260DET

There is a practical way to check whether any cage bar may get in the way of your head in an accident. That is to strap yourself in using the usual restraint and just see what you can contact by moving your head and shoulders around. On the first gen just about all of us will hit their head on the stock part that runs front/back above the top of the door. (Mr Fussy has put heavy closed cell foam along there under the trim). Which is why I would never drive a car fitted with the usual type of full roll cage without a helmet and the cage being padded where appropriate.

You know there is another consideration here, the dreaded fumes in the back. A nice curved diffuser type plate with ribs is certainly on min agenda. Can't see that it will do any harm anyway.

Well Ross, I ain't pissing in your pocket, as far as I know, re PBR calipers. I have four spot Nissan calipers on the front with appropriate rotors and pin type PBR's on the back. I can get the fronts very nice and hot to the point where the pad material starts to pick up on the rotors. But this doesn't happen with the (correctly biased) rears, they seem to run nice and cool without any ducting, etc and the same compound pads as the fronts. I might add that the fronts are 28mm ventilated while the rears are IIRC 12mm solids.

Hmmm, so noone uses or is interested in a half cage? You want to have your brains bashed out on a full cage? We are talking non racing use aren't we.

On brake fade, PBR's are usually a more open design as compared with your average four spot. So, all other things being equal, the PBR's should run cooler along with the pads and brake fluid.

Don't know about the second gen cars but a friend of mine has a half cage in his first gen and I've just started to do the basics for mine. IMHO the first gens flex around the rear as witnessed by the number that crack their roof arches. My '77 creaks in the rear when diagonally crossing a shallow gutter, it even creaks when going around some slow, sharp corners. The friend's car with the half cage does not creak at all and feels tighter on the race track than mine. The good thing about a half cage too is that it does not intrude forward of the seat backs. You can also incorporate a rear strut bar and seat belt anchorage points in the design.

Quite a few high end cars are starting to use long undertrays and rear diffusers, including IIRC the new Dodge Viper and Corvette. The designer of the new Ferrari F50 says that the under car devices work so well that a rear wing is not needed. Back more to the topic, diagonal strakes can be used underneath to push air out the sides of the car. They are usually fixed rigidly to the bottom.

Good work, Doug. Much more convenient and cleaner.

One of my future to do's, may replace the hatch itself with a f'glass copy, don't know that anything stronger would be required. But that glass and rubber seal have to go, plexiglass could be bonded in. Providing its done neatly it should look ok. Have to get the curve in the plexiglass replacement though.

High weight and a lot of it, both bad. Someone is up to something.

There is a trick way to instal a windscreen glass and rubber. Sealant is optional, the right stuff does not harden over time but using it can be messy. Anyway the trick is to use a piece of nylon cord long enough to wrap right around the rubber (mounted on the windscreen) inside the groove, with some left over because you need to be able to grip both ends and pull. The cord should be about the size used for house blinds. Really a series of pictures are needed to show how it is done. But basically the windscreen is placed in position and the rubber pressed against the metal lip. The cord is then pulled at right angles to the rubber so that it flips the edge of the rubber out and over the metal lip. Best to first practice this with the rubber on the windscreen but out of the car. Easy peasy, once you work the trick out.

The earlier model American cars which used PBR calipers on the back had the handbrake work the rotor pads, same as the main brake. My 260 rear disc brake setup uses similar PBR calipers to those. Last pads I got were Bendix Ultimates (Axxis in the US?) at around au$90, under us$70. IMHO PBR make a good, lightweight, mass produced caliper and the pads are usually cheap. Or cheaper anyway.

Thanks both for that.

So Gary, where do you get those R180 LSD centers from and are they a clutch type?

Me too. What does a Retrofit LSD consist of and what limited slip mechanism does it use eg clutch pack? And how much doe$ it cost? Any web sites? Questions, questions............. 8)

Interesting. For a rear hatch replacement 'glass', what I'm thinking of is to lay the plexiglass sheet over the original glass resting on a concrete floor. Then build a brick enclosure around the glass and use a piece of cement building sheet over the top, leaving an access hole. The trick then would be to introduce sufficient heat into the enclosure, maybe use a domestic fan forced heater for that. Might have to insulate the enclosure but such an improvised oven would allow you to do large items at home.

Considered the Tremec (or Tremac)?

The preceeding advice should cover it, actually a similar thing happened to me but that was at a race track when the tyres went off during a very hot day. Seems like the real problem began when you installed the rear anti-sway bar. A bit of a long shot but is the rear bar fouling anything or for whatever reason not able to work properly?

What 'condition' is that?

Don't know the US situation but elsewhere IIRC the R180 LSD was sometimes available as an optional extra. It was also used extensively and successfully in rallying, I assume that it was available as a competition part. I'd happily use a R180 LSD in my road/track car in preference to the heavier R200 but they are rare and expensive, in this country anyway. Off the top of my head, a rather risky place sometimes, the R180 LSD had four spider gears, not two, and was a lot stronger as a result.

Not too sure about having the (red) bracket underslung rather than on top like the original. May make removal of the tailshaft difficult. And the later anti-sway bars have to fit around there as well? But the concept is great, particularly if you want CV jointed axles.

The five speed which came out of my spare 5/71 Z has a separate bell housing. But the rear casing is heavily ribbed, unlike those pictured.

There is just not enough information there to work out which would be the most effective. But I would go for the aluminuim one.

The Yokohama AO32R treaded racing tyres are marked 'Advan'. Maybe its what they call their sports range? Anyway, a world search under 'yokohama tyres' should get you something.

If it is a R200 it should bolt in using the front mount and the rear mount bar from a later model fitted with a R200. You will need the heavier R200 bar, the R180 bar is not strong enough for your power. Same with the 300ZX CV joints, get them modified to fit. Then you rear end should be pretty well bulletproof. 8)