9/14/11 Overdue Update

It has been entirely too long since I have updated my blog. I'd like to apologize to both of my followers (Hi mom!) for being away for so long.

That isn't to say that I haven't been in and around my shop lately. Last week I picked up another motorcycle. I may have an addiction. I found this clean 1979 Honda CB650 on craigslist. It is much better suited to the cafe racer treatment than the 1984 CB700SC I last purchased, so I jumped at the opportunity.

This also means that I am simply going to get the CB700 running well and sell it sooner than later. To this end, last night I cleaned and rebuilt the carbs.

Over the weekend, I went to the NYZCC (New York Z Car Club) BBQ. As always, seeing the Z guys and watching the finished, running cars lit a fire under me. There were some very interesting cars in attendance.

 In addition to the usual crowd, the first production Z ever sold to the public, VIN# 13, stopped by to say hello.

Also, this CRAZY little Datsun Roadster, showed up with no hood. This thing was SR20det powered, and put down 387hp at the wheels without the installed nitrous! This in a car that originally weighed 1984lbs and had 96hp from the factory. The owner said he could spin the wheels in 4th, and that when he dyno tested the car, it twisted the car enough to crack the paint below the rear edge of the door, which you can see in the picture. All this on stock brakes and 225 tires, scary!

I have also decided I need to make room for the cars in my future. I can't stick with my current rusty Z chassis, so I am pulling the last bits out of it in the next week or so, and getting rid of the chassis. This coming weekend I will be looking at a possible new chassis to work on. It belongs to the father of a friend, so I should be able to get a good deal on it. Here's hoping it's in good shape!

Also, I am going to sell my other Z. I bought this 77 280z 2+2 about 4 years ago. It is a pretty damn nice car...except for the fact that the chassis is so rusty that part of the frame moves when you brake. This will make an AWESOME parts car for someone, but I really have no need for it, and there is no chance that I'm actually going to get to fixing the rust on this one, since its worse than my 72.

This should free up some funds and space to dedicate to my new Z and the inevitable parts car that I pull the engine out of for it.


In other news, last night I also installed what's known as a 'Z tube' in my G35. The 350Z and G have the same engine but, as the G is a luxury car, it is expected to be much quieter. One change the engineers at nissan made was to fit an intake tube to attenuate some of the natural engine sounds. Some engineer probably spent months working on the shape of this tube, getting it to fit in the tight engine bay, as well as dampen the intake noises correctly, only for the entire sport oriented G community to go out and replace it with a simple tube.

Here are a couple comparison videos, the change is a little hard to pick up on the video, but there is more 'burble' now. Cheap and sweet little modification.

-W.W. SBSS