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I used a STI rack (2001?). It is longer than the Z rack. I had .5" removed from both ends, drilled and tapped (something like 16-1.0) to accept 2000 Volvo S80 outer tie rods. There are specific tools needed to dismantle and reassemble a Suby rack to prevent damage to the seals. I have those tools after some searching and lucky deals (they are stupid expensive). Let me note one thing for certain. You MUST get the model, VIN and build date from the donor vehicle. Suby uses a dozen or so different seals and none are marked. Their parts counter person will be useless without that info to get proper replacement parts. You may find seals at the local bearing/seal supply if they can get good dimensions though. There are extensive write-ups here about it. I haven't gotten any further with the upgrade as other things have taken precedence. Tony, all PS pumps have a built-in bypass to prevent excessive pressure.

The only bearings produced that fit the S30 hub are the stock bearings. I investigated machining for larger bearings. There was no viable way to pull it off without major work involved. Full custom hubs would be far higher still. I would easily expect that cost to be equal and exceed my axles/flanges. The S30 axle has a 1.25" diameter. That is near center of a GM 10 bolt/Ford 8.8 and a GM 12 bolt axle. Most axle failures I've seen here are are at the point where the splines meet the inner bearing support. If not there it is where the splines meet the threaded end. On both accounts, my design has maximized the diameters in these areas. Secondly, the material will not be a hi-strength forged steel but 4340 Cromoly. It is a superior material and found in most axles used in the 'Super' classes of drag racing. I might mention that the Z31 axle is not available from Nissan any longer. As for strength comparison to the Z31, I have to believe this will be a stronger axle. That point is mute when you consider how difficult and pricy it would be to use Z31 axles in a S30 driveline. Ross sells a set of 4340 axles for $700 based on the S30 design too. His are now using 39 splines. The only way to do that is the reduce the pressure angle to 30 degrees. I don't know if the splines are straight cut or not. That makes for a larger (barely) minimum diameter. The axle may be less prone to snapping (questionable) but spline damage becomes more probable. More splines do not equate to a stronger axle. Don't take my word for it. Contact any custom axle manufacturer and you'll hear the same thing. I do not have an axle to make comparison with but would like to put them side by side some day. I'm not trying to take anything away from Ross as he has always produced fine products and offered great service. In the end, it is always the customer that must decide where his/her money is best spent.

I may consider turning out some blanks (no holes drilled) for those interested. That would allow you to install whatever you had available in the way of lights and configuration. Right now I'm busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger. Let me know if there is any real interest.

Okay, take a deep breath. I didn't have the opportunity. First, these axles will be produced out of 4340 chromoly and fully heat treated. They should hold up to damn near anything you throw at them. The involute splines (most axles are made with straight cut gears which are inferior in load bearing) will be cut using a 45 degree pressure angle (many use a 30 degree angle for more splines but it doesn't add strength). This provides the maximum torque resistance. The studs will be screw-in types (12-1.25 or 1/2-20 yet to be determined). I'm leaning towards the 1/2" for additional shear strength. The cost of a pair of these beauties (only the axles) will be....drum roll....$1100 (I'm hoping I can get them down to the $1k range). Wow, you say. So did I until I gave great deal of thought. Remember that you'll not need to modify the axle housing in anyway. Stock bearings are also used. When you consider all the implications and cost then it really starts to make sense. These axles will be superior to the original axles and my initial prototypes in material, accuracy and strength. I'm waiting for the engineers to provide an estimate of HP capability. Matching flanges can be produced to your axle type for about $400 or I can provide you with the internal broach specs and you can have these made to the best of your ability. So you can get into a set of axles that should last most, if not all, of us for the rest of our car's days. Think about how much $$$ you pour into your wheels/tires, engine, stereo, gauges, etc. I'm having a set produced for me that also includes the initial (and only once) engineering/cad program. My cost will be approximately $1500 plus the cost of mating flanges. If anyone is still interested (and you really should be if you're pushing a lot of power) then let me know. I'll be around.

