luseboy

I'd almost say you're buring/leaking oil in #4, that looks kinda like how some of my exhaust runners do on my P79 after some oil leaked onto them during a re-build. Check your valve seals/cylinder bore, make sure you aren't getting oil into the cylinder. If you have that many miles on the engine, and the valve seals haven't been replaced... I'd assume they're bad and replace them with some viton ones. You can get a little look into your cylinder by pulling the spark plugs and looking in with a flashlight.

Good call, these engines are pretty easy to work on. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions or anything! Some have, but I have heard of bad detonation. I know L series are pretty sensitive to detonation, especially under boost. If you used a 3mm headgasket, I'm sure it'd be fine. Just make sure you don't get a P79 head, or any others with exhaust liners if you plan to use a turbo.

Im sure you can find a decent head for pretty cheap, i think i saw a couple selling in the classifieds here. If you do the work yourself, i strongly reccomend getting the "how to rebuild your nissan/datsun OHC engine" book, it's the most useful 15 bucks i've ever spent

Ah i see what you were thinking there, makes sense. I believe you could also install the wilwood prop. Valve in the engine bay, that way the amount of flaring would be minimal. I hear good things about the rigid flaring tool, they go for about 70 bucks, i plan on getting one for when i install all new lines/fittings/etc in my car. You honestly probably wont need a bender unless you use stainless line. There's a place called fed hil that make really nice lines, i will be using them for all my lines. The stock fittings are all 10mm x 1.0 (iirc). Definitley get a line wrench! All my fittings stripped super easily using a normal wrench. The stock line is 3/16". I hope this helps, im kinda just throwing out everything i've read haha.

An adjustable proportioning valve is what you need. from azc's rear install page: " Be sure to use one of our cockpit adjustable proportioning valves to set the brake bias. Here's a typical installation of the adjustable proportioning valve along with the hydraulic line lock for the parking brake function. The stock proportioning valve has been retained and the rear brake line has been brought from it along side the trans tunnel to the new valves and then out through the floor to the splitter over differential. " This will solve your problems, you just have to screw the proportioning valve in (acctually out technically, it's counterintuitive) enough so that the fronts lock before the rears.

Sounds like either the head has been shaved and had shims under the cam towers, or he's referring to the lash pads as a "cam shim". I'd just assume the head is scrap now. So I third that you should value it as if it didn't have an engine.

As far as I know those body kits are pretty tough to get. The front is a G nose with a modified lower air dam, the fender flares appear to be super extended ZG's, and the rear spoiler is similar to the IMSA spoiler that zccjdm sells: http://www.zccjdm.com/catalog.php/azcarbum/dt73726/pd1751867/_IMSA___3_PIECE_TAIL_ . looks like the wheels are knockoff wantanbe's of some sort, or they may be actual wantanbes, I wouldn't know.

Haha ya that's what I meant. I figured as much, but hey you never know, sometimes it's the obvious things that we forget to do... that certainley has been the case with me sometimes

Have you tried adjusting the booster? It covers how to in the sticky for the wilwood master cyl.

They sell a BRE air dam... http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7AD1/50-1521 They make it in CF too.

http://www.silverminemotors.com/15-16-master-cylinder-15-16-master-cylinder.htm Expensive, but they do have them. I'm going with their stage 4 brakes, and a wilwood 1" master on my 240z booster with custom hardlines. Seems like it's hard to have too big of a master cylinder, since it will just make your brakes engage faster, which you can fix by adjusting the booster, right? Either way, I hope you figure out a solution!

Interesting to read your point of view. I will have to ask him more specifics on his problems, but he said he went through 3 or 4 of them, varying from red and yellow tops, and had them all die on him. He takes care of his stuff too, and is very knowledgeable with this type of thing. He's the go-to guy with these kind of questions at the shop I work at. Anyways he recommends the die hard to me and everyone else who've asked him, he says they're the best. And yes, you're right, any battery that isn't used properly will die prematurely. Where are you putting the battery? I had originally planned on putting the battery in the hatch, but later realized (after I drilled out all the spot welds on the battery tray and yanked it out) that the factory location really makes the most sense, considering most of the weight of the car is already on the rear wheels when you're in the car. Unless I'm mistaken on what I've just said?

I work with a guy who's really smart with this kind of thing. He has tried all the different batteries out there that are supposed to be the "best" including optimas. He says the optimas were the worst, he had to replace them about once a year. The die hard platinum is apparently the best battery money can buy. They're the same thing as another battery that sells for like $400, but are way cheaper. I haven't figured out which particular one will work the best in the Z (size wise), but I will be using one. Can anyone tell me what size is the best? I have removed my battery tray already, so I will have to make a custom tray anyways.

