Zetsaz

Thinking of brakes once again. There are really only a few "big" things left for me to do and past that it just becomes upgrades or redoing old things to clean them up more. -T3 micro big brake kit is 20% off, which is huge actually. Their micro kit is about the same size as the ZCG kit and has the rear parking brake retained. Tempted to get them. I don't think their normal bbk will fit under my 15" wheels and I don't want to upgrade to bigger wheels. Not sure if I want to get these or the Milkfab upgrade and take the savings towards the Nexus R3. Happy to have some feedback from @lowrider -Need to upgrade to electric fans and reroute my intercooler piping. Looking into a custom shroud with Spal fans. -Complete hoses for AC. Friend is working on 3D designing the bulkhead to match the existing holes from the factory AC. -Install and wire the head unit so the console/dash area doesn't look like its missing something. Beyond those things everything is "done." I want to eventually upgrade to the new Haltech Nexus R3 units. Having so many things built right in including power control to the fuel pump, fans, and built in wideband controller is a major upgrade from my MS3X, but again is one of those things that I technically don't need. We'll see what the future holds.

How did you end up mounting it?

Where did you get the android unit? I've been tempted to find something like that that doesn't cut up my console which is already not in the greatest condition

The transmission is honestly the more brain melting part of some swaps. There are lots of options, all with their own pros and cons. I think for a long time most people were using the Z32 transmissions. They were the same as the ones used behind rwd Skylines, and the TT and NA versions of the transmission were the same iirc. These days most people will opt for that or the CD009/CD00A. There's more support, it's 6 speed, it's stronger, and likely cheaper, but mounting it is slightly more difficult and less space. Do you already have the engine? Getting one with a manual raises the cost considerably compared to just getting the engine, which is why a lot of people just opted for the Z32 trans in the states (until the later CDxxx transmissions became more widely available). My understanding of the R34 rwd trans, based on some info from australian forums is you'll likely have to switch the clutch type by drilling and tapping into the R34 bellhousing, or just swapping it with an R33 bellhousing. I'm honestly not sure it's worth the trouble of getting a brand new R34 trans and dealing with adapting it and mounting it when there's so much more support for the later 6 speeds, and still decent support for the Z32 trans, both of which will hold whatever power you want to throw at them, likely at a lower cost.

Some of the best builds are running his head already. This guy Z Car Garage worked with used to be running an OS Giken head which is more rare and more expensive "California Hako" is also running it but doesn't post much https://www.instagram.com/california_hako?igsh=MXZzODc4ZmoyNzNlYg== Those are two major ones on high quality builds I can remember off the top of my head The sorts of people who can do this properly and not just let things sit on a shelf for for years aren't posting on the Internet much, and they don't do it for clout like a lot of YouTubers. The reason you don't see many of them is the same reason you don't see the OS Giken heads unless you were really involved or buying print magazines, and even then it's the same handful popping up all the time despite being around for decades longer.

I thought you were already crazy for bothering to use the vortec efi on an L28, then using exactly none of those savings to spend on something better than a chinese ebay turbo, but this definitely takes the cake. Good quality LS heads aren't even under $1000, unless you're getting something totally bare with no springs or valves, and that's a product for the most widely produced engines in existence and required no custom engineering. I don't think you have any idea how much time and money it costs to create something like this for an already very niche market. What you might be thinking of as a "real head manufacturer" would never bother doing something like this head because the market and sales would never justify committing resources to it, and if Derek created licensing for someone to mass produce it now that the hardest part of the work is done he'd probably get paid pennies for the amount of time it took to develop it.

In other news. The bummer of hearing my brake option wasn't available made me want to see the other parts that showed up this summer the day after I left, so I asked my dad to open up the boxes and send some pics. Got new spindles and hubs from T3 in a scratch and dent sale. Literally days before I saw the Facebook post I had already messaged them about potentially needing parts while I was still stranded in Eastern Oregon when the bearing failure tore up the hub. Dad said they looked damn near perfect, so either T3 is super generous about their discounted products, or the guys picking the parts were the ones emailing me and took pity and grabbed the best examples for me knowing the story already. Alvin from Z Car Garage posted a reply to my Facebook post on dpan stating they're working with the same engineer from the previous brake kit for the next option, so I guess I'll just keep waiting in the meantime.

That long?? Always surprises me when I see their recent posts with people getting brakes installed. Must have been waiting forever.

Looks like Z Car Garage brakes are nearly at an end. Tried to submit my order through Rob at ZCG, he told me they're still on backorder (have been since I first asked waaaaay back in Feb/March. I asked if his message about them being on backorder meant I couldn't put in an order, or if it just meant I might be waiting a while, and this is the response I got. Might have to ask my friend to try his T3 Wilwoods and see if I like them. That or I'll keep waiting to see future options.

