260DET

According to a good brake man I know, both the Nissan 280C sedan and the Nissan Patrol GQ '88 model have 1" master cylinders. The 280C is a very old Nissan product. But how they would match up is another question entirely of course. The above are Aussie model vehicles. Yep, the right leg is quite well developed, a bigger +2 booster helps too.

Seeing the present 15/16" master cylinder is worn and brake pedal height has never been that good, has anyone tried a 1"? Any good? From what vehicle? My '77 has 4 spot calipers on the front and single sliding calipers on the disc converted rears.

The rear tyres or the fronts rub? Doubt that a sway bar will fix the problem anyway. Better off adding extra clearance to the body where the rubbing occurs, your tyres are substantially oversize.

If they are not worn so as cause slop, get a pair of new boots for them. Plus regrease them of course. They are expensive little buggers.

My mistake, thought you all were talking about high speed four wheel drifting.

You want neutral steer to drift, plenty of power helps if the back is reluctant to come out because basically you steer with the accelerator. After x years I'm still working on it, but we'll get there, if my balls are big enough

John's suggestion has a lot going for it. Then if you want to knock a bit of weight off, use a fibreglass bonnet and a similar hatch with a plexiglass 'glass'. Reducing your relatively 'high up' weight like that has an additional handling benefit, too.

The vented bonnet on my '77 is way heavier than earlier non-vented bonnets, which is a bit silly seeing that it is not a structural part. Another thing I've run across is that the strut tubes on the '77 are slightly larger in diameter and heavier in gauge than early models.

Its best to find a Haltech dealer who sets them up himself, he may have a 'get started' map to suit your application. Then fine tune it on his dyno. This may sound obvious, but specialist knowledge can save you a lot of money and heartache compared with taking it to someone not familiar with Haltech.

The point is I think that caliper weight is dead weight that performs no useful function, while extra rotor weight does increase the rotor's heat sink capacity. While a lot of people don't like cross drilled rotors, it seems to me that cross drilling should improve the rotors ability to dissipate heat and that a proper brake warm up procedure before heavy track use should reduce any cracking tendancy. I must admit that the caliper weight difference is less than I would have expected though

The factory method as mentioned by Terry seems to result in a too loose bearing to me. They should know, but I torque it up as the factory says, rotate the hub both ways, back the nut off one flat and then take the nut up a bit more finger tight. Given that the bearings are tapered rollers, they should not IMHO be loose at all.

Gee all you experts with modern equipment I've got an old stick welder and have recently 'discovered' 2mm (14gauge?) rods which are good for most automotive type work, except thin sheet metal, lots of penetration. But if its plainly visible, off to a pro I go.

What DAW said re the fronts ie use eccentric camber adjusters and retain the light stock arms. Best to remove the X member to do this so that the weld on lipped plates can be inset, then welded into the X member. At the same time, you can raise the pivot points, if you are going to lower the suspension, so that the arms will still be around parallel with the ground under static load. Use other stock eccentric adjusters as DAW suggested, or maybe a suitable aftermarket kit from a suspension upgrade place. I'm in the process of doing this, waiting at present for the correct pivot relocation measurement details so camber will be adjustable up to 3.5 degrees negative.

Did anyone notice in John's photo he has a trick strut insert in there? The ones with a separate reservoir? Very HEAVY DUTY

Lone, isn't it about time you got rid of those soft riding springs and put some sporting ride type springs in there Either that of fit a sumpguard

If you are going to retain a stock ride height then there is not much point in shortening the struts. But if a coil over adjustable ride height conversion is done, then it is best to shorten them so that there is sufficient suspension bump travel with a lowered ride height. The temptation to lower ride height when possible can be irrestible

Sounds like you are a handy driver DRIFT MASTER, which is half the battle. Pretty ordinary Z's well driven can piss off ordinary drivers in expensive cars no end

Bendix (sold in the US as Axxis) Metal King Plus are a good value pad, quite OK for the occasional track run providing you don't get the brakes too hot. They are not a racing pad but are kind to rotors.

'day Tomahawk Z, Celica 10/89 to '94 cartridges have a body length of 331mm, according to my Oz info.

Published by Steve Smith Autosports, PO Box 11631, Santa Ana, CA 92711/(714) 639-7681, according to my old copy. As others have indicated, it is a bit out of date, but interesting.

The Koni Sport is quite a good shock for the money, it is adjustable for rebound only. Toy Celica cartridges for the fronts are valved reasonably OK for the Z and have the advantage of being shorter than stock Nissan when converting to coil overs, so you can lower your ride height and still have a fair amount of suspension bump travel. This setup gives a nice balance for road/track use but would not be the ultimate for track use.

For front brakes, the U12 Pintara is not an option because they are too small. The U12 rear calipers may be an option using the 4 stud Z31 rotors for the rears. But that is not a bolt on conversion, custom caliper mounting brackets are needed, plus handbrake and brake hose mods. Yes, check the archives because someone is using VT Commodore rotors on the front with PBR calipers in Oz.

You can't compare a 76 model car with a 94 model, wear and tear for a start. But with the right mods your Z will drive and perform well. A mate of mine has a fully rebuilt 76 with RB30ET engine, hi flow turbo, MoTec EMS etc etc and it is a rocket ship, so will yours be with the RB26DET. Welcome to the permanent hobby Z improvement club

Thanks all for your assistance. Hadn't thought about not having the bolts in shear, so thankyou Pete. Those pictures you posted Dave are very useful, looks like a X brace could be bolted straight on to the existing metal. With my engine, there is sufficient clearance under the sump to run a straight brace from one side to the other.

A while ago, someone (RB30-ZED?) mentioned that he had improved braking stability by fitting a brace attached to the body comp rod mounts. Now that my big brakes are working well, under heavy braking the car feels like it wants to dart to either side, although it doesn't. The comp rod pads are OK so I'm thinking there is some deflection in the comp rod mounting area which is changing the wheel alignment. Any such brace would have to be removable, so I'm considering welding attachment brackets to the rod mount areas on the body and bolting the brace to them. Sound OK? Use thin wall tube for the brace, say around 1.5" (40 mm) diameter? BTW, the comp rods are adjustable for caster and are heavier than than the stock items.