jeromio

Hrm. Hammertite, Hammerite, Hammered. All similar? I've found a website for Hammertite, but they seem to have dealers everywhere EXCEPT for the US. Hammerite - not sure I've ever seen that. There's Hammered available only in spraycans in the home centers around here. I've used that all over the place. As to my goal, currently the entire car is reddish orange. Not my first choice. Not sure what color the car will end up being - I figure final painting will occur sometime around 2019 when my youngest graduates from college. So, for now, I figured that I'd just make the engine bay look decent since the motor's out. I'm taking care of some rust spots as well. I was gonna go for a neutral gray that wouldn't clash with whatever exterior color I end up choosing. I mostly want to avoid what's happened with this car and every other project car I've owned - at some point fuel and or brake fluid get spilled and the pain peels off.

Okay, I did do a search, but I'm still in need of some more info. I need to paint the engine bay. For the most part, it's only got a few small rust spots and is mostly already painted (enamel). Those factors, along with cost, seem to rule out POR-15. I don't much like the look of the Zolatone. Can't seem to find a distributor for Hammertite in the US. I tried the local paint shop and a pint of sovent resistant paint was gonna be $80. Right. Pass. Any other ideas? I'm considering just buying several cans of the Hammered paint that I can get at Lowes (Home Depot). I've used it on pretty much everything else. It works well, I just don't think it's necessarily fuel and brake fluid resistant. This ornery engine bay step is becoming a roadblock in my LS1 swap....

The LT1 will bolt in with the JTR setback plates. The LS1 will not. Both cars use electronic guages. But the LT1 is a Chevy 350 which is a very common engine. The LS1 is brand new and completely different. Much more of a project. Both cars have VATS and other ECM (PCM, ECU - the computer box) issues. The LT1 has been out longer and the parts and experience are more readily available. Bottom line is that the LS1 will cost more and be more of a difficult swap. So, why am I doing it? Always the hard way.....

OKay. I added the 2 things that JohnC sent me as well as Tim's R230 info.

The rear of that car is pretty nice, but if you're copying it, you may as well consider some improvements. Namely, the side "scoops" do not follow the lines of the original car. They are shifted about 4 inches too high. I think it would look better if it flowed from the lines that are already present on the car. As thus: Also, I'm not a big fan of those front flares. They don't go with the rest of the car. There, that should be enough from hyper-critical me...

Oooh. This might sound mean, but is it too late? What I mean to say is, is the welder returnable? Because I have not heard too many good things about the Craftsman welders. On the other hand, I have only ever heard good things about Lincoln from several people and have had mine for about 8 years now with ZERO problems (except for the time I was welding for like 10 hours straight and popped its internal circuit breaker but didn't realize it and stupidly took it back to the shop where they were kind enough not to make too much fun of me for not just seeing the popped breaker and pushing it back in ). That aside, the CO2/Argon mix is supposed to be the best. I've been using straight CO2 in my welder (the regulator I have is some cheapo thing that is female and supposedly only works with CO2 tanks which have a male valve). When I go to my friend's shop and use the same welder (Lincoln weldpak, my welder friend uses them exclusively for full on production work those things run about 80 hours a week, every week) but with CO2/Argon the welds come out much smoother and lay down nice and flat. As to wire, if you get the giant spool (which is cheaper per foot), the copper coated stuff is good as it prevents corrosion (since unless you weld ALOT, you'll have that spool on there forever). BUT, it is a kind of a pain because it tends to bind up in the tip more often since that coating rubs off and makes things sticky. Otherwise, if you get the small, 5lb spools, just get plain wire.

Just got another Q&A from JohnC. Which got me thinkin': how about if we set up like a little contest. We'll decide on a 30day (or whatever) period. Within that period, the person who comes up with the most questions and answers will win a HybridZ Tshirt. To make it fair, how about 1 point for questions and 2 points for answers. So, if you submit 10 (new) questions and maybe you have an answer for 2 of those and maybe you have 1 (new or more detailed) answer for a question that someone else submitted then you would get 16 points. Yes? No? Lame? Stop bothering you about the FAQ?

Wow. That is so cool. It's too bad they didn't bring the 4door hatch to the US.

