mom'sZ

door seals and windshield like you said, and often I believe these cars get rust holes in the firewall. Water that enters through the cowl vent holes, the slots between the windshield and the hood on the cowl, runs down through the holes and leaks inside the car. Leaves and other garbage that enter through the slots lay in the plenum and get wet and cause rust.

Now this thread got interesting! Thanks guys, very interesting disscusion. Jon, I've said it before, your knowledge of all thing automotive is amazing. Paul, I saw your yellow car in the fat lip thread... very cool.

there ia another current thread in which using a rack end for the T/C bushing is disscussed. I think you'll find it interesting as using the rack end alters the front end geometry unless you relocate the mount. Here's a link http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106522

Raced an air cooled motorcycle, used mobil 1. If I had a turbo, I'd run it in that 2. I have taken the intake manifold off an old v8 engine, like clarkspeed said, and slug was built up right to the bottom of the manifold in the shape of the manifold bottom. I thought there was a valley pan in there at first. You could see little channels where the oil drained down through... freaky. This motor ran when it got pulled out of the car. Worked at a chrysler dealership, I guy came in with a dodge truck he used for work. Had never changed the oil.... never, 200K miles. Same thing, filled with slug. They rebuilt it and he promised to change it once in a while.

ezzzzzzz: how? I've heard of pressure bleeding and seen big pressure bleeders but never figured out how to do it. You can do it with just a little hand pump made for the job, or do you have some other method? Please... do tell

true true... you can warp a panel with a grinder if you're not careful. I've even known people who think to hot a coat of bondo can warp a panel. The trick is to use common sense. Dry air is a prerequisite

Oh.. I didn't mention, but if you're considering sandblasting the unibody, it must be completely stripped down. Sand goes everywhere! If you don't remove the dash, it will be all up in you vents. It will take a lot of work to clean all the sand out of the unibody even if it is stripped down bare.

right... like play sand... for a kid's sandbox, available at the home depot or lowes or what have you. Just be careful not to heat up any area to much and warp it. I doubt it would be possible on a whole unibody, but blasting does produce heat. That's why guys use other media, it generates less heat. I always just used sand. If you had a giant three hundred pound pressure blaster and you blasted a fender you could warp it. But you average gravity feed on a unibody would be fine.

Wire wheels won't remove all the rust. In many cases they simply polish it. Nothing removes rust totally and completly like a sandblaster. Sandblasting is the ultimate tool to remove rust. If making a giant mess is a problem, (and sandblasting will make a giant mess) they have sandblasters that have a vacuum attached so they suck up the sand as it is blow out. Expensive compared to one the same size without the vacuum, but they work well. On flat surfaces you can grind it off, but for crevices and corners its the only way to go. Try building a little tent out of plastic sheet. Also, steel (like the panel is made of) is elastic, rust is not, rust is very hard and brittle. So if you give the area a good hard rap with a hammer, the steel will spring back and the rust will pop off. (this doesn't work for surface rust) Oh, don't breath sand, wear a mask.

No... I think you are reading that wrong. Zcars halfshafts are NOT used as suspension links. If the halfshaft fails, the wheel will not come off. Carefully reread Michael's post. I am not familiar with current NHRA rules.

opps... sorry

Thank you Jon, after I installed mine I had asked about how that worked and had never really gotten an answer. I would like to reduce stiction as much as possible also. That's why I asked katman about the sphericals. To me that poly bushing pivoting around the outside of that sleeve doesn't sound to stiction free. (glad I lubed it) Anyhow, your knowledge of all things automotive is impressive.

Thanks katman, I knew by the letter of the rule tacking the bushing to the control arm might be considered modifying it. But bushings are free so to me so would be their method of attachment. Sounds like another gray area so typical in IT rules. Will call Crawford about the T/C rod ones.

Terry: What brand of aftermarket bushings are we talking about? I used the energy suspension ones and had to take a brake cylinder hone to them and slightly hone them until I could slid my spindle pins into them. My front ones were a tad loose though, and I did exactly what you said, I used the original inner sleeve, but it slid right into the new poly bushing.

good, glad you got it lookin' nice. Hand waxing will help with any slight swirliness that remains.

