PZG302

Checque book resto's are expensive, for me $80k over 15 years for the chugger, and that is at a bit cheaper as I said to do it as a fill in job when the shop is quiet, shop isn't quiet much...... I still have to get paint thrown at it, and the motor finished, at least then it is put the interior in and it's done as I have all the bits ready to go.

How quick do you need it? I think the L28 I have in the garage is a spray bar type, but I don't get back to Aus until the 19th September.

The 180B SSS we got was hardly tuned, the main difference was the dash, the dogleg patterned gearbox and twin SU's, and a tacho in the dash. It didn't make much difference, if any to the performance. They were a huge step backwards from the 510 and as the 610 weren't really a replacement as they were a bigger car and marketed as such. The replacement for the 1600, in terms of size and marketing out here was the stanza, which if we got the JDM spec with the IRS and the coupe, would have been a good thing. As it was the Stanza was a pretty good track car, you can make the solid rear end work much better than IRS on a smooth surface like a race track. The 180B was, and is a very ordinary car. However, they were good rally cars because they were cheap, the coupe was strong, if heavy, and Group G rules and to a lesser extend PRC rules allowed a lot of freedoms to get the most out of the engines. For street sedans, or basically production touring cars that I ran, the rules were very limited for modifications, and as a result I ended up running near 1000lb springs in the back to keep the bum on the ground, and couldn't run a camber kit to fix the problem of excessive negative camber on the rear end when lowered because of the rules. For a rally car where you didn't run it as low the trailing arm suspension wasn't a handicap. The 180B also misses the classic car love, unless you are a hipster with tight skinny leg jeans, a bad beard and top knot driving a shitbox to be ironic. The import costs to the US would be worth more than the car, and then the thing would rust away to nothing on the boat ride over, they rust worse than a Zed......

Having had owned a couple and raced the only factory fuel injected 180B SSS in Australia, they are a fun car, but nothing special. They did make good rally cars as you could throw them into the scrub and they were fairly strong, turn them into a ball, get another one for next to nothing and rinse and repeat. I think the rally boys have used up most of the stocks of the triple messes that were around. The rear suspension, being trailing arm is horrible to make work on the track and the car is generally heavy, how you get one down to the homolagated weight I have no idea and my one went to Jenny Craig a lot when it was raced. 5 years ago, I would have said the value is what simms metal would give you for it, but there seems to be a weird nostalgia for all the old shitters like these, why I don't know, they were cheap for a reason. For that car, I would offer $5k, $7k if I was feeling very generous and nostalgic on the day, yes they aren't making any more of them, but they are hardly desirable. For the same, or cheaper money, I can buy a well sorted and very bloody quick R chassis boat or S chassis to play in that will be much better car in every regard. I must say though, that the 180B SSS had much more rear leg room than a charger or XA-C falcon coupe does.

Won't come in, the current gumbyment has to win the next election and this is policy on the run pandering to their mates at the worse. Watch the backdown when they actually look at the backlash it will cause and the cost to impliment and administer. 2 years is an awful long time in politics. In fact with the current bunch on both sides we may as well say 2 years is in the next millenium. We will see about 6 backflips on this in the next six months.

Or if you are in Brisbane and can wait until mid september when I get back to Aus, I just happen to have a 3 piece Group C bird bath off an RX7 that I had on my 240 that I don't have a need for anymore, and for the right currency* could be convinced to part with it. * I like IPA's and other similar styles that you can't see through made by artisan brewers who aren't owned by multinationals, a red labelled SA brew also comes to mind, especially if in packs of 24......

For new cage try agi industries, or the usual Bond roll bars.

Lots of jungle juice was used in the 80's and 90's, Toluene was another favourite additive to boost octane as well. I hate to think how dangerous and carcinogenic these homebrew fuels were, knowing how bad unleaded is when it doesn't go through a catalytic converter.

Yep, the race fuel from bp or shell commonly called avgas was rated at 110 octane and real avgas used in real planes that you bought from the local small plane airport was ratedvas a minimum of 120 and maximum of 130 octane iirc. My old zg loved a drink of avgas, as did my sports 1300 3k corolla motor and my 2.2l L18 needed 110 at the minimum to not ping it's head off literally.

Yup biggest advantage for turboed cars, but then you have other problems like the extra 20-25% fuel you will burn compared to 98 or avgas. For sprint races not too much of an issue, except for maybe the extra bit of weight. For longer distance races like the 25 lapper at SMP, you may find the 60 litre tank of the Zed not enough. Plus if you have an old n/a car with huge compression you would be using 120/130 avgas rather than 105 or so E85.

I found my old Zed wasn't too bad for steering once going on 8" wide rims with slicks with about 5 deg of castor, front guards trimmed and as much neg as we could get with a 350mm diameter wheel. Around the pits or moving in and out of the garage was a bit of a pain, but no worse than my old valiants or falcons I ran around in.

If people think the R888 is great in the wet I hate to think what they usually use in the wet..... Another good Toyo as an allround track tyre would be the RA-1, if still available. I used them as my wets for the Zed and also as my hillclimb tyre, much better pattern for pushing water away. If you are looking at a road based tyre with a bit of track work also look at the Yoki AD08, they go pretty well and are not that far off the pace of the proper R spec tyres.

