zohanisback

Thanks guys! As you can see by my progress, school definitely takes a toll on the work rate though. It is still waxed with a layer of PVA in the garage ready to pop the reverse mold. Fauxre: I mounted it, made the extension above the window seal line, then used a cutoff wheel to cut the bolts on the firewall to remove the dash (the lower ones just unscrewed). For finished mounting, a custom mount to the firewall will be made which will work in conjunction with the lower bolt mounts. The firewall mount will be glassed on from the back of the dash and bolted in from the engine side. Nelsonian: Planning on pulling the mold this week. Maybe next week. I'm in second year, so it's the busiest year of the program. Definitely appreciate all the encouragement though. By Christmas break we will have a working prototype in the car.

More updates guys! I did three lay-ups with the fiberglass on the fabric to give three layers, then added more here and there to fill in where the fabric sagged from the weight of the resin. After that, I started applying resin over the entire dash in preparation for making a glass smooth surface for pulling the mold. So far so good, and by this weekend I hope to have a mold pulled from the original dash. By next weekend we might have a pulled dash, and hopefully a week later I can start upholstering it as a prototype. Will keep you guys updated! Fixing a couple spots: Fabric with resin plus one layer fiberglass: Two layers fiberglass: Dash removed in prep for final resin coat 3 layers of fiberglass plus fill where there were low spots. Dash will be cut back on top about 2 inches. It will provide full concealment of window glass lower seal. Two thick coats of resin over the entire dash in prep for popping a mold off the plug.

LOL! No shame, I love it. I've bought more than my share of eBay parts. The $90 clutch was probably the worst decision. Got about 12k of rough driving out of it on my truck, though.

Your input needed guys: Got the final layup for the fabric and area around the trim. I had to use fabric to get the angle and fiberglass close enough to hide the window rubber seal. What do you guys think before I lay the resin down on the fabric and plug? No going back pretty soon! Thanks!

Keep in mind that the transmissions actually don't mean anything though, because the cog is paired with the diff only. Any transmission can be used with any diff and its corresponding cog and it should read accurately. Thus, I have only a few things I can come up with: 1. Your speedo reads slow like all old cars. how far off was it at 60mph? My datsun read 6mph slow at 60mph. So I would routinely drive 73 to keep up with traffic going 65. With old speedos, the faster you go, the wider the variance. So that guy that says he did 130 in his old Chevy nova ... probably needs a reality check. 2.Tire size is going to change the reading a LOT! You can even out the old speedo by raising tire size a bit. Will let you take control of that turbo more, too! 3. Finally, don't rely on the color of the cog. Count the teeth number to be sure. The fact that a black cog on a 3.54 had good speedo readings seems to me that maybe it took advantage of the older speedo to even things out. Not sure if that logistics of the gearing works (I'm too tired to figure it out). Here are the teeth number, courtesy of one of my favorite websites: http://datsunzgarage.com/engine/ YELLOW is the 16 tooth for the 3.36 BLACK is the 17 tooth for the 3.54 BLUE is the 18 tooth for the 3.70 WHITE is the 19 tooth for the 3.90 RED is the 20 tooth for the 4.11 PURPLE is the 21 tooth for the 4.38

Hmmm.... I'm thinking signals and reverse light causes ignition fault and kills coil voltage? It wouldn't be a fault to ground, it would be an open circuit fault, I think it what they call it? You can effectively narrow this down (hopefully), to the steering column area and anywhere the reverse light lights intersect with the turn signal switch and relay. Should only be a half dozen spots or so. Either way, this one is gonna suck...

Wow... Super good runs. I loved the videos! Do you think the fact he had a Turbo 350 helps his time out a little? Unless you are super good shifting, that is. Your launches looked pretty solid regardless. I know I'm probably not fast enough to compete with a well done Auto. Great times though. Dude... RIGHT!?

