2eighTZ4me

A 4 speed housing will work too. That's what's in my racecar - you'll have to deal without reverse lights unless you want to drill/tap the bellhousing for the switch in a new location though.

Did you ever find any leftover Glyptal? I have some. All my blocks are done and I have about a third of a quart left. Should be enough to do your motor. PM if needed. I'm probably too late though.

I'm guessing NO thousandths....maybe 1 or 2 - but so thin that oil couldn't make its' way in there to lube and cool the bearing. Won't be making that mistake again. The crank is being cut/widened on the center journal to match a stock L series crank. That way - should I ever have to replace bearings again - I can use stock bearings without having to modify them.

OK - haven't had the time to post - spoke with my machinist on Sat. Here's a bit of information you might not find on this site. The stroker crank is .003 narrower on the center journal than a stock L series motor. We suspected the center thrust bearing all along due to the copper shavings, guess I didn't check the end play and 'assumed' it was correct. The crank basically was being squeezed by the main cap. Under normal NA circumstances, this doesn't pose a problem. You put the motor on the track and subject it to extreme pressures and temperatures of turbocharging - it becomes an issue. End play is supposed to be around .006" and I already ate 3 thousandths off that. No room for oil to get into the thrust area. Sooo... he's grinding the crank out to accommodate the extra width. This would explain the burnt center bearing - got hot due to no oil flow. Machinist thought that there was a thrust issue and dug into his reference books and found that the measurements were different. It is something I would like someone to verify before this information becomes BS or good advice. I won't have access to the uncut crank until it's been modified - but I found this very interesting and highly plausible. I have a stock crank to measure - but not a stroker crank that's unmodified. Whoda thunk it??? Thoughts????

Got to a little less than 250 before the filter started bypassing the temp gauge.Which then, it went to about naught - which is why I knew the filter was clogged.

It's funny you ask - I bought the car from a friend who got it from Eric Chapman (Z-Quip) - 3 years later after I got it running in NA trim - the guy I bought the car from called and said he had a set of pistons for a stroker setup. These were the pistons Eric had custom made some 5 years earlier that somehow resurfaced into my buddy's hands. I gave him $600 for the set. I still have the original box that has the specs and the order # on it. If JE does a good job at archiving records - they should be able to pull the order number and know exactly how to replicate them.

Haven't pulled the turbo apart yet - but most everything I found was in the bottom end. The head was clean - no metal anywhere around the cam or springs, none in the front cover area - it seemed to be localized only to the pan and surrounding areas. Appreciate the offer to trade for a stock crank - but I have two of them in the shed gathering dust. Can't really redo any offsetting on the crank either. The pistons are JE custom slugs designed specifically for a stroker crank and 240 rods - they have a custom pin height such that all 3 work as a single unit.

Yes - pressure is from a -3 AN hose all the way to an AutoMeter mechanical gauge. The pan is 7 quarts - and I don' t (can't is a better term) drive it very hard Anyways - the moment you've been waiting for....... Notice all the nice shiny flakes. When I pulled the pan plug - the oil came out on my hand it it felt like someone had thrown a handful of glitter in for good measure.... Notice the center thrust bearing....it is actually black from what looks like being burned. The other bearings showed signs of the copper metal being embedded into their surface. It must have been a wild ride in that motor with shmootz flying everywhere. The further away from the center bearing though - the less embedded debris was on the other bearings. The ones at either end were almost dead clean. The #5 cap bearing appeared to have shrunk from the heat, as it wouldn't even sit in the cap without falling out. Interestingly enough - it didn't spin because the bearing on the block side was just fine and held in in place. Burn baby burn!!! Note the deformation of the center thrust bearing at the top of the pic. That 'dent' went down about 3mm along the bearing channel. And now - drumroll please..... The crank Yep - that's large pieces of the copper portion of the bearing that was stuck to the crank when I pulled it out. And the poor crank itself. My machinst thinks it will polish out though. So - these are Nissan factory bearings - what I have come to know as good quality - not sure why they would have done this. I was fairly lucky to have made it home. Those bearings were toast!!! Rod bearings were just fine. Nary a fleck of copper metal on them. Machinist is looking into some high quality racing bearings and will be performing an autopsy this week to see if he can determine the cause. I seriously wonder if this had anything to do with a stroker crank flexing under severe load? I know others have done turbo strokers with success. My machinist has been working on these motors for over 30 years and knows what he's doing - he says he's never seen anything like what I did.... We will be balancing the entire rotating assembly this time - from damper to clutch and everything in between.

Well - this is interesting......rod bearings are completely unscathed. They look near brand new. Having difficulty getting the BHJ damper off, so I haven't been able to see the mains. My turbo is munched too. Shaft play out the wazoo. When I drained the oil in the motor, it looked like someone threw a handful of glitter in with the oil. The bottom of the pan was loaded. BTW - this is an AZC baffled oil pan. There is no starvation in the corners. I made sure to watch my pressure several times in the corners - no drop whatsoever. I"m really beginning to wonder if it isn't the turbo that's coming apart......it's a POS Chinese SSC turbo....prolly time for a good ball bearing turbo.....if I can afford it after I clear up this mess!!

