Racer X

Odd thing happened. About Christmas the daily Bring A Trailer email notifications of things I was interested and/or following suddenly stopped. I went to the site, checked all the settings and found nothing had changed. Then this weekend I started getting notifications again. Weird.

Thanks. It has indeed been a journey. Life is a journey, enjoy the ride.

Been nearly 10 years since you began this journey. It will be very nice when it is finished. Just think, when these cars were built they rolled off a moving assembly line at a rate around one every few minutes.

Thanks man. I remain optimistic. Everyday I wake up on the green side of the grass is a good one.

Asleep. Seriously, life has been a bit crazy. Mom was diagnosed with late stage Alzheimer's so I have guardianship and conservatorship duties, then Covid hit. Then the timing belt broke in my 2005 Legacy Goon. Then Mrs. Racer 2.0 fell and broke her ankle. Then she fell and broke her wrist. Then our oldest grandson was killed in a head on collision a couple years ago last November. He was in the Army, stationed at Ft. Bragg, the 82nd Airborne. He was out with some buddies on a Sunday evening and some guy got on the freeway going the wrong way. Killed the other guy, my grandson, a kid and girl in the backseat of his car and the kid riding shotgun lived with serious injuries. No alcohol or drugs were found in any of the victims. As if life wasn't dealing me enough bad cards, Mrs. Racer 2.0 passed away last February. I came home and found her on the couch, looking like she had laid down to rest. She died in her sleep, the coroner said atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (hardening of the arteries) with WHO Class 2 obesity as a contributing factor. Tuesday after Memorial Day I came home from work to find a water line had broken in the wet bar upstairs. Half my house was flooded. The contractor just finished up last week and now I am moving back into the house that I built 16 years ago. Last October I had my right hip replaced. The left one was done 13 years ago, and it took that long to get the right one as worn out. I did get up to Alaska for the holidays. Saw psychedelic skies and shot a bunch of pretty cool guns. So yeah, here we are. Regarding an engine, Ollie is the guy to ask. In fact I need to ring him up myself, I'm considering using one of the non EGR fuel injection manifolds on a build I'm planning. Stay tuned.

Another Z in the wild, a ZX parked on a residential street in Marysville.

Next time I see him I’ll ask to get a picture of the doorjamb tag, and the engine bay plate.

And maybe some weed to eat!

The Lake Stevens Les Schwab store parking lot. I guess it’s a thing now. There were about two dozen cars, pickups, even a pretty slick Peterbilt tractor. And yes a car with excessive use of carbon fiber that isn’t painted and will look like crap after the sun bakes the resin to that ugly yellow crazed mess.

Went to town Saturday for groceries and saw this in the parking lot of a tire shop near the store. A nice looking 72 with custom paint, Watanabe wheels, adjustable coil overs, nicely detailed engine bay. I talked with the owner, he assured me that he has air filters for the intakes, he just likes the look of open velocity stacks.

I also wonder why the subterfuge regarding the serial numbers. I have a low number first year Z that doesn’t have the original engine and I would love to find it.

I’m excited for you. Also happy that you have the resources to carry this project through and keep another of these cool old cars alive. Way to go!

So the aftermarket is reproducing the original fiberglass headlight buckets?

The statement by the 240Z Guild is clear. A known criminal, stating that “only a few” of his customers can attest to his “good” customer service. As for the car bringing such a high number, well, lipstick on a pig, and a sucker is born every minute.

Of course.

It happened recently. A Z car was offered on BAT, bids were made, then some gal comes along and says it was her father’s car, and the guy offering it for sale had obtained the car under false pretenses, and somehow had gotten a title.

If you can’t find one used, you’ll need to fabricate something.

Wasn’t it just up for auction recently?

A heat gun should help with forming it around the corners.

Well what goes out needs a source. Otherwise a vacuum would be created. Just enough exchange of volume is needed to maintain a near neutral balance between atmospheric pressure and crankcase pressure. There is always some combustion pressure that leaks past the pistons. If the crankcase pressure is too high or low, the movement of the pistons will be affected. Pan evacuation is one means to keep the parasitic losses to a minimum.

Why not run the atmospheric vent from the catch can to the exhaust downstream of the header collector, using a one way check valve, like the drag racers do? Any excess vapors are drawn into the exhaust and are burned there.

Your car never had retractable seatbelts, which is clear to see as the outer lap belt is anchored to the OEM attachment point. I’m not sure there will be room to mount a retractor where the belt is mounted originally, as the seat doesn’t leave much room there. I also reiterate that attaching a restraining system in any manner other than originally designed is not a good idea. The safety of you and your passengers must not be compromised.

I agree that using the OEM mounting points is the only way to go. Many times over the years I have seen where ill advised shade tree mechanics have mounted seat belts and even seats to nothing more than the unreinforced sheet metal of the floorpan. In the event of a crash, the bolts will pull through, even when using large diameter washers to “spread the load”. Automotive manufacturers engineer and design for safety. Circumventing the original design is asking for disaster.

Probably a few have been dropped onto a 4x4 chassis. I’ve seen pictures of others, some quite extreme, others more like this one. There was a 280ZX in my area but I haven’t seen it in years.

I would just lock in the front hubs and gas it.