Nigel
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Posts posted by Nigel
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So if the clutches are different why does O'Reilly list the same one for both cars?
Nissan changed the clutch design at least couple of times. The latest design is backwards compatible. Manufacturers don't want to make and stock different parts if they don't have to.
Nigel
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I installed the eibach pro spring kit on my 240. I had read all the threads about installing them incorrectly with the fronts in back etc. After installing them correctly the front definitely was sitting higher. I took them out and reversed them to see if it was my fault. It was worse. I put them back and then measured the difference in the wheel to wheel-well gaps. It was about 1 1/4" bigger in the front on my car. I installed the progressive portion of the springs up. When it was sitting the top 3 progressive coils were completely compressed. I know people say that you shouldn't cut progressive springs, but seeing as they were completely compressed I cut the top 2 dead coils off one at a time. My thought was that a normal ride height they would just act as a spacer. Cutting the springs was easy with a cut off wheel. The ride height is even now. Here is a picture after cutting the springs.
Rob
Your car looks perfect. The bottom of the car looks parallel to the ground. The front fender wheel arch is shaped differently than the rear to allow clearance for the front tires to steer. This is probably tricking your eye into thinking the front end is higher. Try measuring from the rocker to the ground at the front and back.
Nigel
Nigel
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The part that makes a machinist nervous, or cause a high quote, is cutting the hole for the bigger 240SX bearing. If you swap bearings instead, the rest is low precision work that nobody should balk at.
I bored out the bearing hole myself on a mill at work with next to no training and only a few hours practice on some other parts. This should be a piece of cake for any experienced machinist!
I still have to mod the cross member, and have the drive shaft cut down. Cant really do that until I get the gear box back into the car.
Note to self: when you have the opportunity to buy tools, BUY THEM!!
You don't need the gear box in the car to mod the cross member or shorten the driveshaft. All the dimensions needed are documented in my very detailed 240SX swap guide:
http://www.motortopia.com/cars/1973-datsun-240z-11118/car-pictures/240sx-transmission-swap-14041
Nigel
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The collar has to match the clutch, specifically, the pressure plate. The pressure plates have different offsets. Only certain pressure plates can be used with certain flywheel though. The turbo/2+2 flywheel only has one pressure plate that will work with it. There are at least two offsets of pressure plates and therefore at least 2 collars available for the normally aspirated/2 seater Z's. Since you are using the stock clutch, as BluDestiny said, use the collar that that came with that clutch.
Nigel
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The number of pistons has nothing to do with the fluid volume of the caliper and everything to do with the combined surface area of the pistons. A caliper with two large pistons could have more piston surface area than a caliper with 6 small pistons. The master Cylinder bore diameter in relation to the caliper piston surface area determines the pedal travel and effort.
Datsunzman04, it sounds like you're using the non-vented rotor version of the Toyota caliper. These calipers actually don't have that much bigger combined piston surface area than stock 240Z calipers. So, you don't necessarily need to upgrade the master. You'll have slightly longer pedal travel, but less effort will be required.
Master Cylinder specifications are readily available on line. If you install calipers with a significantly larger fluid volume than stock, then you need to fine a master with an appropriate bore diameter. Stock is 7/8". The 280ZX master is 15/16".
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These are the dimensions for a 1984 300ZX NA rear rotor for comparison. Pretty sure this is what you need.
This information can be found on-line for just about every rotor available for sale.
Nigel
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Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I just found my spare parking brake assembly. That bolt is an M6 thread. It's 77mm long. It might be hard to find an M6 that long. But a 1/4-20 x 3" button head cap screw would likely work in it's place. That might be easier to find.
Nigel
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Why do you need to know?
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What are you planning on running up front? The Maxima/240SX brakes aren't much good for anything bigger than stock front brakes.
Nigel
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Looks like it's the item under part 19. It has no number, so it's probably NLA. Any bolt will likely work in it's place. It's probably an M6 thread? All you need to do is figure out an appropriate length. I may have one at home I can measure.
Nigel
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I suggest you get a factory service manual or at the very least, the Haynes manual. The factory service manuals can be found free to download on the internet. These provide writen desriptions of every part of the car with step by step service instructions and pictures of how everything works. There's no point in having us recreate all of that for you personally. It will answer 80% to 90% of what you need to know. Read it, understand it, and then ask questions for the 10% to 20% that's not clear.
Nigel
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You make a bad point. Well, not you, but legislators do, since we can buy convertibles and those are deemed safe to drive. Maybe there is legislation out there on that subject, but it's just as bad as the legislation that says that we need crumple zones and air bags, but it's totally fine to leave the car dealer and go next door and buy a motorcycle.
