Z-TARD

For some reason one of the pics didn't load, here goes try #2:

I just finished breaking down my CV shafts from an Infiniti J-30 R-200 VLSD rear end (Pretty sure its an R-200 short nose). Surprisingly, the CV joints look nearly identitcal to the R-230 CV's in Tims pictures. Close enough that it may be possible for the Moser R-230 shafts to work with the J-30 CV's. How many splines do the R-230 shafts have, and what is their OD at the splined section? The J-30 shafts are 27 spline at 1.160" OD on the splines. Here are some pics of the shaft after disassembly: Hopefully someone with the R-230 shafts will chime in.....

The ring gear will most likely be hardened, and nearly immpossible to drill. I could be wrong though, I never tried tapping mine out, gave up and just decided to install the entire diff. Wish I could be of more help, Mike

Ross, you have PM

Nice looking Z, further reinforcing the fact that flat black is the coolest color ever invented.

Heres a link to some on Ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2452370445&category=42611&sspagename=WD1V They also require a seperate spun aluminum funnel that goes on the inside of the car, those are another $20 each if I remember correctly. So not exactly a cheap option, but I really wanted to add some aviation styling to my car along with getting rid of the vent hole behind the quarter window. I used a dremel with a roto zip blade to cut the hole in the sheetmetal, it required a 4" hole (aprox) on the exterior, and another 5" hole through the interior sheetmetal to allow access to the nuts on the inboard side. I'm still working on a way to connect them to my 16 gallon fuel cell, which is mounted where the spare tire well used to be. If I had it to do over again I'd make a side mounted tank like Dans car and run the exhaust through the center, that setup is way too cool. Glad you guys approve of the caps. Mike

Sounds like I'd have to take the body down to bare metal for most applications to work. As I've recently discovered, my Z is fairly well stocked with bondo At least I'll always be able to use my trusty flat black primer......

Is there a new way to post pictures now or something?

Starting to make minimal progress on my Z's bodywork. After much deliberation, finally decided to cut a giant hole behind the quarter windows with a dremel roto zip tool for my new Sparco fuel caps. It looks crooked in the picture, but I swear it was marked with a level, and re-checked several times and IS level. I have another one for the passenger side as well, should make stopping for gas easier anyway. Flame away at my ricey fuel caps guys Mike

I'm probably in a very small minority here, but I think it would be awsome to have a Z coated with the same dull grey teflon finish that currently resides in my T-FAL pots and pans . Anyone have any links or info on products like this? (Also, think of the cool factor of being able to cook eggs on the hood of your car on a hot day.....) Mike

The coloration of the welds is pretty normal for 300 series stainless. Unfortunately the oxidized layer isnt very thick, and comes off with just a few passes from a wire brush. It may even be titanium as well, wich would explain the miter cuts rather than bending due to the difficulty of bending titanium tubing. Any kind of contamination in the weld will result in a rainbow like color after welding. I really like the treatment of the side windows. Looks like they are moved outwards to be flush with the body. Being totally devoid of chrome is a nice touch too, very clean looking. Mike

I've always had pretty good luck with the engine paints you can get at Auto Zone, Pep Boys, etc. Cant remember off the top of my head who makes them. VHT makes some epoxy based paints that are pretty resistant to chemicals that would work well also, I think they are listed as brake caliper paint. For engine prep I normally clean with a good degreaser followed by a spray down with either brake cleaner or electric motor cleaner. Dont use carb cleaners, since it leaves a residue that will affect the paint you apply over it. Hope this helps a little, Mike

Thanks for the input guys. I kinda figured that welding would be a bad idea. I've welded on hydraulic piping that ran up to 5000 psi without any problems, but thats still not quite the same as making a structural weld on a 1 inch shaft that will have several hundred foot pounds of tourque being applied through it. I've found a website that has some information on using the shafts from the front of an AMC eagle for this swap, so I think I will investigate that possibility. If nothing else, I guess I can weld up some mock up shafts and send them to Moser to have real ones manufactured. http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~jthagard/ Mike

