Ironhead

Thanks Buddy, good to hear from you. I won't tell anyone you're on a Datsun forum....lol. I don't expect to build another car anytime soon. Too expensive, and TBH I am getting a little tired of it and ready to move on to something else...you know....bingo....feeding the pigeons at the park...pool aerobics. All this car work keeps ruining the velcro straps on my shoes. Besides...I'm sure getting this thing running will be just the beginning of getting it truly "sorted". My "other" car is currently sitting in the garage with a dead battery. I feel a little like I have betrayed it....but this current project has absorbed pretty much all of my interest in turning wrenches. Wow...4 years old. Time flies. That being the case, I'm surprised you even had time to write...much less build a car. You should post some update pics nonetheless.

LOL....I have always heard it as "perfection is the enemy of excellence", basically same meaning I guess. It is one of my favorite expressions, because I have anal-retentive tendencies, and I frequently have to remind myself that perfection is not a realistic goal.

Tognotti's is a surprising place. They have remained successful in a largely mail-order world by actually having a significant amount of inventory in stock. I realize they have a small online business as well, but I am confident that the vast majority of their sales are walk-ins. The place is a time warp for me. I used to go in there in the 1970s when I was a kid (hell, I even remember when the building was a supermarket), and it has not changed at all. It still even smells the same. Most things would change in 50 years, but not Tognotti's.

Well said. I remember reading an arcane discussion many years ago about the suspension work done on a Porsche running in the IMSA GTO series (I realize that dates me horribly). The team felt they knew better than the engineers at Porsche who designed the suspension, and were making a case that the car would be more successful with their modifications. Were they correct? I have no idea, largely because the series was won by a car running a live rear axle.....lol.

OMG, that is a mess. I think in the '60s and '70s cars were only expected to last a few years, and they were built accordingly. It isn't just Datsun, pretty much every car from that era has rust issues. We all like older cars for our own reasons, but in terms of being long lived/reliable/efficient transportation devices, modern cars are so vastly better. I think you could buy nearly any 2020 model car and drive it for as long as you like without rust ever being an issue.

I live in the same area as you, and I have encountered that issue several times with Summit and other companies with products that cannot be shipped to California. I have made several trips to Summit, and I had to also make several trips to paint suppliers in Nevada to get the products needed to paint my car. Ironically though, if you do a bit of searching, there are a lot of companies in the other 49 states who do not give a crap about California law. They will ship products here even without the state's blessing. California governing is only going to get worse in this regard.. They don't like any cars that are not electric, and they despise gas burning collector/enthusiast cars almost as much as they hate people who own them.

I wanted to add, that would be unthinkable to me. The crimped lines are light and clean looking, but I cannot count how many times I have carefully measured for a hose assembly, then after building it found it was slightly too long or short or just changed my plans entirely. I actually considered buying a crimping machine....until I priced them.

I followed their recommendations, and yes it resulted in a huge cooler.

I find that curious, because with the Ultra Pro hose, the covering, be it braided stainless or fabric, is not in any way attached to the Teflon liner. With the retro braided stainless covered rubber hose...like Earl's "Classic", the stainless braid is solidly bonded to the rubber hose to achieve a high vacuum rating. With Ultra Pro the covering is just that...you can slide it right off the Teflon core. Hard to see how the covering has any impact on preventing the Teflon from collapsing, unless the steel braid's increased rigidity helps prevent the liner from becoming oblong or egg shaped as a prelude to a collapse. I couldn't find it on Earl's site, but I wager the vacuum rating of their "Performo-Flex" (standard steel braided rubber hose as been used for decades) hose is much higher. In fact, I wager that's why they don't list it. They consider it a "legacy" product and I think are more keen to sell the Ultra Pro. Like I said though, the old school stuff is really rigid and harder to work with.

I used Earl's Ultra-pro for oil, fuel, and coolant, the steel braided variety for fuel and oil and the fabric braided for coolant. I initially planned on using it just for fuel, because the Teflon lining is impervious to alcohol fuel additives, but I liked it so much I used it in the other applications as well. If you have ever used the traditional rubber-lined steel braided hose, I think the Ultra-pro is a huge improvement because it is much MUCH more flexible, and thus vastly easier to work with. I used the traditional rubber lined hose for my diff cooler plumbing, just because I had some laying around from another project, and I hate the stuff in comparison. It doesn't want to bend... I agree the steel braid probably isn't essential, but the rules require it for fuel lines that run through the passenger compartment (mine do for about a foot). It is also nice insurance for critical lines since the steel braid makes them pretty much immune to abrasion damage. I don't know if Gary advocates the Push Loc because he stocks it or he stocks it because he advocates it, but he tried to sell me a bunch of it when I was there. I'm sure it works well but I have just never felt right about push lock hoses (Earl's has their own variety) for critical applications involving any pressure. I used the Earl's push lock ("Super Stock" IIRC) for my crankcase breather hoses. For practical purposes I think XRP, Earl's, Aeroquip, Goodridge and Fragola are all pretty much equivalent brands. I have used all five brands over the years and cannot really even tell them apart. I would just avoid the Chinese copies like the plague. No oil tank heater. I did use this thermostat for the oil cooling: https://www.improvedracing.com/remote-engine-transmission-oil-filter-mount-with-thermostat-env-170.html

