Pharaohabq

Yeah, mine has one too, Never figured what it was for. I'm replacing the diff with a 350z LSD anyway, so I was just going to throw it in the recycle bin. Not sure what it could be for. the Diff experiences much more massive forces than it could counterweight. so who knows..? Wait, where's Wiki-D he'd know certainly...

exactly There's a writeup on here about what Winstonusmc did. those work great.

That or you can cut the top off and weld or just pound it into the right height with a hammer and 2x4. I'm going to add a Jeep wrangler fuel pump (cuz they're good pumps) into my 78' gas tank, though I'll be modding the top to take the screw on gasket/cap. the height is adjustable by drilling the housing/cutting and adding screws. I'm going to use the stock fuel gauge sender.

Anyone looking for any other parts? I'm set to make new parts. The Horn Button rings are still available, just let me know.

Awesome, That's going to save you a lot of work. I'm glad you're able to Weld yourself. but you might still consider the Bad-dog rails if you're going to add much HP. They're not required, but they'll help a lot if you do get crazy... So lets hear your revised plans now that you're going to fix it up! Phar

Telling people you're not an idiot on the internet is a pretty idiotic thing to do... It just invites people to prove you wrong. Our point here though is that you CAN do this, yes. We are just trying to guide you based on our collective experience. It's up to you to take our advice of not. But we expect you to search and READ READ READ, there's explanations here on how to do all these projects. We're not going to spell it out for you or blindly provide you links that you could simply search for yourself. Sure this is all new to you, but that's why we expect you to read. Life is not going to be just handed to you easy. Most anything you want, you will have to work for. MOST OF ALL, information, you're going to have to put in the time to LEARN about how all this works and what can be done. that's where the reading and prep comes in. Only YOU can learn stuff for YOU, we can't LEARN it for you. I assume that makes sense to you. Now back to your Car, Any updates? were you able to take the injectors out?

YEah I wouldn't use Rivets. I've popped enough of them in the SCA to know they're temporary at best. Welding in new metal is the war to go. You can buy new pans already preformed and yes the bad dog rails will work fine on your 260z. If you can't weld it yourself, a good shop shouldn't charge too much to weld those in. But that being said, you're probably going to spend more than the car is worth dollarwise on it. But once you've got nice new pans and rails in there you're going to be in awesome shape. The Bad dog rails are strong enough to handle being jacked up under and such, so they're a lot better than the OEM rails. They don't add that much weight to the car either, especially when you consider how much they add to the stiffness. Those with the JZ would be awesome, but don't limit yourself to just that engine. Look around, there's TONS of engine options. As for your dad, you're going to need to think of a plan and keep him motivated. If you're excited, it's really going to help keep him excited. Check out "I blame Chip Foose for this" on you tube. It's an awesome father/son Z story. Might get you guys going! Keep an eye on costs vs finding a new shell. It'd be a shame to scrap your car, but if you're going to spend a LOT to get you to a safe position, you might be better off putting that money into a better starting point.

After you remove the adapter from that bearing, you can put it in the freezer and get it nice and cool, then it might just slide into the new bearing without having to be pressed. Though if you have a vice, it's probably easy to just press it.

Another possibility for you if you want to investigate it is using a bolt adjuster for the Alt. This is really similar to what's on the Z31 for Alt adjustment. I think they make them for the S30. Basically you loosen the holding bolt and tighten the tension bolt till the belt is tight. Try googleing "280Z alternator Adjuster"

Well Bad dog rails would likely save the car. They're not too hard to put in but it's now much do you wan tto do. First though I'd put it on a lift and go at it with a hammer and see how bad the rust really is. if there's holes in the rails then replacement is likely in order. As for the JZ, you can swap that to the Z, it's been done and makes a nice ride. these are older cars so yes, if it's a project, maybe you can sell it to someone who will save her rather than taking another off the road.

Sketchup is fine, just Export to a .STL file is easiest. Aside from that an SVG would work too. How tight will this be bolted on? too much pressure the part may deform since it's ABS. Probably won't be an issue.

Hey thank you for serving... There's a lot to think of when starting a project... But first let me talk a little about Babies and project cars. They don't mix. You won't have all the time you're expecting. I know. My daughter is 22 mo old and that's about how long my project cars have been stalled. Babies are wonderful, but they take up a ton of time and you can't expect your wife to do all of it. it just doesn't work that way. Your wife will be super tired as will you, since babies do not sleep more than about 3 hours at a time during the first 6 months. Maybe you know this. Also babies and car fixing don't mix, too much fumes etc. Z's aren't kid cars either. Now if you can afford a nanny... That being said, there's so much you can do to a Z car to improve it's performance and durability. First I really think you should do a bit of reading on here about race prep. Even though you may not be racing. The information about stitch welding seams and replacing rails and upgrading various parts like brakes and suspension will be invaluable when you're making your budget. It will be your car and your baby, so don't let anyone tell you how to raise/build either of them. All choices are yours and your wife's. We are here for constructive input. It's up to you to decide whether to listen to us or not. We've written all about rust on here, so please search and read all about it and where you'll find it. This same holds true for how to do a lot of the upgrades we're talking about. So again Please search. When you do find a car, We can help you diagnose any issues and we can point you to where to look for parts and upgrades as well. If you go with 240, 260 or 280Z, it's really up to you. the 240's were lighter, the 280's a little heavier especially with the bumpers. The early 240's are more expensive to start with, The 280's have fuel injection. There's a lot of nuances, which I'm sure you know already. So, no there's not really much any advantage to taking a 280z over a 240z, unless you're looking to save weight. So really it's what S30 can you find in the best shape for the least money? There's a lot of skills that will help you, As a mech engineer, you're already programmed correctly to solve most things. but, can you weld? That will help a lot with body work. Upgrading other areas will be up to you to decide what you want to do then we'll give suggestions on how we've seen it done. If you think up a better way then great, we'll add it to our knowledge, and you might be the Z king for the day. So YAY! Welcome back and congrats on the Kid. Just plan things and budget your time. You'll do great. We can't wait to see pictures... Thanks again Phar

If you want I'll print you up a spacer in ABS. No big deal. Just Email me the dimensions. ABS would easily handle any heat in that area. I'd even include the tech drawings and .stl since it looks really simple. If it makes it easy to use the more accurate KA24 tps it sounds like a great upgrade part.

