mr_han_solo

Hello, I have been searching through the threads for longtube headers. I found that S&S seemed like the best bet. Went to their website, and then I saw that their online store is down. I sent the sales department a email (posted on their website) and I just got a notification via gmail that the email has not gone through. I was wondering if S&S has gone out of business? Does anyone have any info on the company or if anyone else sells their longtubes or longtubes that are compatible with the JTR conversion? - Han

Well I went to put the 5th on today and ran into another problem. I have 1/2, 3/4 in neutral and the 5th gear engaged. Spins freely until it gets to one poin and I really have to force it to keep it turning. I engaged 1st then second gear and I still get resistance. Maybe this is just normal. I can still turn the input shaft by hand, it just encounters resistance in that one area and takes a little more effort to turn. Just wanting to see if this is normal or if there is something else that has popped up. Here is the video: Thanks once again, Han

Used some left over primer I had from my Camaro. Evercoat durabuild. Not more than two years old. The color coat is an enamel. New paint. I sanded the original paint, then primed it. I wet sanded the primer with 400grit then applied the basecoat. Wet sanded the basecoat with 400 and then put on the second (current) coat. Here is the close up of the paint:

Sounds like I need to go with the purple gear then. I actually have the JTR book, but I didn't even notice the little chart until your post. I'm assuming you have the 20 piece driven gear then? I may just go ahead and buy both the 19 and 20 piece gears to cover both bases. They shouldn't be hard to change out anyways. Thanks for everything, Han

Hello, Just finished shooting my car with some satin green paint. However, the paint looks really uneven. It's all good to the touch but you can clearly see where I started and stopped. My question is, how do I even all of this out? After my first coat I tried sanding with 600grit, but It ended up making the paint look bad. I was thinking of trying 1000 or 1500 grit, but I wanted to check in before I did that. I will be shooting the car with a flat clearcoat, so it that takes care of these problems I'll just do that instead of sanding. Hoping someone can give me some tips.

It's a World Class. I went ahead and wrote down every single rear end part I would nee for the swap before I took the r200 off of the parts 280z so I should have it covered there. Looks like I will have to do some more research on the speedo gear before I put this thing back together. I am hoping that someone else here that has done the swap may have a setup almost identical to mine and can help me out.

Hello, I am in the process or rebuilding my t-5 to go behind my 350. I was wondering what speedo gear I need to put in the transmission? I have the following gears on hand. I am not opposed to buying the gear if I don't have it here. The ratios of the t-5 are : 1.76 2.95 1.94 1.34 1.00 0.73 I am using a stock 1973 240z r180 differential. I also have a differential out of a 1975 280z in case my 1973 ever breaks. My current tire size is 235/60/14. The tire size itself may change due to my build being an autocross car. However, the current tires Bf Goodrich Radial T/A have tons of tread left on them and I dont forsee a big tire size change in the future. Hoping that I provided all of the information needed to choose the correct speedo gear for my application. Thanks.

Hello, I am looking for a 240z (or perhaps 260z) turn signal switch. It should look like this: I just need the switch and wiring pigtail, not the entire turn signal assembly. Thanks!

Hello, I am re-installing my dash and I have run into one small problem. I got everything hooked up, but I am having a problem with the ammeter conversion. The AMP/Fuel gauge is from a 1976 280z. I used he following instructions in my swap: "Basically you just disconnect the two fat White/Red wires (maybe just white?) from the back of the ammeter and re-connect them. Insulate the living daylights out of this connection, and not with just electrical tape. Use heat shrink, prefereably the stuff with the glue on the inside. Clean the contacts first. Bolt them together VERY tight. Oh, and take a new 18 gauge wire from this same spliced connection and connect it to the + terminal of the voltmeter, and connect the negative terminal to ground. That's it." Unfortunately the AMP gauge is only reading 4 volts. I have a youtube video to view its operation here. I'm hoping someone can tell me what I did wrong or if my gauge is bad. Thanks, Han