The axle could be produced with 0 offset to use the present disk brackets. My prototypes are 19mm offset to match the Z31 front hubs. I intend to use spacers to offset the disk brackets appropriately in my 240Z. As for cost, I'm waiting on the manufacturer to get me quotes (that should be any hour now). I can only guesstimate the cost of axles and flanges to be around $1k. While that sounds like a lot of cash you're getting one heck of a nice product with flanges to match your axle choice. As for me, I'll continue to use my custom Porsche 930 CV's and axles. I can't imagine breaking them unless ungodly HP/TQ and dragway launches were the norm. Even then, I suspect it would take quite a few before failure occured.

My 240Z has an early Nismo R180 LSD w/ 4.10:1 r&p to go with the roadster 5 speed. It is definitely zippy with that combo. When I fitted the KA conversion the shifter lined up perfectly with the tunnel hole just like the early 5 speed did. I only had to modify the trans mount.

For those of us that still use a stock door panel why not a switch pod? It could be used to cover hole to hide the regulator shaft. You'd kill two birds with one stone. This one is from electric life.

To use the electronic speedo you can purchase Speedhut's VSS GM style converter. It will screw right on the existing speedo gear housing at the trans. Alternately, you should be able to use a later KA trans sender found on 240sx models. It is already a VSS unit. The speedo will figure out the signal and adjust for it. I'm going to give that a go to reduce one more potential for failure. The fuel level meter will program too so you don't have to fret over what sender to use!

Hell, I've got one of these roadster 5 spds and newly rebuilt matching driveshaft (lengthened for the setback diff) that I'd like to part with. It came out of my 240Z that was modified many years ago using BRE/Interpart pieces in a shop in CA. I recently replaced it with a KA 5 spd conversion.

These are the 4" gauges. The way I did all of the gauges is in the link. They are a snug fit with no risk of vibration or coming loose. I can help walk some through this if needed. Order the Speedhut ring adapters to save a lot of trouble. The light pod was relatively simple. I'm attaching some pictures. I used 5/16" pilot lights. Actually, they are about 9/32 or .285" diameter. That's what I drilled them for. Two were LED's and two were incandescent. I didn't realize that and modified the lights to use LED's too. They were what I could find at a local electronics store. I disassembled them to cut the bodies down because I had to add resistors to drop the voltage on the two new LED's (one was 5v and the other 3.6v). If you use 12v LED's then that can be bypassed. Fitting the bodies into the delrin was made easier when they were shortened. The flat top lens removed when I disassembled the bodies were glued into the holes drilled into the delrin body. They have a small lip that must be removed. That delrin body was turned on my lathe and hand drilled. The lighter body was disassembled and then die grinded to open up the end to pass wires through. The connectors are some molex pieces I had around. I also had to open up the hole in the dash bracket to fit the light body into it. It's harder to describe than accomplish.

It takes as long as your talent, equipment and determination dictate....Seriously. I wouldn't plan on starting Friday night and driving Monday morning because crap always goes wrong.

Some Honda are 4 x 114.3 I know because I ran a set of wheels on my 94 Accord and also on my 240Z. I have a set of MML spacers Ross made for me for this application. I no longer need them. PM me if you're interested in these spacers.

I guess I should mention that I'm vice-prez of the TZCCVA club. Come join us next Monday evening for our monthly meeting at Frankie's Ribs off Providence Road in VA Beach. Starts at 7 for conversation and good food, then the meeting goes until about 9:00 or so. We're always looking for new members and you don't have to own a Z either.

The original post started over here, http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=142674, but I thought more folks might see it in this section. I've included more photos and my answer to the indicator lights normally found in the stock speedo and tach. My solution is a combo arrangement that will fit in the hole just above the emergency flashers switch next to the tach. Yes, that is a cigarette lighter assembly turned light pod. I turned the plug on my lathe using black delrin and drilled holes for LED flat top indicators.

