thehelix112

Didier, You're much better with English than I am with French, so merci beaucoup! The flanges look like they were each machined from billet? That is, one piece of solid aluminium? Rather than having a flange cut then welding on pipe, which is what I was considering with my VK56 ITBs. Still deciding. It looks like you left the factory linkages between each group of 3 ITBs, then fabricated a custom connector to link the two sets of 3? And that this custom connector is actuated by a custom control point which appears to be mounted to something that's welded to the top of cylinder 3 & 4 exhaust headers? Thanks, Dave

Slick. Any build info? Process/steps? Dave

Hehe

That's not 'unfortunate' IMHO. Dave

Those wheels look great. Very nice looking car. Dave

I have C51s I think sitting there going to waste. You're still welcome to come try them out. Would be a setup change to account for same width at all four, but I reckon we could handle that? When are you doing HDPE again? Dave

It seems to me that if the competition is that close (Porsche, Datsun, Porsche, Datsun), then the rules and availability and whatnot are all working reasonably well. I think that in the Datsun spirit those teams should just buckle down and focus on incremental improvements and in making the car faster. Dave

The last iteration of emwhyr0hens car used a side exit exhaust: Dave

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. To me it's like asking someone for measurements/specifications of where the heading is on the JTR manual title page. Dave

Seriously? You have to be kidding. its not like he wants to sell them. Dave

Love it. Cannot wait to see it rolling. Dave

Phone images from the front. The drivers side needed a lot more trimming than the passengers. Also note the huge crease in the first pic where I didnt' trim enough then took it for a drive. Whoopsy. Dave

Can you elaborate on the review re lathe and mill functionality by any chance? I find the idea of a combo very appealing given I have a tiny garage, and the smithy one is going to be better than the HF knockoff I guess? Thanks, Dave

John, Granite combo by smithy? Dave

Thanks bigdeez! For clarity, that top pic is with extra castor wound on, and before any trimming. The pic under it is drivable with castor returned to stock, and about an inch taken out of the front air dam (both the side, and the top flange section where it bolts to the body). Dave

These stories are great. My own, when I was 15 my dad told me that Datsun 1600s (510 in the US) were great little cars. I got more and more interested in them over time, and as soon as I got my license shortly after turning 18 I bought two of them, planning on making one a daily driver and one a project car. Well the daily driver I had trouble registering being a cut'n'shut car, and the project car got sent to paint jail (it's still sitting in my folks shed in undercoat 12 years later ). During this I got frustrated that I was driving a shitbox when I wanted another Datsun to drive. My PhD supervisor mentioned that one of his friends was selling his 260Z. I said I didn't like the sausage look of them (almost all 260Zs in Oz are 2+2), and he assured me it wasn't a sausage car, so I went to look at it. His friend had restored it previously, but the paint was all crows-footed, and the engine was not running (blown head gasket). I remember thinking, what a piece of crap, until I got in and sat in the drivers seat of the dead car in his driveway. Instantly I thought, actually, this is kinda cool. I loved the driving position, and the space, the steering wheel, the gauges, the long bonnet, everything. I bought it for $1000, and towed it home. 2 months later (I work slow) I'd replaced the head gasket, and gotten it registered. I daily drove the car for another few years, while collecting bits for a turbo conversion. I finished that conversion around 2005: That thing was a hoot to drive, but my first expedition onto the track I forgot to check the oil, and a couple of corners with 0 oil pressure apparently doesn't do good things. The engine held together just fine, but a couple of track days later the pressure was dropping and dropping. Barely made 10psi oil pressure at 4500rpm. I remember that well because I drove it 3 hours home like that, thinking it'd blow up at any second. Shortly thereafter I met my wife and moved to California, leaving the now-in-need-of-bearings turbo zed behind. After a year or so here I got a stock 280Z, and have been working on it ever since: Dave

Can you rephrase the question, I am unclear what you mean. Dave

Yes I've driven mine, albeit not hard yet. It fits under nicely for me. Dave

Ctc, I don't think you're picking a fight at all. I should have been more clear in my original post. Section 5004(a)(3) is what I am shooting for, and was the topic of discussion above. The point being that it is vague enough to cover engines with swaps. I failed to note 5004(f). However, Tony seems to indicate that you can persuade someone of historic interestingness with an appropriate letter from an appropriate club. Additionally, a vehicle being 'restored' is still a pretty loose term. Also note, there is no explicit mention anywhere of the vehicle being in original condition or specifications. I may choose to restore my 280z with a VK56DE if I want. As long as someone official-sounding agrees that the _vehicle_ is historically interesting, and that what I have done counts as 'restoring', I think a case could be made in my favour. I am not trying to skirt any law. I am unaware of what `over-the-table' implies in my particular case (VK56 into 280Z). I am merely trying to find a way to be able to drive my zed to the track and back, and to a zed show every once in a while. Oh and being Australian, I have some concept of what is involved. Dave

Right, that's why we want to be in the Collector vehicle definition (a), which was covered above (letter from ZCCA club). The list of definitions are exclusive, not collective. Ie, a 'collector vehicle' is a different beast than a 'special interest vehicle'. Dave

Cool. I think this is definitely the way I am going to go with my conversion, so I'll write up notes in 5 years when I get to that point Dave

Sorry to hark on, but I am still curious if people have any input on my reading of the DMV code? If you do get collector insurance, does that bring the requirements back to those for the vehicle? Or is that just wishful thinking? From the comments ctc and Tony are making it sounds like that might be the case. Dave

Thirded. He hauled my doors from Arizona to Laguna Beach, CA himself, as he was visiting and knew it'd save me a few bucks. Definitely stand-up guy. Dave

Awesome. Thanks Tony. Dave

"Silly bling" IMHO.