Alright everyone, the gauges are finished. Here are the photos of them installed in the dash: The fonts aren't exactly correct, but they are darn close. I used a color laser to print them on adhesive paper. As promised the .PSD file. YOU MUST HAVE ADOBE PHOTOSHOP/GIMP/ETC. TO OPEN AND EDIT THIS FILE. Within the file are the different layers for the 240,260,and 280 tachs ad well as the ammeter and volt meter. A word of advice, use an xacto knife to cut out the turn signal and odometer lights. Questions/Comments, feel free to contact me. - Han THE GAUGE FILE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/anufiuet3k7ylgx/240%2C260%2C280 Gauges.psd?dl=0

Miles and SeattleJester the two of you have been tons of help. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Master Cylinder. It shows that the item has shipped, so I will just have to see if it is the 15-16 when it gets here, I'm really hoping it is. I also went ahead and bought new wheel cylinders, shoes and stainless steel lines. On the front I bought the Toyota 4x4 (non vented) calipers. I did read a post where a guy was on a run with a Z-group and overheated his front breaks (with the 4x4 setup). He said "If you do enough research on this, you'll find that the problem is that this swap upsets the balance and the fronts are doing almost all of the braking. There is no easy way to fix this, and an adjustable proportioning valve is not the answer. The purpose of these are to reduce pressure to the rears, while an increase is really needed." After reading what you said, I feel that perhaps he should have upgraded to a more track oriented setup, however, this may be something I have to keep my eye on.

I searched Advance Auto Parts website and found this master cylinders for a 1979 280zx: http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_master-cylinder--remanufactured-cardone_5804256-p#.UrcLnV_tbRU.gmail http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_brake-master-cylinder-wagner_26946112-p#.UrcMQhpYaQI.gmail Are these not the correct master cylinders?

I read the brake FAQ when I started researching the upgrades. I originally wanted to go with the Maxima rear disc conversion. However, I read the big disclaimer up front that said that the stock brakes were plenty adequate. Thus i decided to keep the rear drums. However, I still wanted to do the front upgrade since. I saw that the 4x4 was essentially a bolt in and that the vented required a spacer. I just wanted to see if I could still get the spacer, and if the vented vs. non vented made much of a difference. 2. I dont understand what you mean about the 280ZX master. The brake FAQ says the following: "The stock master cylinder is really unsuitable for any 4 piston caliper upgrade. It works marginally for the Toyota 4 piston calipers, but really increases the pedal throw. A 79-81 280ZX master is a nice upgrade and is suggested by Modern Motorsports and Arizona Z Car when using their brake kits discussed above."

Hello, I some different questions regarding the brakes. On a lot of threads I have heard people say that the 240z stock rear drums are on par with any disc upgrade. They also mention some drum upgrades, but never specify what the exact upgrades are. I am looking into stainless steel lines and rear performance brake shoes. Is there anything else I need as far as a rear drum upgrade? On my front brakes I am upgrading to the Toyota 4X4 breaks. I was actually looking at getting the vented ones. However, I read that I will need a machined spacer to correctly move the hub from the rotor for wheel clearance and matching bolts. The source of these were Modern Motorsports. However, I see that they no longer sell these. I was wondering if there was any other source for these spacers? If not how much of a performance hit will I be taking if I back down to the standard Toyota 4x4 brakes? I do plan on doing some auto crossing in this car. The other brake upgrades I will be doing is the 15/16 master cylinder from a '79 280zx. Hope someone can chime in so I can load up on some parts to get me started. Thanks, Han

If this were computer software, I would call this Beta 1. I have added the red mark on the temp gauge and moved the "Temp" down to compensate for the notch in the cover. I'm not 100% satisfied in the font, but once I put the faces on the gauges I think it's going to be really tough to tell a difference. I'm sure there are little things here and there, and if anyone sees one, please let me know. Having a fresh set of eyes to look at things are always welcome, as is constructive criticism.

Thanks for the tip! When I took the high res photo I decided to give the font identification one more shot. It led me to a font called Antonio, and I must say that Antonio is really close. I updated the original photo to reflect the changes. I think once I get the lines, grids, etc. on the gauges closer to stock that the thing will be close enough that once the faces are on there you wont be able to tell. Now I'm sure if you held a stock gauge up to it you would notice the font differences. Update: Did some tinkering on the gauge and came up with this. Still gotta work on where the radius of the line meets the empty and full (+ and - for ammeter) marks, but it's really, really close.