Convertibles typically have reinforced A-pillars and pop up or fixed roll hoops. This is getting off topic, but since you brought it up, I'm not sure what your point is? Are you saying we should have a single safety standard applied to all vehicles and consequently ban convertibles and motorcycles? Or abandon all legislation and let manufacturers build whatever they want regardless of how much of a death trap it may be? Seems pretty reasonable to me to apply different standards to different types of transportation.
Nigel
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The spacer in my end links are ~1 & 5/8" long. Regardless, I had the same issue. Just add some spacer plates to the frame rail. The frame rails really need to be reinforced there when using a larger bar anyway. Seems to be pretty typical from what I recall. Did you try searching first?
Nigel
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Yes, you'll have it all except the crossmember (you will need to modify the one from your 240)
The crossmember doesn't need to be modified if using the Nissan 5 speed. You can also use your original driveshaft.
Just make sure you use everything associated with the ZX tranny, meaning the collar more than anything.
If you're taking about the throwout bearing collar, it has to match the clutch, not the transmission. So if you're still using the original clutch, make sure you get the throwout bearing collar from the 4 speed, and swap it into the 5 speed bellhousing.
Nigel
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While the parking brake cable clears the frame with the wheels off the ground, it likely going to rub with the car on the ground. The SMM kit is even worse for this. I changed things around on the SMM kit so that the cable was oriented like it is in the Datsun Parts kit, but it still rubbed. I was also worried about it drooping down and getting hit by my CV adapter flanges, so I had to rig up some springs to keep the cables up. I ended up making my own, longer cable to solve all of this. If you don't care about it rubbing, then this isn't an issue. Also, that Wilwood caliper has a smaller piston than the Mustang caliper used in the SMM kit, so you're not going to get as much brake torque. This will likely only be an issue if you're running Wilwood fronts with the 1.75" dia pistons though.
Nigel
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Over packing will definitely do this. Worst case, the seal in the outer bearing can actually blow out. You can see it sticking out once you clean all the grease away between the bearing and the stub axle wheel flange. This happened to me a couple of times before I learned my lesson... more grease does not equal better! You can clean it up, put new brake pads in and hope for the best?
Nigel
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Has anyone attempted to use brembo brakes?? I saw a nice set of evo lancer brakes for around 800. Im tempted to pick up a set and fab my own mounting brackets. Would it just be a matter of choosing the right suspension parts, wheels and fabbing some brackets??
Why do this over the AZC Wilwood setup? I don't think the Evo Brembo's are even aluminum. A loaded 2010 Evo calipers is listed at 12 lbs each which is only 2 lbs less than the Toyota V6 4-Runner caliper. The Evo calipers have no more clamping force than the Wilwoods. The Evo rotors are 25lbs each! And they're 13.77" dia, which I'm sure would require 18" or larger wheels. Do you have any actual braking performance goals in mind or do you just want calipers that say Brembo on them?
Nigel
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Hmm, even with dual pistons? Well I may have to reconsider what I'm doing for rear brakes then. maybe for now EBC pads and drilled/slotted rotors will suffice in the rear until I can do more research.
Assuming equal piston diameters, a single piston floating caliper generates the same clamping force as two opposed pistons.
I personally wouldn't bother with drilled rotors. Maybe slotted. Neither will improve brake torque. I'd invest in an adjustable proportioning valve and experiment with more rear line pressure (In addition to different rear pad compound).
Nigel
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Believe it or not, but according to the math, the Z32 rear brakes would actually be a step backwards! The rotor is bigger, but the caliper only has a 38mm piston, which is 5mm smaller than the S130 rear caliper. So, the Z32 rear brakes actually generate less rear brake torque than the S130!
I'm working on something right now for S30's that has an integrated parking brake and can work with a vented rotor between 11.5" and 13" in dia. It would probably translate over to the S130's with a few design adjustments. That's a few months away though..
Nigel
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The 280ZX front calipers have a 2.36" dia front caliper piston, which works out to 4.37 square inches of surface area. This compares to 2 x 1.75" pistons (only half the pistons are needed for comparison), for a surface area of 4.81 sqin. So the Wilwood caliper does have a larger volume to fill. But not so much that a larger master cylinder is required.
Combine that increase in piston surface area with an increase in rotor diameter (9.92" to 12.2"), and the Wilwood fronts produce a ~50% increase in brake torque over stock though! Just because you have rear disk brakes isn't the end of the story. You've gone from a stock ZX front/rear brake torque ratio of ~64/36, which is what the Nissan engineers felt was acceptable, to a front/rear brake torque ratio of 72/28. Those numbers I'm providing are with full line pressure to the rear brakes. The stock proportioning valve throttles back the rear line pressure, so in effect, the front/rear ratio will be even more front biased with the Wilwood setup if you still have the stock prop valve in place. By comparison, using the AZC front AND rear kits, you get a 62/38 split which is even more rear biased than stock! This isn't even taking into account pad compounds, which also have a significant impact. Can you provide a link to Dave's write up on fluid hydraulics? Piston sizing has everything to do with fluid power. That's the whole basis of hydraulic systems. But you have to consider the source and destination.
