rturbo 930

http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/120342-datsun-z-fiberglass-a-real-review/ And I don't think Tabco has the parts he's looking for since those aren't really common items.

If you're not doing many track days I wouldn't bother with a cage, or maybe even a roll bar. A roll cage is good to have in a dedicated track car, but on the street, there's a good chance that it'll actually make your car less safe in an accident. A lot of the more knowledgeable guys on here will tell you that having a full cage with A pillar bars is bad idea on the street, unless you want to wear a helmet every time you drive. Also, you want the car to crumple in a crash, since all that crumpled metal will have absorbed the impact from the hit. If that metal can't crumple, most likely it'll be you taking the brunt of the impact. Since you've got safety in mind, you actually got lucky in getting a '73 since those have (IIRC) much bigger beams in the doors. I have both early and late style doors, and when comparing the two, it's honestly a little scary looking at the early doors. But even with no cage, and no door beams, I think you might be surprised how well an S30 can hold up in a crash, Tony D has a post with pics somewhere here of a Z that got hit head on. It's not as bad as you'd think. If you're not after big power, look into modifying the L24, or an L28. They can make good power, while maintaining the character of the car.

My Suggestion? Start off by restoring the car enough to get it running and driving. Replace anything made of rubber, repair any rust, go through the fuel and electrical system, and get the engine running well. Drive it, see how you like it. More likely than not, you're going to want stiffer suspension, and depending how you do it, that can be easily reversed. I think a lot of people don't seem to realize that these cars are a lot of fun with just a few basic upgrades, and instead they dive right in, with plans for big power, and this and that, but they lose motivation and never actually finish the project, or they find themselves in way over their heads (speaking from experience at this point). So get it going in stock condition, get everything working, and drive it. If you decide 150hp isn't enough (wouldn't blame ya), give it a little more power (250hp is more than enough to have fun with), and keep changing the parts of the car that don't meet expectations until you're happy with it. But what I definitely wouldn't do is jump right in and do this: Because a large part of the reason the Z is such a great car is its light weight, and all of those items (except maybe engine swap) are going to add weight, and have the potential to make the car more annoying, or even unsafe if you have a full roll cage, on the street. There's a lot you can do to stiffen the chassis without a full cage. Also, I think it's important that you get a feel for the car and what it does and doesn't do well, or what you do or don't like about it, rather than just do the things you think it needs, but might not. My plans for my Z when I first got it were a lot like what you're planning, but having been on here for some 7-8 years now, and learned a lot since then, my plans are now drastically different. BTW, what is it that you want to do with the car? Street, track, drag, show? All of the above?

Agreed that they look generic. They look like they've been sort of 'stretched out' too, looks like you need to pull the ends in a little bit, mostly the rear. They also look like they're mounted too low. I'd get rid of the bumper trim as well.

I see fault on both sides. Although you did ask for an 11mm O-ringed rail, the option you selected was the barbed rail - you should have caught that. At the same time, he should have been paying enough attention to connect the dots between the item you paid for (barbed rail) and the item you asked for (O-ringed rail) and realized there was a problem - I'm not under the impression he's doing hundreds of these things but maybe I'm wrong. And I think it does come off a bit rude calling him 'chap', mind you, I don't think I've ever heard an American call anyone 'chap' so I guess you could mark that down to cultural differences. But nonetheless, it comes off as rude. If the others think you were being rude for another reason, I'm not sure what it is, since you both made mistakes, IMO.

This. Sometimes I hate my generation.

I noticed that there's more mounting holes on my 280z pedal box vs my 240z pedal box where the steering column mounts (I think, but that general area). I think the one on the right is from a 260/280.

Thicker metal alone is not going to stiffen up your chassis in any significant way. John C has a good post on things you can do to improve stiffness in a street car. Shelve the 16g sheet metal for another project and get 20g. Sheet metal is not expensive, and you should be able to find it fairly easily.

Why are you using 16g for the patches? Use whatever thickness the factory used - mostly 20g. It sounds like you have quite a bit of metal to replace, and if you use 16g for all of it, you're going to add quite a bit of weight.

