240zdan

Hmm I wonder if this is why the adaptor Mckinney used to sell say sold out for now.

Mckinneys new set of coilovers are probably s13 fronts all around, or similar. But the old adaptor kit they used to sell, which I originally came up with, uses s13 off the shelf coilovers. The fronts are fine and work great with a simple spring swap (form 8k to 5k) but the rears are a no go. This was a while back, and everyone who purchased that is going to have issues. I believe zcjdm offered it as well. Those rear upper strut mounts are a no go. the spring needs to be isolated from the chassis and allowed to pivot. seattlejester: One started leaking after 1 month. A replacement was put in, then it started leaking out of the top of the shaft after 1 year. The other side weeped for the last 7 years and finnaly developed a dead spot. I put two new shocks in but dont expect them to last, but more importantly, there is massive coil defelction under suspension compression. This is what concerns me most. The top of the shock NEEDS to pivot. Anyhow, I will be ordering two shock inserts in correct length and thickness from Megan, and will be placing them on the back to solve the issue for now. I will use the original 6k spring and machine some bolt in camber plates on the rear to use the Megan s13 front pillowball setup, or perhaps see if Sakura garage will sell me just their plates. They should work fine on the megan coilover pillowballs. Again, using the stock tophats with a rear s13 coilover is better, although still not ideal because of the smaller shaft diameter. A thicker shaft such as the ones found on the fronts is best, or even better an inverted shock. (my opinion, although some may feel an inverted shock isnt necessary.) Shock quality, like johnc has mentioned, is a whole separate issue. I am not going to get into that anymore.

Rickyellowz, you are quoting somethign I said, but I do not remember saying that. You have a link to that post? EDIT*** USing s13 rear shocks with stock top hats may be an option... ANyone have any experience and can comment on the reliability of this setup? Anyways, since I like to do things propreley and have been rebuilding my car from the ground up, fixing all of my past mistakes: I am now debating purchasing two s13 front coilovers from Megan and running them on the rear, buying a set of Stance S13 front coilovers X4, or going back to the sectioned strut and GC combo in either Bilstien or Koni and camber plates. I dont like the idea of using s13 rear shocks, regardless of whether or not I use stock tophats, because I feel the shock diameter is too small for a MAchpeherson strut. All three options will take considerable work. I am also looking into adapting higher end shocks such as Penske or Ohlins Boy am I glad I didn't start mass producing those s13 coilover adapters when I thought of them and I am sorry for the three people i sold adapters to a while back. As far as the guys who bought them from Mckinney, keep an eye on your rear shocks. I went through 3 rears in no time.

Hmm.. Ill probably end up going with Stance. I love the idea of having an inverted shock.

YES all those 3 are superior in every way. Also may be worth checking out Stance.

Alright... I partially retract my statement on Megan products. 260DET is correct, the rear s13 coilovers do not work well with 240z rear suspension. This is because the upper mount does not allow the spring to pivot as suspension compresses, possibly putting side load on the shock. Although I could fix this by adding an upper perch to isolate the spring from the upper mount and make it pivot as suspension compresses, i still feel the Megans have too small of a shock diameter to be used on a Macpherson strut setup. I also dont feel like the pillowball is up to the task. Although I made a few adaptors and sold them here on the site a long time ago, I was emailed by Mckinney to start mass producing them but didn't want to jump the gun as I wasn't sure if the design would work. I think Mckinney ended up making them anyways? To those of you who installed s13 coilovers into your Z, the rear upper mount needs addressing. If you installed rear camber plates along with them, you may be ok. Yikes. Time to start looking for new coilovers.

OK I think I have found a solution. I am going to order an upper spring perch from megan and install it onto the rear coilovers. This way the spring is free to move with the mono ball as suspension compresses. Might have to end up machine something custom though.

I can see your point, but can you tell me the difference between say a S13 rear coilover VS a 240z rear coilover?

yikes. Not going to lie but that concept looks horrible. I know its just an idea but it seems a bit tacky. Please don't take it offensivley.

I think Megan racing make a terrible product. The pillowballs are seizing, every fastener is rusting, the shocks aren't durable and the springs are cheap. I would probably go for the Stance inverted 240z kit before going with the Megan 240z kit. I would love bilstiens, I think in the future I may revert back to a section strut and bilstiens all around, as well as Swift or GC springs. I have bilstiens on my truck and they rock, tons of rock crawling and logging roads, no leaks.

Mine

I haven't personally tried the Stance coilovers, but right now it would seem like the best option. I think using a cheaper coil over but utilizing the rubber top hat in the rear could work as well. I still think that with the way the Z suspension is designed, under power and during wheel hop there is tremendous forces put on the shock shaft. In a car like the 240sx, you have an upper control arm holding everything together, but on the Z not so much. This is why I was considering using a rubber isolator bushing on the top of the shocks vs a pillow ball mount. I did notice Arizona Z car coilovers are inverted. I think with a quality damper like a bilstien or a Koni, with stock tophats, it wouldn't be an issue. If I were to do it again, I'd have sectioned my struts, used a quality shock, and ran the GC kit. Now I'm dealing with Chinese crap.