We had a post not too long ago on either here or classic z about a guy with a similar problem. I second Stravi's idea about heat soak. You can get vapor lock in fuel lines from too much heat. It deals a pretty big blow to engine performance when this happens. HOWEVER, I actually would suspect a problem with the fuel pressure regulator. It's one of the few parts on the car that can cause every symptom you are having if it goes out. Are your tail pipes pretty black inside? A bad regulator sends excess fuel into the car's engine, which makes it run richer. Also makes starting hard sometimes, too (both hot and cold).

There is a reason no one else has answered this... It's kind of a tough one. First off, I read with horror when you said you had 39:11 and bought a 3.54 diff... But it's an easy mistake if you forget diffs are all about ratios. To answer your question, there are only a few things that could cause the problem: The cog in transmission, the diff itself, or the speedometer gauge. I absolutely have NO idea why you had good readings before, but my bet is that if you change that white cog out for a 3.54 on, you should be pretty golden. It's an inexpensive test, anyway. Also remember that over time, older cars read faster than what they are actually going. That's my experience with nearly every older car I've driven.

I anyone interested in me making a Google doc we can all access? You can organize it by weight or name so you can view the items easier and select which ones are priority. 35# for a seat?!!? Good thing those were the first to go!

Alright guys, I got the pics from last night pulled off and another video put up. The entire dash has bondo on it. The corners and the transition line to the passenger side dash are not complete. As I mentioned, I decided against the symmetry on either side of the center dash when it comes to the lines, in favor of asmmetry which I felt ties the center dash and gauge cluster together. Making a "V" out of the center dash sides would have been cool, but in the end I think this will also give more styling options. Here's what I had in mind for the center: Here is what it ultimately ended up as: Here are the rest of the pictures: Pretty good so far here. The gauge shroud is the bane of my existence, but Jon did a good job laying the bondo. One more layer and a good sand and it should be pretty close. *fingers crossed*

The 240sx dashes look pretty good. I almost went with one before deciding to design my own. The ultimate deal breaker for me was: Limited room for an 8" touch screen Poor vent placement Oval, instead of the slicker round bezel vents Not enough 3-d styling, particularly when it came to the center dash to passenger dash transition (I love a good line and curve) Too big--I really wanted to open up the s30 interior quite a bit. It's already pretty cramped, and ultimately I want to make a clean performance vehicle with a touch of luxurious flair Outdated climate control bar Outdated (think ford escort) gauges Things I like about the 240sx dash are: Fairly easy adaption to s30 Great surface area Plenty of switch room Lots of gauge cluster room Lots of behind-the-dash room (bigger climate control components) I'm really struggling right now between a carbon fiber wrap or a synthetic leather on my dash. I was thinking maybe a nice carbon fiber over the center dash and gauge cluster area, with a sweet synthetic leather wrap over the rest. Just one idea. But agreed, a purely carbon fiber dash can loose a lot of weight. The dash we are currently building discards the existing metal frame. A carbon fiber dash could cut out a significant weight from the stock dash. Probably at least 60% by very conservative estimates.

Yes, sorry for the delay guys. School took top priority up until about two weeks ago, so I had to lay this project aside for a bit. Kinda the story of my life, lol. Plan is to have the plug done this weekend and reverse mold within a few weeks. From there I need to make the gauge pod, then it's done. Here are a few more picture updates and a video update! The main thing I did in the last 4-5 days was added more bondo and started sanding like crazy on it. It's starting to come together pretty good now, actually. Just filling on where I cut the foam too much (ugg) and sanding down where I had too much. Then sanding the bondo coats and getting it as perfect as possible.

I get your point and completely agree. Any time someone tries to get a classic car for a profit... LOL. Might as well start investing in those South American Realestate scams. You might have better luck if you can get pain and suffering from a lawsuit. In Eastern Washington, where I just moved from, a non-running Z was 400 - 600 bucks. I loved it. I picked up my 280zx for the 5 spd swap for $100. I've made $150 off it so far, and still have parts laying around.

Wow, the color is STUNNING. My buddy is painting his 260z a very similar color. I'm struggling between red, blue, and a smoking grey. Here's mine on the rotisserie.