nope

If you are planning on pulling that spindle pin and its stuck, then clamp a vice or some vice grips the the threads on one end and pound away on the other side with a 3/8" ratchet extension as a drift pin while a friend spins the spindle pin back and forth (CW and CCW). Doing the spinning and pounding simultaneously works infinitely better than just pounding. It make the difference between 25 minutes per pin and 3 with twisting. Forgive the excessive use of the word "pounding." However, dont forget to have new spindle pins ready afterward because the ones you pull out will be fawked. But even if you dont do the spinning, chances are youll mushroom the threads you do the pounding on anyway. Then youll never be able to get your nut on again. sucks huh. yea it does. The nice thing about the AZC rear LCAs is that you dont have to use that damn pin anymore or fuss with torching out old bushings, plus you have toe and camber adjustability.. just got em along with the 5-lug brake kit, installing them tonite and this weekend. yey

if you wanted to start a hood project, i had plans on doing the same in the near future. although i want to change mine a little, mainly just to widen the hump with some venting especially if i do a v-mount setup. i wouldnt mind working in tandem on something like that.

my suggestion (if youre going to scrap it and remake it) is to use that cf part as your new female plug (mold). Spend some time cleaning out the inside and filling/sanding out any imperfections. Once youre down to the last sanding stages, spray the entire inside with some black primer and wetsand it. Youll notice most of it will come off except for the areas that have small dips or scratches. In those spots either add filler (bondo) or if theyre really minor just blend them out by evenly sanding more in that entire general area. Use sanding blocks when possible in the direction of sanding to make sure the part come out plane. Add some material on the outside surface to strenghten it if needed. Add your gelcoat, if using one at all. If you can get some pre-preg cf use that, if not then just continue with the wet layup on the inside, then vacuum bag it. With no air leaks, you should end up with a really nice surface with only very minor imperfections to buff out. What you will end up with is a part thats surface is exactly the same as the original mold, with no changes due to the thickness of the part. I'm pretty busy this week but ill try to check in every once in a while to see if you have any more ideas or questions after reading this. note: if youre just doing wet layup with no vacuum bagging then dont put plastic over it. Thats why you got that wrinkly surface. Just lay down layer by layer, adding as minimal amounts of resin as you can bear, spend some time and work quickly to work it into the cloth either by hand (with gloves) or with a resin tool. Add less and less resin to each layer of carbon/glass in order to soak up some from the other layers. Once the cloth is completely wetted try to take as much resin back out as possible (benefit of vacuum bagging). Any more resin than necessary only makes the part gummy, weak and heavy. The surface youll end up with will be that of the cloth. Let it cure completely. Use those halogen work lamps as heat lamps if youve got them, heat ALWAYS makes you part stronger.. faster too. Later you can spray on some type of coating to get your nice glossy surface. long note.. JOHN.

Hey z-tard, what part of SD are you from? I'd like to check out the work youre doing if its cool with you. I kinda play around with composites too so maybe we can share some ideas or whatever. Also, you really should vacuum bag whenever possible, the part will come out way more rigid since it forces the resin to completely wet out the glass/carbon without any voids. Also the more resin you can suck back out, the lighter and stiffer it will turn out. Maybe youe know this already, but ive got a good vacuum pump at home if you want to try another run using it, or just to make a small test piece or whatever. My original dash is in pretty good condition but i dont have a center console/armrest thing, so i was planning on making one relatively soon along with some body work. Ill probably be busy playing with my new ArizonaZ brakes this week since theyre coming in today, but id like to make a trip over if youre free. john

think i might switch my current front 5lug setup and head into a much more expensive route. if someone can use it (all together, please) just PM me an offer. Dont want this to be a "for sale" ad, just posting it where it might prove most useful to someone undertaking this swap who doesnt want to deal with sourcing and cleaning all the parts as well as the $140 core charge for the 2 calipers and the time it took me to dimension and fabricate a better mounting/spacing solution (see my last post on this thread). Z31 N/A 5lug front hubs very meticulously cleaned honed and painted black. All front wheel bearings (freshly packed and in hub with mobil1 synthetic grease) Brand new unloaded toyota 4x4 s12w calipers with custom aluminum spacers and new mounting hardware. Stock used Z31 vented rotors (never bought new ones) this setup fit perfectly on my 240z http://siick.150m.com/brakes-front.html fixed up hubs http://iacs5.ucsd.edu/~jamarque/z31hubs.jpg also for the rear i have a pair of 240sx calipers for the disc swap.

theyre matt glass with a grey gel coat.. pretty thick and rigid.

