gnosez

To answer a part of the the first question regarding the fit of the replacement seals, the new ones are for a 280 and are wider. Hence, they will cause problems with fitment until you break them in. Spray with silicone and close door. Leave closed all day. Repeat until they fit right. As to adjusting the hinges the other way (not for worn seals but for new ones). You can do it only the doors will now be "proud" with the rest of the body (eg., they will stick out, not be flush, etc.). It would solve the slamming issue however. I think that the 2 part ones that Too Intense has might be thinner and closer to OEM. More money, which is not a bad thing, just depends on your comfort level.

Thanks to you both. I'm sure a few others will enjoy the info as much as I did. I am at 3 degrees neg and have tried braking at 0 degrees and 3 neg and have found that it takes more time (read distance) to stop. The car is also less stable while under threshold braking at speeds over 100 mph with camber set at more than 2 degrees. Not to the point where I feel the car isn't under my control but where I sense it and therefor it demands a part of my attention when I should be thinking other thoughts (like did I remember to buy my wife's birthday present, etc.) as I make my turn in.

Am I right to assume that the more negative camber you have the less the tire patch is and therefor the harder it is to stop a vehicle using the brakes? If so, has anyone found a compromise camber angle that gives good turn-in and doesn't effect braking as much?

Thanks for the informative post. My concern is that I will not be able to visually identify a correct CV unit if it has been removed from a car. Getting a set from a turbo sounds like one of the best ways to go about it. Are there any websites that contain pics of the different CV units? Thanks for the reply to a misplaced post too (suspension vs drivetrain)....

What is the visible difference between 280ZX CV units and 280ZXT units? I'm trying to find a pair for someone's project car and don't want to waste time and money on the wrong set. I've gone through the search function but didn't see a picture or description of the difference. Thanks

Well, in less than 20 hours I had the entire 280 stripped. The interior (all the tan vinyl pealed right off!), the doors, hatch, fenders, glass, engine and tranny. We rolled it out and tried to tip it over but lacked the muscle. The next day, I put an eyebolt through the floor and using a come-along and a big tree and tipped the car on its' side. We took out the suspension, diff, steering, and gas tank before cutting the rest of the body into smaller pieces. We had a plasma cutter but as mentioned it doesn't work on 90% of the Zs body. We went through about 13 sawall blades instead. Used a magnet to get all the metal bits and my hands for all the bondo and other non-magnetic bits. Thanks for the advise and suggestions....

Holes and subsequent rubber plugs are not required unless this is a stock restoration. Just remember to put the tranny cross member in before welding up the pans. The last thing you need is a tunnel that is too small for your driveshaft....

This particular Z had been built as a dragster and the pieces were in storage for over 15 years before I bought them. The sad part is that guy tossed the molds away for making the parts 2 days before I found him. He got them from Bob Sharp in the mid to late 70s. But, if I had to guess it would be loud. The car in Europe is being made into a racer, so I assume interior sound quality is secondary to weight. I still have the fenders that came with this car. They are wide (no flares) and low. I doubt they would be useful on a road-course car.

The only source I know that has rear valances is Zedd Finding (http://www.datsunzparts.com). The problem I have is that they are flat stock and need to be rolled (curved) to fit. You also need exact measurements so that your muffler, gas tank and other items in the rear fit correctly. A used one might be a btter way to go. I have seen no FG valances available and I looked last year during my restoration. But that doesn't mean someone doesn't have one. Some of the early race cars (70-78) had full rear qtrs w/rear clips in FG that Nissan dealers sold. You could even buy the molds to make more. I just sold a nearly complete FG 240 to a guy in Europe (fenders, doors w/hinges and lexan windows, hatch w/lexan, rear qtrs and deck, front valance and corners and headlight buckets). The doors w/ window frame and hinges weighed less than 9 lbs each and the hatch less then 7lbs.

My insurance company took the marked up pages from both the MSA and VB catalogs, along with print-outs from Z parts vendors, like Eric's Zparts.com and others. I had major (total) damage. For the trim panels, I used a recent ebay sale. Good luck and don't rush into a final price with them just yet. They do year-end close-outs of all the appraisals soon and will settle for more next week than this.

Thanks on all the suggestions....I've cut 3 up already but hadn't done one with the engine and tranny still in it as I cut away at the frame, etc. The first was my wrecked 240 and the rear had bad damage so it went the way of the 12 cuts (having experienced a rear end and Z ending accident, I want to save a complete rear clip since they're so hard to find). The floors pans were cut out and one side went into our "Z Club" race car, and I saved the roof and a few other pieces in case someone else had an accident down the line. The other 2 Zs had so much rust I didn't saw them as much as shake them apart. They did have uncracked dashes and other goodies that made them worthwhile. Sven, I have several roofs, so when you need one let me know. What I would like is a portable plasma cutter....I like the idea of a chainsaw-like cutting tool. A great rental opportunity in the making.

This is just a parts car w/ a good engine (spare for a club member) and tranny (already sold for the price of the car) and a pretty good tan interior I'll sell through this website or on ebay. Anything else will be gravy...

I don't have the room necessary to get an engine hoist in place. I might be able to do a double "A" frame and then hang the engine/tranny off that, while I move the car back (after cutting out the radiator support. The idea of cutting up a Z isn't pretty to either do and or think about but unless you were going to spent several thousand on a New England wintered, salt damaged Z, cutting the "good" parts off is the only way I can see to do it (the "we had to destroy the village in order to save it" approach)...

