AkRev

I will update more soon, here is a teaser.

Glad to see another Z in the area. Good work with your car.

This might help you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSE3CxaWF-I

The right part is your floor temp sensor cover. Goes in the hatch above the muffler area. (if your car had the floor sensor installed.) Could not find a good picture online, but here is a ebay listing to confirm with your own eyes. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/151427175299?lpid=82&chn=ps

This reminds me of the Maximus Charger. I like how you went with the front bumper area. More body work than I would every want to do. Good job.

First I must apologize for neglecting this thread. I have been busy on the car, so time for a photo dump. Got the hard lines cleaned up and painted, needed to replace the vent line, it was a mess on the inside. At this point, everything was patched that I need and got all of the parts that I did not want to do on my back, back on. So, time to get the car back on the ground and make it wider! Step one - string line and mount the flair. (String line is from the door so I could copy to passenger side) Step two - Cover your tracks and make sure it will never come off. (those rivets will take a miracle to find) Step three - skim with Bondo and sand like a mad man. (hard to tell, but I added a metal section to the bottom to make it strong and hold shape if hit) And no, the Bondo does not get over 1/8" thick. It is a true skim coat. For the top of the flair, I made another change after I started sanding, I didn't like the feel of it when I sanded. So I extended a body line out about an inch. (using fiberglass... and then a little Bondo hair) After a few hours of sanding and guide coats of paint. I should note, the front side of the lip will be completed after I get an adjustable toe arm. I need the toe to be correct to confirm that I will not hit the car when car is jacked up to replace a tire. For anyone that is wondering, This is a reason I really like the s14 subframe. (ignore the green mess on the bottom right of the car, I ended up sanding that off, and changing the look)

um, not without a big hammer.... a spot weld drill bit..... and a welder. I am putting seats from a wrx in my 280z. Two things I have ran into; If I try to mount on the old mounts, they felt way too high. So I had to make my own lower profile seat mounts after drilling the old ones out. Once I got the seats down to the height that I liked, they had been too wide on the drivers side due to the bump from the transmission tunnel. So I had to hammer the floor board a bit. So to be honest, no they do not "fit" for all intents and purpose. Unless you are really dumb (like me) and got them on a whim and are just determined to use them.

Here you go Zetasz. http://www.ebay.com/itm/F1-style-ABS-racing-side-FENDER-mirrors-Corolla-AE86-Starlet-Mr2-FRS-Xb-Supra-/281611097502?hash=item419154559e&vxp=mtr

Just to trying to get more information, but does it do the vibration under acceleration? How about deceleration? How about if you put it in neutral at 80mph?

I should also note, The s14 subframe is cut up, I will explain that more shortly and show pictures. To answer questions though, I am using the stock r200 shell, the internals are from the S14 differential, and, I am using the stock diff mount (leading mount not mustache bar) to mount the front of the diff. To mount the back of the diff, I put the S14 Cover on the r200 and made the mount for the s14 subframe line up with that. I did this for a number of reasons, the big one was I wanted to keep the rear seat for my boys to ride with me when they want to. Hope that answers a few questions.

Got to keep the weekly update going! Milestone #1 happened on Friday, first piece to go back on the car. Took the ebrake bracket and cleaned it (took me a long time to get to the zinc) I then sanded it and forgot about it for about a week. Got the part and put it back together and lubed it all up, the part rotates smoothly and am very happy with how it looks. And there we go, First part back on the 280z. Got the S14 subframe cleaned up and done. Finally, I got 1/2 the engine bay painted. Call me crazy, but I am clumsy, and it would drive me nuts to drop a tool and mess up a nicely painted engine bay. So, I took a different route. When I did the frame rails, I had used a rubber undercoating that I ended up falling in love with. I covered the rubber coat with hard undercoating on the bottom of the car. But I had the crazy idea to use it in the engine bay. So I cleaned the engine bay to bare metal, hit it with rust reformer, and then topped it with the rubber coat. I like how it turned out for a few reasons. My patches are covered up, I can respray sections at any time and it will blend in, and I am now less likely to damage something when I am wrenching in the engine bay.

Good to know about the glass, I was annoyed when a glass shop tried to sell me the fact that the coupe was one price and the 2+2 was a special order price. I should add the 2+2 is about 250lbs chunkier with the seats and everything. As for handling, they are different, but as Pharaohabq said, test drive and see what you like. When I would push the coupe I always had issues with oversteer, but to be honest, it has been 15 years since I have been in a stock suspension 2+2 for a good comparison. Good to know there is another tall guy driving a Z.

Few fun things got done, and purchased. First up a few progress pictures of the underside of the car. Got the leading subframe mount sealed up. Never did show how I did the corners, might as well show my amateur welding ability on an outside butt weld. I cut out a nasty section on the drivers side rocker. As you can mostly see on the bottom of the picture, I got a few new parts. First up, new stainless brake lines for the s14 rear. I did not want to go with solid bushings for the subframe, so I got some inserts for the bushings to stiffen it up and not make a dramatic change in N.V.H. Last new part/tool is to prevent rust in all of the areas that I can not paint, this is Eastwood's anti rust that came with a wand that sprays in all directions. And last, I got a few things layers of undercoating done.