Ya even if the 510 has a 4 cylinder L engine, I'm pretty sure it had a different bolt pattern. Not to mention it will probably not be as strong, since it's designed for a 4 cylinder. The s13 (early 240sx, often called a 180sx) tranny would work, but requires the previously mentioned bell housing swap and machining, in addition to a custom driveshaft. Not what you're looking for. I'd say look for the same tranny, the s130 (280zx) tranny is the "best of the best" of L series tranny's, with the exception of the borg warner t5 that came in 280zx turbo's. These are very very nice, but also require a custom driveshaft, unless you're lucky enough to score a turbo driveshaft with it. That said, these transmissions usually sell for around a grand, and the driveshafts sell for close to half that, so I'd say just try and find a ZX 5 speed. The wider ratio 280z (not zx) early 5 speed is an option too (as are all the 4 speeds), but will be a downgrade from the ZX tranny. Hope this helps. ps- if you scroll down a little ways on this page there is some usefull info: http://datsunzgarage.com/engine/

Wow! Very nicely done! Are those the dapper lighting headlights? And where did you get your ZG's? I like the cf.

I agree with JMorteson, buy the seat and brackets first. Work on just cleaning up the floor panels were you can for now. I'd recommend just leaving the seat situation alone for now, and getting the rest of the car done first. That's what I've chosen to do anyways. Miata guys bolt their seats directly to the floor pans sometimes, I haven't seen anyone do this on a Z, but I know many people have put in aftermarket seats, so I'm sure there's some tricks out there. If the seat is too high up, you could always section the seat bracket mounts. I got to a similar point as you, and decided to leave it until after I've got the whole underside and suspension all done, you never know what you might need for a particular seat set up.

Well I'm sure that combo would be nice, but I don't think it can really be done, maybe if you make a custom bracket, but I think still the caliper is designed for a certain diameter rotor. I'm pretty sure you need different brackets for them, as I haven't seen it advertised anywhere that you can use either caliper on the same bracket. I might be wrong though.

Thanks for the list John! The only one I'd acctually see myself using is the bfg g force, but I haven't heard the best of things about it, and it's more expensive than the hankooks that I want, even though they only come in the 45 aspect ratio. I'm really after a summer performance tire, and an R compound would be nice when warmed up, but costs a lot, and probably wouldn't last that long, right? I'm happy with replacing my tires once a year, but more often than that would not make me happy haha.

I'm not a huge fan of the 45 profile, but the only decent tires I can get in the right width comes in 45 or lower. Stock was what, a 185/60/14? According to tire rack, that makes it a 22.7" overall diameter... here's an s30 with 225/45/15's:

I was wondering why so many posts from miata forums came up. Looks nice acctually, hardly even stretched. I prefer a sqaure sidewall over anything else, but I think it will work a lot better this way, since this way I acctually have a purpose for the ZG's. I guess I will follow other people's fitments with 9" wheels. Would it make sense to do a staggered set up with 8's in front? Seems like that'd cut down on steering effort... But then again I have seen it posted here by numerous knowledgable people that staggered wheels are acctually bad for handling on the Z considering it has the near 50-50 weight ratio. I'm not sure what I want to do there, what do you think? I'd still be running the same size on the 8's in front.

Hey, So I'm surprised I haven't seen this asked anywhere, but I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to fit 8" wheels right under zg flares. I've seen a lot of people running 9" wheels under their zg's with offsets around -25 in the rear, and -15 in the front. If I want my wheels close to flush with the inside of the flare, do I need to add another 1/2" of negative offset to get the same fit (or somewhere around there)? FWIW, I plan on getting the rota aleica wheels, which come in offsets of -5, -15, and -25, and I plan on using 225/45/15 hankook ventus rs-3's. I will probably get them in -5 and -25 and space out from there if need be. I have seen people with 9" wheels running the same tire size, but I shouldn't go off of that offset, right? Seems like everyone with zg's is running 9" or wider rims... anyone out there with 8" rims under their zg's? Or should I just get them in 9" width and still run 225's? I don't like the stretched tire look, but this seems like the only size I can get 15" tires in that would be wide enough.

Looks like the "C production" style fender flares that classic datsun sells.

Yes... that would pose some sort of a problem on your braking power... . Hadn't thought of that

this is kinda off topic, but how important is it really to have rubber insulation? It seems like there wouldn't be that much vibration going through the lines, what would be wrong with just a simple metal clamp?

The Z mail I got today listed these as a new part from MSA. Pricing is $250, and it's fiberglass. Pretty darn cool, I might have to get one. Haven't looked through all the pictures in this thread yet, but it looks awesome I think. Wondering if it would play nice with a G nose though.