JMortensen

It has the degrees on the damper itself. Not just one notch for TDC, but it has one for 5º ATDC and 4 or 5 at 5º intervals for BTDC. You don't use either of those plates with the degrees on it. You use the pointer (just a pointer) from the 240.

So far I like these in this order: "While I'm at it" "Does THIS void my warranty?" "Making what should have been a reality" As for my own contribution I'll have to add "Stock is only fast enough if you haven't driven a hybrid yet" "You don't want to know" "Think, Build, Drive" Or the take off from the Nissan slogan: "Shift_a couple hundred hp"

OK, maybe these pics will help. The clevis was cut off of the rear strut towers. My old strut tower bar setup used these clevises, but John and Drax convinced me to weld a solid bar in there. Thanks for that guys. So here's the idea. Build basically a triangular extension off of the frame, then put the bolt down vertically through it so that it sticks out the bottom. Use spacers to set the height of the rod end, and a nut on the end to hold it all together. That is a 1/2" bolt and the actual bolt would be 5/8", but that was the only one I had to use for the model. This is kind of similar to the BMW front LCA mount that John showed in another thread which had a stud sticking directly down out of a frame rail, or for a Z comparison it might be sort of like the Mustache bar bolts which stick straight down through the frame. Only on the end of this bolt would be a series of spacers (bumpsteer spacers is what I was going to use) which I could reposition as needed to move the pivot up or down. I was going to do it in single shear, with the bolt supported along several braces within the frame rail, and the end of the bolt sticking down to accept the rod end. My frame rail on the passenger side is really beat up behind the TC bucket. I think the PO must have done some off roading or run over a curb or something. I know that the car is still straight because I never had any thrust angle alignment issues on the car, but I'd like to cut that crappy section in red in the last pic completely off the frame rail if I can. The original idea was to use 2 clevises and weld them one on top of the other to the side of the frame rail, but they are obviously too tall. You can see that if I were to use the clevis the TC pivot would be further inboard of the stock pivot location. I was going to make a triangular frame extension there and then drill the hole in the correct location, which locates the center of the pivot bolt .625" inside the frame rail. The more I think about it the more I'm questioning John's idea that the A to B junction NEEDS to be at 90º. Seems like the rod end I'm using on the LCA pivot can still move straight regardless of the angle that exists there. In fact that was why I went to the rod end in the first place. When I added a bunch of caster the LCA bushing was REALLY tweaked, and the rod end got rid of the stiction there. If I'm missing something and it was preferable to have the LCA at 90º from the frame rail I could always change the spacers on either side of the rod end to square it up, but I really don't think that this is an issue at all (although it would be a BIG issue if you're using bushings which can't handle the misalignment). Also had another thought relating to 74's idea. I could weld a piece of square tubing to the bottom of the frame rail as he did, then drill a hole through it and have my bolt in double shear, and space it up and down as in Cary's picture. Kind of a combo of 74's idea and Cary's. I just don't like that it would be supported at the top on the one side of the box only. My idea gives more structure to the area that supports the bolt I think. Cary, I don't think I'll use your idea as pictured on my car for a couple reasons. One, getting the original TC rod box off the frame rail is a goal, if it can be done. Two, your design would move the pivot further inboard of the frame rail, which would mean that I'd need to move the LCA pivot inboard to match. That's not a bad idea at all, but it would mean that I'd have to redo my LCA's again because their length is close to maxed out as it is. I know it would be technically a better solution to lengthen the TC and the LCA, but I've got enough crap on my plate for now...

You must be referring to the timing plate under the distributor then??? If so I never used that one to actually time the car, so I don't know the answer. Sorry.

I've got a box of bolts that I got from http://www.mcmaster.com. They are 10 x 1.25 x 40mm. I have 10 left. They are allen head bolts, 12.9 metric, with a ridiculous tensile strength of 129,000 psi or something like that. I seem to remember getting the spec on the bolts from Mark Belrose who races a CP car with the vented 300ZX setup. If you can verify that they're the right length I'll happily donate them to your cause.

The Euro Damper has the notches in it and uses a pointer like a 240.

