DHale_510

I cannot get your thumbnails to open, but this looks like an early style comp gearbox. Steel synchros and very durable. There ought to be a code stamped by the release fork hole, I suppose that is your 4th picture, that tells at least what ratios it originally had in there. Something like N3130 [OD 5th and close ratio 3.32 first] for example. It requires a special drive shaft, very like a Roadster, as the output shaft is different. Close gears work on race tracks and with peaky engines but are not much use on street cars. More Treasure than Trash IF you have any need for such a thing.

VW Beetle supply stores sometimes have them. They call them "city lights".

What range? I have an expensive 1971 one that I don't use near Santa Cruz.

Napa 7934A

These are 38mm Hitachis for a 510 or other L4 series motor. The SUs never had such nice linkage, the thumb screw adjuster, nor the plastic dampner rod cap. Hitachi copies? Improvements don't count? You really like cork seals better than viton? Dreamland indeed.

I had an intermittant problem with the Autometer speedo I put in my motorhome that I chase dfor 2 years. It went away when I replaced the battery. Apparently it was more voltage sensitive than the ignition or starter. The senders are indeed Hall effect devices. Just like most electronic ignitions. They are a magnetic sensor device with very low power. I don't think you can measure anything with the sort of equipment we have in our garages. They will lose the signal easily if you have a marginal electrical connection anywhere. I like to crimp and solder just to help. I think the third connection is a ground directly between the meter and sender, again this would be to deal with the very low signal strength issues. It could also be a ggofy mechanical drive in the transmission. At least the Datsun ones were little plastic gears sensitive to being installed at the proper rotation or they would grind away. I don't recall what the T5 uses. If that gizmo isn't turning all the time, then the signal generator sees nothing and yada yada ya.

Yes my name is Dennis Hale, the same one that started much of the 510 stuff out there. I still have about 10 of them. OK, maybe 9 1/2. None have ever been stock contrary to the "facts" spread about on the Bluebird list. I built the first 280ZX front suspension car, it still runs and has been copied by many. I have made and even more, helped with, engine swaps that work, swaps that are too much effort, swaps that don't work. My 300hp midengine V8 never quite works as well as my 200hp L18 car for example, but costs a whole lot more to feed and care for. My advice comes from my experience. I continue to advise folks to build a good L series upgrade before jumping into the much harder and always more expensive "wrong motor" pool. An LZ22 hybrid is a nearly bolt in conversion that makes almost three times the original power. Once you have outgrown that then we can talk. This is a far better deal than a L30 diesel crank Z car upgrade that works so well for so many. My personal commitment towards 510s remains high. I only have 3 1/2 Zs and still keep 510 in my email sig. I have run the UFO club for 22 years, and am still producing an [almost] monthly newsletter for about 150 club members. The Shasta Meet was put on by this group with zero help from the Bluebird and DQ elite. The twits that rule that stuff often don't even have a 510 and have never built their own stuff even when they have had one. Buying great stuff from Steve Epperly really doesn't make you Steve Epperly you gotta know. Some experts they be. Now go to your fancy pants experts and lecture them on how to behave instead of babbling away at your keyboard.

I found that a 280ZX had a larger diameter steering shaft than a 240Z.

The Bluebird list is all there is. DQ's forum has failed to catch on. The DQ newsletter remains pretty good. Nissan pulled the plug on parts and zero aftermarket exists, just what interchanges with Z cars. 710s are much worse in this regard. The big summer Shasta get together that was mostly 510s is all gone, 510s are fading fast. The Bluebird list is pretty cliquish, you gotta take crap from the Oregon Shrek or you will be kicked off. Been there, done that. 510s are simple, light cars that do not really work well with heavy engine swaps or power over 200hp. At least they cease to be 510s. They have no room for bigger transmissions, cooling systems and exhausts. They have the steering and crossmember in the way of most swaps and re-engineering the suspension is seldom successful or at least way more work than planned. The rear suspension is simple and durable but has lots of trailing throttle oversteer. Add in some on throttle oversteer and you have a crazy ride. Been there done that too. Still do in fact.

OK, you're right about the length. It is the sedan and Roadster 4 cylinder 4 speed that uses the longer gear and sleeve. The short sleeve does come in two lengths though. 16-19 tooth has less offset than the 20-23 tooth one. Likely the original poster is converting from 18 or 19 teeth to 20 teeth. Half credit each.

I was able to use the Ford quick release adapter by Schraeder from Summit on my race Z. The splines and length were just fine. I reused the Datsun nut. I suppose something from Nardi would adapt too, but it would be a hands on experiment....

4 speed gears are longer than 5 speed gears, and there are two housings for each style depending on how many teeth are on the gear. Parts do not interchange between long and short or big and little offset housings. You may have more trouble than a $10 shipping charge ahead....

Where do you have the "adjusting screw"? It needs to be set properly before you can measure the pad thickness. If you have it too far down you will get a false thick measurement and then have no adjustment range left. This very long range is there to be able to remove the rocker arms, not to extend the adjustment range. The wipe pattern will be off if you do this wrong, possibly enough to run off the hardened pad and destroy the engine with ground down cam. It has happened a lot. I have managed to toss the pad a few times and would not trust a goofy shim adjuster to stay in place. Shortcuts never are.

