takayuki

Some more progress at the bodyshop as well. Front and rear glass installed, fender mirror installed, front end panels on. Riv nuts installed for fender flares. All that's left is flares, hood, and bumpers and back to my garage!

finished up rebuilding my steering rack assembly. Powder coated parts. Replaced inner tie rods with replacement ones from rareparts.com. For the brass rack bushings, I purchased oil lite bushings and had them machined to fit the rack. It has no oil grooves, but we'll see how it lasts. The good thing is, the rack is nice and tight!

After 3.5 years, the Car is finally painted! It's nice to see it shiny! Some assembling at the bodyshop, ,then off to my messy garage! Better get on that.... Trying something a little different underneath with the hood.

will there be a way to retain the stock speedo cable setup?

Looking good. Good job!

small update The fuel tank that came with the car was no good... too dented up. I sourced another fuel tank, in better shape, but not perfect. Had it boiled and sealed inside then had the outside coated with Line-X bedliner stuff. Came out great!! Masks a lot of the imperfections! Bodywork is taking longer than I thought. I guess prep work takes a long time! But some parts have been painted. I should get my car back sometime first week of december! Then time to get to work! engine bay painted in hot rod black smaller parts painted

Picking away at bits and pieces Painted reman brake booster because the one I had was bad. Upgraded to the wilwood 1" master cylinder. Old master cylinder was toast anyways. I Followed this sticky in the brake section. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/102754-a-one-inch-diameter-brake-master-cylinder-for-the-s30-z-cars/ Brakes on all 4 corners will be upgraded as well.

are you sure? I thought they were different due to its different shape and fuel filler necks..... I should maybe look into that too.

Let me know what you have. Fuel tank must be damage and dent free.

Cool! I needed these. Thanks for sharing

Yeah, the bodyshop is sure exceeding my expectations for quality so far! They've done a lot that I would have never known. I was definitely going to share my steering conversion with the community once I have everything properly fitted and tested. Didn't want to be too open about it until I did some R/D myself. The cost is subjective to each person, but I found it reasonable for something I may never have to repair or replace. The weld stub on the column was $6, two u-joints cost $60 each, the custom steering shaft was $75, and the labor to install the stub onto the steering column shaft was $105 (labor is very high where I live). If you can weld and fabricate yourself, this setup can cost you about $201(not including shipping) in just parts. If you can weld and fabricate yourself, it won't cost you much more. The woodward u-joints look very high quality and it should last you a very long time. way longer than the stock u-joints. I've had few people tell me this.. Not sure if its the camera angle, but the fitment of the flares are where I want it to be. I have no intentions of slamming this car at all. Roads where I live are TERRIBLE! There are gnarly speed bumps and dips in the road. My car will not survive if I had it lowered too much.

Had the bodyshop fab up brackets to mount 240z bumpers on the front. Also, Spook front air dam fitted. I'm not 100% sold on this, but I figured I try something different. There isn't much pictures floating around on the internet with s30's with flares and spook air damn.... Maybe because it doesn't look good. lol Final boarding before the final coat of primer. Next time I post pictures of my car, it will be painted!

I'm going through a similar situation. I couldn't trust aftermarket reman. I haven't finished rebuilding my rack yet, but I was able to order new inner tie rods from rareparts.com http://shop.rareparts.com/smtp/shopdisplaycategories.asp?iyear=1974&imake=0041|NISSAN&imodel=1009|260Z&iproduct=0049|STEERING,%20GEAR,%20PUMP%20&%20COMPONENTS they only have right hand inner tie rods, but no problem, use two right hand out tie rods and should be no problem. Rack boots are still attainable and you can still buy pinion shaft bearings and seal from skf. As for the brass rack bushings, I'm going to do some experimenting. I ordered some some oil lite bronze bushings, and had my local machinist size it to my rack.... We will see how this goes

this looks like a good option. I'm going to try it out myself http://www.swmotorsport.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=130

doing some final fitment tests.. Looking more like a complete car now. I'm liking the lift kit! lol

Getting motivated now to do some work that is off the car. Decided to start rebuilding my steering rack and linkages. The steering shaft u-joints on my car were a little worn so I went hunting for replacements... Not that there wasn't any available, but I decided to convert my steering shaft to all Woodward steering parts. They also happen to make U-joints that attaches to the stock 260z steering rack stub. this is the stock steering column shaft I ordered this stub. Its a 3/4" 20 spline stub The Idea is to cut off the old U-joints, drill a hole, then weld the woodward stub in This is how it worked out. Notice how the flange was left on.... I also had Woodward make me a custom steering shaft. It has 3/4" 20 spline ends on both sides. Re-assembled steering column with the woodward u-joints. Also re-painted steering column tube. This U-joint has 3/4" 20 spline sockets on both ends. Steering rack end. The u joint on the steering rack end has a 0.570" 29 spline socket to match the shaft for the nissan rack. The other end has the 3/4" 20 spline socket. This is how it looks put together Now.... I'm crossing my fingers that this will all work! I won't know until I get my car back. I am hoping that the steering shaft is the right length....

Thanks tamo3! Things are moving faster now... goal is almost near.... some more boring bodywork pictures... After making the car straight, the bodyshop is now fitting my rear spoiler. rear hatch fixed! spoiler fitted! guy did a great job making it fit nice considering its a generic bre style spoiler

Finally some progress at the bodyshop! Competion ETA is early november!! so excited! some progress pics bottom tailgate metal was replaced [ some rust repairs on the lower doors all primed up in slicksand for more boarding! nice and straight lines! Its only in primer but the lines are looking nice and straight! so straight, you can't even see the gaps between the doors!

Kameari makes a moustache bar. I'm assuming its made from stronger steel? http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/23-4600

Kameari makes a moustache bar. I'm assuming its made from stronger steel? http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/23-4600

No real update. Progress on the bodywork is still slow. I'm hoping to have my car back at the end of october. However, I decided to order my power plant from rebello racing! 3.35L stroker with ITB's!!! Should be fun to drive with this thing! I finally unwrapped the Kameari Stainless headers I had for nearly 3 years. So purrrdy. I have the complete stainless exhaust too, but I'm too lazy to unwrap those just yet.

YOu will need the later 280z ztyle bushings

I purchased it from this website http://www.otomoto.com.au/b/2021658/1/watanabe.html I'm from Canada but I purchased through this australian vendor. He is also a reputable vendor on auszcar forums. I got my wheels in 2 weeks! But, only because they had them in stock.

Yep you bet. We will do final fitment tests before everything is finalized... I also have full coilovers and other suspension bits so I should be able to set my wheels in a desirable location.... I also don't plan on lowering the car that low because the roads here are terrible!

After a 6 month hiatus, the body shop is back on my car. They started fitting the panels on the front end and discovered none of the panels fit as they should! They ended up outsourcing my car to a frame shop because there was a twist and a slight diamonding of the front end of the car. After spending more money to get the frame straightened out professionally, panels fit MUCH better! Luckily, I had a FSM of the 260z and it had all the detailed measurements of the car. I'm glad the body shop discovered this before everything got painted! So here are some pictures: Body getting boarded out again to make it straight. Doors looking good. Marugen Shoukai flares getting fitted. EVERYONE should buy these! It fits awsome! I had some classic datsun flares and they didn't fit very well. With these, I will not need fender welting. I've had heck of a time finding a good donor hatch. The one that came with the car was crap... Its tough up here in canada to find rust free parts. If I had a choice I would buy brand new... but of course, they are NLA. So here is what my best hatch looks like. Still kinda rusty. Off it comes apart... Yummm... rust... Hatch will be removed and sandblasted to get rid of all the surface rust.