Zetsaz
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Posts posted by Zetsaz
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They're also the same ones that T3 has. T3 even lists in their description that they're made by Capital Metal Works. Pretty sure cap metal works makes them all and T3 and Apex are just resellers. It happens occasionally.
Same way that T3 has Skillard parts on their storefront
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Lots of work this week. Moving from rear end forward:
-Replaced some rear parts with the T3 front diff mount, as well as their fancy rear caps to add their braces. Took forever because I had to chase a couple of the threads and add washers to get clearance. I don't know if my front mount from them was just a bad item or if the fitment is that poor. Diff was touching the center piece that bolts to the crossmember when I first tried to tighten it up, mean it might as well have been hard mounted. Washers helped so I'm moving for now, but I'll report back with what T3 says.
-Had to go without the driver side brace for now due to exhaust clearance. My exhaust is already just okay, so I think sometime soon it'll finally be time to have it professionally adjusted with better mounting.
-Replaced the transmission mount with a Kameari reinforced mount. Feels mostly noticeable at higher RPM or when taking off faster. The old one was in good shape so it's probably the only time it was flexing more.
-Took off the old oil pump and went ahead and replaced it with the new Kameari pump. Gasket had failed. I figured if I'm replacing the gasket I might as well throw on the new pump instead of waiting for when I rebuild the engine.
-Finally bothered to figure out my IAC. Turns out my old Jeep stepper required different wiring than the GM. Megamanual shows two different wirings depending on if the center pins have ~50ohms resistance or infinite - sure enough, I had the wiring wrong. Tweaked my settings a bit after confirming it worked and now I have a very steady idle in the low 800s, and starting up with no issues and with no need to press the gas pedal.
-I also degreased a lot of the underside which had gotten caked in grime from the oil pump gasket leak. My rear main seal is still leaking but at least that's more of a drip and not a mist across the entire underside while I'm cruising like the oil pump was causing.
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I would start by specifically not redoing literally everything. Videos online make people think this is like legos and things can get put together quickly. There are almost always hangups.
Other than the engine rebuild, I would recommend seeing which stock parts absolutely need replacing and start with just that. Get the engine finished and drive as much as you can and see what sticks out that might actually be worth upgrading to you. There's nothing worse than tearing a car down then not getting to drive for several years because you can't keep up with everything you took off.
Unless you have the budget to just dump at everything T3 sells and brand new interior parts all at once, it's just not worth trying to rebuild everything all at once.
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First project now that I'm home is getting the new ignition coils in. Just had to swap out the stalks along with the new spring provided by Duffy. Taped the harness I got in two spots just to keep it a little tighter. I'm not the biggest fan of wiring that branches off in only one section, much prefer it to T off in multiple spots as it goes down the line, but I know that's a lot more time consuming. Regardless I'm actually really happy with the little subharness I got.
A few pics included here show the shorter stalks, taped up, finished fitment and the before and after.
Already got the dwell times adjusted. Updated my megasquirt firmware for the first time in 4 years, and did some very mild adjustments. Feels like it's running much smoother than before - maybe that's full placebo effect happening, but even if the actual performance difference is negligible, I'm WAY happier with how much tidier and more serviceable this is than the previous setup.
Second mini project was just 30 seconds of adjusting the dampers on my coilovers. I softened them up after reading a post. I think I was overdampened for my spring rates, especially at the front and small but abrupt dips and other holes felt like they were pounding the whole car. Feels much smoother now.
I think I'll be doing a lot of small projects again while I'm here, but I think within the next year I want to completely upgrade all my wiring, move to a nexus R3, switch to electric fans and reroute the hot side intercooler piping, and color match the engine bay to the exterior while the engine is out to rebuild with flat top pistons.
In the meantime I'll cleanup major spots that need some attention and tidy up anthing from the transmission back that's causing little rattles or discomfort.
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I ground down that same section of the diff. Don't think it should cause you any issues
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Heading back home in just a couple days for easter and passover weeks.
I... mostly... certain I have all the parts I need for the ignition upgrade and some new seals.
As far as planning goes ITM flat tops are back in stock momentarily so I immediately snagged some from Rock Auto. MXN to USD exchange rate is very in my favor right now, the total shipped was about $240. Full $70 or so cheaper than just the list price from other vendors like Z Car Depot and waaaay cheaper than what some people are asking for on ebay or in facebook groups.
Unfortunately swapping the pistons will probably require a full rebuild. Debating if I pull the engine my second week around and just go at it for a couple of 12+ hour days to get it done and back in or if I wait until summer. The other option is pulling the block before I leave and just dropping it off at a decent shop then just have a family member pick up the engine whenever they finish it so it's ready to drop in when I get back this summer.
We'll see... I was excited to just get at it until I remembered I'd also need to pull the timing cover and all that entails, it'll be better to just rebuild when everything is ready to go.
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Most of this looks pretty great, but that mounting on the camber plate to the strut tower isn't exactly confidence inspiring.
Is there no way to swap out the top of the coils to fit better?
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17 hours ago, madkaw said:
Im still not keeping up -lol
Now tuning on a Protunerz intake . Not much different than the last intake but the longer runners help the low end .
