Zetsaz

Will post pictures here when i get home later. Right now it only has the two hangers near the stock locations for the muffler. One about 6" from the muffler casing, and one towards the back close to the rear valence. I'll probably try to figure something out for the midpipe or just before the differential crossmember down the road, but we made the clearances pretty good and it's pretty tucked up just from tightening the V band clamps. The issue with another hanger in the middle is I don't have the stock shield over the transmission tunnel that the 280z had, nor do I have the mounting points for it because the floors were replaced by the previous owner. Yeah, the V bands were definitely the nicest, but even the butt welds are really good, they're just not internet "weld porn" pretty haha. we didn't clean them up at all either, so it looks much nicer in person than on the dimly lit stuff I've posted so far. We tig welded all of it (well... my friend who's charging me the "homie discount" did). Don't have the things to back purge, but we used solar flux to make sure the back of the welds were clean. Essentially becomes glass on the back of the weld and shields it from oxygen so you don't get the oxidizing and "sugaring" that can happen when the other side isn't shielded. None of the welds are ground down. They're pretty smooth as is. I'm probably just gonna wipe them clean and let them be whatever color they're going to be after heat cycling when it's running again.

I mean, realistically if you're doing things the most overkill way possible you would run something like this from the attached pdf. The stock turbo system has the block going through PCV to the intake and it's relatively well designed. arrington_ccv_bible (1).pdf

Not my method, this is a direct quote from Matt Armstrong in Vancouver who builds a lot of these He goes stock block vent to stock pcv valve on the intake, then valve cover breather to catch can to intake on the turbo So two small systems Block Vent --> PCV Valve --> Intake Valve cover --> Catch can -->> Turbo intake

15 hours of work later... The video is a bit better despite poor lighting. Some of the welds are great, particularly in the V band flanges, some of them slightly less so because we weren't as careful as necessary about heat like the short pie cut just before the muffler that gets the angle right where we wanted it. That said, even the worst welds are better than the weld on the rear pipe off the HKS muffler. It's a nicer exhaust than I ever thought I'd have on the car, and I still have loads of room on the straight for a resonator or a second muffler if I decide it's too loud. Finishing the hangers tomorrow and it'll be done

Have spent maybe another 10 hours mocking up and test fitting back from the downpipe since my last post. O2 bung is welded in but might have to be relocated. It ended up being angled just a biiiiiit close to the transmission. Perfectly workable for now and no clearance issues getting it in or out. Mid pipe is done and welded. Back end is tacked up. Doing a quick realignment of the muffler today then we'll be able to fully weld the back end and get the hangers done. Super close! This will be a nicer exhaust than I ever imagined having. Pics to come as soon as we finish it up

Downpipe made. Need one more weld on it tomorrow plus the O2 bung then we'll hopefully finish up the mid pipe

Hey everyone, I feel like it's the first time in a while I've made a new thread about anything but I'm curious if anyone here has experience. I'm running an RT Diff mount with the GM top mount. I know of at least one person (can't find the thread anywhere) who cut his stock crossmember to improve space for exhaust routing. Instead of being a crossmember for the diff, it's now just brackets to hold up the front of the control arms. Z Car Depot now offers billet pieces that do the same thing as pictured. The big question is whether or not this would worsen lateral rigidity. I can't imagine the RT diff mount adds nothing but it's not exactly the same as the crossmember adding a brace straight across. Would love to hear people's opinions/thoughts.

You can get some new GSP Axles from Rock Auto for about $50 ea. Not really worth trying to find them used unless you get a better deal than that

New parts tease. Friend of a friend who's welding all the stainless for me is hoping we can get it all done the end of next week. Should give me enough time to make or order some intercooler brackets and finish up the cold side piping

EDIT: Double post

Then I'm sure you'll enjoy! Sequential fuel and spark aren't options on MS3 unless you get the MS3X board to go with it. That's why I suggested the upgrade to MS3 if you can. MS3X is a whole other step up EDIT: They are options, but I think it's still limited to 4cyl sequential fuel. Would need some modding for more. The notable (and useful) upgrades you get over MS2 are SD card logging, USB-serial (instead of having to use an old Serial cable), finer resolution on fuel tables, and more up to date support on the 3.57 boards through MS Extra.

If you like doing this sort of work, I will definitely say some of the learning is half the fun. That being said, there are a lot of cars out there sitting on jack stands for years because people don't anticipate just how involved it is, and how steep the initial learning curve is. If, alternatively, you like driving your car a lot and just want to get it moving and enjoy it, I might suggest buying one of the "plug and play" kits that you can now get from vendors like godzilla raceworks or ProTunerz. They'll get you up and going with a base tune probably within a weekend if you're working and read instructions carefully. I spent entirely too long accumulating parts and overthinking things, and if I could do things again, I would get the car running asap and slowly decide small things I NEED to upgrade. That being said, megasquirt is a massive upgrade, and well worth it if you really commit and get it going. My 2 year old paint job is already fairly imperfect from driving this thing down the pacific coast highway from Seattle to LA, and even driving through some dirt roads so I could drive it through the Chandelier Tree. Every step of the way the efficiency was better and fuel was burned more completely (you're not in open loop on the injectors at faster highway speeds), meaning I had almost no fumes along the drive. MS2 kits get the job done well, but I will warn you that most tuners I know of won't mess with them that much anymore because they're getting a bit dated. MS3 is only a small step up. If you go MS2, I would make sure you get an assembled kit.

