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@BJSZED, I didn't see anything in your posts regarding the intended application for the car; and why you're wanting to do any brake upgrades in the first place. Did I miss that info somewhere? Hard to give a meaningful recommendation without that.

Good for you for getting interested at an early age, and eager to do some research. In addition to BaT, I would add https://www.classiczcars.com/ and FB (Marketplace, as well as the multiple S30 enthusiast pages on FB). Occasionally, even websites like Craigslist and Offerup can yield hidden gems. Don't limit your search....these old cars are getting harder and harder to find (and the prices are going up), so you'll want to cast your net as wide as possible. Hope this helps.

If you're still looking for inspiration on chassis-stiffening, there's a few good ideas here: https://imgur.com/a/R27sh.

Ah, sorry -- did not realize you were building a caged dedicated track car. My bad. That's definitely an important part of the discussion, as well as the type and design of the cage. If the weight of the glass windshield is the main concern here, couldn't that be resolved via one of the forward cross braces? If structural integrity is the main concern, then that would be addressed via the manner in which the cage is tied into the rest of the shell (and any additional chassis bracing you have planned), true? Sorry if I'm not understanding the full scope of your query.

Looks like a full tube chassis car (couldn't tell for sure what rear suspension setup he's running); so it's an apples-to-oranges comparison....unless you happen to be building a tube chassis car as well. Can you cut specific parts/pieces of the cowl area out without significantly affecting structural integrity of the shell? Possibly. As long as the rest of the forward portion of the shell is sound, and as long as you're not cutting into any load-bearing portions of the cowl/firewall and surrounding areas. Most 50-year old S30 shells are already flimsy enough that they benefit from additional bracing even without cutting any parts out, let alone 50-year old shells that have had pieces cut from them. Depending on how much cutting you want to do, it's very likely that some kind of additional reinforcement might be required. (It also depends on how you intend to use the car. A car intended for heavy track use obviously has very different build requirements than a weekend car for pleasure-driving.) What specific areas do you want additional accessibility to that cutting the cowl area would help with? That might help to understand how much cutting you're envisioning, and just how much of a structural impact it could have. Rewiring work is really quite easy and very accessible once the dash is removed, so maybe you can accomplish your goals without having to cut any sheetmetal.

Nooooo!!! Say it ain't so, Joe! I hope you come to your senses and forget all that foolishness, Mark. 😜

I'll add another endorsement for the RT-style mount. I don't believe Ron had produced any in a while, but Technoversions still produces the unit IINM. Check it at: https://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html WRT the rear end clunking, I had a very similar (and vexing) issue with my car. Turned out to be the bushings in the rear LCAs. I know you said that yours are stock and appear to be in good condition, but when I replaced mine with some new PU bushings, it solved the problem. WRT the front end shake at speed, try swapping your front and rear wheels to check if there's any difference. Like you say, it might just be a poor job of balancing the front wheels. Look for a tire shop that can do "road force measurement" (IME most tire shops do not perform this analysis). Many times your wheel can be "in balance", but can cause shimmy and shake due to other issues that the road force measurement can detect (e.g. flat spots, wheel out of round or out of true, etc.) Lastly, go easy on the folk here if they ask for clarification or additional information. 99.9% of the folks on HybridZ have a wealth of knowledge and really do want to help fellow Z owners. You'll find the forums here much more informative and helpful than the dozens of often-uninformed comments on social media, IMHO. Good luck with it, and please be sure to post your results once you've resolved the issue so others can benefit from your efforts!

Welcome! Hope you find it as informative and helpful as I do, and be sure to post some pics of the Z when you get a chance.

I'm thinking that *something* is happening ignition-wise here. Hard to tell for sure from the multiple posts covering multiple issues.

Very likely the distributor is not in the correct position, especially if you've already removed it at least once. Fortunately, it's easy to reinstall it to the correct position. Others above have described the correct procedure, but you may be better off googling some Youtube videos on "how to install your distributor into SBC". (You can turn the engine over during this procedure with a large ratchet on the main shaft bolt....it's the big v-belt pulley on the front bottom of your engine.) Don't spend any more of your money on new parts until you've done some additional diagnosis.

Yeah, if the gauge is working correctly, then the problem is most likely in the wiring harness, as NewZed suggested. Start with the dash harness and test your connections with a multimeter. Very easy for these old connectors to begin to fail, or have a dirty connection at the terminal plugs. Poor grounds are very often the cause of electrical issues in the S30. If you conduct all your troubleshooting and still haven't resolved the issue, you can always take the easy way out and rewire your gauge into a functional switched 12V circuit and be done with it. If you don't have the FSM for your vehicle yet, you can download all years for free at http://www.xenonzcar.com/.

Not aware of any vendors that are selling just a pair of lowering springs (vs set of four); but a couple other ideas that may work for you are: 1) If you're running the stock strut isolators in the front, replace them with simple bolt-in camber plates. Should lower the front end by approx 1". Silvermine offers them at about the best price I've seen on the web: https://www.silverminemotors.com/datsun/datsun-240z/suspension/240z-260z-280z-camber-plates-bolt-in-lowering-kit 2) If you're running gas-charged strut inserts (i.e. shocks) in the front, consider replacing them with non gas-charged units. It's surprising how much static "lift" gas-charged shocks can produce vs the non-charged shocks.

