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Before removing the diff, I would check the u-joints on your driveshaft as well.

Bumping zboi's thread so he can continue his contributions to the community. Let's see an update.

My opinion: Flares because your tires are fat and need room = cool. Skinny tires that should fit stock but spaced way out anyway = not cool. It's in the same vein as camber to me. Negative camber for better handling? Awesome. Crazy negative camber because you want people to know how much camber you have? Stupid.

If I was going to buy an off the shelf kit, that's what I'd get. And as most spec miata guys will tell you, compound matters far more than just about anything. And for autox (read: not long periods of repeating heat ups back to back), thermal mass is almost irrelevant. Most people's perceived "weak braking" is lack of pressure at the pad and/or poor bad choice. And in that regard, the Micro BBK gives you in practice more than double the usable thermal mass, and also much better pad options. All in all I'll be waiting to hear your thoughts once some miles are put on them.

I just joined up so that I can follow this thread. Lots of great information here so thank you for that. I don’t have my build vehicle just yet and I need to get my garage built first but I do have a complete 2010 370z sport/touring donor car with 57k miles. I bought it in 2019, did quite a few modifications to it, and then a tree fell on it summer of 22. I’m looking forward to this project!

I decided one of the very last things I will probably do with my 240Z is replace the center dash area with a custom plate with switches and gauges. I started by getting the plate from Skillard, and made sure to spend the extra 10 bucks for the satin powder coating. Nice piece. I then went about taking measurements and figuring our just exactly how I wanted it to look, what I needed it to have and what would make it look cool. Earlier I had added 5 switches to the fuse box cover plate, and now that I am going to do this, I will move those wires up to switches, and eliminate those switches in the cover. Since that plate will now have holes, I will have to decide whether I wish to replace it with another stock piece, or cut a piece of aluminum to fit. Do any of you know someone who makes that plate? I asked Ben at Skillard and he doesn't. Anyway, I decided to go with the old fashioned toggle switches, and then in the space above it, I am going to add two 2 1/16" gauges I found online from "MaxTow".....apparently they are used by truck guys, but of all the gauges I found, they were the nicest looking .....in my mind at least. I spent some time tonight drawing out all the holes needing to be drilled on the back of the piece, and I am hoping that by going from the back out, the powdercoating will survive. I am also attaching pics of the gauges and switches I have ordered.....and another pic of the triple gauges I already bought from MilkFab....still waiting on my Knock sensor gauge to come in. Comments welcome. Cheers!

I solved rear end clunking in my 72 240z by replacing al of the rubber bushings with polyurethane bushings including the mustache bar mounts and solid mounting (MSA mount) the nose of the differential. Of course the differential is still a little playful, but every Z I have owned had a "loose" differential that would clunk when engaging the clutch. I learned to engage the clutch smoothly. No problems in 20 years. SBC 350 v8 Camaro WC T5 trans 78 280z r200 differential Chequered Flag stainless steel stub axles. Replaced the stock stub axles because the wheel mounting flanges were warped causing my rear 240sx caliper brake pads to rub on the rotors. Over heating rotors drove me nuts until I put a dial indicator gauge on the flanges and rotated the axle. Evidently the flanges are soft and can become bent/warped just hitting a curb or a pothole. Not a problem for drum brakes, but with disk brakes the rubbing can cause rotors to heat up.

So yesterday I began to remove the diff, and while trying to wrestle the half-shafts off, I noticed that the diff would move. Indeed one of the nuts holding the diff to the mustache bar was loose enough to allow the diff to move, and with an audible clunk, which is cause #5 in Jon M's authoritative post. About twenty years ago, I did remove and reattach the mustache bar when I replaced the isolators, so I guess I didn't torque it back properly. Note that this required much greater force than I had been exerting on the wheels in my prior clunk tests. So I will just put the diff back and after I get my new shifter bushings from MSA (or whatever they call themselves now), I'll drive it around the block to see if the clunk is gone. I am still curious about the total backlash that I can see from either side-flange while holding the opposite side-flange steady, with the half-shafts removed, and without visible movement of the companion flange. There were some visible shavings on the drain plug when I removed it. I don't know if some amount is expected. I guess I'll worry about it if there is still a clunk.