I added quite a bit of heat shielding before dropping in the engine and transmission. Most of it is DEI "Floor and Tunnel Shield II". The small rectangular shields on the frame rails are pieces of aluminum covered with the DEI stuff. I had thought that my brake lines and wiring harness were far enough from the headers to be safe, but then I saw a YouTube video detailing how someone else's LS3 swapped small car had completely lost brakes because the header heat burned through both fire sleeve and then the teflon lines. Although in this case it looked like his brake lines were only maybe one inch from the header tubes. Mine are four or five inches away, but it still seemed like the heat shields were a good idea. The floor/tunnel shield seems like a good product and sticks very well, but the high heat tape from DEI for covering gaps and edges was kind of....meh. It just doesn't stick as well as it should. I guess heat resistant adhesive just doesn't have the holding power of something like duct tape. Overall fairly slow progress, in large part because shipping is so screwed up it takes forever to get anything sent to me. I thought I would have the car making noise by Xmas, and that isn't going to happen. Thanks for looking.

Thank You! I would have started out with an overheating engine if I missed this...

This is good information. I Installed a heater (well, defroster really) in my car and when it is turned off I would have this same problem....flow between the heater hose ports would be blocked. Would it accomplish the same thing to plumb an "H" with AN fittings between the water pump and heater core, or does the LOJ part have other design features I am missing?

On my current build I used a total of seven cans of 3M cavity wax, inside all the frame rails and anyplace else where there is "blind" metal. Seven cans sounds like a lot but it goes pretty fast. This stuff really does seem to run into even the smallest cracks, and after applying it you will find it running out everywhere there was the slightest gap. I even applied a couple of coats inside the "A" pillars, because I tied the cage to them and the welding certainly burned off whatever was applied inside them at the factory. It can be endlessly debated the merits of weld through primer, epoxy, seam sealers, etc in the areas to which we have some level of access. However, there are many, many places on these cars wherein cavity wax applied with a "wand" is really your only option for corrosion protection. There is simply no other way to get at some areas. Just make certain you are 100% finished with painting and finishing before applying these waxes. It is quite a job to clean off adequately to allow paint....or anything else....to stick to surfaces they are applied onto.

It all is looking great. Be sure you give a lot of thought to how you are going to final weld all the awkward parts of the cage. The urge is to tightly tuck all the bars as close as possible to the bodywork, but if you go too far with this you can wind up with almost unsolvable welding access issues. In my case I found the welding of the bases of the main hoop and the "A" pillar bar to be....challenging....and I think I left a bit more room than it appears you have in mind. In retrospect it might have been easier to TIG weld those areas, using a big gas lens and lots of stick-out. Trying to MIG with an inch plus of wire stick-out basically just makes a mess.

I sure understand your goal here. I went with a Fidanza aluminum flwheel, which was fairly light (12# IIRC), but then used a Centerforce full sized clutch. I was blown away by how heavy the clutch pressure plate assembly was...to the point that I was wondering why I even bothered with a lightweight flywheel. I have another track car (not a Z) that uses a very lightweight racing clutch, and my use of that car is similar to your intended use. It is doable, but also pretty easy to stall in traffic if I don't concentrate on it. It is possible to slip it...a little....but overall it is pretty much binary...either "in" or "out". I have been using it for almost 15 years so I have to say it has held up well.

It's designed for drifting...but if I ever use it for that you can shoot me.... It's just a rear emergency brake. It has its own master cylinder and only activates the rear brakes. It also has a line-lock lever downstream which you can flip to use as a (temporary) parking brake. The car has no proper parking brake. Basically I won't be parking it on steep hills unless I want to chock the tires. Honestly...one of the big reasons I included the handbrake is in case I ever need to get rolling on a hill....lol. You know...to keep the car from rolling backwards.

Nevermind...a half dozen clamps, a lot of swearing, and perhaps 2-3 years off my life got the job done.

So anyone who has installed this glass, was it a complete and total PITA? If I try to put it in dry, the friction with the rubber seal is so great that I cannot get it to seat far enough inside the hatch frame for the "string technique" to work getting the seal over the inner frame lip. If I lube it with detergent/water, it seats inside the frame adequately but then sort of pops out like a watermelon seed... Out of desperation, I am thinking of using woodworking clamps to hold the glass/seal sufficiently inside the frame while I try to work the seal over the inner lip. Any hot tips/techniques I am missing? My hatch is aftermarket carbon fiber....wondering it is simply a bit undersized and hence all the trouble....

It probably won't help much, but I just wanted to add that my current setup is all Heim joints. I am going to run them, and if harshness and/or rapid wear become issues, I was going to try the r-joints as well.

Here is the hole in question. Like I said, I am pretty positive it is not a rust hole, and to me it looks deliberate. I don't know what to think. I'm filling it.

Few more photos of assembly, mostly related to the fuel cell, plumbing, and rear car wiring. Back up camera:

Weird. There is no evidence there was ever rust there, so all I can guess is that it was a thin spot in the metal that was cut through when the car was media blasted, which really makes very little sense. I'll post a pic tomorrow. In the meantime I'm going to fill it in. Thanks for all the input.