Zetsaz

About 800 miles later. Running smooth. Temps with the new e fans were steady all the way. Only time they climbed a *little* was on very long uphill stretches. But it's to be expected when the turbo is getting loaded more and the return coolant line from the turbo goes straight to the thermostat. Overall very smooth, and as usual the long trip gave me a variety of small things to start looking at. Definitely want to update the mounting on the exhaust, just a bit too much movement and occasionally tapping the back and making some noise. New mounting method and the bigger muffler will make it downright comfortable on long drives.

Final update before road tripping tomorrow. I was so bothered by the vibrations last night come back home from my niece's birthday that I decided to pull off the front diff mount and inspect. It looks like the bolt through the bushing was either loose or the upper piece of the mount was warped and didn't let the side squeeze right on the bushing. Bottom was rattling back and forth when I moved it after taking off the cross member. 3 hours worth of work later and putting the RT top mount on instead I tested and the vibrations are gone! I had to grind part of the bolt going through the bushing to pull it out because I couldn't get any leverage on the bolts going through the diff and they block each other. For a moment I thought it was placebo, so I kept finding multiple loads and speeds that it would vibrate the most at last night and got nothing. The biggest difference is the lock mechanism on the seatbelts is never rattling anymore which was a huge annoyance. TL;DR - the T3 diff mount (not the cross member itself) is probably needlessly complicated and is just too many parts stuffed into a tiny space.

It's going to be good! I had to wait months for it, but it once it was ready to go shopping was very fast. Even with tariffs on entry it cost me much less than it would have from a vendor here in the US

Actually now that you mention it, I'm 99% certain the tires were not mounted correctly initially. The marks are long gone though, so my friend did the best he could. But This is the last trip on these tires and maybe these wheels so I'm not too stressed about it. More annoyed by the vibration under light load right now. That said, at around 70mph there's enough load in most situations that it's almost nonexistent and any slight noise it was making from 45-60ish is completely covered up by the wind and even other cars' tire noise while driving. I think I'm gonna switch back to the RT top mount tomorrow morning before the trip and if it's not better I'll just deal with it. The T3 mount they switched to on their front diff cross member is just so tightly packaged that I feel like it might be amplifying some of the noise or actually causing it. Part of me wants to just go to stock or a Kameari mount and the RT snubber on top

It was a good idea not to wait on rebuilding the 3.54 diff. The new LSD arrived weeks after I expected it and there's no shot I would have been able to swap it into the spare R200 before my trip. I'm excited to get this together in the winter though!

Got the front speakers in today! Considering none of the speakers are big it's not particularly impressive, but it sounds alright for a 50 year old car. More incentive for me to go to a quieter muffler next year which I didn't get to do this time around. Got the tires balanced and was surprised just how poorly balanced these things are. My new Panasport spare only need 1/2oz, these needed... So much more I won't bother counting each. The vibrating I was tracking down is 90% gone and now I can't tell what's left of it. With the wheels and driveshaft balanced it's almost entirely gone but over 50mph I'm still getting some vibrations on very low load - so cruising speed. The moment push the pedal a bit for even slow acceleration it's gone and when I'm off the throttle it's also gone.

My new speaker pods arrived, and I wired up my Spal fans and shroud from Galgo today! Need some more speaker wire that I'll pick up tomorrow. Fans work really well. Have them set to turn on at 185 and off at 175 in megasquirt.

People's Choice at a small cars and coffee in town this weekend. Brakes feel really good. It's weird feeling how firm the pedal is compared to the originals now that it's all stainless hoses and the rear has been upgraded. Even the parking brake is better than I expected! Getting wheels balanced today - I know for a fact one had a couple weights knocked off, I can see where the adhesive was, and I'm still upset about how many weights they used to balance one corner. Someone wasn't doing their job right when they mounted the tires I think, because there's no way you need two long strips on opposite sides to get a wheel balanced.

Car is finally back on the ground after waiting entirely too long on mismatched parts and alternatives when the flare on one brake hose broke. I was worried about the E brake capability based on some reviews but it seems like it's plenty capable on even a gentle hill after adjusting. at worst it's comparable to the original parking brake ability, but with less adjustment to do not. Not that drums were terribly complicated, but adjusting them properly was tedious.

