Swami

Lots of little things have happened since I last had time to post. Figured now that I'm on vacation, I should take a moment to update/curate this thread. I scored this nice sway bar upgrade from another Hybrid Z member (thanks Dan!). 1" up front and 5/8" in the rear. Spent an afternoon stripping and repainting them, and then mounting them up with new energy suspension bushings and end links from Amazon. I know 5/8" is basically stock diameter, but the rear sway bar was missing entirely, plus this one was made to bolt up to those sexy Suspension Techniques uprights that were already installed. Body roll has been noticeably reduced. Additionally, I slotted the bolt holes on the mount bushing brackets in order to install them in the stock location. My engineer friend and I debated for a while about whether this would have any impact on the overall integrity. In the end, we decided that the sway bar torsion wasn't enough to tear these hardened brackets, or the class 10.9 fasteners I used... at least not the way I drive. I opted for allen headed cap screws since the large bushing size interferes with the rotation of the stock fasteners. side note: while shopping for fasteners, I found this cute little dialogue between employees at the hardware store. =) And now for some cosmetics... I've always longed for a set of Euro tail lights, so when these were posted by another Hybrid Z member, already LED-converted, I jumped at the opportunity. The combo of classic exterior and upgraded internals felt like a good match for the HID headlamps too. Nice balance. Previously, these were installed on a 260z with an RB26DETT under the hood. I figure this is as close as I'll ever come to driving an RB powered Z. Nice and bright when I step on the brakes. The only thing that irks me is they're awfully dim when the brakes aren't depressed. I'm guessing a diode swap would take care of that, but I have yet to pick the epoxy out of these things and see what's in there. For now, this will do. (that'll do, pig... that'll do.) Also, i decided to chop a few inches off of the twin bayonets that were jutting from the rear of the car. I had already cut my shins twice on the things, and I figured it was only a matter of time before my wife got hurt too. A few minutes with the angle grinder, and the exhaust feels much better matched (visually) to the car. =) (here are the leftovers)

Noise issue is definitely exaggerated. I ran a solid aluminum diff mount for years and it barely registered in my mind. If your exhaust is any kind of loud, I would wager that a solid diff mount wouldn't bug you in the least.

Thread of the decade! Amazing what is possible when modern technology is placed in the hands of inspired and talented people. Can't wait to see where this goes.

Wow. Lots of great info here. And thanks for all the suggestions for search terms. I'm really surprised to hear how many window-shattering stories you guys have. That's definitely something I'd like to avoid =) I already replaced the rear hatch seal with the MSA seal (purchased just a few months ago) with good results. It's a tad puffy but the weight of the hatch counters it really well, and it cured my exhaust fumes issue instantly. Currently it's my door/window seals that really need some attention. I think I'm going to check out the Kia Sportage situation first, and if that doesn't go well, the mcmaster carr 1120A333 is only $2.03/ft.

Parked outside in the rain for the first time and it's apparent that I should deal with the weatherstripping asap to keep this thing rust-free =) Someone here mentioned that the MSA weatherstrip kit has had mixed reviews. Anyone have some stories to share about successful or dodgy installs?

OUCH. the offending photos look familiar. =( Curious to hear how Isky's analysis comes back. I've been planning to hit them up for a regrind next spring.

Total approval. Wow man...

woowww nice control/radius arms. I've been a little torn between TTT and AZC brands. Can't wait to hear how these perform for you. Also, the fender-rolling pic was educational for me. I never realized such a device existed. I always imagined people did this by hand somehow. =) Great pics and I love those Work rims. Congrats on the progress =D

Creeeeeepy. And yeah the brand name knockoff stuff out of China is always a let down. Never seen any knock offs that were even close to a comparable level of quality. Took my chances on a few pairs of headphones and a few scale models. Wouldn't try my hand at knockoff brakes =(

Terrible! Don't hesitate to go get checked out. Better to get a full workup than jump to any conclusions about what might be going on in your body. Not a thing to take lightly. =\

ugh. fail on naming this topic. stupid phone =(

This is pretty left field for this board, but it's Z-related and emotionally charged, considering I heard the original version of this song (by The Smiths) as a teenager, on one of my very first nighttime joyrides in a friend's 280zx. The fact that the director chose a Datsun to use in this video kind of reinforces the fact that so many of us had similar experiences, leading to the Z love affair we all share. (at least i'd like to think so) Getting all sentimental over here. =)

Wow that's special. Finally a Z you can bring home body panels from another Z in =)

Hey there! I'm the lucky guy who Leon sold this car to. Yes he got his asking price, and it had everything to do with the level of care, and history of love and character that this car has. If you want to see the continued build-history of this car, i started a new topic here: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/119329-swamis-orange-260z/ And here is a little background on me and what this new car means to me =) http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/119331-my-rise-fall-and-return-to-z-ownership/ Thanks again, Leon. Happy to be in this car and on this board (Hybrid Z didn't even exist when I last owned a Z... so much to read on here. wow!)

