preith

Second what LeonV said, no worries, you can swap the towers.

Thanks Jeff. Yeah, I shouldn't be surprised being the owner of a carb'd N42 head (without FI notches). One tidbit on the spray bar - don't forget the little oil block-off plates if you use the towers originally used with it.

, well said. Unfortunately in my case I'll be making big changes to the car so I won't be able to substantiate this claim. I too will be very curious how your times with the two transmissions compare at the Runoffs, very cool you're pulling this off. BTW, I'll be there on your qualifying day this year. Just playing devil's advocate, but if the additional weight yields better corner weights, who knows... Thanks for the pointers on launching too, that puts me at ease. I too will have a 5.5 Quartermaster. Phil

The N47 to the best of my knowledge was internally oiled - every one I've seen has been this way. It's my guess it was swapped out. I ran a P90 on a naturally aspirated engine WITHOUT a spray bar on my street 280, it was trouble free. As long as the cam is internally drilled I don't see a problem without the spray bar. If you're doing any kind of sustained high rpm, such as time trials, etc, you may want to run both with a high volume oil pump, and the oil plug at the top of the block bore out a little larger - per Honzowetz's book.

Yeah, the production guys claim 1-2 seconds almost guaranteed. The spur gears have a lower parasitic drag too, IIRC about 3% over the Helicals. What kind of box are you running? Clutch type??

Thanks much Terry. I recently picked up a 4pd Jerico, which currently has a 1.8 1st in it, and already have it mated to a t5 bell housing. At least for me, race starts in 2nd on the ZX OEM box (1.8) w/3.70 rear were phenomenal, so I'm not too worried there. Nobody could touch me. I'm kicking myself now because I never tried taking off in 2nd with that box and the car is now in pieces!

Thanks for the update. How anyone can be 3 sec a lap slower, block all session, and at the end of the day come out feeling good about it is beyond me. This seems to happen too often, not cool. By my calculations you have a 108 lb weight penalty with the dog ring box? Not too bad I suppose if you couldn't make the minimum anyway. Are you running a 1.8 1st gear? If so, how is it starting off from a standstill?

I'm sure this goes against forum rules but this is such a niche market item, the right demographic is here. Anyway I'm selling my race clutch setup if anyone is interested: http://www.datsunclassifieds.com/showproduct.php/product/5863/title/tilton-7-25-26quot-3b-dual-disc-racing-clutch-w-2fflywheel/cat/4

When I had my street Z I didn't bother with the bellows. If this will be a fair weather machine I wouldn't worry about it too much. With that said if you're still keen on using them I can't help you out with the part numbers. They typically are fairly flexible, it's my guess if you find out the dimensions and get something fairly close some tie wraps should be able to take up the slack.

This has been discussed at length on other threads. IMO it's really for the most ham-fisted drivers. Many speculate the actual problem is the pins "walk" out of the forks and some guys actually safety wire them in place.

Speaking from experience, a Quaife WITHOUT a cooler will lead to trouble. My R200 without one was hitting 300 degrees at the end of a 1/2 hour session. No experience with a welded, but I'd venture to guess it would operate a bit cooler. The flip side is it does put additional strain on the halfshafts - the only time I'd hear about guys breaking them was with a welded diff. 2nd on the ATF/swepco, my synchros were getting a bit tired, this cleared up the grinding immediately, and the shifts were quicker too. Technically both the 77-79 and 80-83 5spds are "b" transmissions, all fs5w71b's. I ranted about this on the transmission/diff setup thread. While yes, 2-3 is a bit closer on the 80-83, for all practical purposes 1-4 on both the 4sp and 5sp (77-83) are the same. You're not going to see any big difference until you go with something like an option 2 comp box or ratios similar to that. The only time I'm going slow enough to use 2nd is at race starts or with lapped traffic.

You'll probably have more luck at hybridz. With that said a quick google search yielded these: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PRC01/10-1832

Thanks for the clarification Mike and sorry everyone for the misinformation. In my defense the gr6 vs gr8 rules had me a little confused, revisited them for a refresher, gr6 lists "alternate racing transmissions" as acceptable whereas gr8, as you stated, lists "alternate production based". With that said if I interpret correctly, a Jerico for example is ok for gr6 but not gr8 Another peeve of mine is, like Jon mentions, is the OS Giken gearsets are around 2k, which is the going rate for a GOOD used Jerico, and IMO a better option, but it can't be used anyway.

