datsunlover

This really sucks.. there seams to be a lot of scaming/screwing going on of late.. I have to say all dealings I have had with people from this site have been good.. but it's starting to worry me that it's just because maybe I've gotten lucky? I hope not.. Maybe there should be a new forum put up; "Don't make deals with these members" or something.. hmm .maybe not... Maybe the people who ARE doing the screwing will read this (and other posts) and STOP WITH THE STEALING CRAP!!! Man this stuff bugs me...

IMO welding the holes closed should gain a bit of strength, although I dont know from personal expirience. As for the sheet metal welding, I hear you man; it's a PITA!!! I have found that when working with old thin body metal, it's almost imposible to weld a 'bead' down without blowing through. What I do is basicaly a series of 'tacks' with each one laid partiallly over the last one. I use a little 110A Lincoln set as low (A setting for heat, and about 1.5 for wire speed) and it works pretty good for sheet metal/body steel. Sometimes you can run a small bead for a 1/4" or so, but then you have to stop for a sec and let the metal cool down a bit. The other thing I've found is if two pieces you're trying to weld arn't sitting as close as possible (even a 1/32" gap can cause problems.. ask me how I know..) , it blows through one of them instead of welding...

No.. but I'm curious about it.. I'd like to get one, but I'll wait for the web site to get up and do some more research..

Sounds EXACTLY like a problem I had with an 81 zx. Turned out to be a bad (sticking) fuel injector. I actually pulled the spark plug on that cylinder, and ran it for a few mins (I was testing a theory) and it ran BETTER on 5, then on 6. I had quite a cloud of gas firing out the no. 5 plug hole though! If it'll stay running by itself still, try using a long screwdriver like a stethiscope (sp?) to listen to the injectors. Likely one will sound WAY different than the rest, and that will be the problem injector. OR; one of the injector clips has cracked and is not making proper contact, which will throw off the computer and it'll try to adjust.. ussually ending up too rich, in my expirience. Hope this helps.

uhhh.. yyyyeah... I would say remove those pieces as a whole (grinder with a cut-off wheel, sawsall, ect).. as straight and level as you can, then cut them down to the hight you need and reweld to the floor. It took me a day to do both of mine, just because it's tedious to get them out, cut down, and then back in all level/even.

AAAHHHH!!!!! Ok um.. trust me on this, a 240 rear mount bar is NOT a 'bolt on' to a 280z. I tried it, and ended up roasting my slip yoke boots on the drive axles, and messing up the drivers side shaft pretty good.. It would seem that the 240's had longer 'uprights' behind the diff.. or maybe it was just a diffrent mustache bar.. either way, it doesnt have enough clearance back there in a 280z, and will cause... issues. FWIW, I'm running w/o a rear sway bar (aftermarket front bar.. BIG one..) and I find it has a little more body roll, but does seam to pull out of corners better..

Well I 'canabalized' a 280zx and have the m/c, but figure I'll wait till the car's dismantled this winter to install it, along with the not-yet-purchased braided line and toy calipers/zx rotors. My car is a 75 280 btw (impersonating a 240 with the front bumper/roll pan ) I'm takin her off the road mid october, so I'll get by the next few weeks 'as is'. I have to start gathering parts again.. brakes, bushings, springs, rad, the list goes on.. ahh the things you have to do..

Blueoval; not sure what you mean by an 'issue' for me.. I'm apprenticing at a machine shop (going for 2nd training in Jan) and think building them is within my abilitys. Pop n wood; I have thought of other brake upgrades, but in my case (presently) I'm going for efective, but cheep. I plan to leave the rear drums on for now, as most braking is done by the front anyway, and my drums/shoes are all good. I have bled my system several times, and not noticed any improvement. I think it's just that my Z is faster than my truck, but the truck has WAY better brakes, so the fade/lack of braking power is more noticable. I get used to it if I drive the car for 2-3days straight without driving my truck.. but that kind of weather is givving way to winter. I am curious about mustang swaps though as a friend of mine has a Stang siting on blocks.. I could grab parts and see what I can rig up.. And on the weight issue.. as the car sits, it might be noticable.. next spring, with a 351 under my right foot.. I don't think the extra weight will be an issue.. Thanks again guys.

forgot to mention someting.. if you don't know already, the drivers seat mounts (IIRC) are closer together. (side to side I mean) Because of the trans tunel and exhast 'bump', there is a little less width to work with on the drivers side. Before you go cutting stuf, Id measure evrything really carefully, and make sure the 'new' seats are gona fit on the brakets after cutting.