I had the SCCA legal bar and had the harness bar on it. I welded another harness bar onto it because the original was too low, so the angle of the seatbelt was pretty steep to get over the top of the Recaro seats I was using. Plus it had to go over the seat stop bracket thingy which was FLIMSY. I put my new harness bar between the rear support braces and it reduced the angle of the seatbelts considerably. I later sold it to Auxilary. He might be nice enough to shoot a pic or two if you say please... I can't remember what the acceptable seat belt angle is, but I can tell you that if the mount is too low and the seatbelt goes up sharply over the back of the seat and then down sharply across your chest like this ^ then when you get in an accident when your body moves forward it will also force your torso down, compressing your spine and potentially causing much greater damage. The Honda ricers with their "race harnesses" latched into the rear passenger seats or worse yet the floorboard behind the seats are asking for a paralyzing spinal injury.

I'm saying that the HALFSHAFTS are the same between the R160, R180, and R200. Again, I forgot that your halfshaft with the stub built into it even existed. I don't know if the R180 and R200 stub shafts are the same spline or not. I'd guess not, but then I do know that they are the same on the R180 and R190. The main difference I can see is that the R200 stub shafts are retained by a circlip. I think the early R180 bolt in, and the later ones have a circlip, but I'm not an expert on the 180 so definitely double check me on that one. Whether or not they'll plug in, that one I can't help you with. Maybe someone like zcarnut could help you out with that question.

Not all mechanics are crooks, but on the other hand not all mechanics know their *** from a hole in the ground either. Trust me, I was once a 17 year old high school graduate who had just won the SoCal division of the Chrysler Troubleshooting Contest working as a mechanic. That contest win gave me the impression that I knew WTF I was talking about. In retrospect I think I would have had trouble distinguishing my *** from a hole in the ground at that point in my life. Even when I was 25 and working as a Porsche mechanic, my knowledge of different car systems was severely lacking compared to what it is now, and I still hope to one day know enough to feel like an "expert". Sounds to me like you need to find somebody who isn't an idiot to fix the car. Also try and find a shop that will diagnose the problem free of charge, or at least agree to only charge for the diagnosis if they are actually able to fix the problem. Also I'd like to third the roundtop SU suggestion. Regardless of how well the DGVs are tuned they aren't going to as good as properly tuned SU's.

Oh, forgot that that type of halfshaft existed. I don't think there is a length difference, but you can check against the measurements on John's site. I believe all the R200's are the type with the separate flange. I believe you can run your axles no problem, but testing the breakaway is going to be a little more tricky. I guess you'll have to test at the stub axles, not sure if running the test through the U-joints is going to change the torque values much. Plus you'll have to reinstall the diff every time you want to test it. Might be worth it to see if you can find those side stubs too, if only for testing.

Not so sure about that. The later 911 engines had ceramic coated ports. Every once in a while you'll find one port that doesn't have any coating it it. It has cracked off and traveled through the engine. When I worked at a Porsche shop years ago we saw a bunch of these as we were doing rebuilds for worn out engines, but never saw an engine that was destroyed or had any noticeable damage from the coating going thru.

I traced the friction plate (with the tabs on the outside) and cut the shape out with a pair of meat scissors. I installed them on the outside of the clutch pack. So it is shim, thick washer spacer thing, then clutches. You could clearly see on mine that the thick spacer thing had never moved as it was stained by the oil. That means that you could probably just cut the shims to the donut shape of the spacer and it would probably be fine. I just did mine so that the tabs would keep them centered while I put it all back together.

Priceless!!!

