deja

That's possible for sure but it didn't do this before I swapped engines and lowered the car. I haven't really driven the car other than that one test run so I doubt it just decided to die now. Well there is that famous Boyd luck, LOL. The car had a SBC in it when I got it but the PO used a stock Datsun driveshaft, U-joint and flange which is much smaller than whats in there now, amazing it all held up. It did however have the usual clunk when you firsr take off, but that seems to be gone now.

Yep, stock bar. That's what I was thinking.

I finally got around to investigating the clunking sound coming from the right rear of my 280Z. This only happens in reverse. It sounds like something is hitting something that is revolving, pretty much at the driveshaft speed. I recently did an LT1/4L60E conversion and at the same time installed lowering springs and struts with a lot help from Nullbound. I never had this problem before the conversion. On my initial test run I noticed what sounded like a clicking the first time I put the car in reverse. The second time it was louder and the third time it turned into the clunking sound I hear now. I have checked the wheels and adapters and they are tight. There is no sound if I rotate the wheels or the driveshaft by hand. I have crawled under and checked for loose bolts and anything that is close to rubbing. The only thing I see is the u-joint is only about 1/16" from the sway bar with the suspension loaded or unloaded. But I see no wear marks on either, its tough to see it very well though. I started the car while it was on stands and put it in reverse, the noise is still there, maybe not as loud but its there. I'm thinking the sway bar is hitting when the car is under reverse load, does this make any sense? If so I thought I would remove the sway bar to see if that fixes it. I seem to remember I can't just unbolt the bar and take it off. Is there a process, like loading or unloading the suspension I need to do to remove the bar? Any other ideas on the cause of this would be greatly appreciated. Like I said it only does this in reverse, going forward there is no clunking noise at all. Oh yeah one more thing. When I had the car up on stands and in reverse the diver's side wheel turned like I thought it would, the passenger side was moving but very slowly, I grabbed it and it stopped turning. Is that normal? I do not have LSD so I know only one wheel is driven. Is the fact the passenger side wheel is turning at all because it has no load on it or is that a clue of something wrong?

Sounds like he owes you more than the right parts. Well at least this should put that issue to rest.

Thanks thats a good idea.

Wow, the infamous smart bolt! Its amazing, the things you think couldn't possibly happen come along to bite you in the butt. I think Murphy covers the bolt vs steering u-joint in capter 12 of the law book. Glad it all worked out and you found the problem without spending mega-dollars first.

The bigger problem with the paint is I don't really know what it is. The PO painted it about 3 years ago and I'm not sure its even the real Datsun silver. I have no way to contact him either.

Thanks for the link. The toddler outfit will be cool. Bound to start some conversations too!

Lookin' good. Where did you get the headlights? Congrats on the future father. Wonder what #248 will be like when the kid turns 16, LOL.

If I were going to paint my car I would shave everything. You can always attach anything back on with 3M tape if you change your mind later. You would have to drill holes for the marker wires but thats all. I wish the PO of my car had done that when he had it painted.

Believe it or not a Peterbilt semi truck! I got those on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Peterbilt-Clear-Lens-LED-Marker-Lights-Red_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ50466QQihZ011QQitemZ2489947225QQtcZphoto. Fronts are amber, rears are red. The mounting holes actually lined up so I didn't have to drill new holes.

Well I have LED bulbs in '85 Corvette tail lights. I made a fiberglass rear panel with 1" recesses for the tail lights. The license is slightly recessed although I really didn't leave a lot of room, no frame is going to fit. The light for the license plate is a series of 10 LEDs sitting under the body panel above the tail light panel. As you can see I have switched over to all LED exterior lights. I have some back-up lights I will install after I figure out where the exhaust is going to end up and the rear bumper is installed. The spoiler is just in primer right now. I had intended on painting it black, but now that I see it sort of silver I may rethink that.

Well you probably would have spelled it right, then again maybe not! LOL. Thank goodness for the edit feature!

The Painlees harness is nice but at that price its hardly painless. I went further than that on my LT1 swap. I used the complete Z28 wiring harness, engine and chassis. My 280Z wiring harness was so messed up by the previous owner I didn't trust it anymore. It was a lot of work removing what I didn't need or want from the Z28 chassis harness but I kept everything under the hood in tact. The Z28 had every option known to man so I took more out of the chassis harness than I kept!

Great job. I take home scrap stuff (aluminum, plastic and sheet steel) from work all the time. The people I work with know I'm using a lot of it in my Z. One of them asked me if I was going to put our logo company somewhere on the car, LOL.

Yikes! It sure sounds like the steering lock engaged for some reason. The fact that it just went away is very scary. If it happened once logic dictates it will happen again.

LOL that is too funny. Yeah there's always reason why things exist and processes are developed. But sometimes we think there has to be a better and cheaper way. That usually bites us in the butt which I know all too well.

Nice. I almost wnet that same way but decided to use 85 Corvette lights instead. Have you seen these for your grommet lights? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-CHROME-BEZEL-GROMMET-COVER-FOR-2-1-2-LIGHTS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33713QQihZ003QQitemZ2471077787

Not yet. For the aluminum taping I had cleaned both pieces with acetone and used a roller to make good contact. For this project I had to pull the Datsun and 280Z emblems off the hatch. The previous owner and repainted the car but didn't fill the holes in the hatch. But he used tape to stick the 280Z emblem back on. I was able to use a screwdriver and carefully pry it off. I was surprised to see the tape since the Datsun emblem just used the stock inserts, no tape. The 280Z emblem came off easily because the back isn't flat so the tape didn't really make full contact.

Man, I got no foam either! But we have all sorts of one sided adhesive backed foam at work I can use. That is my plan. If you used that 3M double sided tape I hope you never have to remove the spoiler, that stuff is super strong. I stuck two 1x24" pieces of aluminum together with it, realized I needed to take it apart but couldn't get it to separate no matter how hard I tired. I don't think you'll need to worry about the spoiler falling off, LOL. Thanks for the input.

That would be nice, no inserts in mine. It had MSA and some numbers cast into the fiberglass so I assume is a MSA product. But it is NOS so who knows how old it is. I ended up laying in more fiberglass on the bottom and am using 6 hanger bolts threaded and glassed in. These will then be bolted though the hatch using big washers. I won't say this thing fits perfect, not as good as I originally thought, but it will be fine. Are you using any sort of gasket to protect the body paint. I am really concerned about the ends that overlap the fenders, it fits pretty close there. I have removed some glass but I can't take too much off or it will get into the front flare.

Its coming along very nicely. Your LT1 tank conversion looks almost identical to mine! Great minds think alike, LOL.