veritech-z

I went with the Nikon D80 when I was shopping for DSLRs. It's been my experience that larger LCD's generally just translate into reduced battery life, but not having direct experience with either of those two cameras, I couldn't tell you that would be a given. Are you starting from scratch with a DSLR, or will compatibility with your existing hardware be a factor? I was starting from scratch, so it didn't matter to me, but if I had a bunch of money tied up in lenses and accessories, I would probably have gone with something that would work with all that stuff.

I keep hearing that advice, but I won't be drag racing this car, and the turbo won't have any more than 6psi or so. Most of the T-5's durability issues stem from the lack of internal shifter stops, which can be solved by upgrading to an aftermarket shifter assembly. There are a few other things you can do to increase your transmission life, none of which will bring the cost of the transmission anywhere close the cost of a used T-56 (in fact, I could buy an all-aftermarket t-5 for about the price of most used t-56s that I've seen). I refuse to get an automatic, and the engine is going to be mostly stock specification with low boost. I think it will be alright for a fun street car. If not, you guys can all say "I told you so" and I won't get mad.

This is going to be one of those movies that's rumored to come out for years before it actually ever shows up in theatres witha completely different cast/plot/production staff than it started with (see: Spiderman, originally slated to be directed by James Cameron back in like 1998, and the infamous Alien's vs Predator that was rumored to be getting made ever since the alien skull on the mothership scene from Predator 2 was shot...and look what that turned into...). That's my theory. I've been wondering who would be good in the different roles of speed racer, and I still haven't come up with anyone yet. Just so long as they have the same actor play both speed AND trixie, but they can change the color of their scarves just like in the cartoon so you can tell them apart.

Hey Vic, don't you think that Panasports/Watanabes are kind of played out though? Seems like everybody's got those these days...I think you need a nice three spoke...

That's a good looking motorcycle, I like the exhaust! Glad to know somebody was reading my paint job threads...there were like two regulars at Hybridz who got into it (one even painted his car with a camo theme I designed as well, but this one was a take on the BRE racing livery)...I'm thinking when it's time for a real paint job, I'll probably do something a bit more sedate on the outside, most likely back to white, but my engine/transmission assembly will probably be desert camo. It's going to be a fuel injected 350 chevy with a T5 tranny if all goes according to plan, and hopefully I'll be able to get my turbo on there as well...

Something to know about driving a theme car: Driving a theme car is like wearing leather pants...If you don't have the right swagger, you end up feeling a bit awkward. Be ready for the cell phone pictures at every stoplight, and the inane "conversations" you'll be forced to endure with every joker that thinks his opinion matters (but probably doesn't even own a car-this will be the same guy who came to wherever you are in his friend's car that he can't stop telling people about). Bitter voice of experience...By the way, I like the scheme, it's bold and vintage, but not tasteless. Here are some pics of my old paint job (the white one) when the car was themed like a Veritech fighter plane from the cartoon show Robotech (that's where my screen name is derived). The flat black and camo design is the current paint.

It's like those guys that go to a concert to complain about how "they don't sound like their old stuff" or just sit there and heckle the bands...I'm always like: "You PAID to come in here and have a bad time? why not just stay home?" I'll never get it... I would say this is FAR from the ugliest/most tasteless Z I've ever seen. I wouldn't do mine that way, but I'm sure most people say that about my car as well...

I like the zzzap! paint stripes, personally...

95 psi? what kind of pump is that? My pump won't exceed 45 psi unregulated...

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not building mine for resale. I just mean that spending that much money on any one part isn't really in the cards for me right now.

I know I'd personally LOVE to do a widebody, but the cost of wheels and tires alone would come out to probably 20 times what I paid for the car in the first place...but since it only cost me $200 (and the guy I got it from got it for free), most parts on the car approach the value of the vehicle...

What EXACTLY (read: if ANYTHING) does that do? Notice they never come right out and tell you what it is....I like the feedback guy that claims he got over a second in the quarter mile from installing this "device".

Maybe...

