less weight is more good

One of the things I like most about my 240 is that it is more or less the perfect starter for a racer/high performance street vehicle. You see, it lacks power mirrors, power locks, power windows, sunroof, cruise control, HICAS, and just about any other un-needed power/luxury items that add weight. I've taken the stock vehicle a bit further and have removed the speakers (it didn't have a radio), and automatic seat belts.

I've more or less decided to build the car up in two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 is getting it into a driver with a few luxuries, such as the suede doors and headliner (which I did today). Phase 2 will come when I get my Silvia nose and SR20DET. That's when I'll go with a racing seat, strip out the interior and all that good stuff. Now, here's the tricky bit, there is no timeline for any of this, nor is it concrete. I may have a few 'Phase 2' bits in 'Phase 1', and vice versa. I'll just go with whatever feels right. I'll listen to the car and she'll tell me what she wants.

OK, so get this, you know that V8 I built for the '66? Well, it wasn't a V8 at all. More like a V7. Turned out that cylinder #1 has, for some unknown reason, a gallery that runes from the front of the head into the combustion chamber. Without compression, there is no power. So that V8 ran on only 7 cylinders. Whilst at the junkyard yesterday, picked up an aftermarket coil and threw it in to replace the stock, most probably underpowered, coil. So with the V8 compressing on all 8 cylinders once again, and with a better coil, that puppy sounds better. Has a bit better response, but at high RPMs sounds much smoother...and dare I say menacing. My baby is a monster.