I ended up going with the micro bbk. After reading through a lot of forums for what the Miata guys are doing I realized the micro kit is similar or slightly larger rotors than most of the upgrades those guys go with and the calipers will be better than what a lot of them run. Considering the ZCG kit was just miata calipers on custom brackets, I think doing something similar to what those guys are doing is fine. The 280 isn't quite as small and light as the NA miata, but I think for a street car it's the right choice, and the micro kit's dust booted pistons give me just slightly more peace of mind since I do longer trips in the car when I'm around. Also had Galgo Performance start making me a custom shroud for the mishimoto radiator and some SPAL fans. Excited for the winter upgrades.

Thanks for the replies. I had indeed immobilized the drive shaft yoke at its input to the diff, so that should eliminate driveshaft u-joints. And yes, I had read JM's definitive post several times. But I do suspect that this is one of those 5% of situations where the diff is indeed the problem. BTW, I did perform a similar 'wheel-rotation-slack' test on another car I happen to have currently on stands, and it had less that 1/4 of the slop I saw on the Z, and the other car has an LSD which I suspect adds even more slop. So I assume that I've got excessive backlash either between ring and pinion, or side-gear to pinion-mate. Or the pinion shaft is wallowing around in the differential case. I'm sure I'll need more help once I get in there.

On the stock tank? Yes. I haven't started the poly tank install yet. I'm convinced Nissan added the vent on the left side of the tank to deal with the situation. There is no other reason for it to be there. You have to be in just the right climate and usage for it to be a problem. Cool morning fill up, and then parked in the sun all day. There is a real potential to form a vapor bubble there and it expands at a greater rate than liquid. Since I have that plugged the vapors path to release is to force all of the gas that is in the upper section of the tank out if it can. A proper check valve system in the vent line to atmosphere would probably solve it but I'm not crazy about having a pressurized tank. I've just finished testing some polyurethane tubing submerged in gasoline for a few weeks with no sign of degradation. I have a plan to use that as an in-tank vent line. I'll post pictures when I finish it. I also ordered a Tanks Inc. 6" backing ring and I'm going to machine my own custom top plate to provide the inlets and outlets I want.

This winter I've been rebuilding the interior of my car. One item I could not find any information on at all were the mounting dimensions of the RS Mach Steering wheel. I believe in period this was a competition option, with the thicker wheel material and 380mm diameter often seen on the s30 and Hako Skylines. It seems the RS Mach wheel mounts more like the JDM s30 wheel compared to the deeper dish of the USDM wheel. Potentially I may machine a spacer to move the wheel further out but will see when I get everything back together. I know for the JDM s30 wheels it is popular to modify the turn signal stalk to account for the difference in wheel depth. I am also around 6' tall so also likely dimensionally different than the typical JDM person in period. Hopefully this helps someone. There is plenty of information out there for Checkman, Nardi, JDM s30 types, etc. types but nothing on this item.

Not knocking your work, but what was the rationale behind cutting your shock tower in half which is a major structural component of your car versus reworking the Jpipe which can easily be modified or re-fabricated? It looks like even after severing the shock tower, your Jpipe still puts your turbine hot side into the brake master cylinder which has already been ground down? After looking through your build thread I see you modified the bolt-on jpipe from an old turbo kit. The chassis has already been cut but I would advise you remake or modify the jpipe to fit the turbo properly away from your brake system. You may be able to reuse your modified jpipe by simply changing the angle on either flange.

12-04-02024 Dash Center Plate Project Update: My switches came in already, So I went ahead and drilled out all the holes and mounted the switches in. I like the look with the waterproof covers that screw on. The big holes will need a little adjustment here and there but coming along pretty good! Pics follow

I love it when a plan comes together. This is custom titanium banjos, which will come off my balance bar and hold my heat shield on!

