zguitar71

US 12 is a great road (not 11, I,m sure it was just a typo though), I use that road to test out the Z all the time in the summer. Another great Montana road is the Beartooth Pass Highway, some of the best scenery around but keep your eyes on the road the drop offs are brutal.

You would be in E Modified with an LS-1

I will say the SU's are a breeze compared to the tripples, at least for me. I tune the SU's with the help of the Ztherapy video in about one hour. The tripples took days with tinkering and conflicting advice from different people, but I finnaly got it right, with help from others of course.

My experience going from worn out SU's to Ztherapy SU's was huge the power increase was very noticeable. Then a year later I went to tripples and the difference was even bigger. Tripples do make a difference! The other great side effect of the tripples is the intake sound, very nice.

I am running the AZC springs on my car which are 180 front and 200 rear and the ride can be a little hard but that really has more to do with the shocks than the springs. To get the amount of dampening I like with the springs the ride becomes harsh. With the 140/165 springs the dampening requirements are less so the ride will be better (smoother). With the Hp shocks the ride probably will not be too hard, but a hard ride is subjective, everyone has there own thoughts on that. I prefer a stiff car with little dive, roll, ect... and I know most people that get in my car comment on the jarring ride.

That is where I was with my Z for 2 years. This last year I raced a 240 in EM (stroker 3.1) but I am finally getting a real FP car together. I have it stripped and all the good pieces to put in it (suspension, motor, ect..), just gotta get the cage welded in. My racing buddy and I cannot decide between XP or FP, we could take the stroker out and put it in the car we are building and run XP but we could never get the weight down to the minimum for that class (17 or 1800 with a 3.1 I think), but then we could rice it up with a gigantic wing! I am buying a `73 F250 and a trailer for the haulin' of the race car. It has been a long time coming but there is always the chance this next season will be status quo, race cars do require $ and unfortunately Montana's climate does not support the growth of money trees.

Ditch the 2.4 and go with a 2.8 motor. Get a set of tripple 45mm carbs, have the head (E-31, 88, N42) ported and polished by a company who knows Z's like www.rebelloracing.com , or just have them make the entire motor. You should be able to get 250-275 HP or even 300+ with a bored and stroked 3.2 motor. Get a set of light weight wheels (forged AL) and the stickiest rubber you can (IMO 15x7's with 225/50's is enough), get Tokico Illumina shocks and a set of www.arizonazcar.com heavy duty springs and the standard after market sway bars and poly bushings every where and the AZC brake kit (the Z's weakness compared to the 911). On the street your car should be very competitive with his 911 probably even faster in a straight line and handel as well, he might have you with the brakes though. Remember you can do all you want to the car but it will not matter it you do not have a very good set of tires.

I rebuilt my tripples (Mikuni's) for $36, the cost of three rebuild kits (Mikuni brand). I did not need to do anything else like jetting but even if you do have to get different jets and other things a good set of used tripple should not cost $500-700 to rebuild. For $1800 you can get a new set of tripples (45mm), TWM intake and all the linkage and air filters, rebuilt carbs are not $1800. And yes Tripples do make a big difference. With the right head work (from someone like Rebello) you should be able to get 250 HP from a 2.8 with SU's and closer to 280+ HP with tripples (45mm) and still be streetable (no race fuel).

13.9 LBS is light for a 16x7 wheel that is cast. Are you sure the weight is not fot the 14" wheel?

Stay with the N42.

I am a sucker for a nice set of fender flares, ZG bolt ons or the blend in type (street flares), not a big fan of the IMSA kits though. Of course a very nice set of wheels and tires under them and a suspension to match is required too. something like the AZC control arms and coilovers with a set of Watanabe type R's with a deep dish but no streached tires, I like function too.

I have never seen drive axels of different lengths. The topic has been discussed before and I believe I read that the shafts are all the same lengths. The setting back of the diff should cure problems with the u joints, look into the m-bar bushings and the front diff mount and strap over the top of the diff too, you could have problems there.

I have personally seen these exact size wheels and tires on stock suspensionad Z's before. I run 15x7 wheels with a -12 offset and 264/36/15 (odd size, Goodyear calls them 23x9x15) cantilever race tires, they do not rub my stock suspension in the front or rear and they do not rub the front valance either, some of that could be from the small diameter of the tire too.