austin. im not sure what type the flares are, they guy i bought the z from just had them and i never asked. ill search around and try to find out which ones they are. eventually ill probably sell them once i can get a mold of their shape, i think at this point id prefer grafting that shape as a seamless part on the front and rear fenders. rear wheels are 17x10 5zigen fn01r-c with 285/40s. btw, nice work.. fan of your site/car. mike. as for rotor preferences, yea i actually would prefer slotted only for these cheaper performance rotors. and as far as plating goes, any type is going to come off sooner than later where the pads are applied. i just dont want the centers or the vents rusting over time. and the 4x4 claipers are kind of temporary until i can get the car running for a while and save up some more for arizona z brakes or soemthing. david. SH||||T. does this really work on the 240z as well? im gonna have to look into this. dammit, and after all the stress of tricking the autozone people to take my tiny pile of rust z brakes as cores for those giant 4x4s.. not to mention wire wheeling and repainting EVERYTHITNG. great stuff to know guys. and thanks. heres flare pics. sick my old wheels are TINY. and for sale now (w slicks)..

these. so please hurry im anxious.

simpler version.. i need this info confirmed for 240z 5lug conversion regarding rotors. FRONT: 86-89 non turbo 300zx 5lug. FOR USE WITH: toyota 4x4 s12w calipers and z31 5lug hubs REAR: any z31 turbo 5lug (11 3/8" discs) FOR USE WITH: redrilled Z stub axles, s13 240sx rear calipers and adaptor brackets Basically i should be able to buy a late 80s z31 rotor package as long as the fronts are N/A and the rears are Turbo.? this is after reading a grip of threads so dont give me that go read some more bull5hit. i just need a for sure confirm so i can finish up my damn wheels. thaaankxs

hey ive got the front 4x4 s12w thing set up on the front of my car with junkyard rusty z31 rotors. im trying to find some nice drilled and slotted 5-lug z31 rotors that will fit but dont know where to buy them and im also uncertain about what year range they should be (is it 84-89 300xz 5lug non-turbo? .. or older?). and for the rear im redrilling my 240z stub axles to 5lug and i think the rotors need to be 300zx turbo from 83-mid 85 according to http://www.modern-motorsports.com/xtrainfo/reardisk.htm but when i search like on ebay or whatever or rotors the year ranges are all like 84-87 or 84-89 which even though covers the 84 year, im guessing would be the wrong ones. the documentation for the 4lug setup is all over the place but i dont want to drop a couple hundred bucks on the wrong rotors just because im not totally sure about applying that info to the 5lug setup. if they have to be 83 and older then, i also have the problem of not knowing where to get them since ebay stores dont carry z31 rotors that old. clarification would be great. and once i get them ill have pics posted of the entire process online for all the 5lug-ers, just didnt want to upload it yet without the rotors. im hoping that it will make everything really easy for anyone whos starting the same project. it covers switching front hubs, cleaning, painting, de- and re-greasing, dimensions for a different/simpler/better approach to the 4x4 caliper spacers, studs, rear drum and hub removal, redrilling, wheel fitment, etc. just need the rotors! ok thanks guys.

i was thinking about it.. if you mount the caliper on the other side (outboard) of the mounting bracket then that drastically kills the spacing needed.. comes out to be like 0.195in which would be placed around the caliper mounting bolts.. basically like washers between the mounting bracket and caliper. less material cost, less complicated, only need to buy 4 bolts vs 10. hub just stays mated to rotor which also eliminates that hub centering problem. does that sound right or is that how everyones already doing this?

i found out some interesting things since my last posts asking about spacer sizing. i went to autozone with some calipers (the measuring tool kind) and asked to see two different 4x4 brake calipers. specifically the s12+8 (1986 4wd 4-cyl) and the s12w (1988 4wd 6-cyl) and started measuring. in terms of bolt the pattern spacing and the spacing from mounting surface to center of rotor position - they are exactly the same. i thought that was funny becuase im always reading how they are so different. however, the s12w has 4 large pistons and the s12+8 has 2 equally large pistons next to 2 slgihty smaller pistons, so i was thinking do we really need the extra pistonage? - no, especially for those who arent adding brake proportioning valves with this swap. additionally the s12+8 is $40/each compared to the s12w at $55, pads are also about 15$ cheaper a pair for better compounds. also the s12w is heavy (guessing almost 12lbs), but we tend to overlook that. the s12+8 felt about 2-3 lbs lighter by hand. in my opinion the s12+8 is better so i bought them. well see if they take my old z calipers back as cores. haha. now i know when doing the z31 5-lug hub hub and rotor swap, we need a spacer to push the rotor further inboard to line up with the caliper. i thought i read somewhere that it should be about 0.5in thick - wrong. after measuring for like 2 hours, i get 1.41in. so im like ok wtf. and i thought, well yea.. if you consider for the z31 rotor's shorter hat and the 0.75in extra spacing outboard from the z31 hub swap it should be around there. so is this the soluion - 1.41 inch spacers? that sounds so sloppy to me. is this how all the 240z guys are doing it? im sure there are plenty of you currently running the z31 5-lug setup on a 240z so id like to know if thats it or if theres some other way to go about it. i can take pics with measuring calipers in them if you guys want, but help me out if you can. k thx. and hopefully this info is helping someone else out at the same time.

