JMortensen

The 300ZXT flange is a 4 bolt. The 280ZXT flange is a 6 bolt IIRC. Also the 300ZXT CV is longer, so the adapter has to be thinner to work.

It is possible for the diff to hit the floor. When the strap goes and the front mount goes, the mustache bar is really the only other thing holding the diff down when you accelerate. It works like a spring and can actually spring enough to allow the front end to wind up and hit stuff under the car. A friend of mine with an R180 has taken out her e-brake mechanism and then the driveshaft put dents in the tranny tunnel (!) when the strap and front mount failed.

You can't post until you've been a member for a while. Not sure what the time requirement is. A search should clear it up for you.

Just to show the other side of that coin, when I worked for a Volvo dealer we had a guy with a 740 Turbo who had 750,000 miles on his car and always had the oil changed at 5000. Dino oil not synthetic too. You get up above a certain mileage (think it's 300,000) and Volvo sends you a little badge for your grille. This guy had a couple...

Actually it's the TEP one you have to remove all the time. You have to pull the whole TEP to adjust the valves. The center link of the PDK comes out, so unless you were working on the clutch or brake master the PDK is pretty much out of the way. EDIT--I just realized you have a V8. I still can't think of anything that you'd need to do on a V8 that would require removal of anything other than the main crossbar.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103990 Sounds like countershaft bearings again. I wouldn't worry about it. What eventually will happen is it will start to pop out of gear on decel. That's the time to really be concerned. A friend of mine had her ZX 5 speed rebuilt 3 times because of that noise. 3 times the noise came back within ~3 weeks. I need to get into my transmission here pretty soon. My transmission made that noise when I installed it about 40K miles ago, and started popping out on decel about 1000 miles ago. My plan is to tack weld the mainshaft nut on so that it can't back off. I'm also going to run safety wire through the roll pins that hold the gear selector forks on. I've heard they have a tendency to vibrate out under racing conditions. EDIT No clue about your tapping noise at 55 mph BTW.

The splines on the stub axle and companion flange wear, and this causes play like you're describing. Replace the one side at least. You should also replace the bearings and seal in there since they're not easy to get to. Pop gives good advice, search about the stub axle removal. Especially the nut. Gotta take that nut off the right way or else you've made a whole lot more work for yourself.

What I'm getting out of this is that it's the stiction of the sway bar that keeps the suspension from coming up, not so much the weight of the sway bar. I guess that makes sense because the poly end link bushings are pretty bound when installed so they are going to resist drooping. You could get some rod end sway bar end links to reduce stiction and shim under the middle bushings to get the preload out of those bushings. EDIT--If that is the reason for removing the sway bar, TC rods and control arms with rod ends would probably help out at least as much as the sway bar...

FD is the last generation of RX7.

It's slightly bigger and a whole lot better than the one I'm using right now. I would prefer a bigger one for sure, but what I have works at least to a minimal degree.

That does seem overpriced. I've been buying some stuff from http://www.onlinemetals.com because they're about 15 minutes from my house. They are pretty overpriced IMO, and they have the 2 x 3 square tube .083 wall for $33.75 for a 7' long stick. They didn't have 18 gauge sheet on their website, but I'd bet that is about 1/2 the cost of what you're talking about from the other place. Also a lot of places charge a LOT more if you have them cut the pieces down. You might want to check what the price is for a whole sheet of 18 gauge (probably 4' x 8'), and a whole stick of 2 x 3 (probably 20' long).

If the shaft were longer it would be less stiff. Maybe they're counting on a torsion spring type action from the prop shaft??? Just a SWAG.

Just out of curiosity, what makes the tires you're running now "too short". 205 is small for a track tire, but is the smaller diameter causing you to run out of gear at the end of the straightaway or what? Generally you can get a Z lower and still retain suspension travel with a shorter tire, which is a good thing.

If you're just running air tools I say go for it. Since the tank is smallish the compressor might run a lot and run out from time to time especially if you're using cutoff wheels and die grinders, but since it's so quiet and its IR with 100% duty cycle who cares.

True enough...

Seen it up close, VERY quiet, tank is a bit small, compressor is a bit small. Vertical tank saves lots of room Good garage unit.

Didn't I already answer that question for you?

Just like for the 9" there are chromoly aftermarket axles for the 44 that are much stronger than the originals. Definitely want the highest spline count you can get for sure. The axle length in a Z is going to be significantly shorter than that in a 4x4, and that makes them stronger. One more comparison point. What are people putting through the 27 spline MM stub axles? Compare that to what they can put through a straight axle with a full chromoly 30 spline axle, with no CV joints. I think the D44 would be a lot stronger... About your traction in dirt comment. I don't even agree about the traction thing if you're talking plain ol dirt. Think about the size of the tire. That gives it a LOT more leverage on the axle shaft itself than a smaller drag tire on a street car. But then you get into these rock crawling guys, who are BRUTAL on the diffs, and I would argue that they can put maybe 2 or 3 times the torque to the diff that a drag racer can. When the vehicle is on a 45º slope bouncing up and down trying to get over a big rock that's a LOT of stress on the axles. Whole lot of stress. Oh, forgot to mention that the off road truck is generally close to twice the weight of a Z. Let me put it this way. I've seen a lot of diff carnage. The carnage I saw when I worked for Randy's Ring and Pinion was almost all 4x4 stuff. I'd say 90%. I've seen a driveshaft for a 4x4 that was twisted into a screw shape. I've seen axles twisted off at the carrier. Ring gears with 1/2 their teeth sheared off. Etc, etc. The stuff from the cars was usually a couple pinion teeth broken or the U-joints busted or burned up gears. I still agree that a 9 would be the strongest build (with an upgraded 3rd member), followed by a 12 bolt, followed by an 8.8, followed by the 44. It's definitely not the strongest thing out there. I'm just saying that I think you're underrating the 44.

Agree with everything you said Doc, but 400 hp in a 4x4 which again is going to run big tires, probably a locker or a spool and go mudding or rock crawling is worth quite a bit more hp in a light sports car, even one that drag races on slicks. Also just cause I think it's interesting I thought I might mention that the new Nissan Titan truck has a D44 in back.

The stock rotor swap uses 79-85 Toyota 4x4 calipers. It fits under 14" 6 spoke ZX wheels, so it should fit your 15's no problem.

Well mine haven't sold at the bargain basement price of $400, so don't get your hopes up.

If you're smart you'll ask "Why a V8 and not an L6?" in the V8 forum before you make your final decision.

I believe those are Tabco panels, and I believe Tabco gives free shipping... As a side note, nobody has taken me up on my $400 tail lights yet. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19089

I betcha there's been a lot of development of the D44 in the last 50 years... D44 is the rear of choice for the smaller Jeeps, CJ, YJ, XJ, etc. for rock crawling which is REALLY hard on diffs. You guys think drag racing is tough, you ought to see these guys stuck on a rock and literally bouncing the whole rig up and down on 38" tires with 8 lbs of air in them. Talk about shock load... Not to mention the D44 comes in the back of the Viper and older Vettes. The diff Scottie went 10 secs on was a D44 or a D36, I am pretty sure his was the D44. You might want to try and compare the two, or at least find out the max potential of both. The thing to do for a solid axle D44 is start looking at off road magazine articles and websites and see what people are doing to beef them up. I wouldn't count the D44 out, although the full floater 9" that Tim suggests is basically a NASCAR rear end and is going to be stronger and maybe even cheaper with the number of circle track guys out there. Check circle track magazines and suppliers for the 9" stuff.