Well, thats what I was hoping to hear. I'd still like any other input people may have though. As for cheap, my boss has an 88 4Runner on blocks out at our shop that I think I can pull the calipers from. The whole braking system was replaced on this truck (not to mention rad, tires, exhast, ect) and then the motor blew up. My boss grabed it for $200 to use as parts for his driver, so I figure I can get the calipers for a good price. Im trying to do this whole thing (V8/brakes/suspension) for around $1500 in the end, so the Toy/300zx price is right up my alley. Oh.. one more thing.. I have to run 15" rims with this swap right?

Ok.. guys running V8's and useing the Toyota 4X4/300zx rotor swap; are they good enough? IE; do they stop the car as well, or better than stock brakes (when the car had a stock enigne) or is it a scarry thing to haul a V8 monster down from high speeds? This isn't a 'will it work' or 'how do I do it' thing.. I want to know how WELL they work on a hybrid Z, and aside from the weight, are there any other issues to be aware of? See, I have reached the limits of my stock brakes already, and only have an L28 w/su's and opened up exhast. (75 280z) By limits, I mean I'm noticing serious FADE after uh.. hard driving.. , and I'm having to gear down like a mad man to stop this thing from higher speeds.... All my components are in proper working order, but it seams like the minor 'tweeking' of the motor is already too much for those little solid disks to handle. Seeing as I'm planing a 351W/C4 this winter, I want to address the brakes first off. (then the chasis stifening.. ehhh... yah.. ) I have a 280zx master cyl, and can get toy 4x4 calipers cheep (sw12 right?) I'm aware I will need to build the rotor spacer as well (.660" ?) which is no prob. BUT; before I go to the trouble/expence of this conversion, I was looking for some feedback from others using the toy/300 brakes on their Hybridz. Thanks.

Yah.. Im thinking of 'disapearing' my wipers.. I almost never drive the car in the rain anyway! (unless I get caught in it while driving home cause I say the clouds coming..) Not that I'l be able to get traction in the rain next summer anyway.. The V8 is comming......

I cut the factory seat brackets down in my 75 280 to fit CRX Si seats in it. Basically, hacked 1.5 inches of hight out front and back, and rewelded the pieces back it. Then built 'adaptors' out of flat bar, and bolted the seats to the bar, and bar to the Z brackets. Works great for me.. but it was easy in my car as the floor was recently re-done and the seat brakets were put back in kind of.. well, badly.. (hack job extrodinaire!!) by the previous owner.. I to would say the seat brakets don't add much 'structure' or suport to the car, and wouldn't worry about cutting into them.

Would it not be possible to just 'bolt' the back side of the front engine's crank to the front of the rear engine? (assuming a front/back layout ussing two existing V6 motors) It would take some math to figure out the angle to attach the two engines.. so as to get a smoth running firing order and such. And a custom fuel/ignition setup of course.. I've met a guy who stuck two rotary engines together (back to back, custom center shaft) and runs 'both' (although it's really one engine now..) off ONE set of sensors/harness/ecu.. a little easier with a wankle I supose, but I think anythig is possible. Sounds cool!

Dude.. Toronto gets NOTHING for snow!!! Go north 1.5 hours to Midland; I have rebuilt entire floor's and whole quarters, ect ect on countless vehicles over the years due to all the rust caused by the winter driving up here. Literally, the cars dissapear up here!! I'll get some pics of my boss's son's car; 89 Sunbird, 130K, but never been oil sprayed. It's almost unbelievable.. the whole front of the rocker is GONE up to the door hinge, and right back to the rear wheel well. Dot can atest to this kind of thing, Im sure he's seen it! JMort; seriously man, just clean as much as you can, spray something on there to nutralize any remaining specks of rust, and paint it. It's actually in better looking shape than my 93 King cab man!! Heck.. if mine was even CLOSE to that good, I'd just drive it as is!

