blueovalz

Thanks Owen. VB used to offer them a long time ago, but quit.

And the bad thing about that is once in the car, I've found that just about any Datsun key or even a screw driver will turn the ignition switch on for the older Zs.

Thanks for the tip.

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but an old trick we Ford guys used to do for a poor man's LSD was add extra shims (actually, they were more like belview washers) between the spider gears, and their seats, thus squeezing the spider gears together tightly. This then gave it the charateristics of a loose LSD at a fraction of the cost. I never knew if this modification had any durability at all being I sold the car shortly after. The next time I purchased a Detroit Locker, and felll in love with it's "all business" charateristics.

With 176K on my '92 240SX, this subject is near and dear to me. I cannot help you much though, because I've not done it on my SX (YET). First of all, I'd go with the lightest package possible. This is because, unlike the Z, the engine cannot be placed behind the front axle, but must instead straddle the middle of it. So wieght will need to play a more important part here. Aside from that, the R200 behind the engine should hold up fine. The SBF (with tall valve covers) is 22" wide (not including headers, which being they are further down and inboard will add maybe 2" at the most to this. With the OEM exhaust manifold it will only add 1" wide at most. The sideways room on an SX (brake booster and MC and lines is the contraint here) allows 24". So width wise, the SBF is good. The SX OEM motor mounts will be placed very closely to the OEM locations on the SBF block, which is convenient. The double hump oil pans on the SBF will appear to have the right shape to fit over the crossmember too. The down side: the SBF block length alone is the same length as the KA motor. Now add another 8" for the water pump, and the pulley is within 1" or less of touching the SX radiator. An aftermarket electric water pump would fix this problem being they are flatter. The SBC I believe is about 1" shorter, but about 1" or more wider and a bit heavier than the SBF. So there you have it. All the info I investigated about using the SBF in my SX when the KA motor goes south.

You may be able to pull the pin out from the front. I would notch the pin so that a set of vise-grips can hold it real well without slipping off (the pin is screwed anyway), then use the head of a screwdriver to wedge between the vise-grip and the cam, and drive the pin out this way. I've never tried this but it's a shot. Finding a pin: if nothing else, go find another Ford cam and use that pin.

No, not unless the previous owner did it. I believe the LSD R200s came out of the '88 turbo 300ZX?

I'll be happy to host some pics on this subject for you if no one else steps forward.

Interesting that the same part fits not only the Z diffs, but also my 240SX also. Hmmm, I wonder what parts are common between these two R200s?

In '79, I bought a Datsun 810 (I'm not sure the years that this car was produced). It was the predecessor to the Maxima. It had the L24 motor in it. Would this head be of any use too?

My take on this (when I last thought about how to do it) was to swap exhaust manifolds so that both manifolds exited forward and above the ports. Then mount the turbos there (with the engine mounted rearward just off the firewall as most of the Ford folks do, this gives you some room for the turbo up front. Your intake plumbing then is up front for any IC you use. I am not well versed in force induction, but this seemed a logical way to try it out.

I cut them out of 1/8" aluminum. The trick was getting them to look round from a rear view because of the angle and curve that they must conform to. To do that I used a small-filiment light bulb (placed several feet behind each exhaust opening) to light up the area, and then placed a perfectly round template between the panel and the bulb (just a few inches from the panel) to cast a shadow onto the panel that could be traced (this is how I made round head light tunnels on my sloping fenders too). Once this was copied to the aluminum I simply cut it out (on a flat surface, these are kind of ovate-egg shaped before the curvature is put into them), hammered it into shape (some compound curves here), gave it a "brushed finish" and then clear-coated them. Even after all that, one of them still did not come out perfectly round (as viewed from the rear) after being attached to the car (I think I may have stretched it too much in one direction with the hammering).

