luseboy

I can't fully vouch for the fitment of the G nose. My front end is all apart at the moment (no fenders/hood, etc.). I did put it up against the front of the car and it seems like it will be a good fitment, it sits straight, and seems to line up well. It is a bit of a custom install, there's mounting tabs, but they don't have holes in them or anything. I know that sounds like he's just being lazy, but it's acctually a blessing in disguise; not every Z car is created equal and some have aged differently than others so different cars will want the G nose mounted at a slightly different height/angle/etc. By not perfect I was referring to scratches and rough edges, and some small spots where a bit of the fiberglass has sorta fallen out. Also, I did get some loose strands of glass embedded in my arm and fingers from handling it, there are some stray fibers on the back of it. I like it very much though, wake up to it every morning, puts a smile on my face haha. One thing I also really like is that the fiber glass is pretty thick and rigid. It's no flimsy piece, and being 1 piece certainly helps. Also it's flat on the bottom, so I have decided I will make a custom front splitter out of aluminum sheet or plastic of some sort (purely for looks). Anyways in case you can't tell, I'm very happy with the part! Glad to hear that Justin is willing to do it. I am not surprised, and I'm sure he will do a good job. He already makes fenders and hoods in FG so I'm sure it won't be a huge hurdle for him to mate them all together.

I will have a pretty trick lookin' switch panel when it's done. I'm nowhere near ready to focus on it yet, (working on getting my front suspension installed atm), but will be pretty soon. I'm planning on having a nice head unit on the bottom, a panel of 2 gauges and a heater control knob (just for fan speed-summit racing heater) in the middle, and on top an orange electronics tpms screen. On the very bottom piece (the one with the check seatbelts light), I will have 3-4 aircraft style toggle switches for various things in the car.

Definitely pull the pan. That doesn't sound like a rod knock. Check this video: You would be hearing a knock every revolution of the crank, most likely. I could be wrong, as I'm no expert, but I don't think that sounds like a rod knock. When's the last time you changed your oil? In my mini I started having sounds that kinda sounded like a knock. I got really worried and didn't know what to do. Suddenly it dawned on me that I hadn't changed my oil when I hit 6,000 miles (synthetic oil), so I changed it and the noise went away after a few seconds, so it was most likely valvetrain noise from oil starvation. You may have a similar problem.

Grr lucky! I have a few more months before I'm ready to let my car stand on it's own 4 feet Let us know what you figure out, I'm certainley interested to know if it is good to have or not.

The only thing I've seen in person is the G nose I got from him. Judging from it, his hoods are probably good quality. My G nose isn't perfect, don't get me wrong. I will have a few hours of bondo and sanding before I can figure out mounting and paint it. But that is to be expected, and I don't mind having to do all that in the slightest. I assume his hoods are of a similar fashion, yes they're cheap and a good deal, but you've gotta put some work into them to get them perfect. That's really what a Z car is anyways, you buy it for cheap, spend some time getting it going, and end up with the best car ever haha so I don't mind. Definitely do not buy from showcars body parts. I called him at one point and left a message. I never heard back from him, and I ended up making a thread on here asking about him. Not one person had a single good thing to say. He ended up calling me back a month later, I didn't answer nor call back. Z force on the other hand, I emailed saying I wasn't ready to buy but just had some questions and everything. A week and 25 emails between the two of us later, I was sure I was gonna go that route. He ended up having a customer back out on him, so I bought the G nose the other guy didn't want. A week and a half after that, I picked it up at the greyhound station in San Fransisco. He even messaged me on facebook to make sure I knew it had arrived and wanted to make sure I was happy when I picked it up. That's what I call great service, and he has a great piece as well.

That's most likely going to take a pretty involved rebuild. I say look for a good running L6 and buy it. They aren't expensive, fairly plentiful, and you could use your current trans and everything.

Contact Justin at Z force productions. He makes a wide array of glass parts at really good prices, and his stuff is quality. I know first hand, I'm looking at the G nose I bought from him a week ago as we speak. He makes fenders and hoods already so incorprating headlight buckets shouldn't be too hard. I know he's always willing to try a new project too. zforceproductions.com

The pan isn't as low as the X member, if I remember correctly (haven't had an engine in my s30 yet). I don't think people really go low enough for it to be much of a problem usually, so I wouldn't worry about it unless you end up having a problem. It's kinda tough to high center a Z on the pan since it's like right behind the front wheels at it's highest point. That is unless you have an engine swap that puts the pan lower!

