hmsports

Very funny! Hey if you can't laugh about it, you're being way too serious. While it was happening - all in slow motion, I couldn't help thinking 'hmmm, the grass shouldn't be at the top of my windshield...', then... BAM, it was over. Yes, I did walk away - actually ran away - the car was smoking - nothing burnt, just steam and hot oil. Immediately flipped all electrical switches off and bailed. Jumped to the wall and ran to the corner station. Engine was ok - will use again next year - the body was trashed. I do have to crack my back every so often and I had a torn muscle in my left abdomen, but other than that I can't wait to get back out there. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger". That's an old Rugby saying - had to give that up because it was too dangerous - racing is much safer :classic:

I think most folks who really love cars will agree with you carguyinok. There's a difference between the guy who takes pride in his car and does things within the limits of reality and taste - like a lot of the new breed tricking out their Hondas. Then there's the proverbial Ricer who thinks that you are looking at their car because it is the hottest machine in the world --- while really you are looking in total amazement that there are people out their whose shoe size is larger than their IQ. ...but the thing that amazes me is all the hotties that hang out with them?!?

I was cleaning up and found the right rear suspension from my racecar that was ripped from the car in my cartwheel wreck last August. I guess the force was more than I thought. Here's what's left: It was sitting to the left of the car - see the wreckage in my gallery - photo labeled 'Bad Luck at Gateway'.

I think it may be a custom front for the new Yugo Koral IN to make it look more like a 280ZX... Sorry. I did some checking and haven't found anything in any of my old catalogs that matches this. It looks similar to the Kaminaris a tiny bit but the openings on the skirt are too wide. I'll keep looking.

The weakest point of the Z's overhead cam when it comes to revving is the valve springs. They are not stout enough to handle much over 6500rpms. Over this, the valves tend to float. As the springs get weak, this limit is reduced. I would say it is not advisable to take a stock Z engine over 6K too often - and like Zvoiture and 240Z mention, 5500 is probably a good standard to shoot for.

My 71 street machine has the Crane Fireball XR3000 with the Crane Fireball PS91 performance coil. The installation was pretty easy. Haven't fired it up yet. My 72 has an Allison trigger into an MSD 6-AL. It performs wonderfully.

I'm not for certain but I'm sure that if they didn't bolt right up, the swap from a 240 R180 would be easy. I know the R180 from the front of a Nissan 4x4 requires the flanges swapped from a 240 R180.

Just a guess but maybe the float needs to be adjusted. At low rpm, the float is filling up and overflowing - at higher rpm, the amount of fuel being used is more than what can fill into the float.

I used some sand paper to knock of the majority of it - at least the foam. I didn't do anything else after that because I wasn't restoring mine. Try it on a corner to see if it will work for you. Don't forget to wear some googles.

Stock L24 Block, E31 head, cam, valves, springs, crank, rods, flywheel. Pistons are 40 over - crank, pistons, rods, flywheel all balanced - damper helps smooth things out. Turbo oil pump, external oil filter and cooler. Stock round-tops with tapered needles - runs 104 octane race fuel. Aluminum radiator with electric fan. Electronic distributor trigger with MSD 6-AL box. Exhaust gas temp gauge on #1 and #6 cylinder. Holley Blue fuel pump. SCCA ITS Legal - and very fast!

I'd say the first thing to do would be bleed the system. If you were getting no resistance and a little after you pumped a bit, that would be the symptoms. Also make sure, as carguyinok pointed out, that the slave is properly adjusted at the tranny.

It took about 30 minutes, but I got the new 72 master installed. All I did was swap the two lines that go from the master to the splitter. The only modification I had to do was bend the front line a bit to meet the new master. Now I only have to rebuild the calipers and replace the driver's side wheel cylinder and the brake system is ready to go.

mattymatmat, I have done this to both my race cars. I also use an aftermarket aluminum radiator. You can see a picture of my installation in my photo album - the shot labeled '72 ITS Prepped'. The installation kit is very easy.

This is exactly what the problem is. The 72 and later has the front/rear resevoirs reversed from the 70-71. The 70-71 replacement master cylinder is $150 - if you can find it. I purchased the rebuild kit but the rear (front) piston assembly won't come out of the bore. And I think the bore is a bit pitted so the core probably isn't usable anyway. A 72 and later master cylinder is only $36 from the local auto parts store. All I need to do is run the original lines in my 71 to the correct ports on the new master. Since I'm not concerned with originality of the car, this won't be a problem. I appreciate your 2 cents tough... that's what makes this a great club!

