RebekahsZ

Now the next question: to gusset at b-pillar or not? Hope to have it in paint by Z Attack in Nashville on April 12. Not looking forward to all the floor cleanup. My clean little car is trashed.

In reference to the mega-thread comments earlier this year, I have placed my new roll bar in the Fabrication forum rather than in my build thread in Member Projects. It isn't really GenIII related, but I know a lot of you just cruise this forum. Just a public service message for my LSx-brothers. And my need for attention. For your comments or criticism in either forum. Thanks.

www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/classic02o02e03 shows the lower hinge. But they show the upper hinge out of stock. I got tired of buying used parts for the car a long time ago, but I will if I must. Anybody got a new upper hinge they would sell. PMs to 1tuffz and litman, thanks fellas. Gonna try to fire off orders tonight after we get to the beach and settled in. Will try to get this stuff send directly to my body man (his place is 35 minutes away from the house and 7 hours away from the beach). For once I'm the only car in his shop, so I will likely be picking up the car within a few days of getting home unless I dream up additional work for him to do "while he's at it." I love hybridz. Edit, the link doesn't work, but the lower hinge is at thezstore.com, which I think is Motorsport Auto?

I need a set of new door hinges for the driver's door ASAP. Let me know if you have some for sale before I start calling the on-line suppliers. Will listen to suggestions and experience on this subject. My driver's door has over an inch of vertical play at the door striker.

See fabrication thread for a post today on my roll bar. It is finished. Took car directly from his shop to another fabricator to have the ZG flare work done, any roll bar burn-thru holes repaired in the floor, seat back brackets made, and hood pins welded in place. I see a paint job this winter. The car is getting a lot of shop rash. Did I mention how much I LOVE my AZC disc brakes? I have gone from white knuckle, linkage breaking, sore-leg braking; to one-toe, heal on the floor, braking way too early shear bliss. I had no idea how bad my breaks really were. I'm in heaven.

More photos.

After numerous threads asking innumerable questions over the past several years, I finally have what I think is a legit roll bar in my 240z. This roll bar is intended to let me drag race up to 10.00 (or 135mph) in the 1/4-mile or 6.39 in the 1/8-mile at NHRA sanctioned bracket races (to include a future Drag Week), and to participate in ECTA standing mile land speed racing to 175mph. Additionally, I hoped to gain some chassis stiffening and to add support to the pinion of my RT mount - equipped R200 differential (which has torn out the floor of my car previously). I also wanted as much room on the diver side for seat adjustment and seat reclining, since I will have numerous co-drivers at autocross. It was also important to me to be able to be able to get in and out of the car, to have room for my clutch foot and perhaps a future dead pedal, and to be able to reach window cranks and door handles. I haven't used arm rests in years on this car (they were warped and rotten), so it was no problem for me to let them slide. The roll bar builder is a drag race chassis builder in Lexington, Alabama named Dave Key. This was his first Datsun to put a roll bar in; he is used to Mustangs and Camaros, etc. He offered chrome moly, but I decided to stick with DOM mild steel so that I wouldn't have to hunt up a tig welder every time I want to the bar modified for camera mounts, cup holders, etc. I paid him $1100 and it was in his shop 3 weeks, one week of which his bender was broken awaiting parts. I think he actually spent about 3, maybe 4 days on it. I plan to lower the seats 1 inch from their current position as soon as the car is back from getting some chassis mods, and I will likely lower the seats some more during my period of ownership (that is why the harness bar is a little too low for the current seat position. I will be using an AutoPower adjustable seat back brace to attach the seat back to the harness bar. The only thing I would like to have changed is the pinion support bars (I wish they weren't bent), but it was required on the driver side to clear the seat in the max rear position, and Dave figured that they should match on both sides. After the car gets a chance to go thru tech a few times, I would like to gusset the main hoop to the b-pillar at it's widest point under the quarter windows. The only negative to report so far is that my driver side door no longer lines up correctly-it is about 3/4" down at the striker. I am looking into new driver side door hinges if anybody has a source (haven't started looking). I have had problems with door closure for years, but it was never this bad. BTW-the door bar makes a PERFECT arm rest, and I think it will really help me to keep the car straighter while my body flails around jamming thru the gearbox. I just have to be careful not to bruise my elbow when autocrossing. To everyone who has given me advice-thank you so much. I did not tie the rear strut towers together in order to conserve storage space for carrying tires and tools to and from the track. I will post up a bunch of photos (split over two posts)-let the floggings begin!

That was great! Thanks for sharing.

I don't want to thread jack, so I will just indulge one more post on racing manuals. I definitely want to have classes. I've been reading a lot on drag racing manuals. I will eventually be setting money aside bit by bit for one of MTI's sequentials ($25k). The dog-ring T56 is the first step at $10k, and that doesn't include a clutch. A man's gotta have a dream... I'm thinking that full throttle shifting has to be easier on the drivetrain than all the off-power and on-power whip lashing I'm doing to the car.

Do it!!! Can you be ready for Z-Attack in Nashville on April 12?

That's some bad ass stance.

PLEASE do a detailed write up with pics. Especially detail clutch set up and slave cylinder. I'm contemplating a dog-ring gear box in the not-to-distant future. I'm piddling with starting a manual transmission drag racing club in my area. Which means competing against Lencos.....

You are't wasting anybody's time-to me, these kinds of questions are what this forum is for, so ask away! (I have nagged the forum about roll cages pretty steadily for 2 years or more). I have ridden in a few race cars where you couldn't sit up straight and had a crick in your neck after driving/riding in it. The top of the roof in a Z is pretty narrow, so that brings the a-pillar bars really in toward the center of the car, so there they are for you to smack your head on. With no overhead bars and no a-pillar bars, my head touches the ceiling of the car with my helmet on in my current seating height. Now, add a bar-that takes away basically 2 inches of height when I didn't have any to give in the first place! I plan to lower my seat an additional inch, and I think I can do that without cutting out my stock seat mounts. I'm gonna run it that way with only a rear hoop and door bars. If for some reason I HAVE to have the forward part of a cage in the future, then I'm gonna have to cut all the seat mounts out and basically put the seat on the floor (or maybe create a recessed seat pan-which steals ground clearance) in order to have adequate head room. You have to do all your testing with a helmet on, which makes you effectively 2" taller! Sitting on the floor may not be enough-may have to recline the seat way back.... Its a problem of available space, which creates a collision of your head and a steel bar. In my current configuration, the car can't take a bump without my roof trading paint with my helmet. My buddy has a 67 Chevy II, which is real square and boxy. Hes got enough room in that car for a cage-and a refridgerator. If you are doing it really just for looks-consider a rear bar good enough-most civilians don't know the difference between a bar and a cage, anyway. I'm kind of dreading climbing over my door bars-I see swing-out or removeable door bars in my near future. But I won't judge you for doing exactly what you aspire to-it's your car and your fun to have.

JMortensen, I don't know why my CLSDs bang around so much. I really think it is clutch "stiction." But the 3.90, 6-clutch, shimmed to 65 does it and the 3.54, 6-clutch with no shims at 45 breakaway does it exactly the same. I think for the 3.36 I'm still hoping to get I will not do the clutch upgrade at all and see how it behaves. I will just change ring gears and throw it together. The other two have 3 tubes of modifier and it hasn't changed anything. Duragg, if you had as much banging as I do, you would know it. It loves to give a couple of good bangs right after exiting the track turning into the paddock. Low-power loafing around parking lot speeds. Feels and sounds like a driveshaft breaking or a wheel falling off! A little tire chirping would be an improvement. If I ever settle on a ratio, maybe I will pony up for an OS Giken. Although I'd rather save my pennies for a dog-ring mod to my T56.

I was in the local z boneyard owned by a friend of mine. I hadn't been out there in a couple years and I wanted to look around before the chiggers wake up and the weeds green up. There were three Z31 turbos with 4-bolt CV axles and diffs in place, but the year models were '84, 85, and '86. Rats. Well, at least I know where to get more CVs if I start going thru them. Now I have that itchy junkyard feeling that we all know and love. Is that a spider in my hair?

I kind of got over the fear of cutting up the car when I cut out the tyranny cross member for the JCI kit. Now, I'm doing flares. I'm so over that!

I mean, your future experiences. Keep the info coming. Big fan!

Please tell us about you experiences with true slicks. I'd love to reduce my camber some up front. I run 3-degrees so in ready for autocross without having to set toe on a regular basis. 3-degrees looks kind of stupid on the street and the drag strip. But that's how I'm Rollin.

Actually SunnyZ, I plan to paint it, close the windows and doors, fart and light a match. 😜 I just wanted to use that emoticon. Seems there is no consensus.

Yeah, I had no idea how much investment it takes to get started in the injection molded product. I'm just tossing this idea around. Please don't take me too seriously.

Both Dave at AZC, Joe at Chequered Flag Racing, and John at JCI really do it right. They answer their own phones, take questions and stand by their products in good and bad times. They aren't ever "hot and cold" like a lot of small special parts suppliers. We are lucky to have them supporting us. Poor old Ross at Modern Motorsports (RIP), Justin at Z-Force Productions, Blake from the long tube header group buy all got/get us cool parts but the service is so hit-or-miss. I wish old Ross had just told us he was sick. We were pretty hard on him, and he obviously had a valid excuse and as a community we pretty well crucified him on this forum in his last days. I assume the rod broke from a fastener failure? You gonna lower your rpm threshold a little, or keep twisting her tight? I asked my computer tuner to raised rev limit and he refused and just put his hand on my shoulder and said "You may never thank me, but it is high enough,"

I'm up late with insomnia from cold medicine. Phantom-why do you care what your mileage is? Do you drive a V8 powered 40- year old car to save money? When gas is $3.50 a gallon? If so, get a Prius (or Miata😉) to commute in and drive your Z for special occasions. Or just acknowledge that you are driving a hot rod. I guess there are many reasons to spend $500 on a dyno session. But of it drives well, the plugs are tan and it doesn't stink, you are probably fine. I'm not knocking you. I use a V6 S10 as my tow vehicle and it is really too small for the job. But it weighs 4,000# and I really have a hard time going out and spending $40,000 to have a full size truck that weighs 6,000-8,000# and won't fit in my garage. Now, when I get good and tired of my front and rear main seal leaking, I'm really thinking of putting an LS2 in my truck. That should handle the towing, but the real problem is not the go-ing but rather the stop-ing. And I'm curious to see if it improves my mileage, haha. Maybe then I can justify it to Mrs Thompson, who accurately accuses me of pouring money down the drain.

As an aside, why didnt the Z just have wooden floorboards so we could just cut new ones every 20 years or so? Imagine how many zs would still be on the road if a carpenter could replace the floors!

I think if you want to have both a cage and an interior you should have a bolt in cage. That way you could put your interior in first then add the cage. If you have it welded while the interior is in you will have burn marks and paint overspray all over the place. Most fully bolt in cages won't pass racing tech, so they are really just trim pieces to make you feel cool or "race inspired." They make a custom car look cool, but the only reason to have an interior in a race car is if it is required by the racing classification. To fit a cage well in a tiny z, you really need to gut the doors, which means no door glass, so you either keep the car inside a trailer or it gets full of rain on the tow or while parked outside the hotel. With no interior you can just towel it dry for the race. But with an interior you have a soggy mess and a wet butt. And classic z-car rotten floor boards. It's just an awkward combination for practical reasons. Hope that helps. I'm learning this stuff the hard way.

Odometer mileage doesn't matter. Rust is what matters. IF you ever find two Z cars with equally perfect bodies, get the one with lower mileage. Fatigue cycles do matter on these old brittle cars. But rust trumps miles. Gas mileage. What is that? I use my z for limited driving, mostly at wide open throttle. I'd rather run a little rich and avoid burning a piston. I show up at the track with a full tank and it's close to empty when I leave. Fast cars driven hard burn a lotta gas.