Webers are by far the best supported type. Parts are important with these toys and Webers are the easiest to get those parts for. There are also more sizes to choose from. One downside is there are lots of mismatched "sets" out there. The small differences in production runs are not good. A set is three of the same production eun of the same model size. Solex are all very old. They were good, they became Mikunis. Some important parts are SOL, but most are same as Mikuni. If you get a nice set of Solex, trade them to a restorer. Mikunis have the best record on Datsuns. They are easier to tune and such than Webers, at least the 44s are easier than the 45s. They are out of production and can be harder to support. Dellortos were updated Webers. They were never well supported in the USA, especially the horizontal ones. They worked well, but are not good choices today. Manifolds. Lots of limited production ones out there. Lots of small variations. Probably the Nissan Comp is the first choice. It certainly is the one to compare to. Probably the bigger thing to consider is linkage. Nissan Comp had this well sorted for Mikunis, few others did. It is common to spend as much on linkage as a used carb set. It is common for a set to be available because the linkage has never been worked out properly. Mikuno linkage doesn't fit Webers and vice versa. 6 point aftermarket Fuel injection systems are approaching carb costs and ought to be considered for a new parts level build.

The minimum RCA error occurs when the arm travels through horizontal at mid travel. If the arm sits angled up from the frame pivot at rest, then you have the problem. It's all a real world geometry problem. This is typical for a lowered strut suspension. Usually we settle for horizontal at rest, and this helps with the camber problem too. 510s use the same ball joint and steering arm spacing as the 280ZX and these parts are available for them that will fit. Generally they are 1". You will need the loger bolts to mount them. The 240/60/80Z parts have a wider bolt space and spacers for them will not work on a 280ZX.

Without a flat or tunnelled bottom leading to these slats all you have are rudders.......

The later Comp transmissions had the number stamped onto the top in large [maybe 1/2"] stamps. Numbers like N3201 for the "rallye" ratios, N3220 for the super close direct fifth [not bloody likely though!]. Not all got even these indicators. Not all still have the same gears in them. Mostly you have to take them apart to tell, but then since they are race parts, they always need to be taken apart anyway....

There were lots of running changes, newer ones seem always to have the good stuff. '79s were the lightest, at least after the big early bumpers are lightened/ They also had old RX2 type struts, brakes, and hydraulic line fitting pitches. Good luck trying to find brake parts for those..... '79s and '80s had the thermal reactor exhaust instead of a catalyst. They were jetted rich and go better leaned out. The '79 still had points, very bad. The '80 had a one year electronic ignition. The later distributors are easy swap parts to upgrade them. All of the carbs are trouble. Aftermarket Mikuni/Weber single side draft carbs are popular "fixes". The 12a engines seem to last about 150 to 200K. The disc brake rear from the GSL models all had nice clutch type lsds, they swap right into other cars. All 12a cars got a 3.9 ratio diff. All had the goofy binding rear axle problem. Track cars "solved" this by stiffening the Front and leaving the rear soft. Weird, but it works. Rear sway bars generally are removed. All Wheel bearings got bigger in '84, a good thing. The '84, '85 GSLSE models were the best. Bigger fuel injected motors that seem to last 300K, 4 wheel disc brakes, 4:11 posi diffs. Rotaries LOVE fuel injection! Wheel pattern changed for them to the Datsun pattern though so little is really interchangeable to the standard cars. They are not very common though. Generally, the '86 to '90 cars are the bigger bargain even if they are not as pretty.

>You can always go easier on the pedal. Really? I never can....

I ran a welded R180 in my ITS class raceer for years. It never failed. It was the devil to push around in the pits. It encouraged a very aggressive technique to drive but it was cheap. It seemed to loosen the half shaft bolts pretty often, and we went for some pretty wild slides sometimes. I am sure it was the diff, not the driver! It was almost impossible to autocross with, I really had to toss it into tight and long turns. It was a wrecking yard 240SX unit that cost about $100. I finally replaced it finally with a Nissan Comp clutch unit. Cost about $1200. The car is a much nicer car to drive and it pushes around almost reasonably. It even autocrosses pretty well, little of that old pitch and catch needed anymore. The axle bolts seems to stay tight. No more loud crunching scary noises from the tires winding up and letting go. I keep the welded for a spare, but only for a spare.

The frame is a shortened '68 or '69 beetle. Most Manxes were on shortened '61 through '67 frames [called pans in beetleese]. There were a few [maybe 2] Manxes built on tube chassis. This ain't one. Check very carefully how the chassis was shortened. Most were done poorly and fall apart. Few Porsche transmissions fit VW pans easily, indeed the VW transmissions now being built by companies like Rancho are far better and cheaper anyway. Few Porsche engines will fit a VW transmission. The 4 cylinder ones from either a 356 or 914 will, but again the dunebuggy/off road crowd has taken the beetle based stuff way farther than Porsche did. And they cost a bunch less. Understand that this thing will be a sauna if you ever try to run it. A stinky fiberglass sauna. That's why the doors are long gone....and why it's for sale!

250hp with mostly stock suspension and tires that fit a stock fender well, 300hp with pretty expensive suspension mods and wider fenders [and tires] is about all that a Z can really hook up. Wheelspin is the primary result of more. Then again, the only time that there is too much horsepower is when the other guy has it....

When I finally got my 510 to stop lifting the inside front wheel first, it lifted BOTH inside wheels at the same time. That was not better. Of course, a 510 has the aerodynamics of a brick, so I know nothing of that downforce stuff, but a Z has about the same drag number and probably more lift.....

Two thoughtds here; There will always be one corner that unloads first. With a rear wheel drive car you want it to be a front. Never seen a well set up 510 or Z do it any other way. Sears Point has 7 major right hand turns, and 2 to 4 depending upon the NASCARNESS of the weekend. It is common to set the carwith a staggered crossweight bias to give rights an advantage over lefts. This is with spring jacking, not weight redistribution. You bet the NASCAR guys understand weight jacking. Lifting the inside wheel is a consequence.

There were 2 Peter Brocks in motorsports. The one that died was the Australian rallye champion Peter Brock.