hey guys everything you are explaining is very clear. sorry about being persistently retarded but.. with a 5 lug z31 hub and vented rotor + s12w calipers, is the spacer thickness 0.5in? 240z spindle, but NOT hub. thannnks :/

haha nice drawing steve. i was trying to stay away from the one piece solution to cut down on fab time and material cost. im pretty sure id get jacked trying to make a part that detailed since the first thing they said in my machine shop class was "guys, no car parts." :/ i guess im going to have to think about this some more, and either find a more ghetto solution or buy the MM spacers. i just dont want that damn gap, like you said "not good engineering practice." thanks for not being all proprietary with part dimensions. oh yeah one more thing. is your spacer for a 240z hub or a NA z31 hub on a 240z spindle? i still have the issue of Q1. i think i read on the forums that for my setup id need a 0.5in spacer, but i cant seem to find it again or confirm. just asking because i notice your drawing shows 0.663in thick. thanks, john

Q1: how thick does that hub spacer need to be, 0.5in? NOTE1: will be used on a 1971 240z with z31 5-lug front hubs with vented rotors in addition to 4x4 s12w calipers. using 6061 flycut to thickness and abrasive water jetted for profile (google this machine.. it uses high pressure water to cut metal parts, rated to cut thru 6in steel (2D only). the secret is ruby/sapphire dust in the water.) Q2: what to do about hubcentric ring issue? sizes (ID/OD)? NOTE2: when you have the hub spacer in it blocks the rotor from reaching the surface on the hub that centers it, keeping it back by the "no centering" part. for this you need a ring spacer so that the rotor never becomes "eccentric" and jacks everything up. otherwise i noticed modern motorsports sells this type of ring in their 4x4 package. maybe ross can PM me a price on the hubcentric spacers? ok some pics. these may also serve the purpose of helping others who are considering this mod to figure out how all this stuff goes together. its really not that hard once you get all the parts together. if not then: http://siick.150m.com/pics/random/hubspacer.jpg http://siick.150m.com/pics/random/hub.jpg http://siick.150m.com/pics/random/hubgap.jpg

thanks for getting that measurement for me and for showing me around today at your shop. ill be sure to call you when ive got the $$. let me know how that miata turns out too.

no original hole. no transmission. no idea where engine sits, since thats vildini custom work. just asking if someone can scribble down some numbers next time youre working in or under your car, and tell me how you measured. thanks.

just wondering if anyone can give me a measurement on where the shifter pops thru the transmission tunnel in the 240z. the guy i bought my z from cut the top of that tunnel out so i have to weld it up with only a shifter hole. anyway im looking for a measurement from where the tunnel meets the firewall to the center of the hole ..not straight line distance but rather following the contour of the top of the tunnel.. from inside the car. im most likely getting the install at vildini motorsports but im having trouble getting the info directly. so if any vildini guys see this, or someone who got the install done there please help me out with that measurement.. as well as the dimensions of the hole. heres my problem..

Did the same to my car and a friend kept suggesting using some dry ice to get it cold and brittle then chip it away. When i got to it, mine was coming off easy enough (winter, kinda early morning) with a chisel and a lot of scraping action. Either way the work sucks, but give the dry ice a try.

hey i just got offered a deal on an RB20DET oil sump and pickup for the RB26DETT '71 240z im working on. Now i've searched about this a bit and find that some people mention having to modify the the oil pan for bearing retainer clearance issues as well as the pickup for relocation, when others never mention that at all, and still others mention using the sump from the Z31 200ZR as totally bolt on. Are these not the same sumps? Of course i'd like to go the route with the least necessary modifying. What am i looking for? A little help please before i buy something i dont need. thanks guys.

hey guys, for materials for this kind of job in the san diego area check out a a place called DMC (diversified materials company) http://www.dmc-ca.com They have this 2 part foam you can buy there in like 1 gallon each cans. This stuff is crazy. You mix it in a paper cup 1:1 ratio and wait till it starts kicking and pour where u need it. Save money by stuffing crap in spaces you know you wont shape into. It expands like 10+ times in volume and its shapes better than any other foam ive used and its pretty damn rigid. Becuase its a small cell foam, u can just sand it with regular sand paper to knock it down and shape pretty smooth. Then u can do a bondo skim coat with a rubbery-plastic applicator, sand, prime, sand, prime, make plug and so on. its cool to see that there are other people doing this becuase im just starting on my own hybrid z and plan on doing somehting similar for the interior. If my plugs turn out really nice and sturdy ill try to pull some extra parts off of them and sell them or soemthign. Theyd all be made to fit autometer guages, general new stereos, and like 6.5" speakers for the doors. Dont know how soon ill make them but when i do ill post progress. the address for DMC: 8250 Commercial Street La Mesa, California 91942 Telephone: 619•464•4111