1976 280Z

Which would be the best s30 model to invest in? An investment strategy is something you talk to your financial analyst about.... These are a passion. That said: Early model production seems to drive the high $$. Those are the ones I would feel bad about major modifications, so buy one of those that was recently restored - you can probably buy it for 1/2 to 2/3 of the cost of the restoration. Keep it for 5 years, maintain it, and you can probably make a few grand. A lot of these cars are worth more in parts than as a car, so there may be money in that area. What seems to make the most money? or get the most attention? Is there a good year or engine size that came out and everyone went 'That's the one to have' They all look very similar (bumpers and mods are the exception). If you can get one of the first 1000 produced, go there. They will continue to appreciate. People make connections with cars... In the 70s, US cars lacked an identity, and were junk. Some of the Japanese cars filled a void left from the muscle car era. These cars may appreciate slightly in value, but there's very few "Mach 1"s, Ellenor, Hemi Cuda, etc. models and they are locked away somewhere. So, find a car you like, play with it and maybe you'll have fun and won't lose much money. Maybe you'll get lucky and make 20%. If it's about money, don't do it. Just my opinion. Mike

Seems that it's not an easy set up - You're mostly machining surfaces well inside the bell housing and I'm being told that it's going to require several hours of set up, and some dedicated tooling, to do the machining. Just want to know if there's anyone that's done this, has a machinist they trust, or a better place to start - particularly in my area. If I can get a reasonable cost, there seems an interest for some people to do the upgrade. Thanks, Mike

So, I've had a couple of 4 speed housings (now a total of 4) bell housings that I need to get machined to fit specs for a S13/S14 gear box. The bell housing only changes in the main bearing size (increased), a shift rod diameter and the overall width around the face needs to be trimmed to a uniform 0.48" thickness. The 1 - 2 shift rod on the 71C was increased from 14mm to 16mm. The top shifter rod hole needs to be opened up to just over 16mm. I told the machinist to duplicate the hole in the 71C bell housing but later had to ream the hole slightly larger myself with an adjustable reamer because it was too tight. If you want to use the larger 71C counter shaft bearing like I did, you have to have the lower bearing hole increased from 56mm to 62mm. Again, the hole needs to be slightly over 62mm to allow the bearing to be a snug, slip fit. The counter shaft driven gear on the other hand, will contact the area around the bearing so this needs to be machined to reduce the thickness out to a diameter of about 3.5" or just remove the raised boss around the hole. The thickness in this area was .61"on the 71B, but only .48" on the 71C (about .13" difference). I had the machinist duplicate the 71C thickness (.48") out to just beyond the raised boss. Details are here: http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/240SX5spd/transmission.htm My issue: I have not been able to find anyone in the Chicago or Detroit area who feels confident (and is reasonable $$). Any tips of a good machine shop would be welcome. Thanks, Mike