Something I’ve noticed with ALL these plenum intakes is that the air is not always equal across the cylinders . I am probably one of the very few that has a 6-2 header that continue on to duals AND have a Wideband on each side of the exhaust . The tendacy of these plenums that under high vacuum situations ( idle or lower KPA) , the first 3 cylinders indicate that they run leaner - as if they are stealing the air out of the room . As soon as KPA gets above idle the AFR’s start to even up quickly . Not sure if you could detect this on the plugs unless you ran your engine very lean .
The Megasquirt 3X allows for injector trim which I have been adjusting . To get AFR’s to match up between the two banks I add as much as 20% to high vacuum cell areas . It also can be felt by a smoother engine operation . Now this is mostly over- run conditions and light throttle modulation during highway cruise .
I’ve checked calibration on my Spartan 14.7 wideband and they seem correct .
I have my ego sensors separated by banks . I guess I also wonder why tuner analyze won’t pull in more fuel in these situations , I use the same AFR table for both ego sensors .
Just thought this was interesting and most won’t see this with their 6-1 header where it all averages out
Good stuff to know! Once I get spark fixed with my new coils I might toy with the trim for the first 3 at idle and see if it helps even more. Idle/cold starts/warm up enrichment always feel like a mess to me
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On 1/27/2024 at 11:31 PM, 1969honda said:
Forget the epoxy, come use the metal glue gun when you get back in town.
I will take you up on that!
Small update: Slowly purchasing little things here and there again. I'm not happy with my LS coils slowly going out and even less happy with my bracket. Granted the placement is better than most i've seen. I REALLY don't like how high up on the valve cover the Protunerz one is. Mine normally goes where one of the heater hoses is, but I'm retaining stock function and moved it.
Between those problems and having to buy new coils soon I chose to upgrade to Nissan coils. Got the bracket from @DuffyMahoney and ordered the Hitachi coils from RockAuto. In a few weeks I'll hopefully get a chance to work on it again.
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I did something very similar a few years ago, but I had the tabs to bolt it in in the same location as the original, and I kept the same angle on the rear inlet as the stock piece.
It flows okay as well, but it tends to flow mostly out the center. I had some help with this design since I'm a complete novice with 3D modeling software, but if I could do it again, I would add some kind of center diverter to prevent the air from just flowing into the center and actually directing it slightly to the side to each vent.
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On 1/23/2024 at 4:42 PM, madkaw said:
Are you sure you didn't have a Jeep stepper? Looks almost identical but the pattern isn't the same. I had both on hand and realized the bolts don't line up on a Jeep stepper despite being a nearly identical part.
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I think he might have short injectors on there. The protunerz page specifically says not to use those. He's testing the clearance with the injectors instead of the supplied brackets which would have clued him in to why it's too close to the thermostat.
Not to knock on the guy, I'm sure he got it figured out, but definitely seems like typical videos people post hoping to get some internet clout instead of spending their time actually working things out.
A lot of folks on youtube and other social media tend to post these long videos before even asking the supplier about their issue, instead of posting the result then mentioning the problems they ran into and how they were solved.
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What was painful to watch about the videos? I feel like this intake is not that much different from installing a different oem one. Only thing you have to change is where some vacuum is going to.
Well, I guess other than the cable throttle needing to be installed. -
Didn't do a whole lot while I was home for Christmas like I was hoping. Since the weather was so unusually warm and no much snow (and consequently not much salt on the roads) I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the car out for some cruising. Here are just a few of the updates
Found the mats I thought were missing!
DID replaced the horn retaining ring, but not sure how I feel about how tight it is. Don't want to glue the horn pad to it just yet in case something chips. Already has some small bits if it flake off when removing the original ring, but at least now it doesn't fall every time I hit a bump.
Installed only a small handful of shims. Realized most of them are still good. I think if I visit this spring the big work will be finally fixing the seals on the hatch and adjusting it properly. Right now it tends to pull back on the seal. Ugly and makes it inconvenient to use since I have to tuck it back.
Also broke my IAC valve running it through test mode in tunerstudio somehow... woops haha. Blew the end off. Put it back together but now it won't go in or out.
Also bought a proper reproduction windshield washer bottle
Biggest mishap... found out one side of the bumper hasn't been hanging on to the brackets at all. Probably broke early on. It's just a few tacks holding it on
Gonna fix with epoxy when I get back.
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On 12/26/2023 at 6:17 PM, AydinZ71 said:
I have done a complete chassis resto. Took me 3 years… oooof. Let us know if you have any questions.
#1 take away: it is more expensive, more time consuming, and more tedious than one would possibly imagine, especially if you are stiffening the chassis and replacing rust along the way.
absolutely, positively 100% worth the time and effort to find a body you can build from that does not require a full bare-metal resto. You will never get your time and money back, haha. Maybe for a rare European, but not a Z.
Also, as popular as the rotisserie is, it can be done without. You wire-wheel the underside on your back wearing proper PPE, and use a brush to apply the epoxy sealer.
