seattlejester

The carpet is toast and has to be replaced (house was flooded, waiting repair, I was just using the garage).

Found my camera Finally finished one of the largest articles on the to do list Floors are done! At least from the top. Still need to seal the bottoms. The level pedal box Before I can paint the interior I had to make sure all the welding was completed.. Which meant I had to make the seat belt mounts. And the... Can you guess what these are? E-cookie for you if you can! Another hint ^Actually ended up with quite a bit more tubing than I had planned (too thick for strut tower braces), so if anyone local would like something please let me know. Found a spot of damage, looks like at some point someone replaced the radiator support from another Z car...a Z car with damage. And another spot. Measure out the metal. Then replace. The rocker panel repair Behind Then moved onto rolling the rear fenders Not sure if I'm going to need to seal the area. I'm thinking just some undercoat to keep water from being kicked up there. Some parts R200's The brake setup El boosto? Ran out of welding gas, so tomorrow I will be attaching all the seat belt mounts, finish out the frame rail attachment in the rear, fab up the rocker for the driver side, finally move on toward the rear of the vehicle. Will also be fixing the roll bar. Getting close! Finally will be able to install the mountain of parts. Then only the engine rebuild and electrical wiring remain.

Still not sure what I'm looking at. Maybe take more light down there or use a straight edge? From what I gather, the control arm mount is twisted in relation to the plane of the body, does the car have other signs of damage? If the car is indeed twisted or contorted in the plane that I'm imagining the outlooks are not good. This type of damage would imply: *a massive hit to the wheel directly, forcing the control arm to pull the rear control arm mount *the body is rusting to such an extent that the metal groaned it's way out of shape You would have to catalog more areas of damage like if the rear control arm mount is also twisted, or if there is substantial gaping inbetween the seams of the rear subframe. Well to answer your question your options are limited. 1. Go to a shop and have your frame pulled, but unless the body shows signs of being crinkled the shop won't be able to pull anyhting, they may be able to secure the car and use a ram to twist the car back into shape. 2. Cut out the bent frame and replace it, assuming the rest of the car is not contourted. 3. If it is very localized, you can use a selection of hammers to try and push it back into shape. 4. Buy a car with a straight frame. 5. Ignore the damage

Hmm, I did spot a radiator shop in seattle, maybe I'll ask them to take a look and give a diagnosis. The problem is that I have a turbo sitting in my room screaming at me to be used...but alas maybe a pipe dream till later. So found out today that I can lift the front end by myself, so with a few friends I should be able to get the car outside and really get at the hard to get areas without the ginormous cleanup, and I could just roll the car over to finish the welds underneath.

On a side note, what do people do with the floor? I've welded the floor in completely from the top, but is it worth it to also weld it from the bottom? My plan was to go for the lapped approach than carefully cut away the lapped metal, any other recommendations?

So turns out it is a horrible, horrible idea to use a sandblaster inside the garage . Took about 1/2 an hour to strip part of the firewall and the harder to reach areas on the car, and took 7 hours to clean up the mess afterwards. Probably one more day and the floor and engine bay can be sealed. After staring at my fuel tank, I've decided to contemplate using a fuel cell. As far as I know the car was sitting for 6 months with old gas before I drained it, during that time the gas cap wasn't on, while I don't see any rust spots, I can only imagine what fell in, what's rusted etc. Also took a look at the straps and they are fairly gone. The newer fuel cells have sumps built in so if I end up going turbo in the future, I won't have to source another tank, and I wouldn't be risking putting lord knows what into the engine if it overloads the filter. The downfall will be having to cut out the spare tire well which also holds my rear roll bar mount, and also think of a way to get the fuel into the fuel cell, and figuring out a fuel gauge.

Yes. I'm gonna try spraying some matte white from the hardware store, if that fails I'm planning on ordering a gallon from hot rod flatz. Still trying to differentiate between matte and satin. Color Scheme: Matte White Matte Black accent (all the chrome trim, window sills, door handles, etc) Metallic Gold accent (knuckles, LCA, cross member, control arms, etc) Polished xxr 513 with gold in 16x8

^Not sure if this is encouraging or discouraging haha, I can totally see myself doing the same

Hmm I did buy a hydraulic press, and have access to one if that doesn't do the job. Meh, I guess I've been talked into going through the rite of passage of any Z owner. Hate you all

^The question I have is was it really worth it? Did the spindle pin need to be serviced? I mean I have the kit, and I'm game for some work, but is it necessary? The strut and control arm pieces seem to move freely and the bushings for the control arm all look quite fresh. The spindle pins look more than beefy enough and I haven't seen any of them crack. So anyone know if there is an actual need?

Hmm, a few people told me that it's really not worth it. But perhaps I'll give it a try, and if I have no luck I can always try taking it to a 4x4 shop.

