gnosez

Registration is now open! www.zcon.org Seven months and counting....

A simple roll and I run 245/45/16 on 8-inch rims - street. With CP flares we run 10-inch wheels with 275 Hoosiers - race car.

20-50W Brad Penn Green oil (has extra zinc) In our 2.8L vintage 240 race car running 13:1 compression ratio and in my 3.2L stoker 240 street car running 11.5:1 cr Oil analysis after every change.

I'll ask Bob when I see him the week of the 17th and post his reply regarding C/G production and who's driving...

2013 ZCON 26th Annual International Z Car Convention Sponsored by: Z Car Club of New England: www.zccne.org Dates: August 5th through 9th of August Registration scheduled to be up and ready by week of December 17th Location: Nashua, NH Hotel: Crowne Plaza 2 Somerset Parkway, Nashua, NH 03063 Hotel Website: (www.cpnashua.com) Rates: $109./night w/early registration (before March 1st 2013) and $119/night after March 1st Hotel registration is open now: 603-886-1200 (mention Z Convention) Event Schedule: 8/5 Monday: registration opens at 9am, suds&shine, opening reception with special guest speaker Bob Sharp 8/6 Tuesday: Car show at Anheuser Busch Brewery (shuttle service to downtown dining locations) 8/7 Wednesday: Road rallye (shuttle bus service to downtown dining locations) 8/8 Thursday: track event at NHMS 1.6 mile road course, New England Clam Bake dinner 8/9 Friday: Autocross and Special Events including Duck tour of Boston/Fenway Park, awards and closing banquet Please note that there will be other small events and side trips that can be taken as well to local attractions.

Can't say I agree with you on not moving things around after doing two race cars this year. Coil-overs get you just so far. The drivers weight is the issue and there's nothing in the right front to offset it unless you want the ride height to be so far off from side to side that folks will wonder what's wrong with your car. Moving the battery back to the front of the car would help (some). BSR moved the engine over 0.75-1.0 inch and back just under an inch. This helped balance the car and allow the custom exhaust header to fit and not hit the steering coupler. John to get the 48/52 we just have Pete drive the car with the seat all the way back. The delta between him and me is a good 100 lbs. We made a foam booster seat for me that allowed us to weld the seat in one spot. Nothing like having the sliding seat bracket move during a race.

Jon brought up an excellent point in regards to corner balancing. While no expert, I have done more than 6 vehicles with several being done several times due to changes in the set-up. In essence here's my advice, unless you have a flat floor don't even start. If you don't but can get the scales level, expect the whole process to take a lot longer than you think it should. At the end of the day, you'll never get an S30 body to be perfectly balanced unless you can physically move or add weight (likely to the right front). Want to know how they did it back in the day? Modify the motor mounts and move the engine to the right by 0.75-1.00 inches.

Finding a shop that will allow you to book several hours and lets you get under the car with them is priceless. I have the TTT LCAs in both my street and race Z with AZ Z car RCAs in the street and TTT rears in the race car along with heim jointed outer tie-rods. That said I am well aware of how much adjustment is there to play with. The first shop visit lasted nearly 4 hours with the new front and rears. After that the next visit with the race car took under two because I pre-set everything based on the first visit. After 10,000 miles the rears haven't needed adjustment while the fronts get tweaked twice a year on the street car. The race car is checked several times each year. The rears haven't been changed in two years (about 26 track days) but the fronts need adjustment depending on the track surface and/or our driving style (hitting those turtles).

To get a Z inspected far from home, I'd suggest that once you found a good prospect, that you would contact the nearest Z club (www.zzca.org) and ask who they would take the car to. You can also ask for assistance here once you find one to have a site member go over and look at it for you.

