luseboy

Don't shave down the rim... that could end really badly. If the 240sx kit is anything like the other disk conversions, it will be an issue of the caliper face hitting the rim spokes. You sound like you should have plenty of clearance seeing as how a lot of 15" rims have about that much space. I'd reccomend emailing modern motorsport and asking them. Or opt for the 280zx/maxima kit which uses a smaller rotor but does have larger pistons. If you're planning on getting rims later on anyways, why not wait till you can do both and then you don't have to make a kit fit for the time being when you could have gone for a bigger rotor (more power) in the end? Or try and sell your current 14's in favor of some 15 or 16" xxr's (cheap and nor horrible) and some inexpensive tires?

Check the hinges too, as Phara mentioned, they could be bent. One could also be broken, my Z had one broken hinge and it took me a while to realize it. A 2 minute weld job and a sore head ( ) later, I had 2 functioning hinges.

Alignment may be the issue. I'm also concerned about chassis damage, it sounds to me like your T/C rod mount or strut tower has bent/deformed somehow. The car may need some adjustable control arms and t/c rods to be right again, and might even need some metal work. It might help us if you can post some pictures of the front suspension with the wheels off, as well as a picture of the strut tower in the engine bay. The other thing I'm thinking is that your front control arm bushings could be really worn, which could perhaps cause this. It would explain the positive camber anyways.

Haha I mean I'm no expert or anything, that's just my opinion on what could happen. Definitely keep your eye on it... losing brakes is a worst case scenario if you ask me haha

Could be from fluid expansion from the heat of using the brakes. I know dot fluid isn't supposed to do that, but it's still possible. Also could have something to do with seals and gaskets seating. And could also be due to the pistons finding the right spot to sit. As to whether or not that is dangerous... seems to me that it's not really dangerous, fluid level in the MC goes down when you use the brakes. It's probably better to have a little too much than too little. However if you boil the brake fluid, it could make the master cylinder cap blow off which could let the boiling brake fluid to shoot out, or somehow spill out during cornering/braking/etc, which could be very dangerous if you don't realize it on time. I'd say let a little fluid out of one of the bleed ports. Or you could syringe a little up out of the resevoir... but I'm pretty sure that's a no-no, but I can't remember why.

I don't see how it would be any different... a late model 260z is basically an early 280z with an L26. Likewise, an early 260z is basically a late model 240z with an L26.

Haha well I'd definitely recommend sectioning over the spacers. You want sectioned struts!

I've never heard of loctite changing the torque setting... It may affect it in a dry application (letting loctite dry on the bolt before installation), but even then it will be such a minimal difference, and for something like this... I don't see it as being that incredibly important. It could be important with an internal engine bolt, but you don't want to use loctite in there, and even then, I don't think it's gonna be much of a difference. Use red loctite on the flywheel to crank bolts. Less swearing will be done when heating the bolt and applying extra force for removal than would be done when the flywheel flys off and cuts your legs off . Blue loctite makes sense on the pressure plate bolts since they need to be removed for every clutch change, and they aren't that big of a bolt anyways. Not to mention it's far less dangerous if the pressure plate comes off than if the flywheel does...

Most people run a longer rear strut than front strut (not sure why but they do), although I'm sure the 3099 will work, it may be important to get a longer insert (the 3015). I'd definitely recommend sectioning... seeing as how you want to lower the car. Read the FAQ on it, and take your time. It should work out fine.

I'd say definitely use red on the flywheel bolts and blue on the pressure plate bolts. You wouldn't want to use green... that's like a penetrating thread locker to use after the bolt is tightened down. Also it's not really a very strong threadlocker. Honestly who cares if it takes a little more effort to take off the bolts, at least they won't be able to come out on their own resulting in you being about 2 feet shorter. Besides that, how often do you need to remove the flywheel? Not very often at all.

Well yes, you are correct. But then what's the point of using the 3099's versus just using the actual 240z fronts, the 3015's? And then what's the point of having coilovers anyways, since you don't want to lower much more than just lowering springs would go without sectioning.

That is most likely a good buy for a parts car. If the engine is in good shape and everything, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it, assuming you have the space. I'd offer them $100 and see what happens. But I do not reccomend attempting a restoration on that. You will end up spending a lot more time and money on it than you would if you just started off with a nicer chassis, not to mention that rear quarter panel looks super heavily rusted and I don't know if replacement qaurter panels are available. If they are, that's a lot of time and effort and swearing when you could have just bought one that needs much less chassis work for a few hundred more. That said, if you've got the space, buy the thing and strip everything off it. Extra parts never hurt...

Ya I'm almost 90% sure that it's the fuel pump. Carbs can't really get fuel into your oil unless your head is cracked/has a hole in it, or perhaps if your valve seals are really bad, but you'd be burning a lot of oil then. I can't really think of another way you can get fuel in your oil unless you accidentally poured some in.

In my opinion, that particular schrotch harness is the only one to get if you're doing any normal street driving in your Z. It is the one I will be getting. I didn't even think about the subframe connectors being a safety upgrade... makes sense though. What's with the aeroquip? Haven't heard of it before...

Wait, I hope I'm not stating the obvious... But you do know that the 3099's require sectioning, right? Usually, people use them in the front and the (3015 if i remember correctly- the front s30 shocks) in the rear, giving roughly a 1.5" section for each side. This is what I've chosen to do. I'm probably telling you something you already know, but just thought I'd make sure you knew...

