Leon

Happy new year! May this one be more fruitful than the last. Time for an update. The Z had been down from January of 2020 for a "quick" re-gasket, meaning I got it back on the road in... November. There was a fuel drip from the carb insulators so those were replaced along with all carb gaskets. The plastic spacers and gaskets were replaced with the o-ring and thackery washer style. I went to the dyno in early December to see if I could sort my fueling with Keith's latest jets as well as figure out the high-RPM cut I've been getting. The dyno day was useful in helping see what's going on with the fueling but I couldn't figure out the cut-out. I did note that it happens at 5500RPM consistently. It was making good power though, about 193whp (w/ filters) before the 5500RPM cut. An adjustable cam gear is on its way to help further dial in the motor. Fast forward to the past week, (temporarily) installed a wideband and reworked the rear brakes (but still having parking brake lockup issues). Then I shot-gunned some things that were at hand in an attempt to remedy the 5500RPM cut-out. A fresh coil didn't do it but fresh plugs did! All it took was a set of spark plugs to get the car running way better than it probably has before. The plugs in the car weren't that old but it seems they'd gotten fuel/carbon fouled enough to cause some problems. If it happens again, I'm going to try a hotter plug but for now I've replaced with the same: BPR6ES-11. I did some runs up and down the freeway on NYE and got the main jets dialed in for our new years day drive. Swapped back to the ZX distributor from the 123 as the motor seems to run a bit better that way. I'm going to investigate this further on a future dyno day. We took a 150 mile loop around the Santa Cruz mountains, the Z got the most exercise it's ever had given how much time it spent over 6000RPM! Without further adieu, the obligatory accompanying photos: 12/28/20 - drove over to a buddy's house for the wideband install and other Z things 1/1/21 - Alice's / SC Mountain Drive

Did I just read that? Boy would I want you as my customer.

Anyone can get their hands on some software and make pretty FEA pictures. The question to ask would be, what sort of validation work has been done? It doesn't matter whether they ran their stuff through FEA if it doesn't work in reality. CAE tools help the designer iterate quickly which reduces costs and development time but the end customers only care about results. What does it weigh, how stiff is it, how strong is it, and what have you done to prove that?

Sold.

I bet when you were lower, your rear camber was closer to what the front was. That can make a big difference in balance especially if the tires are more camber sensitive. A little bit of toe can go a long way as well. Zero toe in the rear could be a big part of the looseness, depends on your rear toe compliance (rubber bushings or PU?). Also try zero toe up front or even a tad toe out to tone down the yaw rate gain a bit. YRG is essentially a measure of a vehicle's response to a given steering input--the more your point the tires out of the turn, the lower your YRG. Meaning point the fronts out and the rears in if you want to take some oversteer out. Softer springs could help but looking at how early the car oversteers during the cornering process is making me think that the main problem lies elsewhere. I could be totally wrong but that's what I'm reading in between the lines.

Nice work. That thing is loose on entry! What are your alignment settings? With how loose it is right off the bat, it makes it seem like your rear tires are shot and/or not enough rear camber and toe-in (not familiar with the S130 platform but I'll assume it's difficult to dial these in independently with the semi-trailing arms).

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a local sale on these (Bay Area, CA). I'm selling a set of Panasports in as-new condition, purchased new (no one cares but I paid over $1600 all in). They come with barely used, although aged 7 years, set of Bridgestone RE-11A tires in 225/50R16 all around. I last drove on these 1.5 years ago and they still felt great. The wheels and tires have always been stored indoors. I put maybe 3000 miles on the set before I swapped to 15" Watanabes. I'm sure people will ask about fitment. I've never had rubbing in any situation but my rear fender lips and the stock front valence are already trimmed. It will be tough for me to comment whether they'll fit your specific car or not as it depends on your suspension setup. This tire size is common in Z's and typically fits stock bodies but *may* require modifications. Bolt pattern is 4x114.3 (4x4.5) Offset is zero (ET0)

I'm having the same issue @SuperDan

And this is what makes HybridZ great. Hell yeah Derek.

Ben nailed it. Route the stock belt through the pass-through and find a way to make the buckle work (extension or donor buckle with same style receptacle will do). This is exactly how I run my S2000, using a 2g Eclipse rear seat belt buckle which matches the S2000's latch but is mounted via a cloth belt instead of rigid bracket. Not my photo:

Welcome and beautiful Z! HybridZ and CZC co-exist quite well, there's a wealth of info on both forums. And while HybridZ was formed by guys swapping V8's into S30's, there's still loads of great info regarding the original platform as well.

I love following all the stages of this project, keep it up!

FWIW, I have Hawk Blues on a street-driven E36, I'd call the cold friction perfectly acceptable and nowhere near unsafe. Dust and squeal is another story. I've run DTC-30's on my S2000 for 4 years and have liked them. Not much warm-up required at all (they're fine when driven cold on the street) and have good modulation. I would probably get ~10 days out of them if I had to guess. I was in a pinch last year with worn out front pads before a track day and tossed some PFC 08's in there. The PFC's have felt terrific so far, great fade resistance and modulation, but the squeal is pretty gnarly. It's still street driven so noise is not an inconsequential side-effect.

That points to some of the repeat issues I have with the majority of custom suspension parts out on the market. They're almost never designed with structure in mind so they end up over-mass and/or less stiff and less strong.

If we're talking rear arms, I think these are what's being referenced: https://silverproject.eu/rear-control-arm-adjustable-arms-for-datsun-240z-260z-280z/ In which case, there are some design issues with them. Mainly, they'll cause binding in the strut (see the many threads on this site on custom rear arms). I'm also not stoked on the shear plate design they have between the outer bushings and the tubes, a bit concerned about buckling which would be exacerbated by bending loads from the ARB and stiction in the bushes. Plus, they cut a hole in the primary lateral load path...

A photo of the stamped firewall VIN above the brake booster location would help clear everything up.

My concerns on durability were more from a lack of isolation from low amplitude, high frequency vibrations (i.e. fatigue loads) coming from the engine. As long as the metal that joins everything together is strong enough, you're fine. It'll be buzzy for sure!

Hey Nathan, I'm not seeing the pictures but from what you're describing, the size of the bushings you're using for engine mounts sounds really small. I'd expect them to give you very little isolation and more or less act like solid mounts. You may also run into durability issues, depending on how hard and how often you drive the car.

Yup, saw it there. It's hard to pin-point a value but I'd guess you're looking a lot closer to the $7k than $15k. Your Offerup ad is no longer live for reference but if you get $10k, I'd say you did well.

ClassicZcars.com is a good place to list. You can also try Facebook, e.g. Datsun Parts and Needs, but that can be a bit of a cesspool at times.

Awesome project, looking forward to seeing more! Curious how you'll be handling the BMS and motor controls.

Forwarding to a few friends that are looking for one.

Agreed. Stock suspension with good dampers and at least 3" of bump travel will do the trick.

No worries, shout if you have any questions and let us know what you decide.

You've decimated the main lateral load path which transfers tire forces into the body via the lower control arms. The chassis has lost a lot of lateral stiffness. I agree with Cary regarding putting high bending loads into your rack bar and killing steering feel. At best, your lateral dynamics and steering take a hit. At worst, you'll have premature rack failure and fatigue failure somewhere in the crossmember. A shear plate welded to the bottom will certainly help. The engine also looks very close to the crossmember. Are you solid-mounting the engine? In that case, it may very well become a stressed-member in cornering as well...