Thanks for the advice.. I doubt many of us on here are scared of modifying our cars or the connections and any of the wiring. Your issue is certainly uncommon but the trouble shooting procedures outlined in the FSM should have caught that issue. It's great you worked up a solution to repair it. I probably would have put a piece of wire around it to hold it in there. That or something similar to what you did. It does go to show, though that a community of like minded individuals can solve most issues. We appreciate your sharing your experience. I'm sure we will remember to check the ECU when we are having strange issues.. Thanks...

You also may need to look at the alignment. If the belt isn't aligned it will wear quickly and start squealing. it's just a thought.

Well To me it really sounds like you need rebuild kits for all your wheel cyl or Loaded replacement calipers. Depends on your budget. you'll need to have your rotors turned. If you go for new, then consider the 300zx/Toyota caliper upgrade. fully up to you though. Again I'd replace the rubber lines to the calipers too. The metal lines should be fine. You should rebuild/replace your Master cyls too. Check the pricing, they should be cheap enough that replacing is worth it. You can use the ZX MC for brakes if you're doing the upgrade. The main thing here is to remember how old your car is. All the rubber is probably not doing well. So safety-wise you really need to Spend the money to make the car safe. For your sake, and especially for your passengers. Ahh well good, Fuel is flowing that's awesomesauce... once you replace those fuel injector lines you'll be happy. You can cut them off with a dremel if you're really careful and are prepared for fire. (as in moved outside, with an extinguisher and drained lines.) Once you cut the old clamps off you can replace with new and should be in great shape. Since you'll have the lines off, you can clean and test your injectors. Replace if needed. You may need to just soak them to make them spray well again. There was a thread on good replacement injectors. Something about newer Honda injectors spraying finer improving combustion.

So I just finished modeling a part that I doubt will be commonly broken on our cars, But if anyone needs one, Let me know. It's the Mirror-Visor Clip bracket. We modeled it for the idea of being able to mod it to add/delete things. Say you wanted to use a different mirror, we can adjust it to fit whichever you needed, and you'd still be able to clip up your visors. Here's a picture. If I print it I'll post that too. Phar

Sure try the new pump.. Was there liquid gas in the lines when you pulled off the old pump? Hopefully so... don't forget to change the filters. You don't know what crap it sucked up before being parked too. GJ on your cleaning the tank yourself... You might look at puling that pump apart. it's not too hard to fix, just careful with the gaskets. Worst case you have to spend the $50 on the replacement. Pulling it apart you get to learn...

some people have hammered the trans tunnel to make them fit.

It's awesome the engine runs w/ fluid, that says everything else is still in good shape. DON'T forget to Change the oil!! First lets test if it's your rail. Pull loose the fuel line at the rail BEFORE the filter and connect a hose into a gas can. Have a helper turn the key and see if the pump pumps for a short time. If nothing then maybe it's the pump. You can find a stock pump and replace it with a used for cheap. We can provide a lot of sources, the least of which is Ebay. Looking further you need to be sure if the condition of your fuel lines. Take loose both ends, and blow compressed air from back to front and see if the lines flow. if they do then great. Next you'll need to look at the pump. Pull it out and rebuild it if you dare it's not too hard. Probably easier to replace. You can test it though by connecting 12V to the leads and see if it hums. After that, you'll need to see what condition your tank and lines there are in. There's a filter before the pump too, so try changing that too. But take off the gas cap and see if you can blow compressed air in through the fuel line, or the return line. If so then it's probably the filters or the pump. Lets hope you're lucky. Don't use that old gas in anything you don't want to run crappy. You can add a gallon at a time to a new tank of gas and it should be fine, but I wouldn't just try to run it alone.

for $600 I think you did great, but you do have about as much work ahead of you as I do on my 240Z. Keep in mind, in a lot of cases it's still cheaper to swap out fenders hoods and such rather than to repair them prior to paint. The wheel arches and such can be bought fairly cheaply from Tabco or Rock-Auto. The important parts to address first are the safety items such as brakes and seatbelts. Shiney paint doesn't mean sh*t if you can't stop! I'm sure you knew that though. Consider replacing the soft brakelines with braided SS lines. the old ones are 35 year old so...

Do you already have camber plates installed. Stance rocks if it's done well..

It would be easy to mod the part to fit multiple mirrors. We'd just have to know what mirror people wanted to use.

We were talking about recreating the Mirror/Visor mount base. Anyone interested in that? We may be able to use it as a mirror delete, or either visor delete too. Just depends on what people are interested in. I should have a proto up soon.

I was looking at the 2010 Eclipse seats. they look really similar to the stock S30 seats but are upgraded a bit. I almost bought some, but found a set of 350Z seats in mint so I'm going with those... You should be fine cutting the bracket, but you may need to weld to repair and mount it in an S30.