aviatorx

As evidenced in the many post on Showcars, I've had NOTHING but bad experiences there and would advise taking your business elsewhere. They are completely unresponsive after the sale, and the g-nose will require considerable work to get a correct fit - nearly to the point where you may just as well have built one up yourself! Further to the point of this guy being shameless, he has the balls to use one of MY pics to advertise his crap on the web! John Washington's posts on the cost of a quality parts rings true, and this is a piece that you should not go cheap on (unless you really want to become well versed in fiberglass manufacturing and repair) - let my mistake be your lesson! If you MUST have the Showcars nose just for the looks - then be forewarned... that $495.00 + $75.0 shipping is only the beginning. If John Washington had a nose to sell at $1500.00 I buy it.

You are looking at one of the few complete floorpans left on the planet! Just like frame rails, inner rocker panels, inner fender wells, etc. these are NLA and haven't been available for YEARS! ...and I mean 10+! In 1979 I bought a pair of frame rails for my old 240Z at $400.00each - and they were hard to find then! You could get a floorpan then from Japan for ~$800.00. I'm surprised you saw this on eBay...... You can try to keep a search going there, and let all the parts guys you know that you are looking for one ..... but you might just be looking at the last one around...

I don't think that trying to keep your frame rails water tight is the right way to go ..... and I'm sure you'll get more than a few opinions on the subject - but here's mine! You might think about ensuring that whatever water gets in there has a path out, so that there is never any standing water. The rails are open in the front at the radiator support - a good entry point for water off of the road. It's nearly all downhill from there past the firewall to the under-seat supports. A couple of drain holes back there will solve the water retention issue, and if you are paranoid you can even use body drain plugs that you could open every now and again. A couple of 1/2" to 3/4" drains will not sacrifice any rail strength. Stopping rust formation from a draining rail is a easy as providing for a good anticorrosive to the inside of the rail with a spray wand - and to do that you'd need a few access holes that could double as drains. Even if you did make the rails water tight you'd still have condensation occuring in there that would eventually eat through the rails. The best solution isn't always to try to keep the water out, but to manage it.

Perhaps our collective salvation lies in the hands of John Washington! If he decides to put out a g-nose, we can all be assured that it will be of high quality - and FIT! Contact him at [/url]http://www.reactionresearch.com and let him know nof your interest. ... John? ....are you listening?!

John, Got any pics of your installation? Any pics of the modifications to the g-nose?

Absolutely gorgeous - congradulations on the completion!

... good point Mike!

The bearings are friction fit to the housings and don't require any type of Locktite....If you are spinning the outer race then you have other problems! I don't think you'll find a gearbox that requires you to adhere the bearing to the case ... As far as selecting a bearing, one with a higher ball count may theroetically be able to carry a higher side load by spreading the load over a greater surface area, but the main concern is getting the dimensions correct for a proper friction fit on both the shaft and bearing seat. Sounds like a trial and error proposition to me at best. Go for it and reply with your results! Some have posted using a Redline oil Vs standard gear oil in T5's and have mentioned some benefit - do a search on Redline oil and see what pops up. Here's one thread: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21091&highlight=redline+oil

I'd say the countershaft bearings are the likely culprit as they take enormous side loads and usually go first. The center countershaft bearing is a pain in the a$$ to remove and replace as it requires a press for both operations, and is more than likely the cause of your noise. Dougs suggestion is a good one - inspect what you can without removing the tranny, but taking it out is the only way to get a good view. And it's really not that difficult to remove and reinstall... I had the center bearing go on mine...the inner race shattered and the race and ball bearings wound up in the gear sump. The outer race remained in the center carrier. I don't know how it didn't do any damage on the way, but all the gear teeth are fine. Once the center bearing goes, you have only the two end bearings taking all that side load, and they will eventually fail as well.

Personally, If I had to do it all over again I'd stay away from Showcars - I bought a g-nose and am still unhappy with it. Poor fit is the primary problem, and lack of response to getting the issue delt with is the other. ....and now I see he's using some pics of my car to advertise the g-nose on Ebay! Like I'm a happy buyer! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2415980677&category=42611 ...my car is the green 280 Frankly, this piece is going to cost another couple of hundred to correct. I like the look, but at the same cost I could have gone original....

It's fairly easy to remove - takes a bit of maneuvering to get the glass out of the frame/door after you unbolt it.... but then yours is in pieces! Just remove the door panel and plastic weather sheild (if you have it still!), then unbolt the glass from the sissor jack and remove whatever you have remainng. To install, start the glass into the door frame (while standing at the inside of the door) with the forward bottom edege first and work it down into the door with the window crank fully lowered to give you maximum maneuvering room. Once you get the leading edege in, keep moving the glass forward as you bring the rear down into the door frame - kind of like a scooping motion. Once the bottom of the glass in within the door frame, wind up the window crank to meet the glass, align the frame with the bolt holes, and bolt it in. While you are in there, take the time to regrease the sissors and window mechanism.

