OldAndyAndTheSea

Small update: Sprayed the first layers of Duratec today. I'll begin fairing the plug tomorrow...Eventually working my way up to a buff and polish. Then I can pull the first mold.

Use the /IMG links in photobucket. You posted the direct links. Its waaaay easier for readers the former way. Keep it up. You can never have too many pictures, or experience for that matter.

Where does the t5 make contact on the OEM console? It's along the top, right? And yeah, the cupholder would be perfect for that location. A hole saw and one of these would be a real quick beta test. If the depth checks out. Would probably have to be lower profile though, from the looks. http://www.jmsonline.net/beckson-std-drink-holder-gray-bec-gh33s1.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjwq52iBRDEvrC12Jnz6coBEiQA2otXAh6BeEjMXM_ZdxMDBK8l7SB66olNgCbyn-C3HrEW8ekaAs7P8P8HAQ Hmm lots of ideas to ponder. Good.

I'm currently making a plug to replicate the late 71-73 240z center console. I'm deleting the choke lever hole (the provision will be there to cut, if need be) Mine still utilizes the ashtray. (I'm also making a low profile ashtray insert, due to some brake line prop valve relocation stuff too, but that's another story.) That said, however, once I pull the mold...I COULD modify the plug to delete the ashtray, and make another mold for that setup as well. I have not come up with a plan for the fuse box cover, but that would be extremely easy, once the part is made. This is my lunchtime spare time project, as I too have a need for a console more than a dash.. I intend on pulling a mold from the plug hopefully within the next week. If I am motivated by potentially interested customers, that would speed things along exponentially. Here's the plug, as of today, still in its infancy. The ugliest stage, before duratec; and the long road to 2000 grit begins. I'm at a point now where I can work on it pretty diligently, so it will transform quickly. I am currently without a console, as I sacrificed mine for the plug. So this IS happening. And soon... Mine is certainly going to be carbon.

Bondo before. If you apply filler over the primer, as mentioned, look for a polyester glazing putty, as they are designed to do so. The typical bondo doesn't like to bond to paint/primers. And you'll be breaking through the epoxy primer when you block, that's actually what you look for initially. So that, and multiple recoat/block sessions are to be expected.

Okay so I took today to do this install (this is the same post as my build thread) This is what I did to make the Sparco R100 seats fit the 240z chassis. What you'll need: - 240z (or your particular car's) OEM seat sliders - Drill + bits - 8x 8mm x 1.25 bolts (roughly 3/4" in length) - A 6 pack of your favorite beer. (you'll thank me for this) Okay, to start.... First I removed the stock carriage bolts that mounted the sliders to the Datsun seats. A good smack with a hammer will pop them right out. Here's another shot. With the bolts removed. In order to mount the slider with the handle, I lightly (heh) tapped the following rail with a hammer, so it can be fully seated. The spring mechanism will make contact with this metal rail/support, if you do not. I'm pointing at it here. The 1/8" round stock. Once that is tapped down slightly, the OEM rail will now seat fully against the mounting points. Next, I used the stock carriage bolt hole at the rear of the slider as my first mounting point. Note: You could also shim the slider off the seat using washers, but I didn't want to lose ANY headroom. Once that bolt was mock tight, I marked and drilled out the new hole to mount the front of the slider. Once again, I'm pointing at the area to drill out. And drilled. NOTE: You will want to offset the hole slightly, to match the offset of the original mounting point, as shown below. This is important so you don't get severely limited travel due to the slider hitting the bolt head. Also, you will lose SOME travel in the slider mounting them this way. (roughly 1 inch each direction, but that is negligible, at least in my opinion.) Bolt that puppy in place. I found that I had to start with the rear bolt, as when I tried to start the front bolt first, I was not able to access the rear hole (due to the 1" limitation in slider range) Tightened the rear bolt first; then the front. That was the hard side. Now repeat the process for the other side. Once both rails are securely mounted to the seats, it's time to fit the seats to the car. A small dab of never seize on each of the OEM mounting studs will provide easy reference for where to drill once you get it placed where you want it. Mine looks pretty haggard, due to a previous eBay seat install, but mark your holes, and drill them out (I was able to use 2x of the stock holes, and drilled two of my own) Now is the time to slot the holes as well, to fine tune the adjustment. Once the holes are drilled, it is now time to bolt the seats in. If you haven't housed your six pack by now, it's now time to sit back and enjoy the spoils of your hard work. I'm pleased with the fitment of these seats. My old seats were WAAAY too wide, and would squish on the door panel. These seats give me plenty of clearance in that area. As some have mentioned the B pillar does eventually become an issue if you intend on sliding the seats at their max travel. But, I've found this easily remedied by adjusting the back of the seat to compensate. I also intend on running a roll bar, so clearance behind the seat is important to me. Hopefully this helps someone.