@Dat73z If you wanted some discussion about your recent post you'll have to post in a non-FAQ section. People can post new stuff in FAQ but nobody can reply. It's been this way for years, not clear why nobody fixes it or at least adds a note to new posters. You didn't say which u-joints were "too soft". That would be helpful.

I am using tig as that is all I currently have available but mig would work as well with small wire. The key with the tig is to focus the arc on the cast yoke, a light dab of filler, wash the bead onto the cap then immediately get out of it and force cool. Another option could be to plate in like below and perhaps there are already washers of the correct 15mm size out there. Welding caps is apparently very common for the 4x4 guys, and they do it on high speed applications like driveshafts/axles. Worst case I already know it's easily serviceable as I had to get the poor quality joint out. I'm really hoping this bearing will last another 50 years like the original 😂 but we will see.

Hello, It does fit, i have 5/8(16mm) to the hood. My crank is at the same location(height) as the L26. My engine mounts are homemade so i had the ability to adjust for the AC compressor. Have a nice evening Christian

Like many other Zs my 50+yr old staked ujoints were making some clicky play and of course there is not much good information out there. After some research online, the staked ujoints can be replaced but restaking them properly requires a special tool which is quite expensive (500$ to a few thousand). Also many shops will not touch these components for liability reasons. So what I did was I carefully ground down the stakes with a dremel tool and pressed out the old ujoints. For the new ujoints I actually had to do the job twice as I initially purchased some ujoints recommended by the classic zcar forums. What I found was the caps were so soft that they ovalled out when pressing in and caused binding in the joint. The country of manufacture were not specified on the boxes, and when I cut the joints out to redo the crosses were also soft. After many years of dealing with poor quality aftermarket parts, I should have known better and the solution I found was to purchase high quality Made in Japan Toyo joints PN ST-1540 (15mmx40mm), and when pressing these in the caps do not distort or cause binding. I believe this is an OEM part and OE supplier. Pressing the new joints in, you need to be careful and press the caps to the appropriate depth to achieve 40mm cap-to-cap, centered in the yokes on either end of the cross. Similar to what is done in the 4x4 communities I decided to tack weld where the old stakes were, 4 per joint and air cool after each tack as to not overheat the parts. I know this is much stronger than the factory arrangement as I was able to press the OEM caps past the OE stakes whereas I could not actually press out my first install attempt (before I realized the poor quality bearing issue) with a 20 ton press without exactly grinding down the spot welds for fear of bending the yoke ears (the poor quality soft caps were all kinds of mushrooming out and distorting unlike the OE hardened caps). Hopefully this helps someone. This has been on my to do list for the better part of a decade and I know from inspecting many columns and steering shafts over the years that there are a lot of worn joints out there. Edit: per suggestion from @NewZed the joints which did not work are as follows: https://www.driveshaftparts.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1100 From this thread at classic Z cars: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/63434-steer-column-u-joints/?do=findComment&comment=629099 When I was researching the above joint, it seems many of the same appearance above are sold under different name brands are coming out of China, probably from the same or similar factories. Also some tips: I practiced the tacks on a few spare caps I had laying around and they blow through super easy compared to thicker driveshaft ujoint caps. So focus your torch on the cast yoke, one small dab of filler, and lightly wash the filler down onto the cap. Work quick so you put the minimum heat into the parts.

I don't really like taking her over 5000 RPM really anyway. The cam is stock, and its a stroker with all the power where I like it.... mid range. If this is going to give me that type of power, frankly I couldn't ask for more. Its a high compression engine (11.5 to 1), and this is meant to just lightly turbocharge it. I am at 6035 ft. elevation, so basically lose a point and a half on the thin air. This is a Draw through setup on an old crown turbo kit that has been updated. I have a snow performance water/methanol kit with 2 nozzles to cool it down and give it a bit more octane....and a J&S Safeguard Knock sensor with individual cylinder timing pull. It's mainly for looks and a little bit extra push....it's a cruiser.

