PZG302

I'm lucky, got all my toys so pretty happy..... 71 Charger - being built to better than E49 spec and some updates to modern technology, well running big brakes and the head unit will accept an Ipod for tunes, but won't really need that with a set of triple webbers hanging off the side of the 265 hemi. 89 NA6 MX5, perfect for the weekend away up the coast and I can carry off the mid life crisis look pretty well with the cap and cigar as I cruise Hasting Street in Noosa. 07 XR8 ute - nice daily to drive and tows the Z easily, and makes all those good noises when you stand on the loud pedal The cars on the wish list are: DeTomaso Pantera GT5 - the perfect Bogan Supercar with the old 351 up the back with the Italian looks and the stick on A9X looking flares for the body kit. BMW M6 635CSi coupe, just like what Jim Richards raced for Frank Gardner, and finally BMW 3.5 CSL batmobile from the late 70's. One of the first function over form cars built for racing.

As long as that means Blue over Black with clear over all then that's fine.....

Shaun, looking good. looks like the Charger hasn't moved though Too many people jumping queues in their Jap Junkers.....

Can confirm that TP Magna rotors are the ones to use. I have slotted vented rotors at the moment. Very cheap and easy to get.

Not if the body is stuffed, doesn't matter what the number is, if it isn't economically viable then you're better off getting some value out of it, or do what has been in the past with other car types and rebirth......(now running for cover )

Pity I don't have the room at the moment, looks to be a great base for a track pig or tarmac special......Jason where are you? Help me out on this one!!!!!!!!

From my experience zeds suffer with lift at anything over 140km/h without a front spoiler. I don't know how well the BRE or spook type blade spoilers work, but the MKII type front spoiler works well at keeping the front end down. For rear spoilers, the standard Nissan motorsport, or BRE, bob tail does work, just not as well as others. The most effective rear spoiler I have used is a Mazda RX7 bird bath made from a genuine Group C motorsport body kit. It sat at just over 150mm high from the base of the hatch and created a low pressure area behind the car that literally sucked the bum to the ground. It did create extra drag, but was very effective when you saw the muck that was stuck to the back of the car after a race. When I get some time i will be looking at putting the bird bath back onto my Z as the rules for production/Marque Sports cars has changed and the spoiler is now legal again. Another thing to look at regarding keeping the front down, especuially if using the MKII type front spoiler is to also use a fibreglass undertray back to the standard stone tray if you can find one. This helps keep air from the engine bay and the air that does get into the engine bay is reasonably effectively dragged out. Not sure how effective this would be using the blade type front spoiler.

For the rebuild, around $7k for everything including new forged pistons, all head and block machining all the replacement parts for the engine. there were extras for my build including getting the clutch rebuilt, dyno time, new radiator, injectors cleaned and tested, plus some other work done. Helped that my head didn't need to much done as all the combustion chambers were pretty right and only needed a touch of machining done to unshroud the valves and the ports were all ready done for producing torque. Block only needed a hone, well should have been bored out, but just on the acceptable limits for what i want to do and it's already at 89mm. I tend to work on $1000 per cylinder to build a good street motor built from a standard motor and you can go as high as your wallet allows for a race motor.

Well it's taken me a while to get off my arse and get the dyno sheets scanned, work has kept getting in the way of getting the Zed sorted. I ended up with a very nice torquey motor for not a lot of dollars, especially with some of the extras needed like new clutch, radiator and some other fabrication work that was easier to get done all at once. The motor ended up giving a maximum power reading of 195.5rwhp at 5600rpm. Torque we got was a max. of 212 ftLb at around 4300rpm, looking at the dyno sheets it will drive very nice from about 3600 through to 6000rpm with the current set up. Certainly can light up a pair of 230 wide slicks off the line. I plan to make a couple of changes before it goes out next, basically replace the 280Zx ignition module as it doesn't like having a lot of advance at the moment, basically sitting around 8 deg BTDC, any more and it pings at high revs and number 2 plug gets too hot. The other mod is to put some heat shield between the manifolds, even though the extractors are wrapped it still looks like too much heat is getting into the inlet manifold. I will also be moving the air filter from out the front of the radiator up to the throttle body if I can get it to fit around the dizzy. This should see some more timing back in the engine and subsequently a bit more power and a few more revs. With the bottom end I'm running it should rev to around 7400 safely, though I won't need to go over 6800 and the rev limiter is set at 7000.

I might be able to help, have a look at somewhere like Biante.......

For your road regoed car the RDA rotors will be fine. I use Magna TP rotors on my circuit racer with Wilwwoods, they work no problems and are cheaper than the pads to replace, which is a good thing as the carbon m,etallic pads chew the rotors out in a bout 15 race meetings.

