billyjarrell

Hey guys/gals. I just wanted to drop a line and say HEY ! After being away for a little while. Unfortunately I had to sell the ol' Z recently. ( actually I traded it for a Volvo :stupid: and sold my E.F.I. equipped 72' Celica too ) in order to move me and the family out of state. The good news is that shortly after hitting the ground here in Georgia, I landed a job on the Tech Support staff at DIYAutotune.com. ( http://www.diyautotune.com, if you watch the photos at the bottom, that's my Orange 280 Z ) Most of you probably already know us, but in case you don't DiyAutotune.com develops , builds, sells the MegaSquirt brand of engine management systems, and I'm sure you have seen at least one Z with a MegaSquirt system somewhere. As the only Z fanatic on the crew here, I figured I'd post something up to say HI and let you know where I'm at. My questions to you guys are: If you're currently running a MS system on a Z, do you have any input or suggestions for future development? We are constantly coming out with new systems and even have quite a few "plug-n-play" systems in the works. Is that something you guys might be interested in? If you need any assistance or have any questions about using the MegaSquirt on the Z's just hit me up at Billy@diyautotune.com

Drove it to work, like every other day.. Hahaha

Hey everyone. I've been a member here for quite some time, but I'd like to let you guys know about our car club the Grip Syndicate, where I was recently elected pres. We're based in eastern VA, and participate in numerous autocrosses in the area (over 20 last year). We also have our own road trips and road rallies, along with running with NASA at VIR. Check us out at http://www.gripsyndicate.com or on Facebook at Grip Syndicate, and you can see videos, pictures and our calender of events. If anybody is local, feel free to come out to a cruise, meeting, or autocross and run with us. Thanks, Billy Jarrell

Thanks you guys.. Yeah the video where the camera breaks loose is funny because you would swear the car flipped over. . Your right about these videos being a teaching aid though. I like watching mine compared to other cars running the same day and you can really get an idea of line differences.

here's my favorite picture taken that day also. Im actually not driving here. My buddy Jon and I double dutied the Z, this was taken with him driving.

Here are a couple of in car videos taken Last weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park with the VMSC. In the second video the camera mount came loose a couple of times and it looked like the car was on its side, but rest assured no Z's were harmed in the making of these videos by the way the knocking noise in the second video is the GPS and two-way radio rolling around in the glove box

Hello FastWoman... I have found it very difficult to vapor lock an EFI equipped engine. My understanding is that since EFI systems operate at much higher pressures on the supply side (38 to 45) psi that it is next to impossible to vapor lock one. Here is a link to a company that makes all kinds of "build your own" EFI parts, including universal fuel rails. http://www.rossmachineracing.com/intakepartspage.html My suggestion for your car without anymore information would be to take a close look at the injector connectors, Coolant Temp sensor and related connectors, and the Airflow Meter. My 75 would start up and run fine, but after driving it for a while it would fuel foul all the plugs up and be almost impossible to start. I turned out to be the AFM. Also take a look at ignition parts (coil, cap, rotor.. ect. ), My current Z uses the stock fuel system components, but I use the MegaSquirt standalone computer. I had a hard starting issue on that one that I traced back to a faulty "performance" ignition coil. Hope some of this helps, good luck.

heres a little video we threw together from our trip up to the mountains of Virginia. The Grip Syndicate is a car club started by myself and a few fellow enthusiasts here in eastern VA. We regularly compete in autocrosses and circuitcrosses in the region and have had our own road ralley as well. This video is from our camping trip to Montebello Va this past labor day weekend. 3 days of nothing but food, friends and great roads to carve up. I highly reccommend Rt. 56 in Montebello to everyone. The Orange Z is mine, and the rest of the crew is driving a Volvo S60 T5, Mazda RX-7, Mazda Miata, and a BMW 325.

thanks guys.. build specs as of this race: 1976 280 Z L28 with 5 speed from 81 ZX full poly bushing kit form energy suspension solid diff mount solid steering coupler brass shifter bushings kyb strut inserts on all four corners tokico springs in the front toyota 4-piston brake calipers up front stainless brake lines no rear sway bar 1.5" spacers rear, 1" spacers front XXR 513 wheels 15x8 0 offset, with Falken ZE-502's 205/50 15 Motorsport Auto Type III front airdam MegaSquirt MS-I standalone fuel management custom muffler made from a spiral flow glasspack I thinks thats about it.. i still would like to add the rear sway bar, and some chassis braces. I would also like to replace the strut inserts with some illumina adjustables.. and camber plates, bump steer spacers, rear disc conversion..etc..etc.. but what can you do right...

This was my fastest run of the day. It was good enough for 2nd place in the Novice class. Still have a lot of work to do, but its getting there.

I'm with sblake01 on this one. I had the urathane bushings front and rear on my car for 4 years, and over 18,000 miles with no issues.. That includes 3 autocrosses with them. I did install the entire urathane kit at the same time so maybe there is something to having the control arm bushings in good shape too. I just recently switched to the delrin/aluminum cup and ball setup from MSA on the front and kept the urathane bushing on the rear. One modification though, I took the center metal sleeve out of the rear bushing so that the T/C rod can have full movement up and down allowing the cup and ball socket to move while still preventing any rearward movement.

thanks for the replies guys.. I don't have extremely stiff springs at all on the car now.. In fact the rear springs are stock and the fronts are tokico progressive rate.. ( I got them in trade for some 280 injection parts ).. Anyway, I can use the 240 bars then? What about the front one? Also can anyone confirm that the ST kit comes with the new uprights for the 240's? Again, thank you and any other input is greatly appreciated..

hahaha...good eye..it is an express bodied van isn't it...good looking out, I'll be sure and notify the owner...

My car is a 76 280 Z.. I have searched numerous forums regarding rear "sway" or anti-roll bars. The trouble I'm having is that I've been running without one for years now due to my left side sway bar mount being broken off from the body twice.. when I bought the shell it was broken, and I had it re-welded in the stock location, then it broke, so I left it off. Now I'm autocrossing on a regular basis, and think I should be running one. I really like the idea of running the bar behind the rear end, but the only kit i've seen is from arizonazcar.com, and looks like a beautiful piece, but too expensive for me. I've found posts talking about the Suspension Techniques bars coming with different uprights to mount the bar behind the diff, but everything I've read lists different part numbers for 240 Z's and 280 Z's.. will they interchange? I understand they list a different kit for the 280 since it came factory with a rear anti-roll bar, but can I use the 240 kit to reverse mount it? My second question it should I even worry about it? I've read on some other forums that cars with open diffs tend to be faster without them since there is no roll bar acting to reduce weight on the inside rear tire causing wheelspin? Any merit to that theory? Sorry for the long post...your thoughts are greatly appreciated..

thanks..yeah Jon in the s60 actually ended up winning the Novice class that day, that thing was really good in the rain. Since these videos were taken, I've been in two more autocrosses, and feel like I'm steadily improving. Our latest one was on Jan. 24th, I finished 5th in the novice class, but would have won the NXF class which is where NASA classes my car.. the results are here by fastest time... im about halfway down 32 out of 58.. http://www.get-fast.net/nasacross/012410res_raw.htm I also plan to run on a real track on March 28th.. NASA is doing a circuitcross at VIR.. looking forward to it