OldAndyAndTheSea

Good point! Thanks David. Yeah, between multiple projects, and multiple living situations the Zs have been neglected these few months. I feel bad about it, too. But I will be back in New York full time come March. Until then, it's every third weekend or so. Which from experience, there isn't enough time to do anything properly. But secretly all I want is to be home, so I can tap my 4th thermostat housing, (hopefully successfully this time) so I can put my motor back together and see if I can make it fire. I think I've solved my noise issues.

Well..... Still waiting on wheels, and still splitting my time between New York, and Rhode Island. While I'm in RI, I get to play with composites, so as a spare time project I've been making a new horn button. I know....nothing spectacular, but it's all I can do from a few states away. Figure I'd share my progress to date, nonetheless. The OEM horn button is a serious offender in my opinion. It's comically large, and they only get bigger with the later 260 and 280 horns. I feel it is the weakest link in my interior. Here's an older shot for contrast. But, I've always liked the look and feel of the stock wheel, so I made a plan and got to work... -I started by dissecting the OEM horn pad; I removed the plastic insert, which allowed the button to fit snugly on the wheel. After fixing a couple of cracks (surprise surprise), I cut a cap out of some 22 gauge sheet metal. Epoxied them together, and began making the surface fair, by sanding.. -Pre sand Once I had the shape I wanted, the part was ready to have carbon fiber applied. And since I was worried about fiber orientation on the face of the part, infusion was my technique of choice. Dry 12k Carbon twill was placed in a vacuum bag, and the part was infused using a low viscosity resin. Here it is first, under vacuum. Then after resin has been pulled through the laminate, you can see the dark carbon becomes visible once saturated, even under a couple of layers of other materials. Once cured, and out of the bag, I trimmed the edges. Test fit #1 And here is the Datsun emblem just taped in place to see what it will look like. This is really rough, NOT a finished product. Once I prep and fine tune the surface, I'm going to spray it with automotive clear. When I paint a black PT Cruiser for someone here in Bristol, I'm going to respray my steering wheel as well. Although it's only about 50% finished, I definitely like the new design a lot more. I'm excited to see what it's going to look like in the car. My seats have a 12k twill style weave on them too. I think it's going to play out nicely. Er...I hope so at least. I'm just glad to be making things for the 240 again. Despite the 400 mile difference, I'm still trying to work on the car!

Very cool!

I think you need to come up with the plan yourself. Sounds like you have more research to do. Set your goals, and your budget, and work from there. What do you want out of the car? Racecar? Daily? Weekend? Project?

Those seats are nice. Anyone know where they came from?

Awesome! Way to persevere, and turn a tough time into a enjoyable and fulfilling learning experience. Car looks nice. I've been liking greens a lot lately.

Finding colored carbon fiber weave is actually really easy, and it's becoming cheap-er. This request wouldn't be hard to do. They even have colored fiber weaves with specific textures in it, and pretty amazing patterns. The layup process would remain the same, only substituting the specific color and weave you'd like on the top layer. As mentioned, tinted clears can be added to supplement the effect regardless. Here are a couple examples of some carbon and aramid stuff that I saw at the JEC composites show in Boston this year. Personally, I'm building a snowboard now, and I am a big fan of the blue carbon/kevlar, so I am using that for stringers.

2 5/8 fit the dash provisions nicely. 2/ 1/16 will do most a pillar pods

Okay, made a little progress this last weekend. Spark notes: -Swapped rear hatches -Pulled rear bumpers -Began cutting out the cancer under rear bumper area -Continued more of the simple body work Barrage of pictures. Total time worked on project to date: 4 days Total money spent this week: $0 Total money spent on project to date: $663 I'm right in the thick of it. Gotta keep chugging along.

I'm building a set of s30 (240z) carbon doors for my car, as well as carbon door panels, I'm just curious before I go and take all of my measurements if anyone else already has done this? I'm 3d modeling the pieces in Rhino5 and will be using a 5 axis CNC to make tooling. Does anyone have the digital data I'm looking for? I figure it's a long shot, but who knows? I know I'm certainly not the first to make either. So I wanted I'd pick your guys' brains before I got started. So long story short: Has anyone modeled the s30 doors (and door panels) in a 3d modeling program? And if so, do you still have the digital data? I'd be curious to see what's been done before me. We'll see if I get lucky.