John, As per first post...... Owned by John McKeon this is the ex Lex Greenhalgh Red and Yellow lightweight marque sports early 240 shell, CAMS logbooked, Throttle body injections, Autronic ECU, C/R gearbox, has 12 rims some wets, car only $22k, and with it's trailer $25K Complete turnkey runner. To rplace this and go racing will cost, well double as some of you are finding out! I have raced this car for John on a few occaisons, it is tight, well sorted, and very responsive. it is located on the Gold Coast. Car is log booked as a 2B Marque Sports car. Will run with production Sports cars or other category 2 sports cars. The engine is a L series built originally by Stewert Wilkins and from memory is a 3.1 stroker, not sure when last freshened up though and power should be around 220-250hp at the wheels, again going from memory when I raced against it. best to pm Dat2kman for more info, or pm me and I can forward his number, he may still be on holidays for the next couple of weeks. I' don't know John Mckewon's contact details so I can't help there. My only connection to the car is I used to race against it back in NSW and it was an absolute weapon, the only thing that let it down in the year I won the NSW Marqu Sports Championship was reliability, mainly gearboxes, but John has sorted most of that now and it has been a very reliable car over the last few years when I have seen it go around. Matt

Ben, just gone through that exercise with my motor, getting 195.5rwhp @5600 and 212 ft/lb of torque at around 4000 using 98. Timing is retarded at the moment due to number 2 plug running too hot, probably not flowing enough through the runner for number 2. Had the choice of live with using 98 or spending big dollars on decent fuel. A couple of tweaks with the dizzy, swapping the 280ZX module for a bosch module should fix the flutter and I am also making some changes to the intake, some heat shielding and moving the pod filter from in front of the radiator to the throttle body, should get me over 200rwhp and a bit higher in the rev range, somewhere near the 6500 mark on 98. At this stage I will be sticking with the 98 octane fuel as its easy to get on the way to the track, I just fill up the ute and Zed at the same time, and if work is paying, on the same fuel card. With the next rebuild I am looking at updating the Haltech F9 to Motech for fuel and ignition and running coil pack with no dizzy, should give quite a bit more. I will then look ata the cost of running a proper racing fuel fro the number of events I do a year, my engine builder has warned me off using ethanol, apparently a lot of the cub racers are having reliability problems with the E85. I can still run the standard injectors with no problems in being too high up the duty cycle, at this stage.

Can be hard to find a narrow enough seat, I use a Sparco Evo and I sit quite offset to the left to bolt it to the floor and clear the main hoop of the bar.

I vote for teh cheap MX as well, and if you catch me in a moment of weakness i maybe able to do you a deal on mine, maybe, and a moment of great wekaness, or maybe the ute, no I need that, or the Charger, no you can't afford that. I reckon any late 90's shopping trolley from japan that has a service history for around $5k will serve you well.

At track days and supersprints you will ahve a ball. It's only when yo step up into propoer state level racing or tarmac rallies you might find it difficult to find somewhere to run.

Depends, do you mean cam tower shims or lash pads and cam tower shims. I had a L18 with an A87 head that was shaved by around 5mm. We just got away without placing shims under the cam towers, but the timing chain tensioner was at the limit to keep everything in place. The lash pads were definately different to standard, but I can't remember by how much. A lot of what is needed depends on the actual work done to the actual components, you maybe able to shave a couple of mm and not have to change a thing, you may also end up having to use shims and new lash pads. The only way to really know is to bite the bullet and do the full rebuild replacing whta needs to replaced as it needs to be replaced depending on the final spec you want. Also, do you want torque or top end? This will make a huge difference to what machining you get done to the head in terms of ports and combustion chambers.

If you're lookign at doing tarmac rallies check the rules first. As you're running an RB you may or mot be able to run in tarmac rallies depending on the rules they use.

Other way round..... Positive offset wheels are what modern cars use and negative offset for old school cars. The negative offset wheels have the deep dish look and that's what you need to fill the guards and flares with a zed.

And Steve is one "Special Individual" So we may need to wrap him up completely in a protective thermal barrier.

Pity you're in Canberra, I have an auto box up here in brisbane you are welcome to take away, condition unknown, but should be good for bits. It's just taking up space at the moment.

Pirelli have something that would fit for a DeTomaso Pantera, they came with 15x12's on the rear standard.

You can doa perpetual calendar, the MX5 club of Qld does one, you just don't put the actaul day the date falls on in the calendar, that way you only need to update it evry few years to keep it resonably fresh.

Thanks for the offer, I'll have a quick look around up here first and will probably take you up on that in the next week or so, luckily I don't drive it that often, and up here in Qld it hardly ever rains

Jason, yes Jim screws together a very good donk. And it also sounded pretty good from inside the car. Jon was very impressed with the first takeoff on Sunday , but did compliment me on how it did go when it wasn't wheelspinning. Jim will have the timing and the intake sorted before it goes out next. I will be running at Morgan Park in the 1 hour enduro in September, and will doing a shakedown the first Monday of Spetember at the MX5 club track day. We also played the hypotheticals, and also looked at a L20 crank to see what class that would put the car in. Would be an interesting. but very expensive motor to run keeping it together at 9k!!!!!! From what I've heard around the traps, I think I have an inkling as to why the look at the different motor.