I've got something along the lines of what you're thinking. Pre-built speaker cabinet that tucks easily into the rear hatch area. (Can leave the stock speaker cones in, or upgrade to higher quality if desired.) Installed a $40 multimedia car stereo unit directly into the speaker box, and wired it into the speakers....you can get an amazing amount of capability very cheaply these days. Typically run it off my phone via Bluetooth or audio cable. A 2-lead power connector (pos and neg) plugs into the cabinet and powers the unit; this line is powered via a switched electrical relay. Easy to unplug; easy to take in and out of the car. Hope this helps.

I've run starters and alternators from these guys, and have been extremely happy with the quality, price and customer service: https://www.dbelectrical.com/

I think you'll probably be fine with that setup. If you'd like to upgrade diff to LSD, an STi R180 is an easy bolt-in. Good info here on the various Subaru LSDs: https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2597453

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a single definitive way to answer that. It all depends on a variety of factors....how you plan to use the car, what transmission you're using, what tire/wheel combo you're running, condition of your current internal hardware, etc. Auto trans are usually kinder to the drivetrain than manual trans. Lighter cars can have less drivetrain failures than heavier cars. Big tires can impart more abuse on drivetrain components than small tires. (IINM, open diffs can have more failures than LSDs; but that may not really be a good apples-to-apples comparison.) I've broken my diff carrier with a very mild SBC motor, but was running tight auto-x courses on sticky slicks. Haven't had to replace my stub axles yet, but have seen many fail with bigg'ish hp/torque and multiple hard launches on big tires. This seems to be the common theme with failed stubs. Is this primarily a race car or street car? I'd say let that factor guide your decisions, and upgrade/replace components as it becomes necessary. 300 HP (with similar torque numbers) can move your car along quite well for most applications. Beefier components are readily available; it just takes money. The R200 is a popular upgrade to the R180, and stronger stub axles are available from several vendors. Good luck with it.

I agree with NewZed...if your stock driveshaft u-joints are in good shape, just leave them alone. If they eventually do need to be replaced, I'd consider Spicer u-joints. Have worked well for many folks here. Similarly, the stock half-shafts are quite stout; and can handle quite a lot of abuse. There are other components that will fail first....diff carrier gears, outer stub axles, etc.

If that's your main concern, the rear strut towers are easily reinforced and braced.

For future reference, you can insert some flat spacer plates between the frame rail and the sway bar mounts to increase clearance between the sway bar and the alternator. Spacer plates out of flat aluminum plate, any thickness you want. This may give you the additional clearance you need to run the 18mm bar, if you wanted to. You can also do the frame rail reinforcement modification on the sway bar mounting points, which has a secondary effect of additional spacing between the bar and the engine accessories. You can make the reinforcement pieces yourself (which is what I've done), or buy them premade from Bad Dog Parts.

Sounds like the smaller/lighter 18mm bar might be plenty stiff for your needs. Are you running a rear sway bar of any sort? If you stay with using stock-sized springs, that will obviously be the main LIMDAC in tuning/balancing the car's handling. FYI for your reference: a 1" front sway bar from ST = 11.5 lb = 5.2 kg. Interesting mod....many thanks for following through on this!

Yes, I know Speedhut gauges are a fine product in general; however, it sounds like even if you can manage to get the fuel gauge calibrated correctly, it only reads in increments of 1/4 tank. My stock fuel gauge reads accurately and consistently, so I'll be sticking with that for now. I very much appreciate everyone's inputs on these....always good to have first-hand feedback on a product.

Interesting reading on the fuel gauge issue -- thanks to those who have posted here. I guess I know which aftermarket fuel gauge I will not be buying.

I think you're suggesting shortening your rear LCAs (and half-shafts, or CV axles) in order to achieve a shorter effective rear axle length, allowing you to run wider rear wheels & rubber without changing the exterior sheetmetal. True? If so, I think there are better ways to achieve your goals. Solid narrowed rear end comes to mind, especially if you're making big power and planning to drag race the car. Give us some more info on what you're planning to do with the car, and folks can probably help more and steer you in the right direction. Your initial post doesn't really provide much info, and just has people guessing at what you're ultimately trying to do with the car.

Suggest you start by reading all the FAQs -- plenty of good discussions in there on how to accomplish all the mods you are considering. You can try reshaping the rear flares, as JonMort suggested. If you do, I would consider adding a similarly-styled flare to the front....for both functionality and aesthetics. If you decide to replace, replacing the rear quarter panels is a very common repair. You can get the panels used from a donor car or new from one of the vendors that produce reproduction body panels. Good luck with it. Your car appears to be way further ahead than many project cars are at the start.

Looks like you've built your own fuse and relay block inside the engine compartment....are any of those circuits switched?