CaptainJoe87

The BMW bumper idea was a bust. I did however order the frame rail and flor pan kit from thezstore.com. when it got here and I looked it over, I took it to the body shop to see if I was seeing it wrong. The frame rail is 1/4" too short to the floor and 1/2" to narrow compaired to the stock rail... Also, these don't have the bump up for where the seat is. The other thing is that if the existing floors were just to be cut out, these would be installed on an angle sloping towards the front of the car. Motorsport insists they have been selling this kit for 30years and no one else has had this problem. So I ask, has anyone on here ever used this kit? My thing is, if the kit was supposed to be used as a starting point or supposed to be cut and or bent to fit, they should probably tell you that in the product description. If anyone has any advice I'm open to it. I'm in the process of trying to get motorsport to refund everything, including shipping but they are fighting it.

Right now its $0 hahaha I am getting my floor pans and frame rails put in asap. With parts and labor I'm spending about $1000. So I'm going to start saving up again. What brand did you end up going with? It's been a while since I've read that part of your build thread.

Awesome, thanks a lot. I like the tokikos, but I want to go lower. A buddy is going to give me some threaded selves for the rears and I might take a couple coils off the stock fronts until I can get money saved up for coilovers.

Would s13 coilovers work in the rear too? As in do they bolt up? The style looks similar to the mounting for the 280zx struts.

Well, its tax return time so I'm about to start taking care of some long overdue things on my car. The floor pans and frame rails are first because they are most important. I found a guy selling rust free fenders, hood, and hatch, as well as some other misc. Things I might need for the future so I'm picking those up as well. A buddy of mine has a 1980 something BMW with black plastic bumpers, so I am going to try and chop them to fit and fill the spaces between the headlight buckets and air dam. I'm hoping to get rid of those gaps so it looks a little less awkward going bumperless. If I come up with anything good, i will be sure to put up pictures.

They didn't give me a print out. The frame idea might be it though. I'm getting that taken care of as soon as I get my tax money back so I will let you know if that solves the issue.

By reinforcing the strut tower, do you mean adding strut tower braces as well?

I took it in for alignment and they said there was nothing they could do for the camber because there was little or no adjustment for the camber and just gave me shit for how horrible my frame was. hahaha Which I will be getting fixed asap, I just haven't had the money. The wear could possibly be from the hard cornering I do. I haven't been able to take it to a track yet so I just have fun on empty roads. The wear is mainly in the front on the inside of the tires, which leads me to believe its from the camber. Also, it catches and grabs and pulls all over the road with the wider wheels on it. When I put the stock tires on to have fun in the snow, and drove it around on the road a bit, it felt fine. Maybe because there was less wear on those tires or maybe because something else. The wider wheels seem to grip on every possible road rut, the steering wheel seems tilted when going straight, and the fronts wear insanely fast. I will double check all the bushings, I could probably use a good bushing kit either way. But as for the camber adjustment, are you saying you adjusted the setting then bolted on the camber plate without cutting the bump out? I need to find some way to get the wheels aligned properly because buying a brand new set of tires every year just from driving on weekends is a bit much for my budget.

So, a buddy of mine has an Impreza that he has on coils and lowered and such. He had a spare camber plate laying around so I decided to check the bolt pattern for the front of my car and they lined up. Since I'm lowered on the Tokikos, I've been getting some annoying camber wear on my tires and the car has been pulling all over the road with the slightest grove. Here is my question, Is there a reason that most of what I have seen for camber plates on a S130 are cut out and weld in? I find it hard to believe that no one has tried any other camber plates before. From the look of it all that would need to be done is cutting out that bump in the middle. Thoughts?

So, a buddy of mine has an Impreza that he has on coils and lowered and such. He had a spare camber plate laying around so I decided to check the bolt pattern for the front of my car. Since I'm lowered on the Tokikos, I've been getting some annoying camber wear on my tires and the car has been pulling all over the road with the slightest grove. Here is my question, Is there a reason that most of what I have seen for camber plates on a S130 are cut out and weld in? I find it hard to believe that no one has tried any other camber plates before. From the look of it all that would need to be done is cutting out that bump in the middle. Thoughts? Just realized I should probably post this question somewhere else... Like the suspension section... my bad

Thanks Phill, I'm kinda stalled right now trying to build up funds. But as soon as something else gets done I'll be sure to put it up.