Well, I think I can overcome those issues.. and just being able to say 'Yah, it's a 351' has got me excited! I found out that the car is a 91, and something about 'big valve' heads (I have to start doing some research on it I guess.. ) See, part of this deal is kind of 'helping out a buddy' so to speak.. I'v known the seller for years, and he was getting parts together to build a Stang'... last week he lost his job. He now has a credit card and car payment, rent, and a 4 year old son to take care of, so building a stang has fallen off his plate so to speak. I know he paid $750 for this Crown Vic about 3 months ago, and another $75 for the shifter.. For $450, I think it's a heck of a deal, and it helps him out a bit right now. Also, I was thinking of a 5 speed eventually, so I could sell him the suto and shifter back maybe next fall (he still wants to build a stang, but it's gona be a while yet) and go from there.

Man.. with that kind of damage, I'd be afraid to drive it after being repaired! I'm wondering why insurance wouldn't brand that 'irepairable' or scrap.. Ouch..

Well I'd assume that religion is being jamed down their throats by the parents.. which imo is not always a good thing.. and seeing as 'God Hates' them.. I'm gona guess they're Catholic.. I feel sorry for those kids..

I find thats ussually the way it goes.. the bigger the balls, the smaller the brain.. works both ways.. Damn thats fast!

Ok.. there HAS do be a few opinions on this.. Im gona go ford 351w in my 280z. Would it be easier to just replace all my guages with aftermarket (sunpro.. with Auto meter stickers.. Im on a budget here..) or try to make the stock guages work? I pretty sure the tach would be usable.. spedo would be off (mis-read) , but I could 'rig' it to the ford AOD trans.. and posibly figure out the wiring for the ammeter.. ok; what about the temp and fuel combo guage? A thought I had was block/cover the temp. part (piece of plastic or something..) and mount the thing somewhere else (down by the shifter in a custom housing maybe?) then just replace the amm/oil.p and clock with 3 new guages.. Anyone got ALL their stock guages working with a V8 swap? Or did you guys just replace evrything? I'd like to maintain a 'stock' look.. but if it's gona be a huge PITA I could just replace them all.. but i'd have to do them ALL as I want it to match/look decent..

Oh yah, harness and computer come with. It's still in the car, so I can hear it run. From what my friend tells me, it runs reeeal nice, and apparently all is in good shape. I know.. ex cop car.. beat on.. BUT; another guy I know works at Ford tells me although the police cars get 'thrashed' a bit, they do get a LOT of maintinence done to keep them in top shape. Plus, they are 'built' to take a bit of punishment to beguin with.. (how many cruisers you see on the side of the road, broken down?) As for hight, I'm gona TRY to keep this lookin like a stock Z, so I'll have to see what I can do about mounting it good and low.. Im thinking about maybe (?) cutting down the oil pan to get the motor lower but I'll have to wait to get the motor sitting in the engine bay and do some measuring. Any idea what the name of the member here is?

Yah, my hoses were all junk like that. Any hose that's rated for 'heater' or 'coolant' should work. I just bought a roll of heater hose (5 feet I think..) for like $10 and redid all of the heater hose in the engine bay. When I refilled the system, I left the rad cap off, and started the car. You can see the fluid drop down in the rad and then come back a bit.. I just kept filling it till it 'pulsed' right near the top of the cap opening and closed it up. Never had an overheat yet. Hope this helps.

Dude. I feel for you on this one.. I did something similar a few years back with my V8 RX7 project.. TWICE!! Parted out, took a bath, decided to rebuild, got screwed again on some things.. bailed out and took a loss AGAIN!! I wish we lived closer.. I'd find you some space no prob to store ALL of that.. and more! Hmm.. if you've mad(e) up your mind though.. how about this; If a bunch of members here get a list together of evrything they would colectivly want.. and it turns out that MOST of your stuff would get sold.. why not do that? Then you could just stick the car somewhere and have it to come back to.. whenever. Personally I might be interested in the dash cap, Autometer gueges, extra door panels...