So...probably time for a bit of an update I s'pose Spent quite a bit of time trying to patch up the floor ~1 month or so just on the driver side. Everytime I thought I was done, I'd find a little pin hole that would turn into ^ Eventually got sick of patching and decided I would play with the engine bay for a while Tried Tal-Strip II on the engine bay, that stuff does wonders, but the warning label and ingredients mandate respirators and high ventilation. Turned out that the roll bar interfered with the sliding action of the seat, and the steering wheel was about an 1-2 inches closer than ideal (past the wrist when seated fully back), and the head space was surprisingly bad, only to be worse if I used the sliders or wore a helmet. So...I drew up some specs for my own seat mounts. While I was grinding out the stock seat mounts, the accidental bumps with the sawzall would tear holes where the seat mounts were mounted. So using the trusty "integrity testing hammer" we found the weak spots...bloody everywhere. So after 8 months of trying to save the seat mounts and the floors, I decided to start over and do it right. Managed to accomplish all this in a grand total of....1 day. Being stubborn sucks... I decided that safety is a bloody large concern, and with the brake lines that crumbled, I really did not trust the rest of the system. So full over haul starting with fresh calipers all around And since MSA was having a sale, and the stock suspension wasn't going to do... And this is how much it grew in one day, no joke There is an equally large pile of tools at the garage waiting to be unpacked. After finally fitting the last portion of the floor I decided to celebrate by trying out some stitch welding Close up Definitely need to work on my spacing, but I was running near the end of the gas and the ground was apparently inadequate as it turned out much better when I moved the ground. Not sure what to call him, I guess an alumni (although I still have a year to go)? Anyways he wanted to try blasting his wheels, and I said that I would be happy to supply the apparatus if he could manage to get it running reliably. After about an hour he had all the little tricks figured out. So before he came back for his next visit, my friend and I pulled the rear suspension. The driver side brake fluid line crumbled, and the passenger side didn't even have a parking brake cable. I continually count my blessings for not having just painted the car and driving around as the PO suggested. Not sure how or if I'll be tackling the spindle pin and stub axle. The parts alone look to cost 300 (new spindles, lock pins, nuts, inner and outer bearings, seals, etc) and it's been a point of great distress in some builds I've read, so for now I'll be blasting it in one piece and use the stock bearings. Also finally fully stripped the engine bay My warnings and tips for front suspension removal: *Remove the brake line before strut removal, if using new lines just cut the flexible portion. To remove the steering tie rod, undo the castle nut and gingerly pull the pin, if the pin does not want to budge, persuade it with a small blunt nail. After the pin is removed and nut is off, use a pickle fork (tie rod separator if you want to be technical), wedge it in as far as it can go, hammer it in, and put your weight on it (do this only after making 100% sure the car is stable). If this does not help, use a block of wood or a brass bar and tap the threaded top and sides to break the grime and try again. *When removing the tension rod, be very aware that it has...tension (surprise!) so tie something very heavy to the rod or have a friend put weight on it. Even with crumbling bushings the rod still managed to pop up right as the bolt was released. *The stock end link has 3 nuts, 1 on top and 2 on bottom, you can remove all of them by cleverly employing a vice grip. *The steering knuckle can be removed fairly easily. A few light taps will separate it from the strut. *To remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle, remove the castle nut and pin, then brace the knuckle and give the joint a good whack with a 2lb sledge hammer. If it starts mushrooming use brass or wood in between, I held it in my hands and tapped it with the sledge and the ball joint plopped right out. *The strut is surprisingly weighty, be prepared when your friend takes out the last nut. The following week my alumni friend stopped by and I got around to trying out the sand blaster. Started with the cross member, but started running a little low on sand, so I switched to some smaller pieces The blasted knuckle was actually the one that was worse off and look at how great that turned out! Then a slightly more complex LCA, missed a few spots but turned out amazing. So tomorrow I will be returning to blast the rest of the suspension and differential components as well as maybe apply some paint stripping to the larger body panels (suppose to be hot tomorrow and we found that the heat and sun make the reaction occur faster and strip more vigorously). I thought about making a collector for the sand, but at 4$/50# it really didn't seem like it would be worth it. The caulking gun has something called fire sealant, it's supposedly used to seal areas around pipes and can be painted over, so after the engine bay is finished welding I'll be applying this in the seams and seal everything up prior to paint. Now for some contemplation...the driveline. I have a smoking L28 and a blown L24 (piston came up all the way, enough to mash the spark plug). So since either block will need to be taken apart, I figured I'll start with the L24 to learn a little more about what to do and not to do using the how to rebuild your nissan ohc book as a guide. After that I'll take stock of the condition of the head and the rods...then... My potential build. N42 L28 Block bored out to 89mm E31 L24 Head with L28 valves L28 Crank L24 Rods <- assuming they are in decent condition KA24DE dished pistons Fed by an SU carb using SM needles <-I'm not really sure where to get just the needles. Should net me a solid 9:1 compression, plenty for the possible boost it will see and low enough not to worry about emissions My friend works at an engine shop, so I'll hopefully be putting the motor together there. But they don't do machine work, so if anyone has recommendations in greater seattle I'd be more than happy to take a look.

