zohanisback

I agree. Wouldn't mind grabbing one myself actually. So expensive when you can pull a camaro tank out of a junkyard though.

Just read through the entire post. Great project and build! Glad to see you consistently update us when you get something else done. Love the fender flares and roll cage. Overall I think the car is gorgeous, and as a 260z owner, I think you made the right choice, lol. I did notice though...is that rust on the right rear of the car? What are your long term plans for the car? Let us know how the noise reduction is. I wouldn't mind using that or a lot of rubberized coating and sound proof padding. Really want mine to be pretty quiet. It was way too noisy before I started the tear-down.

If that's true, I might definitely consider getting a new tank. Especially after a swap. Some people do the LS1 tank conversions, which is what I plan to do. If you absolutely have to have another clean S30 tank, I have one which has a very, very clean interior.

Oh Fontana? Yeah I go there all the time for estate sales, car parts (you guys have tons of yards over there), and industrial supplies. Pretty good place. Ahh yes, the 91. I swear I'll never do it again if I can avoid it. And yeah, we should check out each other's projects. Do you have a build thread? One of my fellow classmates is the one who got me into Z cars and is redoing a 240z and 260z in our spare medical school time (ha!). Anyway, you're always more than welcome to check it out. AND NOW FOR UPDATES: I did the foam yesterday afternoon. Today was too cold for the two part urethane, so I didn't bother trying to foam anymore. Here are the pics with the foam on part of the passenger side after two pours: And....a video for you viewing pleasure...

I might do a Google search for Datsun Classifieds and post a wanted ad there, too.

Nelsonian: That's a fantastic idea! I personally wouldn't integrate it into my design at this point, but I could definitely add it once I have a fiberglass dash pulled from the plug. I'm thinking Kevlar reinforced Carbon Fiber coating for style and strength during hard pulls through 2nd gear. TRD_240z: Thanks! I'm actually located in San Bernardino/Redlands. Norco isn't that far away. Just down there by Corona. I used to work in Anaheim as an electrician, so I made the grueling commute each day at 4am. Ugg, glad that's over!

So what I finished doing was the right side of the instrument cluster and the center dash. I really don't like how the right side of the cluster turned out because it looks like a dent, so I am going to go ahead and foam in that area and level it off close to the center dash curve. The dash is now out of the car, as you will see in later pics. It came right out with no problems, even after all that welding. I already mentioned that I bought in preparation for foaming and fiberglassing the mold: Two part urethane foam Release wax PVA 1.5 and 2 oz fiberglass Fiberglass roller 2" ABS for gauges Polyester resin Hardener And here are the pics of what's been done. Center panel installed for a test run of what it will look like and maybe what the general curve will be. Ugg, that dent I "made" on the right side of the cluser looks bad. Definitely going to be using a lot of foam to level it out with the left side of the center dash. Might be able to actually fit this center console in here, maybe.... Testing a rough S shape for the center dash. Decided I didn't like it as much as a concave curve many of the newer and modern dashes have. An S shape would be amazing, but would have require more thought into how the shifter it placed and a harsher initial curve right off the dash. This stuff is amazing. I filled each little cup with about 2 mm of the liquid, then combined them. It is "cold" here in SoCal, so it only expanded about 20x, but still was very impressive. Hardens to workable in about 30 minutes. This was basically a test to see if the foam actually sticks to metal. Strangely, it broke away from the cardboard pretty easily. Just a few good tugs. But getting that metal piece off, even after trimming the foam wrapped around the edge, was nearly impossible. I believe I can pour it right on the dash. Tranny tunnel trim tacked up and center console fit over it. I do believe that with some trimming, the center console will work with this design. For myself, I intend to redesign the center console with cup holders. Without the console in place. Looks pretty rough with the box edges, but nothing a little foam won't take care of! Yup, out of the car again already! Stands up nicely and came right out without any problems. Mounting points were well preserved. Used a wire wheel over the entire dash to clear out welding slag and roughen up the metal further for foam placement tomorrow. Looking pretty good. I like the brushed look. And some youtube vids: And part "2":

Thank you. Heading back out right now. Picked up two part urethane foam, release wax, PVA, 1.5 and 2 oz fiberglass, fiberglass roller, 2" ABS for gauges, and polyester resin and hardener tonight. $175 bucks. Wow... But I got a gallon of PVA, enough urethane liquid foam to do some other interior parts, too, and a gallon of poly resin. 4 yards of 1.5 oz and 2 of 2 oz fiber. Should be good to go for a first run. Might need some gelcoat... :-/ We'll see. Either way I can replicate other car parts now, too. Kinda thinking of doing a center dash and fiberglass trim parts. Maybe....

With enough fiberglass and cutting, anything is possible. To directly answer your question though, I do not know. Looks close, but the E-brake is in a different place and would need modification. Length looks pretty close to me. The shifter looks maybe a little to far forward on the Z3 one. Maybe it's just me. But you can always do some custom work.

