jhm

Not sure I understand what you mean "make a new plate for the shock tower top"; but there are a couple of camber plate options that allow you to move the top mounting point of the front strut assembly "rearward", in order to achieve a slight bit more caster. DP Racing, K-Mac and Ground Control bolt-in camber plates are a couple examples. EMI plates were a very popular option years ago, but they are NLA (new)....might be able to find some used. If you use the camber plates to achieve increased caster, you are doing so at the expense of decreased static camber. A more effective technique to increase your caster is with adjustable TC rods. To make any significant difference, you would need to use these in conjunction with a front LCA that incorporates a monoball mounting (i.e. not the stock rubber bushing). You can fabricate your own monoball LCAs, or purchase them pre-fabbed from vendors like T3, Futofab and Apex Engineering. The advantage of more caster in a track car is that it allows you to run less static camber (for better braking performance) and still achieve good dynamic camber characteristics on the loaded tire during turning. For a street-driven car, I honestly don't know what the benefits of increased caster might be....perhaps better high-speed stability? Keep in mind that increasing the caster will result in heavier steering at low speeds, because the wheels are having to actually "lift" the front end as you dial in steering input. Hope this helps.

Springs and shocks constitute the major expense in switching to coilovers (camber plates, too....if you're replacing the stock strut isolators with aftermarket camber plates.) If you're intent on purchasing a coilover "kit", I would press the vendor for details on those component -- what make and model of each? I've seen plenty of kits that cheap out on one or more of the key components, to keep overall kit price down. But you pay for it in lost performance. If you don't mind doing the work to section your struts, you can usually piece together your own coilovers for less than what you would pay for a complete kit of the same quality. This also allows you to select exactly what pieces you want vs what some vendor has pieced together. One feature that's nice on some of the kits (e.g. BC Coilovers) is the ability to adjust ride height without compromising bump & droop travel. You could incorporate this into your design if you're building your own coilovers; it just takes more fab work and some additional hardware expense. For shocks, I've had good luck with Bilsteins but switched to Koni yellows last year that @Ben280 described (I went with single adjustable, mainly for budget reasons....got a killer deal from ECS Tuning.) Tokicos are fine, but not for higher spring rates; and may not meet your needs for EP class. You can still find them used sometimes on eBay and various forums. For springs, I'm partial to QA1, Swift and HyperCo; but there are many fine spring manufacturers out there and everyone has their own preference. Camber plates: I like DP racing and Ground Control...but plenty of other good options to choose from here as well. I run XP and am not familiar with EP requirements; so be sure to thoroughly research what you can and can't do classing-wise, if you haven't already done so. Good luck with it!

ClassicZCars is always a good resource for these types of OEM restoration/rebuild issues. Found a couple threads that may help. One guy swapped his passenger and driver lock barrels; others had suggested repairs depending on the specific issue. I'm sure there are other discussions on that forum regarding this topic since it's such a common problem for these old cars. https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/56706-possible-fix-for-worn-out-door-locks/ https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/35066-78-280z-door-locks-worn-out/ Looks like ZCarDepot offers replacement locks; may be other vendors out there as well, like MSA, etc. Sometimes these new lock barrels can be rekeyed to match your existing key, or you can just live with FOL of having to add a new key to your keyring. What year is your car? https://zcardepot.com/products/door-lock-cylinder-set-with-keys-77-78-280z?_pos=3&_sid=9e230f569&_ss=r

No, I only have one Z at the moment. The point I was trying to make is that I've owned several over the years; but I've never been willing to spend a big chunk of money on a nice one...opting instead to buy junkers and restore them myself. It's a satisfying process to build your own car, exactly the way you want it, vs buying something already pre-built.

I've had a dozen old Z's, and have never been willing to shell out the big bucks for a nice clean driveable car. They've all been crappy rust buckets, and I spend a couple years restoring/rebuilding them. Your best bet now is to do as much research as possible so you know what you're getting into before spending your hard-earned cash.

