Nismo280zEd

Yeah I found a company that sells brand new bottles for 52 dollars. Very reasonable, then I can take it local and have it filled. I think it's only a 12cf bottle, but should be fine for what I do.

So if i take off the gaurd and bag... then I should be ok?

Sawz-All and my grinder with a cutoff wheel. I'm going to try using my friends crafstman mitter saw with a cutoff blade on it. Then I can get some awesome compound cuts. Also a bench grinder.

I have the hella H4 upgrade lights in mine and they are awesome. Well worth the money, plus the bulb is changeable which means... you can put in HID kits. Then you solve all problems, OEM style glass light with a GOOD beam projection (the glass IS shaped different than OEM for better coverage) and changability.

Awesome offer! I'll keep this in mind if I need something custom. However throttle body adapters would be a good idea as I don't think anybody makes them any more. -Ed

The bad dog rails can be welded on right over the existing, I think you'll be fine. Do you have any pics of how you plan on doing the subframe connectors? -Ed

Yeah... evidently I was lol. Llike I said... i'm no welding expert lol. No Harm no Foul. I want the shielding gas for when I do the frame rails and rear end swap, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen on my budget currently. I may just use the flux core and spend a little more time cleaning up the welds.

Yeah I feel like an idiot... I was in such a hurry to get it done that I did not switch the polarity. I went over and checked it this morning... I have the motor line on the positive and working line on the neg... got em backwards. This should solve all problems, going to do some test welds Sunday to make sure the machine is ok. BTW... it's a lincoln 135T most amperage I could get for regular house hold voltage. Grumpyvette... I found those links in the sticky before posting. The miller videos were extremley helpful, thats what got me thinking about the polarity. Thanks again! Post some pics when I get it done right lol. -Ed EDIT.. On a side note, we ordered some Durafix welding rods today also to try out. I'll let you guys know how they work!

The innershield is a flux core no shielding gas required wire. It says good for multi use from 20 gauge up to 5/16" so it should be great for what I'm doing. I would love to have an argon bottle but the local welding shop wants 189 for the bottle. I'm trying to find some used bottles in the area with not much luck. -Ed

Ok, so I'm by no means an expert at welding but I would say i'm seasoned. I've welded up a couple exhausts I made, sheet metal patches on the Z, bird feeder, random things, etc. So I've welded different gauge metal and thickness and shapes. I started welding up my girls 3" exhaust the other night. Ran out of wire. Went down to lowes, tired of running out of wire I picked up a 10lb roll of Innershield NR-211-MP http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/consumabledatasheet.aspx?P=5853 Then I got home an realized I didn't have the right size tip. Back to lowes to get a .9 or .030 tip for the wire. Ok... got it mounted up in the gun right tip feeding... ready to rock and roll. I try tacking not really working so great, metal is getting hot but really shitty penetration. Recomended settings are on "B" with 2 wire speed for the metal i'm working on... I'm having to go to "C" with wire speed 3 and still getting poor penetration. I'm welding.. I can see the bead.. I'm pulling it along... looking good then I stop open my helmet... and I have pigeon poo everywhere, it's like the metal has wax and the weld is water just beading up on top not going in. So i slow down and hold it there... metal gets red hot molten still poor penetration. I've never had this problem before. Not my first time welding pipe (I actually love welding pipe) I'm capable of welding some really nice beads. Using this new wire has made me feel like a complete newb and not exactly impressing my girl either on her new exhaust (Christmas present for her 350z) After 2 days I eventually got this done, extremley frustrated, pissed off and wanting to redo the entire exhaust because of how poor it looks. So I'm reading up on all the welding tips, then it dawns on me, The inner shield is DC- I didn't switch the leads from previous wire I was using (non flux core) So is this the problem? If so... did I just destroy my welding machine? Also... when I weld pipe... I take the pipe and hit it with my grinder or bench grinder to get some clean metal. This has always been sufficient in the past, just making sure I'm not cleaning the metal wrong. I was told when welding aluminized pipe you have to grind off the coating first to get good welds. Please help! As it is now I have hours and hours of grinding to do and probably rewelding if I did have the polarity wrong! -Ed

Ever heard the saying if there is a will there is a way? We don't go out and throw on a brand new set of tires and go burn them up lol. We go on what we call "tire runs" We go take a few sets of used tires off the hands of people that have used tires lying around and finish using them up, then when we are done with them, they get them back when they mount our next set. I also have a few friends that work at dealerships, very easy to get a set of used 225/45/17 or 245/45/17 they are pretty common sizes these days. 20 bucks for 4 tires is pretty cheap even with a ♥♥♥♥ job. Honestly the biggest thing that hurt drifting recently was the gas price when it spiked to damn near 5/gallon. That made me stop for a while, had to put groceries on the table. It's popularity may be a fad but it's defiantly not going away. It's more of an underground thing and it's better off that way. The less attention we get from media, the less hassle we get from cops when we go play in parking lots at night. Alot of people hate it thinking it's so destructive and worthless, but I challenge you to get in your car and go run a tight course. It's the biggest adrenaline rush you can get in your car in my opinion. It's just a sensory overload for me, tires squealing, smoke, the sounds of the engine , the g-forces on your body, being out of control but still controlling where your going. I don't know, it's just extremely addictive for me and I honestly can't see myself stopping.

thanks for the updated pics. I'm really liking the idea of lightening the factory flywheel instead of paying the huge bucks for AL flywheels.