I have the 240 stubs and ZXT comp flanges on my car. Jacked all the way up (wheels hanging), the CVs will bind. So, I avoid catching air over hills . I haven't noticed any problems with ordinary street driving yet. If/when I get on a track it may be an issue. Terry's got the same setup on his car though. I'll probably eventually get some adapters (assuming they're available then - money is needed elsewhere on the car currently) to use with the plain 240 flanges. No way am I dissasembling all that crap for 2 the extra splines of the 280 stubs.

Yes, you can use the CV axles. You will need to buy the adapters taht Ross is making.

No, that is definately a Scarab style conversion. The difference is about 3 - 3.5 inches front to back and 1 to 2 inches high. A few months ago we had a VERY long and very informative discussion of the Scarab vs. the JTR. One key take home (for me anyway) was that you shouldn't necessarily take Mike Knell (the JTR guy) and his book as the end all on the subject. He rally isn't fair to it. I think the only truly undisputed point is that you must do the JTR style in order to use a T5 or T56 manual trans. You should search for that thread and read thru it. Just to echo what everyone else already said - Nice car. Chrome! Very polished looking.

Not sure what you mean by spindles. Do you mean to ask if the 280ZX turbo stub axle carriers can be used on the 240Z? Because, while I'm sure it's possible, I really don't think it would be easy. Much easier to just get the adapter. How about this for elucidation purposes (sorry if this is overly verbose): Wheel bolts to -> Stub axle which fits into bearings which press into the -> Carrier (which is welded to the strut tube and also attaches to the lower arm). The splined end of the stub axle sticks out of the inner part of the carrier and there is a seal there to keep out water and dirt. Now comes the Companion flange which slides over the splines (and inside the seal). The companion flange bolts to the half shaft. The 240Z stub axle has the same diameter and spline count as the 280ZX turbo stub axle. SO, the companion flange from the 280ZX turbo can be used on a 240Z stub axle. The 240Z flange's dust shield (sheetmetal) has to be transfered over and a Seal has to be figured out (240 seal is too large, 280ZX seal is too small, gotta fab something. Terry O used an R200 pinion seal with the outer rubber shaved off, but I had no luck with this so I used the ZX seal and a big rubber ring). The 280Z has stub axles with a different diameter and more splines. So you can't use the 280ZX turbo companion flange. Hence, the adapter. You weld the 280Z companion flange to a machined piece that can bolt to the CV halfshaft. So, you can use the plain old 280Z seal. Also, I've been told that the new Hybrid Companion flange is actually shorter than the 280ZX turbo companion flange which helps with CV bind. BUT, obviously if you have a 240, you will need to switch to the 280Z stub axle.

Man that car looks nice. I see what the misunderstanding was. The filler stays put when the hatch is opened. The outer door is like an extra, tinier hatch on the actual hatch. Like a doggie door to get to the filler. Have I mentioned that that car looks cool?

Man, if the MR2 cart is appreciably stiffer than the Rabbit cart, then I'm glad I got the Rabbit ones. My front, with 150lb springs and GTI Tokico blues, is some kinda crazy stiff IMO.

Okay. Here are some answers.

Nice. Delete the fake knock-offs though.

Opinion follows: I really think that any kind of a 308 style body kit would just look un-right on a Z. The 308, being a mid-engined car, has a very short front end (in fact, on the real car, the footwells are narrow and angle towards the middle due to the wheel well). The Z on the otherhand, has a very long, pronounced front end. It would be virtually impossible to make the car resemble the 308, or most any other mid-engined car. Someting like a Daytona would make much more sense since that is a front engined car.

Oh Cooool! My wife is gonna hate that you pointed me to that site. Thanks.

Hey - what's Coleman's? Do they have a website? I'm looking for some heim joints for my truck. Thanks.

