Dan Juday

Something else that gives you more room in the tunnel but has some differences of opinion here are the JTR spacer plates that fit between the crossmember and the frame rails. They do mess with your front roll center height but this can be corrected by relocating your lower control arm pivot points. More work, but it does give a surprizing amount of room for the tranny. I found this really helped when I was adjusting things to get my u-joint angles correct. It also lowers the whole motor and tranny for a lower CG and more hood clearance. More work, just what you wanted to hear, huh?

Cut the rubber on the inside removing the lip that holds it to the metal frame. Then you can just lift out the glass, stainless trim, and the remainder of the gasket in one piece. We are talking about a S30, right?

We used a Tilton 7/8" on the LT1/T56 swap. Works well.

Dang Brett, we were looking for you. We must have just missed you. We left about a quarter to two. We were starved and had to eat. Larry and I had the only other V8 Z's there.

You're just funnin' us, arn't you? I saw that same hand on CSI tonight. Nice try, attention getter. ( j.k.)

If you're on the bumpstops then you'll either need new springs to raise the car or section the struts to give you more travel, or both. Sectioning will give you about another 1 1/2" of travel and will necessitate replacing the strut cartridges with shorter ones. If you install coilovers you can also install camber plates that will give you about another 1" drop. Then you can raise the coilovers to give you the original ride height and that adds about another 1" of travel without sectioning. Have I lost you yet? Point is you have several options. Options do cost money though. I've got some extra polyurethane bumpstops and front bushings too, brand new. I can save you a couple bucks if you decide to do a complete front end rebuild. EDIT: Just checked that thread about the Travis meet. There will be at least THREE V8 Z's there! The central valley guys are meeting up at Flag City at 9:00am to caravan to Fairfield from there. Hope you can make it.

Sounds like Mike is covering himself, smart guy. I don't know of anyone who has used the JTR kit in a right hand drive S30. The setback plates and spacers can be bolted up to either side (or even backwards like many have by misstake). It makes sense that all you would have to do is swap them side to side, but that could be a naive assumption. It assumes that Nissan placed the steering shaft in the exact mirror position as a LHD car. Then there is the fact that on the sbc the right cylinder bank is about 1/2" farther back than the left side. This places the right side header farther back too. You might actually have a better fit with the MSA kit that doesn't set the motor as far back, give you more clearance exhaust to steering shaft. Just a thought.

Welcome to HybridZ Ryan! Congratulations on your new acquisition. By "bottoming out" do you mean that the car is constantly wacking the bumpstops or do you mean the car is wacking the pavement? Could be different problems. You may need to raise an exhaust that is too low, section your struts, or simply replace worn out springs. Coilovers give you flexability in choosing spring rates and adjusting ride height but if you want a low ride coilovers alone wont fix wacking your bumpstops. I see you're from Modesto. You need to come to the Travis Z meet next Saturday. There will be at least two V8 Z's there. We can give you some hands on suggestions. Go here to find out more: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=98213 If you decide to go with coilovers I have an extra set of front struts already set up for them. Just bolt them on. I'll let them go cheap. Dan

You need to contact Ross Corrigan at Modern Motorsports. He will give you definitive answers and have the parts you need to do it. Keep in mind that MM is a part time business for him as he has a day job that keeps him very busy. It may be a few days before he returns your e-mail. If you can be patient he will be your best source of help. sales@modern-motorsports.com

I had to do this for my Z as well. The rear valance (roll pan) is a compound curve piece. I can't simply be bent from one piece of metal unless you stretch the metal like they do from the factory. Mine is actually made of four pieces that are welded together then ground and finished with a little filler. If you have a buddy with a nice straight rear valance you can make patterns off it using sturdy paper like grocery bags. This works well because the bags can't be formed into compound curves either. You simply tape on the biggest piece that doesn't have a fold or crease in it then keep adding pieces untill the panel is covered. Where each piece meets another is your weld seem. You should be able to do it in no more than four pieces.

I had the same thoughts, 240 bar. Loosing the rear bar is good advice. With the LS1 traction in corners will be even worse using a rear sway bar.

JTR calls it an adapter flange. The one they sell fits R180's & R200's with a 2 1/4" pilot hole. These diffs came in both the Z and 280ZX's Neapco, I believe is the name of company that also sells this part.

Thanks Dan! Now, can you retreave all those PM's that I previously deleted from never-never land?

Just an FYI here. MSA advertises in their catalog that their thicker (25mm) bump steer spacers will fit with 15" rims. Perhaps this is so with steel rims but not with billet rims. After completing my front suspension rebuild on Saturday I started to bolt up my wheels and found that the tie rod end hit the rim. I ordered the thinner (19mm) spacers on Monday and had them overnighted so I could still make my alignment appointment tomorrow. Everything bolted up and the tie rod end just cleared the rim by about 3/32" Now, of course, there are other variables: wheel back spacing, steering knuckle length (the shorter quick ratio knuckles should easily clear the 25mm spacers), and possibly manufacturing differences between brands of tie rod ends. Just wanted to pass this along to anyone it might help. As a side note, besides the thickness, the differences between the 25mm spacers and the 19mm ones are vast! The 25mm ones are machined from an aluminum billet and anodized with a nice gloss black finish. Fit to the strut and knuckle are excellent. Beautiful pieces. The 19mm ones are a rough aluminum casting that are machined only on the bottom (i presume to make them parallel) and then the edges look like a monkey used a bench grinder on them . No finish. They look like crap. Fit to the strut and knuckle is also poor. I did a quick check with the calipers to check for parallel and they check out good. I slapped a coat of semi-flat black paint on them to try and hide the poor workmanship. The final kicker is that MSA asks $3 more for the 19mm spacers. Go figure?

Thanks for the kind words. Still, and will always be IRS. Still has the R180 in it even (R200 is sitting on the garage floor waiting for me). It has a 305tpi motor with a WCT5. Bags of low end torque but stops pulling hard after about 4500rpms. It's a blast to drive on the street. I've never run the 1/4 mile with it. I didn't build it for that. It's a very pleasing and surprisingly comfortable GT.

6. Before you put up your code legal business sign you pay the city of Rio Vista $600 so the tin gods at city hall can have a meeting to decide whether or not they think it's "tastefull". (Err, wait, that last one is real) So, is Tim fat or what?

May actually be worse. With the collector that high it may interfere with the steering shaft. And yes, my word, changing plugs looks imposible! I used Patriot's standard blockhuggers with the LT1 swap and they fit great and nice quality.

Ok, we all know Tim is annoying, but are you calling him fat too? (he he he! )

Doo dee doo doo, doo dee doo doo...

Yup, they came from the factory in both fiberglass and steel. Don't know what years. If you are planning on filling in the seem you absolutely want to get fiberglass extentions.

Same thing here. I was sure my car had the original bar so that's what I told the guy. Then I measured it. Nope, previous owner had up-sized. Now get off your lazy butt! (j.k.)

Sorry buddy, that's a one-off.

There's a guy in Sacramento, Gary something, a ZONC guy, he's made custom brackets to mount Z32 brakes on his V8 convertable all steel wide body S30. It's been a few years since I've heard from him. Don't know if he's still working on it, very ambitious project.