This is what I did to make the Sparco R100 seats fit the 240z chassis. What you'll need: - 240z (or your particular car's) OEM seat sliders - Drill + bits - 8x 8mm x 1.25 bolts (roughly 3/4" in length) - A 6 pack of your favorite beer. (you'll thank me for this) Okay, to start.... First I removed the stock carriage bolts that mounted the sliders to the Datsun seats. A good smack with a hammer will pop them right out. Here's another shot. With the bolts removed. In order to mount the slider with the handle, I lightly (heh) tapped the following rail with a hammer, so it can be fully seated. The spring mechanism will make contact with this metal rail/support, if you do not. I'm pointing at it here. The 1/8" round stock. Once that is tapped down slightly, the OEM rail will now seat fully against the mounting points. Next, I used the stock carriage bolt hole at the rear of the slider as my first mounting point. Once that bolt was mock tight, I marked and drilled out the new hole to mount the front of the slider. Once again, I'm pointing at the area to drill out. And drilled. NOTE: You will want to offset the hole slightly, to match the offset of the original mounting point, as shown below. This is important so you don't get severely limited travel due to the slider hitting the bolt head. Also, you will lose SOME travel in the slider mounting them this way. (roughly 1 inch each direction, but that is negligible, at least in my opinion.) Bolt that puppy in place. I found that I had to start with the rear bolt, as when I tried to start the front bolt first, I was not able to access the rear hole (due to the 1" limitation in slider range) Tightened the rear bolt first; then the front. That was the hard side. Now repeat the process for the other side. Once both rails are securely mounted to the seats, it's time to fit the seats to the car. A small dab of never seize on each of the OEM mounting studs will provide easy reference for where to drill once you get it placed where you want it. Mine looks pretty haggard, due to a previous eBay seat install, but mark your holes, and drill them out (I was able to use 2x of the stock holes, and drilled two of my own) Now is the time to slot the holes as well, to fine tune the adjustment. Once the holes are drilled, it is now time to bolt the seats in. If you haven't housed your six pack by now, it's now time to sit back and enjoy the spoils of your hard work. I'm pleased with the fitment of these seats. My old seats were WAAAY too wide, and would squish on the door panel. These seats give me plenty of clearance in that area. As some have mentioned the B pillar does eventually become an issue if you intend on sliding the seats at their max travel. But, I've found this easily remedied by adjusting the back of the seat to compensate. I also intend on running a roll bar, so clearance behind the seat is important to me. Hopefully this helps someone.

I'll be working on my seat install today. If I make any progress I will update with what I did, and how I did it. Using OEM brackets, and uncut floor.

The only cure, sometimes unfortunately, is a healthy dose of vitamin Z.

I live by the same adage, but replace 'money' with 'time'

Been busy, makin' dat money. Here's a quick update bringing us up to date. I've decided that until I source out, or make, an oven large enough to powdercoat my valve cover, I will opt for the ceramic engine paint one more time. That said, I refinished my intake manifold.....Again. While I was at it, I took the throttle linkage apart, and did a little coating. Then I installed my new 440cc injectors and my -6an O-ring fuel rail, replacing the stock barbed injectors and subsequent rail, which went to the 280zx. (Both Pallnet - Thanks again!) Version 2.0 And a random center console plug progress pic. What the heck am I doing?! I'm making a plug of the center console to make a mold to then make carbon fiber versions for my car. That's just expanding foam, essentially Great Stuff, that I filled the back with after I closed all the openings in the top. This is mainly more surface area for bonding the flange shown here, being clamped in place, but it does add a bit of stiffness, which is nice when making parts. When under vacuum, you don't want the molds flexing about. Once I have the flange fully attached, I begin making the plug fair. Once it is, I frekote (Pam for composites) and pull a mold off of the plug. From that mold, I'll make my carbon console(s). This is a small project I'm doing in my spare time at lunch.

My garbage car. Took the 240's wheels and tires, while it sits in purgatory. $1300 total investment in the car. $1700 dollar wheels and tires. Haha!

With the corrected alignment I decided to mount the 240s wheels and tires. Seems appropriate since they will most definitely be sitting another winter, so I might as well use them in the meantime. Other than monster truck status, which I will live with, it looks AWESOME. Dat 'sun' ass The car drives beautifully. What a transformation. What a wonderful temporary solution.

Some outside pictures. Blacked out trim with new air dam. I took the earlier part of today and did some fuel system refresh. New filter. New hoses. New fuel rail. Courtesy of the 240 build, which it no longer needs due to different style injectors. Better condition injectors. Old fuel rail out. New fuel rail in. With some slight rerouting of lines, and the fuel pressure regulator. And the car started right back up! Cool! Another thing off the list.

