Twisted46

So I finished the process of yanking out my dead SBC and replacing it with an LS. I went with the DD mounts and the engine sits pretty far off the firewall (realistically 2-3 inches) with the brackets back all the way. I had thr JTR kit and it was difficult to fit fingers behind the engine to work. Has anyone else noticed this? Maybe I am missing something. The quality of parts is great to be fair.

This needs to be added to the sticky, these look great for OTS. I have been looking at a lot of options and never came across them.

I agree with what is being said. If it is a street car stick with the rails and box up the front end. A cage has no place in a street cruiser. Cage it up if you are headed to the track.

I agree that adding strength to the frame rails makes a big difference and is probably the best thing you can do to street car, but is not the only option that gets you the same results. It also only addresses a single issue with the chassis and those using a cage are probably already past the point of frame rails. It is a good suggestion for street cars. However I do need to say for the safety of others that upgraded frame rails are NOT better or anywhere equal to a cage so please do not read this and think you can forgo a cage at the track. Apples and oranges.

Sadly there is very limited info around about the +2s as they have never been popular but the little I have gathered is actually good news depending on how you look at it. Due to the possibility but unlikely event that someone would cram some victims in to the tiny back seat, Datsun had to up the GVWR which mean adding more heft which of course means more weight but also more strength in the center of the car. This will help if you are upping the power and launching the car a lot and reduce torque flexing but it still does not solve the overall issues of the chassis. you still need to focus on the same areas as the coupe and if you look at my other thread the single biggest improvement is a triangulated front brace. All that said if you end up doing a full cage like me none of this really matters and you are just starting with a heavier car. I did also add angle iron along the length of the rockers but mainly for jacking purposes.

After trying the ZX "upgrade" I can't recommend it, I had trouble with caliper to rotor alignment and then overheating even with Hawk HT-10s. How that is with a ~400hp V8 but still shouldn't happen in a 30 minute session. I went with Wilwood and am happy now but I would stick with drums over ZX rears.

I cannot answer #2 if your question is what the stock cut spring rate is? The experts here will chime in. For #1, the short answer is yes. The long answer is maybe. Without knowing the use of the car exactly, it sounds like it may not be street driven that much. If that is the case you run less risk of "damaging" the struts on harsh bumps and pot holes. Regardless of use over damping a setup (taking load from the spring and putting it on the struts) is going to increase wear. How fast really depends on use and the specific combination. This is aside from the horrible characteristics associated with an over damped suspension. Do some reading in the FAQ section of springs for those Koni's but I would not use stock cut springs with anything other than cheap KYBs personally, you are just wasting money otherwise. There are several good threads here on sectioning and threading the strut tubes for a diy coil over setup and several vendors that sell everything you need. The struts are the expensive part of the operation so if you already have those the rest is pretty reasonable.

@heyitsrama I will certainly get some pictures of the firewall mount but It won't be apples to apples. I cut my OE hood latch out and welded in the plate your get with the JTR swap kit. There were already holes in that plate which allowed me to bolt the T3 mount up without issue. I can't comment on the rear brace as I welded my own up. And yes a welder is such a great thing to have That is a great find!

@heyitsrama 1. Hands down the biggest issue with these cars, I love my T3 bar but I am sure other work great too. Makes an unbelievable difference for the price. 2. HAHAHA, it is not funny but interesting that we seem to have the exact same issues with different setups, I used gorilla tape liberally and had no more leaks out of the filler neck. I am going fuel cell next season. because having to run in the sweet spot of fuel level is annoying at best. 3. I had the same issue , bowls would drain empty on the next straight after a tight corner. I have a Holley so the simple fix was raising the float levels just a bit and installing higher flow needle and seats. That does solve the problem but did solve the side effect. Good luck at the next event, we are already approaching below freezing at night here so car season is over Now for an update, and probably my last for a few months. The season finale started of great, car was running good and I wasn't having fuel issues. we were only going to get a half day since storms were coming in shortly after lunch. IMSA had just been at the track all weekend so it was pretty slick and the first two sessions were very short due to some black flags and wrecked cars. To make up for it they gave us a 40 minutes session right before lunch break and I was setting my best lap times yet, car was running great, I was feeling great. 37 minutes in and as I shifted into 5th on the back straight there was the unmistakable sound of an engine coming to the end of it's lift and lots of white smoke following. To make the story short I don't know what failed first but all of my coolant was in the oil pan and 4 lifters were completely disintegrated with pushrods down in the crank case. Watching back video the oil pressure looked fine and water temp never got over ~200. I don't have the engine pulled yet but I don't need to look at it to know the bottom end is toast. FYI solid rotors in front were fine during that session with good pads and fluid. As tempting as it is to just sell the car as is and move on, I know I could never buy anther for what I paid for mine and would never recoup 1/4 of what I have put in to it. So a new engine it is, and probably not another SBC as I am learning they are not the best for my application without a fairly expensive build. I feel like I have rushed this build just to get it to the track up to this point and have decided my best path forward is to take a year off an build it properly to be reliable. My initial thought is going to an aluminum LS motor with a new stand alone ECM to clean up the engine bay and interior and hopefully be more reliable, but my mind will probably change 10 times before I actually go buy a new motor. I am not looking to make more power just to make it more reliable living at 4-7K RPM. I did not intend for this to be a build thread but what the hell, may as well keep it going now!

I hate to be this person but bolt patterns and wheel fitment are probably the single most discussed topic in the car world outside of which oil should I use. Also you have posed question you posted does not have a direct answer. There are two mustang 4 stud bolt patterns; one is the correct spread and back spacing for an S30 and one is not, neither is unique to only the mustang. What you should do is search for the correct bolt pattern and spacing for an S30 (a huge thread lives on this site) and then make sure the wheels you are looking at match what is needed. If you come back with "will these 4x4.5 mustang wheels fit my 280Z?" the answer would be yes but the hub bore and offset may create issues. We need more details to give you a SAFE answer.

First off, sorry if this has been discussed but I searched high and low with no results. I am looking at using a Z32 N/A 5 speed on an LS using the G-Force adapter but am worried how far back that is going to put the shifter with the LS being snug to the firewall. Has anyone used this combo? I do not mind cutting the tunnel but just wondering if it is going to put the shifter in a bad location.

I would agree with NewZed, for someone that has already started the reinforcement journey I would be very interested in select pieces but not the whole kit.

Have you looked at APEX? That is where my money would go if I was going to drop that kind of money on a complete package.

Hmm, mine has an internal leak allowing fluid to flow between the reservoirs over time.

@jhm I have a rollover/vent with loop coming off of the top rear port in the OEM tank. I have never noticed any pressure build up, sadly my OEM cap is not very snug. I have been on the hunt for a new gasket but can't find them. I absolutely do haha, although I do not plan on doing a surprise engine rebuild again this winter