Expand your search since it's possible to have a car inspected and then shipped. I helped a club member pick out a nice 240 that ended up coming out of California and was shipped to Boston, MA. That particular 240 sold for $6,500. and shipping was $1,200. The car came with over $2,000 in new parts. It was pre-inspected at a local shop specializing in Zs. That cost under $200.

john@baddogparts.com

http://baddogparts.com/images/240fullrailsfrt2.jpg

The price being asked of $250 is a very good one but I would want to have it rebuilt before installation. One rear tab at the back of the tranny makes it a 1980-83 ZX (see photo of the one for sale above). All 77-79 trannies have two rear tabs (as do the 4-speeds). Difference between early 5-speed (280A) and the ZX (280B) is only a concern if you race or drive your Z hard and up hills. The gap between 2nd and 3rd in a stock engine 240Z is noticeable. On a flat highway, not really. if you're getting a 280B (ZX) tranny get the matching R200 diff (3:90 ratio).

I just took a left side OEM mirror and turned it 180 then mounted it. Period correct. My vote for non-OEM mirrors - talbots.

You could have told him that a 240 was 8.33% lighter than a 260 and 16.67% lighter than a 280. Which would make the 240 about 50% lighter than a 370.

Every owner and his/her car has a story. Why that specific car, that year, that model, those modifications, etc. Some folks want to own the vehicle that they drove to the prom or the first new car they ever bought with their own money, or the one they got after getting back from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Gulf I/II. The one they got lucky in. Stop at any car and ask these questions and all of a sudden you'll have the owner talking your ears off and maybe you'll find yourself a new friend in the bargain.

As a judge, the question I always ask folks that are so concerned about winning a car show trophy is this - how much does the trophy cost? I then offer to hand them the price of a trophy and tell them to go buy one if it's that important to them. Cruel? Yes. Honest? Yes. If you need someone else to vindicate your own opinion that your vehicle is the best one there, you're just asking to be hurt. As to a dark secret that the best car doesn't always win is and can be true in more cases than most, I would have to say that for the past 12 years at the annual Z conventions, the best cars actually won. So if you want to win at car shows that aren't Z-centric you going to have to have the best dam resto or a wildly modified Z to garnish attention and interest. Other that that, either stop entering your Z or stop whining cause it's at best a $50. fuzking trophy. And last year my 240 took second place to a 1956 VW Bug, original owner's son, that was totally un-restored and had all the wear marks of a well used and loved vehicle. I voted for the VW and it turns out he voted for mine. That VW wasn't pretty or clean but it was a wonderful survivor that was still driven and enjoyed.

A triangular set-up is better than a straight bar but adds some complexity to installation and removal. Have someone build you one. For the front go from the struts mounts back to the firewall and for the rear add an angles piece to one side of the strut tower up to the bar itself. A roll bar would do all this instead.

Well, john I have to say your idea to report the death of GroupZ and see what pops up on the forum board worked!!

I have the AZ Z LCA in the rear of my street 240 and we have the TTT in the 240 race car. To stop the tube from moving after setting the AZ version I drilled and installed bolts. Both do what you want them to do, namely allow for a whole range of alignment tweeking. More adjustability with the AZ version and I needed it to over come a CV issue.

One of my many wishes is to have my 240 shipped to John's shop, have him take the car out and then adjust it as needed. I'd love to drive the car before and after on the same roads and/or track and feel the difference. Right now it's set to the specs provided by John but that I understand is just the starting point. Maybe when ZCON 2014 rolls around I can get it there somehow.

ZCON 2013 - Nashua, NH August 5th - 9th. More info to follow....

As one of the judges for both the show and gold trophies I can personally attest to the quality and cleanliness of Dan's car. He deserved every trophy and award he got.

http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/3178720801.html http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/3259699854.html These took me less than 2 minutes to find

If you're worried about the noise might I suggest a different muffler. I mostly drive with the driver's window down and should say my diff lose all its gear oil I doubt I would know it by the grinding sound it would emit. Or maybe a different sound system. Having owned British and Japanese sports cars for over 45 yrs now there's nothing like driving down the road and wondering - is that noise new? As to seam welding, I have B&W photos taken during the track preparation of the 260 gnose done up in Bob Sharp's shop showing them welding every seam they could find and added braces and patches where they thought it would help.