BLKMGK

Mike, it's sort of a thing that's built up - for me at least. I see all caps in a few messages but try to hold my tongue, it's pretty hard after awhile It hurts my eyes and in "netspeak" it's seen as shouting. Granted, not everyone is an old hand at writing on the 'net or had experience with BBS type forums so I try not to be nasty when I comment on it. And yes, I know I'm guilty of lousy typing which is also hard to read sometimes - 30wpm or so with just two fingers leads to errors I'm afraid. I've also lost some of my old "edge" in speeling So, has anyone looked at the viscous gear sets to see what bolts they use? I suppose since it now seems I've got an R200 open diff in the garage I ought to look and see what bolts it uses just for kicks.

SCCA - would the 12.? conversion you're working on for a ZX work? How big can we go before we get into silly money?

I'm interested too! I had a false floor type thing in the Mustang once - until thieves made off with it (sigh). The RX7 has a killer system in it too and even had a TV type deal before I bought it - I had the previous owner remove it because it was too hard to use! Hitting it in 1st, 3rd, and 5th sucked too. The Alpine NAV system would've been nice but I understand their maps stink. I've got a Garmin EMap and have added maps to it - works for me Do please document this install. I'm especially interested in seeing what you wind up with up front. I've got holes cut in my doors but not my panels and am real tempted to do something nice with a stereo in this car down the road. The Mustang hasn't had a system since the last one was stolen, 3K in equipment and many hours of my labor 9 years ago...

The Hellas have a glass back but the Datsun metal can is still behind it. If you look at the tech article you'll see it in the pics. As for th etype of Hella - it was on the car when I bough tit so I don't know which it is - can you tell from the lens? When I bought the car it had a BRAND NEW signalswitch stalk. I found this out when the lights ceased working th efirst time I used them - the next day they were dead. I had bad carbon on the brushes and the plastic aorund the column had melted a tiny bit (grr). The second time I used them they died right away and I had to really tinker with the brand new switch - I was ticked! The relays fixed all of that - no more problems at all...

Okay, I have a question too Does Energy Suspension or anyone else make a nice urethane mount that we can use? so far all I've found have been the newer style Chevy mounts and th eguy at Jegs was no help. Telling him I wanted a mount for a 72 Chevy pickup didn't help I'm afraid. Having not bought a Chevy mount yet I don't even know exactly what it ought to look like... TIA!

Ford T5s take ATF - use anything else and you'll regret it pretty quick - within a few K at the most. My friend's shop gets an almost regualr supply of these as folks screw them up - it's apparently a real bitch to clean out. I didn't know that the Datsun T5s took gear oil - weird! The later T5s apparently have carbon fiber blockers (?) and some other paperlike stuff in them, some of the passages are also too small to easily pass the oil. As for synthetic helping things - YES! My stock T5 in the 88 Mustang lasted well over a year behind a 450hp motor with a ton of torque. It had one change of oil very shortly after I bought the car (old oil glittered with metal) but the trans lasted about 50K miles. 3rd finally blew after I beat the heck out of it one day - it blew the NEXT day granny shifting into 3rd. Go figure.... Come to think of it - I don't know what became of that trans after the Tremec swap.

Not bad! I'd do the crank and piston upgrades tho'. Also, not sure that 400 balancer will fit in the Z so you might have to swap it out. Don't forget it'll need a water pump, intake, distributor,and carb too. Overall it looks to be right about where the ZZ4 is only more cubes - not too bad. Do they offer a warranty? I didn't notice...

There's also PowerTrax and the R200 from an 87-88.5 300ZX turbo. Try this - do a search on "LSD" in the search bar. You'll find at least a dozen threads on this including some folks trying to get the plentiful but funky clutch LSD out of the later model 300ZX cars into the older cars. That search thing is plenty helpful and I think you'll find that many of us are using the 87-88 rears but that there are a few gotcha's to read up on.

I've always found HEAT to be the key! Generally those puppies have locktite on them - a bit of heat from a torch softens that right up and off the bolts come....

Yeah, caps tick me off too Has anyone looked at the viscous LSD gearsets to see what size bolts they use? I know they don't use the same shafts due to spline count but what else aside from that and the type of LSD is different?

Ummm, the 87 LSD should take the stock axles you've got now I think. My car is a 72 and the R200 LSD I've got took the older shafts just fine. Popped them out of the old diff, popped them right in the new one. Replaced the front pinion flange with the correct one and I'm good to go with the Neapco adapter. Not sure what front flange you'll need but it's probably different than what's on it and most likely what's on your current R200 open diff. Whoa - SCRATCH THIS! When Mike was over the other day we discovered I had an R200 in my car already (smack!). The previous owner didn't mention it but had said it was a 3.9 rear. I didn't know better and even bought a R200 Mustache bar for the LSD swap - doh! I'm sorry if I misled anyone, the only other R200 I've seen is my LSD and it's finned cover looks nothing like the other covers I've seen (sigh). Heh, myabe later I'll get one of those PowerTrax diffs doe it [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited January 22, 2001).]