Okay, I misunderstood the problem, I thought you were having trouble getting the RT mount itself bolted into place. I installed mine like your 'version 1' with a factory mount on bottom. If I'm remembering right, the RT mount was designed partly to improve driveline angles for a V8 swap when used with the poly mount you had (and without any mount on bottom), but I might be making that up. It's been a while since I did this and I'm foggy on details.

Well, depending how far you want to take the car, I suppose you could either cut the whole front end off and do a tube frame, which would be a bit overkill, or, more likely, you're gonna be needing a front clip. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I would have bought that car. Rust is one thing, accident damage like that is a can of worms I don't want to open. That's going to be costly to repair unless you can do it yourself, and it doesn't sound like you have that skill set. And I think I'd have the chassis checked to see if it's even straight before starting.

When I installed mine, it was a pretty tight fit. Does it seem like it might go into place if you tapped on it a little (not hard)? Is it even close to fitting or way off? I got mine from Roostmonkey (member on here) FYI. Not sure if he still makes them or if he even browses here anymore. As for the Porsche? I wish! But, no. I made up this username when I was all of 15 years old. I hope you have lots of money to blow if you want a 930 now. They've shot up in price an absolutely insane amount in the last year or so.

Yeah, there's a little bit of flange on the car that you have to trim off on the series 1 cars to get the RT mount to fit. But I'm not sure what RT mount you have, mine was made by a member here a couple years ago and was designed to fit any year S30.

Based on the rust on the block, and what looks like a lot of dirt on the open valve train, I'm not so sure I'd call that "Great condition". And what a deal at just $3300. And since when is an N42 head 'rare' ?

Looking good! A little surprised your car needed a rocker though, since you're in AZ. How bad was it? When I was tearing my Z down, I removed the door sill trim plates, and, surprise, there was nothing underneath them.

I see one fist sized hole. That's nothing, even if there's more damage on top. But like I said, I wouldn't pay $4k for it. And it's not drift tax - that applies to S13s, S14s, etc. not so much S30s. It's a classic car, and classic/desirable cars in general are on the rise right now.

I'm not seeing a ton of rust on it. Yeah, the hood and front fenders look pretty bad, but those can be replaced easily. Looks like it could be a good project. Don't think I'd pay $4000 for it though.

They seem to be common on the trans tunnel, and the piece between the tool boxes and the spare tire well. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd offer $500.

You get what you pay for. If you just go cutting the stock springs, I think you're going to be really disappointed with the result. Either do it right, or don't do anything at all. Especially because it looks like you have a pretty nice example, and it would be a shame to ruin it with half-assed modifications.

The door will fit, but the door panel and arm rest is different, but he should be able to put all the 240z pieces on it. The major change is the crash beam, which adds about 10lbs to the door. 77-78 doors, however, will not fit. Personally I think I'd just buy him a door from a 70-72 240z.

Hmm. I don't know if this is really a good idea, but I wonder if you could just cut out that little channel and weld in something flat to even out the floors? Might be more work than it's worth though. And I imagine that channel adds a bit of strength to the floor.

Looks really clean, more pics? What color is that?

Half a finger length wouldn't be too bad, could probably make up the difference with stretched tires, if that's your thing. I'm thinking another option would be to have a shop take a few inches out of your outer lip. There's companies that provide the same service to widen/narrow one piece wheels. But there may be issues with that method too, since this is mostly done with steel wheels. If you ever plan on upgrading your rear brakes to something like the AZC kit with Wilwood calipers, you may have clearance issues if you shave down the hub. I'd be a little hesitant to adjust your wheels in an inch with adjustable control arms. I could be wrong on this, but my gut feeling is that you'd be messing up your suspension geometry, and possibly causing issues with your CVs or halfshafts binding. Is this a rare set of wheels? Might be worth getting another set in a more appropriate size.

Are you saying the wheel will still stick out 3" past the flare? If so, that's not going to be a good look, at all. I hate to be a naysayer, but if you can't get them resized, I just don't see them working for you. And at nearly $4k, it would be easier and cheaper to order from a place like CCW, although I know CCWs just aren't the same as a vintage wheel, aesthetically, so I can understand why you wouldn't want to do that. But 17x14 is just too damn big. Unless you want to move up to something like an IMSA widebody? But if your wheels are sticking out 3" past your bodywork, it's just going to look ridiculous.