Beautiful morning at Road Atlanta today!!! Turned into a crappy morning quickly... last PDX in March(to make a long story short) started losing oil pressure about 6 laps in. I found it to be a clogged screen element (Oberg 2 stage sandwich filter - the fine screen this time) - plugged up with this 'black carbon' looking schmootz. Cleaned it out - fired it up - voila - pressure. Today - however (once again - 6 laps - doggin' and floggin' - 17psi pulls) - oil temp drops from 250 to naught - pressure goes to hell in a handbag. Open 'er up and....yowza!!! There's half my bearings all chipped up ready to serve....on the coarse screen. I put 100 miles on the car yesterday and beat it as hard as I could on the street (without upsetting the constabularies) - cleaned the filter last night - nothing - clean as a whistle. Today, however, let's see - 6 x 2.54 miles = 15.24 miles - my bearings are toast. Any ideas why I may be chewing up bearings? Under severe boost only? SUSTAINED boost. Running Mobil 1 synthetic 10w30 (after breaking in the motor with Valvoline for 400 miles) - I do not put my foot on the clutch when I start the car - such as wear on the thrust bearing The tune is dead nvts - Jerry from DIY AutoTune did it. Spark and fuel. These are Nissan factory bearings - standard size. Stroker crank - block was line bored. Guess I can cry over my doughnuts - but the motor ain' pulling itself (I should still be at the track right now carving laps with it....BUT unfortunately - I'm going now to pull it out) - so I'll post pics later of what I find is coming apart.

The fact that I've lost nearly 3" alone from the original 280 strut top leads me to believe that I should just leave the stock tube intact and not take anything out of it. Ryan or Jon - how far up do you put your spring perch that the adjustable collar rests on? Measured from the top of the spindle base. I guess I could go with a 1" splice. When I put a load on the car - the rear tire was resting on the rear tire well - and that was with the spring tension cranked up. 2" of clearance would be good - but since I have a 5" adjustable collar - I'm thinking that I could get as low as I'd ever want to go by just leaving the strut tube in stock form. You're right though - it's easier to take away than to add back!

Jon - these are 280Z strut tubes going on a 280. I have a pair of stock 280 tubes coming to do this exercise all over again. Looks like I'll just be cutting off the spring perch on those - not shortening them, and welding on a new perch. And then the powdercoating....and then the bearing and spindle pin removal....oh JOY!!

No no no - I am very thankful for all your input - I'm glad you did post. You are exactly right about the spacer length. Now if I can just get him to dig up the sections that he cut - I can cut a spacer of the correct length when I get the stock strut tubes. Jon C hasn't chimed back in yet, so I'm assuming this is the route to go. You never know when a second set of eyes is going to reveal something you hadn't thought of! or overlooke. Thanks again NewZed!

NewZed - what you DON'T see is the other 4+ inches of travel underneath the blue boot. The boot was just riding up on the shock shaft - there's plenty more room underneath there. The bottom of the boot is pulled tightly over the top 1" of the strut tube - everything above that is airspace - and shock shaft. BZ3012 and BZ3015 are identical struts. Only difference is the gland nut - everything else is the same. I'm getting rid of the 12" springs and going back to 10's on the front anyways - would seem to be good practice to have all 4 corners on 10" springs. I've got a pair of 385lb'ers in the shed.

I'm running 365lb springs in the fronts - 285lb in the rears. They don't compress too much - maybe 1.5" to 2" - but that doesn't include fuel in the tank etc. - so I would suspect a little more when full of gas and interior. I'm going to 'try' a couple coilover spring spacers and see if that buys me anything. Really want to avoid the cost of going through this exercise again. I haven't set the car down on the ground yet to measure ride height - so I can't speak to that. Just got the fronts all zipped up last night and ran out of light (and willpower) before I could set it on the ground. I still need to get the motor and tranny in before I can draw any conclusions. I've got John Williams trying to source a pair of stock rear strut tubes just in case....

Jon - this is a 78 280Z. I should have mentioned that. So - my options are find a pair of original strut tubes - DON'T section them - and make a spacer for the bottom of the tube for the cartridge to sit on? My guy took less than 2" out of the strut in the first place - and he basically did the same thing for the fronts as the rears. I'll have to have him dig up the sections he took out - but he swears it was less than 2" on both front and rear. That being said - I'd be in the ballpark by not sectioning the strut tube at all - because I've already lost the 2" from the original 280 strut top - and going with the camber plates. This sounds like the only possible solution to regain the ride height...yes?

