BluSkyLightning

Another update, I have decided that I absolutely needed to Dynamat the car. I have been driving it around now that the weather has gotten quite nice here, and my GOD is it loud. I did a ton of research about dynamat and other thermal acoustic dampeners, and discovered something quite amazing. You can buy it from Lowes. There is a manufacturer called Tite-Seal that makes an almost identical product to Dynamat ( a rubberized, self adhesive thermal acoustic insulator with aluminum on one side) at a fraction of the cost. I was able to buy two rolls measuring 9 inches wide by 33 feet long for $20 each, and it was more than enough to do the entire floor of the car. I cannot justify spending 4-5 times that ammount for a name brand, especially if it's going to be hidden under carpet its entire life anyways. Here are some pictures of the process, I obviously had to remove the interior (not too hard honestly) and clean the surfaces that it would adhere to, then I went to town. Being my first time doing a project like this one, looking back I would have cut some pieces differently, but all in all I am very pleased with the way it turned out, and very happy with the results! I can hold a conversation on the phone when I'm in the car now! Coilovers should be arriving today, my 5.9L internals should be done by Friday, and the current engine and tranny will be pulled this weekend! The list is still long, but I have been making some great progress in a very short amount of time and I can see the light!

I'm no engineer, so I may be completely wrong here, but I would assume that as you let off the gas pedal the airflow through the intake is drastically reduced, which would result in air moving much slower through the intercooler, and causing the air to not be cooled efficiently. Stagnant air in an intercooler doesn't get cooled as efficiently as properly moving air, so it makes sense to me that you see an increase in intake temps while everything else (Pipes) remain cool. Again, I'm no engineer but that's my two cents.

My follow up email was almost entirely about whether or not the coilovers would be bolt on units, and they didn't answer the question in the follow up email. Here is their response that I received this morning. "Would you be able to fil up the measurement sheet and take the measurements of the hubs and drum parking plate bolt in place so we can designed the kit. We can use a two holes caliper bracket that will bolt the caliper on the leading side of the rear wheel and it looks likes they will be plenty of clearance on this side ( opposite side of the shock) and the rotor wheel in stole on the actual hubs in place of the drums. You will have to choose by yourself the offset of the disc that will be best (it is best to make it as close to the inside as possible to give best wheel clearance) It will depend on the surface of the parking plate bolt in flange if you want to have the calipers brackets bolt in from the back or for the front. You can then work out the offset of the futurs rotors to be as close as possible to the caliper brackets or any other parts sticking out further. About the discount we can do different types of discount it’s depend of your order. For example for coilovers kits, ten kits with the same specs or nearly the same is enough to do a discounted rate if it’s less we can offer some options like camber plates for example. Or for the big brake kit from 2 or 5 kits we will be able to do a bigger discount depending the options and sizes you will choose. I attached you the measurement sheet. Waiting for your answer, feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Best regards. Gauthier Milharo – CEIKA team" So it looks to me like the coilovers will not be a true bolt on unit, and with the prices being similar to the BC Coils posted in another thread it's probably best to stick with something of a known good quality. Their brakes are pre built kit, but they do have different colors and sizes available for a pretty good price, and appear to be able to create the necessary brackets to adapt their kits to the mounting brackets of the Z, so they might be a good option for brakes, especially if we organize a group buy. Their brake kits range from 4 pot kits to 6 and 8 pot kits with different caliper sizes and thicknesses to choose from. I have attached their measurement sheet for you guys to take a look at as well.

Unfortunately I think you guys are probably right, I'll wait to see what they have to say about it. I sent them pictures of the strut assemblies and what would be needed for a truly bolt in kit, and have yet to get a response.

They seem to respond reasonably well, I got the email back from them within 24 hours, and I just emailed them back with a few more questions, mainly about clarifying whether we'd need to send our hub assemblies to them or if they had them in stock. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I just sent it out about 30 minutes ago.