I thought I'd provide a bit of info about my SC'd LD28 block/crank petrol build. It is in that stage of pre-assembly. Yep, I'm using both the diesel block and crankshaft. Pistons are from JE. They are flat tops providing 8.5 cr. The head is a mechanical P90A. The basic work to date is as follows. Drilled and tapped oil feed holes in block to relocate pump pickup for the S30 oil pan. Bored block from 84.5mm to 85mm (That provides a nearly square engine). Drilled, tapped and plugged 8 steam holes in deck exposed with P90A head. Turned, polished and shortened (6mm) crankshaft. Shortening the crank is a common mod in Japan to reduce bad harmonics. Balanced L20B rods. Ported P90A. Drilled P90A to accept 12mm head bolts. Pre-assembly will be done to fit pistons and check for clearances to cylinder head/valves. Decking to minimize quench area to about 025 to 030. Fly cutting pistons to gain clearance and bring cr back to 8.5, if needed. That's it for now. There is much left to do and lots of small details. I'm still considering having a custom cam ground. I wish Ken Jones would provide me with specs based on his SC projects but I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor.

For what it's worth... butyl is superior to asphalt in all ways. According to SecondSkin, you'll start seeing diminishing return on your investment after 60% coverage is acheived. I'm using Damplifier (80 sqft), Luxury Liner (36 sqft), Heat Wave Pro (18 sqft) and Rattle Pad (9 sqft). That should get much of the surface areas covered. I'm expecting a major reduction in interior noise based on other's experiences. If needed, I'll add their spray-on product later. Oh yeah, I don't plan on pulling my headliner yet. We'll see what the initial results is soon.

I'm only focusing on the rear stub axles. Mine are designed with a 19mm offset to match the offset of a Z31 front 5-bolt hub. I know lots of people have been following this adventure. It is a slow and painfully expensive process. I've invested a lot of time and $$$ without the end results I'm looking for. Please be patient. I feel I'm close to a working product but it will still take a little time.

I've turned to another axle manufacturer. They have my drawings, a prototype axle, a stock axle and a internally splined reference plate to work with. I'll know soon if things will be progressing in the right direction. I feel confident that a final product is jsut around the corner.

I suspect you live in the Hampton Roads area (seven cities). I live over in Portsmouth. While I have to spread time across several responsibilites I do work on the Z often enough. Maybe I can help with a question or two on occasion.

I don't know but these come with a 5 year overall warranty and LIFETIME on the circuit boards. DEFI doesn't offer much, if anything, in 2 5/8" either.

I must admit that the idea of dropping several hundred dollars on gauges was not what I had in mind. I've got Autometer Sport-Comp gauges in my 71 Land Rover. They've held up well against harsh terrain and elements. I was looking to put some in my 240Z but I didn't like the limited selection of 2 5/8" gauges offered. I took a look at these Revolution gauges from Speedhut. The sticker price shocked me but the product was artwork. Everything is fully programmable! I finally bit the bullet and placed an order figuring the extra +$200 was acceptable. Speedhut service was good but I had to wait an extra week due to a shortage of black bezels. I had two extra sets of stock gauges to play with so I started disassembly to see what I had to work with. Long story short, here's the final outcome. I'm posting photos of the finished pieces and then a couple of exploded parts. If you're wondering, I used internal clock rings (required 3 clocks) to mount the 2 5/8" gauges. They had to be die grinded ti fit the gauge bodies. These were nestled between the plastic bezel and metal back shell. I removed the clear lens, metal ring and rubber seal from the stock dual-gauge plastic bezel. A small amount of the inner lip is removed at the bottom to clear the new gauge bezel using a Dremel tool. These were cleaned up and paint flat black. The white ring is an adapter I made from 2" plumbing coupling on the lathe to hold the gauge snug to that ring. Speedhut sells a similar ring but I failed to order any so I fabbed some up real quick. The white adapter you see with the tach is a simple drain cap acquired at Lowes. It literally fit perfect within the metal back shell. I had only to open up a hole the install the gauge, cut it to length and make those notches to clear the screw holes in the back shell. The mounting ring of the gauge has raised ribs to aid tightening. They would not fit so I ground them off and cut slots for a flat blade screwdriver to snug them up tight. On the stock plastic housing I discarded the clear lens. The inner bezel was die grinded to remove a small lip and bevel the back edge. The speedo is similar but that white adapter is shorter because the back shell is too. When everything is assembled it is rock solid. I swear it looks like it was designed to fit from the factory. The fourth gauge (oil pressure) will be mounting on the steering column cover between the speedo/tach. I haven't come up with high beam, parking brake and turn signal lights yet but I'll come up with something cleaver and clean. The installation will be straight forward since all original mounting brackets are used without modification. Did I say straight forward? Not really, getting to the speedo/tach hardware is a royal pain. I think I'll pull the dash, do the install/wiring and start fitting in the Vintage Air Gen III system while I'm at it.

