Zetsaz

OHHHHHH.... My mistake, it was Nostalgic Air, I don't know why I wrote Vintage Air. Edited the other post for clarity.

... I thought you knew, you were the one who directed me to them haha. They're the only ones that make a bolt in, and for the L24 guys it has provisions for the smog pump and bracket. Unfortunately that means the included belts are too short and the other is too long. Yeah, I'm kinda pinned between putting the fresh block in and dealing with sluggishness while turbo stuff gets done, or just dealing with like half a quart of oil every few hundred miles and running my engine for the rest of the summer. Both aren't fun despite being completely usable as a cruiser.

AC compressor and bracket arrived. Picked these up from (EDIT: Nostalgic Air, not Vintage Air). Their prices are going up and I'm hoping they start offering just the bracket but honestly I think if you have even mild fabrication abilities you can make the bracket for less money. I'm a bit burned out though so I wanted something "off the shelf" and just chopped a bit of the top off that's normally for bolting on the 240z smog pump. Currently it's on the turbo engine. Big debate right now is rebuilding the T3/T04e turbo I have with it, or running it NA temporarily while I wait on manifold mods for an external wastegate to be done. Only reason I'm not considering just waiting is I'll be traveling with the car to be with family most of the summer and I can't get the parts done before I leave... But my current engine, despite running great is burning a lot of oil. Might need new rings Currently leaning towards just dealing with the lower compression and slight sluggishness so it's at least in the bay. Exhaust manifold and intercooler are easy enough to swap in later.

Cylinders 5 and 6 tended to run hotter than the rest. Poor coolant flow through the head. The head cooling mod taps into 5 and 6 above the intake runners and feeds them coolant from the thermostat housing where it's coldest. There are a variety of ways to do it that you can read about. The new JeffP head gasket made by Cometic that you can buy from Zcardepot now is also supposed to help.

Well folks... I think I might have scored with the engine I got. Managed to get in touch with the original owner and got a build spreadsheet. Lots done. -Reground cam, roughly 480 lift (will have to pull up specs when I'm home) -Dual heavy duty valve springs -Port matched and smoothed intake ports -OEM solid lifters -New rings, rehoned block (checked honing marks with a borescope to ensure no damage) -Cylinder head cooling mod on 5 and 6 already done -New timing kit from Japan -Other refresh work, and I'm assuming a valve job at one point. Sadly, the turbo needs to be replaced or rebuilt and I'll still need boost control and intercooler, so the expensive stuff will still add up, BUT since my engine is burning excessive oil, I'm tempted to just pay up for turbo/intercooler stuff and get this thing in already and run it gently and do the transmission later

Front control arms still aren't done because I've been slightly burned out on car work. Finishing them up this weekend and ordering remaining AC parts though. Also... That hardbody I picked up years ago is a champ. Picked up this "free to me" engine last night in exchange for some spare parts. Guy seems to have changed directions and mostly just wanted it out of the way. Some pieces seem questionable, but a lot of it looks pretty good and it already has the common head cooling mod for cylinders 5 and 6. Since mine is running okay aside from some oil burning, I'll be building this really slowly and properly. Spending my money on finishing the AC and a trans upgrade before this goes in. Now I won't have to put the car out for a long time, just whatever it takes to swap in the two blocks.

Ahh! Forgot about the recent bug. Yeah, has to be manually fixed by a moderator as was mentioned. It's unfortunate 😕

You need to be a donating member to post in that section.

Front control arms arrived with the accompanying tension control rods. Won't have weird issue with the stock ones affecting my spring rate now and will finally correct the front passenger caster. Steering rack has some issues, I think I may inspect and replace bearing (if I can even find the right parts) and regrease, since I have to realign now anyway. There's a chance I've come across a basically free turbo engine too... we'll see what I can use off it. Not sure I even want to run it, but at worst it's spare parts I can part out and make some money. Main concern is still my transmission not being able to hold much, but the trans costs are the issue with literally any option I go with 😕 Basically flywheel back is my biggest cost no matter what I do with my power options, and no one choice is notably cheaper than another.

I don't think anyone's saying don't be critical. The other thread just got locked for going off topic, don't make this one go the same direction or get thrown it in the shed, you should know nothing here gets deleted short of users editing their own posts or broken links/images. @Joe0690, @Ben280 is your go-to for how some of the parts perform if you want to ask someone with genuine experience with the products in hard use. Unfortunately I think I've only seen one install of the full track attack kit from Hell-Z and have seen no updates in a year at least. Most Datsun folks just don't have the money to run it, and I think if you look at comments from @JMortensen you'll note the real world benefit of the kit is questionable, or at least unproven. FWIW, I'm happy with the rear arms and I'm currently waiting on the fronts so I can dial in my front caster, but I'm also pretty much entirely spirited street use and cruising on those parts.

Where are the mods? This thread has moved beyond the scope of the 8.8 subframe specifically. Those who want to discuss reviews of Apex in general should start another thread. I think we've gotten off track. Let's keep it to comments about the practicality or viability of the kit as an option, or current thoughts based on recent experience with it.

Teacher perspective, and as someone satisfied with my Apex products and intend to buy more: The best lesson I ever learned from my university director was "it's not mistakes that bother me, it's complacency." Ohm, from every interaction and experience I've had with him and others, has made a consistent effort to improve products and delivery. If you're an early customer, I think it's a bit unfair to be as critical as some have been if the problem has already been mutually resolved.

I'll agree with this, but it's why I mention specifically that pretty much all the other products have had positive reviews.