The kamikazee MX5 are 2F cars, there is only a couple of 2B MX5's in Qld that regularly run in Prodsports, one turbo and one not. The turbo is a SP replica, and the good 2B MX5's are running around in 56-57's in the right hands. To be up there in 2F you are looking at running around in 58's-59's and if Ash Lowe is running forget coming anything other than 2nd at best. Richard, that Corvette is driven by Geoff Fane and has done a 55 around Lakeside. Geoff also races in the US in Transam, plus has the ex Palmer GT Viper that he plays in Prodsports with with Graham Lusty and his Moesler. The 'vette has been built to 2B rules and is knobbled by the 6 litre capacity limit as per the year model he bought in. Geoff does like to "have a problem" with the car so he can have a play through the field if there is no one to race with. In doing this he is one of the best drivers I have raced with, giving the backmarkers room to race their race without having to prop. The guys he was passing knew he was there and gave the room as did Geoff. Greg Quince also has a 2B spec vette, but is having a few little problems as he develops the car and there is a third 'vette in Qld, but it is closer in spec to GT3 than Prod Sports so is a bit quicker again.

If you are seeing Paul at Option 1, see what Achilles tyres he has. I ran the high performance road tyre on my S14 and I know a few blokes who have run the semis who were very happy with them also for both road and track.

have you had a look at the Sports Sedan rules Richard? They run two types, basically the big boys who run to the edge of the rules with spaceframe chassis and open wheeler technology at the National level in the Kerrick series. And then there is the backbone of the category at State level, basically what you have, backyard engineered hot rods using body shells and modified bits to go fast, basically running LS engines up to the 6 litre capacity limit. If the 2 seater 280 is eligible, and i believe it is under recent changes, you have a good working base to play at state level in a CAMS category with the opportunity to run at pretty much any track in Australia. Decoy, as we have discussed, yes your car will fit into 2B, it is too modified for 2F, but be prepared to be running in the middle to back of the of the pack unless you can crack a 58 or better at Lakeside, which is what the quick 2F MX5's go around in. To be up near the front of the pack you need to be doing consistent 56's or better at lakeside. As for making up your own category, there are many littered carcasses about from previous efforts, what racing really doesn't need is more categories. The only two categories that have really had an impact on the racing scene in the last few years have been the excells and pulsars, both very cheap to buy into, very controlled regs, very close racing and the guys playing have a ball.

As Scando said the category running at QR on the weekend was the tassie series, they did a deal with V8 supercars to run at a few rounds this year. The rule book is fairly open. My old car, and the replacement S14 are Marque Sports 2B cars, a cams category that has had stable rules with minor changes over the last 30 years or so. Last year the prod sports guys got a last minute call up to fill the void left when a category pulled the pin on the event at QR. The Zed in question would probably not comply with 2B rules, though they are very free in comparison to 2F and group S, for historics. They main killer for Zeds is the requirement to have to run the L series engine, which means they aren't as quick, or anywhere as cheap as a modern to build and run. The biggest problem most have in finding somewhere to run is that they build a car first and then find that it doesn't comply with any rules except sprints. Some categories will let you run as an invited car to increase numbers on the track, and some won't. In Qld prodsports they allow non complying cars that fit the spirit of the rules, but fall outside the 2B, 2F and new GT group to run as invited cars, one example is Cal Whatmore's S13 as it is not an accepted car for Prod Sports as it is not on the list. Invited cars don't race for points in our championships and Cal probably wouldn't be able to run with prodsports outside of Qld. When ever i have built a car I decided what category best fit the car and then built to those rules. One example was my old 180B SSS. It started life as a 3F touring car, street sedans in NSW and basically the same rules as the old Group E production cars. When that was developed as far as it could be within the rules, which ended up being an l18 with the factory bosch fuel injection it was turned into an IPRA car running an L18 out to near 2.2 litres with twin webers and a change of struts and a few other tweaks, basically PRC rally spec with track suspension that lowered it a lot and wider alloy wheels that were not allowed in 3F. The zed was originally built as a 3F car also but developed into a 2B car by the first owner and I tweeked it from the original setup with better computer and some more mods to take weight out of the car. All thr rules to build to CAMS specs are available on line in the manual of motorsport, it just needs a bit of research. The sports and touring classes run by AASA are a bit looser but the category mangers all have a set of rules, one example is modern sports cars, the start date for eligible cars is 1989 and the rules are based on the prodsports rules but with some differences so a car developed to 2B specs will not always be eligible, but a 2F car will be, so they can be used in both. This means I can't run the S14 in modern sports as it will be too light and I use plastic hanging panels, plus being turbo I am even more restricted in what I can do with the engine. Richard, you could run your 280 as a sports sedan under CAMS as long as the 280 is an eligible model, which i believe it now is, the motor is less than 6 litres in capacity and cage meets the requirements of Schedule J in the CAMS manual, or to run at QR and lakeside you could run in sports and touring or the Outlaws category.