You may not GET to 6k with any power...

Got the rest of my Black Friday shopping done for the Z. I got a twisted wedge top end kit, rpm air gap intake, a steering wheel and quick release hub and some 6-Piston 370Z brakes. All good deals. Money is all spent time to build it.

Well I got my prototypes in for my passive cooling on my Efi hardware throttles! These will be between the heat shield and the throttle bodies. Also it will be a nice and clean way to run the return fuel.

It'll be choked off a bit and start to spool around 2800 with full spool around 3200(estimated). Stage III turbine is like a 68 mm inducer and 62.35 mm exducer. The compressor wheel you are describing is awfully close to the 50 trim T04E and is a good match for the engine if not turning over 6k.

I don't think you have your trim specs right. Trims are usually whole numbers. The 74.2 just so happens to be the measure of one particular turbo e wheel's inducer diameter - and it is for a GT3076 turbo. A 50 trim compressor section is one of the just right compressors for our size engines in the normal journal T3/T4 series turbos. If you want lower spool the the T350 turbine (stage III) would be perfect. If you want more top end power then go with a stage V turbine.

Thank you. No. It appears my only option is to edit my post. But that's fine to leave it for history's sake. All good.

Yes the regular kit will fit under RKRs 15x8 +0. Here is a pic from like 10yrs ago when I was still daily driving my Z, you can see the T3 big wilwoods peeking out under the rkrs I took a bunch of pictures and measurements with rkrs and watanabe/several other wheels a couple yrs back when I decided to go ZCG due to the limitations on the t3 kit. I also ran a 1" wilwood MC but would not recommend it today as the unit leaked internally and externally so I went new OEM. Will DM you those later when I get some time to dig them up.

Just got an update from John on my bumper, almost done

Electric power steering kit was ready today. They are local, so I just picked it up.

I have not noticed any delay but have noticed the lack of self centering . I’ve gotten use to it and I drive my car a lot .

I tried it both ways and cutting the hole after is definitely the way to go. I used a copper heat sink as well and got some very minor warpage which I was able to lightly knock down with a sanding block. Definitely not my best work but it'll never be seen.

Sounds like a good time, and with all of the suspension figured out might not be that much of a time suck getting it up and running. Some of us took a decade or more to get our shit together. For a Ford powered car, look up username 74_5.0L_Z Dan is a good guy, runs a 347 stroker IIRC.

I haven't tried it yet because I had to take the dash out so I couldn't drive it to a flat surface but I can test it out this weekend.

Following on my previous post, I had my steering column modified by TruPig Motorsports which utilizes a Nissan Versa EPS unit. With the design of this retrofit, the EPS while large is able to just fit in with the motor and control module clocked up running a cable throttle and Vintage Air Gen II Mini HVAC unit. I think it would still be possible to fit a DBW actuator back there as well. Hope this helps someone in the future, it was impossible for me to find any information on fitting an OE EPS unit (not smaller ATV/Powersports units), DBW and AC behind the s30 dash other than people mentioning it is too tight/will not fit.

Back from paint

I believe the zx dampers were all bigger

Thanks. Yeah wasn’t planning to spend that much on suspension, but their kit looks really nice and I talked myself into it. Yes, I ordered the ZTrix kit. I’ve actually been talking with John, he’s customizing the front bumper a little for me too. I saw a car with his kit at ZCON earlier this year, and right away knew that’s what I wanted.

Welcome to the forum....glad to have you!! Wow, Apex Track Attack package -- you're obviously not afraid to drop some $ into this project. Looking forward to seeing how you like the results once it's finished. For the widebody kit, are you looking at ZTrix? John Washington, long-time member here, builds top-quality pieces and complete kits. This is his IMSA widebody kit: https://www.ztrix.com/fender-kits/imsa Cheers!!

