trwebb26

I've never seen a nut on the front side of the T/C rod bucket???

John, Thanks for the reply! I like the idea of putting jackstands under the rockers because all of the jackstands would be the same height. A support on the rear subframe isn't needed? I remember when i had the engine/trans out one time - and the car was REALLY rear end heavy (I could easily pick up the front of the car).

I'm on my second "real" day of replacing the frame rails in my 280z. The car has full powertrain in it. I jacked it up and set it on 5 jackstands: - One on each front frame rail - a littlle behind where the front struts are. - One on each front side rear A-Arm mount - One on the transmission x-member I measured over and over to ensure that the car was level and sitting evenly on each of the jackstands. So I get done today cutting out the passenger side rail - and cleaning up the T/C bucket interface (wow was that a lot of work).... Feeling happy with my progress for the day i start sweeping up. I stick the floor broom under the car and the right rear jackstand gets caught and it comes out from under the car! The car is now just resting on 4 jackstands - and for the 5th one - the car is probably 3/8" high. I went around and checked all of the jackstands... left to right - they are set the same height - so the car definately has tweaked. The door gaps look fine, but I'm pretty concerned. Here are what I think my options are: 1) Fill the right rear of the car full of weight so it sits on the jackstand when i weld up the frame rail. 2) Cut out the left side frame rail and hope everything evens up. 3) Try lowering the transmission x-member jackstand - to see if that will put everything level again. It is possible that there was more pressure on that jackstand than the rear ones when i started this... It was impossible to tell for sure when i was setting them up. I'm pretty freaked - an help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I'm FINALLY reworking the interior in my 280z (autopower rollbar, corbeau A4 seats, harnesses, new carpet, door skins, vinyl, etc). I peeled off the old crappy headliner from the roof - and some of the vinyl on the wheel wells and there is some kind of funky 30 year old glue under there. I started using brake cleaner to take it off - but after almost passing out from the fumes decided to stop and search the threads for some answers. I didn't find any answers...sooo.... do any of you have tricks up your sleeve for taking this crap off?

Lookin good shocker! Can't wait for both of you to show some more progress! BTW... i think the general concensus is that your ground control camber plates need to be mounted on the underside of the strut tower. I can take some pics of mine mounted that way if you need to see them.

First place I'd loook is the strap that goes over the nose of the diff.

Does anybody know what the diameter of the v-band is on the exhaust side of the HE351 turbo? It is somewhere between 3.5" and 4.1". I've read that it may be 3.75" v-band size, but I can't believe that nobody sells a mild steel flange of that size. ATPturbo.com has a 4" diameter flange/clamp kit. I was REALLY hoping that is the correct size for the turbo.

Austin, Lookin awesome. It looks like you've investigated everything enough for me to be inspired and try the swap myself. I've been toying around with the idea of many different swaps with the goal of 400 hp (L28ET, SR20DET, Ecotech, and RB26 were on the top of my list). My trouble with the swaps: L28 - Whether you like it or not - it is old technology and very little aftermarket parts support. 400hp requires a built motor for sure. SR20DET - Imported from Japan (like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get). You have to have a pretty wild setup to get over 400 hp with this thing because of displacement. Echotech - Same problem with power as the SR20DET... pretty wild setup needed for reliable 400 hp. RB26 - I'm not so worried about the initial cost of the engine, but the parts cost. I remember a friend of mine used to have an old Jag and the parts were CRAZY expensive. With all of the work you've done - the VQ looks like it will be a great platform in the S30... Easy to find in the US with LOTS of upgrades avaialable. New Technology. 6 speed. Strong bottom end. Smooth Power cuz of the V-6, LOTS of room in front of the engine for twins. I only have one beef with everything written so far... You said you applied 1000 lbs in a static FEA program and only got a factor of safety of 2. Be very careful with this... the torque of the motor isn't the only thing that will be stressing the mounts. Every time you go over a bump there WILL be some vertical acceleration on the mounts (F=ma). 3G's isn't an unreasonable number for vertical acceleration. If there is 200-300 lbs of weight on the one mount (for example) - you've got an effective load of 3 times that - not taking into account engine torque. Reconsider the V8 guys and their plea for you to make a crossmember. I'm looking forward to more updates! Keep em' coming!

Does anybody sell intake and/or exhaust flanges for the L28? I want to buy a set of mild steel for custom intake and exhaust manifolds. Thanks!

I've been following this thread from the start with the idea of making an intake manifold with long curvy runners that go OVER the head and put the intake manifold on the right side of the car - allowing for more room for the turbo - cleaner intercooler routings - longer runners (smaller pulse number) - less manifold heatsink - and ???. Lord knows there is PLENTY of room on the right side of S30 engine bays! There would have to be room for the fuel rail to fit in there, hood clearance may be a problem, and I'd want to switch to COP ignition to get the spark plug wires out of the way. Does anybody have any opinions on this idea - or am I on crack? FYI - I started this whole idea by seeing what PROX has done... and I've started to concept up my steel weld el tubular equal length turbo exhaust manifold - not a lot of room under the current manifold to maneuver the tubes around for sure.