Yup, pretty much what Doug said. My last few race engines have been run in tuning on the dyno and then out on the track competing.

A pity I am off to Indo on tuesday so have been getting ready for that, would have loved to have headed up to Lakeside to watch some old shitters from the US of A battle it out as well as some old shitter Datsuns built by some bloke from Sydney in the 80's and 90's that though he knew what he was doing..... From the stuff I have seen on the book of faces over the weekend was a cracker of a meeting, plus the Noosa hillclimb as well has been on this weekend so plenty of choice for motorsport this weekend in Qld.

I have one headlight bucket that may be suitable, come and take it away.

A pick up or truck is a vehicle with a seperate passenger comppartment and load area, such as the jap/thai built dual and single cab units. Even the new Falcon "ute" is technically a truck or pick up as it has a seperate load carrying area to the body. A utility or "utility coupe" as it was first known when Ford Australia first built it in 1934 thanks to Lew Bandt's design and from the famous farmer's wife letter, is a unibody vehicle, that may or may not be on a chassis, but basically the tray or load area is part of the body, ie can't change the back. The only true ute being built today is the Holden Commodore. Basically, if you can unbolt and change the tray, it isn't a ute.

John will be running regularity. But for $20 would be the best value for money race meeting on in Queensland with all types of cars and all eras from pre war through to the 80's. This is the best race meeting of the year in Queensland. yes some categories are a bit follow the leader, but others put on cracking races and the cars are all pukkah as they were raced in the day race cars except for the Group S and Group N boys, but then the specs are pretty close to what was only available in the day. I am not happy i won't be able to make it out there over the weekend, the first time I will miss this meeting for a long long time. You must be very hard to please as a spectator Richard if the historics and the variety of cars with a proper racing history doesn't float your boat.....

The weight of the car depends a lot on preparation and what the car is built for. Mine at 960kg had a single skin fibreglass bonnet, and all other panels steel, the front guards were lighter than 'glass, but still steel, couldn't push on then to move the car or lean on them. Windscreen was glass, but the rest of the windows 3mm lexcen, with aal the standard mechanisms removed from the door, and the rear hatch 1.8mm lexcen. All rubbers were removed from the body, also spent a weekend under the car removing all sound deadeneing material inside and out. Interior was stripped, except for dash and the right rear trim to cover the fuel filler pipe to the standard tank. Ran standard gauges and dash and wiring harness. Car ran a full steel welded cage and also seam welding in the front. Also used heavy Simmons wheels, 18x8" with240/640/18 slick tyres, L28 with standard type log manifold and Haltech computer. The car ran standard lights that worked and full grill, as per the rules. Weight saving was made by not having handbrake or cables and ratchet, also removed all heating system, just had ducting from the vent inlets to the base of the windscreen for airflow on the move and also removed the windscreen washer bag and fittings. Car still used standard battery in the standard location under the bonnet. Suspension was standard type struts and arms, though modified a little, spring seats dropped, running much heavier springs than others, and slightly tweaked in the rear, but basically built heavy to not be moved by the rigors of track racing. Passenger seat was removed, though when required by the rules to runa CAMS approved seat, we ran a kart seat tek screwed to the floor. Drivers seat was a fibreglass race seat. Brakes were 4 spot Willwood dynalites up front with TP Magna rotors and Volvo 2 spot rears with a solid rotor, so a little weight saving there. I could have gotten more weight out of the car by doing the following: Fibreglass hatch rewire the car for the bare minimum needed to run the engine and ancilleries Run the smallest battery possible and use booster to start the car Some drilling of sills, etc with a hole saw to reduce weight, remove all the stainless steel trim from the windows that were used to hold windows in. Attacking the doors to cut out as much as possible including removing the standard door latch mechanisms to save some weight. I think I could have gotten the car down under 940kg but that would have been the limit to be safe and still comply. My times, last time around lakeside, into the 61's on a 45 degree day on tyres with the canvass hanging out of the tread, last time at EC on the old configuration, 1:48's, so would expect to do 1:46's on the new track with the turn at 7 basically no more and 9 opened right up. Basically, there will be plenty of weight that can still come out of the car cheap and easily without affecting the performance. To do the job right, you need to start from scratch like I have with the S14 and baegan with a bare shell. That car should be ready to race at around 1050-1100kg from a standard road car weight of 1250kg, with a very comprehensive cage welded in.

Time to send the car to weightwatchers ;D Mine was 960kg ready to roll on the track without me in it, and all steel panels bar the bonnet. Was stripped interior, but standard dash, standard wiring harness, but perspex windows with glass screen, full welded and steel cage also R180 diff, basically just as strong and 15kg lighter than a R200. If I was serious, I could have found another 15kg or so to get out of mine, but I reckon that would be the limit for a door to door racer to keep it legal for 2B and also safe.

Cut the guards, they will only need a little trim of a few mm depending on what wheel tyre combo you are running. I had to trim about 20-30mm from mine to fit 240/650/18 slicks on a 8 inch rim with around -2mm offset. Got me all the castor i wanted/needed.

haven't driven a turboed barra then have you ;D