bjhines

The original steel wheels had a lot of "spring" in the wheel-nut lands. You can think of this as lock-washers built into the wheels. The aftermarket aluminum wheels do not give, and do not act like spring lock washers. They have occasionally come off due to owner negligence. This is one example of something that is not as owner-proof as the original design. You want to toss spacers into the mix.... Well that can open an entirely new can of worms for neophyte owners. We had a fella at one of our track events who repeatedly lost wheels while on track at speed. It turns out that he installed hub-centric spacers BACKWARDS! The raised lips were facing the hub-face. Apparently he ordered spacers that were too thin and he decided that installing them backwards would get the extra thickness needed. We have a rule that requires things like new wheels and spacers go through tech inspection before they go out on track. Apparently he broke this rule and could have killed himself or others.

The 4 pinion design means it cannot be ONE-piece. That is why the unit unbolts and opens up into 2 pieces. That is so you can remove and reinstall the pinion cross. 2 pinion diffs are much simpler

ummmm... little metal tab on rotor fell off. They are not just snapped on. I would check for further damage inside the distributor. There could be several little bits of rivets and the tab still in there. No telling what damage they may have caused. The original problem was likely due to improper fitment or the wrong part. You need to figure out if that is the correct part and what other damage is done to the cap and distributor. Have you checked timing??? that might be more telling... even if the plugs seem to spark.

Well... all that can be said here is that is a tough nut! Seriously you are not going to let that little stuck bolt break you. are you? A couple of words for future reference... Stuck filler bolts are COMMON!!!! Always remove the fill plug FIRST. A tranny with old oil is better than a tranny with NO OIL. As far as getting stuck bolts and nuts free... That is what makes a REAL-Mechanic vs. shadetree mechanic. generally speaking, using the right tool the first time is the best way to go.

That is not a stock piece for a 240Z. It might be some sort of hidden kill switch. Does it have wires on it?

That is about what I figured $$$. It comes back via donkey-mail too.

I can imagine this retro car... being made entirely of composites and light as hell. Keep it small like the original and give it a lighweight normally aspirated 4 cylinder engine. <1800lbs and <200HP for a driver's retro 240Z. Spartan, light, and affordable. With looks like that it will sell! I love the design. Like many, I try to imagine slightly different lines and treatments, but that design has been tastefully developed into a beautiful form. It might need some sort of integrated bumper. It also has the gaping maw of the original. That does not work well for aerodynamics. You might look to the 280ZX for a more workable front end design.

I have a couple of these FE 36 extinguishers for electrical equipment rooms. These are the kind you will see in high$$$ installations to protect equipment from the corrosive effects of other dry chemical types. These are big(10lbs) extinguishers that carry a variety of ratings including Coast Guard and aircraft types. They are hand held with a handle type firing head. The head uses a AN- style, O-ringed, discharge-fitting. I figured I could use one of them to serve as my fire safety system installed in my track car. I had to modify the head to use a pull cable. I also had to modify the discharge fitting to adapt to my plumbing. I used 4.25" band clamps to mount the bottle behind the driver's seat. I purchased a Fire-Safe systems pull type cable and installed it in the hand brake location. I used copper tubing and compression fittings to plumb the 3 nozzles in the driver's area, the firewall, and the fuel tank area.

LOL!!!! I just installed mine. I am not taking any pins out of ANYTHING at-all until race day.

If the history is correct, then this might be a neat thing to bring to shows(and track days). http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bob-Bondurant-Datsun-710-Race-Car-rare-earliest-known_W0QQitemZ170216450071QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170216450071&

