BlackBeaut

Eurk!! Clearly a work in progress, they could've at least cleaned it first before slopping the weld in there! Compared to some of the works of art that appear on yahoo japan this one wouldn't even get the job of janitor at an art gallery! Cheers, Rob

Coincidentally I'm flogging a Patrol L28 engine at the moment on Ebay. Came out of a '87 model, has an N42 head (with FI cut outs!) and an F54 block. I never pulled the head so don't know if it's got flat or dished pistons, or if there's anything else different about this very late N42 head compared to thse used in Zeds. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170106506575 Also of interest is that the angle on the bottom of the sump is more extreme than that on a Zed suggesting the engine is canted over even more than in Zeds. Cheers, Rob

If you're going to the lengths of replacing the entire tube and cutting the tread for the gland nut, why not also use thicker tube and cut the thread for the perchs on too? http://www.zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7340 Cheers, Rob

Don't you realise that's precision calibrated bearing material designed to ensure 100% accuracy of quill to head? Good grief mad, get it back in there quickly otherwise your warranty will be invalidated!!!! Oh btw in case I was being too British At least one good thing can be said about Chinese tools, they're crap wherever they're sold around the world, so at least they've got some kind of consistency!! Cheers, Rob

Wilwood apparently do a 4 pot powerlite caliper with handbrake capabilities: http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=11370 I'm not entire sure on how good the solution is as I haven't had a set in my hands, it's also a radial mount caliper so not a direct swap in for the typical WW kits like ARZ sell, but something could be made of it I'm sure. Cheers, Rob

Boohoo, you don't have my sympathies. Try paying nearly £1/litre, of which over 50% is tax. Feckin' governments Cheers, Rob

One thing to be aware of is that 3 jaw self centering chucks aren't necessarily as accurate as you may think, so you can easily end up boring a hole and find out that it's not actual concentric - bleedin' annoying! Other things to learn about are cutting speeds and feed rates, which change depending on the cutter material, i.e. HSS needs a slower rpm than carbide cutters. Check these links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_speed http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Manufacturing/Turning.html A good forum with some knowledgeable guys on here: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.rec.models.engineering/topics?lnk=li Mod you lathe here (well this is a site about hybrids ) http://www.stellar-international.com/lathesf6.html Fix that crummy 3 jaw chuck so it can run true: http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/ty/7x10/vault/Lathes/7x10-7x12-Projects/SetTruBackplate/'>http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/ty/7x10/vault/Lathes/7x10-7x12-Projects/SetTruBackplate/ I'm planning on doing this soon to mount a 6" chuck on my Warco 300, which I generally deem to be a sack of crap when it comes to accuracy. Same guy has lots of good links you should check out: http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/ty/7x10/ Cheers, Rob

LOL, glad to hear some British culture is permeating the Colonies again *ducks and runs for it* Cheers, Rob

Whilst I probably have to stick with Homer, I've got to mention 'Iqbal bin Ibrahim Maurice Kandallah' because I doubt any of you have ever heard of him Cheers, Rob

Excellent, well at least I'm still a Brit And now that I've discovered I own a large underground complex I can bring it up to date by installing a proper mono-rail and thus be one step closer to world domination!! :D:D Cheers, Rob

I bought both Dave's harnesses and can vouch that they're excellent quality, easy to install and do the job without hassle! Cheers, Rob

You gotta love the consistency in the UK I measure in metric, but there's no way I'm going to drive in anything other than miles (crummy kilometers!!) Weights are stupid here too, there was a big push by the EU to ban grocers selling fruit and veg in lb pounds, could only advertise in kg. Given that most of the buying public in the UK are used to buying in lbs there was slight disagreement to that suggestion from our friends on the continent :D The escort vans odo running in KMs sounds well dodgy though unless it was a bizarre import from Europe that had had it's speedo dial changed. Years ago I had an MX5 (Miata, Eunos Roadster) Japanese import that had a KM only dial, no good in the UK, so swap the face to a mph/kmph dial but the odo still read silly numbers of course. And let's not mention pre-decimalisation currency, thank God I'm not that old, it sounded like utter madness!! "Can you spare a thru'pence Guv'nor" - whaaaa??!!! Cheers, Rob