I'll agree only to a point. I do use quality hardware purchased from a reputable supplier for many uses (mostly s/s). In very specific applications where high load forces, such as the flywheel, are encountered I use OEM, ARP or equivalent hardware. Having a flywheel back off because you used bolts and flat washers is not something I would find appealing. We're only talking about $40. That's cheap insurance considering the cost of everything else possibly damaged.

Can't tell you the size as I'm at the office. Don't buy generic bolts from the local hardware supplier! Use new bolts. Their cheap and critical too. Your local Nissan dealer should have these available immediately or in a couple of days. They can also be purchased online from http://www.courtesyparts.com, eBay, etc. The part number is 12315-U6000. Cost should be around $6-$7 each and worth every penny! Install these and torque to spec. Using a drift, smack the crap out of each bolt head, retorque to spec. Don't forget to use BLUE loctite (allows for easier removal later than using red loctite). This is assuming you're working on a L24, L26 or L28 S30 engine.

Okay, here goes... The spline rolling will not happen. My axle manufacturer uses hardened (50 rockwell) material. The rolling process is limited to about a 34 hardness. I'm back to machining. I had my broaching company produce a quick pattern based on the rolled spline parameters. It should work with a machined spline...we'll see when it gets here. The spline count will still be 29. The most important aspect is the pressure angle. 45 degrees provides the maximum torque resistance. That is why I limiting the spline count to 29...nuff said. Material for the later Nissan CV joint is on order (5.5" diameter) to make flanges for the larger 4 and 6 bolt joints. All of this takes time AND money! I hope to have something for you in the first of the year. It will be worth the wait.

I just completed the install of a set of '94 Miata seats in my '71 240Z. It was relatively straight forward. I used the Miata rails in lieu of the Datsun pieces. This meant I didn't have to cut up or hammer in the bottom of the seats. The Miata rails have mounting feet at either end. The front were cut off just ahead of the aligning pins. The rear were removed by grinding/driving out the retaining rivets. I cut off the aligning pin on the rails and drilled out the existing hole to 5/16". I drilled 5/16" holes exactly 12 9/16" back on either rail. That placed the new hole between the existing rivet holes. These were filed square to accept a carriage bolt. That was all I needed to do to the miata rails. The seat brackets in the Z floorboard were slotted with a die grinder to allow for the wider bolt pattern of the Miata rails and centering the seats. I used fender washers to shore up the slotted areas. 1" thick Nylon spacers were made on the lathe to lift the rear of the Miata seats to reduce the bucket effect. The front brackets could have been modified to lower that mounting point 1" for the same effect too. The whole process, in the dark and cold of two nights, was about 6 hours start to finish. That included thinking it through to vacuuming up the carpet. The ride height seems to be about 1" above stock. That allows for a better view. The lumber support is reasonable with the seat base installed as is. It could be enhanced with an air bladder, if needed. At 5' 10", I still have about 3 1/2" clearance to the roof. I'm adjusting to these new seats but think I'll be very happy over the original. These are firm but comfortable. A big plus is easy access to the rear area now that the seats slide further forward and tilt forward as well! The only downside at this time is the cloth wear on the bolster of the driver's seat. I really don't want vinyl, leather or velour. A local upholstery shop (they do a lot of show cars) can redo these in quality cloth for about $500 a pair out the door. That will likely be the choice I'll make soon enough. I'll add photos later.