I've got a variant of this disease, my symptoms include hunting for wheels at all times. I'm always looking for older wheel models that fit my car, usually early Advan models (ONIs and SA3As mostly....but once I saw a style I'd never seen before, it was just a bar that went through the center of the wheel, like a two spoke version of the SA3....never seen them come up for sale again....), but I also like the older SSR and Impul styles. Works are nice too. I've already got three complete sets of wheels, so more wheels is the LAST thing I need, but I just can't help it. I'm like a girl with shoes...It's pretty bad when you're looking at wheels that are made by other marque's house tuning companies that would never look right on your car...I've been eyeing some old Mugen CF-48s, and I've even seen some Mazdaspeed wheels that almost made me want to get an RX-7 (88 turbo II with the Mazdaspeed three spokes in the front and MS-02s in the back)...

So Roger, does that mean that either of you are looking to reproduce the molds?

these cars are great! The current owner of the white car is active on Hybridz, his screen name is oddly enough...Primadonna Z ( *edit* Doh! Just checked your profile and saw Roger Berry/Primadonna Z is in fact...you! Sorry Roger!). Just for my own clarity: The original was the lost red car, the yellow car became the black car, and Jetlag is the current white car? Also, for archival purposes, it might be a good idea to put a link to part one somewhere in the Part II thread, and vice versa.

I watched the "south Park" movie with Spanish subtitles once...they even did the Uncle F-er song with spanish subtitles...talk about wrong...

In one of the Bandit movies, isn't he actually RACING big rigs in the beginning? So Tomohawk, you didn't actually know the answer? I was kind of hoping that somebody would post the big reveal... Here's some local to me trivia about smokey and the bandit...anybody out there familiar with XAT performance? They built an S13 240sx hatchback with a Bandit style front clip, right down to the gold snowflakes...I think it looks a bit goofy, but it takes all kinds, right?

I'm sure the kit came with a new needle that would change the fuel metering. Also, I talked to a guy at a Mini cooper performance shop once, and he said they usually used the Jaguar 2" SUs for turbo (ours were 1 3/4"). They would just slap them on and not change anything, but you have to think that the Mini had like a 1.3L engine, so it might have been just luck that they could bolt them on that way. What's interesting to me is that the carb in that literature appears to be a flat top SU...go figure.

Here's a turbo tom 2-barrel setup (not an su, but...): Most of the turbos that involve SUs were a single draw through. I gather it's more difficult to get them to work under high pressure than under high vacuum. There was a member at Hybridz that claimed to have seen a turbo S30 with dual SUs on it, blow through style, but he wasn't able to talk to the owner about it much, and like a bigfoot sighting, no pictures were forthcoming. (http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114661)If you look for pictures of the crown turbo kits, you'll see what the SU kits looked like.

"most users ever online was 8..."

Works fine for me, I was just enjoying the article about the Toyota 2kgt...

And when you go there, be sure to do a search first, or else everybody will ignore your post (at best) or flame you for not using the search function (at worst). As for stuff that just "bolts in", you're pretty much limited to L28et engines from the turbo 81-83 280zx. I've heard tell of getting motor mounts from a Z31 originally equipped with an RB engine (I think that was the 200ZR? not 100% on that one so don't quote me on that) in order to just "bolt in" an RB engine to an early Z car, but that supposedly leaves the engine position a little high, and I don't know the specifics of what needs to happen to the transmission mount or drive shaft at that point...Also you'll have to change the oil pan and pickup to the RB20 units (which I think requires modifying the block) since the larger displacement RB's have a different pan setup that interferes with the S30 crossmember (I think because of the all wheel drive transaxle up front?)...like I say, I've heard that stuff, but only looked into it for the sake of curiosity so if you decide to go that route you would be better served to contact someone that has done the swap since I"m no expert by far, I just like to live vicariously through other people's projects... Also, it's my understanding that Vildini Motorsports is offering a cradle to allow for an easy swap of the SR20DET, you can talk to them at www.vildinimotorsport.com. Of course, if you relax your bolt-in forced induction policy, you could always do the ever popular V-8 conversion...

I was thinking to myself that they had a disproportionate number of Datsuns already, but then I opened the link and they were all Daddz's cars...I'm Veritech-z over there too. Looks like there aren't too many members yet, kind of reminds me of the time I signed up for www.widebodies.net and it only has like 12 active members (50 or so total)...nobody posts for months...and when they do it's usually stuff like "wow, nice ride!"...Hopefully this one will take off and get some interesting stuff happening.

I suppose that would depend on the cause of the overheat condition. If you lost all your coolant due to a puncture or blown hose, you wouldn't be doing yourself any favors by letting it run. Also, if your fan wasn't working properly, you'd actually cool the engine off by driving rather than sitting still, so...