I have been browsing the suspension section as well as Google looking at the suspension options for the Z when I saw a company that I have never heard of before, claiming to make custom suspension and brake kits. I took a good look at their website and decided to send them an email to see if they would be able to make a purely bolt on kit for the S30 chassis, and this is their response: "Hello Dan, Thank you for your message and your interest. Yes we can do fully bolt on coilovers kit for your Datsun 260z. Our price starts at $1130 including shipping and it is fully custom built to suit your needs and bolt on for your Datsun 260z. We can customise the spring rate, damper length and travel as well as the valving to achieve the adjustability and ride quality that you are looking for. These kits allow the lower the car about 100mm to 120mm but if you need to go lower we can also do a fully custom extra lowered kit with shorter mounts and special valveling to suit the sorter shock travel and it could go an extra 40mm to 50mm lower. You could add helper springs in order to give you more travel and droop. It will help keep the tyre in contact with the road and provide better handling and comfort on rough surfaces. It’s another $100 extra for the set of 4. About the brakes unfortunately, we don't have the specs for your car but we would love to make some brakes for it. If you can fill up our measurement sheet we can make a custom bolt-on big brake kit and give you a $100 discount for the specs on top of our combo discount. We will guarantee perfect fitment of the kit. It is easy to take measurements and we can assist you with the process. When we will compile your specs we will be able to see if you make any mistakes. And we can also send you the templates to be sure that the kit will fit into your wheels. Also if you take a look at our spare part section we have the cheapest prices around by far. We don't have distributors so it's wholesale price pretty much for our BBK and we chose to sell spares to our customer at cost price. http://ceikaperformance.com/Custom-Built-Brake-Kit/Brake-Kit-Spare-Parts-c14/ We are a small company ran by enthusiasts and our prices are the cheapest because we have very reasonable margins. We only charge the cost of materials when upgrading to larger kits hence the price difference with competitors. We don't charge any margins on options prices either and we keep our costs down on sponsoring and marketing and rely on customer word of mouth mainly. We guarantee customer satisfaction, noise free braking (with street pads) and perfect fitment also. And our calipers, seals, brake line (made in UK and DOT/ADR approved), hardware and brackets come with a full 2 year warranty! I hope i have answered your questions. Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Best Regards, Gauthier Milharo – CEIKA team Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ceikaperformance Web site: http://ceikaperformance.com Email: contact@ceikaperformance.com For large files, please use: ceikaperformance@gmail.com" It seems almost like it's too good to be true, but at the same time I would be super excited to have a true bolt on kit for around the same price as what's currently a weld on kit. They also make custom brakes, but don't have anything currently available for the S30's, but as you can see they will make them. If you guys are interested, I can get back with them and provide everything they need, as well as see if they are interested in a potential group buy. Let me know and I can try to work this out. EDIT: Their factory and assembly lines are located in Taiwan according to their website.

Yup, it's all about wanting what you can't have!

I'm glad you found that out before something broke. Great work on the car, enjoy it man!

Right now the stock r180 with what I believe to be 3.70 gears. Honestly I plan to weld the diff, then run it until it explodes. After that I'm not sure what I'll swap in, maybe a solid rear axel from a Ford, maybe a r200 if the price is right.

Thanks! I've been slowly adding bits a pieces to make it what I want, I just finished installing my Hurst ratchet shifter for the tranny, I still need to finish wiring up the reverse light switch and the park safety switch, but I tested it last night and it's a hell of a thing to take it to 6k. I also fixed that annoying exhaust leak (header flange was loose) and it sounds much cleaner now.

Haha, yeah that's the exhaust leak.... It will be fixed when I get the 5.9 installed, but it does sound pretty nasty, especially when it backfires when I let off the throttle after a hard run. I need to get this 5.9L DONE!

Next on the plate is to finish the 5.9 rebuild and swap, plus the transmission shift kit/ shifter install, then I will concentrate on the suspension and wheels/ tires. Oh, I almost forgot to mention my gauges that I got from SpeedHut. They are fantastic pieces, and installed really well into the old housings, and the wiring was straight forward. My only issue is a slight one, the brights indicator is backwards. It lights up when brights are off and turns off when they are switched on. There is a solution to it, but as of right now it's just not hooked up. https://youtu.be/abjiIdijiAQ

An update on the Z I am currently rebuilding the 5.9L and prepping to swap it in favor of the 5.0. The 5.0 has had a good run, but it's starting to smoke now, and I am pretty sure that the piston rings are shot. I have the new rebuild kit already in the garage for the 5.9, as well as the shift kit and ratchet shifter, I just need to find the time between work and working on the house to actually finish it. I also got tired of looking at the busted up front valence that the car came with, so I ordered a new front air dam and installed it, plus I removed those beefy bumper guard pusher thingies from the front bumper. It's not as perfectly clean as a 240z bumper swap, but it's a LOT better than before. Before: After:

I have had my gauges installed for a couple months now, and I love them. Here are a couple of pictures of my install, plus a short video. https://youtu.be/abjiIdijiAQ

I am currently rebuilding the 5.9L, I have been doing tons of research about the 360 and how to make it reliable and fun. I'm not looking to make crazy power, but I will be really happy with 300-350 at the wheels. I am keeping the stock rods and pistons, getting the block honed, and all new bearings and gaskets. I will be taking all the hot parts from the 5.0 and swapping them over, (cam, lifters, springs, pushrods, intake, carb, electronic ignition, and distributor). I will try to document as best I can with pictures but I can't make too many promises, as far as I know I have never heard of another AMC swapped S30. What do you want to see pictures of? I will try to provide what I can to help you out.