snidz260z

OK the fiberglass hood was throwing me off as the factory hood confirms the angle from front to cowl.

John you are correct on your frame measurement. The width that seems to change is the upper portion of the inner fender rail. I am scratching my head here because I measured an undamaged 280z to confirm that this inner fender rail is wider at the rear and narrows at the front???

I cut off the front end section forward of the strut towers. I did leave the lower radiator core in as it was square and it is obviously holds it all in place. Now the challenge is sectioning on a piece from a 71 240z to my 11/74 260z. I remember visiting Arizona Z Dave once and he said there is no Z car that is perfectly straight and that is why we need all the adjustable suspension to take out any error, I agree. Just a hair off here and there can make things challenging. What I was hoping to confirm and I know JohnC will have an answer is that the inner fender rails (that the fenders bolt to) actually start wide near the firewall and get slightly narrower toward the front. I did go measure a buddys 77Z to see what his car did and it also went from roughly 40.5 to 39.5 at the nose. I have a cowl hood from the 80s and although it fits it is tight by the headlight buckets and the gap opens to about 3/8 behing the strut towers. I guess my question is should the gap be uniform or not? I need to pull the factory hood out and see how it does. I am doing all this alignment prior to welding everything in place on the sectioned pieces. Thanks for any help.

I am a welding rookie and I did the Zedd findings floor pans and the Bad Dog rails in my 260z SBC project. I did one side at a time to prevent any structural issues / twisting as the body was on a rotisserie. The stock rails were cut out and new ones in because the original ones were beat up. Next came some serious manipulation of the floor pans. Lots of trimming and test fits but in the end they came out great and so much stiffer. Last but not lease the Bad Dogs were slipped over and stitched on the stock rails. I also tied the rear end in with Bad Dog connectors. I drilled out all the spot welds when pulling the old pans out and used as much of the Zedd pans as possible going pretty high along the trans tunnel. I do not have the links but there are several guys who have stuff out there on how they accomplished the task.

I went with Design Products Racing camber buscuits to avoid chopping the strut towers and adding camber plates (http://designproductsracing.com/Z_Suspension1.html) and then Techno Toy tuning control arms all around. Toyota 4x4 brakes in the front and Maxima disc conversion in the rear were a very affordable option.

Thanks, I'll keep searching but it seems a lot of the topics are either patch n repair along with complete removal of the original core support. I started to drill out the old spot welds today on the donor front end to pull it apart. I am thinking I will leave the original rails in place, pull the core off and go from there????

I did search this topic only to find some redoing the hood hinge area on the front. I am contemplating my front end damage repair and needed some insight from you Z tech veterans. My shell is a solid 11/74 260Z. I chose to accept the front end damage area over a rusty Z. The damage is primarly forward of the radiator core support but there was a little wrinkling just inside the fender wells near the core support. Some of the research on this site hit on the fact that little goes on forward of the strut towers in regards to twising and stress? So... I have a sound & straight front clip I cut off a 240z I was going to use as my donor. How would you guys recommend I make the repair? Leave the existing frame rails in place and then make the cut just forward of the strut towers? or make the cut in front of the strut towers straight through the frame rail and then put a c channel piece or similar inside the old rail then slide on the replacement clip? I could always beef things up with a crossmember just in front of the radiator over the new seam? The reason cutting straight through the frame rails seems attractive is the way the inner fender well meets the frame rail repair seems it could be tricky. Thanks in advance for your advice, tips and opinions.

WTB solid and straight sheet metal sections for both L & R sides forward the strut towers. Mine have rust and some collision damage on my late 74 260z and I plan on sectioning in the new material. Any late 260 or early 280z should do fine. jeffsnidz@yahoo.com

Some rave and some are dissatisfied with the tokico set up? Are any running Eibachs on their V8s?

I have a 11/74 260z with a SBC 350 / t5 that I picked up a few months back. I am a former 240z guy so this is a whole new animal for me. I did not get the V8 thing until I wet myself after driving it! WOW! Anyway, I looked at tons of suspension info on this site and I wanted to target the V8 gurus specifically so I posted this here instead of the suspesion forum. What spring / strut combos are you guys using? I do not want to go to coilovers as this is just a street car, however I do want the lowered ride. Spring rates are a concern with the slight weight increase. I do know that being a late 260z the spring will be the higher rated 280z springs. I see many with issues so I want to get this combo / set up right. Thanks for all your help.