Zetsaz

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.

Minor adjustment today: Was frustrated with low speed throttle control. Compared my tune to @madkaw's. Of course I can't use the same tables, but some of the setting can be very similar. I raised the TPSdot% threshold for accel enrichment and its SO much better on low throttle now. Nice to have some other guys running similar setups to compare to. Don't think I'll need to mess with replacing the linkages since it's feeling much better.

One thing to consider is the engine alone (no mods) is worth like $12k these days. I think some of the work is questionable, and that price for a car with that kind of interior is ridiculous, but the parts alone, plus the superstreet feature make it a somewhat reasonable price when you consider everything.

I love the color! Glad I took my time picking it. I've been keeping a close on eye on that bubbling in one spot, and it's the same as always. Makes me think it was just some solvent pop. Still haven't committed to how I want to correct it, but it'll either fix itself with wet sand before I take it somewhere for a proper cut and polish which we never did after paint. The mild clunking is way better but still driving me crazy. I think next step is fixing that driveshaft and considering a throttle cable instead of the mechanical linkages. the linkages are mostly working fine but at very low speed/low throttle the control is just not what I want out of it.

Not really much to update. Heater has worked fairly well, mostly no complaints cruising this past week with the nice weather we've had. Brakes have felt good. Really not many complaints other than the interior not being fully done and the IAC needing some more tuning. Protunerz recently showed some new versions of their intake manifold with a throttle body provision for the GM IAC and it's tempting me to just go turbo already... Maybe sometime. The trans cost to hold the power is still the big setback. Anyway, here's some random better pics with bumpers now. I'll be fully vaccinated by my spring break and I'm hoping to drive the pacific coast highway in the Z and camp out along the way. We'll see how that pans out.

I would confirm your tooth #1 angle. Honestly it took me forever to get mine set right despite triple checking that the engine was at TDC and that I had the wheel oriented correctly. It's also possible to set your distributor the wrong direction, which could offset your number #1 tooth angle by 180deg. I spent hours getting trying to get mine close and eventually had to just adjust by about 10deg intervals in my settings until I got it to fire.

Replaced the trans mount today and burped the coolant. The stock 280 radiator and clutch fan are far more efficient than anyone gives them credit for. The clunking is much better but still not gone. Had a ridiculously hard time bringing it up to a temp the thermostat would even open at. Had to completely block off the radiator. Only took about 10 seconds to drop back under 180 once I finished the job and removed the cardboard, then it kept going until it stabilized around 170. Have triple checked the thermostat and already replaced it. Might have to just partially block off the radiator until summer to get it to run at proper operating temp.

The extra gear doesn't get you more than your current trans either. I'm pretty sure it has a shorter first but it's 6th is nearly the same as your fifth. Very tight gearing. I've considered it, but it's huge and I'm not sure would work great with my 3.9 rear. I know some are running that, but most have agreed that 1st in particular is just way too short, especially if you have a turbo.

New CD009?

Hmmmmm.... that seems genuinely interesting. I'd be curious what shipping is! I've swung full GT direction, so most of my money has gone to comforts and cleaning things up instead of power lately. Last bits of work I've done are: -Replaced both flashers that seems to be failing intermittently with some new LED flashers for when I upgrade. Seems to be working okay right now, but I know with LED bulbs sometimes things get weird because of how brake or turn signal bulbs ground/differences in design depending on the brand. -Ordered the center chrome trim for the tail lights. -Ordered gas cap chain -Ordered new horn switch (Mine from the S1 for my steering wheel seems to be missing one piece ) -Also found out after realigning the front end after the ball joint replacement that the transmission rubber mount was really worn and there was a lot of play. Fortunately my alignment guy is a local Datsun friend, so he couldn't help himself when he noticed the strong clunking and started poking around when it was on the lift. Seems like my clunking might not be from the back end at all. New mount is ordered.

Edit: double post

Nearly every single bolt holding the interior together is an M6x1.0. A handful of M8s in oddball spots (I believe the original seat mount bolts are M8s, but I can't check since mine are on square tubing with different hardware) The only other stuff that doesn't match that are the interior screws which there aren't a ton of (4 for the defrost cowl panel, 4 for the hvac controls and... 6? for the taillight panel). The interior trim is either glued, has clips like the doors, or uses plastic rivets. Since you asked specifically about the dash and heater, it's probably something like 20 bolts, all of them M6x1.0 I'm pretty sure. Only ones that will be different are the hvac controls which are a bit different between models. Half the car is put together with them, pretty much all about a 1in/20mm length. Dash, earlier radiators (?) fuel line brackets, brake line brackets, master and slave cylinders, evap canister, fuel filler neck.... the list goes on and on.