What are you planning on doing with your car? If it's gonna be your DD, then things will be a little different than if it's an auto-x only car. For one, sway and strut bars don't really have any safety value to them, except that a sway bar may prevent you from flipping the car. Stiffer sway bars will also induce oversteer though which is a bit more of an immediate concern than flipping. Your Z comes stock with sway bars (I believe '72 is the first year they came with them), so you're looking into a performance bar then. Strut bars are more meant to stiffen the chassis during cornering and hard acceleration. Sure they may add some safety value, but I doubt it's anything significant. As others said, air bags are a no-go, without the other proper supporting safety features installed, the air bags may even be more dangerous than no air bags. Also, as others have said, taking a defensive driving course is really your best bet. I'm not trying to say that you'd be the cause of an accident, but merely saying that it will teach you how to get the hell out of the way! On my '73, I will be doing the following: Corbeau FX1 pro seat, Schrotch 4 pt. harness, and a properly installed kirk racing 4 point cage, with some foam around areas that might want to meet my skull. No it will not be as safe as the 2003 mini I currently drive, but at least it will be somewhat safe. I honestly really really hate to say this... but if you're looking for a safe car, the steel box from the 70's is not the ideal choice... However some things can be done to improve the safety of the car. That said, you will never come anywhere near having a car as safe as any modern car, that is, without a HUGE budget, a really knowledgeable engineer, a testing facility, and a whole lot of tinkering time.

As far as I understand it, the lash pads needed are different for every engine, dependent on valve-train wear, among other causes. As far as I understand it, you need to acctually install the cam and then measure which ones you need.

Wow subaru diffs aren't that crazy expensive... and you can get an upgrade to make it a little more locked when the LSD kicks in for not that much either. Well I guess I know what I'm gonna go with when the time comes. But for now, I'll get used to the car with an open diff. That should be the best way to go about it. Thanks for all the help guys, you've all helped me a lot with figuring this out. Thanks!

What I should really do is get a phantom grip! Don't worry, I'm kidding.

Leon, you're probably right haha. I guess in the end, I wouldn't want to lose all my hard work to one stupid mistake in the rain. I'm not saying a welded diff is gonna be the root cause, but it certainly wouldn't help. I mean in the end, this will be the first RWD car I've driven, the first car with excessive upgrades, the lightest car, the oldest car, the most powerful car, etc. etc. etc. So having a welded diff on top of that probably won't help. John I imagine you have a **** ton more driving experience than me, especially with Z's. Maybe I'll leave it open for now, and then weld it later on while I'm saving up for an LSD. Idk, like I said, it's still in the car. Gotta paint my engine bay, undercoat my front wheel wells, and put in my front suspension before I can get to the rear end. At this point, I'll probably just use the open diff for a while, then upgrade to some sort of LSD with CV's. We'll see what happens, but that's what I'm thinking at this point. Is there any real benefit of the R200 LSD out of a 300zx vs. the R180 out of the STi? is a CV axle conversion worth it?

I already have a wilwood prop. valve waiting to be installed. I'm still debating on whether or not I want to weld my diff. I guess I'll wait till I get it out of the car and everything. Who knows, maybe I'll pull it out and it'll be an LSD. That'd be very cool! Maybe I will weld, maybe I won't... Is it gonna add anything to the fun factor? That's what I'm really about...

Wow I haven't updated in a long time... Well here's some updates: My parts room now has a finished engine in it... however... look closer and you see this: Yaa... my engine fell about 3 feet straight onto asphalt. We decided to try and load it into the back of a truck using a ratchet strap instead of a chain, and well... The strap snapped. So that was a heart attack and a half, but the only damage is the crank pulley (good thing it's a harmonic balancer!), and the bolt on my engine stand (it was still bolted to the stand) which bent all the way over. I got extremely lucky. It's one of those things that everyone worries about happening but they never have happen. Well I'm an exception to that rule haha. I spent $950 in the past couple hours on parts for the front suspension/steering. I ordered: -TTT front LCA's and T/C rods -Strut mount insulators -Strut bearings -Tie rod ends -Poly tie rod end/ball joint dust boots -Aluminum RCA's off ebay -Steering rack boots -ABS steering coupler Pretty excited to get the front end back together. I just need to finish stripping all the paint out of the engine bay, figuring out a battery tray (ripped out the stock one to get to some rust), and undercoating the wheel wells. Then the front suspension can go back on. It will all be coming over the next week, but I'll be in tucson visiting my best friend. I decided on a color: the super silver that comes as an option on '12 GTR's. Won't look that nice since it'll be rattle-can, but it'll be a nice color. It will go well with the purple engine bay and red interior it will even go well with the aleica's in pink if I choose that color. I will paint once I can get the rear suspension off, and get some ZG flares for cutting/riv-nutting. This will be after I finish the front suspension, and then the car will be pushed into my driveway, cleaned underneath, and pushed back into my garage backwards.

haha and your reply is "not yet... I wish!"

Your bank account statement shows that the automotive parts expense over your account history is second only to gas. I guess I better start eating car parts and drinking gas

I didn't know welded was acctually faster. I guess it makes sense, it lets you put more power down than an open diff. I have spun on the canyons once (very sobering experience) and would have gone over the edge if the car had moved down the hill another 3 inches (literaly the front right of my bumper hit a gaurd rail 3 inches before the end of the gaurd rail). However this was about 4 months after I got my first car (well my current car still, hopefully not for much longer). I can visualize how a welded diff would make certain sketchy situations much more sketchy, that makes sense now. And an LSD is safer because it acts more like an open diff when you're not driving spirited-ley, right? I guess that makes perfect sense. I think you all are right, for now I'll learn to drive the Z with an open diff (wouldn't want to ruin it before I even really got to know it well), then I'll get an LSD later on like I had planned anyways. I guess I am still a sorta new driver (had my license 2 years), so I should stick with the open diff, considering I won't be used to the Z for a while anyways (or RWD). I guess the only other question is, would a welded diff be considerably more fun? I'm not planning on tracking the car or anything, just want a fun semi-DD/canyon carver/auto-x once in a blue moon. Thanks for the responses guys!