I've considered them but the reality is that at this point they're getting harder to find and they seem to be just okay. I don't want to buy refurbished ones of questionable quality or go digging. 5-6 years ago they would have been my first choice, but considering I have fully refreshed brakes already and only drive the car when I'm in the US it doesn't make sense to buy an "upgrade" that I'll barely use and discard in a few years when I want to upgrade properly. The other reason is the T3 micro big brake kit that'll fit under my wheels is apparently good but not great and only about $200 cheaper than the ZCG kit which is supposed to be substantially better.

Car is still at home just hanging out until next time I visit. Spindles and new hubs arrived the day after I started driving to Mexico with my dad. Heavily considering buying Z Car Garage brakes to install over Christmas break. Only new things on the way are door seals from S30 world. Finally someone created a door seal that is (supposedly) an exact reproduction of the originals. Will report back on how well doors close once I get them installed!

Those rear control arms are works of art

Car show and parade was a blast. Went really well! Drove to Washington to visit old friends - trip went really well. Engine is working great, I'm really happy with how things are running other than some oil leaks that gunk up the underside of the car on long drives like that. When it comes time to rebuild with flat tops I want to really clean up and degrease everthing and do my best to avoid future leaks for a long time to come. End of the trip and the way back were slightly less successful. Looks like the bolts on my right CV axle backed out and last one stripped while on a drive with a friend. Fortunately he has a 912 and a well equipped garage. He let me use his space and stay at his house until my friend in Bellingham with a Z got back from Vancouver the next day who was nice enough to let me borrow his CV to get on the road while he waited for the new one I bought him. Unfortunately... the kindness didn't stop more things from slowing down the trip home. Almost exactly halfway near La Grande OR my front right wheel bearing seems to have seized up and started cooking things. Seemed okay at first thought something from the road made a belt squeak at first or something, then things got progressively worse until eventually my brake rotor was rubbing against the caliper. Tried hard to somehow get it fixed, but no one would touch it and I didn't have everything I needed to get it back on the road, so I rented a UHAUL to finish the trip instead of paying for hotels and rush shipping New parts are on the way. I suspect the wheel bearing was overtightened or the hub was already not quite in good shape when I first replaced the bearings and eventually those small changes in acceptable tolerances from all the miles I've driven caught up with it. The outer bearing race had partially friction welded itself to the spindle. This would have been my third round trip to washington, plus the pacific coast trip, plus any other miles you want to add from cruising around as often as I can when the weather is nice. Here's to 50 more years out of the new hubs and spindles.

The ZX 5 speed is definitely much weaker than the "71C" The later 5 speed was in the 240sx/Silvia/D21. I think maybe the truck transmission had slightly different ratios? If your goal is 450 I'm not sure it'll handle the power. Probably fine if you're not launching it or abusing it regularly, but that's kind of on the upper extreme for it.

I had that same block on a jeep stepper. Worked quite well to be honest. I moved to the GM valve to clean up the engine bay more and because the protunerz throttle has the provision for it.

It's cleaned things up considerably! Extra nice now that I got a little bracket for the Deutsch connector. It's not just dangling around behind the head. Here's a handful of pictures after cleaning up the ride for this weekend's show.

Have spent probably 20 hours in the last few days working on details before this weekend's parade Easy stuff first, got the new dizzy cap on and it fits beautifully. I love the look on this thing New valve cover is a super nice piece too. I was slightly hesitant about the bronze but it ties in with the brown interior even better than j expected Next the interior vinyl was very long overdue for an update. The strut tower vinyl was ugly and tearing a bit, and had the holes on top since it was from a 76 when they started mounting the top of the seat belts there. The pieces that goes over the wheel arches were also splitting and I had never bothered to glue them so it was always annoying looking through the window at exposed sound deadening. Took a long time and put speakers in the stock locations while I was at it, but it was worth it. Also cleaned the flat piece behind the seats that goes up to the deck floor and installed that instead of the carpet that came with my carpet kit. Lastly I finally got the bumper back on. After looking through a variety of tests by independent YouTubers, I decided regular old high strength JB weld would be more than good enough for the job. I can't remember which specific metric they tested that convinced me, maybe it was against sheer forces? I went ahead and put some on the other bracket in the rear as a precaution. I don't trust the 6 tack welds holding the bent plate with the studs on the bumper by themselves anymore Regardless, I cut more of the bottom of the skillard grill and used different brackets. Older and simpler design that only required two bolts to the body, but didn't slit through the grill. I think it's a better design for serviceability anyway. The skillard grill combined with the front splitter made it nearly impossible to service anything up front - because the skillard brackets go through two of the grill pieces, there was no way to pull it off without also taking off the bumper. You could only access it from the side which gets annoying leaning over things and hoping your hands fit. Now I just remove 4 small bolts and the grill comes right off over the top of the bumper. EDIT: Oh yeah, also finally put the rear sway bar on and it's a noticeable difference! I was sent the wrong bolts (again). T3 was right that they used to use a 3/8 thread back when I bought the drop mounts and have since switched to M10 (smart), but they sent me 3/8-24 instead of the regular thread 3/8-16. For those who are a little slow with car stuff like me I did the math - a 3/8 bolt is 1/64" smaller diameter than an M10 and the -16 thread is nearly identical to an M10x1.25 - so a 3/8 bolt happily and comfortably goes into an M10 thread with hardly any play when you're using the thread checker at a hardware store, but an M10 bolt will frustratingly not go into a 3/8 thread despite seeming correct at first glance.

