81280zxtc

The only company I knew that made fiberglass panels was Kaminari. I had called them some time ago about replacement body kit parts, and was told the molds were sold. I had a set of fiberglass panels for the front and rear, which mimicked the electromotive racing car. I had left them at a friends house and they were destroyed accidentally. I'll post pics. My suggestion would be to see if you could pick up spare fenders and rear 1/4 panels to make your molds. It would probably give you time to perfect your panels. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

DanJ, I think I have a set of 5 star Momo's in the garage that may fit. 4 lug pattern, 16 x 7's. The had some Bridgestone Potenza RE-71's which were the tire of choice back in the day, but were worn and removed. These came in the trunk when I picked up the car from a friend. If interested, I'll see if I can get you pics. Let me know

Hi, There is an front brake upgrade kit available for the zx. I just installed one to replace a 15+ year old Wilwood set up on my 81 ZXT. jskinnovations.com The person to speak with is Juan. He supplies a kit with the caliper brackets, hub / hat adapters and hardware. He gives you the part numbers to the Wilwood components to order, and you are set. The installation was a little confusing at first, but once you figure it out, it's pretty straight forward. Anytime I had a problem, I called Juan and he was very helpful. If you want to discuss, call me 917-682-2000. Rob

I just completed a front Wilwood Caliper set up with 12.2" rotors. JSKinnovations.com sells a complete bracket & hat kit. The install was a little hard, but once you figured it out, it was pretty straight forward. I'll check back to see how it went. I'm going to try to get pics up in my album in the next few weeks. Good luck.

Brandon, Thanks for the info. I just realized the caliper brackets were modified, so I'm looking for strut assemblies. I've searched a few pages, and very very expensive. I'll try the used sector first. If you know of anyone parting out an 81 or 83, that would help alot. Thanks for the reply. Rob

Fellow ZX owners, I have run into a problem. I had a very old Wilwood brake set up on my 81 ZXT which I tried to have serviced in time for the Z meet in CT this week. To make a long story short, the set up is no longer in Wilwood's system, and I had to go with an entirely new set up because of parts availability. I searched the net and found a company called JSK Innovations (jskinnovations.com) who makes brackets that mount on the existing caliper mounts, as well as hats for the rotors. I had ordered a kit, along with the recommended rotor and caliper parts and began the installation. Upon completing the install, the caliper does not clear the ball joint / end link connecting the spindle. If I reverse the brackets, the caliper sits about 1/4" too high. From my recollection, I think the 81 (production date of 5/81) is different from the rest of the ZX's produced in regards to brake parts from an 82 or 83 set up. If you peruz his web page, http://www.jskinnovations.com/datsun.htm and view this z with this set up: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=77586869&albumId=1140351 You can see that the caliper sits way up on the strut mount no way near the steering linkage. I've called JSK's and we're both scratching our heads on this. He's installed many kits without hiccups, and this is the first one he's come across that has this issue. He's offered to come to the city from Albany to try to figure this out, but I want to confirm his thought of the strut being different. The question I'm posing, are the strut assemblies on later model zx's 82's / 83's different from an 81 in regards to the mounting of the caliper? Spindle attached or separate? If all this holds true, is there anyone who can recommend where I can locate parts? Thanks in advance.

Did you pull the dip stick to see if you have coolant in the oil pan mixed with the oil? If you don't, I wouldn't worry much. Water drop-lets out of the exhaust is normal, but if you see alot of white smoke while running for a bit, or acutally smell coolant from the exhaust, then you have a problem. Check that out first.. my .02

I guess I going to go for the pre luber. I like the idea of the accusump that it can provide some oil if you drop pressure suddenly, but I've had a bad experience once and wouldn't want to have it happen again. Most likely I'll purchase and install mid spring. Will keep you all posted. Thanks for the replies. Rob

Fellow Z buffs, I have always been concerned with pre oiling and oiling after shutdown. I would always want some type of oil pressure build up before the motor actually turns over. Sometimes, if the car was sitting for a long period of time, I would pull the coil wire from the distributor and "start" the motor for a few seconds at a time, just to get oil distributed in the motor. I have found 2 sytems, one by accusump (http://www.accusump.com/acc_products/acc_units.html), the other by this company Pre-Luber (http://www.pre-luber.com/) Which set up would you choose? I was leaning towards the pre-luber...your thoughts? Thanks..

Here's the lateste dyno sheet: http://album.hybridz.org/data/500/11266Dyno_Run_1_29_05_2-med.jpg