.... there is a reason these have been known as a "bitch box"! What ever you do, make sure there is a kill switch!

You have a sympathetic vibration at 4K, but I'd doubt it's in the transmission box.... more than likely it's in the driveline. Have you checked your driveline angle at the differential? ...can you confirm the U-joints are good?....was the driveshaft balanced before installation? I'd check these areas first before looking at the geabox for the solution...tearing into that will be lots of time and $, so eliminate the obvious, lower cost components, first... Let us know what you find

if you really want to do it yourself (and you can with the right tools), at least use a flexible hone like this rather than the three stone hone..... The flex hone has better self-centering characteristics and will produce a better cylinder finish. The three stone hone is really for brake cylinder finishing. http://www.toolsource.com/ost1/product.asp?sourceid=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch%2Emsn%2Ecom%2Fspresults%2Easpx%253fsrch%3D206%2526q%3Dcylinder%2Bhone&dept%5Fid=500&pf%5Fid=76659&mscssid=X8GFHNVNFSS92GVT00J74FSAN9MC99F6

Jared, I have a pair of 240 struts (and other 240 misc. stuff) if you are interested in them. I'm just west of Chicago...

POR and wire mesh will not recreate a frame rail for you... Where in the rail do you have damage? I would suspect there is further damage than you realize if you have jacked thru the rail ..... You will not find OEM rails available - they are NLA. Zedfindings.com makes good repair kits, or you can bend your own depending on your skills (since you've mentioned POR as a fix, I'd call Charlie!) Cutting them out of a donor car is an option as well, but if the donor has rail good enough to consider taking, take the whole chasis and buid up on that one! If you are serious about a long term fix to your rust problem, you will need to ascertain the total amount of rust damage, and that means cleaning, prodding and poking at the remaing rail(s) and floors to see how extensive the damage is. Once you know the limit of the rust, you can set on a program of repair. good luck - we've all been there

Oh jeeeeez .......

First , you could never achieve sufficient forward speed in your Z that is required to light it off. A ram jet,as the name implies, needs high speed ram air to function - operating on the hot compressed air fed via an initial flight to altitude mounted on a high speed carrier vehicle. Think German buzz bomb and you have the general idea-solid rocket booster and ram jet propulsion AFTER it gains spped and altitude... Secondly, you would not be prepared for what would happen should you ever be able to light it off... There are easier ways to kill yourself...

...you won't find a model # on the older transmissions. You have a couple of options to 'discover' what you have: 1. turn the input shaft in each gear and count the revs on the tailshaft and calculate the drive ratios, then compare to Datsuns published #'s 2. open the case and start recording bearing #'s, take them to your favorite bearing supplier to cross reference - or compare to Datsuns fiche for ID - hopefully the bearings are original. The #'s you find on the xmsn case are useless - the has been no cross reference found (at least in this vast membership) that has proved meaningful. Get youself a fiche on CD from Courtesy Nissan in Richardson TX for the model year you need here : http://www.courtesyparts.com/secondtier_s30.html

naaaah....hey're just first in line for concert tickets when they go on sale later that day!

naaaah....hey're just first in line for concert tickets when they go on sale later that day!

... you might think about making a template of the area - perhaps even a wooden buck - so that you can properly shape the patch and get a nice tight fit that will butt weld nicely. Also, you should notice that the original innerfender has a flange at the interface of the firewall that you might want to replicate in the new panel. There is also a crease in the original near the frame rail that gives better acess to the grommet for the wire harness that passes through there. While you're at it, make several copies and sell them as replacement panels! ...no one else does, and it's one of the most common rust areas in a Z.

UPDATE: I spoke with Rob at Showcars this morning and hes got his mold modified and has a new part to ship by this weekend. He's been very open to feedback on this issue and has taken suggestions as to how the g-nose and airdam can be improved upon. My old parts are on the way back to him, and I should have new ones by next week. Things are looking up.....

I've always been a fan of the chromed Talbot style bullit side mirror - classic sports styling for a classic sports car! They are a bit pricey, but then our cars deserve the best. Knock-offs can be found occasionally on eBay ...

well.....Showcars doesn't offer them, MSA does and you may find them at NISMO... unfortunately, there are not too many options. You may find some overseas suppliers, but I'm uncertain if they would be cost competitive after you pay shipping, etc. I believe MSA's are ~$200 per side...