ehren

yeah man i'll get some specs for you

Thanks. I figured out my issue. I'm using those bolt in, urethane camber plate/insulator things and there were some conflicting parts to deal with but i got it sorted. I lowered the back end down on my wheel/tire combo and it is SLAMMED. LOL Gonna have to make some adjustments. I'm still interested in seeing your parts list and how it looks on wheels.

Thanks for the reply. I'm interested in seeing all the individual parts you used to assemble the upper part of the coilover. The insulator and all that stuff. I think I figured out what my problem was but if I saw the layout of your parts it would be a tremendous help. Thanks again

Could you give me a breakdown of the parts you are using to put the coilovers together? I'm stuck on mine. I tried to assemble the rears last night and I can't get it all together with enough room for the nut on top of the strut. Even compressing the spring doesn't make a difference...

I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet but if you are sectioning the strut tubes for the ground control setup, you can't compare measurements between a 240z and a 280z. The 280 has longer strut housings. I am in the middle of my suspension build and I am swapping the front struts in to the rear housings and using MR2 struts up front. Near as I can tell, this requires you to section about 3 inches out of the strut housings. (I think you only need to section about 1.75" if it's a 240z.) My question now is about the placement of the weld ring... if you've sectioned 3 inches out of the strut housing, does that mean you should lower that weld ring 3" from Ground Control directions? Like if their instructions say to weld it 8" up from the bottom, do I weld it at 5" to compensate for the section I removed? Confusing enough? LOL

rraad thanks

nice. sorry if I missed it but what headlights did you put in there?

man crazy project. respect.

amazing work! love it

Finally got around to cutting my rear strut tubes down. I think I did ok. The total length of the tube ended up being just a hair under 13 inches. The front strut inserts sit nice and snug in there and the glands nuts are doing their job. Time to get some shielding gas for my Hobart and weld it all up. I'm still waiting on the MR2 struts that I ordered and I'll be ordering my GC setup this week. I'm actually getting excited about this now. I think as long as I don't run in to any major hurdles, I'll have this thing back on wheels before the end of April. Woooot

damn dude! your freaking lip. holy crap. Those grinders are nasty. I've seen a bunch of injuries with those things. I've been using them for over ten years and they still scare me. Well I'm sure you'll heal up and the little scar will make for a good story. Great work on the Z!

nice work bruh

Ok so here's a little tidbit of info concerning the ground control install in a 280z. As I figured, it's always more complicated than 1,2,3. As far as using those MR2 struts... The gland nut at the top of the strut tube is too small to fit the diameter of the MR2 strut insert. I'm gonna have to take the gland nuts to a shop and have them machine out about an 1/8 of an inch so the strut insert will actually lock in to place. For those that haven't done this install, you take the front struts and put them in the rear tubes, then you put MR2 struts in the front tubes. This allows you to section about 3 inches out of each strut tube because you've got shorter struts. Again, I'm working on a 280z and obviously there are minor differences between this and the 240z. I'll post again when I actually have something to show.

yeah well Sirpent... I don't know what to say haha. Your dedication to your project is incredible. i don't have that kind of patience. I generally like to keep my projects simple. When It comes to this hobby, I'm a 'path of least resistance' kind of guy. Working on cars is therapeutic for me. I have a day job as a sculptor for a collectables company, so doing something more objective and mechanical on the weekend kind of puts my mind at ease. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time and I like to drive the cars I have, so I try to get my projects on the road as quickly as possible and then tinker with them until I get bored. I can't see myself getting involved in a project that drags on for years. Of course I'm not not being critical of others that spend months or years creating something flawless. This is just my approach to the hobby. I'm planning on doing a very mild 302 build. Basically stock with a little cam and some head port work. I'm going to leave the interior basically gutted for the time being so if I make 220hp at the crank it should be a nice power to weight ratio. I'm sure I'll have it at the drag strip and maybe some auto x stuff. I'll start small and work my way up until I feel I've gotten what I want out of it. Cheers!!

jeeeezus that is a lot of work. insane

LOL ok I found my receipt for the GC setup. I bought it from Techno Toy over 2 years ago. haha. I called them and there isn't much they can do for me because they don't even carry GC products anymore. So it looks like I'll have a 240z GC setup for sale if anyone is interested. I just ordered the rear strut inserts for the MR2. I'll think I'll know by the end of the week if all this is gonna work. I'll post up details once I have it figured out. In other small news, I replaced those mustache bar bushings. It was relatively simple. I had to burn the old ones out. I've never actually done that before. It was kinda fun haha.

Updates on this??

I've started reassembling the suspension. I forgot that I wanted to replace those mustache bar bushings so I bought those and I'll install them this weekend. I also really need more info on the install of the ground control setup. I PLAN on following the same steps mentioned here - http://dirtys30.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-240z-ground-control-coilovers-w.html BUT I have a question about the strut inserts... He's doing this on a 240z. As I found out, the strut tubes on a 280z are larger diameter. So will the MR2 struts actually work? Anyone? I also finally finished cleaning the gas tank out. Fortunately there was minimal rust. Just lots of sludge from old gas. I poured two gallons of acetone in it with a bunch of nuts and bolts. I sealed the tank up, sloshed it around for a while then let it soak for a week. Sloshed the acetone around in there 3 or 4 times during the week, Then drained it. I put a bunch of dishsoap in it, then power washed the heck out of it. Looks like that did the trick. It's like 90% clean. I'll probably have to clean my fuel filter out a bunch of times when I finally drive it but I think It's all good now.

Thanks for posting this. I'm doing a GC install right now and it's a bit confusing. I'll post up my experience as soon as I have something to share

So the car is pretty much a shell now. Suspension, drivetrain and 90% of the interior has been removed. Time to start cleaning parts and going in a forward direction. This is SO much faster than building a hot rod. haha

cool build. love the coilover approach

ugh so i had my first minor setback today. Realized that i was sent an incorrect Ground Control setup. For some reason I received the sleeves and springs for a 240z. For anyone curious about why this matters - the 280z strut housings are 2.175" and the 240z's are 2". fail. Everything else seems good. I have most of the front suspension removed at this point and I should be ready to start reassembly in a couple weeks. Just gotta get the GC situation sorted out.

insane amount of work dude.

i gotta get new pins. I beat the hell outta the threads on the old ones. This car is really clean actually. Very little rust. Just a ton of dust from sitting around in Idaho. And of course all the plastic and rubber is toast. But I'm building this as stripped down, bare bones car. I may not even put a dash in it. Just a crash bar with gauges. I'm hoping to keep the weight around 2300lbs. With a little over 300hp it should be a ton of fun. Considering how light the car will be I was considering leaving the rear drums on there, but now that I have everything apart... i dunno. We'll see.

Dropped the rear suspension out. I even removed my spindle pins. Took 5 minutes with a hammer, some pb blaster, and a long drift. No torch. HA! I need to get some more jack stands so I can drop the front suspension out next. I'll be doing my GC coilover install and replacing all the old dryrotted bushings. Seriously considering doing a rear disc brake swap while I have everything apart. thoughts? Drum brakes suck.