socorob

When I was still building my car a guy stopped by to see it and he did 3d aluminum printing. The company he worked for made parts for nasa. He said the stuff they mainly made using the 3d printing was too intricate to machine and casting wasn't strong enough to use for the parts.

At 170mph, was everything shaking, or was it relatively smooth?

How strong are the aluminum 3d prints? Would that be sufficiently strong enough for a bellhousing?

If you do a dyno tune, they could probably squeeze out a few more hp for you too.

Nice car, unfortunately for him, it seems one with 350 swaps never get much money on resale. I've seen several here when I was looking to get a Z, and never seen one top 5.5k no matter how nice and how much work was in it.

I think I used the 4.5" also. Here's how I mounted them. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/114638-1978-280z-gto-ls1-t56-ttt/page-5 post 90, nice solid fit. I ended up leaving the Datsun glass out of it, because using both gave too much of a glare sometimes.

+1 for the champion, no problems on track or in traffic.

I used a pvc pipe cap that the gauge fit tight in and it fit tight into the datsun bezel, so everything can be screwed down. Had my dome light fall off during an off track excursion, wouldn't want my gauges falling out.

Keith, what rear ratio are you running? I get mid 20s or so on the interstate cruising in 6th, but around town it drinks gas. One reason is its hard to keep your foot out of it.

I run 245s on either 7 or 8 inch wheel with stock fenders. If you went through the trouble of flaring, why wouldn't you go to something like a 10 inch wheel to be able to take advantage of all that rubber. Unless you're going for a hellaflush look as stated above.

I hear some people have good results with helmholtz chambers. Some new cars even use them on the intake piping to quiet those down. They are supposed to be for drone, but was reading a post several months back where people said it quieted the car also, apparently with no hp loss.

Anyone tried these, and can comment on fitment? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-280Z-1977-1978-Door-Card-Panel-Set-Black-Pair-Panels-NEW-584-/221925002607?fits=Make%3ADatsun&hash=item33abc2cd6f:g:VzYAAOSw9r1V91dR&vxp=mtr

Doing something that sounds like that in a school parking lot would probably get you arrested.

I think some engines require some flow through there, so on those you can't just block it off. Not sure if the LS does or not. I thought about putting the VA heater valve under the hood as gm had theirs, but at that point I was getting tired of working on the car and just wanted to finish it up to drive it. If it ever fails down the line I will look at putting it under the hood then.

I'm sure you could use some manual valves and plumb it in the engine bay to do the same thing, just have to open it in winter and close it in summer. Mine is mounted inside the cabin close to the firewall, and if it has been a problem, I haven't noticed. My vintage air is cold enough.

I put mine on the firewall up high on the inside passenger side, sort of where the old ac blower was, behind the whit bracket with all the plugs for the dash harness.

Good idea, I'll try that first.

I don't know. The ranger rubber appeared to be higher quality, as in slightly thicker rubber, and it was disintegrating like all the kias were that were almost the same age. I still haven't did the hose test yet, but can't see any light coming through when putting a spotlight behind it. I read a few people said the kias leaked, so i pulled a piece off the kia and went looking for one that was just slightly larger.

double post

no, all the body lines line up, and with no weatherstrip on the door it opens with a pinky. The precision i could barely pull the handle up. The ranger stuff takes 2 fingers. This is on a 78Z.

I don't mind big flares, I just don't like when the wrap plastic stuff around the whole bottom of the car. Makes the Z looks cartoonish.

Here's what it looks like. I tried to get the Kia but just about every one was bad. The Kia was made out of paper thin rubber. This was a little heavier duty. I looked through lots of cars and not very many cars come with a square corner anymore. There were a few elantras but all their weatherstripping was crumbling like the kia, and all were a couple years newer than the ranger. I suspect they use lower quality rubber from the looks of things.

i just put 2001 ranger door seals on mine yesterday. after the precision weatherstrip finally caused my door handle to break off. It is still a little tight to close, but nowhere near as bad as the precision rubber was. At least now you can pull the door handle open with 1 finger, with the precision it felt like you were going to rip the door handles off(which it eventually did). I haven't had a chance to spray it with a hose yet to check for leaks, but put a spotlight on the inside and couldn't see and light anywhere. The seal looks like the jc whitney drawing on their website.

I have no idea. This guy came up and randomly told me this, but I have no idea how much he knows. I know I don't know a whole lot, so just asking questions.

Are you going to the autox in Hammond this weekend?