m1ghtymaxXx

I've done this on both my Datsuns. On my 83 the starter contact on the ignition cylinder would no longer make contact in the 'start' position, and my 77 decided one day it wouldn't turn beyond the 'on' position. Both times I wired in a simply relay powered by an accessory signal so that the starter couldn't fire without the key in the on position. I would highly recommend doing this for safety reasons. Both accidental firing of the starter, and minimize amperage through the starter button/switch.

Well as an updated on my post above, the stub axle studs self-clearanced themselves after a few decels and has made any noise since. I haven't gotten up close for an inspection yet, but it left some faint wear marks in the case. As long as the heads of the studs aren't badly worn, I'll just leave it as is. I'm not sure if some units are worse than others, but in my case if would have only required a very slight bit of clearancing on the case. The change in backlash wouldn't be an OBX issue. Any time your change carriers or bearings, backlash should be checked. I wasn't able to clamp my OBX down tight enough to torque the ring gear bolts, so I just told the driveline shop to do it when I brought it in to have the backlash set and wipe pattern checked. I suppose I could have gotten creative with a helper and a strap wrench.

I bought mine with tires from A Spec wheels in California. Shipping to my neck of the woods on the opposite corner of the continent in Canada was a staggeringly cheap $50. The sales guy was great to deal with and I'd highly recommend them.

There's certainly a fair bit of controversy about the potential for injury and property damage, and there has been cases of both in the past. Keep in mind Newfoundland is an island the size of Great Britain, but with a population of only half an million, and that's mostly concentrated on once peninsula on the south-east tip of the island. The small fishing villages where most of the rally stages take place look somewhat third world. Unfortunately 2 of the city stages, Gander and Marystown have pulled out of the rally. That's the only video we've got uploaded, but stay tuned to our facebook page (www.facebook.com/targaevo80) for more. In the meant time, here's a Subaru hitting a house: And the spectacular demise of a member's 240Z (2:25)

I believe the shoulder harnesses are supposed to be between level and 15 degrees upwards toward the seat. I would think if you can accomplish this with your harnesses resting on the seat and on the shoulders, you're golden.

I guy in my old town had a twin turbo V6 Chevette. The motor was a mashup of different 60 degree V6 parts, and I think he was running 10 second quarter miles (5 or 600HP). Of course it was a stock exterior too.

Agreed. This clown clearly has nothing to contribute.

You beat me to posting before I finished editing. Added a few more points above.

What was the original fan setup? Stock or electric? A shrouded puller fan draws air from the entire surface area of the rad, where an unshrouded fan will pretty much just move a column of air the size of the fan. Move that fan to the front and you're just blocking air to the rad at speed. I'm wondering if the original fan was buggered, perhaps improperly wired. If you suspect a coolant flow issue, one thing to check could be use coolant stop leak. I've seen that make a huge mess of the entire cooling system. I missed the bit about the rad cap being lower than the t-stat first time around. This is very valid point as the rad cap should be the highest point in the system (not familiar with how the VW reservoirs work). I'm not even sure how you would completely fill up the system, since normally you leaving the engine running with rad cap off and keep feeling it, blip the throttle, let it bubble, top it up and repeat until it doesn't take any more. I would try and figure out a way to raise the cap to the highest point, whether it be a cap with a neck to it, or ad some bends to the rad hoses. Perhaps you can find something like this but with a neck tall enough to make it the high point: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JJC-Racing-Rally-Motorsport-In-Line-Radiator-Hose-Filler-Neck-Cap-/400556386601

Why would you switch the fans from puller to pusher? A properly shrouded puller setup is much more effective. What was the original setup? If idle and low speeds is the issue, it sounds like airflow is the culprit.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by this?

Fuel pumps are wires specifically to fail safe (off), There aren't many points of failure that will cause the pump to run on. The relay is a great easy way to start, and the FSM has pin by pin instructions on how to test it. You're fuel leak won't be caused by a running pump, however having it pressurized all the time will certainly highlight any leaks.

Not sure, but Hawk HP+ sound like they fit the bill, they aren't quiet though.

This piqued my curiosity when I saw the bumped thread this morning. Here's another thread I found: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/57517-articles-evel-eagle-evel-knievel%E2%80%99s-chopped-350-powered-240z/

What year is your car? I had the same issue, the fuel pump relay under the dash would stick. The double relay in my 77 can be bought from MSA for around a $100, but I just unbolted mine and gave it a few smacks and it unstuck. Once every couple months it sticks again so I've just left it unbolted so I can reach down and give it a tap if need be. Edit: here's the double relay from MSA: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic17b12d/11-3470 And the single relay: http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1209260,parttype,3380

Not sure if trolling

If you can't easily sort out these issues, doing your own VQ swap will be way over your head. Do you drift competitively? Any sanctioned events will require a roll cage which will mean you no longer have a street car, unless you don't mind driving on the road with a helmet on. It say you get to work on getting the car in tip top shape. It won't be all that expensive and it will give you the opportunity to hone your wrenching skills and learn your way around the car. Once you've learned to sort out electrical gremlins, fueling issues, valve clearances, fixing rust, then you'll know what you can realistically accomplish. If an L28ET swap has you nervous about wiring, then you shouldn't even thinking about tackling a VQ swap.