On the contrary, I like my rear control arms and plan on ordering the fronts. @Ben280has the rear subframe and can tell you his experience with it. Seems like more and more of the LS swap guys from the Swapped S30 Owners facebook group are using his front crossmember as well. I think the 8.8 kit, especially if you also go with the axles (which are outsourced), is the only thing I've heard negative reviews of. I feel like this has already been discussed endlessly in this thread and Ohm even had a chance to explain the situation regarding delays with the 8.8 kit. My two cents: if you haven't had an opportunity to resolve it with the company directly it's best not to pile onto small companies providing pretty niche parts for an already niche market. At the very least it's good to provide pictures of what your issues are and mention when you ordered/received since some problems maybe have been resolved since then, this past year in particular poses lots of issues with outsourcing labor and materials even for large established car companies who even have their own supply chains for some things.

Tough choice but I feel like I should just commit to the gauges. If I sell my Infiniti I'd have the money for an engine swap and gauges or a solid L series build already, and in a swap especially, I'd need the new gauges anyway unless I start messing with sensor thread adapters or resistors. Second casualty from the drive: the bumper brackets from Skillard are fairly well designed, but I think the extra weight of the metal bumper instead of fiberglass is creating a bit of a spring effect and the bumper seems to be moving enough on really harsh bumps to rub on the headlight buckets. I was careful to provide clearance when I installed it so it wasn't too close, but it looks like it's moving enough to rub and has rubbed through the paint on some small spots Going to put some masking tape on it for the drive back, but I think it's time to experiment with more clearance or some clever custom rubber bump stops or rubber strips I can attach.

I'm green with envy.

I'll keep that in mind! Updates: CV Bolts: Now at my brother's place in North Hollywood and got to check on some stuff. some of the bolts from the CVs to the adapters came loose. Strangely, I don't think it's just that they came loose, I think they were never totally flush to begin with. The plate on the end of them made it near impossible to properly tighten and I think as they've settled in, the 1/8" or so they might have been off on one end showed up. Was getting some oscillating noise from the back, but only under load. Everything is tightened up now, but I'm going to reinstall the bolts one at a time with loctite now that they're settled and flush when I'm back home. Speedo issues: Speedometer cable stopped working somewhere before San Francisco and I thought maybe it was my gauge. My volt/fuel was already not working, so I figured it was the gauge since I had a new cable. Nope..... turns out the cable tore a few inches up from the speedo cog at the transmission. Have done the math on gearing enough times that I mostly know how fast I'm going, and in 5th I know exactly how fast I'm going just off the tach. Not sure if I wanna just buy a new cable or make it an excuse to replace the rest of my gauges already. Pricey, but now that I have my daily car completely paid and made some money from a small investment deal with my brother it might be worth it.

I'll 100% agree with this. I've legitimately had no issues with any of them. Just need to be patient, especially right now. I waited 3-4 months for my bumpers from Z Car Garage and they were great about keeping me in the loop even though sometimes the update was "our supplier has sent them but they're stuck at port and we don't know when they'll arrive." Same thing with Z Car Depot. One order mistake ever and they took care of it free of charge. I think all things considered our options do well with what they have. But like I said, unless we're happy to pay noticeably higher prices for everything, customer service won't be perfect every time. Would require more employees all around.

As values continue to climb I often wonder how the aftermarket Porsche community compares. My car is slowly starting to become nice, but I was talking to a friend recently about how Datsun guys are unfortunately really cheap. Often not willing to pay for quality, but still happy to complain. I wonder if the general demographic affects the quality of customer service some parts places are able to provide. Skillard has been consistently great, and other than issues explained in other threads, I've had a great experience with Apex. It's a double edged sword I think. As prices go up, maybe customer service will improve as people with greater pickiness and demands are in the Datsun market.

Road trip down the entire western US a success! Review so far: most of the Pacific coast highway along Oregon isn't worth cruise. And I literally mean all but like 15 minutes of it unless you're heading to a specific camping spot. Going to hit Big Sur and Hearst Castle if it's open on the way back but not much else I want to see this time around. Pro tip - when you don't slam your car you can go more fun places

2 months ago?

Surprised you're dealing with this. How long has it been? I've had nothing but positive experiences. Last time they messed up anything my order they sent me the correct part completely free and didn't even ask me to return the incorrect small part that had gotten mixed up.

I think there's always some poor communication and terminology around this, sorry! I definitely still have the whole crossmember still on, it's just the bottom diff mount that isn't on it anymore.| I know some people have cut it into two smaller pieces that only function to hold the control arms from the front end, but I'm not sure that's ideal

This took too long. Finally got the diff top mount installed instead of the snubber. Still mild clunking but only out of a stop in first so I think whatever is left is mild play in the axles and adapters which is frustrating but I'll leave it be for now. Acceleration and cruising are noticeably smoother and now the giant bottom mount isn't making it more difficult to access the nuts and bolts on the driveshaft flange. Got a chance to cruise this weekend and get some feedback from @seattlejester. Biggest thing he noticed is some slop in the steering Shafter into the rack. I don't know if it's worn or just needs the big nut adjusted but I think I'd just gotten used to it. Either way I tightened down the clamps for now which were also a bit loose. Big hang up now is debating if I want to remove the front windshield to install the a pillar vinyl trim the "right" way. Either way, she's coming along nicely. Everything is just refinement now

Mostly. @Chickenmanwas kind enough to give me some baseline afr and timing maps despite not doing megasquirt tuning anymore, and has given me lots of helpful tips. A lot of my settings I've compared to @madkaw's .msq files since he's one of few other people I know running full sequential timing/fuel on an NA L series. The rest has been mostly my tinkering. Haven't really bothered messing with AFR or timing advance maps just because I'm still running essentially a stock block. Not sure there's a ton more to get out of it without headwork and a cam if I stick with this engine long term, so I've mostly focused on drivability quirks that I care more about than big numbers.