Dragonfly

I tried taking the glass off the metal frame and then putting it back on after everything else was assembled... BIG mistake, as I very carefuly tightened the screws back down the glass shattered it seems I forgot how delicate glass is to compression/pinching. Personal recomendation is don't do it. Dragonfly

There was trimming required but not on the mirrors, the trimming was on the insided of the door. Here is a pic I found of a 999 mirror where you can kind of see the mounting area, it uses a post and a bolt then the wiring runs up one of the mirror legs (beside the mounting bolt). Because of the angle and the location of the mirror you have to trim out a part of the "rolled support" in the door in order to install and tighten the bolt that holds the mirror in place. Putting these mirrors on was not an easy job but I really like the way they look although the right (passenger side) mirror is more of a blind spot mirror than a functional mirror due to the minimal amount of adjustment made into it (remember it was made for a motorcycle where you are less than a foot away from the mirror). One of the cool things about these mirrors is that the plastic outer cover (black on mine) can be removed fairly easily without removing the mirror itself from the car if you wanted to paint them a different color or replace them with carbon fiber (real CF but pricey). CF covers: Dragonfly

Says 280zx but I don't see any pictures of it on a 280zx??? It also seems to me as if it is screaming "RICE". Dragonfly

That in my opinion is a hangin' offense, and I hope that whoever did it gets his just rewards. Beyond that a good paint/repair shop should be able to fix that at a much more reasonable cost than repainting the side of the car. Good luck and may karma be relitively instant. Dragonfly

I'm not sure when I am going to be out his way again but I will call him in the morning and see if he can snap some pics and email them to me. Dragonfly

Thats quite a rear wing on that Z... gotta give someone props for inventiveness. Enjoy turning the Z into the car you want it to be and don't forget to update with pics. Dragonfly

Several years ago I also had a similar incident, I was on a very long on ramp and just before reaching the freeway I saw two young boys in the bushes on the side of the ramp, my first thought was that something was wrong because of where they were but then I saw them draw back for a throw and I instinctively slammed the brakes (thank goodness know one was behind me) and I watched in what seemed like slow motion two rocks pass right in front of my windshield. Both the rocks missed and I pulled over to the side and went running after them. I never caught them but I know I put the fear of god in them as I could hear them praying out loud as they were running for god to not let me catch them. I guess the prayer worked and I hope it changed thier lives. I am sorry to hear that there was dammage to your car but I am glad you caught the one and I hope for his sake and his buddies sake that this incident teaches them a lesson in a good way. Dragonfly

They came off a Ducati 999 super bike. The blinkers in the mirrors work (spliced them into the front turn signal wires). They are a real PIA to install but after they are in there is absolutely no vibration in them. Here is another pic to give you a better idea of how they look on an S30. Dragonfly

What do you think of these? Dragonfly

I think you can do it on an S130, I did it on my S30 and I don't see why you could not do the same basic thing. The only thing is that I used a Fiero radiator and Fiero 2 speed electric fan with shroud. Mock up pics below: Here are a couple of pics of the completed job. Dragonfly

Next time I am over at ZRaceProducts if I remember I will climb around Jerry's Z and take pics of how he ran tubes through the rocker panels. Jerry did his in a way that allowed him to connect the tubes into the rest of the cage after exiting out of the front and rear of the rocker panels. He told me that the primary reason he did this was so that in the event of an accident neither the front or rear tires would be able to be pushed into the car (when I get some pictures you will understand what I mean), but basicaly when the tube comes out of the front it goes into the wheelwell and is angled up and across then penetrates the inner fender and is welded to the engine compartment section of the cage, the rear does the same thing but connects to the rear section of the cage. Dragonfly

Having been one of the guys who has seen this car in person (when it belonged to Hoover) I have to say that I like the original wing from every angle except directly from behind. I think the best way to evaluate (for me at least) is to take several more pics with the whale tale including directly from the back. This is purely in the interest of evaluation and has nothing to do with obsesive compulsive desires. Dragonfly

Looks to me like a good Hyabusa transplant, the hell with the trees and 24 mph. Now that would be a sleeper. Dragonfly

