Z-TARD

Notice that the seller only joined ebay on 10 June 2006. The one guy that has left feedback for him joined on 5 June 2006. Their transaction was an auction for a ford exploder that was won with only 1 bid, and not with a "Buy it now". What is this idiot thinking? Even just a casual glance at his feedback, and his auction throws up a ton of red flags.

It would almost be worth it to win the auction, just to get his mailing address. I'd probably send him about 20 lbs of rotting kelp from the beach out here rather than payment

You posted while I was still researching

The engine pics are a little suspicious. Notice the gold pinstripes on those pics, but not on the wide shots of the car? Guy has a grand total of 1 positive feedback...... Yeah........ The pics of the car itself look familiar too. Wait, found it. Thats Bastaad525's old Z that he sold last year. Heres the pic from his cardomain page: And the image from the ebay ad: BUSTED!!!!!!!! Let the torment begin.... Mike

Just cross referenced those part numbers, and they are the same ones for all the other years of 300ZX turbo, so not for the '88 SS Shiro edition. Still looking Mike

I think I finally found them here:http://catalog.nissanpartswholesale.com/ Part# CVU4520 (Drivers side) and CVU4521 (Passengers side) Each shaft is $101.14 with an additional $25.00 core charge. Not too bad. Any additional sources would be welcome Mike

Does anyone know of a source for these? I've looked at every website I can think of for them and all I can find is the standard turbo CV shafts. I'm planning on using the Shiro shafts with my R200 VLSD from an Infinity J30, along with Modern Motorsports Z31 CV adapters. The only part I can't find now is the 88 Z31 Shiro CV's. thanks in advance, Mike

Looks good man, now throw some turtle wax on it and take some more pics! Mike

When spraying, I normally do more like 20%. Get it to the point where it runs off a stir stick just like water. I haven't tried rolling with it, but 10% sounds like it would be a good starting point. Mike

Okay, here are some pics of both the 300ZX hub and the trailer hub on a 240Z spindle for comparison. I don't have my original 240 hubs anymore, so I'm not sure how close the new hub is to the factory offset. 300ZX @ 3.770" distance from caliper mounting ear: And the new trailer hub @ 2.930" distance from caliper mounting ear: Measured the bearing spacing with a set of dial calipers, the new hubs will have to have the outer bearing race moved inboard by .325" instead of the .25" I guessed at earlier. Mike

Mine seems to be running really rich. It smokes quite a bit and the idle is really rough. For about the first ten minutes or so after starting it up it runs well enough to drive, but it seems that once it warms up something goes really wrong. Any attempt at acceleration stalls out the motor, this happens without any noticable smoke, so I'm thinking that it leans out too much after it warms up. It also fouls out plugs like nobodys business, probably due to the rich mixture when cold. I'm going to print out a copy of the 280 FI book and take it with me to Tuscon next time I go out there to work on it. Hopefully I can figure this out and get it running well enough to pass smog out there. Mike

I was really hoping to title this one "Fits like a glove!" but unfortunately it's not quite there. Like JohnC warned, the bearing spacing is off by about .25". It's just enough to prevent the spindle nut from going on far enough to lock into place with a cotter pin. The good news is that this can be bored out to the correct depth on a lathe and it should work out just fine. Another issue is with the overall diameter of the hub itself. At about 6 7/8" in diameter, it's just barely to big to fit inside of the Cobra brake rotor. While it's on the lathe being bored out, I'll shave enough off to make it fit. The final issue is the grease seal on the back of the hub, the trailer hub comes with a 1.6" grease seal, which is too small, the bore that it fits in is also too small to take the stock datsun grease seal, so it will have to be bored out as well. So in a nutshell, it will work perfectly once the following machining operations are done: 1) Increase depth of outer bearing race bore by approx. .25" 2) Increase bore diameter on inner hub to accept factory Datsun grease seal. 3) Shave approx. 1/16" from outer diameter to clearance for Cobra brake rotors. The offset of the trailer hubs puts them back very close to the original offset of the factory hubs. They sit inboard approx. 3/4" from where the 300ZX hubs outer face is. The hub itself is quite beefy. Even without beating this to a pulp I have the feeling that it will take a lot of punishment before failure. The flange is over 5/8" thick, and the casting is very smooth which normally indicates a reasonably dense structure. Having said this, I think I will still order an extra one to thrash on. Peace of mind and all...... Mike

And here I was thinking that you couldn't improve on plain flat black.... That looks Bad-A$$ man, good job! Mike

I've used mineral spirits for spraying with the rustoleum, and have had pretty good results. I haven't tried thinning with acetone yet, and so far I haven't seen a need to as the mineral spirits work very well. It gives the paint quite a bit of time to level out before flashing off, and dries to a pretty hard finish. For rolling, I would think that the acetone might have an adverse effect on the foam in the roller...... Mike

The engine builder doing my 383 machine work does a lot of the nascar chevy V6 blocks for the Baja truck guys around here. Does enough work on them in fact that it has taken him two years now to get my block finished (Actually, still not finished....) Seeing these things in various stages of completion around his shop is one of the things that got me thinking about the 4.3 motor. I realize that the Buick motor would be a better starting point for a turbo build, and Sottie's advice is not taken lightly. If he says it's a better motor, I don't doubt that at all. The mildly retarded part of me that doesn't play well with others still leans towards the 4.3 though, mostly because it seems that against all odds, it actually hasn't been done yet in a Z (At least not a turbo version). Even with twin turbos, I probably wouldn't build it for huge amounts of boost. I'm thinking that 600 HP is probably about the most you'd want in a street driven car, and is probably well beyond what I am capapble of driving. I'll see how I feel about it after driving my 240 around with about 450HP for a while. Mike

Modern Motorsports actually already makes aluminum hubs pretty much just like you have described. They come in either the zero offset required for the cobra 13" rotors, or the approx. +3/4" offset of the 300ZX hub. I'm still considering these as an option, but I'm trying to exhaust all of the cheaper alternatives first. http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=60

Strap this mo-fo on: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jet-Pack_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ26428QQihZ002QQitemZ4650946782QQrdZ1

400 SBC? Looking pretty evil so far. I bet not too many Honda's are gonna rev on you at stop lights Mike

Thanks for the link, Mentallylost. I'm having similar issues with my own 280Z and this should help quite a bit. Mike

I tied like 5 different ways to spell it, including the right way but none of them looked right. I blame you for starting it though..... Suicide? Man, that makes me a douche too for suggesting suicide to everyone. Hang on a minute while I go take a bath with a toster oven.... Mike

I knew that was wrong spelling. Dammit, now I feel compelled to suggest suicide to you.....

That's what I love about this site. For the most part, it's a completely dushbag (sp?) free environment. Seems like at least 90% of the time though, you end up having to work with, or even worse FOR a giant dush in your daily job. More reason to go into business for youself, but even then you get dushbag customers..... I think my point here, if any, is that life is full of dushbags. Happiness in life is largely dependant on your ability to either A: Ignore them, smile and nod whenever noises are emitted from the orifice in their head. -or- B: Make it your life mission to drive each and every one you meet to the point of suicide, using only the power of suggestion. Much happiness in life can be derived from this game alone..... Mike