Dan Juday

Don't sweat it Chris. Several guys here have gotten lots of V8 miles out of their R180's, self included. You can get R200's cheap enough and the swap is easy.

You need to filet the rear fenders. By that I mean cut open the outer fender to an arch that matches the maximun diameter of the wheel house. Then cut radial slits in the outboard half of the wheelhouse about every two inches all the way around and bend them out to the outer fender. Then attach these slices to the outer fender either with rivots or by welding. Fill in the slots and glue the fiberglass fender on. When it was all done I made fender liners out of thin sheet aluminum that spaned from the wheelhouse inner half to the YZ fenders. I used a rubber pinch weld molding on the edge that contacted the fiberglass and then sealed it all up with duct mastic (kind of like automotive seam sealer but a lot cheaper) I did this on the front too. Then I sprayed body Schutz in all four wheel wells to make it pretty and protect it.

"...Production of the Z32 continued in Japan until 1999 through a major redesign in 1998..." I knew that the Z32 continued to be produced after '96 but I was unaware of any "major redesign". Does anyone know what that redesign consisted of?

When I installed my windshield a couple of years ago I was warned to install the rubber on the glass, then the SS trim on the rubber, and then the whole thing into the car. The neighbor next door used to install auto glass in his youth. He said to use WD40 generously on the rubber and the pinch weld when I roped it in and then thump the rubber gasket with a rubber mallet all the way around after it's in. The thumping and the WD40 allows the rubber gasket to move around and seat properly in the pinch weld. He said if I did that it would fit perfect with no leaks and no need for any other sealant. He was right. One other tip he gave me was to pay close attention the body seams in the pinch weld before the glass goes in. There are four, one in or near each corner. Smooth them out as much as possible and the rubber will fit better. I've done a few pick-up back windows as well. The S30 windshield is much more difficult. Getting the trim on with the glass out was hard enough. I cant imagine trying to do it with the windshield installed. It's very easy to tear the thin edge of rubber that holds that trim in.

Here's a pic of mine to my TPI motor. The bracket is a modified corner bracket available at any hardware store. The Locar piece has a set screw. Cut the cable to length, thread it into the Locar end and tighten the set screw. The cable sheath fits nicely into a bicycle brake cable cup and has it's own adjuster.

Look who's talkin'!

Really? $21k Buy Now price seems mighty reasonable to me. Makes me salivate! That's one automatic tranny Porsche I'd drive. Too bad the radiator covers so much of his hard work. Hey look! Mark's back on the board. What's it been since we've heard from you last buddy, like a year?

Now that I did not know about! I'll have to pick up a copy.

Yes. And proud of it.

Wow. That's like getting the hood and airdam for free.

Bigger and badder ones here: reactionresearch.com

Hi Makkan, First off, all of my info is based on Z cars imported to the US. I don't know how Nissan equipped the cars for Sweden. My guess is they didn't change the diffs for different countries. But no guarantees. The 240's were all equipped with long nose R180s. An R180 in good condition behind an automatic tranny can hold up very well to a strong sbc 350. I know guy on this board that drags his 11 second Z with an R180 and no problems. The 280's came with long nose R200's and those can handle even more power, up to 400hp and are a direct bolt in swap for the R180. The later Z32, '90-'96 300ZX and other Infinity models came with the R230 and R200 short nose. The R230 will handle... who knows. Has anyone broke one of these diff's? The R230 is NOT a bolt in swap and requires fabricating mounts and buying or fabricating half shaft adapters. If you know all this already sorry for covering old ground. If this is new to you I strongly suggest you spend some time in the archives here searching for threads on the R230 swap. There is lots of great info here for the picking. Reading is free, buying the wrong diff will cost you.

Look closely. There is blue trash can next to the tree. Looks like hitting the curb launched the nose into the air and it landed on the can. The tree just happened to be next to the can. It was that last blip of the throttle before getting on the brakes. Shoulda never done that! I agree, "Too much car, not enough driver".

Hagerty. Tell then what you've got, tell them what it's worth. Done. It just can't be your daily driver. You can't use it for commuting, errands, going to school, etc. For a lot of guys here that's not an option. But for the rest of us it means we can drive out money pit Z's with peace of mind.

Eight inch round cover held on with two screws. I have a '84 coupe/Straman convertable.

Finally changed my sending unit today. I've been driving it around to run the fuel level down so the tank wouldn't be so heavy when I dropped it. Just before I started looking around for the tank strap bolts I thought I would pull the carpet out of the trunk and take a look. OH JOY! AN ACCESS HATCH! I had set aside about three hours to do the job. It took fifteen minutes. Most of that time was spent pulling the old sender out. Now I can see why these things fail. My new sender is a completely different design, pretty much a conventional rotory rheostat like all other fuel senders. The original is a funky linear type with the contacts right on the float. Problem solved. Thanks guys. Now to tackle that dang timing belt.

Ah, so you did buy the VR cheek panels. That's why you won the R.R. Diversity Award. I'm sure you know this but just a reminder for others, be sure you put something there to protect the underside of your fenders from small rocks kicked up from the tires. Without some protection you'll get little star cracks in the paint on the tops of those big wide fenders.

Very nice Rick. That's more work than most people will appreciate. You did a great job of fitting the headlight buckets. I know that part was a bit of work. Very clever hinge too. Will you be bridging the gap between the tops of the cheek panels and the upper frame rails like the later VR cheek panels?

Eh, any good bodyman can fix that right up.

Thanks guys, I put water in the recovery bottle and the light went out. What a kick, eh? Now, before I order my new timing belt kit, head temperature sensor, and manual on CD from Courtesy Nissan, is there anything else on this silly car I should replace? '84 non-turbo 139k miles. Yes, I already ordered a new fuel level sender to fix my gas gauge. Oh ya, how do I get the error codes out of the ECM? Scott is so helpful, "The pony has to go poopy".

There is curently a Ferrari body kit for the 280ZX. It's just not a 348. http://www.reactionresearch.com/daytona.htm

You have to get their attention. Cancel the card immediately by mail. Cut up the card and send it with your last statement and a check for any outstanding balance, valid or not, and include a detailed letter explaining everything with names and dates. If the balance is too high to payoff transfer it to another card. (This is even better as they see your business go to a competitor). You will get a phone call in short order from someone who can fix the problem NOW and not in 15 days. They want your future business more than the $40 or the 3%. Trust me, this works.

Yes that's true. The '73 bumpers did stick out a little farther than the earlier 240s though. So, let's call them 1 mph bumpers.

You are seriously smoking something. Without a doubt. Seriously. Smoking something. If you cannot afford to buy a beater to drive while you do the swap then you cannot afford to do the swap. Don't try to do this to yourself. You will be very sorry. I've done two EFI V8 swaps and I doubt I could do it in four days with help from another veteran swapper. JMHO

Some of you may know I recently acquired an '84 Straman. Last week a yellow warning light lit up on the bottom right corner of the instrument cluster. I didn't get an owners manual with the car and my lame Chiltons manual has no mention of dash lights. The icon looks like an amusement park carousel. I took Auxilarys online class for Japanese pictograms that included the used panty machine but that hasn't helped. Clearly I need another class. I listened to Meatloaf’s "Paradise by the dashboard lights" three times, but that didn't help either. Does this mean the fun-ride is over? Do I need more "wooden horse" power? Help a Z31 noob, please?