I thought you were already crazy for bothering to use the vortec efi on an L28, then using exactly none of those savings to spend on something better than a chinese ebay turbo, but this definitely takes the cake. Good quality LS heads aren't even under $1000, unless you're getting something totally bare with no springs or valves, and that's a product for the most widely produced engines in existence and required no custom engineering. I don't think you have any idea how much time and money it costs to create something like this for an already very niche market. What you might be thinking of as a "real head manufacturer" would never bother doing something like this head because the market and sales would never justify committing resources to it, and if Derek created licensing for someone to mass produce it now that the hardest part of the work is done he'd probably get paid pennies for the amount of time it took to develop it.

That's just about the stupidest thing that has been written on this entire website.

I started typing a number of snarky responses and have settled on Wow what a shitty thing to say.

Dual L6 knock sensors using the stock block m6 hot water pipe mounts. They are actually about perfectly placed! These are just ti prototype. I am designing my own and will be adding them to the things I make and sell.

Looks like I missed some updates! In September I showed my car in a local event, TougeCon. They had a nighttime parking garage meet that I installed underglow for, and a daytime "car show" at the town square. Was the first time really getting the car out, and it garnered a lot of attention! I still haven't dug into diagnose whether I still have the noise issues (probably, I still see some spikes on CLT and AFR), but as mentioned in this thread I did finally resolve my jumpy tach. Turns out using a 12V zener was allowing noise through, and using the proper 18V zener cleaned up up. It's nice to finally have a solid tach. I picked up a cheap Chinese touchscreen head unit that runs android, so I could load ShadowDash and connect Bluetooth to Megasquirt for logging and some extra gauges. It's pretty slick! I have it auto-uploading logs to Google Drive when I hit Wi-Fi, and can download and burn tunes. In the last couple weeks I noticed a distinct whine after the engine got up to temp. It sounded like it was coming from the block area on the passenger side. Eventually I realized that back when I did the L28ET swap in 2009, I blocked off the inlet/outlet on the factory oil cooler since I didn't have a filter stud handy. It must have been bypassing oil the entire time I've run this engine. 🤦‍♂️ For now I got a stud from Nissan, and have an oil cooler coming from GRW. After the tail light swap, I realized the late-style license plate light wouldn't fit the early panels. I took inspiration from Skillard, and fabbed up a simple blanking plate using LEDs. I also pulled the trigger on a fuel system refurb. I'll be retrofitting an Aeromotive Stealth 340 into my factory tank, using a Radium stainless 10 micron filter, and upgrading to PTFE lines to eventually run E85. No more fuel slosh and starvation! In the meantime, now that the engine is broken in I've been working on dialing in my tune under boost. I set up some knock ears using a knock sensor, portable audio amplifier, and some headphones, and it seems to work pretty well! Once I hit around 10psi in any gear, I can clearly hear some ping. I'm holding steady at < 12:1 afr, and have backed my timing out to 19*, but still haven't gotten it to go away completely. I'm going to drastically pull timing and richen things up to work from the other direction, but that's already less timing than I'd expect necessary.

3 years later... took ages to find a good painter willing to take on the project. These days insurance jobs with small panel fixes seem to be more profitable. Luckily I found someone willing to do it in the summer months of this year while the insurance workload is reduced. Prepping... Overall quite happy with the result. Couldn't contain myself and started puzzling together the undercarriage the first chance I got. Pulled lines in the trans tunnel and assembled the suspension component. On the wheel first the first time since 2017!

Hello this. This is my 1974 260z 240sx suspension Custom double wishbone front Cantilever rear.... To much to list but enjoy the pictures. My 2jz /cd009 got stolen I'm unfortunately going to have to sell it. Will post it in the for sale group soon once im legal lol. Hope yall enjoy my hybrid z

Can certainly be done. Takes time, creativity and some fab skills. This is the console I created in my '71. You will note it is a 260/280 dash. I used this because the dash opening is more conducive to adding things like a DD radio. I fabricated the opening face place to house the radio, vents, Vintage Air controls and Audi pop out cup holders and switches.

Heat, penetrant, and an air hammer have never been defeated on the 50 or so spindle pins I've removed.