bjhines

Hey.. Thank you very much! I have nearly completed the car build. It will be running on track later this summer.

Hobart also offers similar 120v models. Make sure that whatever brand you buy, you can also buy replacement parts locally. Relays, potentiometers, wire feed rollers, wire guide liners, reel motors, various plastic reel holder parts, gun tips, gas shields, gun handles, etc are all parts that will wear out or break. I bought a 10 year old Millermatic-140 and practically rebuilt the thing after another year of use. I should have bought the Hobart that Northern Tools put on sale for $400 with the gas regulator kit and the welding cart. You will also need to buy/lease a tall welding gas cylinder and your first fill-up of welding gas. Don't get the small cylinder, they are for mobile rig use and run out of gas quickly(well before you run out of wire). Feeding this thing power.......Check you wiring. I use a 20amp breaker and have heavy guage wire running to the shop. I do use 102v and it works great. I had a problem using it at a friend's house because he had 15amp breakers, crappy wiring, too many things on one circuit, and the panel is a long way from the garage. Even with everything else unplugged, it would begin kicking the breaker after a long period of use.

I had no idea there was anything such as matching numbers for Datsun cars.

There is no such thing as rust free when talking about an S30. They had rust before they got to the dealers.

That is the shiznits.. What a cheap and creative way to do this. The last I looked a "proper" beading tool kit was $600. I will definitely try this one. Thank you for posting this.

I never answered that because I don't know what you are talking about? vent hoses; They are all plastic, ovalized on one end, and usually pretty flexible. They are not exposed to sunlight. I suppose they are somewhat prone to getting kicked by people's feet. I have more than one set of vent ducting to choose from, but I suppose they might be hard to find replacements for. I have seen that most are missing the vinyl-tape that was originally used to seal them. Replace the tape and add some extra to fix your original hoses.

The front framerails are too thin, especially on the bottom. You can have a piece of 16gauge steel bent to form a long C-channel and attach it covering the bottom, inside, and top surfaces as a doubler. Drill it full of holes and plug weld it to all surfaces. You also need to open holes for the mounting bolts for various parts. This will give you a good opportunity to seam weld-all of the parts in this area. You may also need to flatten out the bottom surfaces, they get indented from past accidents, especially where the crossmember attaches. The sway-bar mounts can be better reinforced with 1/2" tubes passing through from top to bottom, welded to the framerail on top and bottom. You would use long bolts with nuts that pass all the way through the frame instead of just bolting on to the bottom surface weld-nuts. The inner fender does not meet the framerail with the full thickness sandwich of the strut-towers, inner-fender, and framerail. The tower stampings are an inch short of meeting the framerail lip. I added gussets here to better tie the towers into the framerail. You can also gusset the TC-buckets to the inside of the framerails. Watch out though, you need to relocate some hardlines and wires. The upper frame horns(covered by the front fenders) could also use some reinforcement. There are bolt-on supports for many makes of cars. These are brackets that bolt to the door hinge plates and to the frame horns even with the strut towers. They make an upside-down L with a diagonal for stiffness. I don't know of any brackets made for the S-30. but you can weld a tube from the front tip of the rockers forward and up to the bottom of the frame-horns, in-line with the strut towers. Keep in mind that many areas will require doubler plates to spread loads. This applies to the roll-bar tubes, the various reinforcing tubes, etc.