OK - took some measurements last night. I measured from the top of the strut tube downward. I know the article states to measure from the inside of the strut tube - but I didn't have that luxury. Taking the following statement from the article - "The most important measurement is the overall length of the strut tube (14.938" to 15"). " I am pretty dang close. Not sure how far in to the base the tube extends - but if he cut them too short - then I don't see it. I'm right at 15" - if not a little longer. If memory serves me correctly - the tube extends almost all the way down through the thick base of the housing seen below....again - I could be totally off.....that's why I'm posting. Spring perch measurement from the top of the strut as well. Yet - under full compression - this is what it looks like. I'm going to be going with ZG flares eventually - but would like a little more 'adjustment' for some breathing room. I put the coilovers on to have the 'option' of going lower if I wanted to - but I don't want it slammed to the ground either. I prefer stock ride height minus about an inch to an inch and a half. Again - when I had the original 280 strut top on - which is about 3" in height - I had all the clearance in the world. Now that I've put on the camber plates - I lost that 3" and need to figure a way to make up some of that distance. The fronts turned out perfectly though - appears to have plenty of room with the 1" bump steer spacers. The BZ3099 up front has no spacer in the tube - only the cartridge - and if anything, it appears to be a little long. "The most important measurement is the overall length of the strut tube (12.875" to 12.938"). " So - what are my options for the rears? 2" spring spacer? I need something to gain back the lost distance from the camber plate install.....

First off - what brake fluid are you using? Some of the symptoms sound like brake fade. What pads are you running? What happens when you pump the pedal and hold it? Does it slowly make its' way back to the floor? The brake system is a sealed system - so any dirt/debris you see either got accidentally dropped in the master somehow, the seals are coming apart, or you got water in the system in the form of condensation that is rusting the bores of the calipers. Brake fluid attracts water, and with a lot of hot/cold/hot/cold on the track, condensation can potentially build up. I'm no expert - others please chime in - just my opinion..... When you say 'disappear' - did the pedal go to the floor, or was it firm and you just plain weren't stopping?

OK - with that being said - what about my fronts? I used the BZ3099 MR2 struts. He cut them as well with no spacer in the equation. Should there be a spacer in the fronts as well? And if so, how long should the spacer be? Dadgumit. - this is not my week.....and it's only Monday.......crap.

I'm sorry Jon - it was YOUR writeup that I gave him. Sorry to not give proper credit where it's due. OK - so i SHOULD have a spacer at the bottom of the strut housing when running the 3012's in the rear? I didn't have this clearance issue until I installed the Ground Control camber plates. When I had the stock 280 rear strut top installed (the 3 bolt piece at the top) - the height was perfect. Now that I have the camber plates ( and can't go back because of all the cutting) I'm screwed. I will have to find out exactly how much he took out. He said it was less than 2". Just damn......

Had my struts sectioned (only have the rears installed at this point) such that a BZ3012 Tokico cartridge fits in the tube perfectly with no spacer. That's a 240 front strut cartridge. Put the suspension together and with 10" springs, and the collars turned up as far by hand as possible - I still have only about 1.5" of clearance between a 15" wheel (with a 225/50/15 tire) before it's going to hit the rear wheel well. The guy who sectioned my struts was given the measurements from John Mortensen's writeup - but he just fit the tube to the cartridge with NO internal spacer in the tube. Says he compared measurements after the fact and they worked out. Also stated that he only took out like 1.5" of the strut tube - which from what I've read - is correct. Did I do something wrong? Even at full droop, the rear control arm is almost parallel to the ground. I had thought that by wrenching up the spring adjuster - that would buy me some more clearance, but in looking at GC's website about the coilover spanner - it says that some setups don't ship with it for a reason. My setup (that I bought off a member in this forum) did not come with the adjuster wrench, so I have to assume that either A) I tighten them by hand - and that's all that they want you to do, or it had the wrench and the original owner nabbed it. I have a feeling when I set the weight of the car down on the wheel - it's going to dig straight in to the rear wheel wells........ Suggestions?

I need the one that is on the TOP in the pic. I have three of the one on the bottom (280). The top one supposedly comes off a 72 on up - not sure when they changed over to the style on the bottom. Going to be doing the 240SX tranny conversion. PM if ya got one....

Got one! Went to Z-Car Atlanta and found a core shaft with the same size cap - wasn't a 300ZX shaft - but who cares - it fits! Thanks all!

Joel - yes - those are the axles, and that's the cap! I suppose I'll have to go the silicone route.....IF my companion flanges EVER show up from Modern Motorsports!!! Sheesh - it's been well over a month now..... Thanks for the replies all!

I lost the end cap for an 87 300ZXT shaft. I posted in parts WTB - no hits. Does anyone know where I might be able to procure one? Maybe a CV axle re manufacturer? This is about to be a point of contention for getting the car done....any help would be greatly appreciated! This is the outer end cap that seals in the CV grease where it meets the companion flange.