datsunlover

Tool shed'd... I just found it myself..

I put Honda SI seats in my 280 (Recaro clones) and set them back as far as I could.. I think I cut out the stock seat brace and moved it back 2.5" or so, and built my own mounting brackets, using the Z seat rails on the Honda seats. The back of the drivers seat actually rests on the rear fender well, but it is good for me as far as leg room. Head room is a small issue now, as I've raised the seating position about 1.5" from stock, but I found the main issue is the space between the tunnel and door jamb.. it's a little tight, but I'm only 180lbs so I'm fairly comfy in there...

I've got one in my 280 that I rigged up using the handle and pull cable from a Honda crx hood release cable. I ran it along the Z hatch, and modified the internal latch (drilled a hole and sloted it for the cable to fit in) added a small return spring, and it works ok.. but doesn't look so nice. I covered the button on the hatch with my whale tail so I was forced to do SOMETHING and it was all I could come up with at the time. I think I did a write up on it here about 2 years ago... But now I'm actually going to try to rig up the cable/lever I got from an 81 280zx, as it looks like it would work better and may even appear stock.

Well from what I've heard, anything after 97 has the 2.5 motor now... Apparently, EVERY subaru uses the same basic engine/driveline no mater what model car. Although, there arn't too many 97+ in my price range.. I do like the Ram's with the cummins enigne.. my buddys parents have a 2003 1 ton dually with the turbo diesel and a 5 gear. Amazing pull for a big truck, and good milage too!! (they tow a HUGE camper trailer down to florida every winter) Personaly I like the earlier body style Rams though, (95-99?) which is good cause that's all that's in my financial reach anyway! I don't think I could buy a Toyota again.. I had an 86 4runner and I hated it. My boss bought a 93 p/u for our work truck, and its a piece of dog turd.. and his wifes 93 4runner isn't much better. Doesn't have enough power to get out of it's own way!

Well, I'm also thinking about getting away from a 'truck' so to speak.. I'm definatly not into a 'small' truck at this point. I've had 2 nissan p/u's and been in friends rangers/s10's and frankly, If I am driving a truck, I want it to be a 'real' one. My current GMC is really over-kill, (just TOO big really..and WOW does it suck back the gas in 4x4!!) but at least I have some room inside. I have looked at a Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 (1997 ext cab 5 gear) but I've heard there can be some pricy front end issues with them.. As for a Ford, well.. personally, I mainly don't like the looks of them (the ones in my price range anyway..) although I DO have a friend that works at the local dealership so parts/maintinence would be fairly cheep..

Ok.. New plan.... I'm starting the search/price shopping NOW so I'm prepared in the spring (hopefully) to go and harass some car salesmen. I'm hoping to pull about $4-5K out of my 1 ton GMC in the spring (private sale) and hopefully will have another $3-4K to play with. (I found a bare bones 350 for the RX7, so I'm gona throw it together, and try to off it in the spring as well) I will be getting a line of credit too, but I don't want to touch it unless a REALLY good deal comes along as it will be used to finish my house renos. (yes, so I can sell it too!) So basicaly, I have 3 things I'm looking for within this price range; -I need something I can USE. IE; something I can throw wood/bulky objects in (Like.. car parts and power tools) and/or tow a utility trailer. -I need something that gets better milage than my current truck...(454, 4x4, 1 ton.. that shouldn't be a problem!) and hopefully rides nicer. -I would like something 4x4 or awd. This is my daily driver, all season vehicle and it snows here. A lot. SO... I have a few ideas I've been checking out already; Subaru; Outback or Forester wagon Dodge; 1st gen Durango 4x4 (I know.. hard on fuel, but not as bad as my current GM) Volvo; 850 awd ? I'm wondering what you folks think. Anyone that owns one, has driven one, or has info. on other options? Thanks.

Dooood.. that is cool!! Not gona be much of a driveshaft though... What are you planning for the front end?

Man... too much to say in a single post, but really you have to DO YOUR HOMEWORK!! Know what to look for, and don't be afraid to walk away from something if it rubs you the wrong way. I bought an OLD house in town that needed some 'TLC' ...but it's not all easy, or cheep. Old plumbing (galvinized pipes) old/badly rewired electrical (FUSE box, knob and tube, too many outlets/switches on one circuit, ect) and LATH AND PLASTER WALLS!!! Oh god I hate that crap.. And I'm only about half way there... The garage is an old flat roof 1.5 car that has no heat, and has some grading issues in the back yard, causing some water to get in.. The front porch/covered sunroom above is leaning/sinking to one side.. (I'll probly rip it off in the spring) BUT.... I picked it up from an estate sale for a good price, so maybe next summer I can flip it, make a few $$K and find a nice little place in the country with a decent shop.