I'm in the process of stripping a '75 with front end damage and front frame rail rust. I'll save of much as the car as possible but was thinking of cutting the car away from the engine/tranny (saving them). Has anyone done this and if so, how did you go about it? My garage has a very low ceiling and I would have to move the car outside to get the rented engine hoist at it. And given that it will most likely be cold and snowy I would like to try and build some sort of cradle and have it support the engine/tranny as I cut the rails away and loosen the mounts. Does this sound like a reasonable idea? If the rear looks okay I plan on saving it for someone who might need it in the future, by cutting the roof off half-way down the front pillar and just above the rear pillar emblem, then cutting the rear off about 10 inches forward of the door striker. Leaving the rear suspension on for now I should able to move the rear clip section around. I will remove the emergency cable, and gas/brake lines along with the driveshaft first. Anyone see a problem with this approach?

I'm not at home so I can't look up the references on the right finish, but do a google search under woodworking and there are several great sites that will have all the info you need. I assume you are vacuum bonding the veneer to the sub-surface pieces. Which set-up are you using?

Great buy. After you sell those extra parts you might want to consider upgrading your seats and most especially your seat belts. It will help keep you in one place with all the speed it looks like it can deliver.

I mean besides Zedd findings, Victoria British, MSA, Arizona Z Car, Z and ZX Parts, Bad Dog Parts, Courtesy Nissan, ZParts, Modern-motorsports, what is it that you can't find from one or more of these firms?

While I have enjoyed firing both the enfield and the SKS, I moved up from the standard .22 rifle to a Mauser M48 8mm when I was 15. I had it customized after getting my first job and continued to use it for deer hunting until I left for overseas. I sold it in 1974 to help pay for my first "new" car, a 260Z. I had had it shipped to me in pieces during the southeast asian wargames and it proved to be a very useful and reliable weapon. Years later I regetted the sale of it but have since purchased a lovely 7mm Remington that I think is more than the equal to the Mauser due to its' flat trajectory. With it's composite stock it would have been right at home in the jungle...

I'm glad someone is old enough to remember where that reference came from (Animal House). As to point of view, anyone can prepare and present a lesson plan or speech with a specific and/or potential bias or a slanted version of whatever passes for truth, justice and the American way (Superman, the second TV series not the first with George Reeves) these days. Let's take all the prohibited passages and only teach from them, therefor leaving out the context in which they exist. You could make up a lesson plan that excludes any other subject matter but a religious one or any other topic or idea you wish. I just think this is one of those conflicts which will need some time to pass so we can separate the "real" issues from those presented by either side or the media. There's lots of stupid or dumb things that happen every day and my wife thinks I'm behind most of them.....

Before we go all loaded for bear, it would be good to put this story in context. The reason the teacher's assignments had been subject to review was that the early ones had a specific and direct point of view. In this case a religious point of view and not one in the school's current teaching plan. The teacher then decided to use selective passages and materials to make a case. Being on double secret probation, the school system then decided to take action. This isn't about Freedom of Speech or not allowing the John Adam's diary to be used in a school room, it's about using them to teach a very specific message....

This is a classic example of trickle down economics. When people (most likely both husband and wife are employed) have jobs that cause them to work longer hours and/or make more money then they normally had before then the chores like yard work, daycare, housecleaning, etc. are done by others. That it pays well could be a factor of supply-side economics in which there is a shortage of workers and therefore the hourly rates are reflected in their salaries. Either way, IMHO, these people are in most part actually getting their hands dirty. And thanks re: custom house. I knew what I would call a custom house but didn't know what you would. They are one and the same. We have the cookie cutter and the customs here too. We also like you have the "mini-mansions" that have the now standard 3 car garage and the mulitple level roof design and some nice landscaping going for over $750k on 3/4 acre lots. But we also have houses going back from 50 to 200 years with a great sense of style. We had one of those before we moved into this boring but serviceable house. I believe many marriages break up over remodelling or house building events. As to still walking around in shorts and flip-flops, we have a guy a few doors down who was out and about dressed like that yesterday. His wife has been trying to get him committed for years.....

While the Greater Boston Area is expensive it is not D.C. Bedford is a small (under 12, 000) bedroom community sandwiched between several very expensive towns (Concord, Lexington, etc.) but also borders blue collar towns too (Burlington and Billerica). I doubt if the bank would approve us today since our house (2600sqft on a .9 acre lot) has doubled in the past 10 years. Of course it would help if I still had my (better paying) job investigating serious environmental crimes, but the government doesn't do that any more. Not that there aren't crimes to investigate. But alas, I have ventured off the topic. Our payments are higher than you mentioned but not by that much. You could do fine for that amount in this area. Depending upon where you worked you could get .5 to 1.5 acres to go with the house (don't know what a custom house is however). Moving north or west by about 30 miles would get you a bigger house and more land. It's the driving to work and back, but RT 7 into say Falls Church is a nightmare that I hope never to live....

of course the cost of living in the DC area means you have to make at least $40k to get by....

I ran the trapp for 2 years and replaced it with the muffler Dave Rebello has on his dynos; Sebring Tuning (Jim Cook Racing) I have the 8" round one (the muffler that is). If you want to hear it go to: http://www.baddogparts.com then scroll down on the right and click video 2 I think it's the best all around sounding muffler there is and have gotten many a compliment on it. It is loud but not as bad as the von trapp....

I will be redoing my suspension next spring and wanted to replace my tokcio 5-way with konis or something similar. Since I have already sectioned all the strut tubes for the ground control coil-overs which specific konis (P/N) should I be looking for? thanks -