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Try some searches, there were some very good rebuilding posts by a member both here and on Hybridz, wanna say his user name was hisandhers on both sites. To reiterate, quite often simply replacing the brass synchros themselves won't entirely cure the grinding problem as the synchro hub springs tend to "relax" over time. Zdoctor - last I checked he hung out on zcar.com, sells some stiffer stainless replacement springs. I picked up a set from him but have yet to use them and can't offer any first hand experience. Here's his website, but last time I tried to contact him the email listed was invalid: http://www.thezdoctor.com/ EDIT: Welcome BTW!

Yes, congrats to all z guys! With that said it looks like Tom "jumped ship" and is now running a vintage 1974 Evo

Just reading through the SVRA group 8 rules and they list two acceptable rear spoilers. The first is the infamous BRE style, 4" tall, Nissan p/n 98100-E3300, which we're all familiar with. The other which I'm curious about is the 280Z rear spoiler, p/n 99996-R8Z01. Does anyone have a picture of this? How tall is it?

Very cool. Any individual, higher res pics available too?

Pretty cool, that's an autocross on steroids! I'd love to try out a course like that. Heh, I forget you're in that line of work, I was expecting some home video footage, not these, nicely done!

Thanks for the vid. A friendly fyi, your link doesn't go directly to the EP race, for the others it's race #4. Ironically, I met the driver of the #47 roadster (the "smoker") this past weekend, he was instructing at our club's Sat drivers school. I hadn't planned on attending the runoffs but some of my fellow drivers had talked about going as spectators. Nothing concrete, but there's a chance I'll be there. Tell that to the 5 of 7 Z drivers who DNS'd, DNF'd, or had limped through the race with problems at our Council race @ Blackhawk this past Sunday. We had no less than 6 Z's (including myself) in Vintage - possibly a record. Bill Oakes and I were the only 2 who escaped the "bad karma". A good weekend for me, won the race with a 19 second lead over 2nd place.

I found a good gallery with many good pics of Greg and John's dice: http://dennisw.smugmug.com/gallery/8736269_bXH6W#587324618_fTFha Here's another one, not though quite as good: http://gordon.smugmug.com/gallery/8893659_iHYkF#P-4-15 Both photographers have a gold mine of years past Sprints as well as other events too, just click on their username. Greg, the #67 on the airdam was a nice touch!

2 seconds, great to hear! The real test for myself will be next weekend @ Blackhawk, can't wait! The first event on the Bilsteins was at a new track (for me), but I appeared to be running faster than my nemesis - a wild Ford of England '72 Escort with a twin cam Lotus F2 motor. I'll also be on old rock hard tires deliberately (victoracers at that). In my case, the car is not loose with the rear bar either. For anyone interested, here's a vid from the aforementioned race - from Bill's perspective in the ex-Mountain Motorsports ITS 240. Unfortunately he was just a bit too far back to catch my duel with the Escort, just a dot in the distance. I missed the grid call and started a lap down (don't ask why :mad:) , doh! Ran with the escort for about 5 laps but let up after that, what's the point?

Looks like a run-of-the-mill "b" box 4 speed (F4W71B), to me.

A popular swap is the earlier non-EGR N42 manifold, found on the 75-76 years.

Good points, you should probably hold off on diving in with the checkbook just a bit. A good starting point for diagnosing any head gasket problems would be a leak down tester, done both at cold temps and after warm up. Also, if it's truly leaking antifreeze into the exhaust it will give a very distinct smell otherwise the smoke could be something else. Yes, I don't envy you, the climate here in Wisconsin is bad enough! On a side note, I'm pleased to see the IRL kept the Edmonton race on their scheduled this year, in just a few weeks too.

The intake manifold only has a mounting provision for the "cooling loop", there is NOT any orifice at that point which would allow coolant to seep in, it' my guess you overheated and warped the head. The loop is only needed to warm the air regulator, it operates independently from the Thermotime switch. Its only function is for high idle warm up - without the "coolant loop" the car will high idle indefinitely in colder temps, speaking from experience on that one! For anyone in warmer climates, I would recommend removing it completely.

The internal-strut-housing spacers were fab'd using rigid plumbing pipe from the local Home Depot. The 1/2" tall spacers at camber plate area I made by cutting the tops off the old tokicos and drilling the abandoned adjuster hole larger. Sounds ghetto but it worked pretty good. I was worried the struts would be hardened steel but they drilled very easily. I already owned the GC camber plates and made no mention of the Bilsteins when ordering the coil overs. BTW, I have an older set camber plates, p/n CPZ.

It's a bit confusing but no, I meant remained. They were changed/shortened from OEM back when I installed the Tokicos and in my case "remained" the same when converting to the Bilsteins. I suppose we need Coop to clarify. I interpreted his post as the rears were sectioned (w/spacers), only too much for the AD's travel. IIRC, GC's instructions were originally written for the Tokico's - using the front S30's as mine were. I feel safe saying he had to use a spacer as well.

