zguitar71

The R-180 with a 4 pinon LSD carrier (like the Power Brute from Precision Gear or the NISMO unite or the Quaife unite) cure the week nature of the R-180 open 2 pinion carrier in the stock R-180. With the LSD the R-180 can handel 300 HP. The Z's that came with a r-180 were not designed to run a R-200, the axel on the drivers side is fully compressed when it is used (r200) thus making subtly handeling problems that are made worse when a LSD is installed. Personally, I will only use R-180's and R190's in my car, unless you have a V-8 or high power turbo the R-180 is just fine, with a LSD carrier in it of course. The Clutch style LSD baisically locks the differential until there is enough torque applied to break the two sides of the diff free from one another. In a straight line the diff acts like it is locked, around a corner the wheels will move independently like an open diff. When power is applied and a wheel breaks free the power is shifted to both wheels and if traction is still broken then both wheels will break free then you will go sideways. The clutch packs can be set for more or less torque with shims inbetween the cluth disks. The gear LSD's are much more complicated to explain and work very differently. Search around on this site and on www.hybridz.org and you can find some info on them and linke to other sites with good info on them.

I believe the inconsistency is more with the build date than the VIN. Your car is built in 6-70 with a vin of 4944 but there could be some Z's out there with a lower vin number but a later date (ex. build date 7/-70 and a vin lower than 4944). I think your's is the 4944th ever built but the actual buid date might not be 6-70. I hope that make since. There is a thread called "how close are our vins" where this is covered some, it might still be active too.

I got confused, I was thinking there was a 90a and 90b. Thanks for the correction guys.

Part of the reason for the P-90 and E-31 popularity is the square ports. I have an L28/E31 combo. I like mine and the car is certainly fast. I am running SU's, premium gass and so far have not had a denotation problem (I do have a mild cam which helps with the denotation). I am in the process of buildin an F prepared Z. I am using an l28/e31 combo. The head is shaved quite a bit, valves are larger, ported and polished, the cam is a stage 3 and the pistons are flat and 40 over. I am shooting for a 12.5 or higher compression ratio. The E31 is good for racing aplications but for the street it can give too high a comp ratio. I would like to build a P-90 head for the street. The exaust runners are supposed to be the straighest on any of the L heads and have the best flow. The head is supposed to have a very good quench zone too. Being that it was made for a turbo Nissan focused on the flow of the head. It would be a great stroker head. I would get the non hydraulic lifters though (P-90a).

Cremmenga, I was just over at Hybridz, I read you are looking into running a 40 MM spacer possibly. If you do that your wheels will not be bolted directly to the hub. The spacer is bolted to the hub and the wheel is bolted to the spacer. That is not as strong as bolting directly to the hub. The hub is artifically extended 1.6 inches. At 150+ there will be major amounts of force at the wheels, entire suspension for that matter. I would not trust that set up for high speeds. I know people use them all the time, but just because some people say they are strong does not mean they should be run at 150+. The Z is designed for near 0 offset wheels not a high + offset like a modern or front wheel drive car, At high speeds things could get wierd.

I have the MSA bar on the front and rear of my car. I do not think they do nearly as much as the bars that are triangulated. http://www.pdkfabrication.bravepages.com/240%20front.htm This looks like a good bar or system. I have not heard any comments or testimonials about this bar though. Just having a bar that runs across like mine realy does not do anything as far as stopping the towers from twisting or moving for and aft. To stop that you need to have a bar that ties to the firewall too, like the one on the website above. I like the fact it ties to the frame rail in the front too. I have concerns about the way the hole thing ties together on either side (near the tower tops). It looks as though that could be a week spot eventually from stress over time, the metal could get miss shapen where the hole thing bolts together (ovalized). Does any one have experience with this bar?

I believe the reason for the change to twin turbos was to give the car a more linear acceleration. I rode in a `76 930 that belonged to a drummer in a band I was in. The car was a beast. It probably was not the fastest car to 60 I have ever been in but it felt like it. The rush of power at 3500 RPM was increadible. The car had a 4 speed and would hit nearly 60 in first gear. He tried to autox the car but spun it too much. It was a combo of the turbo lag and driving skills. He and his Porsche friend told me about the law suits, they mentioned the same type of story only it involved a guys daughter who killed herself and her friend (they stole the car from daddy one night) they died doing exactly what you said.

Driving a Z to speeds like 150+ is just plan stupid unless you have done some major work to the suspension, areodynamics and have all new or excellent condition bushings, hubs, ball jionts ect and the right allignment. Then it should only be done on a track. Z's were never meant to be driven at those speeds. Even some of the cars from the same time that were designed to go that fast were death traps like the Ferrari Dino and the 930 Turbo. The front end on those cars got really light and many people died in them as a result. So many people got killed in or by the 930 that Porche was sues and had to drop the 930. They changed it to the 911 Turbo which was still the same car but on paper the name change satisfied the courts. Like the Z's our roads were not designed to be travel on by cars going that fast. People are not taught to drive that fast in this country or know how to drive around some one giong that fast. As the speed increases the odds of something going wrong grows exponentally. You do not want to be equated with the Fast and the Furious crowd; start driving that fast and you will become part of the F&F crowd, if you are not already. Like it or not, in the US, Z's are the original ricer.