I'm a little late to join in on this thread but.... If you drive the car on public roads... why not use the board for the front? i was going to use some marine plywood and put some lacquer on it to seal it and paint it. My Z isn't that low but it scraps the front plate on my MSA front dam, with a lip that pretty carbon fiber would be destroyed on my Z. I'd go plastic or wood for replacement purposes personally. Both can be stiffened to work effectively. just my .02 -Ed

single sided hydraulic lifts? Not sure I've ever seen one of those. That kwiklift you provided the link for is pretty nifty, I'll have to look into that, however for my current project it won't work. The entire rear end of the car is removed right now. No suspension, axles, hubs, wheels, differential, etc. I know scissor jacks are crap, I've had one fall while changing a tire before. I have 2 6ton jacks and lots of jack stands. I have some jacks used for trailer homes that have screw adjustments that I was planning on using before the scissor jack idea. I guess I will revert back to that plan.

I was doing some searches last night trying to find some metal fabrication forums. I know they are out there I've been on them before, I just can't find them anymore lol. Anyway... The Z needs some under body work. Unfortunately the garage has no room for the car so all work has to be performed in the driveway. Obviously my driveway, as most is not level. I was thinking about using 4 scissor jacks under the car to level the car out. I need to finish putting the new rear end in the car and I need it level so that I can measure driveshaft angles, suspension angles, etc. Is this the best way to go about this? While it's up in the air I'm also going to reinforce the frame ralis hopefully I can work around the jacks. Let me know what you guys think or if you have some other ideas. -Ed

I like your parts but have already purchased a trigger wheel from DIYautotune.com. Depending on price I'd be interested in trigger mount and crank pulley bracket/wheel Like I said... very depending on price. I like a clean setup but I already have 3/4 of the parts I need to finish up mine. Can you send me a PM of a rough estimate of cost. (I won't hold you to this price, just don't want to tell you I want one then turn away when I see the price) -Ed

arn't the tires on wrong in that pic?

just for the tune thing, and you can't modify engine constants, just fuel ign, basic stuff. But the Iphone should be able to run it if you can get a mac based megatune. Just do blue tooth with it.

not everybody is running a relay board. I have all my relays wired to where my fuses are for easy replacement/diagnostics. My ECU is in the glovebox.

No laughing matter, my car burned up 5 years ago, thus one of the reason I'm looking to rewire it again. The first time I wired it was to get it going again asap. then I rewired to clean up and add some modifications, Now I have learned even more about wiring and want to do it a third time (and hopefully last time) Nice and tidy with fire retardent looms, I want all the fuses inside the car in one place, I hate going searching for relays and fuses when they go bad. The 75amp power box you made is quite interesting and I like the cleanliness of it. I'm running a maxima alternator though... so I'm putting out a bit more than that. I know pegasus auto racing has some cheap priced fuse panels as well with a central bus. I'm running megasquirt right now with upgraded alt, headlights, additional interior electronics, electric cooling fans, etc. I want to turn my Z back into my daily driver eventually, I miss it dearly. Thus reliability is a major concern, the weatherpack connectors have proved themself in the industry time and time again, I just want to make sure my fuse panel is just as reliable, no melting, overheating, corroding, etc. Keep the ideas/ sources coming! I'm aware of most of the sites listed but I'm sure other members are not. -Ed

Thanks for the picture, I've just never seen it done that way. I guess that's more of a race only mod. BTW... got an email back, the tie down kits do not work for 280z only 240z. -Ed

Seriously... I know there is love for the Z but just do yourself a favor and scrap it, find another one man. Little rust problems are nightmares and time consuming to fix, the entire body.... just find another chassis. -Ed

maybe I'm retarded but how is the one on the front strut bar of any use? So you have a white tow hook sticking up through your hood? BTW... I emailed the JDM company that sells the 35 dollar tie down kit to see if it will work with 280z aswell. -Ed

So I've been painfully collecting resources for my wiring project with my Z. I'm trying to use weatherpack style connectors for all the connections in the car, I have my actual source for wire, but the connectors at a good price can be challenging. Also sourcing an ATC style fuse box. Waytek has a mini ATC box that is sealed that I have been looking into using and they also sell the crimps, seals, and some connectors for the weather pack connections, however can somebody recomend other sites that are priced well? -Ed

actually i'm not a fan of these products. If used properly I guess it's ok but the main reason I'm against it is because it's piggy backing a current circuit already causing it more load than it was designed for thus lowering the "safety" threshold the old circuit had. I would avoid this altogether and run a seperate circuit. -Ed