mditt8671

I found a parts car semi-locally where I can get all the parts I need for an R200 swap into my series 1 240Z. If I pull it myself, I can get it all for $250. Is that a good deal taking into account my labor? It seems to be in the ballpark for the parts alone. Never done this before so I don't know if I'll be on my back for 2 hours or 12 hours. This is all out of a 1977 280Z. 1. Mustache bar 2. Companion flange 3. Rear cover 4. Side stub shafts 5. Driveshaft 6. Curved transverse link 7. R200 diff

"They aren't American Classics..." which also means that you see the other cars EVERYWHERE. Chevelles, Novas, etc are cool, but jeez seeing row after row after row of them at our local car shows is kind of boring. I'm ok with them not being American classics. Especially here in the northeast, you just don't see S30s around anywhere. It makes our cars more unique.

Did you check out the Desert Z brake kit from Shaun Schlappi? I bought a kit from him a year or so ago, I haven't installed it because I'm not to that part yet. Very reasonable price.

Oh God, I saw that show... I thought they crushed all the completed cars after they were done. They should have.

Ugh. Was hoping to put off the fender flare thing for a while. I hope the chassis isn't tweaked... Is ClassicDatsun still "the" place to get a good-fitment set of flares?

The inner fender is cut away (poorly) around the left rear wheel well on my 240Z. Is this typical when a replacement panel is used to repair these cars, or what would be the reason? I'm gonna have some fabrication to do in this area...

I like the door panels, if nothing else but for an idea on how to fab up your own if you have trouble finding suitable replacements. My door panels have holes cut in them from quick & dirty 6" speaker installations.

I see. I thought it would be a little more involved than that, so maybe I will hold off on that and keep my eyes open for a good deal... if I find one, I'll jump on it. If not, I'll run the R180 for a bit and just keep looking for the right opportunity. So you think a 350-400 hp engine should be OK with the STI R180 then? I guess I'll be watching for the next round of adapters...

I get what you're saying... but it's hard for me to leave it alone, because I know I'm going to be building up the engine while it's out. It has a Muncie 4 speed in it now and I really want to find a T56 to put in it as well... I am going over it and fixing up all the rust, everywhere, new floor pans, etc etc... I just want to do it once, RIGHT, when it's disassembled like this. I'm in no real rush to get it done, I'm really enjoying learning about stuff I had NO CLUE about a year or two ago and am just enjoying the whole process. I'm of the "Buy once, cry once" mentality.

I've been stripping away the rustproofing in the engine bay and underneath it, only on the passenger side behind the strut tower, is some kind of hard, sticky white epoxy or something. It doesn't remove with a great gun and scraper like the rustproofing. Has anyone seen this before? Tips on how to remove it?

I guess what I'm worried about, is what exactly IS considered high horsepower?? My plans were to modify my SBC according to this guide. With the part numbers supplied, etc., it's pretty much a recipe to get up around 350hp or so. I am guessing that the Subaru diff probably wouldn't be ideal for that much horsepower? I'm not going to be drag racing it much at all, maybe a few times to see how it does, but I'm also not building this car to baby it either.

I thought mine was repainted from red as well, but apparently that's the color of the primer/interior paint. That color is being sold in this ebay auction. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Nissan-OEM-Z-240Z-True-Napa-Red-Interior-Factory-Color-Paint-Can-/150985517927?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2327702b67&vxp=mtr

Ha, I know I'm always going to run into something and there will be issues. I accepted that well before I even got this Z in my garage. I don't have a lathe or a mill, just basic tools and a welder so I hope it's not THAT bad. Just trying to reaffirm my shopping list so I don't end up with a bunch of expensive paperweights.

Thanks John, From what I've read, there should be no problem buying a longnose open diff R200 and replacing the center with the OBX, correct?

Although my car isn't going to be a daily driver per se, it will see a LOT more street time than any other type of driving (probably 95%), so I don't think a welded diff would make sense for me.

OK I did more reading and it seems that though I wouldn't likely break the STI diff, I would still be somewhat limited with the weaker 240Z hardware surrounding it. I don't foresee myself doing much drag racing, if at all, but I'd rather not risk weak spots in my build if I can help it. It appears that for about the same $$ as the STI diff and the betamotorsports adapters (about $1k), I could go with a cheaper open diff R200 in the ratio I want, put in an OBX center and buy all the required parts to install in my Z. Am I on the right track? I'm very new at this but I'm soaking in as much as I can here.

