jeromio

I'm ordering the Konig Monsoons, 4 on 114, 17X8 with 20mm offset. Getting the Kumho's because they're pretty cheap and I like that big water channel down the middle. It's gonna be $1200 delivered. Currently have 14X8, 0 offset with 215 60 firestones which are extra fat sidewall wise. They rub the fender lip in the rear. I'm thinking the 20mm offset will be perfecto - just enough to move the tire away from the fender lip. I have coilovers, so there ought to be plenty of room on the inside (ordering 235/45s). Can you smell the debt? ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

It's been very rainy here and not being able to see out the rear window is a hardship. My defrost used to work (Well, obviously, what I mean is that it worked last rainy season...). I can see at least one definate break and one iffy spot. It's got juice going to it, but it doesn't have continuity between the connectors. The masking is a good idea. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Wow. I think the wheel industry definately needs to come up with some better, more consistent terminology. Just continuing with Danno's rims as an example, 8 inch rim, 5.125 back spacing. If backspacing is the dimension between the outermost inside lip of the rim to the mounting surface, then how can that not correspond to a 1.125 inch offset. That is if offset is the distance from the centerline of the rim to the mounting surface. I mean, there's only 8 inches of rim, so that would need to mean that backspacing - half the width (8-4=4) should give you 1.125" = 28mm offset( I think I used 5.25 previously to come up with 35mm offset). Now clearly there is some element of these measurements that doesn't translate as I think it should. I mean, Boyd's is not going to have come up with an incorrect rim - I'm sure of that. It's just that there's some extra stuff involved that's not really specified and isn't intuitive. Some kind of wheel manufacturer "Fudge factor" is in there someplace. I'll be so happy when this is all over with and I have some wheels and rain worthy tires on my car............... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I do want them further in. With the current 8 inch, 0 offset, the tires rub the fender when I hit a bump. So, a 20mm offset should push the tire and rim in, towards the center of the car and away from the fender lip. I guess one thing that concerns me is that others here seem to be getting rims with a much larger offset, for instance, Danno got 5.125 backspaced 8 inch wide rims which translates to 35mm offset. The Monsoon is available with a 35mm offset, but I think a 20mm would be better - unless I'm wrong.... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Okay, I know everyone is sick to death of this subject, but I'm a little spooked. I was about to press Submit on my order with discounttiredirect.com, the wheel showed "on order", so I called to see what that meant time-wise. The sales guy was typical of your average parts counter type robot - "What year, make and model of car, sir?". Obviously I know they're not going to have any listing, but I follow the drill so I can have a chance to ask my question. He comes back with "Nothing for that car", and I have to scramble to ask about this particular wheel. At each step of my description, Me: "It's a Konig - " Him: "Not gonna fit, Konig doesn't make a wheel for your car, sir" Me: "Do you have a Konig Monsoon-" Him: "No Monsoons are made to fit that car" etc, etc. So, should I be concerned? The robot has me a little scared that I'm gonna have to pay a restocking fee. But that 20mm offset has got to just be perfect.....Right? ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I have one or two small breaks in the lines and am planning to buy that repair kit thing. Has anyone done this? Any tips or tricks or things to watch out for? Thanks. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

That all sounds pretty minor. Except that if you're anything like me (or several others on this board), you can easily get deeply mired in the "While I'm at it" mentality. As in, strut carts need to be replaced, well, while I'm at it, I should replace the springs and since everything is apart, I should replace all the bushings with polyurathane, and perhaps relocate that front arm pivot point to eliminate bump steer, and instead of plain springs, why not coilovers. If you're really unhealthy (as I am), you'll justify an upgrade to 280ZXT CV half shafts instead of replacing that Ujoint and swap in rear discs instead of replacing the drums. Otherwise, if you simply repair all the things that the inspection requires, it won't be that much work. Is your windshield cracked? I have much fear of replacing those things - I tend to break them. As far as the manual, I got one on CD from <a href="http://idealz.com">idealz.com</a>. They have a variety of years available - pretty affordable and it's nice being able to index directly to the applicable section and then just print out the pages. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I have a small, semi-informative blurb on my site, 240z.jeromio.com. I used front 85 Rabbit GTI struts in my shortened (by 1.5 inches) front strut tubes. I had to drill out the flat part of the hole of my isolator with a grinding stone in a die grinder. The rabbit shaft is allen keyed at the top which is a much better way to tighten things down - I managed to mess up a rear cart (actually a front 240 cart that is installed in the rear sectioned strut) because the flat spot gave out and allowed the shaft to spin. I also had to use a section of pipe under the Rabbit cart. of approx. 1/4 to make up some of the space. Tokico mailed me (Free!) a set of gland nuts to use. It's odd that revac's MR2 cartridges were merely 1 inch shorter - I thought they werwe 2 inches - same as the GTI. Perhaps some clarification on specific model years would be helpful. As to dampening, the GTI carts are plenty stiff for me. But, I suppose if I had it to do over again, I'd probably order MR2 carts (provided they're actually 2 inches shorter...). ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Okay, So I got a regular 5speed shifter and installed it yesterday. It shifts much better. I've also got a line on an extra shifter to have bent up - this thing is just way too close to the console. Has anyone got any suggestions for the shifter boot issue? I cut about an inch out of the tunnel to clear the shifter. It sits way up front - the stock 4spd rubber boot is useless. I can get it to fit and only leave 1/4 inch or so of space at the back, but then as soon as it's shifted into 1st, 3rd or 5th, the boot comes undone - can't possibly stretch that far. So, do I need to just "fashion" one form materials at hand? It's kinda noisy not having one at all. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Details on how the exhaust was routed would be key! These engines are very easy to get. In my area I can get a L28T or a VG30ET for pretty much the same price. (Can't use my current 5 spd with the VG though, so that'd be extra cost.) Many more VGs to choose from though. There's one yard that even offers a 6 month warranty. Cross flow heads, plus a sconch more displacement - I would very much like some more info on this swap..... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Well, yeah, the 4spd shifter is very temporary. I just wanted to know if there were any decent, somewhat affordable aftermarket shifters available before I dropped the dough on the stock 5spd shifter. I also don't have oxy/acetylene. I doubt MAPP gas is gonna be hot enough. SO that'll mean taking it to a shop. Need to get one firstly.... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I just put a 1980 280zx 5speed in my 240. I got it cheap and it didn't have a shifter with it. So I sort of adapted my 4speed shifter. It's kinda crappy. (cut off the end, welded on a 14mm bolt, welded some extra metal to the bolt head, ground it into an approximate ball shape, got a bushing abnd a cliv. pin from the home center and made them fit, etc.) Anyway, I knew the shift lever was gonna be farther forward, but I guess I didn't expect it to be this far forward. And the proper ZX shifter goes straight up from the linkage, rather than my klooged shifter's 1 1/2 inch back spacing. So, is everyone who has the stock 5speed using the stock shifter? MSA apparently used to sell a (hugely expensive) short throw version. Do I have any options other than getting a stock shifter and heavily modifying it? ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Rear bearings are a huge pain. There's some other threads floating around here about the hassles of removing the locknut, removing the stub axle, etc. I don't think my car was making any noise due to rear bearings - although it's hard to tell since there was so much noise in general (no front diff mount, orig. R180, old ujoints (one broken), bad shocks and springs, etc, etc). I do know that mine were pretty much dry though. It's definately something worth doing. You might want to plan ahead for it though - for instance, do you ever plan on going to rear discs? If so, you have to remove the stubs to attack the mounting plate. You'll not ever want to do this chore again. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

This topic clearly has nothing to do with 6 Cylinder engines anymore..... Anyway, I have in front of me the papers for filing suit against the dealership. It's actually pretty lightweight - just 2 basic forms. One for the bureaucrats and one that goes to the defendant. Costs $50 in NC - $40 for court fees and $10 for them to serve the summons. I'm aiming high - we got a quote from the Nissan arm of the same dealership for cost of repairs and we have our rental car receipts. It totals like $6000!! But, even if I can just get a few hundred I'll be better off than I am now. I'm also going to call the lame local TV news "Troubleshooter" thing. The feature tonight was someone bought a hottub that doesn't bubble enough or something. My story's gotta be better than that.

Well, certainly anything can be done. I know of one member of this forum (Morgan) who was all set to do this swap as he is an avid Z31 guy. But he decided it would be too much effort, mostly due to exhaust routing issues and is instead going to put in a L28 turbo. The main problem (as I recall from postings here that you could search for) is that the turbo as OEM positioned will interfere with the steering shaft on the Z. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I moved the pivot location of the lower control arms in the front crossmember. I moved each hole 15/16" up and 3/8" out. I thought I had measured precisely - I even made a sort of a jig helper tool to locate the hole with a washer based on the factory hole. Anyway, I just got the car aligned and the report shows a difference in camber of 0.4 degrees between left and right. Is this bad? Should I be concerned? I hope not, bucause taking everything a part, welding up 2 holes and redrilling them is really alot not appealing.... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Calipers are good. clamps real tight if you pull the lever by hand. What I ended up doing was putting the "clip" behind the cable retainer part of the caliper and then cut slots in washers - one fairly thick washer between the clip and the cable retainer per side. It works. I think I may add another washer though. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

BLKMGK, as I stated in my reply above, clutch LSDs will rotate both wheels in the same direction (when one wheel is turned). Only the fluid LSDs behave like open diffs (wheels turn in opposite direction) when turned by hand. This is because the VLSD only works when it's spinning alot (much more vigorously than you can do by hand) which heats up the fluid, causing it too thicken, thus locking the diff. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

BTW, if anyone is planning on fabricating their own rear caliper bracket for use with the ZX rear calipers, email me first. I basically don't recommend doing it. I'm poor, but in hindsight, $150-$200 for the bracket would have been worth it. Perhaps if you're able to make it from aluminum, it might be easier. But I spent alot of time making these damn things (from 1/2 inch plate). I had to do alot of my own measurements (I used Turbo calipers and rotors which may be different that what the plans were meant for). I had to do alot of trial fitting and alot of grinding. And of course, the rotor press fits to the hub, so my trials weren't all that accurate (I ended up allowing for a ~3.5mm fudge factor and made up the slight difference with washers). And then in the end, one of my brackets appears to have warped during the final welding. So, I had to grind away almost 2mm from one ear. Ugh. Too much work. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Okay, so my car is all hooked up and ready to go. Except that the emergency brake doesn't work - actually it sort of barely works on the passenger side, not at all on the drivers. So, before I go out and buy a (crappy) Haynes manual for the 280zx, I figured I'd check here to see if anyone can clue me in on how to adjust the caliper's built in ebrake. There's no adjustment left in the cables. I tried just working the handle back and forth about 25 times to see if it would eventually adjust itself. No good. I did notice that the cable is only able to move the caliper's ebrake lever thru half of its travel - which has me worried that the 240z cables aren't going to work at all (?*?!@ ). The cable ends fit in there very nicely and I was able to use the old pin and everything. It just doesn't work very well. I was actually going to actually drive the car this morning (!!), but since I have completely replaced all 4 brakes, I don't feel too confident riding around without the ebrake for some backup. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