"71c" transmission. Technically this one was out of a Silvia, but it's the same as the late s14 ones.

She's in! Need to bleed the clutch to check everything but it's all bolted up to the engine side and alternator is back on. Waiting on a new speedo cable, reverse switch, and shifter gasket before I fill it up. Afterward I'll get the new driveshaft in and double check everything Spent a decent chunk of time before it was rebuilt cleaning the bellhousing and tailhousing so they were painted and cleaned up a bit. It's looking nice with that new T3 crossmember even though it's not perfect. Currently on the way are a new intercooler and piping among a few other things. Edit - Also removed the clutch weights from the Centerforce clutch per a L series builder's recommendation. Supposedly makes it difficult to shift once you start getting up to about 6k rpm. I don't expect to get there often, but with my modest goals and the added rotational weight, it feels like the added clamping force isn't worth the tradeoff of some questionable shifting at high rpm

Small update: Didn't realize how burnt out I was when I pulled the trans and wanted to upgrade to turbo. Progress has been SLOW compared to the past couple years. Transmission is now finally off for a rebuild. Getting new bearings, synchros, seals, and a new 3rd gear. Have redline fluid ready to go for when I get it back. The only turbo upgrades I have left are the intercooler and charge piping. Will probably purchase this month so I can cruise again by the start of spring. I was recently offered a job at an international school in Mexico that i'm still debating, but there's a high likelihood I make a big push to enjoy this thing in the spring and tune it up to really make the most of it this summer before possibly moving to Guadalajara! More to come...

Pretty sure he ditched the VR38 not long after getting it running. I think he blew the engine and went LS. Check his instagram.

https://kfvintagejdm.com/product-category/datsun/?fbclid=IwAR2T8lFNnlM0_l6ywNaPiWWpnX3fLlONFA_vq1zqM3Z1f21CSq6Z0vUeZxk Here's a link to their datsun parts

Is that just a flat piece of aluminum? Seems pretty straightforward. Might go that direction. The one from Z car depot is raised right? Not sure how necessary that is, considering there's already a gap between the core and the mounting surface.

Did the 12" spal fans not fit the shroud? I've been wanting to use that shroud as an off the shelf option with some spal pullers.

Yeah, special characters break links, you have to be careful with thread titles. Should really make a sticky on the FAQ or on the rules page about that so people are aware, you're not the first to do it, and at least yours is a bit more obvious than some of the other weird ones that have broken and had to be remade in the past.

Universally, it seems like the reviews are "these parts are good quality... if you ever get them" I think the owner is Paulo? Pablo? The business has had questionable reviews at best and I wouldn't trust them anywhere near the same level as, say, Skillard or Apex. Some people spent the better part 6 months or more waiting on parts from RetroSpec. I wouldn't hold my breath. Your best bet is to try calling and threaten to have your credit or paypal refund the purchase if they don't follow through on your order soon.

New purchases arrived this week as I make progress on the turbo bits among other things: -3" stainless exhaust tubing, flex coupler, two V band joints, and O2 bung -Picked up the bellhousing. Machining only cost me $80! Started degreasing and cleaning it slowly so I can paint it in aluminum paint like I did the rear housing. Debating whether or not I want to just get it rebuilt for peace of mind now or run it as-is until it starts to bother me. -Skillard front splitter, mostly already installed, but I have threaded holes where bolts broke... and then my bolt extractor also broke The main piece is fully functonal as-is (it doesn't normally attach to the radiator core support on a 240z, but is designed to be capable of that for the 280), but the smaller rear attachment that connects it to the engine crossmember is only connected there by one bolt right now. Will have to figure out how to get the broken bolt out. EDIT: I'm about ready to hack up the skillard front grill. While it's a very nice piece and a good change if you're removing the 280 style turn signals, not having the lower portion open when you need to get your hands in there is a huge pain in the ass AND you can't remove it without removing the front bumper. That combined with the flexing in the Skillard front bumper mounts on bumps due to their design (which rubbed off a not-insignificant bit of paint on my headlight buckets near the bumper) makes me want to go back to the older style conversion brackets I had and just cut off the bottom half of the grill for better accessability like original 240z grills had)

The cheapest solution is to modify something available (assuming you have the skills). For most "off the shelf" or bolt-in solution, you're not gonna get much cheaper than CX racing.

I have the same "ultimate internal wastegate" setup as you from ATP. What's that cover you have on your exhaust housing? I think I want to use something similar

Just get the vintage air unit. You'll be better off sourcing similar parts from them in a kit with way more documentation and help. Look through the recent pages of my "musician's therapist" thread if you want to see some pictures