I have a few ideas for you. 1. get the Ebay 8-point in chromoly. The rear braces look like they will attach to a tube welded between the strut towers or to the towers themselves. I like the inside/tunnel diagonals. You would need more diagonal bracing in the rear braces to pass track-tech-inspection. 2. Install the PDK fabrication front end kit. and install the PDK rear brace. These do more than the everage strut bars. Or use the design as a guide. 3. Your coilover choices are going to need careful consideration. Buy a COMPLETE kit because the struts have to match you spring rates and upper mounts. This also includes deciding which wheels and tires you will use FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!! 4. The PDK fab bar does even better. It reinforces the sway bar mount as well. 5. The front frame rail underside NEEDS REINFORCEMENT. Many are popping spot welds, especially when stiff sway bars are mounted with soft springs!!!!! 6. weld in subframe connectors. These offer significant reinforcement and they add weight low(where it can be tolerated). 7. In rear; add horizontal bracing on the underside of the chassis. There are a lot of ways to do this. a. weld 16guage steel channel to the underside of the horizontal x-member that the rear uprights and the mustache-bar bolt to. b. Add diagonal braces to the rear suspension hanger/uprights c. use an alternate rear hanger system like the Arizona-Z-Car rear end/mustache-bar kit. 8. Add lower-front X/K-member, bracing the TC buckets, framerails, subframe connectors, and front cross-member together. 9. seam/plug weld as many chassis seams as you can manage.

carpet strips.... but that is not what you described at all.

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................... You not give nuff info... You post big pic... then we might know. Seriously... 10mm bolts are big-ass fasteners. There is no carpet 10" above the floor except on the tranny tunnel or the rear parcel shelf. You gotta get your info straight unless you want silly responses. You can't be describing an S30.. are you sure your on the right forum???

The issue at hand is the suitability of the bulb to the collimator type(reflector vs projector). I would love to see a picture of the new H4 HID capsule next to a typical H4 incandescent bulb.

The OEM belts allow your upper body to move forward enough to ensure you don't slip under the lap belt. OEM belts auto adjust to make their configuration work properly. They allow considerable freedom of movement. There are a lot of differences in racing harnesses that are not obvious until you wear one. You have to tighten a racing harness in a specific order. If you skip parts then you end up pulling the lap belt out of position when you tighten the shoulders. You can't wear a "partial" racing harness without casuing seious injury in even a minor crash. It takes time to assemble and tighten the harness. It is highly restrictive once you are in. You can't pull your door closed or reach anything on the passenger side. You can't touch your feet or even scratch your calf.

I have a set of Rotas 17x9.5 all 4. They were cheaper than the tires. I wish they had different offset(they need 5" backspacing). The rotas stick out too far with anything more than a 245 width tire on the front with ZG flares. I would need some wide flares to mount anything wider than 245mm on a lowered race car. 17" wheels have the widest choices and best priced tires, especially for track use. 15" and 16" are very limited and track tires are super expensive.

good to hear it is working. I'll be interested in how well it works with the supercharger, especially as a street car.

Geee. I didn't know this thread was going on.... I have owned a Cosmos 1997 M3/4/5 for a while. I have tracked it, but it is not as much fun as the Z. I have been seriously thinking of selling it for around $9500 with 230,000 miles. The only mods are Bilstiens and urethane mounts, bushings, etc. The engine, tranny, diff have all been replaced(some more than once), it all works, and it looks very nice inside and out.

Yea.. There is no BS in that article at all. The vehicle should have been a bad joke but they actually made them. I have only seen one male driving one, I gave that guy the 3rd degree because he parked it in a handicapped space and walked into Starbucks while talking on his PDA phone in his pinstriped suit. I wore him out about his joke of a painted fingernail, wannabe truck, with the ghetto bling, and shitty reputation for poor quality and poor performance. Then I wore him out about how he was obviously mentally handicapped due to his handicapped parking space and choice of vehicle. Then I went on about his girly fingernails and coiffed hair and the bird crap on his shoulder. He actually looked at his shoulder, then I wore him out about how insecure he must feel right now and how his vehicle exclaims his need for a viagra prescription. Dude left without buying anything and I went home smiling.

damn those are expensive. Before you jump off you might want to figure out how much cooling capacity you need. Here is the MOCAL oil thermostat from RPW http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/product/1536/Mocal_Remote_Oil_Thermostat Here is the Mocal unit for LS engines http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/product/6165/Mocal_Remote_Oil_Thermostat You can get a sandwich thermostat for L6 Datsun http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/product/1597/Mocal_Sandwich_Plate

We hashed out most of this in dozens of threads over the years. You put a bunch of people together searching for info, calling manufacturers, etc, and the info comes out. There is some intersting info on using this foam through factory frame repair guidlines for newer cars and SUVs. Foam-filled structural replacement is a complex process. Clealiness and rust-proofing the surfaces are described as critical to proper repair/replacement. You can imagine how this would play out on our cars. The structural foam is fairly heavy(for foam), dense, and hard as wood.