Nice car. I wish the owner would elaborate on the build a little bit more. All I got out of it was that he bought some T3 coilovers, rs wats, and a Rebello 3 liter. Definitely makes me jealous, having that kind of budget. But Man..., Dave can build a sweet sounding L, that's for sure. More HybridZ guys need to make car videos, I feel many of the best zs are horribly under documented.

Yeah. He really should be wearing gloves. He could burn his hands.

Work continued this weekend. Got a couple of things done. Swapped out the door internals, and wiring so I once again have power windows, and mirrors. - Video showing some nasty window up and downage: http://s524.photobucket.com/user/twofortyz/media/photobucket-1468-1380557511076_zpsddb33352.mp4.html - Roughly cleaned and swapped the door panels. - Swapped to my better seats. I think the blue and brown/tan look fantastic together; fortuitous circumstances. - Test fit the optional rear panel. Oh, and I did a little body work. Some of the easier stuff. I'll come back and tackle the time consuming areas when I have more than an hour or so to work. Gotta refill my 75/25 bottle too. There's a bunch of welding in my future. I don't mind. I love me some sparks. It's looking better. Til next time, I'll be busy getting itchy playing with composites here in Rhode Island. Total days worked so far: 3 Money spent this week: $0 Total money spent on project so far: $663

yeah, if it still functions as it should, you stole that setup. Nice acquisition.

Nice purchase. Love me a Hobart/Miller. The Handler is a great line. I'd say that setup is worth around 500 with the bottle and accessories. I say this because my new Hobart Handler 140 and 80 cubic feet bottle was around 700. It's almost a shame it came with a cart.... That's usually a real fun first project.

The ecu needs to match the AFM. So in this case, no, the swap will not work.

Okay. Got to work on the car for a day this weekend. Made some progress. With projects like this, you have to take it one panel at a time. It's easy to become discouraged when one looks at the project as a whole. So I started off deleting the OEM air cleaner, and added the intake that I used on my 240 when it was N/A. It'll work for now. I swapped wheels and tires. Then I started working on the tail light panel. Cut out the rust, and welded in some patches, thus beginning the adventure. I'll try to complete a section every time I return home. Total Work Days: 2 Money spent on parts: $13 (silicone coupler for my intake) Total cost of project thus far: $663 Here are some pictures. OEM cold air intake Wheels It's a start....More to come.

Spend 500 dollars and get yourself a mig welding setup, with a bottle and teach yourself how to weld. Then you will be able to make any of these projects yourself; not limited to a coilover installation. Either that, or be prepared to pay to play. That's my .02 (it's what I did)

Yeah, there's definitely a whole lot of metal work in my future, but at least the floors are there, and the surrounding gasket areas are all very solid, which were trash on the auto zx. "Most" of the rust is merely cosmetic. haha. And that center panel was like icing on the cake. I'm definitely going to utilize it, at least in the meantime. Too cool to pass up. Thanks for the encouragement

