Mike260LW

Got our headers back from Custom Exhaust. Very happy with the quality and they charged us $50 less than quoted! Sexy pipes, hey?

I was going to say " is philistinism a word or a gavism" but it come up on spell check so I'll pull my head in!

Competition Ceramics quoted us $400 to coat the headers and the secondarys inside and out in silver. Black is dearer and less robust. Silver it is. Two weeks turnaround. A good way to protect our pipes crafted by Trevor at Custom Exhausts, me thinks.

Will do, yamahacam. More endorsement, thanks Z

Thanks guys, I have had a number of recommendations for Competition Coatings and they are local for me.

Can anyone recommend a good ceramic coating business in Brisbane that does quality work. Have a set of headers that need coating. Also any thoughts on inside coating?

That's good news Richard! Unfortunately MP Super Sprint Rd 2, is a fair way off. First weekend of May I think. Still, plenty of practice days to fine tune and hone skills.

A great weekend! Good weather and just brilliant to see and be with all those Zeds, on track at the one time. Good photos too, ultrasuede (nice to meet you) and 24 Dat.

I bought a set of MSA Z Store rockers and the tolerances were all over the place. Engine builder declined to use them and opted to use the old ones. Seems to be some quality control issues, at least on the batch i received.

The glaring omission on the entry list ( I had an epiphany on the shitter this arvo) is Lee Falkner. Anyone got a story on this or did he mis the close off date - again)?

Will it be a column stick or one of them push button jobbies the ol' Valliants used to have?

Seventeen Zeds of various shapes and sizes entered in the A Series. That's pretty impressive! Although I see a couple of names on the list who seem to regularly enter but don't show. Richard, I can't believe the bad luck you have with suppliers, but it just reinforces what a complex process it is when you undertake a substantial modification/re-engineering project such as yours where you go where angels fear to tread! The devil is in the detail and getting all the other little bits right. The thing I'm finding difficult is maintaining the enthusiasm levels. Slogging away in a westerly facing garage in the middle of the Brisbane summer is good for loosing weight but not so good for productivity. Looking forward to seeing the 280ZX hit the track. The auto concept worked well for Jim Hall's Chaparel Sports Cars in the sixties. My immediate problem is no tyres in reasonable shape for Round 1 MP! I'll just have to go with what I've got and expect to get spanked!

I had a tank which had been laying around for years and had a jelly like fuel residue in the bottom and I had no idea of the condition/integrity of the tank. Took it to Fuel Tank and Radiator Services over at Nundah and for about $250 they hot tanked, pressure tested and treated the inside of the tank and painted the outside. Good as new and no mess!

Sorry, I'm confused. Is this head an E31 or an E88? And if it is the latter, is it a 260Z E88 (standard) or one off an R31 skyline i.e. E88 EFI?

Interested.

Stan's Porsche wasn't in Group S spec on the day though. Running wider and stickier tyres. They were wide enough to rub on his dry sump return oil line resulting in oil down from turn 4 to past the pit exit! His Gp S spec times around the clubman are more like 1:02. It is a very fast car and he is a very competant pedaller. I was running R spec tyres. Just sayin'.

Thank you gentlemen.

Anybody got any thoughts on what is a good brand of ignition lead to use on a MSD ignition system fitted to a race engine? Also where can you get them?

Yep, I have just done one of these conversions. The Subaru R180 diffs come up on eBay periodically from Jap parts importers. The ratio is 4.444 to 1 and they come in either a clutch pack or Torsen style torque sensing LSD. The later are more prevelant but in my opinion less desirable. They come up for around $600. The SWR axles are fine but you need R200 half shafts. The 4.4 ratio is a good all rounder

1600dave, go the Fairlady Group S route. The more the merrier.

I have an L28 short motor rebuilt by Fat Az race engines. It's built to standard spec I.e. Fully mAchined block, crank, stock rods and Pistons. No head. Let me know if you are interested.

Nice wheels. Couldn't see any mention of weight. Unfortunately the rule book says 14" x 6" or 15" x 6" none of these sizes there. I'm initially going to run a set of Series 2, 280ZX rims (powder coated gloss black) which I have, they are pretty light and will do the trick initially. I have had a change of philosophy on this build in that there is a real risk of "getting ready to get ready" and never actually finishing the job 'cos you're always fettling. So I'm now building the car to get it on the track and then start refining and developing. The Tarmac Zed needs a "makeover" too. Its looking pretty tired from competition and needs a freshen-up. Aiming for the Sc car to be finished for start of next season. The problem is I only get about one day a weekend to work on it and source parts. Most specialty suppliers aren't open on the weekends. Its really frustrating when you target a specific task like fitting up the rear suspension and you get into it to find the US supplier has sent you 40mm mustache bar bushings instead of 50mm and half of the inner control arm bushing bits are missing! That delays it another week or so while you get the correct bits. I was thinking about opening a build thread but it would just be a litany of eff-ups and re-works! Here is a teaser though:

Yep, Stan told me he had also spent a significant amount on a recent suspension upgrade and had brought Rex Broadbent up to sort it. It is a beautiful car and I suspect is worth several hundreds of thousands because of the desirability of the base spec car. Bill Black's Porsche was running some pretty serious rubber and was geared very similar to the Zed. Lap times and qualifying times between Bill and I were very close. I couldn't out brake him or out exhilarate him out of corners and just didn't quite have the legs on the straight to pass him. I could catch him but needed another 200m of straight! The Zed was winning through turns 1 and 2 and I could range up on them into 3, but then through the Clubman circuit dip and into 4 and 5 i couldn't get the car to settle quick enough through the right/left transition to get the power down without the arse stepping out. Very frustrating but interesting to see the differences. On analysis, I think the bump setting on the dampeners should be stiffened (S Rhodes legacy). The rolling starts also take away an opportunity to gain some ground as Zeds generally hook-up pretty well. Interesting comment of yours Jason about Stan being a cagey old bugger and just doing enough to stay in front because on the last run of the day Bill B forced Stan to over-brake into turn 6, on the penultimate lap, and Bill was able to get under him an snatch the lead form corner exit to halfway up the straight where upon Stan pulled out and re-passed him with considerable ease and with hitherto previously unseen exhilaration! As I said before, I was happy just to be there. It is a shame there were not more genuine S and T cars there. There were originally 20 cars entered but a big drop-out. Seems odd as Group S competitors appear to be complaining of dwindling numbers and not enough events to run in. Could have been the Muscle Car Masters coming up this weekend which detracted attention. Agreed, if you were only interested in winning at all costs, you wouldn't start with a Datsun for Group S! But I love the Zed, I understand them and, as Jason says, there is something very satisfying by taking it up to them in a dunga datto! On another note, I was able to observe the Hyundai (Hoondie) category for the first time. Boy, do those guys play rough! Also interesting, was the fact form the rolling start the front runners pulled a gap of about 100m on the rest of the field in one lap! I know it is a very restricted spec one make class but me thinks some people are spending a lot of money on blue-printing!

Thanks Jason, I had a hoot racing with the Sc and other invited cars. Finished third overall over the weekend but learnt a lot and identified a car handling issue which hasn't been apparent at Morgan Park! Stan was insistent I run an R spec tyre so bought some Yokohama A050s to get a track feel for this rubber. Great in the dry, not as good as our Dunlop DZ03s, we run in Tarmacs, in the wet! Trying too hard and fell off when the rain started Saturday arvo!! Now very enthused to finish the Sc car. By the way, the Bolwell turned up on slicks. Since when have they been allowed in Group S?

White line does have - part number W61946 for rear control arm inner front and rear bushes for both sides. Bought a set yesterday.