I did a LOT of looking around about this when I placed my inovative wideband in my exhaust. I ended up putting it about mid-way between the wheels. I did this because of how easily it allowed me to run the wires into the cockpit and it allowed me to put the sensor perfectly vertical - extending its service life. For those people that think that a few feet is too far away - consider that if you go to the dyno... they only stick the wideband sensor a foot from the back of your exhaust tip (as far into the pipe as they can reach). As long as FRESH air doesn't come into the exhaust pipe and reach the sensor between pulses you are fine.

Yeah... I forgot to make the distinction between a diff (IRS) and a solid rear axle. I deal with the solid rear axle the most (where the suspension does play a role in the driveline angles). There are 2 ways you could set it up... 1) The tranny and diff are perfectly parralell - equal angles at each U-Joint. 2) To simplify - assume the tranny is at zero degrees (perfectly horizontal) and the diff is point up at 10 degrees from horizontal. The driveshaft must be at 5 degrees to the horizontal for the driveshaft angles to be equal. Sounds to me like you've got it figured out... Just try to keep the angles as small as possible, not zero, and EQUAL.

This is something I happen to know quite a bit about. There are only three rules when dealing with driveshafts: 1) Keep the angles small. Very high angles put a lot of stress on the U-Joints. 2) Don't line everything up so there is zero angle. There needs to be a little bit of angle at each joint so the spider will spin around in the needle bearings. If there is no angle - the spider doesn't turn and you will get surface fatigue - causing the spider to fail earlier than it would if it were spinning around on the bearings. 3) The one that everybody is most confused about - KEEP THE ANGLES EQUAL AT BOTH U-JOINTS and in the same plane for most of your suspension movement (ride height for instance). When there is a high angle from your transmission output to your driveshaft - and a low angle from your driveshaft to your diff - you will get an non-constant rotational velocity at the input to the differential - causing everything to shake. To explain the third point further... Assuming that the rotational output velocity of your engine crankshaft is constant - as that rotation passes through a U-Joint - you will induce driveshat error (ie - a non-uniform output velocity at the exit of the U-Joint). It is like your driveshaft velocity "lopes" - speeding up and slowing down with every revolution. The higher your U-Joint angle - the worse the "lope". This may sound bad, but IF all of the driveline components are in the same plane - and the U-Joint angles are EQUAL - then the second U-Joint will cancel out the non-uniform velocity of the input and return the output from that U-Joint to being constant (no loping). It is when people get unequal angles, the driveshaft error gets high, and the speed of the driveshaft / diff changes with every revolution of the output of the transmission... This is what everybody experiences as shaking due to driveline vibration. It can get pretty severe if the driveline error is too high. In short - follow the three rules and you should be good to go.

For those of you that have painted your car / are painting your car: - What brand / kind of paint did you use - What color did you chose? - I'd love to see pictures - Did you paint the jambs first - or last? What method did you use to paint the jambs (spray on, brush on, ?) - Do you have any tips for somebody who wants to start this?

Most of the stuff I've been reading says to use the Brightside Boat paint. Do you have an opinion about Brightside vs. Rustoleum?

some more great links: http://carpainting.wetpaint.com/ http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx

INCREDIBLE!!!! http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html I'm completely sold and my 78' will definately be getting some roll-on lovin.

My Rota Grids are conical seat. Not sure about the RB's - but I don't know why they'd be different.

I bought a BHJ pulley from Robello... And as far as I know it is the only place you can buy a single groove pulley (especially because the "euro damper" ones have been discontinued)

I've read that it is just a newer version of the HY35. Very small differences between the two. There are some posts on this forum that talk about it.

Thanks for the confirmation... I thought it was an HE351. I just bought it.

What turbo is this??? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AX%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A11&viewitem=&item=270156457365 Thanks!

The gasket comes in a tube.

Post up a pic of her!

I want to hop on the bandwagon and get an HY35W Holset turbo for my Z. I've been diligently looking on diesel truck forums and ebay for about a month trying to find the perfect one. I think I may have found it: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-2500-Cummins-5-9L-Holset-Turbo-Nice-Condition_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33742QQihZ004QQitemZ140147660965QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Can anyone confirm that this is in-fact an HY35W? When I asked the seller - this is the response I got: Dear trwebb26,The only numbers I see on the turbo are... 4035996...casted into the rusty part right behind the turbo & 12410...witch is stamped with ink on the turbo And on the front of the turbo it says Holset 3 - 396chevelle67 DIBS IF THIS IS AN HY35W - I'll be bidding this one til the end!