Jeff G 78

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.

He said that they gave him a discounted price to cover the damage. From what I saw, the damage was not that bad, but like him, I wouldn't want any damage to my wheels. He has his car down to a bare shell and is doing a BMW M5 engine swap. He is doing every inch of the car right and it's going to be a stunning car when finished. The wheels look fantastic BTW.

Nice patchwork.

Yes, a modern EFI system would solve the problem. L-Jetronic is close to 5 decade old technology and simply doesn't have enough sensors or computer power to deal with anything beyond stock hardware. Carbs are always an option as well. Cost-wise, a stand-alone EFI is probably the best value.

Nice job on the wheels, they look great! The stripped car pic looks like the car is pretty solid. I've never seen the rubber bumper ends painted like that and now I know why. Wow, are those ugly in white! BTW, love the hat.

A friend has the Atara Pisang, though not yet installed and he did have issues with shipping damage. I believe 3 of the four had some level of paint damage. I forget where they ship from, but it's somewhere in the Asia Pacific area.

I tried it - twice. The first time was circa 1997 with a L28 at 9.83:1 CR and a street cam. The engine was fresh and the car ran like crap. It had low power, wouldn't idle and was simply a disaster. Since the engine was new and the EFI a bit untested, I removed the cam and related components and returned the engine to a stock cam. It ran great and I was able to enjoy the car. The performance cam sat on a shelf for a decade or so. My Z was running great and was well-sorted, so I figured that I would try again. I installed the same cam and related parts back into the engine and got the same result. I tried to tune it, but it didn't make enough vacuum to keep the L-Jet happy. I once again pulled the cam springs and rockers and went back to stock. I then installed that cam into my SU carbed L28 racecar and it runs like a dream. It was everything I had hoped for in my street car. Both engines are very similar other than the fuel systems. You can try it, but many have the same results as me. L-Jet simply doesn't like low vacuum. For reference, my cam is a Web Racing Grind 91 with .450 lift and 260 duration

Because the linkages are in a dirty area, I'd be scared that any grease could attract dirt and make a sludge in the joints. The circuit breaker is a great idea. Much easier than changing a fuse mid-race.

Many years ago, when I bought my barn find 260 and turned it into an endurance racer, I knew that I needed good wipers for wet races. I took everything apart and cleaned the wiper joints, spindles, and motor. I don't remember at the time what lube I used in the joints, but whatever it was, that car had the best wipers of any Z I've ever owned. As part of the process, I did rewire the motor with heavy gauge wire and put them through a relay to a simple toggle switch since I only wanted high speed. Everything worked great for about 5 years until we had a race that had non-stop rain. The wipers worked great for about 4 hours and then I'm guessing the linkage got sticky and overheated the motor blowing the fuse. Does anybody know what the best grease/lube would be for the linkage joints that will last for many years without getting sticky or washing away? Getting the linkages out was not easy, so had my car been a pristine car like Mark's, I wouldn't want to have to snake them out more than once. In my case, it's not a big deal if I scatch something getting them out and back in, but I'd love to know what other people do with nice cars.

As long as you know the limitations. I just wanted to make sure you did your homework. As for being hydrophobic, there will always be moisture in the brake system. Hydroscopic fluid suspends the moisture while hyrophobic fluid does not, meaning that the moisture will settle and sit in the calipers. They should be bled from time to time to eliminate the moisture. Moisture at the calipers not only boils very easily, but it can corrode the pistons.

I would not use DOT 5 fluid. Yes, it doesn't eat your paint, but is otherwise crap.

Did you read the FB discussion about the chrome bezels? It sounds like chrome wrap might be the best way to go.

Is it just the lighting or are they darker than the earlier pics with the gloss LH/matte center? Either way, they will look great based on the last pic! What are you doing with the chrome? Is yours good or do you have to find/recreate the chrome?

Nice looking parts. How did you tie the front brace into the cowl?

I found Rock Auto to be the best deal for the bearings and seals. I bought Timken, but due to the lockdown, I haven't taken them out of the boxes to see if they are marked as Timken or SKF.

Sweet shop and nice old Bondurant Mustang!

I still haven't gotten back onto my bearing/disc brake swap project. I had pulled the RH stub axle out a month or so ago, but my car is at a friend's house and Michigan has been on lockdown, so I am not supposed to even go work on my car. I can confirm though that when I pulled the stub axle, there was almost no grease on it. Both bearings stayed in the hub, so I couldn't see how much grease was in the cavity, but with none on the axle, I'd say only the bearings had any grease in them with none between the bearings in the spacer.

Looks great. I love Racing Green! Congrats on what must have seemed like forever to get this far.

Woohoo! Can't wait to see it in color.

How about calling it the "1125 Plate" since that's what none of us can ever get right the first time. ? Or... just call it the "Clock Plate"

Looking good!

Those are the thickest fuel tank straps I've ever seen. Assuming they are aluminum, is there any concern over galvanic corrosion or are they completely isolated via rubber? I like the Silvermine sticker placement too.

Sorry for the rant, but as an auto engineer who sees the inner workings of what it takes to bring a car to production, the chances of this happening are zero. The cost to develop a mostly new car are astonomical and Nissan simply doesn't have the sales volumes to justify it. We will be lucky to get a mildly reworked Z34 with a refreshed skin and a modified powertrain from an Infiniti product. Nissan sells less than 10,000 Z cars per year when the product is fresh and is selling around 3,000 per year near the end of the product cycle. There simply aren't enough sales to ever repay the R&D and the tooling. An all-new Z35 would cost upwards of a billion dollars. Even if they could sell 100,000 cars over the life of the product, that's $10,000 per car just to pay for the development costs. That doesn't include the manufacturing costs, raw materials, supplier parts, marketing, or profit. Even at $50,000 MSRP, they wouldn't be able to justify it. Now, reuse the chassis, most of the body, and rework an Infiniti engine and that figure might drop to 200 million dollars. Now, only $2,000 per car goes to pay for the R&D and they have a much better shot at success. There is a very good reason that even Toyota, the leader in cash on hand, didn't develop their own Supra or FRS. It simply doesn't pay off. Even when the Supra is 90% BMW, it will still go down as a poor financial decision for them and the next time around, they might shy away. The C8 Corvette is interesting because the R&D costs were huge, yet GM spent the cash to do it. Volume is their friend and they will sell 50,000+ C8's per year. GM is also likely to axe the Camaro again which freed up money to do the C8. There will always be old guys with cash that just have to have a Corvette as a 3rd car. There simply aren't enough young people with money to justify an all-new Z. I just hope Nissan does enough with the Z34 refresh that sales will be in the 10,000/year range again.

I actually wrote a letter to Nissan about that horrid concept. Although, I never got a response, I feel that in some small way, I helped keep that POS off the roads.