Small jobs today- Replaced that short hardware on the front rotors to hubs I mentioned in a previous post. Included Pic is the size difference. Brakes didn't feel particularly unsafe on my few drives around town, but always better safe than sorry with the most important things like brakes. Second pic shows how the new hardware actually goes all the what out to the wheel mounting surface to engage as many threads as possible Next small job before the correct rear brackets arrive is re-adhering a part of the headliner that is sagging a bit. I think the adhesive didn't cure properly when I installed it forever ago and the intense heat on the roof at one show made it droop. Only fix is to reapply but fortunately it's easy since the rest of it is already adhered well and lined up. Hardest part of the job is centering it

Small update from T3 - Called today about the bracket issue, and their service guy on the phone told me the new brackets would get shipped out today. While bleeding the brakes yesterday to get a head start on some of the work left so they'd at least be close I noticed some fluid dripping from the opposite side. After inspecting it looks like the flare for the -3 end on one of my hoses was cracked. I ordered some new ones myself since I don't know if it was an installation error, but it's just one more thing wrong with the rear end. Despite shipping today I know they might be getting it out late enough that it won't actually leave California until tomorrow. Hopefully by Thursday I have a driveable car again. Two weeks until I leave on a road trip

Tons of work this weekend getting the new axles and rear discs in. The HD outer from futofab were by far the most time consuming part between removing everything, cleaning, cutting for clearance of the new outers, recleaning, the making sure the inner bearing and seal were properly seated. Probably spent about 5-6 hours total just doing that. The axles are greased and in place and I've been cleaning up the garage after all the mess. I was really exited about how things were looking then I realized the rear calipers looked wrong. They were offset a bit too much from the rotor. Checked again and it was super obvious the pads were only contacting the rotor with a bit over half their surface area. Checking the pics on the site it seems clear they sent the brackets for their regular rear brake kit. I'm incredibly frustrated because I did all this work leading into the weekend and now the car is unusable for a few days as a result. I was scheduled for tint on Monday and I'll probably have to cancel. Really hoping they can rectify it and send the correct brackets as fast as possible.

Here's a pic of how the hatch is pulling on the seal no matter how well I try to tuck it in right. It pulled the center off the adhesive. I should be able to redo it and try to turn it farther to the front after I try the shims, but it's frustrating to say the least. That said, this is a huge step above how the previous one sat. In mostly happier news the spare tire fits incredibly well. Very happy with it and it all comes clean under the T3 cover. I bought the cover ages ago just to have even carpet in the back, but honestly could never put much weight in the back for fear that it would bend with nothing underneath. Only downside is the 280z tie down hardware doesn't seem to fit well with it. The way the lower piece is shaped raises the screw handle enough that it won't thread in. For now I flipped it and put the freebie shop rag I got at the car show between the wheel and hardware while I find an earlier style tie down that has covers the full hub opening.

They follow the curvature pretty well, but it's still getting pulled down a bit even after major adjustments. At this point I think the bigger issue is my hatch and the way it's fitted than the seal. It's dragging just the tiniest but in the center at the top. I know hatch shims would probably completely solve the problem, but my gap between the roofline and the hatch is already just slightly bigger than I want. Might test the skillard hatch shims that go between the hatch and hinge instead of the hinge and body and see how far off it is anyway. Tire for the spare was supposed to arrive yesterday but must have been held up. Should be here soon and I'll take it to get mounted and snap some pics for you. The spare looks so nice and Panasports are great quality. It's so nice that honestly I'm tempted to finally upgrade from my Rotas to the 16" Panasports that X Car Garage sells. Hadn't considered them much before but they look far nicer in person than I expected

Horn is working! Surprisingly loud. The issue was the contact that slides against the steering wheel to ground the horn switch. I guess it was bent back slightly (straighter than it should have been) and was not grounding. Took off the multifunction switches to get easier access and just very slightly bent it to make easier contact.