Mike, define "close ratio 5 speed". Strictly related to Nissan transmissions, there's only the OEM stuff (which I delved on) or comp boxes - which are rarer than hen's teeth and replacement parts are even harder to come by. Carl, depending on the club you may be able to use it but per SVRA rules this is not allowed. Interestingly SVRA gr6 (big bore cars) are allowed alternate transmissions, including Jericos, with a weight penalty, but not gr8 (zcars). One of their many gr6-gr8 double standards. EDIT - one more thing I'd like to add, "5th" on the comp boxes is really 4th on an OEM trans as the "dog leg" 1st is used in place of 5th, or OD.

In regards to 4sp vs 5, based on my experience it's a bit of a toss up - strictly related to road racing, unless an actual Nissan comp unit (opt 2) is used, and good luck finding one relatively cheaply. The "close ratio" fs5w71b found in the 80-83 ZX's is really a wide ratio, hence the "w" in the part number, and there's no getting around that. The 1-4 ratios on both the 4 and 5 speeds are for practical purposes the same with 3rd and 4th identical. The problem with using such a numerically high final is you essential move up the "primarily used gears" from 2-4 to 3-5, and 5th IMO is the weak link of the trans. Using the later zx trans as a baseline (1.858, 1.308, 1, 0.745), your final drive ratios with the 4.3 diff are: 3rd - 7.9894 4th - 4.3 5th - 3.2035 the same trans with 3.70's: 2nd - 6.8746 3rd - 4.8396 4th - 3.70 I've raced with a 3.70 final since day one (primarily at Blackhawk Farms) and for the most part I only use 2nd at race starts or when slowed by lapped traffic. Depending on the race start speed, which will most likely be the slowest you will go all session, rpm's in 3rd might already be a little too high with a 4.3 final, and depending on the track, a little too low at max speed. You can use an R200, but there is a valid argument for the R180 based on weight savings alone as it is significant. Regarding the CV halfshafts, I would say if you stick by SVRA rules you will for the most part be allowed into all vintage clubs. With that said they list half shafts as "free"

Thanks for sharing Paul, looked like a good time. Are you aware of any good ARRC photo pages out there, like SmugMug, etc?

Greg looked great at the start but the on restart after the FCC Brakke appeared to jump the start a bit too early and once past Greg he drove away. IIRC it was a 10+ second lead on 2nd at the finish. It was quite a bit cooler and very windy today, I have to wonder if that played a role. EDIT: oops, Steve beat me to it.

Doh! It didn't click with me that it was Don. Damn shame. His car build was featured in SportsCar back in '99?? when the Z was first classed in EP. And where are the photos??

Terrible news, I'm sorry to hear that. The kink has taken out many cars over the years, probably the most dangerous portion of the track. I checked the GCR, 90-97 Miata min weight(s): 2175 carbs, 2225 f.i., brakes are 10" vented fr, 9" solid rr. As for which car to be in during a wreck... it's a toss up IMO.

Here's my personal VIR fav, Glenn Bunch's Hemi Challenger, what a beast! Greg, Mark said you were protested over the contact but it was thrown out, rightfully so! I'd love to see more vids from you too.

I'm not going to be getting the race car out this year and have about 12 gallons of 110 leaded to get rid of. IIRC the brand was Rocketsport. It's been sitting for 1 year w/stabil in 5gallon jugs in the dark basement. I was going to dilute it with some fresh stuff and octane isn't all too critical with my motor, but anyway I figured it would be good for someone running 10ish:1 compression as is. Hit me up on pm or email prreith@hotmail.com EDIT: looking for someone local to the Milwaukee area of course. I could meet somewhere as well.

Bummer! I'm glad John is OK and good to hear the scarab will be rebuilt. Thanks for the inside scoop Ron. A quick google search yielded some good pics on this forum http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=503451&page=2 There was a youtube vid posted but it's already been removed.

"Those darn miatas" is right, but they contribute significantly to entry fees/track rental payment and in turn keep the cost down for the rest of us. I still can't get over how many there are, and accumulating, seemingly out of the woodwork. At our last event, Memorial Day weekend, of the 40 plus cars in the small bore group, over half the field were Miatas. Thanks for the pic, hopefully you made it through the weekend "contact free". Personally I'd be very concerned if I had to race with them, typically there's plenty of overzealous/overoptimistic driving to say the least.

Congrats Greg! And thanks for the summary, I was curious what happened to Brakke - would've guessed he spun or went off during the race. He's sure laying down some good times... I was quite surprised to see Kannard finishing 2nd. He's another local guy who ran an S30 and since gone to the dark side, won the sprints in '04 I believe. EDIT: I forgot to add, veteran racers passing under yellow on the caution lap seems to happen ALOT. The SCCA treated Brakke better than in my club, they promptly black flagged the pole sitter for the same on the first lap in a race of mine.