I wasn't aware that the transfer case was built into the tranny, that's really slick! I guess that explains why the engine would have to be so far forward. Holy crap that one gear in that tranny is so ground down haha that's nuts! I was merely thinking that with a tube chassis you would basically have more engine bay room to work with since tubes aren't as wide as the rails the Z uses. You would basically have the freedom to put the lower frame rail anywhere in relation to the upper rail, giving you the option to widen it as you like while still keeping the fender right where you want it. I'd think it would be easier than trying to mate the lower half of the subie to the upper half of the Z. Yes mounts would have to be made, but at least you wouldn't have to deal with re-shaping everything, you just design it to work with the engine and fenders. As for radiator placement, if worst comes to worst, you could always mount it in the hatch. I think there were a few road racers who did this for one reason or another. Or you might be able to fab up simply a chain going from the front diff in the trans, to another axle located inline with the front axle, mounted to the X member or frame rails, made to mount cv joints to it, if that makes sense. Then you could get the engine back enough for rad clearance, and have AWD. Seems like to make this work, some bamf ZG flares or wide body fenders will be in order, also some wheels that would be really sunk in a subie.

Good thing too! Ah so that explains why the baulk rings turn at a different speed. I do have the one for my model year (what I've been using) but haven't been able to figure it out yet. I haven't read through it completely. I tried to push the shift fork by hand today. It didn't seem to work. I tried oiling the coupler and synchro and baulk ring to see if I could get it to do. No beans yet. I guess I gotta pull the tail shaft too. I'll wait till I get my shifter and then decide from there.

Thanks for the help guys. I will use trany fluid instead of grease, I guess I just assumed there'd be grease in there. Is the input shaft split in the middle somewhere? I can literaly pull it straight out about half an inch. I haven't pulled it any farther than that, in fear that it will pull all the way out. Is this normal? Also is it ok to use an aerosal can of acetone to clean everything off? I won't do it until I have tranny fluid ready to put right back on it after the acetone evaporates so everything isn't dry for too long. What other fluids will I need besides tranny fluid, rtv sealer, loctite for the bolts, and maybe some grease or anti sieze for the input shaft oil seal/clutch collar shaft? Right now I'm thinking the problem is my shifter. I found an msa short shifter for sale, the person test fitted it and didn't like how hard it was to shift so I bought it from them for a bit less than new. Also ordered brass shift bushings. The shifter should be here monday or tuesday, so I can figure it out then. Hopefully having a real shifter on there will do the trick. I tried pushing the coupler on there by hand but I couldn't figure out a good way to hold the tranny so the whole thing didn't move. Maybe if I hold the output shaft against a wall, I'll give that a shot tonight.

I honestly don't see how you're going to be able to do this without spending a lot. The problem with putting the subie front end on is you will no longer be able to mount the stock fenders. Going with a tube front end won't acctually be any more expensive, if you're doing it yourself, and will yield a far better result. You can probably make it have more room to fit the engine and everything while still keeping the look of the Z. I know the subie engines have been put in Z's before, but I have yet to hear of one that held onto it's AWD. If you wanna save time and swearing, do a tube front end. Honestly you can probably get away with the stock Z engine bay, maybe by modding it a little. I wouldn't think it'd be impossible to mount the subie X member, assuming it's bolt on. In fact you might be able to make a hybrid Z/subie X member. If you aren't willing or comfortable to do a bunch of custom fab work and basically toot your own horn with the whole thing, I would say leave it as a dream and build up another AWD vehicle.

Ain't no such thing as a purist on hybridZ, have at it! Is it really esential to put the subie front clip in? Seems like you could get away with modifying the Z front end to fit the subie X member and you'd end up with a hybrid subie/Z car suspension. Also the R180 out of a wrx will bolt right up to the rear of a 240z. I think you need an adapter or something for the halfshafts to make it work but it's a common swap, well documented. You wouldn't need to mess with the rear control arms or anything. The biggest problem I forsee is getting the transfer case to fit. You'll probably have to rotate the engine/trans a bit, and widen the tranny tunnel to get it to work right, but I wouldn't know for certain. Anyways I know there are a few AWD Z cars in existence so it can be done.

Maybe grinding the peg down a bit? Or lubing where it contacts the tailgate/hatch? There's always the weld the hatch shut idea but that isn't exactly convenient .

Ok so for going into the first, it will mesh with the baulk ring, but won't go past it to the synchro hub. As for going into second, it will not mesh with the baulk ring at all. In both cases, I was turning the input shaft to no avail. tried different speeds, different amounts, different directions. Nothing. I noticed that if i pull the input shaft out away from the adapter plate a bit (it moves like a half inch. I hope this is normal?), I can sort of reposition the 4th gear synchro. Is that the cause of the problem with my 1st and 2nd gear? Also for some reason it's now really tough to get it into 5th and reverse and there's a sort of meshing, almost grinding sound coming from that area. I assume this is due to the lack of tranny fluid? a bit more spilled out from the tail end last night. Anyways I've got the bellhousing sitting with some paint stripper on it, gonna re-paint it.

