RebekahsZ

I'm sorry. Please forgive me. You are right and I was out of line. I've been so frustrated lately by the number of times I have had to redo things after paying people to do them for me. It is like I have to throw a bunch of money down a hole before I get frustrated and wind up doing things again that I should have had the confidence to do myself to start with. I shouldn't have vented on your thread. So sorry and good luck with your car.

The Siro (Shiro?) axles I have are super rusty (from Ohio) on the inner and outer CVs, The regular Z31 turbo axle inner CVs are shiny under the paint, almost as if they are machined stainless steel. Is that true? Are the inner CVs stainless? I'm gonna have to get the Siro CVs sand blasted and I'm probably going to wind up swapping the Siro VLSD carrier into another differential case - rust is coming off of the casting in great big flakes.

I'm working on my R200 conversion and wanted to show some different Z31 axle configurations for comparison and discussion. The shortest (and cleanest) axles are rebuilt and modified with JMortensen's shortened shafts for installation into S30; I have also flipped the outer CV cages to shorten an additional 1/8". The longest (and rustiest) axles are from a 1988 Shiro model Z31 with VLSD. The middle set is stock Z31 turbo. I was not expecting the Shiro VLSD axles to be so significantly different from the standard Z31 turbo axle - the inner CVs with their splined output shafts are entirely different.

Your shop sucks and can't be counted on. Do it yourself. This isn't going to be some new problem or a faulty brake component. They probably had to disconnect your brake lines to get the suspension to drop down enough to compress and change the springs, so now you have air in them. If your brake pedal will pump up some, it is air, nothing else. If it won't, and you still have stock rear drums, you could possibly need to just adjust the shoes out with your e-brake handle. If you have done any conversion of your disc brakes, front or rear, the aftermarket bleed screws are often not truly located at the optimum location to get all the air out of the calipers. I would try adjustint the rear drumbs with the handbrake, and if that doesn't do it, then you need to bleed the master cylinder, then remove each caliper and bleed it carefully while holding it in your hand (watch the fingers) and rotating it around to different angles. Almost every non-stock disc brake conversion seems to have trouble with this.

Can we get a tax credit if we put the gasoline - electric emblem on our cars? I mean, my car has a battery and won't run if it is dead. I'm liking the second Civic hybrid emblem because it is all one piece and should be easy to apply with some 3M double stick tape. I'm not very good at lining up the individual letters. If it can be screwed up - I'll find a way!

Can we get a tax credit if we put the gasoline - electric emblem on our cars? I mean, my car has a battery and won't run if it is dead. I'm liking the second Civic hybrid emblem because it is all one piece and should be easy to apply with some 3M double stick tape. I'm not very good at lining up the individual letters. If it can be screwed up - I'll find a way!

I just gotta ask - what is the significance of the white engine bay?

OK-I vote for heat and vice grips. I have used thread locker on these bolts before, maybe the previous owner did the same thing.

I use either a wood splitting wedge or a cold chisel (or is it coal chisel?) (which is basically a small wedge). I insert the wedge between the axle and the differential case and tap it in until the axle releases. A lot easier for me than prying-I can't find a place to fulcrum the pry bar or screwdriver.

Depending on the cost, just drop the whole rear suspension assembly. That requires removal of the cross member, driveshaft bolts, mustache bar and struts. Take the whole subassembly home and beat on it in your garage.

Come to God's Country, AKA: Alabama! I got 4 drag strips within 45 minutes' drive. Here the rich people have badass drag cars. Unfortunately, you need to put your car in 4WD to get back up the return track.

super sweet! The video - not you, although you are very kind. Dude - I just watched that. I'm all over it! Thanks. Gonna watch that one with setting up the LSD and backlash. Do you speak Japanese? Wish I did right now.

Thought about taking a hammer to the windshield, lighting it on fire and driving it off a bridge! Now, on the other hand, yesterday was good - I drove it an hour to a car show and enjoyed every minute of it. Too much time wrenchin' and not enough time drivin' this past year - I'm starting to act a little funny.

