Zeddophile

have tracked down episodes 3-6 subtitled (pretty high quality video too)... they are here http://www.animesuki.com/releases.php/w.html Despite the dodgy sounding group name on the release, these are the real deal, just watched all 4 today.... that zed gets into a lot of trouble.

Top Performance in Vermont I've found to be extremely helpful on many occasions, but I'm not sure what they stock in the way of cheaper shocks. Either way, they should be able to give some sound advice and point out a few things to you that you may not have considered.

I don't believe the pintaras are LSD at all.... But an auto Skyline rear diff shouldn't be too hard to find at a pick a part, the trick is finding one thats LSD before someone else snaps it up.

No worries - its been sitting around since I stripped my 260 about a year and a half ago, and its not advertised anywhere, so no rush.

I have the complete interior mirror from my 260 2 seater sitting around doing nothing, glass is in good nick..... $20 sound fair?

If (and thats a big if!) I remember correctly, R31 silhouette skylines had a 4.1 diff ratio (as well as an LSD).... If thats the case, that would probably the best outright acceleration ratio without going aftermarket? May need to research about the halfshafts though - for some reason I recall them being an easy swap, but that may be very wrong. My memory is pretty fuzzy though, I'm sure others have better information... *EDIT* Quick search tells me R31 Pintaras are 4.1, Auto R31 skylines had 3.89s in both LSD and open (lsd may well be viscous)....

Alternatively, if your dad has any old rego labels/papers kicking around for it that show the VIN (such as it was in those days!) you may be able to use that number through vicroads to trace it. The problem you'll run into is whether they will give that information out. Might have to find a friend in Vicroads or maybe the police?

Define cheap? I have a complete 280zx efi setup with almost everything required (thermostat housing, manifold, ECU, loom, AFM etc). The only extra thing you'll need is a EFI fuel pump (and some efi fuel hose) - I used one off a VL commodore, which is a Bosch 070 pump (off the top of my head) - about $50 at a wrecker. From memory the fuel pump output didn't work, so you'd need to just wire your fuel pump to a relay off the ignition. If you want it, $200 and I'll even move the mountain of Alfa parts to fish it out for you.

To get to the clock (or any of the guages out of the 3 small pods), you can remove the heater controls panel and pull it out far enough to access the screws on the bracket at the back of the clock, then the clock will come out the front (from memory). Gotta say, you can't beat Alfetta dashes for getting at stuff compared to most other cars - all instruments are screwed in from the front, and the whole dash is secured by 4 bolts - removal is about a 10 minute job!

As has been said, club sprints are generally the best - usually only a couple hundred max for the entry fees, and you generally get quite a few laps. I know for a fact the Alfa Club of victoria runs quite a few meetings a year (Sandown, Philip Island, Winton and I think one or two others, plus usually a couple of events at the DECA compound), and quite often have a wide variety of 'associate' class entries. Not sure whether NDSOC runs any events or not, the MG car club used to run a few hillclimbs (They currently have ownership of the Rob Roy hillclimb from memory).

You should be fine - after all, the Z car was designed for the american market, and specific note was made of the fact that they had to fit American height people inside it! I'm 6 foot, and had plenty of headroom left.

Thats very cool...

Another place can be the leading edge of the bonnet.... Pretty much every panel on a zed will rust, apart from maybe the roof. Usually on the lower extremities, IE door bottoms, floor, sills, bottoms of front guards....

Yeah, I wouldn't bother trying to reuse a spigot bush - usually stuff them pulling them out anyway, and for the cost its not worth the time. As has been said before, yes the ratios are different, and if its a 260z, I have been told that the auto 260s had an R180 instead of the r200, but I'd check that out yourself. Won't make an immediate difference, but the r200s are stronger, if that concerns you at all. And yes Evan, I believe there was also a 3.7 in some model or other, but can't remember whether it was Aust. delivery or what the story was - may have been in the 280zx?