I finally got both sides finished. Parts used were some better (but not great) quality aftermarket "turbo" mufflers. With the 2.5" tips temporarily tacked in place to get me home, the sound was a little louder than I would like if I drove it all the time (but I'm not), and with a nice tone. Surprisingly, when I put the tips on, it produced two new characteristics. First, the tone was a bit sharper in that it did not rumble as much, like before. Secondly, when I would blip the throttle, a raspiness appeared at the peak rpm. This was accompanied by an increased sound level as well at the peak rpm. Quite surprising being the only thing changed was the last few inches of the exhaust tip from a 2.5" pipe to a larger 4" tip (with the 2.5" pipe still inside the 4", but recessed into the tip by about 3". Who wuda thought?. Overall, I like the slight change due to its "sharper" sound that emphasizes the cam's lope that was slightly lost in the previous "rumble". Here is a pic of the rear as it sits tonight.

Well, I finally found time today to actually work on the blueovalZ. I had an exhaust installed this morning (this guy was great in that he dedicated 3 hours to putting in what was basically a straight forward exhaust), I brought it home and then installed the exhaust tips to fill up the 4" outlets I had made last summer. This Z therapy has been very satisfying. I hope I can find another day to work on it before summer.

Yes, you can drive the pin out of the front of the cam with a drift pin. Sorry to hear about this. Keep us informed on your follow-up. Terry

Also, it makes no difference if car is up on jacks or not (because the IRS keeps the diff in the same position regardless). The key is finding a reference with which to measure the angle differnence. I measured the flat end of the tailshaft housing on the tranny, and then made sure the propeller shaft flange was the same angle.

Last-ditch thing to do if all other options are exhausted is find a way to reduce the loading on the fan motor (i.e. reduce number of blades if it is a many bladed fan that passes more air than needed). I don't know if a DC motor power usage is effected by the shaft loading or not) I only say this because I read where the shroud is very important. I have used ballast resistors on my headlights (high/low power vs beam) and found a lot of heat had to be dissipated this way. I used a parallel/series bank of 3 ohm/40watt resistors. That allows for adjustability in the future.

I don't know if you have a choice or not, but I'd try to find a set that is made from Lexan instead of Plexiglass. The Lexan is much more resistant to rocks and such in preventing cracks.

I wonder if there is a bad connection close to the fuse that could allow the heat produced by this bad connection to reach the fuse through conduction and weaken it. If it is drawing more than 30amps (barely it seems), then I think that a wire as big as 10awg would feel slightly warm. Is there any difference between a fast and slow-blow fuse as far as longevity?

And it's responses like the above that keeps us in check with what we are doing to, or for, those nearest and dearest to us. Anytime I can spend time with a child (especially a young boy) who has lost an opportunity to engage in the fascinating devices that surround our lives (cars, airplanes, and any gadgets to the curious youth) is time well spent. I can still remember the exposure to new and differnent things from youth and how they so strongly influenced my life as an adult.

I've seen prices in the $80 / axle to shorten (and re-spline) axles. I have to question your originally posted question though. Do I understand you are taking the viscous guts out of the R230 carrier and placing them into an R200 carrier? I did not know this was possible, and have thus been enlightened. In regards to your question about the axles. If the 280ZXT axles are of smaller diameter (at the splines) than the 300ZX, then the new splines cannot be cut on the 280ZX axles to match the 300ZX CVs. But, if that were so, then I can only assume that you would then be able to re-spline the 300ZX axles down to the 280ZX size on the outboard end instead.

Unless you have to screw the piston back down again (which is a common means of widening the gap on emergency brake calipers). When you used the emergency brake, it spun the screw inside the piston to "rachet it out" which is why the emergency brake is used to adjust the calipers over the time the car is used. Once you do this, releasing the fluid may not give you enough relief to place the caliper back over the rotor.

I built the entire exterior of mine sans the c-pillars and roof.

Thank goodness for all those little rays of sunshine that pop out from time to time, without which, we sometimes wonder if we have any clue whatsoever of what we are doing as parents.

Dan's tool works the same way. You screw the nut/threaded rod assembly onto the pin, and then use a washer/nut assembly to draw the threaded rod/pin through the larger pipe.