I just got back from Whistler, BC last night. Fun time, great skiing, but look out American tourists!!! Canadians will see a "MERGE" sign, go 70% of the way around the corner, then where the two roads actually come together they'll stomp on the brakes. Even if there are NO cars coming. We drove into Canada and got onto the freeway which was a cloverleaf style onramp. At the end of the onramp was the infamous "MERGE" sign. I began to speed up to match the speed of traffic on the freeway because I obviously hadn't taken into account the French translation of "merge" which apparently means come to a stop, wait for the freeway traffic to change lanes to avoid your car entering the freeway at 10 km/h, then turn left onto the freeway. So I'm speeding up and looking over my shoulder to see the traffic I'll have to (in the US sense) "merge" with. Unfortunately, the delivery van in the front of the line of traffic I'm in is using the French translation, and only the panic screams of my wife saved us from disaster. He was STOPPED, not slowly moving, but STOPPED at the end of the onramp. Also, when you're driving along on the freeway and there is an onramp, ALL of the cars in the right lane will SIMULTANEOUSLY change to the left lane at the mere sight of a "MERGE" sign. This was more humorous than anything else. Synchonized lane changes (and we once saw a line of 15 cars do it perfectly synchronized) are much less dangerous than "merging". They are no doubt doing it to avoid the deadly delivery vans entering the freeway at 10km/h. Again, right at the end of the trip only about 10 minutes from the motherland, I was following a Mustang driven by an American that was following a Mercedes driven by a Canadian. Real simple 4 way perpendicular intersection with something off an "offramp" that merges the right turn that I was making onto the other street. There were NO cars coming that the Mercedes would need to merge with. There was enough open space that the Mustang didn't have anyone to merge with either. Needless to say, the Mercedes drives almost all the way around the corner then stomps on the brakes, right as I'm looking over my shoulder to see if there are any cars I'll have to merge with. My wife screams "STOP!!!" and I used the ABS in the GMC, and we narrowly avoided an accident. I think part of the problem was that the Mustang also wasn't expecting this guy to come to a near stop to "merge" with the non-existant traffic on the road either, so we kind of accordioned a bit. Luckily no one hit anyone. So beware, and next time your wife is back seat driving, thank her. She just might save you from a Canadian... PS- It's pronounced "Coca-NEE" not "Ko-KAH-nee". Had a pretty good laugh over that one...

Sure. That is not a possibility. Or at least not a bolt in. The S130 uses semi-trailing arm suspension. Your Z uses lower control arms. Totally different. The Z31 I think also has semi-trailing arms. So none of that stuff bolts onto your Z. You'd have to REALLY modify everything, and then you'd end up with a questionable end result of having semi-trailing arm suspension with all of it's squat and toe change. The easiest thing to do is use the Z31 CVs with Modern Motorsports CV adapters. You can get the billet adapter, or just send them your old companion flange and they'll weld on an adapter and ship it back to you. EDIT--Scratch that. You have a 280ZX. I should read more closely before I open my mouth. I don't know the answer to this question... No, but it will bolt onto a 280Z R200 pinion flange. Basically you need to pull the pinion nut, then pull the flange off, put the new pinion flange on, and put the nut back on. You can get a new nut from Nissan, and you can make a good argument for doing that, but I'd just red loctite it and put it on TIGHT. I seem to remember the correct torque spec being ~150 ft/lbs.

Bad Dog is working on a subframe connector too.

OK, I see where you're going. I'll try to get some sort of a visual representation of what I'm thinking once I get home, so probably tomorrow. I've got some frame rail damage behind the TC boxes, so eliminating those completely means that I get the side benefit of not having to repair that area... Thanks!

If you're using the MM arms you don't have to pull the pins. You can unscrew the ends with the bushings, slide them over the pins, then connect them to the rest of the control arm. At least that's what Ross was saying a while back. I have no experience with the arms myself.

Well there you have it. John said the 240 door with glass was 45 lbs, 74 says the 260 door is 67 lbs, so 22 lbs is the difference.

ttt Cary, you out there?

Always liked a white Z. Like the flares bolted on rather than glassed in too. Very nice.

I'm out of the country for a couple more days. PM me and I'll get it taken care of as soon as I get back. Thanks Mat!

As long as we're comparing, I was running 5.5 degrees with a 250/45/15 Yokohama slick that is kind of a hard compound, I'd say simlar to a Kuhmo but I never did have a durometer to check it against anything else.

As long as we're comparing, I was running 5.5 degrees with a 250/45/15 Yokohama slick that is kind of a hard compound, I'd say simlar to a Kuhmo but I never did have a durometer to check it against anything else.

Stick with the shims in the 3.9 housing. Check the backlash on the 3.9 diff before and after. I put my LSD in a 4.11 housing and it opened up .0005".