I will always take a 2+2 over a coupe for one reason, I fit better in a 2+2. My knees hit the dash in a coupe even with the seat all the way back. A few different things I have found in addition to your list; Structural rockers are different Underside frame rail had an add-on piece to extend it (only on the passenger side) One odd thing, no idea why, the hood releases cable is 1/2" longer, but the coupe fits fine. Drive shaft. Doors are different (2nd opening lever) window trim does not have the same angle. Rear quarter windows open, and have a different shape as mentioned. Roof is different. I have been told by a glass shop that the front window is different, but I have yet to confirm that. Flywheel and clutch (not that that matters in your case) That is all I can think of at the moment. Hope that helps

Looks like fun build, have you already sourced your engine? If so, what RB motor are you going with? P.S. glad to see another 2+2 (I have a soft spot for them.)

Got a few things done over the weekend. Got the corners welded up on the new rail, so time to get them protected. First step was to hit the rails with a rust reformer/preventive. Basically a high zinc primer. Second step was to Seal up the all the welds on the frame rail. This is a silicone base that dries clear. 4 hours later.... Finally the next day it was ready for the rubber undercoating coat. Happy with how it turned out so far. I will be finishing it with a high build rubber coat this week to keep down the noise.

I remember seeing this Z on KSL a long time ago. Glad it went to a good owner. Thanks for your service.

So, about time to show a few parts that I have had hidden away. Pulled these down on Thursday. Passenger side. Drivers Side These are 2003 WRX seats. There are a few benefits from them. First, I am a tall guy. Every car I drive has the seat as far back as it can go. These seats have a really great sliding track. They also (driver's side only) can be adjusted up and down for height. So that it can fit someone like me, and someone a foot shorter than me.... (cough... cough Brad.) But in all seriousness, I know I need to make it so other people can ride/drive the car. Second, They feel good and breath well. Since I am still on the fence about A/C in this car, it has made me think about other ways to feel good in the car. We all know what happens to a guy in a hot car with vinyl/leather seats, it gets very unconformable from sweat. Cloth seats are great thing. Flip side, getting into a leather seat on a cold day does not sound any better too. Third, I am on the fence about the air bags. But if I do decide to get the inertial sensors and mount them, it would be nice to have a little more protection on a small car... in Utah.... with way too many people that drive lifted oversize trucks... to compensate for a lack of something else... and all happen to be contractors that will not put down their phone to drive. So on to the fun pictures. Removing the old seat mounts. What luck, more rust. Went at it with the wire brush to find out that it was fine, small pits only in one area, but still good overall More to come. Plan is to weld up the corners to the rail, then clean, spray rust inhibitor, silicon up the welds/gaps on the rails, and then undercoat everything.

Thanks BluDestiny! Got a good chunk of work done on Saturday. Due to the annoyance of welding with your wrists below the item you are welding, I welded up everything that was pointing up and then we flipped the car on the passenger side so I can easily weld without personal harm. Got the main rail on the driver's side extended all the way back on the car. I forgot to take a picture of it, but the front of the rocker on the passenger side got patched. One good win, removed the mustache bar bolts. Previous owner had cut them to clear the S14 sub-frame.

Still moving along, Got the new rails up and about 75% done. So I decided to start patching the drivers rail and extending it like the passenger's side. Odd thing about the 2+2, they had the passenger side rail get an add on rail that took it all the way back on the floor. However the drivers side only went back about 2/3 of the way. As you can see in the above pic. So I started by drilling out the spot welds. Found more things left from all the spiders. There was a dead one that I tried to re-kill. And was surprised by how the rust got to the pinch weld area. My brother in law is coming down to my house tomorrow, we should be able to patch a few other things and then flip the car to its other side. Should be some more things to see on the next update.

Have you read this thread? http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/106792-slop-in-the-distributor-drive/ I had similar issues with my car and sync loss, I tore the distributor apart and welded the advance, but at the same time, I set the distributor to point at number 1 at about 25 degrees advanced (my thought was I ran about 13 to 15 degrees at idle and 30+ at full throttle.) I would take a look and see if your distributor moved or is sloppy and let us know.

I like the blacked out headlight bucket, might have to steal that idea.

Quick update. We have a metal supply store a few miles from our home. Wile I was there, I found some 3" x 1" rail. I realized that I wanted this to patch up the frame. Then the fun part, they only sold 10' or 20' lengths, and the 10' was $45 and the 20' was $55. So I got 20' with the intent of doing this. I always disliked trying to jack this car from the side, normally I would have to lift the car up with a cheap scissor jack so I could fit my jack underneath, it would always run into the side skirts if I tried without lifting it a bit first. I got it all welded up on the main rail. Now I need to cap the end under the car and then I will run the front up the firewall a bit to help stiffen the car a bit. My welding is improving, this has been a great opportunity to get in some time with my machine. However, I am still getting a fair amount of splatter. Any tips are always welcomed.

Cough... cough... wheeze. These things collect dust fast. Been working on a few side projects, one neat side project is my brother-in-law wanted to do some powder coating. He found an old refrigerator and found a way to convert it into an oven so we could powder coat large objects like a sub-frame. As for an update with the Z, I got the passenger side flair done and then decided that I needed to work on the under side of the car. As an accountant by trade I did what most accountants do and use the cheapest way possible to do something. Exhibit A: $28.63. (side note, the broom is not holding up the car) One of the many reason in doing this was to check all of the angles one more time on the rear differential, glad I did. some where along the way I had the nose of the differential 3/8 of and inch higher then the back. This would explain the slight noise I would hear from the rear end on deceleration. Back at it I adjusted the mounts one more time and everything lined up. Next up, the frame rails. This should be fun.... That is the only part of the frame rail that is rusted through. I will get that welding job started this week.

Read here. I would mount it like it describes here, 9 teeth advance. Also, the tooth angle is for small adjustments, it will start to give you issues if you adjust it too much. http://www.diyautotune.com/tech_articles/trigger_wheels_overview.htm