Agree on the welding part SCCA - you still looking into having brackets fabbed? Bolt ons are so much nicer - easier to remove and put on etc. etc. My project may actually be speeding up some - it seems th epowdercoating shop up the street has closed. Unless they've moved close by I'll be painting parts instead of powdercoating them which would've taken longer. Bummer!

I can't speak to their brakes but I CAN speak to their customer service. Last I spoke to ArizonaZ they were pretty rude and unless I ordered a grand worth of parts (fiberglass) my order wasn't worth their time. The reception I got was rude to say the least. Needless to say I took my business elsewhere. Something to consider when shopping for parts....

I've been looking at this wheel myself, I know lot's of Mustang guys and there's a FORD set with tires sitting at my friend's shop now for about a grand. However I'm just not sure if I'll like the look once it's on the car. I plan to get switched the 5lug and then borrow a wheel to see how it looks Mike, if you get to this point before I do please shoot some pics! I'm dying to know if it'll look decent. Lot's of 5lug wheels ou there and the RX7 board has them used constantly!

Shark, goto MikeSCCA's WEB site and look at the options he's got listed. I'm going to 5lug all aorund using his kit and the 4Runner option he lists for the front. However if you've got plans for wider or much bigger tires you might be better off with the Outlaws that he sells for even more stopping power and nice billet calipers The 300Z hubs do bolt on up front but you will need spacers for it all to line up - Mike has these and has already done the research on how to fit it. (shrug)

Be careful about what you consider "catastrophic failure" in a sway bar. Sure, it might not come apart and hit something like say a gas tank but think about when it might fail... Say how about in the middle of a nice offramp with the car pulling some hard Gs - I'd imagine the sudden loss of the sway bar might be enough to stick the car into the guardrail at the very least. I think I'd stick to heating it up or buying one that's made to fit. Do be aware that the stock mounts up front can be a bit weak, my parts car had the mounts ripped out and repaired at least once. The sway bar I've got from that car is a MONSTER!

Okay cool - the folks I know have VERY nice rigs so heat shouldn't be an issue. Thanks!

I've got the Hella setup on mine - hence the wiring harness upgrade I've posted here! The Hellas, with full voltage, are plenty bright but will heat your headlight switch PDQ without relays! Housings are fairly heavy glass. I was tempted to put higher wattage bulbs in mine until I saw how bright they were with relays. Measure the voltage on the stock wiring at the bulbs, you could be surprised how low it might be.

Whoa! T-5s are designed for auto tranny fluid - if you put gear oil in them it will ruin them! My friend's shop has had TONS of guys bring in cars that have done this. The fluid passages are too small to allow the fluid to circulate if you go with a regular gear oil. RedLine is what I found worked best for me. YMMV...

Nah, he's not old. I'm a young 'un and I remember those days. Saddes thing is when I drive past that old junkyard and it's a mall now! I wish there was a nice big easily accessible junkyard nearby.... P.S. Shipping a T56 costs a ton, try to find one locally (ahem).

I believe you want the smaller flywheel of the two. Since it's an LT1 Camaro motor try looking at some of th eads tailored for those cars. Chevy Hi-Po always has stuff in there and Escessive Motorsports usually sells tons of parts for those cars - including a nice dual friction clutch setup. Mikelly is running one of these, I'm going to try the stock clutch myself to see how it works out in such a light car but if it slips I'll be looking at the Centerforce too. Figure about $500 or so for the clutch and pressure plate I think....

A further comment on boost - bigger isn't always better. It's possible for a car that's had mods to increse it's airflow (exhaust, ported intake, air filter, etc.) to run faster than a more corked up car running more boost. It's also possible to exceed a turbo's area of effeciency and simply wind up heating the air real badly which will show higher boost but lower power. Scotties advice is sound but don't get hung up on boost numbers. It really makes me laugh to walk around a car show and hear guys bragging about boost numbers as if it made one car faster than another

Cool, I spotted the new pics up top Ya' know - I'm wondering if RX7 mirrors might work? Has anyone measured? I'll not have time before I go out of town but perhaps when I return I can do some checking of my own. IMO, the mirrors look pretty nice on that car - not sure they'd look as good on a Z tho' Opinions? Sorry, this is th ebest pic I've got handy:

And me about to slap my clutch LSD into the rear of my car too Ah well, if I wind up needing different gears this will make life MUCH easier!

Stupid question - "heat transferring liquid"? I'll admit - when I cracked open my struts I epxected to find them filled with "something" - I found nothing. A little bit of oil in the bottom, nothing else. I recall a guy at work bitching about the oil and crap he found in his strut tubes on a newer car (van?). Should I have found oil in mine and if so what should I use when I seal that puppy back up? TIA!