There's actually quite a few discussions along these lines; but you may have to search for them using Google search....the website search engine isn't the best. Just be sure to include "HybridZ" in your search string. First thing you need to do is figure out what you have currently. If there are no markings on the springs, use an online spring rate calculator to estimate the spring rate. Open up the struts and see what kind of shocks you have. What sway bars, if any, do you currently have? What condition are the bushings in? What size wheels and tires do you have (and what brand/model tire)? Do your current coilovers incorporate camber plates, or have they retained the stock strut isolators? (The stock isolators actually do a very good job damping out road noise and vibration. And I'd recommend you corner-scale the car, to determine your corner weights (primarily to determine your F-R distribution, since there's typically not a large variation in L-R distro.) Are you planning to keep the car for a long time? If so, it's worth spending some $ on quality parts that will last a long time. Finally, decide what your budget goals and constraints are, if any. Next....if street use and compliant ride really is your #1 priority, start compiling list of what changes you'll want to achieve that goal. For a compliant ride, I'd go no stiffer than 200-250 lb/in spring rate. (Even softer if your local roads are in rough shape.) A longer spring of the same rate will typically be more compliant than a shorter spring of the same rate. Are you planning to lower the car? If so, realize that doing so often compromises streetability and the fact that you may need to section the struts in order to retain good bump and droop suspension travel. Shock damping rates play as big a role in ride comfort as spring rate does, so don't ignore shock selection when considering your spring selection. Adjustable shocks are nice; dual adjustable (compression & rebound) are really nice, but often not necessary. Keep in mind that each shock manufacturer has a different design for their shock adjustability. (e.g. Koni single adjustable shocks function differently than Tokico single-adjustable, etc, etc.) Shocks are an area where one can spend a fortune, so factor that into your budget decision process. Tire selection is also extremely important, from both a performance and ride comfort factor, so plan to spend some time (and money) deciding which tire brand/model/size best meets your performance and comfort goals. You'll have to decide for yourself how stiff a sway bar front and rear you'll want. For many street-driven cars, the stock sway bars are fine, especially if you freshen up the bushings with some good PU pieces. BUT, PU can also transmit more road noise and vibration vs rubber....so you may decide to go with a mix of PU and new rubber bushings. I'm sure I'm missing several other items here to consider; just trying to highlight some of the major decision points. You may want to peruse some of the member's builds to find those with similar setups and goals as yours to see what's worked well (and maybe not so well). Good luck with it.

In case you've not seen this, there are some great ideas here for chassis stiffening: https://imgur.com/a/R27sh Will SCCA be the sole sanctioning body for the events you plan on running (i.e. are you planning to run only SCCA-sanctioned events); and what types of events/classing do you plan to run? Interested to follow progress on your build.

Don't recall the internals for the clocks on the later years; but like the others have recommended, it's not a difficult process to disassemble these old clocks to clean and lubricate them, and get them working again. Make sure you use a very light lubricant specifically for clock and watch mechanisms. You can also gut the clock housing, and replace the spring internals with a modern digital clock mechanism...either battery or 12V operated. Very cheap upgrade, and very reliable. I recall a few discussions on ClassicZcar.com along these lines, as @jonbill suggested.

IMHO, stainless steel is one of the most difficult (if not THE most difficult) material to work with for brake and fuel lines. The hardness of SS makes it more difficult to get leak-free connections as compared to softer metals. If the leaks are on the smaller/slower side, you may be able to resolve via loosening and tightening several times....helping the metal to take a "set" within the connection. It also helps to do this with the fixture unbolted from its mounting point (e.g. leave the Master Cylinder unbolted, or at least loose, on the brake booster when tightening the front and rear lines to the MC.) This will help ensure that the incoming/outgoing lines have optimal geometry WRT the fixture they are connecting to. This is particularly important when working with a non-malleable material like SS. Just out of curiosity, what style flares did the brake line kit come with? Also, did you visually inspect all your original hardware (tee connections, prop valve, etc) before installing the new lines to ensure you had no damage on any of the nippled connection points?

Yep...as long as the MC has constant bore, can swap the reservoirs so the larger tank services the front brakes, as Miles suggested. Couldn't tell from your OP if you were considering swapping in a Wilwood, or some other aftermarket, MC. Sounds like you're trying to maintain things as original as possible, IINM. Similar discussion on ClassicZCar: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/21826-brake-master-cylinder-240z/

Whatever MC you decide to use, you just need to ensure that your front brake lines are routed to the reservoir designated "Front", and the rear lines to the "Rear" reservoir. Up to you to pick the master that best meets all your overall needs for your build. If you switch to anything other than an original MC for your year, be mindful of the fact that the prop valve and electric safety fail switch may not work as intended. That may or may not be important to you. I hope this answers your questions; but if not, post again with more detail on your car and your goals for it.

@heyitsrama, Hey Amar, do you notice the fuel leak all the time; or just at the track (e.g. long fast left-handers)? Your fuel cap may not be making a tight seal. If it's a stock cap, you can try bending the little metal tabs to tighten it. If it's a locking cap, many of them don't fit tightly enough to provide a good tight seal. Old BMW locking caps can be made to work nicely, but they're no longer in production and pretty hard to find these days. I have the stock tank still, and have to use the stock non-locking cap to prevent leakage any time I'm at the track....I only use the locking cap for street driving. Regarding difficulty filling your tank....have you modified the stock tank hosing? If so, that may be the root cause of the issue. The tank needs to move fuel freely within itself, and be able to vent air (both for ease of filling, and to prevent pressure build-up during operation.) The stock evap tank allowed this, but lots of people (including myself) remove it. The "hose loop" method mentioned by @Twisted46 usually fixes most of the issue. Good luck with, and good job getting your lap times down!