Really? I thought all of the S30's had them, just the later ones had them covered up by carpet. Learn something new every day. It's going to be a street able SCCA auto crosser. I want a car that I can drive around town to get the groceries and one that I can take to the track on weekends. The interior is stripped, but I will be keeping all of the turn signals and lights to keep it street able. I wanted the battery in the back for the weight distribution and because the battery tray in the front is rotted out. I'll just gut it out and weld in a patch panel for the front wheel well instead of having to acquire a new battery tray. This should make the engine compartment look cleaner and give me extra space if it's ever needed.

I thought about right behind the passenger seat as well, but I decided I wanted it out of sight and for it to look stock. Here is a picture of the compartment I am talking about:

Hello, I have been trying to recreate some stock looking white face gauges. I started with the "Phantom" gauge set that was designed by Steve Graber. While I didn't get them directly from him I still want to credit him for the work he did. I was interested in a stock looking white face gauge set. I mean the '70's weren't that bad were they? Anyways, after scouring the internet for the correct font I found out that the actual gauge font was going to be $29, (sorry I forgot the name). However, I did find a font called "Desmond" that was both free and is really close in some aspects, not so much in others. However, it retains the look and feel of the stock gauges. Anyways, I just wanted to show off what I have completed so far and get some feedback on them. Also, if anyone knows of a more correct font, please let me know. The 5 is spot on, but I am noticing a huge difference with the 3 and 7. Also, the actual letters are completely off from the original font. Also, when I get them completed I will upload both the original PSD files (fully editable) and the PDF files for easy printing. Thanks!

They are the compartments behind the seats. The car has two of them. Turn the latch and they open up. I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about or not. I will try to find or take a picture of them in the morning.

Thanks everyone! I was able to purchase the hinge. This thread can be closed.

Hello, I am considering relocating my battery to the rear passenger compartment of my 240 for both weight balance and because the area under my hood is rotted out from a previous leaking battery. I will repair this under-hood area, but It will be a lot easier and save me a lot of time if I dont have to reinstall the battery tray. I have done a search and I have seen a lot of people put the battery in a box in their trunk area. What I'm wanting to do is re-fabricate the passenger rear compartment for the battery, like a Corvette. Unfortunately, I haven't found anyone that has done it this way and provided pictures or problems that they ran into. I know I will have to "square up the compartment" and I was worried that one of the rear axles would hit the compartment in this case. However, it looks like it will clear the axle by a lot. I was just wondering if anyone on there has done this and has pictures and would like to share their experience and insight on it with me. Thanks, Han

Hello, I am looking for a passenger side hatch hinge for my '73 240. Bolts and screws are not required, but would be appreciated (especially screws) if you included them. Thanks, Han

Hello, I recently converted my '73 240z taillights and light harness to a 280z taillight. Today I wanted to check the wires with an ohmmeter to make sure I soldered everything correctly. So I disconnected the body harness from the passenger compartment and pulled out the old voltmeter/ohmmeter. Everything worked fine except for the black wire. (ground?) After looking at the wiring diagram it seems that the black wire goes to my rear defroster. Sure enough I traced the black wire from my taillights to this black wire: I can see where the female end plugs in my rear defroster, however, where does the male end go? Also, I dont have another female connector/wire to go onto the other tab on my defroster. let's say I wan to take the defroster out and not use it. Could I just ground this black wire to the body and be okay? Now for the second question. On my body harness connectors (the part that plugs in the passenger area of the dash I have two black wires that I cant trace. As I said before I have the black wires coming from my taillights and they go the the black wire that connects to the defroster. I'm wondering where these two black wires come from. The first black wire is in the middle connector along with the red/black, green, white/green, and red/blue. The second black wire goes combines with a red/black wire into a single connector. This can be seen as the top wire (the kobalt utility knife is on it). Just hoping someone can help me answer these questions so I can move onto checking the wire from the turn signal/headlight switch/and fuse box to the connectors in the passenger compartment. Thanks, Han

Sweet deal, now let me ask you one or two more more questions. After looking at this and the T-5 bell-housing I have notices that the only real difference is the location and angle of the clutch fork. Is this enough of a difference to keep a Muncie/T10 from working with a T-5 bellhousing? Did you use the scarab or JTR method to mount your engine? The reason I ask is because I was wondering where the shifter location ended up. Did you have to modify the hole or your tunnel? Thanks a ton man!