I finally got things figured out. I'm buying a replacement for a 1972 (at $36.00) installing it and reversing the two lines so the larger resevoir will coorespond to the front brakes as it should.

The fastest, and maybe the most complete way would be to have your rims sandblasted to remove the rust. It may also be the most economical - if you consider your time to do things by hand. If you need/want to do this by hand, consider using a wire wheel on a drill motor. But remember to wear safety goggles, a dust mask and gloves!

I think the problem with balancing them all together would be that you would be guessing which component to remove material from. You may be removing from the piston to get things balanced when it is actually the rod that is causing the difference in weight. There is a really good book on building performance nissan engines (I'd have to check tonight the exact name) that explains the balance process for stock, mildly modified and killer engines. It explains where and where not to remove material from each component so as not to weaken things.

You bring up a good point. I've got an angle finder that has a 360 degree scale with a magnetic base that I use when building roll cages. I'm sure that something like that would work perfectly for this. Harbor Freight has them for sale for $3.99...

When I install my fuel cells, I cut the floor out completely between the rear frame rails and from about 3" foreward of the rear of the compartment to just behind the strut towers. I then use 1/8" wall 1" square tubing to build two cross members between the rear rails. From these two cross members I hang the rest of the cage using thinner wall 1" square tubing. The triangulation helps to keep any twisting of the rear frame rails down. You could also add another diagonal bisecting the rear rectangle of the cell cage if you wanted. I then cover the hole in the floor with a thin aluminum firewall with a trap-door hatch to get to the fill nozzle. I've always had good luck with ATL cells. I did have to put a good Holley Blue fuel pump with a regulator to get the fuel out of the cell. BTW, I can get ATL cells and parts for about 10% off retail if you are interested.

Any autoparts store like AutoZone carries these. You will have to offset it so it doesn't interfere with the crank pulley. Expect to pay around $50-70 for a 10-12" fan. Or you can visit Racer Parts Wholesale or call them at 800-397-7815. They sell two varieties.

I agree with 2Many that the wrist pins are an easy press out. Any machine shop the deals with performance engines should be able to do this no problem. Sounds like the local shop used that as an excuse. ...and I don't think you could get a valid balance without taking the pistons off the rods.

The valve cover tube was used to allow the hot gasses and oil vapors to get circulated back through the carbs, thus reburning and supposedly making things less polution prone. Simply replace the hose with a small air cleaner. K&N makes a valve cover breather, availabe from MSA for about $20. The other two were hooked up to the breather on top of the float bowl covers. This again was to burn any fuel vapors. Connect small hoses from the nipple on top of the float cover to the nipples on the back of the air cleaner housing. Enjoy. Rick

I would also recommend you stay away from slotting just one side... or both for that matter... unless you are planning on auto-crossing or the like. But then you would do it right and get excentric bushings and/or camber plates. Take the time to do the measurements and try to figure out exactly what is causing the misalignment. I'm sure that they are stating negative (top part of tire angled inward). Under cornering loads, the body roll would change the camber of the outboard tire to a more vertical angle keeping more tire patch on the road. In road racing, we have anywhere up to -3 degrees or more camber front/rear - depending on the track. Performance driving requires more - check out the rear of most BMWs. Measure it using a flat board against the rim only if possible so you can avoid tire sidewall deflections/imperfections. Not super critical though. Use a level and protractor again. You can get fairly close. They make some easy to use camber gauges for about $40 - probably not worth your money though. Glue the protractor to the board (or hold it if you have three hands :classic:) - hold the board against the tire with the protractor aligned vertically and then use a small level - held horizontally to get the angle. Mark a center line on the board to align to level to.

I'm sorry for misleading you. Thanks to Phred for straightening things out.

One minute it 1/60th of a degree. So, from what you were told, 50' would convert to .83 degree plus or minus 30', or one half of a degree. What could cause the problem, if the frame is straight, is that the tower is tweaked. If this is the case, you should see some misalignment with the hood. I'm not sure the best way to measure for this. Maybe park on a very level surface and using a bubble level and a protractor, check the angle of the inside of the strut tower with vertical. This may tell you if the left one is tweaked at all. An adjustable strut bar may allow you to pull the towers together, helping things a bit. I wouldn't spend the money on camber plates. The easiest way would be to slot the current holes. With the strut tower isolator, you should be able to get about 1/2 degree adjustment or so. I can't find my good manual so I can't give a true reading on what the camber should be, but I would think less than a degree of negative would be best on a stock Z. Hope you find your problem - I'll be interested in the results. Rick