Now, all this doesn't mean that what you have doesn't work. But, short of a full rear upgrade, I'd bet braking distances could be improved with more rear line pressure at the very least, and even more so with an increase in rear pad friction if available. You need load transfer to the front wheels to take advantage of big front brakes, and you can't get that transfer with insufficient rear brake torque. BTW, a lot of those aftermarket so-called "big" front brake kits you see on a lot of cars, don't actually generate any more brake torque than the stock setup. The calipers often look huge, but they have tiny little pistons in them. This is done in order to maintain the factory front/rear ratio, otherwise, braking distances would be worse.
Either way, still a great kit. Sounds like you're really enjoying it. I can't wait till I get mine!
Nigel
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I am VERY satisfied with the results of this brake setup and wouldn't flinch to suggest this to anyone looking into a brake upgrade. I feel that brakes should be something you spend the utmost attention and care to. You should NEVER skimp out on something that could save your life one day. One of the biggest reasons I picked this brake setup over the Toyota 4x4 brake upgrade. I've read numerous reviews over it being somewhat of a spongy setup and having to play with proportioning and everything, I said screw that. Dave has been working on Z car brake systems for a long time and he definitely knows what he's doing. Would EASILY recommend this brake upgrade to any Z car owner out there.
Great write up! I'm ordering the AZC brakes for my 240Z, so I'm happy to hear a positive review. I currently have the 4 cyl 4x4 brakes with the 300ZX vented rotor up front. However, there's really nothing wrong with them though. I just want something lighter with more power/better heat dissipation. Can you point to the reviews that claim the 4x4 brakes are spongy? There's nothing about the design that would make them inherently spongy. I suspect it has a lot to do with the master cylinder size that is being used.
Also, you may not be aware, but if you've done nothing with your rear brakes, the front/rear balance on your car is now going to be out far more than it would be with the 4x4 setup. If your Wilwood front calipers have the 1.75" pistons, that's bigger than the pistons in the 4x4 caliper. Also, you now have a much larger diameter rotor. You'll get more brake torque on the front wheels than the 4x4 setup, and way more than stock. So, in reality, you need to "play with proportioning" more so than ever. Stopping distances can actually be longer with overly front biased brake systems.
Nigel
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Good to know. At least this will give me options. I'll try the Z31 bracket swap first, and if that's still not enough rear bias i'll bite the bullet and go full Z32.
The Altima rear rotor is only 0.06" bigger in diameter than the Z31 rear rotor. The Z31 rotor and SX caliper are what come with the basic Modern Motorsports rear kit, and it's not adequate for any of the big front brake options. The problem is the puny little 34mm piston in the caliper. That gives you a 74/26 front/rear split with V6 4-Runner Calipers/300ZX vented rotor up front. It's even worse running the MM Xtreme 13", or AZC Wilwood setup up front with the SX rears. Might as well not have rear brakes!
Near the end of the SX run, Nissan bumped the rear caliper piston up to 38mm, but that'll only get you to 70/30 with the V6 4-Runner setup. Even the Z32 only had a 38mm piston out back, but a slightly larger rotor (+0.3" dia). Still not great if you want to have some serious brakes up front. Keep in mind that the Z32 front brakes are less powerful than the V6 4-Runner setup. And stock SX front brakes are less powerful than stock S30 front brakes! But at least they have vented rotors.
What the ideal front/rear split is is hard to say. Too many variables from car to car with all of the different modifications that we make. But I'd at least like to have enough brake in the rear that I can dial them back with a proportioning valve. Better than not enough to begin with. There are other caliper/rotor options out there. I've got something in the works right now that will bolt on to stock S30 rear hubs, using an OEM aluminum body caliper with a 43mm piston, integrated parking brake and can run an 11.5" to 13" rotor, but it's probably still a couple of months away before I have all the details worked out.
If a new rear backing plate is being designed, what I'd suggest is to use the Z32 parking brake assembly and rotor and design the backing plate to use a Wilwood 4 piston caliper, or at least a decent sized OEM caliper. Once you eliminate the need for a caliper with an integrated parking, your options open up tremendously!
Nigel
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I used a 280ZX speedometer gear (blue for 3:7 diff) and housing in my S14 transmission. Bolted right in and works great. I didn't think the SR 5 speeds were any different internally?
Nigel
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Glad to hear you're ok! Better the Ford than the Z, but it's awful either way.
Nigel
Dapper Lighting HID Headlight Kit
in S30 Series - 240z, 260z, 280z
Posted
FYI, it's really a diode, not a capacitor. Confused the heck out of me the first time I tried to follow the original schematic! Looks like he's corrected all the documentation now.
Nigel