No, well-built clutch LSDs are actually very effective, especially in racing applications because of they're tuneability/adjustability. Helical are nice because they are quite durable and largely mx-free. The Phantom Grip pos is neither. It's a half-assed attempt to simulate an LSD; but the very nature of its design eats the internals of the differential. Google "Phantom Grip" and you'll see some real horror stories. It may work (sort of) for a while, but it eventually eats the diff. What are your goals for the car (I.e intended usage and application).? That will help determine the best LSD solution for your needs.

Junk design, as Jon M said. It will typically eat itself, and then the rest of your diff, within a few hundred miles. Can't believe they're charging $300+ for those things. Much better off if you can find an OBX for your R200, and then install the washer swap if needed. Or you could check out the MFactory unit offered at a discount in our Vendors' Forum. Seems to be one of the better deals out there for a quality piece...

Just curious....how do you know that you've never hit the bump stops? Have you checked your suspension compression to verify? The reason that PU bump stops are not recommended is that they are exponentially higher in effective spring rate than any spring you'd run on the car. I think the Eibachs are only 180'ish lb/in, so it wouldn't take much to push the suspension through its full range of motion. What shocks are you running with the Eibachs?

Here you go. You may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere, but Fat Cat can help you select the best size and composition for your specific application. http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/FCM_bump_stops.htm

What are your goals for the car? How do you plan on using/driving it? And what other mods/upgrades (if any) are planned?

@takeuchi, good to know....thanks for the FYI!

Hard to tell for sure; but those T3 high-clearance tie rod ends appear to have standard tapered pins on them; which obviously means you wouldn't want to drill out the steering knuckles. I would call T3 to verify. I bought T3's adjustable tie rod ends a few years ago; and they used a 5/8" bolt at the tie rod end; which meant I did have to drill out my stock steering knuckles to accept the bolt. They were a different style than these new high-clearance tie rod ends that T3 is offering. Last time I looked at the Apex adjustable tie rod ends, they were also using a tapered pin, compatible with the S30 stock steering knuckle. (Just an FYI, Apex has had some product availability issues lately; so call them to check if in stock before ordering.) Moving your front axles "back" will reduce what little caster there is in the stock suspension...which is the opposite of what most people want (for performance driving or track use.) Why are you wanting to do this modification? P.S. May want to start a new thread; just so this conversation doesn't go off on too much of an off-topic tangent from Vlad's original thread. Your call....

Welcome to HybridZ and the wonderful world of Z cars! I don't think the original sound proofing material is available any longer; I believe it was an asbestos product. And the new products (e.g. FatMat, Dynomat, Noico, etc) are far superior in many ways. There are also several good vendors for new and used OEM-style and restoration parts -- here's a couple I like to use, but there are certainly many others out there: Z Car Source MSA Auto Z Car Depot Also, are you familiar with using dry ice to remove the sound deadener? Mix dry ice with denatured alcohol in a bucket, and then scoop the slurry all over the areas you want to remove the material from....be aware that it will also usually remove any old sound deadener/rust proofing material on the exterior of the sheetmetal as well as the interior. Leave it on for a few minutes and then bang/scrape the material off. It literally freezes and pops off the metal very easily. Good luck with it.

Gotcha. Your wheel offset will also affect the equation, so don't forget to provide that info as well.

If you don't get the information you need here on HybridZ, I'd suggest checking on ClassicZCar.com. Those guys are more into stock restorations and original-type mods and repairs. Besides different tire sizes, have you looked into the possibility of swapping your speedo gear in the trans? That might be a cheaper option. There are also vendors that offer speedo gear converters, in case you can't find the internal speedometer gear you need for your specific application/transmission.

Not sure which manuals you have; but if you don't have the full FSM yet, you can download all years for free at: http://www.xenonzcar.com/. I've had both an early-version and a late-model 260, and the attached pics were fairly close to the relay setup in both cars. Pay close attention to the plug configuration for each relay, and that should help you in the ID process. Keep in mind that the electricals could vary quite a bit from year to year; and the 260 models were transitional, so design and build specs were changing quite rapidly at that point in the S30 evolution. Good luck with it.

I'll put this up here....was useful to me when I had a failing switch in my ignition switch (i.e. the non-keyed barrel behind the keyed portion of the ignition switch). It's really nothing more than a visual representation of the information you guys have already posted/discussed.

Found one of their ads....they are producing several panels that I haven't seen from any other vendor to date. This link is to the "Datsun Parts and Needs" page on FB: