RebekahsZ

There are two justifications for fender flares: looks and tire clearance. The guys who install for looks put them low and run small diameter wheels and tires and get all worried about having too much clearance between the tire and the flare. The guys who do them for tire clearance do a max resection of sheetmetal, then use the flares to un-Mad-Max the car and make it look like a Z again. After a max resection of sheetmetal, I can fit 28" tall tires at a reasonable ride height. I still had to cut the leading edge of the flare down due to the forward position of the tire in the wheel well, which has already been discussed.

My family has had a Terminator marathon this week and we just saw the newest Terminator movie. Another ZX gets crushed in one of the chase scenes. Or it may have been in T3, I may be confused, the movies are running together in my head. But the Terminator movies layed waste to several ZXs over the course of the years. I still remember the first time I heard a ZX say: "A door is ajar." It made me think, "The machines are taking over!" It was about 1984...little did I know.

I learned a lot from conversations with both you and Jon Phillips. I bet he would sell his Z cars if someone wanted to pay what they are worth. I think he was a little burned out when we talked about a year ago. We will be running 1/4 at Memphis on 7/16/15. Come join us?

I hate when people make their cars faster than mine.

I'm gonna be doing some axle work tomorrow. Text me your name and phone number and I will send you some videos of me working with mine. But it is too much trouble for me to want to post them to YouTube then link them to the videos forum then link them to your post. Easier phone to phone. 256-366-4685. Keith. Remind me in your text that the subject is axles. And I have a couple of CLSD carriers out on my bench, out of their diffs, but carrier still assembled, if you have any questions.

If you go to RebekahsZ YouTube channel or Keith Thompson's YouTube channel, I have a video of the noises my CLSD makes. I put a gopro under the car and drove in a circle. If you want to be sure of your axle length, when you reinstall the axle, leave the boots pushed back so you can look inside. A big hose clamp works as good as those peskie CV clamps.

The best place to get good steel use is out of the trunk. Look for spare tires out of early cars. The tires may even still be good!

Congrats! Big day. The fans won't turn on til it gets hot-really hot. Look it up, but I think you else ill have to be over 200 degrees before the fans turn on. Can't really judge how smooth it runs until headers and O2 sensors are in. Looks great.

I think that if you bound an axle, the first thing to get damaged is the grease cup on the outer end. If I were you, I would (after posting a video that shows the sound you are hearing), pull an axle and inspect. It's four bolts and a couple of screw drivers to pull an axle. I seriously doubt you broke either the diff or a wheel bearing. You are glooming and dooming instead of doing what you need to do. Which is pull an axle and inspect. It is easier to pull both axles than to re-fill the diff, so I would check the axles before drainng to check for chunks. Once the axles are out, you can spin both the driveshaft and the individual wheels to check for evil noises. That will let you isolate the problem.

Post a video of the noise? Might be normal.

O'Reilly's (thats a parts house like Auto Zone) old parts program for rebuilt axles and your local import junkyards for used stuff to rebuild yourself. Look for 1987-1989 300zx turbo.

Spend a couple weeks surfing the site. Try to find another member who has done what you want to do. Send him/her a PM (private message) and ask specific questions based on their build. You will get where you want to go faster that way than asking broad questions to a bunch of yay-hoos.

More like an "if you ever want to sleep in your own bed again" ultimatum.

Sounds like my garage build. To get a 2-car garage, I had to terrace the yard, build a retaining wall, build a pool, add a huge porch on the back of the house and renovate the entire exterior of the house, install sprinklers, lay sod and landscape the yard. What's a budget? Oh, and the garage still isn't done.

Mine had not been started in over 3 years after an unknown period of inactivitiy in the junk yard. I put oil in it and cranked it. It started on the second turn of the key and hasn't let me down since. I think perhaps I didn't let the fuel pump fully prime, or it might have started on the first turn of the key! Now, I didn't rev it up or try to do any throttle blipping on the first start, I just ran it for a few seconds then went looking for leaks.

I published my race results and videos in the Gen3 sub forum of the V8 forum with a bunch of photos from the race. Car improved my class record from 167 to 174 due to the airdam and headlight covers and an unknown amount of help from a tail wind. I know that I put the car in a neglected class and that anybody who really wanted to work at it a little could go faster. But for the moment a hybridz with a totally stock LS2 engine is the ECTA C/GMS class record holder, destroying the previous record by 13mph. My goal for next year is to go the same speed with my hands lightly on the wheel with relaxed hands instead of being white-knuckled and scared to death. That's gonna take some suspension setup revisions. If i can get the car to go straighter, i will have to consider whether i want to try to take this car faster, or to build a real race car dedicated to straight line racing. Next stop is ZCON Memphis, Jily 15-18, to participate in all 3 driving events and the show.

I think he did hit something hard enough to damage the oil filter( dang, you editted it-nobody will get my joke)! That'll teach ya not to use a filter without an anti-drainback valve! Man, that is one broken Z car, but that's the reality of getting sideways. At some point all fun things come to an end. The night after I put up my post about killing somebody's little girl, it happened here in my hometown. Somebody left a party and decided to lay rubber leaving the get-together: rolled the car and ejected a toddler-killed her immediately. Please don't do that stuff in my neighborhood. Now, at the track-sign your waver and go crazy!

Looks awesome! If I do another Z, I'd buy your kit. A couple questions/ideas: Can we use this kit with a 280z? Have you considered designing the trans mount in such a way that it tucks completely inside the tunnel, like the original one did. It looks like exhaust clearance is still super tight. I don't have your skills, but I respect and appreciate guys like you who do. An area that ALL Z guys, regardless of powertrain, need help with is differential mounting. I have worked thru stock diff mount, solid front mount, poly rear mounts to my current RT mount with poly mustache bar mounts. But, the front RT mount poly portion doesn't hold up well in compression and its really a bitchhh to get the diff in and out. I have heard about another mount out there (SW mount?) that I am going to look at. But if you came up with something that would allow the diff to go in and out quickly (even if it required welding to the floorpan) Id be interested in buying it. An added feature to such a part would be independence from the rear LCA mounts, so that a diff could be swapped without involving the rear suspension. I think that is a limitation of the SW mount.

I think my stock, unwrecked car with bolt-in camber plates using the stock holes is only accurate to within 0.5 degrees in caster. All these settings influence one another, so it is really hard to get them exact. Go over a bump with one wheel, and they are all upset a little anyway, since ride height influences them all. Realizing that a circle is 360 degrees, +\-0.5 degrees is pretty damn exact. I think with my bolt-ins, one side is -3.25 camber and the other is -3.5. The next bolt hole on the bolt-ins reduced camber to like -2.7. I don't think we have to get this down to a gnat's ass in perfection. I've let other, more experienced drivers drive my car, and they are complimentary of its balance and ease of turn-in. Toe-in is the most critical, then just know that lots of camber reduces tire wear at the track and lets you use the whole tire in corners, but increased wear on the street, and vice-a-versa. I may have enough camber in to hurt braking performance, and perhaps straight-line stability so camber can negatively affect some aspects of driving performance. It's all trade-offs in an imperfect world. I may go to that other bolt hole next year and see how it goes. The great thing about coilovers and camber plates and adjustable TC rods is that it lets you experiential and learn. I'm currently learning about bumpsteer: how it works, affects driving, and how to adjust it. These little cars are so much fun!

Budget a week for getting your clutch right. If it takes less-rejoice. I found that the closer I got to a test drive, the more the pace slowed. Hang in there!

That explanation deserves a "sticky." We kinda need a sub-forum under Gen III called Wiring the Gen III.

Looking good! With these style coilovers, can you pull the shocks out to replace them, or are you stuck with what you got forever?

I think my stock caster was about zero. I'm at 5 degrees now and the wheel takes noticeably more arm to turn the car, especially with hot slicks (I suddenly understand why some guys want power steering). Its not bad with street tires. I'm going to max caster this winter that my smallest diameter tire will allow (limited by airdam and fender clearance) to try to make the car feel more confident over 150mph. I can report back then, but the data will be somewhat confused due to skinny tires.

Just get a roll of 3/16 brake line tubing from the parts store and start laying it out. Get the fanciest flaring tool that you are willing to pay for. If it is to be a race car, convert to AN fittings. If a street car, put your brake kit on it and reverse engineer it from the caliper to the master cylinder. Determine what size and style flare each component needs and put that style flare on it. If staying totally stock, each flare is a female double flare (not bubble flare) with an M10x1.0 flare nut. If I were starting from scratch building a race car, I would increase my pedal ratio from 6:1 to 7:1 and eliminate my booster altogether. Or, just mount masters low in the floor to leave room for a turbo in the space where the booster is now. The sky is the limit, but be ready for some sore hands. Above all, if varying from stock routing, think about future maintenance and try not to "paint yourself into a corner." Keep components accessible.

So the brace fits with the BC camber plates? I just went back to your OP and super zoomed in-i can see your adjusters are eccentric. Good to know! Man, your car is NICE!