Well a while back I developed an adaptor tube and weld in camber plate to adapt Megan racing s13 coilovers to a Datsun 240z. McKinney and a few other companies decided to take the idea and offer it to the public a few months later to make a few bucks. After running them for 7 years I think its time I did a review and why you SHOULDN'T go this route. 1) The spring rates on the s13 are too stiff in the front. I ended up buying softer front springs (5K) which greatly improved turn in but ended up costing me a few extra $$. 2) I have gone through about 4 rear shocks in the rear. I believe the fronts may be going as well. The non inverted strut insert combined with a pillow ball mount wreaks havoc on the struts. Its ok to run a shock like this on the s13 where there is a upper and lower control arm, but not ok on a car like the Z. 3) Megan Racing makes the cheapest shittiest shocks you can imagine. I even had one blow after 1000kms from the adjustment nut and spill oil all over my interior. Solution: I am now looking to replace my shocks with a quality INVERTED insert to increase rigidity and durability. I may consider installing a rubber tophat from a 240sx onto my rear shocks in the meantime to try and prolong the life of my Megans. Either way, they are on the list now. You guys know what that means

No doubt about, an ATL fuel cell with internal baffling would do the trick. The reason I didnt go this route: I wanted my OEM fuel guage to work perfectly Filling the car from the trunk is ridiculous for a street car, the fumes were making me a bit nauseous after leaving the pump. I wanted to maintain the oem look and reclaim all my trunk space Clean setup though! Works on a track car that's for sure, but not for me as my car is a daily driven street car.

The top most 3/8 fitting on the tank is used for fuel return. I found the 1/4" oem one was a bit small for my liking so I just capped it off and used the top one instead. On the side of the tank near the exhaust, I capped off the fitting. From the rear of the tank there is a 5/8 fitting that runs to the filler neck, from there I installed a 3 way tee and a 3/8 hose runs to a bulkhead fitting through the floor and exits out the bottom of the floor, venting any vapours to the atmosphere

LOL. sigh. Refer to the pics I posted.

Still have lne running from the tank to the motor. Nothing will get ripped or punctured unless your'e wheelng your Z over branches.

Decided I had enough of the fuel cell I installed and came up with this. Specs: Walbro 255 inline with 12awg wire Carter 4594 gold lift pump Edelbrock pre filter 2l ebay surge tank Here is the original fuel cell. Fumes, fuel starvation when braking, lack of fuel guage, no trunk space. Out it goes! Trimmed the rest of the floor Original fuel door which I deleted long time ago is welded back in. This is the mount I came up with for the pumps and tank. Here it is mocked up with the new floor in place. Strap mount which replaces the original one Here is the floor welded in with an aluminum access panel. This will allow quick easy access to the pumps, wiring, and filter. Here what it looks like complete from the side. I had to fabricate some tank straps, used stainless steel. Heres a pic of the custom lenth tank straps. I has a piece of 16 gauge stainless sheared by a metal shop and measured up and fabricated the rest. Easy as pie. Heres what the floor looks like with the panel removed. Very easy to maintain this setup.

Not unless its setup for Nascar. Even my fuel cell when I had it with the sump on the back would surge when braking. A friend of mine cooked his sr20 with the tank mounted like that in his drift car.

I would also say something is touching, metal to metal. Check to make sure polyurethane or rubber is the only thing supporting your motor and tranny. My tranny was resting on my custom crossmember and vibrated like mad. Exactly as you described.

Fair enough. I can do this, however the cage woudl no longer follow NHRA rules. All roll bars must have in their construction a cross bar for seat bracing and as the shoulder harness attachment point; cross bar must be installed no more than 4 inches below, and not above, the driver’s shoulders or to side bar. Any suggestions? Is creating a new harness bar that sweeps back more to reduce the harness angle more viable? The NHRA rollbar rules make no sense to me. Why are they saying the harness bar cannot be above the drivers shoulder? This is half cage I built mainly to increase chassis rigidity but I would like to keep it NHRA legals as I occasionnaly sprint down the 1/4 mile and the car is a sub 12 second car.

Probably the angle of the pic but the clips aren't too close to the seat. How far up do you suggest the harness bar be moved?

It is less than 4" below shoulder but the thing that worries me is the angle of the seatbelts which is dependant on how far back the seats been moved. Opinions?

I agree. I was going to waterjet a plate connect the dropmounts, dropmount brace, and rear mount point together. I was also in the a bind and the thin flatbar was all I had on hand at the time, it could be much thicker. There could be gussets added as well to spread the load. Surprisingly even the way it is I haven't had it move or break, but I'm always interested in making the car stronger!

This kit sucks. It doesn't follow classic Z lines at all. The car looks broken up and akward. The rear flares extending to the door are hideous. When will these guys realize they can't start a simple fad with vintage Z cars. I really think Sung Kang's Z car ruined a bit of the old school Z car community.