JMortensen

"Uncle Joe" Benson is a DJ in the LA area who races a 300ZX. http://unclejoe.com/racing/300zx.htm

I also used a little PST on the threads and stuck them in. Epoxy seems overkill.

When I removed my framerails I started using a drill bit, and I kept going through. Someone suggested using a cutoff wheel, and that worked a lot better. Might be some spots at the front and back of the rocker where it would be hard to get a cutoff wheel in position, but if you have one, it works good on the ones with good accessibility.

The rear is the same as the front but it has a spacer under the strut. Pull the spacer off and then you'll have another front.

Hmm... short memory Dan? Didn't you also recurve your 240 distributor to roughly the same curve (17 degrees @2500 rpm) as the ZX distributor? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=95880 Seems to me the ZX is just easier and you don't have to mess with it to get the timing right, although if you want it set up right you most likely will have to either fix or eliminate the vacuum advance mechanism.

They should be just what you said, and as long as the extra length doesn't cause the hose to get wrapped up in the halfshafts or something stupid like that I'd think it would be fine.

I gotta disagree with this. I ran mine on 1 or 2 on the street and it was fine. At autox I'd put it up to 3 or 4 and occasionally tried 5, but mostly 4 on the track. For the street 1 or 2 works just fine with the 200 to 250 rates and doesn't bounce or buck or do anything stupid IME.

I gotta disagree with this. I ran mine on 1 or 2 on the street and it was fine. At autox I'd put it up to 3 or 4 and occasionally tried 5, but mostly 4 on the track. For the street 1 or 2 works just fine with the 200 to 250 rates and doesn't bounce or buck or do anything stupid IME.

That's what works on my car to get the front end to turn. Search spring rates and you'll find that in sweeping overly general terms east coast road racers with their high speed super smooth tracks tend to like stiffer front springs, while out west we have bumpier tracks with tighter slow sections so we like it set the other way. It's an overgeneralization, but that seems to be the trend.

That's what works on my car to get the front end to turn. Search spring rates and you'll find that in sweeping overly general terms east coast road racers with their high speed super smooth tracks tend to like stiffer front springs, while out west we have bumpier tracks with tighter slow sections so we like it set the other way. It's an overgeneralization, but that seems to be the trend.

The strut has a lot to do with how the car rides, dherde26. As olderthanme points out, Illuminas on 5 ride a lot different than Illuminas on 1 (5 on the street is ridiculous BTW, try 1 or 2). So even if the spring rate were reasonable I'm guessing that the way the strut is valved is not reasonable for the street. 225/250s with Illuminas is a good compromise setup and I wouldn't want to go too much farther than that for a street car. I have 200/250 with Illuminas and I didn't pee blood when I drove it daily, but it was definitely on the stiff side.

The strut has a lot to do with how the car rides, dherde26. As olderthanme points out, Illuminas on 5 ride a lot different than Illuminas on 1 (5 on the street is ridiculous BTW, try 1 or 2). So even if the spring rate were reasonable I'm guessing that the way the strut is valved is not reasonable for the street. 225/250s with Illuminas is a good compromise setup and I wouldn't want to go too much farther than that for a street car. I have 200/250 with Illuminas and I didn't pee blood when I drove it daily, but it was definitely on the stiff side.

I'd be shocked if this shop was able to give you an estimate on swapping to CV joints. This is not R&Ring a water pump or doing a brake job we're talking about here. They can't look it up in a book. You'd be extremely lucky if you found a shop that knew that you could swap CV's into an S30 at all, let alone where to get all the parts, etc. If you want the shop to swap you over to CV's you should buy all the parts necessary and take them to the shop and have them installed, but again, based on the shops previous estimates I'd get my car the hell out of there. They already wanted to overcharge you by $700 or $800.

I'd suggest you fix the one U-joint that's bad and check the others for wear. If they're not worn don't replace them. Maybe consider a CV swap if it happens again. The CV's are much stronger and can handle more misalignment. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=109183& Find a different shop too. That place sounds like they don't know what they're doing and they're ripping you off. $750 for U-joints, even if you replaced all 6 (4 on the halfshafts and 2 on the driveshaft) seems about $650 too high. http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SDC01B http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SDC01A

Maybe we should make the linked thread a sticky? This is one of those recurring questions... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106317

Well, Porsche guys swear by SWEPCO, and I love it in my brass synchroed trans with the ATF, so I'd have to say it does just fine.

You're both right. By cutting a spring's length the spring gets stiffer. So what this gizmo does as far as I can tell is that it locks out part of the spring, essentially the same as cutting it. The problems I can see is that especially with coilovers there are coil bind issues with too short a spring, and it's already so easy to change a spring out, and when you cut a spring it doesn't dramatically change the rate. With that in mind I just wonder if there will be any need for this product.

Don't worry about the module, you don't need it with the 6AL. Just run the wires that do go to the module to the trigger wiring on the MSD. Even if you wanted to run the module (bad idea but you could) you can substitute the GM HEI module or a Chrysler module that you can get at any auto parts store for $15. I agree that the ZX distributor is the way to go. It has a better timing curve than the 240Z distributor. Look out for the vacuum advance mechanism. They self-destruct all the time. If you're looking for max performance just eliminate the vacuum setup and run timing at between 15-20 degrees at idle.

The only noise my coilovers have ever made was one time when I set the car down the spring didn't settle on the seat correctly. It made one loud BONG! noise when it did settle. You should check to make sure that the spring is sitting on the threaded adjuster and the top hat correctly. Other than that there isn't much to make noise. If your spring did fall off of the top hat, when you put it back in you can zip tie or safety wire the spring in there next time. There are holes in the top hat to do this with.

Or you can take a Dremel and grind one sliver out of the bushing. Once you cut it it looses its press fit on the hole in the crank and comes out easily.

That's what I did too. Cheaper than to buy one 180 than 2 90s.

Buy the bends from Summit or Jegs or JC Whitney, then take them to an exhaust shop. If you're looking to save $$$, buy your muffler through mail order too. I paid $17 for my Dynomax UltraFlo through Jegs when they were on sale (mail in rebate, but it was worth it for $50!). I think the local muffler shop will probably want $100 for the same muffler.

Fabrication on the rear bar is done. I did 2 plug welds and then went all the way around the perimeter. I think that's going to be enough. Looks strong. We shall see. I did screw one thing up a bit, but I have a half assed easy fix for it. You can see in the pictures that the passenger side end links line up pretty much straight up and down, and the drivers side is not straight at all. In fact its straighter if I put it on the middle hole for the bar and leave it in the 3rd hole for the control arm. I looked at it and there were a series of steps where I kinda had to guess where things were going to go: the bar stock placement at the end of the bar, the angle iron placement on the control arms, the bends of the swaybar, the cut at the end of the swaybar. Well, they all added up to create this dilemma. The good news is that I have enough room to put another hole in the end of the bar on that side, and the end link doesn't hit anything, so I will drill that extra hole and end up with 7 adjustments. After all, it doesn't matter if one side of the bar is in a different hole than the other, because the effect of the swaybar is controlled by both ends, not one or the other. So it will be, uh, unique! That's it! Unique!!! Now I just need to do the front bar. That end should be easier (famous last words) because there shouldn't be so much of an issue with the end link length.

There are also many racing dual master cylinder setups out there that do not use a booster. They generally have a better leverage ratio than the boosted ones do, so you don't have to push on the brake pedal so hard. Do a search or better yet hit a circle track parts website like http://www.behrents.com or http://www.pitstopusa.com and look there and you'll find a whole bunch of them. Tilton is probably the most popular, then Wilwood.

I own handguns and won't give them up, so MD is out for me. Still tentatively looking in the NC area, but increasingly thinking we'll stay out west.