Even my "rust free" 280z had the floors replaced at some point (poorly, I might add).
I'll agree with you here, it's so worth it to find a body that needs as little work as possible. His example in the videos is FAR better than most and still required some patching to get it to a high standard. Very impressed with his videos and the work on the hood though.
It's almost motivating me to replace my floors properly, now with properly reproduced seat supports that weren't available when I made mine out of square tubing... slightly less tempting now that it's painted though haha.
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Not sure if you're still taking orders but I'd definitely be interested
1 Hoody
Size: (M) color black
2 T Shirts
Size: (M) color black
Size: (M) color royal blue
ZIP - 84321
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4 hours ago, Gollum said:
Tim is a legend. I wish I could hand him a 10k check for _all the carbon_ for my car, but sadly I'm just not there yet. Maybe some day.
There's quite a few people on the facebook groups with some of his carbon parts. Seems to be a much better parts distributor/manufacture experience than some others have dealt with in the Z community.
They seem pretty reliable.
Honestly I don't trust any of the current suppliers for carbon parts. -
Thought this was pretty intense and honestly really well done.
https://www.motortrend.com/events/datsun-240z-tesla-restomod-ev-sema-2023/
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Wide body would be slightly better if the rear arches were higher. They seem to sit very low. Considering the rest of the work I think they just kept them even with the front, but with that hump in the rear it looks a bit awkward. Same thing happens with ZG flares honestly. Lots of people place them too low.
Pretty impressive otherwise. Only the second functional awd I can remember seeing. Both with american v8s
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On 10/14/2023 at 10:24 AM, Dat73z said:
@Zetsaz it's the OE front bar powdercoated with poly bushings and endlinks. I had considered bigger sway bars but they seemed more trouble than they're worth. I made AL spacers for a rear bar in the past which could likely help in your situation, just get some flat plate and drill some holes
Makes me wish I hadn't tossed my originals. I don't like the way the rear one mounts on the 280z, but I honestly don't have much of a need of stiffer sway bars. At best I do a bit of canyon driving and I'm probably too scared to slide off the road and ruin all my time (and money) to really push the limits.
As far as the transmission mount goes that looks correct. Like @madkaw said it definitely flexes a lot. When I first installed my 71c transmission it had enough flex for one of the bolts to put a nice gash on the side of my shiny new T3 trans crossmember.
I still have the original and it's honestly not bad with the new Kameari engine mounts since now there's not much side to side movement and the trans mount really mostly needs to be fore/aft isolation.If you're not trying to go solid mount or find a stiff poly alternative you could do what I did for the engine mounts and buy a Kameari mount. Supposedly 1.5x harder than OEM but still rubber. I might be doing that when I pull the trans to fix my rear main leak. I'm honestly very happy with the compromise between OEM and poly on my engine mounts
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On 9/30/2023 at 8:23 AM, Dat73z said:
Nice change of pace today, got up at my normal time which is way too early and got the new rack situated. I think I need to get back into the routine of putting an hr into the build every AM. Did some measuring as well between the exhaust and new DP and I don't think I'll need to order any more pipe but I'll need to order another vband flange from Vibrant.
Is that an ST front sway bar? Doesn't look like you have spacers on it. Do you have any issues with it fowling against the frame rails on the outside? Mine seems to rub and it looks like if I hit a particularly rough bump I'd probably just slightly bend the pinch on the outside. Right about where it curves to the rear it just touches.
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47 minutes ago, Dat73z said:
@Zetsaz if you're ever in the bay area give ZCG a call and see if you can try the setup on their shop car. The full package is really impressive tbh from the KWs, Rebello stroker, stoptech brakes etc. Well worth the wait. Rob is a great guy and experienced driver driver.
Honestly wish I'd stopped by during my pacific coast cruise, but that was around peak covid time so I was just camping out of the Z on the way to my brother's in LA.
How are the KWs vs something like BCs? What did you have before? My only complaint just by looking at them is that you can't set preload independently and change ride height with a threaded body like the BCs, but I honestly don't know enough about suspension dynamics to say if that's that much of a difference at the end of the day.
I think for an old car I'm actually not too noisy, but on bumps the pillow ball at the top coupled with the camber tops being metal right onto the metal of the car adds more noise than most things. I've almost been tempted to create at least a little poly "shim" between the coilovers and the strut towers so it's at least not metal directly onto metal.
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Am I reading this correctly?
Despite being on adapters and worn out OEM seats you were able to get about 2in of extra head clearance?
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That's my thought. General feedback I've gotten from people who actually drive their cars a lot is that the T3 or really anything by Wilwood is mostly just fine. I'm at a point where I'm okay spending a bit more for great instead of still paying a lot and potentially ending up dissatisfied.
You're gonna be really happy with the T3 steering rack though. Best thing I've done so far for driveability.
Does anyone know whats up with Apex Engineered and Cap Metalworks using the same frame rail images?
in S30 Series - 240z, 260z, 280z
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I'm sure they're great parts. Years ago Bad Dog was really your only option. They were decent but I think fitment has gotten a lot better on stuff like this as new people have tried to make them in better volumes