Katman: How did it come to light that the Konis had worn out their upper bushings? Did their performance drop off noticably on the track or were they removed from the car and inspected and found to be bad? In other words, how could you tell they were bad? I think I remember you saying it wasn't just one strut or one set, that you tried several and they went bad. Elaberate please thank you

Katman: How did it come to light that the Konis had worn out their upper bushings? Did their performance drop off noticably on the track or were they removed from the car and inspected and found to be bad? In other words, how could you tell they were bad? I think I remember you saying it wasn't just one strut or one set, that you tried several and they went bad. Elaberate please thank you

Hey Katman: While we're on the subject of spherical bearings for Zcar suspensions, I've got a question (or two). You replied to an earlier thread about spherical bearings, here is a link http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=102277&highlight=spherical in that thread you state: "Don Oldenburg at DP Racing in Huntington Beach still makes the Mac Tilton/BRE front control arm speherical bearing setup for a Z. Don's retainer is tack welded to the arm" Is this the right DP Racing http://www.designproductsracing.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=514 Are those the right front control arm bushing kits to which you refer? Do they indeed tack weld in and is that IT legal? Then in a thread titled '240z steering issues' on improvedtouring.com forum on April 6 2005 you state: What you have is the old Kontrolle style T/C rod kit that's been around since 240Z's were new. The poly squishes out on a regular basis, especially on driver's side depending on how close the headers come, and on how much you preload them. The Crawford Monoball is a spherical bearing setup made by Crawford Z Car Services in Tenn. Call Doug Stewart at 615-327-4159 Is this the Crawford Z car service to which you refer? http://www.crawfordzcar.com/ I don't see anything for older Zcars on the site, do you know if they still have the monoball set up for the T/C rod? My car is a 1978 280 BTW And how do the ones Motorsport Auto sells stack up, are they the same thing? Here's a link to them http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PSDC10 What other goodies are available? What suggestions do you have for spherical bearings for the Zcar?

I just got a set of the Toyo Proxes T1-R. Can't say about the tread wear yet because they're still to new, but the traction (lateral adhesion wise) is excellent for a DOT legal tire.

and I think Blistein makes a strut insert for these cars

and I think Blistein makes a strut insert for these cars

If somebody has their car torn down in the nose and doesn't have the radiator installed, could you measure the hieght and width of the opening for the radiator in the core support for me. My car is a 1978 280Z. Thanks

Since a lot of people seem to be posting, saying they are in a similar position, I'd like to make a comment here. The question is 'my car is crunched in the nose, should I repair the stock inner structure, or cut it off and weld a custom structure in it's place. Well, I did frame and body work, heavy collision for twenty five years. And my STRONG advise is have a competent frame shop repair the unibody regardless! Even if you are just going to cut it all off all the way down to the firewall, you still would want the unibody straightened first. Here's why, in the business we had a term 'secondary damage' it meant the damage to the unibody well beyond the actual damaged area. Like DragonFly states, the frame shop grabs the car in clamps made for unibodies, which hold it very rigidly, and counter force is applied with the frame machine to the damage. When a unibody gets hit, the entire structure absorbes the impact and depending on how hard the hit, gets damaged. It's easy to see when they're really nailed hard. So... for iskone, that looks like a street car. From the pictures it doesn't look that bad. Go to the local body shops if the car will drive. Bend the fender with a bar if it's rubbing. Tell them you will supply a fender, how much to just realign the sub structure. I'll bet you'll be suprised, maybe a couple hundred. I'm sure they can save the core support and inner fender, straighten all of it. S15 200sx owner, are you looking to repair the race car in your signature? If that's the case then it's doubley important because you want the alignment perfect on a road racer even if you are just going to cut the substructure off anyhow. The frame shop can tram the car and make sure it's square.

In my opinion, not that important on a street car. If whatever plates you choose do develop a rattle, on the front, where they're under the hood, you'll never notice. In the back however, they're right behind you head. Also, the ground control plates eliminate the rubber biscuit at the top strut mount. This transfers road noise and bumps right into the cabin, kind of harsh for the street. With adjustable control arms the camber plates are unnessasary. One of the advantages of camber plates is quick, on the car adjustment of the camber. On a street car, you'll likely have it aligned and never touch it again. One of the things I tried to stress in my original post was that this car is a SCCA ITS car. In that class you must use stock unmodified control arms. So adjustables are not an option. That has a lot to do with why I made the choice I did.

Heavy85: Koni has superseded their strut for the Zcar with another, it's model '8610 1437 Race'. I got mine from shox.com for around $130 ea. They are single adjustable. They are made to section the strut 2 inches, although I have not done that with mine yet, I'm running them in my full length strut housings with spacers under them. My car is a 78, the struts housings have a larger diameter then the 240s. If your car is a 240 you might better check the fit. JohnC seems to think the compression damping is to high for road racing. I can't confirm this as of yet because I haven't driven it on the track yet. Just a thought, because the general consensus seems to be the tokico illuminas wear out quickly with spring rates above 250 lbs.