zero

I'll be interested to see what is involved in the T56 to 2jz mating. I've heard of a company making an adapter, but have never seen a nut and bolt conversion done. *subscribed*

Haha, yeah. I didn't even notice this bit until I pulled the weatherstripping after I had already given up on the chassis. Mind you I drove this thing for 4 years. Scary stuff, I guess that's what you get when you buy a car as a young, dumb 15 year old. I've got a clean one now. Here are some more beauty shots. Yep, that's a bolt on my floor...holding it in. Even glass in the tail light mount

Someone had filled the A-pillar with silicone then painted over it...

Also, I ordered the 280z kit for my 240z because it came with an additional sway bar bushing set. The steering rack bushings are different. The 280z rack bushings are wider. I had to trim mine down.

Any word on the pricing of the covered panels with switch?

Most of brake kits that aren't DIY junkyard setups are in the same range. The silvermine rears are $7xx. The front's are cheaper, likely because it doesn't require a caliper mount like the front. All of these kits include pads and braided lines and the calipers are new. You can certainly save money by piecing together a vented 4x4 kit(which the silvermine front kits are) and just buying a rear disc mount and doing one of the 280zx/240sx/mustang disc with junkyard parts. I plan on tracking my car so I figured I may as well buy something I knew I'd be happy with in the long term.

$1695 shipped with proportioning valve.

I don't have an LS1 (yet) but I was making the same decision and decided to go with AZC all around. It's pretty tough to beat Dave's price point for the quality of parts you get. I can also say his customer service is great.

Preemptive congrats to you and your wife! I hope it all goes smoothly. You know you own a Datsun when you're on a car forum from the hospital waiting room.

If it is $400 total I will buy them today! If it's $400+$250 = $650 for a pair of panels it's still a great deal, but I'll have to hold off for a little while.

The insurance company doesn't care how it's plated. They only care that it's used the way your paying for. i.e. if you had collectors insurance which is much cheaper, then they don't want you daily driving it. If you just have regular insurance, your insurance company doesn't care if you have QQ plates on it. If they are putting a mileage limit on you then you should be paying substantially less than normal rates.

Yeah, I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the insight. Glad to hear things are moving along with Bilstein. I'm just trying to get my car back together so I can get it out of my shop. At this point I'm considering just picking up a set of cheapo KYB's just so I can section, paint and assemble the suspension...

I've been having a hard time finding a seller that actually has a set of sectioned-length illuminas (BZ3015 and BZ3099) in hand. It seems that Tokico is having production problems, I ordered from one distributor only to get the run-around for a month or so. There are far fewer on ebay now and what ones there are are way overpriced (closer to Koni race strut prices). I found out I am losing my shop in a month so I can't wait for JohnC's Bilstein solution. I was hoping to find someone who has some lying around, or else I guess i'll just have to order the Koni's. If someone has another suggestion please let me know.

Yeah, it's not like I live in Manhattan or anything...

Per the MVC website. Historic vehicles General inspections are not required for historic or collector vehicles. To be classified as a "historic vehicle" it must be: At least 25 years old Specially registered and display QQ plates Collector vehicles To be classified as a "collector vehicle" you need to apply when you register and make sure that the vehicle: Is not registered as a "historic vehicle" or a "street rod" Is not driven more than 3,000 miles per year Is insured as a limited use "collector vehicle" To qualify for an exemption: Visit an MVC Agency to purchase a voucher for a special decal to mark the vehicle exempt from safety and emission inspection; fee is $25 for an initial voucher and $10 to renew Take the collector vehicle to a State Inspection Station where the inspector will verify the odometer reading You must provide approval letter from the MVC I/M Support. Vehicle must be prequalified as a collector vehicle

I had QQ's on my 240 for most of the time I had it on the road. Unlike collector car plates, there is no hard mileage limit. I daily drove it for around 3 years with no issues with the police. Even when I got pulled over they didn't ask about the plates or anything.

Clean car! I had some difficulty getting my 240 to pass. If I were you I'd get QQ historic plates. It's pretty easy and you are emissions exempt.

Ok. Back in September I bought a 1979 Honda cb650 for a pretty low price. It didn't run but looked pretty clean. I got a title with the bike, but stupidly, did not check that the VIN matched the bike. Nothing seemed sketchy about the deal so I simply didn't think to do it. It said '79 650 and that was good enough. Two weeks ago I sold it. Between having an accident on my daily rider bike and focusing my efforts on the Z I just haven't had time for another bike. I had never attempted to title or register the bike so I gave the new buyer the signed title from the previous owner. Today I hear from the guy I sold it to that the VIN's don't match on the title and bike. I honestly had no idea about this. Frankly, I probably never would have known if I had kept the bike. Unlike NY where the previous owner and new owner live, NJ doesn't require inspections for motorcycles, so I would have ridden a bike with a mismatched title/registration none the wiser. I contacted the previous owner and he said he would talk to his sister to see if there is any other paperwork (the bike was titled in his sister's name). Does anyone have any experience with this? Finding accurate titling information online is proving pretty difficult. What have people here done with barn finds? Title searches for vehicles without 17 digit VIN's seem hard to find. I will be calling DMV about checking the records of the correct VIN tomorrow (for some reason the title office is closed on Wednesdays...) I figured someone on here might have some insight into this. Thanks

I've seriously considered starting a business where I buy Z's in CA or AZ and ship them to the Northeast to sell.

Most of the things you listed are not a big deal. The thing to be careful of is rust. If the rocker needs 'body work' it's more than likely because of rust. Depending on how that rust was dealt with it could either be a small or a large problem. From that picture, it seems that the rocker and rear fender lip have had some work done. Check the key areas (floor, frame rails, battery box, hatch sill, etc) for rust. Run a magnet over the primered areas to see if there is metal under there or just bondo/glass hiding a major problem. Rust free is the major factor here.

Somewhat related

Just wanted to throw some sound deadener and insulation pics up. I ended up going with FATMAT and EZ Cool. Ez Cool is extremely lightweight, so I'm gonna use it everywhere, including on the back of the interior panels. FatMat is pretty dense, of course and I used about 70 sqft of it. I didn't want to go overboard with the heavy stuff. My headliner was perfect so I didn't do anything up there.

I'm pretty shocked Ford or GM hasn't brought one over and revived the El Camino/Ranchero. GM was halfway there by getting the Holden chassis to pass US safety regs with the GTO and pontiac G8. I would absolutely consider getting a Ute if they offered one here.

I think TVR used something resembling a backbone chassis fairly recently as well. Edit: Here's a beefy looking one.

Yeah, I remember reading it, don't remember seeing any real progress after he took delivery of the engine.