240ZTT's car does not need coilovers to run those wheels and tires. Watanabe's like his (typw r) are designed to have flares and a stock suspension. Go to the web site and you will notice they all have a 4.5" backspace. The 9.5" wheels have a -19 offset, thus requiring flares. If you want larger wheels and tires you will have to either run coilovers or flares or both, otherwise make your limit 17x7.5 with 225/45's on all 4 corners.

The earlier 180 ring gear inside diameter is 110m.m. The later (Mid `76 on) is 115m.m.

The original tires aspect ratio is 78% (175/78/14).

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/WWC19 These are the Konig Rewinds. http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/WWC13 These are the MSA knock offs called the "Fast Forward." http://www.takumiproject.com/ These guys sell the real thing. Watanabe makes beautiful wheels but as you can see they are not cheep either.

I have a set of Ztherapy SU's with about 1500 miles on them, they look great and run great. I switched to tripples with my new motor and no longer run them, I am interested in selling them. If you are interested PM me.

The pinging on the 75 injected motor could be from compression not a poor head job. The head was most likely shaved raising the compression or the pistions could be domed. The head might be very nice, maybe a larger cam can relieve some of the compression stopping the pinging. The p90 is said to flow the best but has a large combustion chamber yielding low compression. It cam be shaved .080 on an l28 to give higher compression then shim the cam towers to get the geometry right. It is a great head for a 3.2 stroker IMO. No shaving is needed and the motor would give around 10.5:1. I would like to get one.

I would stay with a 7" wheel in a 17 or 16. 8" is possible in a 15 but I think the edge of the wheel sits too far out, it will not hit the fender and should be fine with a 225/50/15 tire, the problem is purely cosmetic. If you want a big deep wheel go with fender flares and run a 17x9 with a -12 offset.

Is the car for street use or racing? What is the compression ratio? The cam to use would vary based on what you are doing with the car and its set up. But if it is a street car (I will assume since it is restored) you will not want too large of a cam. I have a 2.8 with 40mm Mikunis and very high compression for the street, about 12:1 and a nice exaust system. I currently have a 270/280 dur. 460 lift cam in the motor. The car pulls hard (no bogging) at low (2500) rpm still and makes power to 6500 or so. At 4K+ it really pulls hard. I think this cam is kind of mild. I would like to go bigger, I have the compression to do it and the springs for it. I think for the street I would like something closer to 290 durration and 490 lift. The 40's would run that just fine and the bottom end, though less than the cam I have now, would still be there and it should make power to 7K. If your rocker arms are in good shape, no wear problems then they should be o.k. to reuse.

That is more of a personal preference, it will change the feel (probably for the better) but not the performance. The short throw will allow you to shift faster but the transmission will also take more abuse too. If you are wanting longevity stay with the stock throw.

O.K. here is my $.02. I have and recomend the Arizona Zcar heavy duty springs. http://www.arizonazcar.com/springs.html They are linear rate, stiff but not too stiff for the street and lowcost. I have the Illumina's but for a street only car the HP's are just fine and will do a great job. In reality for a street car you would probably never really be able to tell the difference between the different aftermarket springs out there. The Tokico struts are going to dictate the ride quality or harchness more than the springs and to fully run any of the springs to there potential you would probaly end up with a lot of tickets, impounded car or in jail for wreckless driving. Remember the springs and shocks you get are only as good as the tires you have with them. The Sport Max is a nice wheel (good choice) and you should have a pleny of good sticky tires to choose from too (225/50/15).

The head will fit but the larger chamber will not give you more power. The compression will go down so will the power. The carbs will swap too. Do you have the flat top SU's or the round top SU's? If you have the flat top then think about switching to the round ones from the earlier models. The only advantage with the head switch would be larger valves than what your e-88 head has now. However; your head may be the later e-88 and alreeady have the larger valves, but I do not know how to tell the two apart. If you search you might be able to find the cut off date from small to large valves for the e-88. The larger valves in the larger chambered (n42,47; p-79,90,90a) heads should help with power some but I think the loss of compression would more than counter act it though. If you must change heads then go with the N-42, you will have the square exaust ports with that head and better compression than the P heads. The N-47 (found on the `78) has round ports and exaust liners, though some say they are not a bad thing. You are better off having the seats in the head changed (stainless) and putting larger valves in it (if it does not already have them) so you can run unleaded and keep the compression.

No (us anyway) came with down draft webers carbs. They were aftermarket only. After the flattopps came FI.