The HID capsules were originally much longer than the filament in a typical incandescent. The light source was much longer and therefore much different than a short, horizontal, coiled filament. The projector was a great way to collimate the light from this longer emmisive source. If these newer H4-HID capsules match the orientation and size of an incandescent filament then they will directly replace the incandescent bulbs in situ. You could take a picture of the H4-HID capsules next to an incandescent bulb and we can easily judge their compatability. Also take note of how the high beams function in these H4 capsules.

your front left caliper has sticking pistons.

Fric-Frac, Thank you for testing this out. I was interested in buying a set of REFLECTORS that work well. Unfortunately the links are all broken. Even the links on Visionquest's site to buy them are all messed up. I am a bit worried that the items you purchased are not exactly what they are selling now... Can you confirm a site that sells the exact housings you found and tested? I see that there are a lot of morons quipping about relectors vs projectors. This optical technology is literally 4 centuries old, so shut your chromatically-abberated pie holes for god's sake. The largest, most powerful, most expensive, and downright world-view changing telescopes are ALWAYS MIRRORED REFLECTORS. So why can't you morons use them for your headlights. The problems that people encounter are because of the BULBS, not the type of housing used to control the light. You must use the right bulb for the housing you have.

The bridge piece sturdily supports the gasket. There is not a lot of pressure put on it by the door, even if you slam it. The bridge took a few tries to figure out how to make it all fit together. I used panel fasteners that are male-female flush button, screw together pieces. They are damn near flush and the gasket-channel slips over them fine. The rear window will be sealed around it's perimeter with silicone sealant. I still have to paint the hatch so it will be removed and reinstalled. I am going to mask the window to paint a black perimeter to hide the spacers and fasteners. I will probably use black RTV to seal it. The quarter windows will not be sealed. It is a track car. The side windows cannot be rolled up per rules. Any water that leaks in will run down to the door gasket, It cannot run into the car.

I added lexan quarter windows. I wanted them flush at the rear instead of inset like the factory glass. I was going to mask and paint a border around them as well as the rear window... But I think I like them clear. They almost look like nothing is there. I made a bridge piece to hold the door gasket and support the front edge of the lexan. Here is detail of the mounting method ...

I appreciate the link. Interesting but it's just a tease. The pictures are fuzzy and useless. near zero data. Even the color plots can't be referenced to a number because the pics are so blurred.

rust (rust) n. 1. Any of various powdery or scaly reddish-brown or reddish-yellow hydrated ferric oxides formed on iron and iron-containing materials by low-temperature oxidation in the presence of water. 2. Any of various metallic coatings, especially oxides, formed by corrosion. 3. A stain or coating resembling iron rust. 4. Deterioration, as of ability, resulting from inactivity or neglect. v. rust·ed, rust·ing, rusts v.intr. 1. To become corroded. 2. To deteriorate or degenerate through inactivity or neglect. 3. To become the color of rust. 1. To corrode or subject (a metal) to rust formation. 2. To impair or spoil, as by misuse or inactivity. 3. To color (something) a strong brown. rust adj. rusta·ble adj. The word rust must also be included in any description of an S30 Z-car. Rust is the most important word used to describe a Z-car. Rust has one of the largest influences on the price of a z-car. Rust is the most expensive thing to fix on a Z-car. Pictures of rust are worth millions of words in relation to a Z-car. The word rust and Z-cars have been associated since 1973, only 3 years after it's introduction. The word rust and protection were used together by Datsun dealers to inflate the prices of the Z-cars on their lots. The pictures you are showing are interestingly avoiding areas that rust occurs on Z-cars. I can SEE RUST in the pictures even though they seem to purposely blur rusty areas. Any descriptoin beyond RUST and measures taken to fix it are meaningless in determining the value of a Z-car.