Just for future reference, the best trick is to see which way the engine spins, then rest the end of a breaker bar on something solid (frame rail), and give the engine a flick over so that the bar is held by the frame rail, and the nut gets undone by the starter motor. Gotta make sure to disconnect the coil first though, and think three times about which way it needs to go to be undone!

As enzo250 said, make sure you have or fit the small brass spigot bush into the back of the crankshaft. This locates the end of the gearbox input shaft, which (from memory) is smaller than the spud on the front of an auto torque converter. Further to that, at some stage I did a full step by step manual conversion instruction post on the old site, I'm not sure where it is now, but it may help if you can track it down. Definitely one of the easiest conversions around. I hope you didn't remove the whole pedal box, as on mine the boxes were the same, it was just a matter of swapping the actual pedals - much easier. Enjoy!

Top gear is back on over here? Unless you've watched them all already from the net, and you're waiting for a season that hasn't even started yet?

Well, the car you buy greatly depends on what sort of racing you want to do. If you just want to do some laps for the hell of it, theres nothing particularly wrong with using your current car, and just heading out for some lap sprints (say in the associate class with the Alfa Club or similar, and I believe NDSOC run some sprints other than Marque sports). However, if you want to do actual racing, and compete for placings rather than times, then you need to look very carefully at the regs for the class you are looking at, and work out how much you can afford to spend. Some of the categories might be Historics (Not sure if zeds eligible), Group S (again, not sure on Zeds), and Marque Sports (highly competitive) Staying in a less modified class to my mind doesn't necessarily mean it will be easier to win - it just means the car is slower. It also means that it handles worse when compared to a modified car (depending of course on how little you are permitted to modify for the class). The skill level in that less modified class isn't guaranteed to be lower than the class above it, the driver may just have not enough money to make the car competitive in the next bracket, or may enjoy running a close to standard car. Thats just my opinion/observation, and there are a few people on here with likely much better advice. Personally, I'm going to mod my Alfa how I want, and run in whatever class in the Alfa club sprints that ends me up in, as fuel injecting it alone puts me in a fairly high category. Maybe in a couple of years I might look at running on a more competitive basis, but I just don't have the budget, nor the interest in building to class regs.

I personally wouldn't do it with carbys, especially not the flat-tops - you'll gain a lot more if you use some description of injection. However you could use the carbies still if you wanted. I think the compression of the L-series engine should be low enough to handle a small amount of boost, possibly over 10psi with EFI, careful tuning and intercooling. Word of caution though, you will not get out of this project cheap - if you stick with the carbies, you need to rejet, and work out whether to run blow through or draw through, modify the intake to suit, and probably will ultimately not be happy and end up going to EFI. You need to think carefully through everything you'll need, and work out what to use and what it will cost BEFORE you start, then double that figure.

The one i was going post is too big, and can't be bothered resizing, so have this instead

I don't have any GSX-R... I was going to put an 'unfortunately' in there, but I doubt I'd be alive if I did! I bought off Ebay in the US a set of GSX-R 750 (2000 model) throttle bodies for $175 including shipping. I intend (and am proceeding) to space them out to suit the twin dellorto carby pattern of the intake manifold on my Alfa. I'm using them to convert my Alfa from carby to EFI.... I wouldn't mind knowing what the injectors are rated at in them though, and at what pressure - I believe its 248cc/min at 3 bar, but its pretty hard to find a definitive answer. It would be very useful to know for sure, as I'm planning to use them as upstream injectors to supply extra fuel when the turbo is installed.

As nat said, that year model silvia (S12) was badged as a Gazelle over here, and has some similar components to a 280zx.

They do - at a nice big price. Hence the set of GSX-R 750 throttles currently undergoing slight modifications in my household.

That is pretty cool - don't like the front much, but do like the back, and sounds like they're really keeping it close to the ingredients that made the AE86 so much (unexpected) fun...