I'm a couple tires away from being 100% cool again. So yesterday and today I decided to do some.....budget composites! haha. The air dam I recently purchased is designed for the s30, specifically a 280z. I did not know this until I received it. It was only 80 dollars so I didn't mind either way. So I decided to make it fit. The majority of the body lines seemed to be appropriate, save the fact that it was about 8-10" too narrow. Like I said. On a budget (all scrap materials utilized). Thank you ACE, you certainly were helpful! :laugh: Epoxied Some short strand fiberglass and a little body filler to make it roughly acceptable. Primer Some shoddy scrap 20 gauge steel brackets. hahaha. And despite what they look like, they are actually surprisingly strong. I think it turned out pretty good. Actually, I giggle when I look at it, and think of what actually went in it. Some trash, and a couple paint sticks. I don't normally abbreviate things, but LOLZ! EDIT: And Tonight, I fooled around, and blacked out the trim. I'll get better pictures in the morning. Definitely changes the look. I think it's going to look good. Time will tell. Til then... Days worked on project: 53 Total money spent on project to date: $1373 Total miles driven: 4015

HOLE-----EEEEEEE! Amazing work!

I'd love to, but he lives around 2 hours away. What a great little car this has been. okay, I figured I'd bring this car up to date, as it has been a while. Fixed the sheered off lugs, rebled the brakes. Man... Car has been super reliable. I finally have got around to fixing the alignment on the vehicle. I still need to tweak it slightly, but it is worlds better. Now it wont do this in 2500 miles again. Haha. I lost a trim piece somewhere along the way (Booo!). Had to shop the parts pile for my spare.... Still need to shoot it. I bought a used front air dam. It was advertised for a 280zx, but it definitely is supposed to be on a 280z. - +$80 SHIPPED!!!! Got a scream of a deal on it. I'll make it fit and since I am upgrading the seats in my 240, I am going to toss the old seats in this car. So stuff is still happening to this car too! Days worked on project to date: 52 Total money spent on project to date: $1373 (+$80 - Front air dam) Total miles put on vehicle to date: 3957

David, they are the R100, the entry level reclinable street seat. They do not support the use of a sub belt, unfortunately.

The vacuum pump at work is currently down for maintenance until Tuesday, so I have had some time to work. Well...not on the center console mold, but anyway... I cleaned up the front wheel wells (not that you can tell from the pictures) and actually assembled the front. While doing so, I removed, and powder coated, the tie rod ends. Now they are ready for the alignment, when that comes. Before: Cleaned: After: (TERRIBLE PICTURE) Both sides assembled! I love how easy the adjustment on everything is. You could play around for days dialing in the suspension tune. Yay! Oh yeah. First new seat arrived. Just sitting there. Of course...I still have to fabricate some stuff to make it bolt in place, but what else is new? No more squish between the seat and the door! And now the 280 gets the old seats! Cause big Pimpin'. Going back out there now. Lets see what I can make.

Not much. Trying to get a little bit done each night after work. More powdercoating, and cleaning the water pump cover. No more paint. totally forgot the timing plate, but yeah, it's gray too. I'm also struggling to find a blue that closely matches the GM blue of my engine. So I am reviewing different blues to see if anything would work. And finally...A sneak peak at what will become the master plug used for making replacement (carbon fiber) center consoles. It's a side project I started a couple days ago at work. So carbon consoles baby! It'll look something like this when finished. (hood plug for a jet ski cowl.) Perpetually waiting on stuff in the mail. More to come.

Wilwood master cylinder was bench bled and installed. Brake lines just need to be hooked up. The holes had to be enlarged to fit the booster. Camber plate bolts all powdercoated..and stuff. Lots of stuff is still going on in the background....Like EDIS planning, brake stuff, fuel stuff, Sparco seats....etc..

Not really sure what you are talking about. Are you talking about doing an individual throttle body setup? (3 throttle bodies with stacks leading to a sealed air box, being force fed by the turbo) or just putting a cone/stack on the turbo? Which sounds stupid to me, especially if there is no filter. But then again, I'm no expert.

Some stuff came today. Adjustable fuel pressure regulator and some powder. Which I wasted no time coating some random brackets, and the camber plate bolts/washers. I know...SUPER exciting Touch up respray of the engine bay. Removed the Wilwood bottom fitting adapters. Installed the adapters out of the Nabco (1972-1973) 240z master cylinder. Now I can hook into the existing lines. That's good, because I'm pretty tired of making inverted flares at this point. Haha. Removed the fittings. Sitting on the vice. Cleaned up Nissan fittings installed. Accepts: M10x1.00 thread. There's lots more going on, I'll keep you posted. More parts are in the mail. Also have a cool composites Datsun project going on in the shop that I work on at lunch. I can taste the sweet sweet carbon.

Sent funds for an 11mm O-Ring rail. Very excited! Thanks

Cleaned up stuff a bit. Probably can't tell from the pictures though. More of the same. Extra classy. So after I shortened the routing of the return line I had the 4 brackets that ran along the passenger side frame rail to contend with. Instead of deleting them, I have decided to use those brackets for the body/charging harness. That frees up the old bendy brackets for the EDIS wiring harness, and the extensions needed to my EFI harness. I love it when little things like that work out for you. It's so rare. Cherish these moments. Also, this is how I am mounting the proportioning valve. I have to buy the bolt long enough to do it, but here it is explained, and mocked. Installed a 1/4" rivnut in the top mounting hole location A couple spacers. Everything still fits. How I currently stand. Haha I'm keeping busy, so I guess I got that going for me...