I sectioned the front to fit the struts and used a spacer in the rears. I don't have my notes in front of me but wanna say about 3 inches. Essentially the difference between the Tockico's and Bilstein's body. In other words the overall length of the strut tube (from gland nut to hub) remained the same as before.

I can emphatically say no. I've recently sectioned a set of 240 struts for Katman's somewhat infamous re-valved Bilsteins and DID section the rears. One race under my belt on them so far (@ Autobahn CC if it matters), the car the most stable it's ever been, with lap times a good second faster. Maybe I'm able to get away with it because the rear squats considerably under acceleration with the GT2-ish motor. The rear ride height is actually about 1/2" higher than the front too. Current spring rates are 325fr/275rr, bars are 1.125fr/.875rr. I'd imagine the bar diameter would affect this too. I kinda-sorta followed GC's instructions, sectioning the rears to the same overall length as the previously used Tokico's (forget the p/n, their "front" S30 replacement). Because of the stepped design on the Bilsteins I was forced to use a 1/2" spacer up top for camber plate bearing articulation, thereby making the overall piston length close to the old Tokicos. I actually sectioned the fronts as much as possible, the end result about 1" shorter than the Tokico MR2 struts prior, NO spacer. New coil over sleeves were purchased from GC well. My biggest complaint was their high tolerance, about .060 larger than the struts. Thinking they sold me the wrong ones I called Jay and to my amazement he said "no, that's how they're supposed to be", and went on to ramble about how grinding down a weld will thin the area around it, but in my case the area was chamfered prior and TIG'd. My solution was wrapping the struts with 22ga sheetmetal, tightening with hose clamps and tacking welding. I completely agree about mounting the camber plates on the underside, a big pet peeve of mine, I can't fathom why anyone would put them on top.

I assume you're referring to the Mid-Ohio Vintage Grand Prix this past weekend? If so that's an SVRA event, they have detailed rules on their website as well, http://svra.com/, click under the car info tab. Not all vintage clubs run the same group numbering scheme. The VSCDA you referenced is an exception, they pretty much parallel the SVRA, but HSR differs - wanna say a group 8 car would be group 3 there. The 1972-3 rule doesn't apply as much anymore. SVRA released new S30 rules in '07 for the 260/280Z (also in group 8), '74 to '78 years, which allow an L28 and 4 wheel discs to name a few. This fits nicely with my car, I'll be applying with SVRA shortly, If all goes well I may even be at the M-O event next year. The S30 could technically run group 10 as well in SVRA, but this is catered more toward a later GT2 SCCA prepped car (with slicks). They're pretty much "throwing you to the wolves" in that group anyway as you're up against some exotic machinery which includes newer AMLS cars.

Thanks for the insight, makes sense. I'm always amazed how much you can learn, even on a single lap, following an experienced driver (a fast one) at any given track. Great to hear you already had Brakke too before he broke. IMO Road America is not the most technical of tracks, it probably requires more bravado than anything. The long straights provide plenty of time to think about the next corner, very different from the Alan Wilson style tracks of today, or even an older course like Blackhawk Farms. WOW, one handed through the kink, that takes some moxy! For some reason I'm reminded of a spin one of our members had through there a few years ago in an ITS 944. Amazingly he never touched a wall: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8567454532851601546&ei=uxxBStz3LImyrgKkv9GeAQ&q=+kink+road+america&hl=en

I was just looking over the mylaps results... Greg would've had his hands full if the two lead cars didn't retire. The late Mr. Thrash qualified 3.5 seconds faster, John Brakke almost the same. John must've had a mechanical problem or something, retired on lap 6. With that said, still a great job, gotta be there at the end! On a side note, it's too bad Ken Kannard is no longer running his Z in EP. He was VERY quick at the Sprints in the years past, want to say he's won his class as well. He's been running a Spec Miata with our club lately.

Congrats Greg! A bit ironic, I vividly remember watching Mr. Upchurch lead flag to flag in the same car at the '00 Sprints. It's a shame about Tom, his death really shook the production ranks in particular, most of the guys are in disbelief. He did go out doing what he loved.

Thanks. Yeah the newer p/n sounds intriguing but from what I understand Nissan went to opposite threads on all of the later B boxes anyway, which would lead me to believe it's a dead end. I was considering reusing the old one and spot welding it too. On one of my "professionally" rebuilt transmissions it appears he reused the original and double staked it of sorts, it held up very well. Double nutting is a good idea too, maybe go that route with a spot weld on the nuts rather than molesting the mainshaft.

Just received an email from Courtesy... the part is NLA. Perhaps I'm not crazy after all.

On the contrary. You'll find some very serious rides at a Council solo1 event, in many ways more so than the w2w guys. For example, Cameron (Heavy85 @ Hybridz) competes with an LS1 powered Z in them.

Thanks Arne!! Yup, Courtesy shows it available and a quick google search confirms it's for a F4W71B. I ordered a few as well. Jon, I want to say I read it about a year ago or slightly less.