So the tach adapter is turning out to be harder than I thought. According to what I'm reading online, the 3-wire tach (260-280 style) uses a negative trip lead... so this diagram on the Autosport website seemed like the right way to go. I picked up the diodes in question and started looking at the wiring to the coil packs. Problem is, the Motorcraft EDIS coil pack doesn't seem to have a voltage negative connection like what is shown in the above diagram. Now THIS diagram seems to have some answers. I need to wire it to the Tach hookup on the Megajolt module itself, but will that work with the 3-wire Tach? I can't seem to find any info about this. Getting tired over here so i'll have to pick this up later, but i'm thinking that i first need to find out the polarity of the megajolt tach output, and then figure out if i need to revert to a 240z 4-wire tach. And in either case, I still don't know if these diodes will work for this setup at all. Anyone else deal with marrying a megajolt system to a 3-wire tach? =)

Engine compartment day! Tracked down the exhaust leak to the smog port plugs in the manifold. Squirted some water around the gasket to look for bubbles, and it quieted right up when i squirted it on the plugs. A few turns of an allen wrench, and things are sounding pretty nice. Previous owner pointed out that there are some pinhole leaks around the collector welds... but nothing as terrible sounding as a manifold leak. Since I have a header purchase on the horizon, I'll probably ignore the pinhole leaks for now. Next up, Distributor removal. Before After Looks like some of the excess wiring was starting to hit the radiator fan, so I opted to delete all of this stuff too. End result is looking pretty nice! It might be my imagination but a tiny bit of engine noise may have went away too. One less moving part to deal with. Moving on... time to deal with the fuel pump gasket leak. You can see evidence of it here on the underside of the hood. An hour of scraping with a razor blade, and a pair of new gaskets, and we're good to go.

Trunk gasket arrived from MSA! As soon as I had a free evening, I started scraping the old seal out. (ouch... my fingers!) Since I didn't have any weatherstrip adhesive on me, I decided to use this opportunity to bolt the roll bar back in =) I'm not as tall as the previous owner, so my head isn't at risk of being hit by the thing. Probably ought to put the foam shielding back on it anyway. Removed all the interior panels in the back and ordered a new set of 30 plastic rivets from MSA (a few extras, just in case) I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the fit of the new aftermarket option from MSA. I guess the old ones were hard to fit right, but this one fit like a glove and was only $69.95. Before the plastic rivets arrive in the mail, I might consider slapping some sound-deadening material on the metal surfaces behind them.

My friends and I have always said that a Datsun is the only 30+ year old car we'd buy and instantly take on a hundred mile drive. This was no exception. I bought this beautiful thing in San Bruno and drove it back to Sacramento that night. After an oil change and general once-over, I decided to take it to my job in Mountain View (approx 125mi... luckily I work from home full-time, and i only have to drive in to the office once a month.) After this initial test, I got my top priorities list together. Rear hatch seal would need to be replaced. I got a significant head rush on the drive to mountain view, so I pinched a blanket in there to tide me over until I could replace the seal. Fuel pump gasket leaking pretty heavily. 125 miles resulted in losing almost 1/2 a quart! Head gasket appears to be leaking a tiny bit on the passenger side between cyl3-4... no chocolate milk in the oil... no oil in the water either. So this doesn't appear to be a huge problem for now. Driver's side headlight out. (pretty wicked HID setups from Dapper Lighting) Find and fix exhaust leaks Transmission output shaft seal Near-term fun (2014) Roll bar came with the car. Bolt that sucker back in =) Delete distributor and unimportant wiring (since the Megajolt setup is just fantastic) Get the tachometer working with the Megajolt system 240z bumper conversion. My friend has a 1970 with a body kit, and says he'll give me his stock bumpers for free. Get a usb-to-serial adapter so I can start messing with the Megajolt software. Tighten/shroud the Megajolt wiring Longer-term fun (post new year) MSA coated 6-into-1 headers and a good single pipe setup (considering the sebring muffler my friend runs on his. nice sound) Acquire L24/e31 from friend and get it up on a stand. Contact friend-of-friend for port/polish work. Get THAT convo started =) Contact Sacramento Driveline to get aluminum driveshaft built. Seek out stage 3 isky cam (probably NOT going to try Schneider again after flattening 3 lobes on my last one) Rods and ARP studs Camber plates (AZC? TTT? not sure yet) Not sure what the final goal is yet but I plan to take my time with this one. I really enjoyed the destroked L28 I had before, and I'm not a fan of big-bore engines just due to how much that ends up costing a guy. My friend has an e31 he's holding for me, but it's likely warped. I'd rather pick it up and check the straightness myself though instead of jump to conclusions.

Stoked to finally be in a Datsun again after close to a decade without. (more on that here) Purchased this beauty from another Hybrid Z member. This thread will be devoted to continuing the build history that he started. =)