owner had repainted badly and the thing was barely running. He tried to claim it was worth $50-$60K. They ended up having a mechanic look at it and he said the auto trans was slipping and it had a bad exhaust leak in addition to the barely running part. They had offered the guy $4K for it but pulled out after checking it out a little further. I can't believe they actually offered him $4K. That is a parts car at best. I never did have much love for the S130, but that thing was a serious POS.

Glasspacks have the "louvered cores." Here is an example: http://www.who-sells-it.com/cy/holley-performance-products-inc-2055/flowtech-airmass-mufflers-9339/page-1-fullsize.html

Roger is charging tax when he's not a business because he's been stung?

You put the tool on a 1/2" ratchet. If anyone wants one, I have mine and I'm putting in a V8. $30 shipped if you're interested. Used in near new shape. Still has the (faded) sticker on it.

Never used clecos, but I know you'd have to buy the pliers to take them in and out.