That's what I'm guessing, same thing for the toyota calipers as well, for any other year it's ~30$ but for the 4x4 upgrade years it's ~70$

^Boss perhaps? Thanks for the info folks, ended up getting a datsun specific hub adapter. Still contemplating if I want the quick release, without it the steering wheel will be the desired 2 inches away, but getting in the car will be a pain...choices choices.

I hope they didn't sell the one they received from me lol.

i've been trying to get mine rebuilt. according to carquest, napa, and o'reileys, they are out of stock in the whole country. the only place seemed promising was rock auto. i'm having mine shipped to cardone to see if they can rebuild it in house.

So I searched and I'm getting mixed responses. I'm looking to get a quick release for my steering wheel to make getting in and out less of an ordeal. Does anybody know if nissan's steering hub/spline count is the same for all their vehicles? Mainly the 240sx vs the 240z? I've searched a few forums and read that some holes need to be drilled larger, some spacer has to be used, or the hub adapter has to be ground flatter/thinner, just a bunch of conflicting notes. Google turns up nrg's compatibility list, but in the form of 240sx/260/280z and all 280zx, which is a bit confusing. I asked a friend to see if he could find his old 240sx set to see if it would fit my 240z, and I know a few 240sx guys who have setups I can test out, but I'm pretty sure they would rather not go through the ordeal of taking off their adapters, and 240sx adapters are very readily available, more-so than 240z 6 bolt adapters. Any help is appreciated!

in the rule book it mentions that a cage must have an inspection hole to gauge thickness.

I'll take a shot as a rule of thumb since the stiffest end looses traction first... I think increasing the tire pressure would be the cheapest fix, higher rear pressure would make the car more likely to break loose in the rear. But good tread roll over means excellent tire usage/longevity so I can see the hesitation. Raising the rear dampening should stiffen up the rear, especially if you are running on the softest setting. Swapping the springs should also have the rear stiffer promoting it to scoot out. Now this is from experience in a fwd car, but I believe it should be applicable, albeit silly in some ways: Run a thinner or stock front sway bar or a thicker/adjustable rear sway bar Add more weight past the rear shock towers For those that really wanted the rear to whip around we would even run thinner tires at high pressures in the rear to promote over steer. now this is heresay which i hate to do, but for the vague feeling in steering maybe consider switching the outer tension rod with a ball and socket type fitting instead of the urethane bushing?

Thanks for the suggestion. I know that the seat mounts are actually recommended for late model cars, but not sure about such an old car, but always an option. If it's strong enough for seats, it should be strong enough to hold the person in the seat, right? I think the floor would be a bad idea unless it's heavily reinforced and somehow integrated into the chassis.

I've searched and I've been staring at many many cage builds, but I can't seem to find the information I need. Where is a good replacement for the lower belt mount? My new roll bar mounts cover where the original hole is (Borrowed Picture) I've seen the same location used in many other builds, where are people placing the other harness hole? Would it be acceptable to weld a nut into the cage mount? Or would that put unnecessary constant strain on the cage? Preventing me from painting the inside, please help!

Sorry to be raising this, but anyone have info on the thread mentioned above? I remember reading it and I've searched, but IIRC the title was different and my searches aren't yielding any results. edit: sorry, found it, it was in interior

Anyone have a recommendation for a good paint/underbody stripper?

Finally fired up my PC so I have pics to share with ya'll Just a generic ebay seat, they're replacing the quite horrid camaro seats I had before. Based on measurements, the factory mounts can be used. You need one hole inbetween the rear mounts, and you need to widen the holes a little bit. My 6'2 friend trying out the seats, plenty of room for my 5'9 head with a helmet. Just a shot to show fitment The trial wheels I picket up (2 wheels 4 tires for 200!), xxr 522 16x8 0 offset. The tire is quite small, but it gives a bit of an idea, the final set will be gold. Roll bar mount mock up Possible rear setup? Engine pay almost ready for paint, just need to decide if I will sand blast, or just apply paint stripper. Repair to the dog legs, contemplated buying the replacement pieces, but decided I'd give it a try first. Matte white is just beautiful!

SoloII is what I will realistically run. Are you referring to the two rear mounting points when you mention the 144 square inches?