I thought the main purpose of the knee/dash bar was to brace the front of the door hoops/a pillar bar for side impacts. The AE86 that we drafted into competition after blowing up our Evo had no dash bar, single door bars, and carbon fiber and fiberglass doors. It made me a bit nervous, especially as we were careening sideways into a semi trailer, avoiding it by an arm's length or 2.

Here's my first ever exhaust build. It's a 3" manifold back exhaust for my stock engined 280z. I was prepping it for stock class at autocross where exhaust is open, and I have an L28ET await install one of these days, so i figured I'd kill 2 birds with one stone and build an overkill exhaust. Of course the flow is way overkill for the time being, but I figured the big pipes should contribute to the deep sound I was after. I settled on a 3" center in, offset out Magnaflow Superturbo muffler (I might ommit it come turbo time and it's cheap and seems to sound good on everything). I also have cheap 22" long, glasspack just after the downpipe. It's from summit and is actually 3" all the way through unlike some others. The rest of the system is 3" aluminium mandrel bent tubing and a Vibrant stainless flex pipe. Front diff mount clearance The muffler is the same configuration as stock and fits nicely: Quick and dirty 3" downpipe until the turbo swap: I'll try and get a video clip uploaded. The sound and volume turned out as good as I could have asked for. It's got the nice smooth deep sound I was hoping for, but still screams up top. It's quiet enough not to piss off the neighbors, but comes alive when you get on it. It's a bit droney around 1800RPM, but with 3.90 gears it's not a concern on the highway so it's perfectly liveable.

No, TIG wouldn't be necessary. This summer I compete in Targa Newfoundland rally in an AE86 Corolla (because the Evo we built blew its motor first stage, but that's another story. Anyways, the AE86 front suspension is pretty much identical in layout to the S130 and uses coilovers built the same way. On day three we came around square left way too hot and flew up and over a curb and nearly into a front porch. After completing the stage and driving back through town we discovered the spindle to tube weld had entirely let go. It was was "professionally" TIG welded by a fairly reputable shop, and though it looked pretty, there was zero penetration into the cast spindle. In fact as soon as the strut was on unbolted, the spindle fell off with no sign of ever being welded. I then pulled the other side since I had no faith it after that. We found a shop willing to let us in after 9 and perform our emergency repairs. Fortunately they were equipped with an ancient but ginormous miller MIG and an oxy torch. I turned the beastly MIG up to its highest amperage and wire speed, heated the spindle to a cherry red and went to town concentrating the heat on the cast iron. Unfortunately there was just enough wire to weld up the broken side. Of course this was a late night quick and dirty rally repair. In addition to the preheating, there's a few more precautions to take welding cast (keep in mind I am not all a professional, so take my word with a grain of salt, the following information is just being parroted from the internet): Cast iron is high carbon, so your filler material should be similar. Stainless wire will have a higher carbon content than mild so it will do in a pinch. There are filler wires out there meant for cast iron but you'll probably have to order them online. Second, in addition to preheating, cast welds should be stress relieved afterwards. To do this you want to cool them very slowly. This can be done by putting them in a hot oven or BBQ and gradually lowering the temp over a few hours, or burying the piece in hot sand. As well you can lightly peen the weld immediately after welding. This involves tapping the bead lightly with a ball been hammer. Anyways, back to our semi-relevant Targa story. Fortunately both sides held up, because the next day was notoriously punishing stage. It's not all that apparent in the video, but aside from the straight fast roads, the pavement is rough and undulates like you wouldn't believe. It felt like the tire spent as much time in the air as it did on the ground as it pitched side to side:

Like dirt bikes, there was a time when almost all outboards were 2 stroke. I see you're in Cali, good luck getting away with that swap

This is a very popular swap and adapter plates can be bought for it. Search and you'll find what you're looking for. As for the original topic at hand, I swapped in a close ratio 5 speed from my 83 2+2, along with the 3.90 diff and OBX LSD. Zero external differences between transmissions. Just be sure to reuse the throwout bearing if the new trans was mated to the 240mm flywheel (turbo or 2+2 cars), and reuse the straight shifter. The dogleg one from the ZX looks to have a longer fulcrum (shorter shifts) and would position the shift knob further forward by the wheel, however you would have to extend the opening in the trans tunnel if you want to keep using 1st, 3rd and 5th gear.

This is cool! It would be awesome if someone could provide a stock 240Z for the sake of comparison with hard numbers.

Neato! Out here, the Targa Newfoundland Rally's title charity is Autism Awareness. Here's a local competitor's (and coincidentally a coworker of mine) 7 or 800HP Shelby. In 2011 his wife, who's co driving below, entered a matching Mustang Boss.

You should be able straight up swap in a 280Z grille and turn signals. A lot of 280Z guys swap to 240Z signals, so getting a hold of the parts might not be too bad.