Jeff G 78

Or ditch it for a RT Mount and fix the less than optimal design.

I am saddened that my beloved hobby has gotten this way. When I fell in love with the S30 40 years ago, a huge part of the allure was that they were affordable. I could buy rusty S30's as parts cars and make a pretty nice car for very little money. 11 years ago, I bought a 260Z out of a barn and made a race car out of it. I paid $450 for the car and it was really solid overall. The floors and rails were in very good shape and it just had some rust in the battery tray area and at the bottom of the rear quarters from mouse droppings that had accumulated over the many years it was stored. Within just a few years, I could no longer afford replace that car should it be wrecked on track. A similar condition body today would be nearly 10 times what I paid for my 260. Every time I go on the track I risk writing off my car. If and when that happens, it won't get replaced and I will likely never race another Z. I for one don't like that prices have gone through the roof. I'm happy for those of you that have beautiful Z cars that are increasing in value by the day. Guy's collection, for example, is rightfully worth a ton of money. It's the low end car value increase that I dislike.

Can't have too much light in a shop.

There is always a gap in roof sheeting due to the H clips used between each sheet to distribute the loads when 2' on center trusses are used. I'm sure the sun was simply shining directly on the circled area. You can actually see the dark spots where the clips are located. I used to frame houses 30 years ago ?

I just IM'd a friend in Spokane and he said that the seller is being inundated by interested buyers from all over the country. It sounds like a bidding war for the lot. ?

Mirror looks like it's out of adjustment. ?

I think they were very boxed-in on the hood length given the extensive reuse of the Z34 body structure.

One thing that the teaser lacks if they were going for the retro look is the S30's hood shape. It looks pretty well flat like the 350Z hood. It needs the classic Z's center bulge to add some character and interest to an otherwise boring panel. They got the side profile right, but missed one of the key styling points of the original.

The Supra is a mess in person. The whole body is full of fake scoops and cladding. This car looks much cleaner. Time will tell if it actually looks good inside and out. I'm guessing it will drive similar to a 370Z which isn't a bad thing.

Yep, that's exactly what I expect as well, but it appears that they managed to lower the cowl and belt line to make the whole car appear lower. They could have also played with the overhangs to shorten the car just a bit. I fully expect the chassis and floor pan to be essentially carryover Z34. The 350/370 always looked too chunky due to the tall sides. This car seems to have lost that extra heft. It likely hasn't lost any weight and is more likely a tad heavier, but it looks smaller and lighter at least.

Is it just because it's next to a bunch of SUV's or does the new Z look a bit smaller and more Supra/BRZ sized? The Supra is a tiny car in person. The proportions look pretty good too. So far, so good IMO.

I can't say I've ever heard of Onsted, MI though I have been to Hell and back. Hell has the only reasonably fun roads in Michigan. I'd love to help, but I am neck deep in projects with no time to get them done. What exactly are you looking at in Onsted?

Ignore any and all renderings. They are nothing more than some magazine writer's dream. As an auto engineer, I can assure you that Nissan will be extremely budget limited. Toyota has loads more cash than Nissan and they leaned heavily on BMW to engineer most of their flagship sports car. Now look at 370Z sales numbers - they are abysmal. I'm shocked that they are even doing another Z car, but somebody high up in the company certainly doesn't want to lose the nameplate again. They only way they can pull this off is massive reuse of 370Z content. I expect to see a nearly carryover chassis with a freshened (not all new) body and interior. The engine is derived from another Nissan, but they still have to spend a lot of money to put the whole thing together. The 400Z or whatever they call it will be a money loser for them. As much as I'd like to see them hit a homerun, I expect more of a bloop single.

My wife loves to mow and work in the yard. I offered to mow and she told me not to take her job away. ? I did go out today and replace the string in the trimmer after she ran out.

I think most of the flooding was quite a bit south of us in Ohio. We are in good shape here. Of course, the grass was really high, but after a few days without rain, my wife was able to mow today.

IMO, Series X is about as useful as when people talk about Stage X cams... I'd mention what is considered to be a Series 1 but that's about it.

I do like this approach if the Wiki doesn't pan out. Of course there is always overlap rather than clean model year change-over. The 260Z, for example, will be a fun one...

LOL. The pic was taken in mid-2006

I make my own hold down brackets. With a few bucks in metal from HD, and some work, I made this style hold down. They work great on Optima batteries, but the design can be tweaked to fit most batteries. I used some velcro as a pad where the bracket touches the battery. Somewhere on this site I even put a CAD drawing many years ago. EDIT: Here is the link

Guy's wall art is nicer than my car and will certainly have a way better paint job.

No, the struts changed mid-260Z. Early 260Z struts are the same as 240Z and late 260Z struts are the same as 280Z.

Same here

This might help a little bit, though I know it doesn't answer your question. You could always take some measurements as well to see if the unknown cam has a stock base circle. The lobe height might help identify it compared to the other cams.

My race car is right around 200 HP at the crank and I built it as cheap as possible. I started with an '82 F54 block/P79 head. I got a great deal from a friend and only paid $500 for the engine (with matchbox distributor), 5 speed trans and 3.90 diff. I had the machine shop measure and clean everything, hone the block, polish the crank, install new freeze plugs, do a valve job and mill the head 0.050". My machine shop bill was about $500 and the bearings, rings, gaskets, oil pump, water pump, timing set, head studs, etc. were another $750 ish. I already had an old header and the cam, rockers, springs, and lash pads, though if I had to buy new, they would have been about $700 more for all that. The crank damper is between $150 for a rebuilt stock and $600 for a BHJ. Finally, I had good SU carbs, intake and air cleaner housing, but that's another $500 if you need to buy a good set of rebuilt ones. I didn't need pistons, but that's another $250 minimum if needed. I added another $225 to get the flywheel lightened and $125 for a clutch. Throw in another $200 for misc stuff like belts, hoses, plugs, thermostat, air filter, etc. etc. and you will be at roughly $3,000 minimum if you already have a good engine to start with and don't buy a fancy damper or lighten the flywheel. Obviously, if you already have good carbs, it's a bit cheaper. I have built dozens of Z motors, so I only had to pay for the machining and I didn't go overboard on any component. I'm not saying you can't make 200 HP cheaper, but you would need to already have a vast stash of parts which I'm guessing you don't have and you'd have to cut back on some pretty important items like oil pump, water pump and crank damper. If you start with a N42 block/N42 or N47 head, you can make the same power, but you will need flat top pistons and then the head isn't as knock resistant as the P79 or P90. If you shave a P79 or P90 head, most people choose to change the valves and shim the cam towers. I did not go that direction which saved money. I modified the cam gear and chain guides. Good luck with whatever you decide to build!

My 260Z race car carbs are amazing. Granted, I don't drive it around much in the cold weather, but it fires up immediately with the choke lever pulled and within 30 seconds at most, I can back down the chokes. If I need to move it right away, it still runs well with the chokes on. I'd say other than the manual chokes giving it away, it runs better overall than my EFI car and you'd never know it's carbed. My SU's were on a 240 I bought out of a field in 1984 and they sat in my garage until 2009 when I took them apart to clean them and install new gaskets and get everything working smoothly so I could put them on the race car. They have never been "rebuilt" other than new gaskets, hoses and cleaning.