Currently, I am living in Bristol, Rhode Island until March to become a composites technician. So I will preface this whole build with a disclaimer that states: I will only be able to work on the car(s) every third week or so, for about a day. So progress will be slow. But, I'll be making carbon pieces and projects for the cars while I am here, and will update accordingly. and yeah...... I know....The LAST thing I need is ANOTHER Z car, but I promise you this one solves a couple of problems I have been facing. I'll explain... A little back story to get you familiarized. I own a 240z a 260z and a 280zx. The 240 is the project car some of you have seen, my 260 is a running driving future gift for my brother, and my 280zx is unfortunately non moving, non operational. But currently it just sits in my driveway, as most of its good turbo parts were robbed to aid my N/A --> turbo conversion build on my 240. The other problems with the 280zx are the facts that it is an automatic, has some pretty rotten floors, and needs rear end work, despite what a respray may lead you to believe. So what's a guy supposed to do? On one of my last nights in New York, I was curious and just decided to pop on craigslist to see if anything interesting was in the area. Lo and behold, a 1983 Datsun 280zx turbo, 5 speed. runs. drives. body is rough (but I'm a body guy, plus you'll see it doesn't really matter) Taking any reasonable offer. Title in hand. "I don't know much about the vehicle" Jackpot!!! The car is pretty rusty. But luckily most of it is what I call "crispy on the edges" due to a stupid factory two tone decal that loves to trap moisture and subsequently rust. But lucky for me, I own a pretty much worthless 280zx that is not doing anything other than sitting in my driveway. So I have a donor car. I got this rusty piece of shiz for 650 dollars. But OH MY LAWD, does it run and drive well...I wouldn't have ANY hesitation daily driving it...Which is actually my plan for spring And here's my NOW donor car. Let the surgery begin. The following was only 1 day of work. That's all I've been able to do. The timing with purchasing this car and going to Rhode Island couldn't have been worse..Talk about blue balls...... The ole Switch-a-roo. So my plan is to take the best parts of both my 280zxs and make one surprisingly nice daily driver until I properly finish my 240z. As always, all work will be done in house, by me, and unless listed, all parts used are already owned, so no expense occurs. I'm trying to keep this car as low cost, and make it as ridiculously nice as possible. I know I can do it. This is the starting point. I have a lot of high hopes for this one. And finally here's an exhaust clip (ignore the door ajar bell). There is a comically awful restriction (bend) in the pipe, and it still doesn't sound too bad in my opinion. I'm very excited to make a nice full welded 3 inch exhaust. That's one of the first micro projects. But until then. http://s524.photobucket.com/user/twofortyz/media/photobucket-51276-1378767778162_zps556a4081.mp4.html

that engine arouses me.

I second dynomax. I had a super turbo on my l24 and my l28 6-1 ceramic coated header leading to a 2.5" straight through exhaust, no resonator. She screamed on a mild l28 build. Now I'm using an ultra flo for my turbo application. Here is another Dynomax video link. Take it at face value. http://s524.photobucket.com/user/twofortyz/media/photobucket-20006-1334973775522.mp4.html

Thanks Mate! With my school departure date of September 1st looming it's ugly head, and while I made sure of my living arrangements in Rhode island, progress on the car has suffered. And I apologize. No one wants me to work on it more than I do. I've only managed to fix a couple miscellaneous wiring quirks on the car, and I may have solved my last remaining electrical issue, in regards to Megasquirt. Fingers crossed. But I won't know until I solve my last two remaining mechanical issues. My third attempt of drilling and tapping the random 40 year old cast aluminum thermostat housings around my garage has proven to be quite the project....And somehow along the way I have managed to destroy my Optima Red top...Balls...... So my "make it run" list is as follows: -Fix leaking thermostat housing (by making a new one) -Find/fix source of dropping fuel pressure, after I turn the key off. (injectors check out, and I've swapped in two different fuel pressure regulators to see if that was the culprit; no change, unless BOTH were bad, which I guess is possible) -Retime motor -Reinstall distributor Then......Check for correct RPM signal in Tunerstudio under cranking. If that checks out. Hallelujah, I get to attempt to fire the motor. If not. Back to troubleshooting. But all of that said, progress will soon slow once again, lets see how much I can get done in the meantime. oh...Also.....Black couplers baby... I'll tell you what... With the new couplers, and the tires just sitting under the car on JACK STANDS, it's definitely starting to look really mean. And is beginning to show a personality. I'm excited. I can't wait til I can actually see the tires tucked into the fender flares. I figure if it looks AT ALL decent like this. Its going to look pretty darn good when it's actually sitting on mounted wheels/tires. It's hard to get a justified picture, but here's a small idea. Love how it is going to look with my exhaust.

I own both a s30 and a s130 I definitely want that motor in my zx. Nice work.

When I first read this my initial thoughts were... Check the bcdd valve, if youre still using the stock l28e throttle body. Also check to make sure your throttle body dashpot is correctly functioning. May or may not be your problem. But thats where I would start after eliminating all the basic troubleshooting. And the speedo wobble comes from the speedometer cable. Sometimes you can get lucky and spray the transmission side of the cable with lubicant; that steadied mine quite a bit. Definitely going gps soon though.