And.....more updates just in time for Christmas. Basically copied the driver side dash end near the door exactly the same as the passenger side. But it wraps smoothly into the gauge cluster area and finished on top. The design will make the right side of the dash cluster stick out less near the bottom right because it molds into the center dash area smoothly. Unless you guys think this is a big mistake, in which case some foam and more metal can remedy it. I just felt like a unique, more styled curve near the center dash part of the cluster would make the center dash feel more uniform, but of course, at the expense of symmetry in the gauge cluster . I figure it's a small price to pay, and really gives the dash a uniqueness. Look close at the pics near the end and tell me what you think. Cheers! Overview of the dash on the driver side all cut out. Starting to cut out the instrument cluster. Notice on subsequent images that the lines marked with a sharpie are not actually a fair representation of the gauge size since they are outlines. Since I will be foaming and smoothing the cluster panel and the walls are bowed out, I will bring the final surface closer to the driver, thus making the total panel size larger. Finally installed in the car. Welded in temporarily. It was a little crooked. >_< Foam and resin, baby! Boom! Driver side panel left of gauge cluster almost done. Space for buttons, and the shroud over the cluster in place to provide a rough base for the foam shroud to follow. Notice on the right side of the shroud/arch thingy that it needs to be cut. This is due to the fact that the dash actually forms a semi circle around the occupants. The gauge panel was welded in at a 90 degree angle (ha.....or thereabouts) to the driver. The shroud was welded in parallel with the panel. But the dash angle as you move toward the center is AWAY from the driver and toward the firewall. So I had to trim down the shroud down on the right to make it meet the left side of the center dash better. See following pics for this. ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOTS. Really shows the unique curve we through in with the dash. Starts inverted at a negative angle, then ends up positively angles near the middle. Wow! Shroud Comparison 1. Here is what I'm talking about below in regards to making the right side of the shroud end up further toward the firewall than the left. In this picture it is symmetrical, but look at the angle needed to meet the center dash! It would be nearly impossible to do this and make it look good. Shroud Comparison 2. Here is where it is finally trimmed and a mock-up made from cardboard is installed. The right side of the cluster shroud is now trimmed further toward the firewall, making the gauge cluster shroud unsymmetrical, but ultimately making the center dash more symmetrical and reducing the need for a crazy angle to meet the right side shroud with the left side center dash. Lol, that was a mouthful. Looking pretty darn good, in my opinion. Ugg... Cardboard looks like crap from this angle. They'll be a lot of foam filling in the left side of the shroud curve. Don't worry, lol. Shroud Comparison 3. NICE! Love this shot. Really shows the angle cutout on the right side cluster shroud. That's it guys, let me know what you think. I was gonna post a video of me grinding down the frame in prep for the shroud, but it was just too long and boring.

Did interior lights fail, too? Dash middle light, etc?

Whatsup man? There are plenty of places that sell what I believe are "rad" bumpers. Here are some below: http://www.andysautosport.com/datsun/1979_1983_280zx/exterior/body_kits/xenon/ http://www.zccjdm.com/catalog.php/azcarbum/dt46936/_240ZG___G_Nose_Kit_ (If you like the G-nose style) http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/7FAD (one of my favorites) http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/240z.html (if you are willing to modify it to accept a 240z part) Anyway, Google Image search "Datsun Air Dam" and you'll find tons more air dams people have modified and bought. There ya go. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Looks awesome. I also have to just throw out there that I had a cheap 30 buck eBay N1 muffler I through on a 2.5" exhaust. I also had the muffler guys laugh as they put it on, but when I drove off, it sounded super good. Haha, a fart can on a four banger honda sounds awful, but on a datsun, they sound super good. Just leave the silencer in for a nice smooth whiz through the entire power band. Inline6, yours looks super clean though! I want to put borla race exhaust or apexi on my ls1 datsun. There was a youtube video out there with a lexus v8 running apexi n1 mufflers. It totally disguises the fact you have a v8 under the hood and makes it sound more like a well done supra motor. Lol, trying to hide the fact that I have a v8 for a better "sleeper" effect. Nice workon yours!

Carbed 5.3? Sweet! Sounds like it will do the job nicely. Did you find it hard to remove the wheel storage? Also, what is the advantage of running a fuel cell? Less sloshing on corners? EDIT: Yeah, I am a total noob at fuel stuff. I was intending to just use a tank from an LS1 camaro.

Looks awesome! It looks like your door is two piece in the last picture? I'm noticing the fuel cell cover where the inlet and outlet is still falls a little left of the door. Is it hard to remove it? Or were you just making the door for line servicing more than anything? Are you running an external or internal pump? Either way, looks good.

I'm glad someone finally did this. Make sure you optimize the tags on YouTube. Last time I did this, I had to find generic U-joint video for a driveshaft and front axles... Ugg... Nice work!