I'm thinking of swapping in a rear end out of an Infiniti J-30. It is a short nose R-200 VLSD, approx 3.90 ratio, and looks almost identical to the R-230 except that it has 5 bolt CV flanges instead of the 6 bolt R-230 flanges. The "Easy" way for me to swap this would be to use the diff side of the infiniti CV's with the stub side of a 280ZXT CV. Cut the shafts near the center, bevel them to ensure a full penetration weld, and TIG weld with 80S-2 filler wire (chromoly). Maybe have a short section of Crmo pipe to slide over the welded joint, overlapping on either side by a few inches and welded to the shaft with a small fillet weld. I can weld them together without them warping or becoming offset by staggering the weld beads to even out stress induced by cooling. Has anyone tried this, or seen it done before? Any horrific failures? Any suggestions on post weld heat treatment? Any opinions or options are appreciated. Mike

Thats kind of the look I'm going for with my 240, old school muscle car, dechromed, smoothed, with just a dash of rice for seasoning. My Z will never be as cool as a Mustang fastback though.

Any pictures?

Ok, after looking at your pictures I feel much better now Our floorboards look about the same though. I'm just a few quick stomps away from being able to use my Sketchers as an auxiliary power source. My Wal Mart wire feed welder has a rough time ahead of it. Mike

Well, he might be running titanium pistons in a ceramic sleeved block, with 8 sequential intercoolers......... It could happen.

Well, I finally got motivated and have started the bodywork phase of my 240 project while I'm waiting to accumulate the rest of my drivetrain. Something I noticed right away once I started sanding away paint (and bondo) is that my car has apparently been in either one really bad accident, or several minor accidents. The only stock sheetmetal appears to be the passenger side front fender, and the roof I already knew that it had been in a rear end collision, but I didn't realize the repair work they had done was so pathetic. I noticed a small rust spot on the rear deck edge under the hatchback, near the latching mechanism. with a little elbow grease and a wire brush I managed to enlarge it to a hole the size of a quarter. Big chunks of rust breaking lose with every stroke Evidently the guys that repaired it forgot to put new sealer under it. I drilled out all the spot welds and was able to remove the piece, which I will use as a template to fab up a new one. The sheetmetal under it was pretty bad off as well, but no holes in it. I put a thick coat of Stop Rust (The Navy equivalent of POR-15) on it after wire wheeling away all of the loose rust. I won't be able to perfectly duplicate the original sheetmetal, so I'm going to re do the entire tail light panel "While I'm at it " I've also noticed that the frame rails near the rear of the front wheel wells have some rust as well, I was picking at some loose underbody coating with a screwdriver, and about 3" of it suddenly dissapeared into the frame rail Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me anyway. I'll try to post some pictures when I make some more progress. Mike

Whoa.... Awsome. I've lusted after that design since I saw "Gone in 60 seconds". Seems like the performance is a bit exagerated though: 1000+ HP through dual 2.5" exhaust? Sub 8 second quarter mile times on 245 series rear tires? 230 Mph top speed with that much open grill area? Hmmmmmm..... I don't doubt that the car would most likely put the fear of God into any that drive it, but those numbers just dont quite add up. I feel like buying some powerball tickets now.... Mike

Heres an odd thing: I went to the Nissan dealership and got a brochure for the new 350Z, and upon opening it up I could faintly smell something that smelled just like my 240Z. Probably just a coincidence that the ink they use smells like 30 year old Z, but it makes for a convincing argument that Nissan installed the old Z smell in our cars from the factory. Either that, or I'm developing a brain tumor.... "Does anyone else in here smell almonds?......." Mike

Perhaps the pring perch itself is mounted higher on the strut tube in the 280, more spring preload for the extra weight of the 280 vs the 240. I dunno, just brainstorming. Mike

Dude. Crap. Get a sawzall, welding machine, and a tube frame. Did the previous owner work at a salt mine by any chance? Hydrochloric acid factory?

Behold: Meat-O of the Booze Junkies MC! That rocks! I think...... Anyone know what a Meat-O is?