My 240 weighs in at 2300 BLS with 5 gallons of gas. The `70 240 was reported to have a weight of 2250 and by the time the last 240's were out the weight had gone to around 2400. The later Z's like the 280 weigh around 2700 or more. A friend of mine has an ~82 ZX that weighs 3300, it is a real pig.

I would stay away from performance shocks of any type. Get some Monroe's or Napa gold shocks, they should not have a harsh ride and last a long time and not be pricey. The 70 series tires are a good idea too. As far as springs, anything that is made to increase the performance of the car will give a harder ride. stay with what you have (stock) or replace them with new stock rate springs. It seems like the best thing for you to do is stay very basic and not go for any high performance suspension parts.

I could be dead wrong but my best guess, the cars are built before the VIN is given to the car. So the car is not given a VIN the second it rolls off the line but at a later time. Our cars could have been built only weeks apart, they sit at the factory lot and get VIN's put on them by a the order they are gotten to not the order of production, then they are shipped to the place they are slated to go to.

Well I guess I will give my explination too. The "Z" and "71" are fairly obvious, as can be seen in my avitar, a 1971 240Z in beautiful 920 gold. The "guitar" is from my long time love affair with the guitar. I started playing when I was 12, though I had a guitar when I was 11 I never really "played" it I started taking lessons when I was 12. That was 1982, 23 years later I still love the instrument and cannot put it down. I have greatly improved from those early days too. I started out with rock and roll moved to blues to jazz and now I am back to the blues and still play jazz as well. I grew up in Memphis TN and did not realize it at the time but it was a great city to learn to play the guitar. I go back to visit as much as possible and absorb the music when I am there. I have 6 guitars currently one of which is for sale (http://www.gregboyd.com/img.asp?img=/images/acoustic/01HeritageEagle_1.jpg) if anyone is interested. I have old and new and inbetween guitars ranging from 1938 to 2001. The 2 I play the most are a Heritage "Super Eagle" ( 1999, large 18" hollow body arch top) and a Gibson "ES 347" (1981, thin simi-hollow body arch top). I have pictures of them sitting next to the Z I just have never posted them, mabey I should. I do have a "day job" as an Arborist for the City of Missoula Montana but I suppliment my income with gigs as much as possible. Other than bar and dinner gigs I also play for the Missoula Cummunity/Children's Theatre (http://www.mctinc.org/framecom.htm) and for the University Of Montana's Theatre too. Believe it or not, tiny little Missoula MT has the largest and biggest budgeted community theatre in the country and tours the country with 12+ shows at all times. They have been great for me, they are very proffesional and I get my musical a$$ kicked every time I play a show. They always use top notch musicians so I have to keep myself in good shape to keep the gigs, mostly my music reading not my ability to play (how do you get a guitar player to turn down? Put sheet music in front of them).

Yes, that size is around 24" in diameter and the stock size is around 24.75" in diameter. On the highwy your speedo will be off and the revs higher but neither one would be so bad to cause a real problem. A 225/50/16 could be used but there might be slight rubbing issues on a lowered car. The benifit would be better gearing around town with a 225/50/15.

http://www.takumiproject.com/

None of the sizes listed will fit a Z. You need a 4x4.5 bolt pattern. With a stock strut tube Z you would need a -25 (4.5" back space) offset and you would have to run fender flares too. On a stock Z you can fit 8" wide wheel with a 0 offset on the back and a 7.5" wheel on the front with the same offset. I do not think those are very high quality wheels. To get wide wheels like that for a Z you will have to spend big $ ($450+ a wheel) and have them custome made. The 15x10's listed are very heavy too. A good wheel in a 16x10 size weighs around 15-17 LBS and cost $450 (www.kodiakracingwheels.com) If you are going to do it, go to a 16" wheel and you can get some good tires too. The 15" tires out there that are wide enough for a 10" wheel are not very good. IMO unless you have a V8 with big torque, on a light car like a 71 Z the car will handel and feel the best with a 15x7 wheel and a 225/50/ tires on all 4 corners (with a sticky compound). Remember it is possible to over wheel/tire a car.

That is the same suspension I have. I love it for the street and low traction days on the autox course. I am binding the coils on the rear at every race now (warm dry days = high traction) no matter how I set the shocks, but that suspension is not meant for an F prepared Z car anyway. It is great for a street prepared or street mod car though and like I said it is killer for the street. With street tires the car stays very flat.