gnosez

The last person who adjusted the valves had the 17mm hold down nuts so tight it took two of us, the special datsun tool and a 3 ft cheater bar to get all but one of them loose. The last one (an intake valve) won't move and no matter how hard we try the wrench will slip before the nut does. We thought about heating the nut with a small pin-point flame or hitting it with a chisel. This particular nut is also positioned right near a head bolt so you can't get a great purchase on it from a good angle. Anyone have any good ideas??? Thanks in advance.

Autopower's number: 619-297-3300 They didn't show a shipping weight on their website. It's under 50 lbs that I do know.

For my own $.02 worth I have a problem comparing ride heights of various Zs without a good reference point. I use a point on the flat lip of the rocker just behind the front wheel well and in front of the rear well. I 've had mine from 5.25 front - 5.75 rear to it's current 6.00 frt - 6.75 rear. The lower setting was used on the track which left very little room in the suspension.

The first sets of 240 full length frame rails were shipped out this week and sometime next week we hope for the reviews of our new product to be posted. The rails go from approx. 9 inches in front of the firewall and tie into the body cross member in the rear wheel well. They are made from 12 guage steel, come in two sections, and add 23 lbs to the car. We strongly believe these to be but one of three things needed to strengthen your Z. The first being a cage. The second being a triangular front strut tower bar, and the last is our frame rail caps. After I replace the camera my teenage son dropped three days ago, I will post pics of the rails. Most likely this weekend.

The current owner of the #33 car (and in fact the owner of the name "Bob Sharp Racing") has it, the 300ZX Newman car, Tom Cruise's 280ZX (Rolling Thunder and Cruise's car for SCCA races), and the 280ZX V-8 twin turbo racecar. The 240 raced as a 280 (w/rear 280 taillight trim and lights) is either VIN 14 or 16 (I forget). It's the one that the model sat on the roof and dented it during a photo shoot in NYC. The gentleman who now tunes the engine is the same person who on his first day on the job was told by Bob Sharp to: "go cut the rear rear wheel wells so we can add flares". The metal he cut off is hanging in storage up in NH along with 24 inch wide 3-piece BBS wheels (not for the 240) along with body parts, diffs, etc. And none is for sale. In the mid to late 70's you could either buy FG body parts from dealers like Sharp or buy the molds themselves. They had them for everything but the roof. The rear quarters were skinned and doors had metal plates at both ends for hinges and door mechs. I bought a parts car from an old 240 dragster racer and he had thrown out all the molds about a month before. I wanted to cry. I still have the two-piece 240 dragster front end he used (fenders and front nose). The #33 240/280 has wilwoods front and rear with heim joint control arms and the front sway bar goes through the frame rail. There are pics over at classiczcars from the 2005 ZCCA convention. With some luck it will be at the 2006 ZCCA convention in Texas. I will be going up to the shop in NH the week of the 30th if you got any other questions about the #33 car.

We don't make the front frame rail section because they are already being made by Charlie Osborne (Zeddfindings) up in Canada. His site is: http://www.datsunzparts.com and his email address is: zeddfind@kos.net A while back there were a few OEM front rail sets on ebay going for I believe $500/side, but I could have remembered wrong.

The full length rails we will be making next week are for 240s and these use the new (and improved) front section that goes from 9 inches in front of the firewall and ends where the OEM ones did (behind the seats). We have fabbed a rear section that can be butt welded to the front section. This rear piece welds to the body cross member at the diff. Pics as soon as they are available. That said these are but part of what you would need to strenghten your Z. We believe that a 6-point cage, a front triangular strut bar and a rail set-up like our rails would be the right way to go. Buy ours, do it yourself, either way just using the rails isn't the final answer.

We have gotten a set of 300ZX vented rotors and calipers as a donation for our 240 club race car but the bolts needed to mount the rotors to the hubs are missing. Does anyone know where we can get them? I believe they are 10mm X 1.00 x 60 mm ( fine thread ) with a shoulder to center the rotors, in grade 8 or higher. I am not positive about the length. In fact the only thing I'm positive about is that they're missing. Thanks in advance......

Well, between our jobs, wives, kids, Christmas shopping, the weather (I just had to snatch my wife's car out of a 3' snow drift), we didn't finish up the V-8/turbo 240 frame rails this week. Next week is the plan. Stay tuned for pics....

We at Bad Dog Parts welcome your comments and suggestions for any of our parts. Later this week we should have the first modified 240 rails for those installing V-8s, turbos, etc. ready to ship to Ken Jones for his Titan 5.6L project. Taking the first gen version of our 240 rails they have an added tab on both sides of the "U" that runs the length of the rail portion that fits under the floor pan and it now will go all the way back so that it can be welded to the rear. Once Ken has given his approval we will post pics of the finished product.

I believe Smoothline and John Coffey's company also sell them. I just sold a set of them that had come off a 260 and had been purchased from Bob Sharp Motors back in the late 70s. They had a bit of a flare and had a molded in semi-mud flap. I test fit them on a spare car we have and they were better than the current metal replacement fenders.

Larry - thanks for the mention re: Bad Dog Parts - frame rails. We look forward to the next set of progress report pics.

I've got Charlie's (Zedd) floor pans in my 240 and if you make the right cut to start with and remember to put the tranny crossmember in before you weld up the new pans they should go in real easy.

If it's a 70-78 then any ring will work and I have one. As for the rubber boot, I'd get a new one to help seal out the exhaust, oil and noise (about $15.00). I may have a used one. PM me for the ring.

I have Cobras in mine and a fellow club member has just put in a set of Celica GT seats that he finds very comfortable (very adjustable) and he's over 6' and I'd say 240 lbs. He can even use his helmet now without hitting the roof. His wife's car has Miata seats.

Do the auto and manual versions of the 280ZXT have the same CV axles? And how do I tell a turbo from a non-turbo axle? Wanted to check first before I purchased a used set. Not for my car, helping out someone else. Thanks

It will draw more than 16 inches which will restore and go a little more than stock.

It's listed in Summit's website not the catalog. Stainless Steel Brakes Corp. Unit# 28146 (ssb-28146) and lists for $259.95. Nice installation/info package too. The other site has the same kit but it's $10. more. Liked the site and it had some interesting items. I'll run some tests on the my vacumn system to verify that the current booster holds vacumn for at least 3 mins and see exactly what pressure I'm getting off the intake. I'm located about 25 miles northwest of Boston and we have about 30-36 inches of that white stuff (snow not road salt - that we have about 4-5 inches). It's winter in New England, no big deal. The Cape and the towns near it got hit with between 30-40 inches and another 9 last night. The street corners are the worst since you can't see traffic due to the piles of snow that tower over even my SUV. Thanks for the help....

I've got the catalog too but didn't see it listed anywhere. I guess a call is in order.

I've done several searches and still haven't come up with an answer on this one- Is there an aftermarket or OEM electric pump to increase vacumn pressure for my brake booster? I looking for a company name or vehicle I can get it off of at the junkyard. I already have a vacumn can but with just one leg off the triple carb intake it isn't seeing enough pressure. I could take it off and tap out one or more legs and do a common collector tube and I will if the pump idea isn't available or someone suggests against it. I have the stock vac boost and the 15/16 MC and SS lines. I will be swapping out my 4X4 fronts to wilwoods this spring. I might just get a reman boost unit too (service manual suggests replacing after 100k I seem to remember). Thanks.......