JMortensen

I sold my Autopower bar to Auxilary. I added a bar for the harness and tried to get it as close to level with the seat back as possible. Worked really well. I don't know what that thin piece is for, but you can flex it by hand once the bar is mounted. I wasn't going to trust that thing to hold my belts. If you email me I'll send you some pics, or you can PM Aux, I'm sure he has some too. Jon

If you can find a rebuild kit then you can pull it apart clean up any burrs, replace the seals and reassemble. The easiest way I've found to remove a stuck piston is take the caliper off, hold the piston that moves with a c clamp, then put compressed air to the nipple on the caliper. Use a regular old air spray tip with a rubber end and just hold it against the nipple and let er rip. When the piston comes out it will splatter brake fluid, so don't do this right next to your car (and make sure you don't have a finger in there when it goes). Make sure the piston and the caliper don't have any burrs in it before you reassemble. A stuck piston will probably make it pull to one side under braking and will wear the pads unevenly and is just not safe, so you should really fix it ASAP. Jon

It almost looks like you could take the rear shifter extender thingy off (looks like it bolts on???) and have the shifter in pretty close to the right place. Other than that it looks heavy. Is that just the picture adding 40 lbs? Have you weighed it? Jon

Nice pic Aux! If you look at the pic you can see one distinguishing feature that I'm 99% sure the VLSD won't have. The cross pin hole in the carrier with the V shaped hole. You can see it really clearly in Aux's pic. There would be no reason for the V shaped hole in a VLSD. Jon

IIRC, there was a different spline count on the VLSD. If you could dig around and find that, you could just count the splines and know for sure. Sorry I can't help more. Jon

Don't really know what's needed. Maybe CV adapters would do it. I'm just not sure. You can make a case for or against the VLSD system, but I personally like the clutch style. VLSD has to have build oil pressure in the carrier from spinning a tire before it reacts. Clutch type works all the time. The case for the VLSD would be that the clutch type works all the time, so it makes turn in not quite as good because it wants both rear tires to go the same speed, and you have to overcome that resistance before they start to differentiate. Jon

Fords are notorious for the modules heating up and not working on the V8's and V6's I think, not sure about the 4 cyl. You let the car sit for 1/2 hour, then it runs fine. Drive around a little, and it dies again. That sounds like datsunlover's boss's problem. Jon

The normal U joint shafts have a CV boot looking thing in the middle. Only a 280ZX Turbo and 300ZX had the CV jointed shafts. The only factory LSD's in the original R200 are the 87-89 Turbo 300ZX's to my knowledge, and they did make an 88 with a viscous LSD which takes different side shafts, so is generally avoided. Jon

I was fine until today. Now I am having problems. Running IE if that helps. I know you've been getting a lot of pats on the back lately Dan, but thanks again from one more hybridz addict. Jon

'92 911 Turbo with HUGE turbo, HUGE intercooler and Tec II. The owner said 550 hp, I think he might have been a little low. Step on the gas and as the boost came on you could feel the foam in the headrest compressing and your head sinking deeper and deeper into it as the boost kept rising. I was wondering if I was going to feel the seat frame eventually if I kept my foot in it. I've been a passenger in a GSX with 400+ hp running 28 lbs of boost, and it didn't even come close to that 911... Jon

You can tell someone to F off with out using curse words. I know that forums and emails are notoriously bad for this, but IMO what has no place on this or any forum is being rude or confrontational with others. It's hard to determine that sometimes, and some people write in a way that others read as rude, when that is not the intention. We all get our hackles up sometimes, and say or type things we shouldn't, but being a jerk is so much more unacceptable to me than a curse word. Maybe that's because I grew up listening to Carlin... Jon

I paid $25 more than you for just the diff itself. Good buy!!! You'll need to switch the yoke and the cover, unless you make a new transverse link behind the cover to clear the finned sump on the ZX cover. Get a CV conversion setup from Ross and you're good to go! Jon

First off, get a manual. Did you put the engine on TDC #1? If not, for future reference, ALWAYS put it on TDC #1 when you pull any timed component off the engine. If so, then you will see a notch in the cam gear which should line up pretty close to a dash which is on the plate that holds the cam in. The dash should be centered over the notch or offset slightly to the left. You have to kinda stick your head down in front of the radiator to see the marks, they are offset to the passenger side inside the "spokes" of the cam gear. Any Haynes/Chilton type manual will have pictures of this. If you did not put the engine on TDC #1, then you're pretty much screwed. It might be possible to turn the engine over to TDC, but you'll have to keep a lot of tension on the timing chain to prevent the chain tensioner falling out. If the chain tensioner falls out, you'll be pulling the timing cover. The valve guides are pressed into the head. I think they took the valve springs and retainers off to check the guides, but I really doubt they pulled a guide out and put it back in. HTH, Jon