OK I've been reading all night about the STI R180 differential swap. I'm rebuilding the SBC in my 1971 240Z to make up to 400hp. I initially thought I definitely needed to swap my stock R180 with an R200, but the Subaru option is very tempting due to the simplicity of the swap as well as using a more modern and more available differential. Also, my research has led me to the CLSD diff, and the R200 isn't all that easy to find, especially in the 3.54 ratio. What I wasn't able to find was how much stronger the STI R180 would be versus the R180 that came stock on the 240Z, and how much better the R200 CLSD would be compared to the STI R180. Any insight would be appreciated!

Having the engine already out, how much of a job would it be to convert to JTR mounts and a T5? The center console on this conversion hasn't needed to be hacked up the way it is now; would a JTR/T5 combo require cutting the center console?

I've made some headway while I was on vacation; the engine is out and torn down and I have a lot of the parts. I'm documenting my rebuild and the parts that I'll be ordering on a blog I set up for the car: 240Z Build Unless I want to redo the transmission and everything, I'll likely be sticking with the Scarab mount for now. The engine needs freshened up pretty well and someone was pretty hard on the clutch. Lots to do, unfortunately. The good news is that the body isn't bad. I'm adding the Bad Dog rails and Zedd Findings floor pans.

I'm going to pick up some steel so I can dig in to the TC box repairs and see what else is there. What is the recommended size steel for this? I know I need to do a two layer repair but am not sure of how thick the steel should be. I'd rather get a whole sheet and have a bunch left over so I don't have to make multiple trips to the steel distributor.

The rest of the car isn't bad. There isn't all that much rust-through on the floors but I am planning on doing it right while I have it apart... Zedd Findings floor pans are on the way. I had already ordered the Bad Dog frame rails. I've attached a pic of another area that needs attention in the front fender well. What is this area called? I remember seeing a thread where someone described fixing this exact area and fabbing up everything; it was very descriptive with pics. I don't know the search terms for this though. Any idea?

I need to replace/repair my floorboards. The Z I bought had non-Datsun seats in it; when I removed them today I saw that to make them fit the PO had removed metal to make them fit. Has the removed steel compromised the structure of the car? Should I look at getting replacement pieces for what has been cut away when I replace the floorboards? Also, I am trying to decide whether it's worth buying the Zedd Findings floorboards or whether I should just make my own from 16ga steel. The worst of the rust is clear up at the front of the driver's side floorboard and I'm not sure if they will even go up that far. I'm ok with cutting the floorboards myself but I'm looking for pros and cons. Additionally, the passenger floorboards are pretty solid but have some good pitting towards the front. I have all winter to work on this car; should I replace that one too? Thanks for any advice you may have

I believe the TG is Tough Guard so the TG8A would be compatible with the PH8A, just more expensive.

Maybe I'll keep the QJet for now, clean it up and see how it runs; if I can't get it running quickly I can get a Holley in the meantime and tinker with the QJet when I have the time. Pyro, do you have any recommendations for a specific distributor/coil? Thanks!

Hi all, I bought a 240z that already had the 350 SBC V8 conversion completed in it. It needs the vortec heads installed, but that's another story; I don't care for the exhaust solution that is on it now. It's a dual pipe setup that exits directly in the center of the car. It's all rusted to hell and since it doesn't have a fuel cell I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the exhaust directly under the gas tank like that. Plus, they hang really low under the car and I'm sure I'll be dragging with the smallest bump (I live in a rural area so nice flat city streets aren't always what we have to deal with). I've done a lot of searching and reading here but I'm not a person who has done a lot of work like this on ANY car so I'm not sure where to start. Plus the V8 exhaust stuff is all lumped in with the 6 cylinders, so it's not easy to separate the info for someone like me. I'd like to see what my options are for some good SBC exhaust setups from the engine on back. I'm going to be making the engine compartment look decent as well since I intend to show it off at some small local shows when I'm done, so I'll be replacing the rusty old exhaust manifold as well and would like something that will keep looking good for a long time. Any proven layouts that work would be helpful... specs, photos, anything! The stock cutout location for the exhaust has been filled in but I'm not against removing the filler and going back to stock location if that's a good option. I've attached my current setup below. Thanks!