Has he still got catalytic converters or any other sound deadeners along the way to the muffler? The big escalades, trucks and suburbans have 2 mufflers - a big one and a small one. It was a tough weekend. I'm trying to get the R200 CLSD, CV axle conversion done so I can try some slicks out - I was all over the track on my first outing on street tires. My brother is visiting on May 17, so I'm pushing to be ready and I have to leave time for a professional alignment (I'm gonna be pulling the blasted spindle pins out and changing rear control arms too). I tried the CLSD clutch upgrade and that went pretty well. Had to buy a new impact wrench and shattered a socket trying to get the ring gear off - didn't know it was lock tight-ed. Next time I'll heat the bolts. Only nearly ruined one of the Phillips head screws that hold the carrier together. From there the clutch upgrade is pretty straight forward, except that I made an incorrect assumption: I thought my clutch supplier was selling me everything I needed to complete the conversion - turns out that I needed to source my own shim material. That info WAS in the forums - I just needed to read more exactly. So, now I'm waiting for shim material to arrive. I'm not going to stress out about the exact breakaway torque, just gonna put in 4 shims aiming for 60 pounds and try to enjoy whatever breakaway torque I achieve. I don't want my car to start pushing: been there, done that. By the way, I decided to build the 3.90. I'm writing off 1st gear for now. Later, I will convert an open 3.36 or 3.54 to CLSD using the guts out of the extra 3.70 CLSD I currently have. Burned the rubber bushings out of the 280z mustache bar so I can re-use my current poly mustache bar bushings. Hopefully the CLSD shim material will arrive this week and I'll get this finished (but probably not installed) next weekend. Rebuilt my Z31 CV axles using JMortensens shortened axle shafts. Again, I screwed this up by the numbers. Only thing to finish on this is the boot clamps - I screwed 'em up and have to order more tommorrow. The threads and videos on youtube make this look pretty easy. Be advised, this job is a total b i t c __! My hands are so tired and I stink like every automotive oil, grease, and solvent known to man. JMortensen's thread shows how to do this conversion correctly - I plan to make a thread when I'm finished that reviews all the ways to screw it up. I did EVERY part of this conversion twice. The hardest part for me was knowing just how rough I needed to be to get things apart, then back together again. This is a job for a man with a really big hammer and the will to use it. I couldn't get the inner CVs apart, so I just cleaned them with solvent and re-packed 'em. I went thru 4 rolls of paper towels - what a messy job, but hurray!-I'm done. Started Saturday at a car show from 8 - 12 at Athens, Alabama. Everybody was positive. I parked with my buddies in the Cobra club. Nobody gave me a hard time about the fake velocity stacks! I was pretty shocked - I figured at least somebody would take a crack at me, but nobody did. A big GTO club was there, and they loved the car too. Photos next weekend when I have something to show.

All of you are right. JMortensen gave me the correct torque spec in a PM. Now I gotta find a bigger vise. I have lots of vices, but only a medium sized vise! 43-51 for 10mm bolts, and 65-72 for 12 mm bolts. Locktite on the bolts that hold the carrier into the case?? I'm gonna do a thread on the R180 to R200 CLSD conversion to include CV axles and extra CLSD clutches (and shims) after I am done with it. Hopefully that will put all the info I'm learning into one thread that others can access. I think I've made every mistake in the book. Thank goodness for this forum.

And that's "limping?" Heads up from a friend: be careful about discussing street racing on this forum - folks will jump all over you. See my thread for my frustrating weekend.

Does anybody know the proper torque?????? I understand the concept of torquing something. Sorry guys I've been fighting the c-clip on the Z31 axle for 3 hours and I still don't have an axle assembled. This job is miserable a b i t c h.

Is it possible for the mods to put this thread up with the sticky notes by your boot replacement thread? I really appreciate this thread and this forum. Almost done!

Sounds like vacuum to me, masked with choke. Could also be carb balance, as increased engine speed masks that too. Shouldn't be electrical. May just want to hunt for a used set of SUs and be done with it-they have really dropped in price since most of the super motivated speed guys are going hybrid. Nice ones now are selling for what crappy ones used to sell for.

Make sure to PM SUNNYZ before you do your coilover conversion. He just did one using TTTs kit and should be fresh on all the do-s and dont's.

If I use an impact wrench, I think I can just let the carrier sit on my work bench unrestrained. Just ordered some shim stock from McMaster-carr so I can put it all back together next weekend.

How am I to torque the ring gear bolts on an R200? I can't seem to restrain the carrier in order to torque the bolts. I tried putting an axle stub in a vise and putting the LSD carrier on it, but it still turns anyway. It took some major impact wrench work to get the bolts loose - I had to heat a few of them-they must have been lock-tighted. I shattered one socket. I also need the torque wrench setting - or should I just hammer away for a while with my impact wrench and call that good?

That is why I do as much myself as possible. Can you believe the shop gave it back that way- did they think he wouldn't notice?

One of my best friends was diagnosed with prostate cancer this week and has surgery on Monday. We're going to a car show in Athens, Alabama this morning for a last "hoorah" before he's off-line for a few weeks. I see a stock 240z there every year; hoping to get a parking spot next to him. We'll see what the reaction to the stacks is. Got all my parts for the R200 swap - gonna go hard on it over the next 2 weekends and see if I can get it done.

youtube "Dellorto Carburetors on 240z" for how the muffler sounds. Unfortunately just idling.