The number of Englishmen using imperial measurements is very small these days, I'll use them if I have to but otherwise it's straight to sensible, easy to use metric I'm nearly 35 and was always taught metric at school, then had a brief spell in the archaic world of aviation where they insisted on still using imperial, but I think even that industry is making the switch. Anyway, I'm messing with a Japanese car, that uses metric measurements so stick with it I say! Good point about not being able to do load work on the test bed, that would indeed be tricky! Like you say, just there to get the wiring in place and getting the engine up and running. I believe MS can self-map to an extent these days using a wideband O2 sensor, anyway that's still a ways away! Cheers, Rob

This is v2. First one I made was 40mm angle iron, it was completely bendy!! This one is 50x25x2.5mm tube and is stupidly solid. The castors are rated to 600kg so should cope! Obviously need to get a radiator mount on there, will have an electric fan fitted. I'll be using a 280ZXT T5 bellhousing on the back and and will rig up some cunning mount. Plan is to get my L24 with SUs on there running with 280ZX dizzy and alternator. Then swap to an L28 EFI setup, get MS working on it, then fit ITBs. All this will happen *some when* At the moment it's cold and dark so sod it I say! Cheers, Rob

Check out this thread: http://www.zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7411 Cheers, Rob

UK based split rim maker, ships worldwide apparently: http://www.imagewheels.co.uk/ Cheers, Rob

Yep, I've got some out in the workshop. I had hoped they'd work with the MMS 280ZX adapters I've got, that's when I discovered they were bigger! Of course I'm strictly speaking about S13 and S14 200SXs over here, but other than the engine it seems that our 200SX are the same as your 240SX. Cheers, Rob

300zxt shafts and MMS adapters definitely seem the simplest solution, dunno if it's too late to get in with the PowerBrute LSD group purchase. For what it's worth the 240SX tripod joints are a touch larger than the 280ZX tripods, they seem to stand up to the abuse the 200SX guys give them over here with their 400bhp+ SR20 S14 cars. Cheers, Rob

Looking very good, time to ditch my OTT design! Cheers, Rob

I wouldn't like to say yes to that without having the two types next to each other. The S15 shafts are the same lengths as the 280ZX CV shafts I've got i.e. both similar in length. When I pulled a S14 VLSD diff apart one of the shafts was much longer than the other. Unfortunately I got shot of the VLSD unit before the HLSD arrived so I didn't get a chance to see if the VLSD shafts would fit. One thing I remember about the VLSD unit is that you could see right the way through the shaft holes, handy as I had to hammer one of the shafts out using a big drift from the otherside, I can't remember if that's the same with the HLSD, if not then the VLSD shafts wouldn't work at all in it. I'll try and get some pics of the HLSD unit tomorrow, workshop is in a major state of flux though as I'm installing a milling machine. Cheers, Rob

I've got the S15 HLSD in my shortnose S13 diff (remember that thread? ) Looks like the GKN diff. It's got a 30 spline count on the output shafts and they're a little larger in diameter than the standard Nissan 29 spline shafts so it's a custom CV shaft set up all the way - you gotta make sure you get the correct output shafts! I'm pretty sure I got mine from the Ebay seller mentioned above, no problems with him, just took ages to get through customs here. Cheers, Rob

Hey Jeromio, that's pretty much the same solution as I came up with - see post 9 for a pic. I've since got hold of some tie rods from a Ford Transit van - no idea what that would relate to over in the US, but they're longer than the Escort rods and thicker at 16mm diameter as well. So if they end up being too long I can just trim them down and cut the thread along a bit more. I'll probably have to tweak the design of my clevis a bit to accomodate it as well, but for the time being I'm concentrating on getting a sounds chassis to put the fun stuff on to! Cheers, Rob

These chaps do a very nice aternative chassis, amongst other rather tasty tweaks to the Europa: http://www.banks-europa.co.uk/cars/cars_type_62.htm Cheers, Rob

That's ben240z over at http://www.zclub.net/ he competes in hillclimbs over here, and I think he's planning on doing some sprints as well. Drop him a PM over there and I'm sure he'll tell you some more about his motor. Cheers, Rob

Now you're just showing off Cheers, Rob