Put the car up on jackstands. Get a scratch awl and poke around. Scratch some spots and see if you can get to silver metal. If the floors are really rusty, you'll be able to poke all the way thru in places. The worse spots are near the front and near the back where water can pool in the floorboards (since the windshields almost always leak a little). Also, anyplace where there are 2 or more layers of sheetmetal. These cars are put together with spot welds, not full seam welds. In theory, the undercoating on the outside and sealant on the inside would prevent moisture from getting between the layers. In practice, the water finds its way in and then stays there, allowing the steady catalysis of the metal to rust. If it were me, I'd just hang onto those floor panels. The rational side to that is, you may decide to use them later. The irrational side is that the moment you sell them, you'll discover the rust. Kinda like how I never find that missing tool until the day AFTER I finally break down and buy another one.

Well, I have more time than money. Sadly, I have very little time. Anyway, Headers would be nice, I'll let you figure out which ones will fit . As to getting used to the power - I really cannot imagine that right now. I'm currently driving a 6000 pound truck with maybe 100hp. My wife's minivan seems fast compared to that. I suspect that in your case, since your car is already all purttied up with shiny paint and interior and those Panasports - the only thing left to tinker with is the powerplant . When I'm done with the LS1 I'll be moving on to wiring, then the cage, maybe some carpet (interior is bare metal right now). Then there's bodywork, prep and paint, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. Plenty to keep me busy.

Thanks. No exhaust clearance issues. Well, I mean there are lots of exhaust clearance issues, but they happen way before the exhaust gets down to crossmember level. The big interferer is the steering shaft. And on the passenger side, the frame rail is pretty cozy with the flange. So, for both sides, I am lopping off the (large ) flanges on the stock LS1 manifolds and will weld on some extension tubes. I'm going to be buying straight mild steel tubing and then try that sand/heat trick that was posted about earlier (by ?). Need to save some dollars on this project and those mandrel bends are pricey. Side note: Notice the red oil all over the place? Last time I puled the motor the hardlines on the firewall caught the cap on the trans tail and pulled it off - fluid everywhere Also, how do you like my clever marking technique for the motor mount tower location on the driver's side arm? All it takes is having the engine in place with the metal sitting just so for about 2 weeks, a couple of foggy mornings - bingo! Much better than magic marker

Busy equals me, had some time Sunday to work on the car though: It's all painted now - I'll be adding an actual page to my site at some point with more pics. It's not exactly a K as I've been saying. More like a π (pi). It's a bear installing/removing that thing since now it's got 4 mount points and a total of 10 bolts and bolt holes that have to be lined up. Plus, I wasn't smart enough to pre-drill the driver's side (first side I did) strut rod hump with the unwelded crossmember arm bracket to ensure that the hole lined up with each other. So the pass side: is all perfecto and the driver's side takes some wrestling. I think I've decided to make the mount towers separately and have them bolt to the crossmember. They'll also bolt to the frame rails, so it seemed like the best way to do it - more work though of course (drilling is harder and slower than welding ). And I'm not boxing in the angle iron arms. It's definately strong enough as is. This thing coupled with a K strut tower/firewall brace is gonna make for one stiff chassis. The really bad news is that even though I kept promising myself not to turn this into an ordeal, I've already started prepping the bay for primer and paint . I don't know why I do this to myself. So, that'll probably add a few weeks to the project. The main reason I'm doing this (apart from t he fact that it's all red right now and I plan to eventually paint the car another color), is that the passenger frame near the front had a rusy spot with pinholes, So I went over some other suspect areas and found more. Had to cut a chunk out of the driver side strut tower area (where the 2 layers of metal are) and weld in some new metal. Beating up the trans tunnel was harder than I thought it was gonna be. There were many spots where my trusty 5 pound sledge just kept bouncing off. Had to search out the "sweet spots" to get some caving in action. I think I'm gonna have to go over it again. Better too much room than not enough.

My kit came with all the terminals and connectors. Wire ties too. You might wanna get some of that wire protector stuff - that corrugated tubing like stuff with the slit all the way down.

The painless kits are pretty nice. The wire is all fuel safe insulated, multicolored AND there are inkjet labels so it's sort of self-documenting. You rip out all of the existing stock wiring. Then you find a spot for the painless fues box (which unfortunately does not come with headlight relays) and then run the wires from there to their various end points (guages, lights, ign switch, battery, etc). I haven't done this on my Z (yet), but I've done it on my truck. There was plenty of wire with the kit. It took me about a weekend to do it.