zcarnut

Use a deep well socket to press the spring into the caliper body and then install the snap ring. Having a press (hydraulic or drill) is handy but you can use a bench vise as well. If you have a junk caliper you use the internal part of the piston assembly that screws down on the threaded rod to hold the spring down while you secure the snap ring. This is the piece in the far right of the below picture. You have to grind part of this piece for better access to the snap ring, hence you need to find a used junk caliper that you can rob. To remove or install the snap ring that is buried deep inside the caliper body I use a modified heavy duty hemostat (i.e., “roach clips”). Grind down the tips so you can insert the hemostat jaws into the holes of the snap ring. Works great! BTW, the order of assembly of the caliper piston (if you do not have the FSM) is: Don’t forget that during re-assembly you must rotate _and_ push the piston into the caliper body.

Dab a little heavy grease around the perimeter of the piston top with a Q-tip to minimize any leaks. You can also use ATF for your volume measurement. It’s viscous enough not to leak. Lastly, make your volume measurement as quickly as possible.

To easily measure the volume of a piston dome just move the piston from TDC down into the cylinder a know amount, say A (in cm) just enough to cover the dome. Using a buret measure the volume on top of the piston up to the top of the cylinder. Call this B (in cc). Then the volume of the dome is then: A x PI x (D/2)^2 - B where D is the diameter of the cylinder (in cm) and PI is 3.14159.... (Fixed the units. Thanks Iskone!)

7/70 (July of 1970) is what my reference books say.

If you are using a 225mm clutch then get a 1981-84 Maxima L-series flywheel. It's already 17.5 lbs stock. And it's very easy to remove two pounds from the outer edge of the Maxima flywheel.

As an electrical engineer, I’m not a big fan of the “plug and play†or single-wire alternator concept. I pointed out in the directions “Using An Internally Regulated Alternator†(which has been copied throughout the internet) that sensing the battery voltage with a separate wire is a much better concept. This is why Nissan did it. This is also referred to as the “three-wire†concept. Single-wire alternator regulators have to sense the alternator output and not the battery. Because of the voltage drop in the wire between the alternator and the battery when the battery is being charged the battery terminal voltage will be less than the alternator output terminal. This could result in possible undercharging of the battery. However, if you want to use a single-wire alternator then you should increase the size of the [charging] wire between the alternator and the battery. You can also add another external charging wire in parallel to the one buried inside your wiring harness. Additional reading for non electrical types (with the all important pictures) can be found at: http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml [Please ignore the author’s sales pitch.] Good question. In a nut shell, no. The stock alternator and wiring harness is only designed for the stock electrical loads plus some small additional margin. Even using a three wire alternator with increased output requires a larger charging wire. On the Maxima’s that used the 90A alternator the charging wire diameter is larger than the corresponding one on the early Z cars. You should see the charging wire used on the Maxima’s with the 105A alternator. It’s almost the size of the early Z car’s battery to starter wires! So, if you are upgrading the alternator in an early Z car, then you should increase the diameter of the alternator to battery charging wire. Any new electrical loads (electric fans, megawatt stereos, etc.) should then be wired (through fuses!) directly to the battery terminal and not through the existing stock wiring harness.

The FSM says 180 to 240 ft-lbs.

12mm ring gear bolts: 98 to 112 ft-lbs (use Locktite RED) Side bearing cap bolts: 65-72 ft-lbs Rear cover bolts: 12-17 ft-lbs Drive pinion nut: 137-217 ft-lbs (check pre-load after tightening)

I used Nissan Z22 pistons in my last 3.0 liter build. They are cast and standard size is 87mm. They need to be milled 2.0mm to have a zero deck height. The milling will remove most of the dished volume (about a 4cc dish volume is left). Calculated CR with N42 head is 9.8.

In addition to Spybot and Ad-Aware, I also recommend getting a free copy of CWShredder (or cwshredder1591). It has always restored my home page after a hijack. Another good web site (with free downloads) for info is: http://forums.spywareinfo.com

According to Nissan, the four pinion open R200 was only used in the 1987 and 1988 Z31's non-turbo's. However, I've only seen them used in the 1988 300ZX.

I'm sure you can sell them. The ITS racers like the 4x4 720 diffs for the ratio (4.11) and the later ones were four pinion for added strength.

The R200 has a different method of adjusting the pre-load on the side bearings than the R180. In addition the torque values are different between the differential fasteners as are the part numbers for all the various adjusting shims. Get the _correct_ FSM.

