wheelman

Aren't the 260/280 springs different in length from a 240 spring? Maybe I'm thinking of the spring hats in the rear! Wheelman

Boy Mike you sure know how to ask the tough questions but as you say this is one we all should ask ourselves from time to time. The things I'm proudest of are my children. I have a son who is 18 and just graduating from Highschool and Jr. college with an AA at the same time. He is following in my footsteps and has enlisted in the Airforce and leaves for basic next month. I'm very proud of him. We don't always see eye to eye nad he will stand his ground to me if he feels he's right and still listen to my side of the argument, what more can I ask for. My daughter is 15 and turning into a beautiful young lady that also will listen to what I have to say and consider it before making a decision. I'm very proud of her and know that whatever guy she ends up with will be a very lucky guy. Along with my children I consider my marriage to the same woman, who I love very much, of 19 years to be my accomplishments. I haven't cured cancer or made any earth changing discoveries but I think building a quality life with my wife and sending two mature individuals into the world equiped to handle it is something to be proud of. I went through a period similar to yours at about the same age as you are and I have to say working through it and asking yourself these types of questions makes you a better person when you come out the other side. I lost my father and a brother within a 3 year period, my older sister found out she had breast cancer and I found out I'm diabetic and have some issues with my heart, all this combined with some real ugly things going on where I worked made that 3 years the worst of my life. I look back on that time and realize just how good things are right now. Going through all that is what prompted me to build the Z, it was something I had wanted to do for a long time and who knows how long we have. It is strange though what becomes a priority in times like that, what kept me going was a very strong desire to see my kids grow up and have children of their own. OK enough sappy stuff!!! Wheelman

Ryan, You'll probably have the same problem. These springs are meant for the weight of the L6 on the front wheels. The SBC in the set back position can't be putting that much more weight on the front to compress these springs much more than the L6. If you are using all aluminum stuff on the 302 it might be lighter than the L6 but not by much so I'm thinking you'll see the same thing. Be sure to let us know what your outcome is and post some pictures so we can see your ride!!!! Wheelman

When I contacted Arizona Z he said the 260/280 springs are the rates you listed and the 240 springs are 160f/180r. Wheelman

Ya, HMMMMM... Sounds familiar and like someone needs to use the search function. JK I still haven't gotten this situation totally resolved with my springs yet. Tokico was good to work with but the guys I bought the package from have been very hard to get a hold of. I've been dealing with other things on the car so it hasn't been a hot issue for me but it soon will be again. So, JoeDatsun, what are your plans now? Are you using the Energy Suspension poly bushings? If so did you already cut the bump stops like the Tokico install instructions recommended? Which struts are you using? Did you buy one of Tokico's spring/strut package deals? Did you get them from FastTracks (jdmwerks) on eBay? I contacted Arizona ZCar and they have springs for the 240 that don't lower it much, are linear and 160 front/180 rear. They go for about $200.00 for a complete set. I haven't ordered any yet as I want to get the situation with the Tokico springs resolved first. Thought you might find them interesting. Wheelman

TFreer85, One thing to be aware of when dropping either of those engines into a 240 is that it is going to mean notching the framerails. Not sure if this is something you want to do but its required to fit them in. I don't remember who the guy is but one of the members here put a VG into an S30 chassis and it required lots of fab work so it can be done, the swap turned out very nice. Do a search and you might be able to pull the thread up, but it's very old by now. Wheelman

Everytime you post on a message board about your car it takes 50 lines of text to describe all the mods and which parts came from which car. Your signature on here is 3 lines long and includes either a picture of your car or "Jackstand Racing". When you post on other Z sites you get flamed for being dis-loyal to the marque. Your friends look at you like your crazy when you tell them about your project, then the first thing out of their mouth is "Can I drive it?". You do the "Happy Dance" when you find a part that's not rusty. You mark the day on the calendar when it fired for the first time. You know all the key phrases to find obscure parts on ebay. Wheelman

I also went the LT1 route and I'm very glad I did. I've had carbed high HP motors before and they can get very finicky when it's cold and I was always twiddling with the carbs trying to get them "dialed" in. The LT1 does require a rework of the stock harness or an aftermarket harness but once it's running it just fires up. I accidently fired mine for the first time while testing the starter circuit. I should have unplugged the fuse for the fuel pump but thought "it won't fire. I'm not gonna worry about it". Wrong, it turned over twice and lit off. A carb motor will never do that even in good tune. Anyway, they are extra work but it's woth it in the long run. Wheelman

Bastaad, If it were my decision to make I'd wait on the exhaust and convert to a MegaSquirt system. You've talked about the fuel curve weirdness from the stock ECU several times and how you would like to get rid of it so that's what I'd do first. Wheelman

Are you sure you want to buy a rebuilt motor, what about picking one up a at a wrecking yard and doing the rebuild yourself? Might think about taking the opportunity to swap in a V8. As for a website try: http://www.zcarparts.com. This is MSA's website and I know they sell rebuilt motors. Wheelman

Where is the original diff? Can't you just pull the pinion flange off of it? Wheelman

You can make the same adjustments with the stock PCM from a 1994 or 1995 LT1. The 94/95 models had the OBD1 and flashable roms so it's programmable with a laptop. That's why Dan mentioned getting an LT1 from a 1995 F-Body. I picked up a retired Montana highway patrol car that had an LT1. These things are plentiful and relatively cheap, their only drawback (if you want to call it that) is that they have iron heads rather than aluminum. So its very easy to program and if you get the car then all the electronics is there for the taking. Rebuilding the stock harness is not all that hard, just tedious so it's a very good alternative to spending $$$ on an aftermarket system. BTW: The iron LT1 heads are supposed to flow 20% better than the aluminum. Wheelman

The reason I made that statement is those heads are from what I call the "Dark Years" 71 - 76 when the smog controls on the domestic cars made for some terrible performance. Compression ratios were way down and the intake/exhuast ports didn't flow well. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm guessing the CR will be down around 8:1 and it's hard to make much HP with that low of a ratio. As for rated at 260HP thats probably gross HP meaning just the bare engine with no accessories, it probably netted somewhere around 200 so add the porting and the cam and you get around 250 like I said. I'm no expert so take it for whats it's worth but I'd be very surprised to see that engine make 300 or 350HP. Like I said above though even 200HP in a light Z makes for a very quick and enjoyable car. Wheelman

I agree in part with Michael, postpone your swap for awhile, but not necessarily until you are totally established in life. In the mean time get some wrenching experience with the stock Z. It'll provide many opportunities to gain experience and still have more than enough horse power to get you into trouble. If you insist on doing the swap, plan on the car being down for a long time and do your research first. In other words learn all you can about what your in for (see previous replies, plan the swap), get another car to use as a daily driver and plan on having very little money to do anything but work on the car (that is if you want to do it right). Wheelman

Jon, Thanks for the comment about the progressive coils being on top, I hadn't really thought about it, although if I do keep these I would have turned it over because it looks weird. I just got off the phone with Tokico. Here is what the customer service rep told me. These kits have been sold for many years exactly as they are with very few complaints except for guys asking to have springs that are even lower. Their company policy is that if I'm not happy with them I can send them back but I need to return them through the original supplier. I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do yet but I'll probably send these back, keep the struts and find different springs. I might decide to go coil-over but that's even more work and money, what to do, what to do??? So it looks like this story will have a happy ending except for my frustration in having to wait longer and start looking for a decent set of springs again. I suggested to them that they put more information in their advertising material so their customers can make an informed decision. The guy I talked to welcomed this suggestion, apparently he's been asking for this for quite a while and gets no where with the marketing folks, what a surprise!!! I read in the original post from this thread that AZ car sold stock height but stiffer springs, is this still true? Wheelman

Terry, No I will not be sectioning the strut housings, especially not to accomodate these springs. Not sure how much weight the fenders, hood, grill, headlight buckets and air dam will add but somewhere between 75 - 125 pounds. The stock 280Z hood I have weighs at least 35 by itself, probably more, and each fender is probably 20, thats 75 right there, correct me if I'm wrong on these estimates. That doesn't include the rest of the interior, I've got one seat and the dash in right now with nothing else except some of the plastic pieces laying in the back. You are about right on the travel to bind up of the springs although it'll hit the bump stops before then. I probably need to shave the bump stops anyway but I'm not doing anything like that until I get some decent springs. Wheelman

Thanks for the input guys. Jon, It's not so much the work that pisses me off its the money and time I have to wait before being able to drive this thing. I suppose I could put the stock springs back on until I figure out what I want to do but that will be way more work because I have to use a spring compressor to do it. All 4 new ones went on without using the compressor, in fact the rears are loose in the perches when the suspension is at full droop. Terry, I probably wasn't watching the lettering on the springs when I put the right one on so it probably is upside down in relation to the left one, if that really matters. These are not supposed to be progressive springs and from the info I gathered before buying the package the fronts are 165 lbs/in and the rears are 180 lbs/in. I'm not familiar with the stock rates but they are less than that, correct? I did notice the free length of these new ones was much less than the stock ones and that all the stock springs were the same length. Are the stock springs the same rate front and rear? Anyway, I'm calling Tokico today to see what can be done to remedy the situation, I'll post an update. Edit #1: I just got off the phone with Tokico. The stiuation has not been resolved yet but I got the real scoop on these springs. Front: Progressive, 140 lbs Rear: Linear, 165 lbs I'm expecting a call back from one of their techs. If I don't hear from him by early afternoon I'm going to call him. I have to say that so far the customer service has at least been reachable and seems willing to help. Doesn't make sense to me to put progressives on the front and linear on the back but what do I know I'm just an amateur. In my case the fronts are no longer progressive as those coils are bound, so now I've got shorter linears on the front. Wheelman