Ok good thing the 5th/reverse fork is behind the adapter plate, I was getting a little pissed thinking the guy sold me a 4 speed, but there is in fact a 5th. I have been turning the input shaft, to no avail. The fork does move, and moves the coupler until it hits the baulk ring. I will give it a shot in a few minutes. Would a video help? And when I go to put the tranny back together, what all should I replace? Right now I will be doing all the bolts that hold the tail and bell housings onto the adapter plate, sealer between bell and adapter, front gasket and oil seal, and clutch fork dust boot. Anything else worth replacing while I have the trans open? And the main and input shaft bearings feel good, no pitting.out of round balls, and there doesn't seem to be any play between the two races. But I should probably repack the bearings, right? What grease should I use for that? Thanks for all the help guys!

So I bought what I believe to be a 280z 5 speed off CL a couple weeks ago, and I've been playing around with it, pulled the bell tonight. Since I got it, it hasn't been able to shift into 1st or 2nd. I don't know if it's acctually a problem, due to the fact that it has no tranny fluid in it right now, and that my "shifter" is a ratchet extension with an allen wrench in place of the shifter pin. I can get it into 3 and 4th easily, and 5th and reverse with a bit of an umph but it still goes. (the 5th gear fork is in the rear housing, right? I only have 4 gears inside the bell housing, and 2 shift forks. I hope this doesn't mean I have a 4 speed and I'm fooling myself into thinking I can shift into 5th?). Anyways I was pleased to see what looked like very little wear on the internals. 4th has a bit of grinding on the teeth, but it doesn't look too bad. I shifted it and watched the fork engage 3rd and 4th, and move as I went into reverse and 5th. Then I tried to get it into 1st and second, but it seems to be not synced to the synchro, however that works (sorry, not super knowledgable about transmissions). Basically the shift fork moves until the coupling sleeve hits the baulk ring and then it seems that the teeth somewhere don't engage and it won't go through. What's wierd is that the teeth look like they engage just fine, so idk. Could this simply be from having no lube in there? So what I'm wondering is whether or not this is a big problem, how to fix it, and if it's just caused by the fact that I'm not using a proper shifter and there's no tranny fluid. I can post pictures if need be. I'm mainly looking for your opinion on what the problem could be. I'm willing to try whatever necessary to get it to work. Firstly I should buy a shifter. Also is it bad to shift it while there is no bell on? I made sure to hold the main shaft while doing so, making sure it wouldn't pop out or anything.

Does it run when push started? What happens when you turn the key?

How old is the thermostat? It may be bad, might be worth replacing. I'd ask the same question about the water pump. Chances are also that the old water temp sensor wasn't working properly.

While learning to do this all by yourself is fantastic, and highly recommended by me (it's acctually a lot easier than you think, your biggest enemy is your own brain telling you you're over your head and making you freak out), it sounds like this problem is not from the shop. I would start with a bleed-the right way, as it's the cheapest thing you can do really. From there, it's chasing what exactly is wrong. While replacing parts is fun, it's not the best option if you don't have an overfilled wallet. Often times tuning something will fix the problem.

Could simply be that the master isn't big enough for the brake upgrade. Usually this only applies to rear disk conversions, but could also be a factor just from the fronts

If it's not a bad bleed that caused the spongy brakes, it could be worn out soft lines, incorrectly adjusted brake booster, etc. I'd vote it's a bad bleed as leon suggests. While it is possible to change the springs without removing brake lines, most shops will just remove them because it takes less time that way.

I don't plan to ever bring any of my cars into the shop unless it's to get tires installed or an alignment.

Man, I've been really liking these lately. I think I might do them. I'm just trying to figure out how much spacer I'd need. I don't want to have to run like 3" spacers lol.

I can't see any problems with using the zx bell housing. The only external differences between the N/A zx tranny and the 280z 5 speed are the shifter ears and the rear mounting ear(s). As far as I know, the bellhousing is almost exactly the same. I think the clutch fork and slave mounting points may be a bit different, but I'm not sure. It is a shame to see a ZX trans wasted. I have a 280z 5 speed trans that I just picked up the other day for 80 bucks. I wanted a 280zx trans but decided I will make do with the 280z for now. Later on I will get a t5 or do what you're doing; the 240sx trans.