Well, my 75 has the ash tray behind the shifter, beside the e-brake. As a side note, my 280 WAS an FI car, and I changed over to 72 SU's. I thought that would cause a problem, but low and behold.. there was a 'knock out' beside the ashtray that the choke lever fits through!

Yup, there's where the 'speeds and feeds' comes in. If you're facing a 1" dia cold rolled bar with a carbide tiped cutter, it should probly be running at LEAST 1000rpm to get a decent finish. You're obviously limited to whatever the speeds on the machine are. Any hardend steel (well, ANY material for that matter) will have a proper 'cutting speed' (Surface Feet per Minuit) and you plug in into the RPM formula to get the theoretical ideal speed for it. Take into account tool steel or carbide cutter, and you'll get a good idea where to start. Also tool HIGHT is important. If it's even a little above center (of the work piece) it will rub and you won't get a nice cut. Actually, you get mush and scraping, possibly a chipped cutter. A little low is fine, but too low you run into two issues; The graduations on the x-feed won't be acurate, or you could smash the tip off the tool. As for the sadle moving around while machining, you're probly finding the limits of the machine.. a ridgid machine is the key really, and a little guy like that will have limits. If the saddle is thick enough, you could drill and tap a threaded hold through it (say a 3/8" or so..) then turn up a little plug of brass a little smaller (about .350" say..) and part it off about 1/8" thick. Drop it in the hole, and screw in your 3/8" bolt. This should lock it fairly well on to the bed way, and the brass won't hurt the ground surface.

Just make sure to get your flywheel machined, and be sure the clutch is clean/rust free. Check it out fo chips and dings (parts sitting around tend to get bumped and/or dropped sometimes) but otherwise, it should work fine.

Yah, a stock clutch can take quite a pounding... I was wialing on mine last summer pretty bad, doing some doh-nuts (yes, I mean 'doh!') and it just let go. Engine reved up, but car slowed down. I could smell the clutch through the tire smoke and was actually backing off when it started to slip. I thought the worst, but after I let it cool down it still worked fine. I can feel a definite diffrence in where it grabs now (pedel comes up further now) but it doesn't slip or chatter. The centerforce is a good choice IMO. I had one in my old Jeep J10 4x4 and BEAT the crap out of it off road, would spin the 33x10.5 mudders on dry pavement, and it never protested.

Ok.. check it out REALLY WELL for the typical rust issues.. (floors and rails are the worst ussualy.. cause they don't go all the way back on 240s) Any noticable rust tells you there is more that you CAN'T see... be prepared. I'd say bring a can of gas and a battery, and try to get it running. (check carbs first, pistons may be stuck) Have parts been stripped over the years? If rats have been in it, you can bet the wiring is toast and it's gona smell great inside. You say the guy builds cars.. that could be a good or bad thing for you... You have to know what you're looking at, and know what you're willing to spend. Ussually people with old Z's are one of two ways. 1. They may know (or THINK they know) what they have, but quite possibly look at it as somthing of a retierment fund and want thousands of $$$ for a pile of crap. 2. They may know what they have, but realize they don't have the time/place/money/ect to restore/fix the old Z so they're looking for a bit of $$$ but really just want it to go to someone who will USE it. I've delt with quite a few people like the 1st.. and a few of those cars are STILL sitting on their property rotting away. An original 240z is worth something yes, but if it's not running, rough/stripped and rusty, I'm not paying more than say $750 or so. One lady told me she had 'offers around $3000' but the cars still sits and rots.. Sure, if someone offered you that much for a rusting hulk, you'd refuse them?!? The 2nd type is the better way to go. I got my 280 from a guy like that, who just didn't have the time to fix it. Needed plenty of body work, but it ran and drove. He had the thing for 14 years, put some $$$ into it, but 'life' got in the way. He actually refused to sell it to a 17y old kid just before I bought it, cause the kid didn't know his arse from a hole in the ground and he was afraid he'd wrap it around a hydro pole! I showed up and talked some Z stuff with the guy (having owned 3 in the past, I had a bit of knowlege) and he was happy to sell it to me for $800!!

I think you should replace the wires too. Are the plugs fouled? (black) Oh.. are they gaped properly? When it does start, does it run fine? Or does it smoke black and idle all over the place? Holding the throttle wide open sholuld tell the ECU to cut the injectors (I think.. to prevent flooding) but here'a the thing; I had an 81 do that to me of and on.. I sold it in the end, but the guy I sold it to figured it out. An injector was 'stuck' open so it was screwing up evrything. Fuel presure wouldn't build properly, O2 sensor picked up LOTS of fuel so it cut back the injectors, ect ect. I actually did the same thing you did, but didn't figure it out at the time. By mistake, I forgot to put the plug back in and strted the motor. IT STARTED AND RAN!!! Lots of fuel came spraying out of the plug hole mid you.. If you pulled the plug from the cyl that had the bad injector, and it started, that might be the problem. ALSO.. check the rubber AFM boot for cracks as it's AFTER the sensor, and will throw evrything out of whack. Oh, and check the 'little black box' on the distributor. (ign. module) Sometimes they go bad, and cause problems like this.. You'll need a multimeter and a manual.. I'm pretty sure there is a proper resistance measurement.