You can tell alot by the rear cover. The R180 has a small, rectangular cover. R200s have a larger, stop sign shape. The typical 300zx (Z31) rear swap is the clutch LSD (3.7 ratio). This ordinarily has a lare, finned rear cover. But it won't fit without a custom rear transverse link. So usually people just swap that cover for a regular R200 cover. My 85 turbo 200SX (4.11) R200 has an aluminum (but normal, non-finned) rear cover. I also have a 280Z (3.54) R200 which has a plain rear cover. You can't tell much else visually though. For ratios, put the car in neutral, jack up one rear wheel. Make a mark on the jacked up half shaft and one on the driveshaft. Turn the driveshaft 10 time, and count how many times that halfshaft mark spins around. Multiply that number by 2, and that's your ratio. If it really is an LSD, then turning the driveshaft while only one wheel is jacked will be really, really hard to do (unless it's a VLSD, but it's not, unless you are buying this car from James Thaggard). If you jack up the whole rear (but not by the diff pumpkin as it's hard on the front mount), then spin one wheel, if the opposite wheel turns in the same direction, then it's a LSD. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

OKay - you're very convincing. I'm having my wife call around (BBB, etc.) to get the name of the principle owner. She's then gonna "fill in the blanks" on your letter and mail it in. We'll send it registered and then call tomorrow afternoon. As far as the public record thing goes, we just take a copy of the letter to the courthouse - they'll know what to do with it? My lawyer did admit to not knowing anything about this kind of case - he's sort of a general practice guy. He recommended going to the mechanic because he thought it would be helpful to put in his letter. I really thought the mechanic was gonna back me up. Anyway, he also recommended another lawyer who has had dealings with lemon law and other product liability stuff. We haven't called him yet, but probably will at least to see what he says. Really, at this point I'm thinking that I'd at least like to get my $200 back. Maybe I'll write Michael Jordan a letter - I wonder how much of an actual ownership stake he has in the place.

Well, I bought a set of ZX seals. The parts counter guy said there was only one rear bearing seal listed for both turbo and non. Anyway, I then went to HomeDepot to get some 3" PVC pipe to make my Oxandale bushing. While I was there I went thru the whole plumbing sectionwith my seal and my calipers and tried pretty much everything out. I ended up finding a shower drain that had a big rubber grommet on it. Fairly stiff rubber, the ZX seal was a tight fit inside. The OD was slightly too small. So I bought a roll of that black rubber "fix a leak" tape stuff. You stretch it out, wrap it around something and it shrinks back. 2 layers of that around the rubber part and the OD was perfect - made for a tight, snug fit. So, I cut this thing exactly in half which gave me 2 pieces the same width as the ZX seal. Put the seal in the shower drain grommet and pressed the whole thing into the carrier. It looks like it will work beautifully. I would've taken pictures but I'm on a tight timeline and on my very last set of rubber gloves (none to put back on if I removed the dirty ones to use the digicam). (BTW Jeff, the dust shield from the 240 flanges can be used on the ZX flanges. Just grind off the 2 welds holding it on, then slip it on the ZX flange after its shield has been knocked off.) ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

I didn't use any abrasives or anything on the insides, but they were very clean. No gunk or anything that I could see or feel. Hopefully the ZX seal will fit with the pipe/bushing..... ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com

Hopefully Terry or someone can clear this up for me: I'm finally assembling my car. I am using the 240Z Stub Axles, 82 ZX Turbo CX shafts and companion flanges and I bought 2 R200 pinion seals. I started by shaving off most all the rubber from the outside of the pinion seal with a block plane. But I could not get it anywhere close to going in. So then I started ->grinding the outer diameter of the seal. - beveling the outer lip. - cleaning it. - greasing it. - trying to insert it. <- repeat. I did this about 5 or 6 times. The thing was getting pretty beat up from trying to hammer it in (I used a large socket and the dust shield that I had knocked off the ZX flange). Finally I just tried tightening down the dust seal, a large washer with the stub nut. That caused about 70% of the seal to go in, the other 30% got pinched out (don't know my own strength ). I kind of spooged it inthere by hammering the offending part of the seal with a 1/4 socket extension and then put my flange on and tightened it all down. Anyway, this seal does appear to fit around the inserted end of the companion flange very nicely, but I ground a whole lot off the outer circumference and it just wasn't enough. Did I get the wrong seal? Are my (240z) axle housings somehow strange? I'm considering tearing this apart and trying the pipe/bushing trick. ------------------ 240Z.jeromio.com