One of my dumber moves was to cut the trans crossmember for clearance for my exhaust, which is tucked really tight underneath my Z. I just cut the lips that fold down on the sides (not all the way, just about 1/4", and then I braced it with a 1" x 2" strip of 1/8" plate on the top and bottom of the crossmember where I had cut it. I snapped it in half like a toothpick a couple months later. I am not an engineer, but I think the folded areas on the crossmembers and control arms are IMPORTANT. Really important. Also, if the ball joint were to somehow come loose it would be captured in the end of the control arm. With your idea the strut could "fall off" the control arm. I wouldn't risk it, since the entire braking load will be put through the 4 bolts that connect the ball joint to the control arm, unless you have some sort of lip on the ball joint that sticks through the hole in the control arm. I have swaged aluminum ended 3/4" TC rods and haven't had even the slightest problem with them, so I don't think that your "pulling the threads out of the aluminum" idea on an aluminum control arm would be a concern. Jon

I've got 2 things to add to this: One, I was rear ended by a Firebird doing about 50 mph in my 1st Z. She said she never even saw me, never touched the brakes. She pushed my car into head on traffic where I was hit by an Acura Legend head on, about 25 vs 25 mph would be my best estimate on that one. Not one of the windows in my Z broke. Not even the hatch. The Firebirds low nose hit in the right rear tail light area, and pushed the car in at least a foot. The front folded up to the rad support, then only about 1" farther. These cars are pretty tough. I had a broken nose, and my wife hit her head on the dash. A guy I know got T-boned in his 510, took it right in the driver's door by a Ranger at about 35 mph. He walked away sore but no serious injuries. Two, a badly designed or built cage is potentially disastrous in a crash. I don't think a full cage should be put into a car that isn't driven with a helmet, just because of the potential head injuries. Even with padding, I think they just aren't safe. A helmet is the only way to make a cage work to your benefit. Maybe if the seats were lowered and 4 point or better harnesses were used, it might be ok, but IMO the roof of a Z is too close, especially with stock seats, to a 6' tall person's head for a cage to be used on the street. Jon

I suppose you could count the number of teeth on the sprocket and divide by 360 to get the degree change from one tooth. Moving the sprocket from the one to two to three holes changes it 4*, I think a whole tooth is quite a bit more. http://www.arizonazcar.com has a cam sprocket for you. 40* advance total, I assume. You'd probably have more power with 34-36*, but depending on which distributor you have you might lose more low end than you gain top end. Here's a chart which might help you figure all that stuff out. http://home.att.net/~jason510/dizzy_specs.htm Jon

Jamie, I know lots of people do not agree with me on this and many other issues too. Porsche used to have 7's and 8's on 911's and they came with 225's and 245's. I personally don't give a crap about looks - ask anyone who has seen my car up close . In fact, I'm going to have to get rid of my "TRD-What's that spell?" license plate frame and get a new one: "All go, no show". I want what goes the fastest on an autox or a road race track, and I think my little table is pretty correct from that standpoint. Only AFTER learning what goes fast did my tastes change. Now a 185 on an 8" rim or a 245 on a 7" rim looks to me. My opinion is just my opinion though, take it for what it is worth... probably not much. Jon

Beautiful work there. I would love to see this car in person when it is done. Should be FUN!!! Jon

If they're only 1.5" lowering springs, run a zip tie or two over the top coil. Figure it this way. In order for the spring to come out you would not only have to extend all of the sag in the springs, but probably an inch more pretty much full suspension droop in order to get the spring to a point where it would fall out of the upper perch. You planning on catching some air with your Z??? If the springs are zip tied to the uppper mounts, that's all you need. If you aren't comfortable with the zip ties, use safety wire. Jon

IIRC the ACT website shows the same clutch disc and pressure plate for 240SX and 280Z, so they must have same input spline, maybe even same flywheel? Jon

Tim, can you get those for stock springs??? Unless the springs are really short, Ron's idea will work fine. If they are really short, my idea should work. Tim's idea would work if those helper springs are available, but I haven't seen them (of course I haven't looked either). Jon

Agreeing with JohnC and 260DET, I've always read/heard/thought the following works best: 185 on 6" 205 on 7" 225 on 8" 245 on 9" 265 on 10" Right now I'm running a 250 slick on an 8" rim and I know I'd get better performance if I could fit them on a 9 or 9.5" rim, but I have to flare the car to make the rims fit, and then I'd want a different offset. There are definitely width variations from manufacturer to manufacturer, but if the sidewalls are pretty much straight up and down the tire can flex in both directions the way it was designed to. Jon

I know a 510 guy who cuts the lower perch off a 240Z strut and welds it onto a 510 or 280ZX strut for his 510's. You can weld it on wherever you want to make it a tighter fit. Presumably you could do the same on your 240; just cut the perch off and reweld higher. I'd be concerned about running out of travel, which is why I mention this. If the spring is really short you might be running on or near the bumpstops. Jon

http://www.ubmachine.com/page34.html I was able to get taps and jam nuts from the local industrial supply place for the strut tower bars I made. I can't believe you are having such a hard time finding these. The webpage above has them. If you need, I can go buy some and mail them to you. EDIT--what I was looking at were LH jam nuts. I still don't think it would take very long to find, should be as easy as going to an industrial supply place and have them special ordered. Jon

I've seen many different whale tails on 911's. That is without a doubt the FUGLIEST yet. I bet it's a fun car to drive though. Jon