Friend in Washington printed the new distributor cover for me yesterday. Way bigger than he expected haha. The turbo dizzy was a much bigger diameter than the NA one. Here's hoping it fits! A mutual friend up there has a turbo Z we were hoping to test fit a cheap print with, but apparently he sold the turbo dizzy when he went with a OneSix CAS. If this doesn't fit we'll be reprinting when I'm up in Washington this summer. Still undecided if I want to do red or white enamel in the Z logo and smooth out the print

If you are still just running a hot L28 the CD009 is probably overkill, and will require drilling into your floorboards or heavy modification. The FS5W71C transmission is probably enough to handle the power, but if you're set on a 6 speed, the BRZ/FRS engine is becoming more available now as well. A lot has changed since you last posted. https://www.godzillaraceworks.com/drivetraintl70/tl70swap

Small extra purchases recently to be installed before the annual Cache Cruise-In -Lonely Driver Co. "Juliet" Oil cap -New OEM dome lamp - these are unreasonably expensive from US vendors, managed to get one at nearly half price from a Japanese eBay vendor -Reproduction 5 speed shift knob - I love wood shift knobs, and wanted something original but the datsun thread is smaller than the 240sx shifter, meaning it can't be adapted easily. Bought a reproduction that looks to be decent quality from a woodworker that makes them with your choice of thread. We'll see how it turns out. Last thing I'm hoping to do before I head home for summer is get the original shifter bag remade in leather. Hopefully this weekend I finally have the mental capacity and energy to go out to the downtown area and get some materials to hand over to an interior specialist at a customs shop near my apartment.

0 offset if you're going 8 in wide. Not totally positive that will clear with stock spring perches, but if you go any more negative offset you'll definitely end up rubbing unless you have more aggressive negative camber which isn't ideal.

Got the shipping update from PayPal yesterday afternoon. Appreciate you working on all of these!

I honestly haven't done too much. Most of what I've printed so far have been things others have made and made freely available. Usually my cousin or a friend have printed things for me. T3 parts ARE nice. Fitment has occasionally been JUUUUST a bit off but it's almost always when I have to chase some threads or because I have mismatched parts from such a broad range of dates on my stuff. That rear brace on the driver side is unfortunately gonna hit my exhaust so I have a guy that does stainless work checking out the car at some point soon and hopefully redoing some of it to correct things and get better clearances everywhere. I think we're about at the point with 3D printers, in terms of reliability, as home inkjet printers were when I was a kid. Still not quite as mainstream but getting there. I remember inkjet printers being good for getting my homework done when I was still using floppy disks to take my work between home and school, but they were pretty slow, and the ink ran out pretty fast. I think within the next 10 years we'll be approaching where laser jet printers are now and we'll have reliability and speed in a mainstream consumer level printer.

Couple of small things coming up as I prep the car for summer -Still super unhappy with the fitment on the exhaust, especially after the rear bracing was added. Have gotten in touch with some folks that do stainless about some adjustments. -New vinyl trim for the rear arrived. Won't be tearing anymore and won't have the holes on top of the strut towers. Should finally be able to start buttoning up the interior. -Purchased a new valve cover. This one came up and seller accepted my offer. Red might have been better, but it was sold. The bronze will sort of match the interior and right now I think it's a good homage to the original brown paint on the first shell I had that was unfortunately beyond saving. I think I'll eventually modify mine to relocate the breather, and shave some of the bits with threaded holes are for the old spark plug cable holders and make it red with polished lettering like the one on the right. - Also had a friend help with a better design on the distributor cover. The original was just a very plain 3d printed cover. Friend has a nicer printer that can do much smoother work with carbon and started making a better design when I sent him the old one and he didn't like it haha. Should be a fun change. The plan is to print it in black and maybe fill the Z logo with enamel

Here's your Jeep Stepper And a GM Stepper If it's any help this is the one I'm actually running, which looks closer to what Protunerz lists on their site. The one with the black housing I took a screenshot of technically only shows compatibility with V6 engines but I'm pretty sure it's functionally identical, just has the pins facing a different direction?