True, I'm going to have to figure in shipping and everything. Hopefully I'll have the money saved up pretty soon to get it done.

Yea, being loud on the way to the shop doesn't really bother me that much. I just don't want to mess up the valves or anything running an open header. But if it wont mess anything up then Im good.

Sounds good, the only thing is if I do it that way some shops won't get rid of the cat because of laws. I should be able to drive it with the headers open if I keep the RPMs kinda low and limp it to the shop without messing anything up right? or no?

I will check it out, thanks

No, not yet. I am still trying to save up for the piping from thezstore.com. I have the headers and the gasket sitting in my basement waiting though. Trust me, as soon as its on all put a video up here or some pictures or something.

Nappa was a no go, called a couple junk yards and they don't save the bolts when they pull the parts.

Nope, I just need one bolt for the rears. I just figured I'd see if anyone on here had one laying around before I went to the hardware store and tried finding one that fit there.

I'm looking for a rear brake caliper bolt for a 1980 S130. If anyone has one, please let me know. thanks.

Awesome, thanks. I'm going to read through that as soon as I have some time.

Ok, I have tried searching for this but I am not really finding the answers I am looking for. My money is limited and my car needs a couple things before I start putting too much money into the motor. I have a L28e that has been rebuilt about 20,000 miles ago. I have a set of 3-2-1 headers that I have yet to install because I am saving up for the exhaust pipe kit from thezstore.com and a cone air filter. Other than that my a/c compressor is removed because the pulley locked up and I have a N42 intake manifold that I am waiting to put on so I only have to change the gasket once. My question is about timing advance, I have read a lot of things on here about it but would like some more solid information on the effects of doing so. I read that if you advance the cam timing 4 degrees it will have a large impact. Would someone mind explaining the process of doing that as well as the types of effects it will have on the motor. I know through reading that advancing the timing alters the timing of the valves opening and closing which will increase engine compression. If I were to advance the cam timing 4 degrees as I have read on this forum, what type of differences will I notice over stock? Any change in the HP or Torque? Where in the RPMS will I notice the change? Is the difference noticeable enough to be worth doing the work? My main uses for the car is street driving, but I want to improve my skills and start doing autoX. The other type of timing advance I have read about is doing it from the distributor, which from my understanding is just loosening a screw and turning the cap. My questions with this method are the same as the cam adjustment. What effects can I expect from this method. If I advance the Cam timing, should I also advance from the distributor? I want to get the most safe output from this motor in its stock form while saving up to do some other things. Any Ideas for free/ cheap ways to improve the performance of the L28e motor would be greatly appreciated. I am pretty much trying to find some ways, with a stock EFI and mostly stock motor, to get the most out of this motor, power and response wise that I can. I have read a lot of other posts where people have been asking for cheap ways to get HP from these motors and it usually turns to turbo swap, which is why I wanted to ask about something a little more specific. My car needs a good bit more work before I start looking into a motor swap. I just want to keep improving this car as much as possible within my budget so I don't get too discouraged with my project. Thanks in advance for any information or help that you can give, be it a link to a thread I didn't find, or an answer to my question.

I think when it comes time to get new tires I might go with a 245/50 at least in the rear. I'm not sure how well that would fit in the front.

Thanks Jenova, they don't look very wide in my opinion but I will be sure to grab a picture for you tomorrow when its light out. Lower would be cool, but not any time soon. I dont have the tools or experience for welding and making my own coilovers, and the Tokiko kit didn't break the bank. The improvement over stock was night and day, but then again my front shocks were shot. I'm happy with how its turning out so far, other than the speed at which I can afford to get things done.

The front air dam is urethane. As for the paint, thanks. I didn't do the side molding pieces because I wasn't sure how I was going to fill the holes when I was done. I have zero welding experience, my room mate on the other hand has some, but we don't a welder... I am going to have to re-paint at some point, some small places have flaked off for some reason. All in all for a rattle can paint job I think it came out nicely. The new wheels are good, could be a little wider in the back but combined with the suspension mods, they improve the handling of the car 10 fold. The front sits pretty flush and look nice, I have strongly considered putting some small spacers on the back to bump them out a bit.