Dan, showed my wife the picture of your wifes car and gave her the liscence number so there are now two more sets of eyes in the SD area. I work in National City and along the water front and am down around Chicano park on a moderately regular basis, I will keep an eye out for any 05 Magnum RT's. Are there any distinctive things to look for other than color and plate number? Any Cholo with an IQ above 70 will steal some different plates for the car and if the IQ goes above 90 they may also get it sprayed. One last thing, send Mike Kelly a PM about this, tell him Miles told you to PM him, he will know exactly what I am thinking. Dragonfly

Yep, thats what I was talking about. Dragonfly

They make a paint removal wheel that looks like a "greenie" scratch pad but it is black and goes into your drill motor. It is for removal of rust and paint and works well for removing paint from fiberglass as long as you don't overdo any one spot with it. I used one on my FG fenders without doing any damage. You can find them in just about any store that has both a paint and tool department. One last thing... get the thickest one you can find, it gives you more control and allows you to get around the tough curves. Dragonfly

This could be a worthwhile investment for you http://www.themotorbookstore.com/scdeofexinsy.html it will go a long way toward your goal of DIY. Dragonfly

It's somewhat of a press fit... the material of the cap will give a little bit but not enough to cause a visible deformation. It should go in quite easily with a few light taps, if it does not go in easily or it tries to deform on you than the cap is not correct for your CV, but from the picture it looks like the correct one. Dragonfly

With the cap in place like you have in the last picture use a soft faced mallet or a dead blow hammer and tap the cap into place. It does not take much force and when the shafts are installed in the car the caps are captive and will not come off. Dragonfly

I also have the stock lower skid plate on my car and a whole lot of ducting etc. at speed the car has no over heating issues but in stop and go traffic i.e. no airflow through the radiator it will over heat very quickly. I have a two speed fan and the low speed will easily provide enough airflow through the radiator to actualy over cool the engine. What is odd with mine is that if I use the high speed fan it does not cool the engine as quickly and seems to create "dead zones" where no air is pulled through the radiator, but thats its own can of worms. I run an electric water pump and support springs in both upper and lower radiator hoses, I also run a Nissan thermostat as it is able to move a lot more coolant than most aftermarket thermostats. Here's a pic of some of the aluminum tape I used to seal the skid plate. Dragonfly

I am certainly learning a few things here and I hope others are as well. The reason I used 12 ft/lbs for the bolts is because of the fact I was using steel bolts in aluminum threads, I also felt that the loktite and lock washer would take care of keeping the bolts in place. The bellhousing is history but the transmission is fine (B.W. T-5), I think I may have a line on a replacement bellhousing already. Dragonfly

I definately think it has to do with the differing rate of expansion between the aluminum flywheel and the steel bolts. The bolts were a metric grade that was aproximately an ASE grade 5 each bolt had an allen head with a built in washer and shoulder, I attached each bolt using red loktite and a lock (split type) washer, I used my torque wrench and tightened them in a criss cross pattern in 3 ft/lb incriments to a total of 12 ft/lbs. I was very careful in doing this because I had a bolt come out before but that was because the bolts were to long and bottomed out. I did not think about the fact that the flywheel might exceed the breakdown temp for the red loktite and I am not sure if that was the case as the two bolts that were still fully attached were also still "locked" with the loktite. I am thinking at this point that it was probably a combination of many things all combined to create a freak accident. I will also agree with the comments about using safety wire in the future and make a personal recomendation to anyone who is going to applying heavy shock loads to a light weight aluminum flywheel - be safe and use lock wire on all the pressure plate bolts to insure they will not back out - the other thing I am going to start doing on a regular basis is remove the starter and use a telescoping mirror to visualy inspect the bolts (I will put a dab of "torque seal" on each bolt after assembly) at least monthly or prior to a race. Dragonfly

Pressure plate to flywheel. Dragonfly

I had an issue with a bolt backing out of my Fidanza flywheel again... even though I had red loctite on them I had two come out and one that made a projectile of itself causing the destruction seen in the pictures below. I forgot to take a picture of the "damaged" bolt but lets just say it is not any better than the rest of the parts. Needless to say none of the parts shown are salvagable. Dragonfly

I have in the past reused them and not had a problem with it but that was on a bone stock rebuild. When I built my current engine I purchased brand new "turbo" head bolts. Odds are you will not have a problem reusing the old head bolts but at the same time keep in mind you may have to remove a broken head bolt in the future and make other repairs at the same time. Dragonfly