260DET

Your second post says in effect sell it. These sorts of decisions are very personal, there is some very good advice above which should help though. What sometimes works for me is using the imagination to try to feel like as if an actual decision had been made one way or the other.

Seen a few S30's with towbars on, pretty easy as far as towbars go.

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Shipping costs Australia/North America are heart stopping, the bulk and length of that front spoiler would require expensive packing too so good luck grannyknot.

Topstage is a one man business, he basically works with clients individually to make custom one offs. The one pictured is for a time attack car so strictly racing. Freddy is just not set up to make and sell multiples.

That IMSA kit looks bloody brilliant, wonder if it could be adapted to fit my Z31 race car project?

Anyone buying a Z31 should buy a good one or go for something else. The mechanicals are no problem it's the body and trim, get one that has not been parked out in the weather. I bought one for a race car and while the body was straight it had rust in places that were not obvious eg the bodywork underneath the front edge of the windscreen was rusted right out and was impossible to repair economically back to standard. This damage could not be seen without pulling the dash out.

Audi Q7 sport version is faster than my track Z, it's the ultimate in cool to be able to do that, my one regret is getting the practical Jeep rather than a ball breaking new Q5 I had lined up.

Audi Q7 then, V6 TDI has a towing capacity of 6,500 lbs in my country, Cayenne has the same power train I think. Either is much better than a BMW SUV, they can be a money pit.

Use the GKN one from a S chassis instead of messing around with that problematical knock off. I have no clue as to which US S chassis cars had these as OE, maybe none at all but they were a selected world option.

Geez, the price is right.

My guess is that they are drag reducers when you straight liners have a air brake out back, maybe they incidentially help keep things tidy back there too.

Now you are going euro I'd go for an Audi, the Q5 with the V6 turbo diesel. They haul, both with and without a trailer and seem to be one of the more reliable euro's.

Jeep Cherokee current KL model but I'm a furriner so have no idea of US prices, costs. All I know is that for a not very big SUV she tows like a beauty and is really nice to drive.

Those wheels do look good says Mr Fussy, what I reckon would be really cool are light alloy wheels that look like steel stock car wheels. A real race car look.

Speedo sensor off a S chassis/Z32 Nissan does not fit? As for a digital dash have you checked all the after market ones that are available?

170 mph is pretty damn quick in a S30, I'm surprised that you have found no difference in apparent overall drag with your various test setups, I'm guessing that any extra drag resulting from the tallest option is cancelled by the air flow at the back of the car being tidied up and negative pressure around the tail light area being reduced. I'm assuming that the Retrospec spoiler you refer to is the one in the first pics in your OP. My S130 should react about the same so for my next run at the ultra fast Bathurst circuit later this year your findings will come in very handy, thanks.

Been around 16 years, no plans on leaving any time soon, sorry So much info has been accumulated here that naturally there is not a lot of new stuff to post about but this is still the go to site for Z advice and info. The only thing missing for me is Datsun racer stuff including good incar videos and details of generous budget builds, a lot of activity seems dominated by going the cheapest route but I guess that's a Datsun thing. No doubt the instant gratification of FB has hurt forums like this but there will always be a place for HybridZ.

I prefer helical but can't claim to be anything more than a casual weekend racer. However I was talking with a very experienced racer, among his credentials was winning the 2016 Beijing to Paris rally in a 240Z, and he was adamant that a helical was preferable on both tarmac and dirt, he was racing a Audi (S3?) when I spoke with him. To each their own though, personal preference does come into it.

Jon, what are your reasons for preferring a CLSD to a Helical type?

Saw that on a local forum, too cool for school.

heavy85, there is another way to look at the treatment of tapered roller bearings ie in the diff they are preloaded so that is an acceptable practice, providing the lubrication is is up to it. Which is why I mentioned lubrication a few posts back. On the S30 I found that by using Slick 50 grease the front wheel bearings could be slightly preloaded, the factory prescribed adjustment procedure is just too loose for racing. That was 10+ years ago, as Chickenman mentioned there are some excellent synthetic greases around now, Slick 50 grease seems to be no longer available anyway. Never had any problems with the slight preload procedure, the adjustment held which indicates no wear plus the front end felt tighter.

Have ordered a pair of those Legend spacers, my understanding of their function is that they act as a bridge between the two bearings and so reduce axle flex between the two and help maintain inter bearing alignment. Being adjustable eliminates the need for individual fitting by machining or shims. Whatever, they are a good idea and can only help. For one of my unavoidable engineering comments, I noticed that BMW use a tubular instead of a tapered solid stub axle which has to be a inherently stiffer arrangement. For once German engineering > Japanese engineering For anyone using Z31 hubs, mine is a '87 turbo which are different from earlier models, the bearings are different too.

Thanks muchly blokes, I'll order a pair of those Legend spacers, if they don't fit the Z31 exactly it looks like they could be machined to fit. The S30 rally cars used to use something similar but individually machined to fit. On wheel bearing lubrication I'll be looking for something light like the Slick 50 grease that has previously been used successfully. I suspect that a light grease can keep the bearings cooler, using conventional heavy grease can result in the bearing faces over heating.

These are basically a sleeve that is compressed between the two front wheel bearings, not really compressed but when the bearings are correctly adjusted the sleeve sits up hard between the two bearings supporting them and reducing flex. There are adjustable ones around? It's for my race Z31 project but any info on one that suits a S30 would be a help.