I'm going resurrect this old thread becasue I just installed the same basic package as Zoldman, except I'm using the Tokico blue struts rather than the Illuminas, and ended up with the same result. The car dropped closer to 2 inches than the 1" advertised by Tokico. I have about 1 inch of travel in the front before the bump stops and about 2 inches in the rear and the front springs look to be almost bottomed out. Was there any resolution to your situation Zoldman? What did you finally do? I can't drive the car this way without removing or cutting the bump stops, it is just to low. Edit: Here are some pictures that show the springs and front LCAs Left front spring Left LCA Right front spring Right front LCA Left rear spring Wheelman

I would guess closer to 250HP and in a light Z car it isn't really all that mild. It depends on the intake and carb you end up using. As for single or dual plane and your cam, unless you upgrade the valve train you don't want to rev much past 5500 RPM anyway. Because of this a good dual plane (Edelbrock Preformer RPM or Air Gap) will be a more drivable combination. Good low end torque/response that will still rev into the 6000 RPM range. They will also provide better hood clearance than a raised single plane, but not much. The T5 can be reliable if you don't abuse it so a G-Force kit is not required unless you are pushing in excess of 300ft/lbs of torque and/or are doing hard drag race launches and rough shifts. Just a word of advice from an old geezer, get some driving experience before thinking you need huge HP in a light car like the Z. Even with "only" 250 HP it can be a handfull and get you in over your head before you know it. We don't want you or someone else to be killed because it got away from you. BTW: Welcome to the board and good luck on your swap. Wheelman

I suppose you could drive it on the street, just don't rev it above 5500 RPM. It would be like every other Civic out there until it revs past 5500 then it will be like Bastaad said. Wheelman

I think that price is a bit high, you can get the same basic thing from VB or MSA for about $60.00. They are better than the stock rubber lines and as stated above the stock lines are probably 30 years old and due to be replaced. Wheelman

Jon, You beat me to it!! I found this one out myself the hard way, although none of the threads were stripped, the leveler just bound up a bit before I figured out it needed some lube. I love my leveler, it's not a Harbor Freight, it's a Schucks special. I won't pull another engine without it. Mine has an angle bracket at the end of each chain which I connect to the intake manifold bolts that thread into the heads, that way the chains don't have to go over the valve covers. I do plan on getting a swivel as the leveler tends to rotate the engine sideways to the hoist which gets a little irritating. Wheelman

I did the CV swap and just bought sway bars which I have not installed yet. I did a test fit and found that the end links are very close to the CV joints but don't touch, although I didn't compress the suspension so I'm not sure everything will clear. Based on the movement of the CVs when the suspension is compressed there should be more clearance so I'm hopeful. There is another thread that discusses this subject and I think concluded that the clearances are tight but should work. One option is to shorten the end links to provide more clearance, this is what I'm going to do if things rub as I to want the rear bar. Which axles do you have? Mine are the 300ZX turbo axles which are the ones discussed in the other thread. I believe the 280ZXT axles will not clear but don't quote me on that. Wheelman

Bastaad, Didn't you just have the thing rebuilt not long ago? I'd clean it off and watch it for a while before getting worried. If it returns then there is a problem otherwise it might have been some oil that was spilled the last time you changed it. The washer and threads can pickup oil from the "pool" when you remove the plug. Might be worth doing a compression and leak down test just to satisfy yourself though. Wheelman

Do you mean the connector that plugs into the PCM? If so my wires from the oil pressure switch didn't connect to the PCM, 2 went to the under hood fuse box to run the fuel pump relay and the third (tan) went to the oil pressure gauge. I didn't use the tan one because I have a pressure switch rather than a pressure sender and I'm using the Datsun oil pressure sender. The connector for the oil pressure switch is basically round and the wires connect to it as follows: Tan - Middle Grey - opposite side of notch that ensures correct plug orientation Orange - same side as orientation notch. I hope this helps. Wheelman