JMortensen

The control arms are very slightly different but I believe they interchange with no problems. Haven't done it myself. If you're running skinny tires and not drag racing then the 240 stubs should hold up. If you're going to be flared on DRs and headed to the strip every weekend then you'll need to upgrade the stubs.

Not so simple. The 280 strut is longer and has the spring perch in a different spot, and also has a thicker rubber insulator on top. It will lift the back end of your Z way up in the air. If you section the struts and relocate the spring perch it will work. If you don't want to do all of that then just buy or make a spindle pin puller or have them pressed out. If you want the 280 stub axles swap them into the 240 strut housings. They fit right in and take the same bearings and seal. You can use this as an excuse to replace the wheel bearings too. If you aren't pushing a whole bunch of power you probably don't need to swap the stubs.

Dude you need to read about these carbs before you start playing with jetting. There is no 3 psi jet. The fuel pressure will come from a fuel pressure regulator. Read before you adjust ANYTHING. If you did adjust the idle circuits (the screws with the springs on them) the turn them all the way back down and open them back up 1.5 turns. Then leave everything alone until you learn more about them. Otherwise you're just going to screw **** up.

The R200's do not share all the same bearings. My 300ZXT diff had a different inner pinion bearing than my 86 200SXT diff. I think everything else was the same IIRC. If you knew what car it came from you might be able to call Nissan and figure it out. I think AZC got all of their diffs from R32 Skylines, not absolutely sure on that though.

Fun video. Looks like you thoroughly enjoy your Z.

First thing to do is use the search function. You'll find there have been many threads on suspension and spring choices. Then start looking on ebay. I got the Tokico Illuminas for about $10 more each than MSA has the Tokico Blues from a regular ebay seller. I think you can get the blues for about $50 each. Not sure about those springs, but if you search you'll find other info good and bad about the common spring setups. Tokico, Arizona Z Car, Suspension Techniques, and MSA have stock size springs.

It is true that Mikunis aren't as street friendly as SU's, but if you get terrible mileage or terrible driveability the answer is probably the driver or the tuner of the carbs. My 44s on an L28 with a cam got mid 20's highway, which is equal to most SU carbed Zs. In town was worse, but that's more because I couldn't keep my foot out of it. I'd suggest a narrowband O2, as they cost $30 or so, then hook that to a voltmeter. That will tell you what the air/fuel ratios are and you can get them reasonably close that way.

My ex-boss's kid raced go karts. His 5 hp Briggs put out 14 hp, ran 14:1 compression and ran on methanol. Are you sure this one isn't in need of some different fuel?

I drove my 240 with cam, triples, and light flywheel to work every day for 4 years in stop and go. As for books, How to Modify Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine has a pretty good writeup on Mikunis.

Got the stock seat brackets out today and all the holes in the floor welded back up. What a bitch!!! Tomorrow hopefully I'll get the tubing cut and welded and get the seat in and fitted.

Yours sucks Alex.

Friend of mine had the turbo and it was a POS. Not sure if it was just his or indicative of the breed, but he had several turbos go out. He also installed a CFDF clutch which wiped out the thrust bearings in the engine so it had to be rebuilt. Based on his experience I wouldn't buy one.

I think he has that out already if he could pivot the swingarm as far as it is in the picture. The answer is getting the spindle pins out is a ROYAL PITA! There is a spindle pin removal tool that was floating around Hybrid Z for awhile. You might want to see if you can track it down. Otherwise the most prudent thing to do is take the strut/control arm assy to a machininst and have them press the pin out. Some claim that you can hammer the pin out, but not in my experience.

Yep, I cut my shells out too. Do it on the end where the control arm is so that if you do cut past the shell a bit it doesn't weaken the arm. I used a sawzall until it was close, then used a hacksaw the rest of the way.

Mine has been down for 2 years now. It was one of those things where I was always missing time, $$$, tools, or parts. I've made some slow progress in that time, but now I have enough of everything that I can get some projects completed. It sucks, and as everyone will tell you there are times when you just want sell the f'in thing, but stick with it and take your time. Better it takes another year and comes out right IMO.

If I were to follow Cary's basic guidline then the area of the 1.75" tubing is 3.14 x .875 x .875 = 2.404 in sq. If I went 4x that, I'd need 9.6" sq. I have some 3" wide strap .120" and I could do a 3 x 3.5 and get 4x the area. That seems awful small, doesn't it? Might go 3" x 8" or maybe 3 x 6. I already have the strut tower bar welded in so I kinda want to leave that area alone.

The ad says that it has stainless 280 valves. I would assume that it has the appropriate seats as well. You're right, modding the pistons would take some time and $$$, but I think that if you're willing to do that then it really doesn't make much difference which head you start with. And think of all the money you could save on headwork and cam and valvetrain. I'm guessing $3000 to build that head at the very least.

If I were building an L engine I'd buy that head. Then I'd get some domed pistons and contour them to get quench on the nice flat slope of the chamber. That would be a great head for somebody building a really high compression NA engine.

Ricky that is pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for the pics.

On the seat mounting I'm talking about 2 square tubes across from the rocker to the transmission tunnel. The sliders have a long frame which will straddle the two tubes lengthwise. At the end of the sliders is a piece of metal that bends down about 2" and has 3 holes in it so that you can put raise or lower the seat, or change the angle by mounting to the bottom hole in front and the top hole in back, etc. I don't want to go quite so low as to put the 1" tubing on the ground, so instead I'm thinking about mounting it up off of the floor about an inch, then making little supports that go down to the floor so that the vertical load isn't really supported by the transmission tunnel. Does that make any sense? I wish I could upload pics...

Another little trick which is too late to help you but might help someone else is to use a 19mm 12 point socket on the square plug. Fits right on then you can use a breaker bar or long ratchet on that or even just double wrench it.

Because I don't have an appropriate saw to cut the tube lengthwise, and with the tools I have it would be such a PITA that I'd rather just weld it in as is. I think I've got a bit of a plan figured out. I'm going to do the 1" tube with a small maybe 1.5 x 1.5 plate on the ends, then maybe run one little pedestal to the floor on either end to support the vertical load, with another 1.5 x 1.5 plate on the floor. I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who has made similar mounts on his 510s in the past with no trouble. If anyone has a better idea I'm all ears. One more question for you John, since I have your attention. How big does the plate need to be where I attach the roll bar tube to the rear strut tower?

Tried to post a pic of the slider, can't get pics uploaded.

Why can't I just stitch the tube to the floor? I guess I'm not getting the importance of not cutting the floor, especially if it gets welded back to the tube. Had a little brainstorm after your first response though. I "unwelded" my recaro sliders and I think I can use them. They have a piece at each end that bends down that has 3 height adjusting holes in it. So I figure I can weld a piece of the square tube to the floor and trans tunnel at the proper spacing to use the old sliders. Then I can weld the appropriate nuts into the tubing using your previously described method. It will still call for the tubing to be a bit off the ground though, probably 1/2" or so. I understand what you mean about attaching the bracket to the floor all the way across. I do have a bunch of sheet metal. Wondering if I couldn't weld that to the square tube and to the floor across to spread the load along the floor...

My wife actually races the car every once in a great while. I'd like to keep it so that she could drive when she wanted. It's really hard to get her out there, but she LOVES it when she goes. She actually spun the car at Buttonwillow once. I was so proud...