Geeeeeeeeeez..... Was it rusty enough for your taste? Haha! Props for saving her man. That's ridiculous. R_3: Your car is gorgeous, nice work man.

My wife definitely thinks the Datsun takes a lot of my time. Worst still, she doesn't think Datsuns are even the least bit attractive. But...despite all this she is very patient with my time and money spent on my cars, especially since I am pretty frugal and do all the work myself/carefully troubleshoot before throwing money at stuff. That said, I always make sure I spend enough time with her, too. Relationships are built on time spent together and should come first if you want to preserve that. This is especially true if your better half doesn't like cars and doesn't find them to be a common interest. If I spend 20 hours out in the garage (which I can routinely do on school breaks), I make sure I spend a comparable amount of time with her, even if it's just cuddling up next to her on the couch and studying. Made it 7 years so far. Wife doesn't complain and supports my automotive ventures, so I think I've struck a happy balance.

I wanted to keep it WRX style, but as we were cutting we came up with the idea of the twisted curve on the passenger side, and it looks SO good when you can see it. It won't disappoint, for sure. I would even venture to guess that this is gonna look way cooler. Still need to figure out the glove box though... :-/ As far as the middle dash goes, it will be pretty close to WRX and RX8 style. The instrument cluster and content to the left will be VERY close to WRX style. But more condensed because the dash is so much narrower from the width of the datsun. Whereas the WRX dash has about 4-5 inches of room to the left of the cluster, this dash will only have about 2-3. Much more like an RX8. Going out to work on the dash again tonight. Will keep you guys updated.

^^^ +1 Also, depending on how much work you want to put into it, give the bushings, suspension, and oil/transmission a once over. The suspension can get locked up, as it did on my car. The suspension rubber sometimes shreds off, too, facilitating a fast decline in shock life. Check the fusebox and harness for sketchy wiring, too. My car was a mess, and I have to redo the entire thing now (not a big deal since I am swapping in an LS1). An old trick I use for cars which have an oil pan but the owner says "doesn't leak" is look for spots on the pavement where the car is parked. Not always accurate, but I once almost bought a Mercedes a Romanian guy said didn't leak. Checked under it and noticed a drip mark. Asked if it leaked and he said no. Asked him if he always parks it in the same place. He said yes, so I said there were tiny oil spots all over the place. He later admitted it leaked about a quart of oil every few weeks. Passed on the vehicle because I can't trust a seller who lies about something as small as an oil leak. Who knows if it passed smog. Good luck!

Probably.........going to delete the glove box on the plug, then fiberglass brackets for a glove box back in once I have a dash finished. Here is my progress so far in video and picture form. Have a fellow med school student also big into cars helping me with this project, so the work done reflects both of our efforts.

Alright, started making mods to the frame. It looks super neat with modern style lines. I will try to get pics up tomorrow. The big question I need feedback on is whether you guys would sacrifice a glove box for better style lines, or if a glove box is necessary in a dash. Space is tight and integrating both is possible, but the lines will have to be simpler. Kinda torn on what I should do. Thanks guys!

Go full custom! Haha, that's the rebel in me, at least. My 260z is going full custom. Pretty sure I won't even stick on the original decals and might just call it a kit car... Maybe... Idk, I feel like I owe something to Datsun, so maybe the decals will stay. As far as the damaged G35, they make bondo for that, lol. No that really sucks man and sorry to hear that! I agree with you the bumpers for these cars are not their shining achievement, for sure! Taking them off was the right call by my standards. At any rate, looks like you got a clean car and welcome to the forums.

Got the dash sketch kinda finished. Planning to make the instrument cluster look more like a GTO dash like what you see below. The reason the sketch shows a weird center instrument cluster is because I have decided to use a RX-2N multifunction gauge from a motorcycle as the main gauge for RPM and speed. Has nice startup gauge sweep, and looks amazing. Of course, the dash will be flat in back and I'll cut it out after I finish it, that way I can mock-up gauges how I want before cutting out the spots for them in the fiberglass. The design features 3 gauge pods reminiscent ever so slightly of the original design. Below are two bezel vents, and between those are the defrost, hazard, accessory buttons, maybe A/C, recirculation, and on/off button for the car computer, etc. This bar could also be modified to fit a status bar, if one so desired to do something like that. To the left of the driver are for turning the lights on, and maybe mirror control/cruise control if I choose to equip it. Still thinking about the possibility of producing multiple copies of the dash for others wanting to modernize. With that in mind, what suggestions do you all have regarding my design? Why do you like/don't like? Again, instrument cluster will be modified more than what's on paper, but the general idea?

No worries. And yeah, don't forget this: https://www.google.com/search?q=datsun+classifieds If I had a 240, I'd be all over this, but alas....a 260z with an LS1 swap is my future. Suspension parts sound pretty good if you have a 240z, though.