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Ughh.. i hate UBB.. moderators, you can delete this topic.. it was supposed to be a reply to my thread about bumpsteer and camber plates.

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Ross - Here's the camber setup I saw. I'm not sure who makes them, and I know the picture's not that good, but it'll give you an idea. Basically, you just screw it in with some big Allen bolts. It's held in by two bolts, I think. You just change holes for different degrees of camber, and caster is available too, because you can use, say, the number 2 hole in the front and the number 3 hole in the rear. It's a very clean setup and looks like it works very well. Hell, the guy using them had what was probably the most expensive suspension setup on the track and he knew all the answers to all my questions.

TimZ - Roads here aren't as good as you might think.. matter of fact, read this: "Road repair has been so neglected in San Diego that fewer than half the city's streets are in acceptable condition, according to a consultant's report. About 51 percent of the city's 3,400 miles of streets have potholes or cracking that make them unacceptable, reported Santec Consulting Inc. Councilwoman Toni Atkins, chairwoman of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, was skeptical. She said she thought even more streets are in need of repair. "I'm not quite sure I believe it in terms of 49 percent acceptable." But I deal with it... Ross - If you could get a quality set of camber plates to me for $200 for all four corners, I'd be stoked. Would I have to cut the upper shock mounts? That's the one thing I'm worried about because so far, no cutting's been done to the body and I'd hate to make a perfectly good car (because it really is) unrestorable. And yes, I still have the matching-numbers straight six in the car, so it is potentially restorable.

I'm curious about the strut spacers advertised in MSA and VB catalogs. I've seen these for a while and was always under the impression that they were for use with stock length strut housings only. Would there be a pronounced difference with and without these, even if my struts are sectioned? I'd really like to kill my bumpsteer as much as possible. The struts are sectioned 2". Another question - where are you guys getting your camber plates? I'm looking for a set that's cheap and sturdy. I saw a set at the MSA autocross that I really liked (Mike Kelly, you saw them too) but they run $125-150 per corner.. that's a bit too rich for me right now... Final question - I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about the adjustments available on my Illuminas. I've been running them set at number 3 front and rear and haven't really made any changes. Would my ride really benifit from setting them down to 1 or 2 while just cruising around town, or would having the stiff springs still make the ride rough? I assume that the ride will, at the least, be bouncy. As much as experience as I've had, this compression/rebound stuff still boggles my mind..

I will! I promise! I'll bring an extra camera and film because I'll probably run out of space in my digicam...

Sigh.. you're right.. I did that check earlier and am convinced that I need a bigger spacer in there. No time to do that tonight.. I guess I'll just go to MSA with a nasty clunk the whole way It's okay, it can't really do any damage, it's just a little worrying, not to mention annoying. Speaking of camber plates, I need a set.. any recommendations?

Hey all.. my car is finally on the road... running.. sounds awesome with the header and exhuast.. takes off like mad with the 3.90 rearend.. but I've got a worrying clunking noise coming from my rear strut. I have sectioned struts, coilovers, and Tokico Illumina cartridges. I've already checked the gland nut, the nut that secures the end of the shaft to the isolator, and the three upper isolator nuts. They're all tight. I checked all the rest of the nuts and bolts that have to do with the right rear suspension, including everything having to do with the diff, and didn't fix it. I made sure the wheel was tight and still clunking. It sounds like a hollow, bouncing sound, like the cartridge is moving up and down inside the strut housing, but I checked the gland nut and it's tight. I was convinced it was the upper nut that secures it to the isolator, but it was also tight. Any ideas? I need to fix this before tomorrow!

Thanks everyone. These wheels are 15" by 6.5" and the tires are 215/60/R15 AVS intermediates. I doubt you'd need a spacer - my struts were sectioned by someone else and he put the threaded collar in a bad spot. Kind of hard to explain, but if they had been done similarly to the fronts there would be no problem. The main problem is that these aren't very low-profile, so the sidewall bulges out more than a 215/55/15 would.

Scottie, thanks. In the front, everything was just fine. In the rear at stock ride height the coilover adjusting nut rubbed the tire pretty badly. I lowered it to a point where it wouldn't rub, but it was too low, so I added a 1/4" spacer and was able to adjust it to a reasonable height with enough clearance. I've only actually been able to drive the car once around the block because I'm having problems with my ignition or carbs, one of the two. It sure felt nice and stiff though!

Hey! Finally, the car is on the road! (Sort of! My exhaust, ignition, and carburetors are pissing me off!) But anyway, my coilover conversion is completed. I installed GC coilovers with 150# front and 175# rear springs. 5-way Tokico Illuminas all around. Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings, and an R200 diff swap to top it all off (although that doesn't really count, I guess). Also, 15" 300ZX wheels with slightly-too-tall-but-that's-how-I-like-them AVS Intermediate tires. I personally think it looks awesome, especially compared to its old 4X4-on-14"-tires look. [ April 24, 2001: Message edited by: Nion ]

Ugggg.. got that first side all put together with the spindle, screwed down, tightened, and installed into the car.. now the other side, on the other hand.. I ended up sanding off a ton of material because wedging it in there was reeealy frustrating me.. went in pretty easy.. but the spindle...! I can't get that mother-fer in there! I drove it through one bushing and the spindle housing until just the first few threads poked through into the second bushing, then it jammed tight. no matter how much smacking and wiggling I've done can budge it into the second bushing. This happened to the first one too, but my buddy was there, and he just whaled on it and it went in.. I've been whaling on this one harder than he was, and it still won't budge.. sigh.. I even greased it up (mostly to stop corrosion while it's in there), but it's not helping.. any hints?

