gnosez

Looking at the picture on the left and seeing the rear round wing, I thought that it had been made into a flat bottomed swamp boat...

Why, I ask would you consider putting in heavy windows, window mechs and the SS window/door trim in a race car? Put in lexan windows with a simple strap to raise and lower it. Remove the inner door panel and curve the side protection roll bar section into the door. Or maybe this is a race car dressed up to be a street car. If so never mind. The price is very appealing and it would be nice if someone on this side of the world made them.

As a 44mm triple owner I do love the sound. I wonder if those chrome martini horns on those "flat-tops" are the best possible means of inducting air into the carbs.

Now that you have coil-overs you can "jack" the weight at each corner, (more or less weight) by raising or lowering the coil-over bottom ring. For example raise the right front and it gets lighter and the left side (in particular the left rear) get heavier. You need scales and time to get it done. Set ride height first and then start moving the spring perches (small changes at a time). You do this with whatever set-up you plan on running your car in - fuel level, driver, stripped or full interior, etc. Once you're done go get an alignment performed. With some work you can get a nice 50-50 split front and rear and even side to side. If you want over or under steer you can add weight to corresponding end. My first thought as I saw your vid was that I'd have to drive with one wheel on the center hump of that dirt road since my extra capacity oil pan sits only 3.5 inches off the ground. Very clean 280. Hope you bring it to the ZCON in Nashville this year.

So now that you have those coil-overs in your very, very nice 280 have you given a thought to corner balancing it?

Bad Dog does not sell the front rails (only Zeddfindings does). We try not to compete with Charlie ( a real nice guy who also happens to love Zs) so we saw no reason to expand into an area he had already covered. You can order the floors from Charlie (240 or 280) and the rails from us as ours are made to fit over existing OEM rails or to act an a complete replacement. For a stock Z, get Charlie's rails.

Pete's rail set-up is in my opinion the optimal set-up if you're plans for the Z include very high HP/torque and high stress inputs. The Zeddfindings rails are a great example of an OEM replacement part and we recommend it to folks who plan on keeping their cars stock or don't beat on them even when they're not. We designed the Bad Dog Parts rails as a third option and while they will not make your Z as rigid as Pete's design they are thicker than stock and also tie in the rail to the rear wheel well.

I have a set of front and rear struts already cut and welded (used on ITS race car). Shipping might be interesting from Boston, MA however.

iBang - PM or email me and I can walk you through the design....

That spoiler and splitter are a one off custom job that fits the gnose version I got from MSA 6 yrs ago. The splitter is a semi-circle that goes all the way back to the radiator. The idea and basic design was mine but Roostmonkey turned it into reality. It is a 2-piece construction and powder coated in smoked gray. The paint on the car is Nissan gunmetal gray with 15% more metal flake. While the car was being built in '03 I bought a set of ZG flares and had them taped to the car to see if they would work for me. Since no one at the time sold a front airdam for the gnose (the version that Showcars sold had an integrated dam but not to my liking) and the front flares needed to be connected to something, I opted out of using the flares. Also to really make the car look right with those flares on the rear, I would have needed to get new wider wheels and tires as well. Since I was way over budget as it was I elected to go sans flares and live with it. Instead we rolled the rear lip outward to form a mini-flare by taking the flat portion and turning it out. A little fiberglass to smooth it out and done. With the current 245 tires and rims it just tucks up into the wheel well as long I run them at 2 degrees neg and a more aggressive spring/shock combo (275#/Tokico HTS). At the current ride height a very sharp dip means wheel rub unless you go real slow. A different airdam, more in line with the original ones used in Japan would be better looking and more aerodynamic but more likely to get damaged by speed bumps, angled parking garage surfaces and bad roads in general. With money no object, I would go with a full flare and air dam look, wider wheels/tires, an RB26TT, and a louder muffler (no got that).....

The sectioned struts may not have been welded on correctly allowing the springs to rub against the threaded collars. Depending on how the collars fit on the struts they may be stuck in one position and the collars will be damaged in just that area. In most cases the damage is not in an area you will be using to position your perch so it's more of a cosmetic issue rather than a structural one. I would suggest a set of camber plates (inner or weld on) and some real top hats made for 2.5-inch springs. This would allow you to center the springs and get some needed negative camber for those wheels (at your ride height you might need more spring and a few degrees negative to allow the wheels to tuck into the rear wells). Talk with John Coffey....

I recommend buying them directly from the guy who makes and sells them to everyone else (like MSA, etc.). That would be Charlie Osborne at Zeddfindings (http://www.datsunzparts.com).

It's Nissan gunmetal gray with added metal flake (15%) with BBS 2-piece wheels (no longer available). When I get a chance I'll see if I have a better sunlight picture.....

I no one has contacted you try local clubs in your area (go to http://www.zcca.org and click on the map of the USA for clubs near you). Good luck....

I have a few from 280s I've stripped. They were not installed in 240s.

I had a set of FG fenders, doors, and complete rear qtrs for an S30 that were made from molds that Bob Sharp sold to the general public back in the '70s. The guy I got them from had thrown the molds out 2 weeks before I found his small shop up in New Hampshire. All those FG parts are now on a 260 in Europe and if I had them today I might be able to get back some of what I lost from my 401K.

No frame rail issues so far.....alignment and caster adjustments easy to make.

They were also sold by the above mentioned company. Before installing a set of TechnoToy TC rods, I replaced my teflon TC sets once a year due to failure of the ball. They may seem to still be working but once you look under the cover you'll find a chewed up piece of teflon.

I was under the impression that the VGs reduced the swirling effect (think waterfalls and kayaks) at the hatch/rear deck area and allowed the air flow to enter the spoiler in a more straight forward manner.

I'll be coming down with other member of the Z Car Club of New England for the July show, so I hope to see you and your Zs then. We also have a cruise-in day on June 27th in Attleboro, MA if you're interested. Info at: http://www.zccne.org

You bringing your Z to the CT Z club show in July?

Kbhead - Having them inside the interior adds strength to the uni-body. Doing so takes more time and money, but with your expected HP/torque output it was a good move on your part. The frame rails we sell are a hybrid of the OEM style with flanges to make up for not cutting into the floor. The boxed tubing coming up through the floors is not for everyone but it is stronger.

Reminds me of my first car, a corvair that had been completely primed (tires, windows, trim, etc.). Took me weeks to get it all off so I could get it painted. The day I got it from the bodyshop some drunk guy ran into me 100 ft from the shop and totaled the car.

I'm thinking to the wind, it looks like the side of a brick.

I had the same issue until I finally figured out that it was a leak from my oil pan gasket that was the cause of the problem. Do a smell test to determine if you have a gear oil or motor oil leak.