And even the ones that can, well.. they're not very 'streetable' nor extreemly reliable at that point.. more of a dedicated race car motor and you sacrifice reliability for max power. Thing is.. why do you want 300hp? Heck.. anything over 200hp is plenty in a z for every day street use, and trust me thats enough to get you into trouble.. That's roughly where my 280 is at now, and I'm gona have to upgrade the suspension and brakes just to handle it.. adding more power right now would be just silly..

Oh man.. thats it for that Z.. You'l never save it now!

Cool little lathe! I will eventually want a small lathe and mill in my shop.. but right now, I don't have much of a shop yet anyway. (1.5 car flat roof non insulated garage.. yuck) I can tell you one thing about a metal lathe though, (even a little guy like that) PAY ATTENTION!! Man.. bad things can happen so fast, and you don't have much time to react. As far as saftey, mostly common sence, as with any tool; Never stand directly in front of the chuck, and don't wear any loose clothing/jewlery. Always make sure evrything is tight (tooling, chuck, tailstock clamped if in use, ect) and know where the E-stop is BEFORE you start up. For boring, there are a few options. If you have to get in a long ways, you need a bar. You can buy them, or build your own depending on how big the hole is to start with. (although a mill is handy to help build these) Ex; a piece of bar stock with a slot in one end and a few set screws, to hold a small lathe cutter makes a great boring bar. If the depth isn't to deep, a normal cutter stuck out of the tool post will work well, although the heavier a cut you take the more likely it is to move. You really should get some reading material/info on machining.. you need to know how diffrent metals cut at differing speeds & feeds, proper ways of seting up for various operations.. There are a few basic formulas for proper RMPs, diameters for threading, ect. What you've done looks ok so far, although a bit scarry.. you're lucky they didn't rip out of the chuck as you were cutting them! Really, you need a proper set of 'soft jaws' for things like that and they could be a bit longer, but hey.. you use what you've got.

I've used a similar B&M shifter and yes, it will stick up kinda tall. The plastic cover is just that; a cover for the ratcheting mechanicals so you're stuck with the hight.

Cool! I had an 85 200sx with the twin plug 'Z' 2.0l motor (4cyl with 8 plugs.. really confused a few people!) and it ran great for a long time... Developed a rear main leak after about 240k but I just ran diesel oil (15/40) and it was ok.. I drove the hell out of that thing, and it just took it. Started in -35 weather first try, NEVER let me down.. I sold the thing for $300 and the kid got into a high speed chase with it the next week; A police cruiser pushed it into the ditch by the drivers door/rear quarter. Shame really...

I will vouch for the 305 too.. I have used 305's in both my RX7 swaps over the years, and trust me, a V8 in a light car is going to be quick no matter the displacement. Even bone stock and high milage, it hauled the old 85 around like you wouldn't believe! I think there was a problem with the cams in 87/88 (wore out really quick) but other than that, it's a good motor. If you're doing a 'base' V8 Z, I say a decent 305 will give you good bang for the buck. Now.. the later 4.3's ARE a decent motor, and I'm pretty sure the 'vortech' versions actually put out more than the earlier 305s did, but I don't think they came in the astros...

Really? I'd rather pay $80 for a quality rebuild, then change out 3 or 4 'new' ones over and over...

Damnit.. I'm loosing it man...

Thats the nice thing about driving my 'hulk' of a truck. (91 gmc dually 4x4)Most people cant help but see me coming, and tend to pay attention. Aside from that, even IF someone does something stupid, it's not so scarry if you're in a big truck and they're driving a civic or something. Anyway, I drive in the snow/bad weather as if I have no brakes and pay attention even more than ussual, but hey.. things happen. Good to hear you're ok though!

Heh.. nice Marshall man! I got the same one from my brother for xmass. My old Peavy (chorus 400) was starting to crap out, so he figured I needed something new! I'm maily a guitar man, but I can play bass and a bit on the skins. Been playing for about 18 years, and I'm staring to put some stuff together for a small studio setup.. gotta get the renovations done first though. (dang 80 year old house..)

Sorry if this has been posted before.. I thought it was very cool.. http://www.jet-man.com/actuel.html# 300k, vertical climb... damn, I want one!