Guys, here's what I did. Backed the inner sleeves out a bit, then went at those bushings's ends with a sanding block. I shaved about 1/3 of their width off. I also used a file to file a nice big 45% angle on the bottom edge of the spindle housing, then used a screwdriver to wedge it in, then a couple of putty knives to keep the edges from catching on the bushings. It took a bit of banging with a mallet, but I coaxed it all together. Whew! Time to do another one...

Notice how the strut won't slip between them.. this picture was taken straight down on it all.. the bushings stick out a little too much and no matter how much coaxing I do with a flathead screwdriver, I can't wedge it all together! Is this what it's supposed to be like? i threw away my old bushings after cutting them out so I have nothing to compare these new bushings too.. I need this car on the ground soon!

I guess it's the Mickey-mouse look I don't know. I haven't actually tried to jack the front of the diff all the way up yet to see what'll happen. I guess I'll go the cable route and see what happens in the long run.

Yeah.. well, mine's still a daily driver (well, not daily, but it's got to be live-able) and still has the original L24 (which is partially why I'm not swapping to a V8.. yet..) I'm putting in urethane bushings so it should be pretty tight.. I guess I just don't want to break my torque strap while jacking up the front of the diff, because it looks like it might break (tough as it is). You think it'd be possible to put in the solid mount with a thin lining of rubber on the top and bottom (1/8" thick or so) to stop some noise/vibration?

Hey all.. I've just swapped my old R180 for an in-great-shape 3.90 R200. After several hours of cussing, jacking heavy things up and down, yanking on other heavy things, and searching frantically for my JTR book, I got it all sort of in place. It took me a while to figure out which way to put the mustache bar, in what order to put the parts in, and which way to put the front crossmember. Of course, this required doing the jacking heavy things up and down part over and over. So now I've got it all spaced correctly, but it's just as Brian Little says in his Z Garage page (which is very good, but hosted on a crappy server which only allows a certain amount of hits a month: http://www.mindspring.com/~blittl/ZGarage.html): The hardware which holds the nose of the diff to the rubber isolater is hitting my torque-arrester strap. He says to turn the bolts over and cut off the threads, but in my case, it honestly won't help. What do you guys think - jack it up as it is and stress the strap (pretty much the only option?) Should I add on the wire as shown in the JTR book, just for good measure? Tomorrow I'll take a pic to show you what I mean, if you haven't experienced it already. I refuse to take out the strap because Datsun put it there for a reason

Wow! Sounds like a great setup to me! I'm not sure about the proportioning valve but my intuition says that whenever doing big upgrades to the front or rear or both sets of brakes, you'll probably benefit from a proportioning valve to keep your braking ratios correct.

Ask EvanPurple240Z about them.. he runs Honda wheels with spacers on his car. Here's an example of what they look like: http://www.salesco.com/wheels/adapters.htm I think he sells them as well, for $240 a set or so.. not exactly sure.

All you need to make that exhaust system legal is to hang a red rag from the end of it.. more than 3' long, you know..

This really is THE most informative bulletin board I've ever read, on ANY car, with some of the most knowledgeable and friendly members I've ever recieved help from. Zcar.com? ha! Help there consists of "you have to cut the struts dude" instead of the half-page writeups that many of you do on a regular basis to help out. I haven't done a V8 swap and right now I'm not sure I ever will, but I just want to thank you all for your love of machinery. When I've posted questions in the past, the help I've recieved is well above par. Even if I just need a little confidence with something I've never done before, you guys help me do it, do it right, and do it right the first time! I've been browsing the archives and just had to get it out. Thanks, HybridZ.

Okay.. some of you may have seen the post I made about the 300ZX wheels.. I brought them home and put two on the front to see how they fit and looked. The tires are WAY too small. They're a good three inches shorter than my old tires (on 14's). This setup came from a 510, where even 13" wheels look big. Two of the tires are down to the wear bars and the other two are nearly brand new. I was going to buy all the wheels and tires for $100, do you think I should buy just the wheels for $50 or so and buy new tires? Tirerack says that standard size tires for the 300ZX of that year were 215/60R15s! I'm mostly concerned about looks and keeping a tire that's as tall as my old ones. Besides, my speedometer would be way off, and I'd probably cruise at 4000 rpm at 70.

couldn't find it in the search. When moving the differential back (using the curved rear arm bracket, 72-73, that hangs from the link braces instead of the straight one, 70-71), wouldn't I need a longer driveshaft? It only makes sense to me that diff farther back = longer driveshaft needed. JTR book makes no mention of this. It's not like the driveshaft can stretch somehow, can it?

Never mind.. he just asked $100 and I took it. On closer inspection, there's plenty of tire left. They're 195r50-15s, which is plenty for my application. One wheel has some nasty gouges and they all have an interesting spiderwebbing in the clearcoat but it's cool. I couldn't pass up the deal.