Let me clean up the application info: The Nissan part number for the 4x4 720 diff flange you want is 38220-50W00. It was used on the 4x4 trucks from Jan 1983 to Aug 1985. The earlier 720 diff flange (Jun 1979 to Dec 1983) is the snap-in type. However, a phone call to my Nissan parts man revealed that the 38220-50W00 is no longer available new. So, unless you luck out in the junkyards I think that making an adapter would be your best bet. A flat plate drilled for both the CV axle bolt pattern and the early four-bolt R180 diff flange should work. I don’t think any welding is necessary. You can easily rebuild the CV axles yourself so I wouldn’t pay someone to do it. If you need CV axles and axle parts I suggest getting a hold of Roger at the Z Barn. (I’m very fortunate to live only twenty some miles from the Z Barn.) Some more info for you. If you find you need a different length CV axle shaft after you make your adapter, there are several different center shafts you can use: 280ZX Turbo (L side) ______ 14 3/16 inches 280ZX Turbo (R side) ______ 14 11/16 inches Z31 non-turbo (L side) _____ 15 5/16 inches 280ZX/Maxima (R180) ______ 15 7/16 inches Z31 non-turbo (R side) _____ 15 11/16 inches All the above center shafts will accept the same tripod bearings and all the CV axles that use the tripod bearings used the same six-bolt end housing piece.

My brake pedal was too soft (for me, that is) after I changed out my earlier Toyota calipers for these later ones. These calipers have four "large" pistons rather then the earlier ones that use two "large" pistons and two "small" pistons. Result: more piston area. This forced me to upgrade to a 1" diameter master cylinder.

I have thought about this already.... Yes, the CV axles dis-assemble and be re-assembled so that you have you have a “bolt-on assembly†at both ends. Of course, this requires getting four CV axles in order to make two. This is how the CV axles used by the Nissan 4x4 720 truck (1979-85) were made. To join these axles to the diff all you need is the diff flange piece used by the 4x4 720 truck This piece slides into the R180 diff and is secured by a single bolt. You usually get these pieces when you obtain a junkyard diff from a 4x4 720 truck. I looked into this as a possible way of using the earlier R180 LSD diff with the CV axles. However, if you don’t have to use the earlier R180 diff, then I think it is far easier to just to swap out the earlier R180 diff with the later CV type R180 (like used on the first generation Maxima). Why? Lots o’ reasons: You can get a better (3.70) ratio; you will probably be getting a diff with less mileage on it than yours; and since you need some R180 CV axles anyway (as well as the companion flanges) you might as well get everything you need from a single donor vehicle.

Using Earl’s Performance Products I assembled my stainless steel flex lines with a banjo fitting at one end:

What about these on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7956013292&category=33602 Powder coated and they have rubber pieces to cushion the radiator. The "Buy it Now" price is very reasonable.

I have a spare Cressida AFM on my parts shelf (that I was going to retrofit on my 810, but I went to an aftermarket ECU that uses a MAP sensor instead). It has an circular outlet with an OD of 80mm and a ID of 75mm. The inlet is rectangularly shaped, and has a 64mm x 50mm opening.... Can you tell us what a ZX turbo AFM measures?

It's been discussed already: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=95230

Here's a pic of some slightly "cleaner" R180 CV axles as shown on my 810: http://home.comcast.net/~zcarfan/R180_CVaxles.jpg (The extreme axle mis-alignment is a result of the car being on jackstands with the rear wheels off the ground.)

I hate to disagree with Mike, but I'm pretty sure all the 280ZX front calipers are the same. The Nissan parts catalog says all years 1979-83 will interchange and all the aftermarket places only sell one version caliper for the front of the 280ZX. Of course the _rear_ ZX calipers have two versions: an early one: 1979 to 1981 and the later version: 1982 and 1983. They are totally different and not interchangeable.

The 240SX master cylinder has a different bolt spacing on the mounting flange where it joins the brake booster. You will have to remove two of the master cylinder mounting studs on the S30 booster and then you will still have to slot the holes on the 240SX master. In addition the brake line attachments are in a different location on the 240SX master so you will have to make new lines. Finally, the 240SX master will probably have the proportioning valve inside, where the S30's used an external one. $200 for an S30 master cylinder?? That’s a rip off. Get one from the aftermarket. It will probably be an OEM one anyway (Nabco or Tokico). They sell on eBay all the time for under $75.