My wife and I met our Real-estate agent to look at a new house. I drove my truck and my wife drove her SUV. We looked at the house for a little while and I went out back. I heard a strange popping sound. When I walked up front I heard it again and then I heard glass break. The Next door neighbor's KIDS were shooting the windows out of BOTH of my vehicles. I caught them IN THE ACT. I called out to them to stop and called the police. The police showed up and confronted the mother and the boys(8 years and 13 years). The Mother would not come outside to apologize and the Kids did not show their faces. I was forced to communicate through the police. The mother would not come out of her house. She told the police to tell me that she would pay damages with a check. I told the police to tell her that this would be close to $10,000. She told the police to tell me that she would look at the estimates and get back to me. I told the police I was sick and tired of talking through them to get to her. I called my lawer and 4ucked her wallet sideways for the full $10,000. I also testified against her in a lawsuit filed by the property management group that owned the house we were looking at buying. The kids shot the house up so badly that the house repair bill was estimated at $35,000. Furthermore the neighborhood had been plagued by random BB-gun shooting incidents hitting joggers and pets. The mother lost custody of her children and moved out of town. 4uck that piece of shiat for a parent. This was in a high end Golf community and the houses were worth half a million.

The bolts holding the pulley to the damper were tight. Possibly too tight. There was some clearance between the damper and parts of the pulley that caused a pinging/ringing under certain conditions.

This can also be caused by the front pulley. I had the same issue that seemed to be related to both throttle and RPM but I could not get it to go away. I finally figured out that it was comming from the crankshaft pulley.

OK... You have to rotate the pistons back into their bores to set them back far enough to intall new pads(if you have been using your E-brake at all). When new pads are first installed, the helical rotator system can cause the piston to rotate slightly before the anti-rotation pins engage the holes in the piston. The pin will bear down on the pad unevenly. This leads to beveled pads and poor braking performance. The factory shims are partly there to ensure this does not happen when first applying a new set of pads. There are many different shims for similar looking calipers. These part numbers depend on which caliper and which hanger you have. Many folks have no idea exactly which model and year car their calipers were removed from. I have different hangers AND calipers so I need to piece together 2 sets of shims to make this work just like stock. I use great care to keep the inboard pads seated firmly against the piston until they are clamped tight. Then I exercise the E-brake handle to set the helical pins.

The stock brakes work well if they are in good condition. Many race classes are limited to using the stock brake components. There are many people who have gotten "ok" track performance from the stock set up. Those people who do use stock brakes on track must constantly deal with brake issues even when they do get a decent level of brake performance. I tried nearly every brake combination over years of track use. There are a LOT of issues with the stock set up that are not problems with the upgraded brake systems. The MM front and rear upgrades using the Toyota/300zx/240sx parts is a HUGE improvement over the stock system in all regards. There has been quite a bit of developement in the MM set up. Brake bias is not an issue in a properly assembled MM type system with proper pad choices. I have seen S-30s at track events with all sorts of brake issues. It usually boils down to poor choices in friction materials and improper assembly of the brake components. I usually just try to help them get back on track and point out the mistakes that were made. The 240SX(and others from Nissan) have incredibly complex rear calipers. They are not something you should attempt to rebuild yourself. Simple seal changes are not that hard... but getting into the rotator assembly is not something you can accomplish without specialty tools. Hell... just getting the 240sx rear inboard pads seated correctly is WAYYYYYY beyond most tinkerers. I have seen quite a few incorrectly seated rear pads causing MAJOR bias issues on track. Incorrect seating against the anti-rotation pins also bevels the ♥♥♥♥ out of your nice new pads. People are quick to post issues about brake bias using various set ups. When it turns out that they hacked the install they don't usually mention that after they find their booboos. I think this is where a lot of these "bias issues" come from. Those who have bias problems and have done everything correctly may have weight bias or weight transfer issues.

I have the biggest toyota calipers on 300zx vented disks in front(Hawk Blue 9012) I have the 300zx rear disks with 240SX calipers(Hawk BLACK) This has been the best balance I have yet found without going with Willwoods and big NASCAR type disks. I am using the stock 1972 240Z master cylinder and brake booster. All stainless flex lines and original proportioning valve. I have tried Ferodo DS2500 compound on the fronts.. It was too slick to use with the Hawk Black rear pads. I was dragging the rear wheels too much.. I went back to Hawk BLue front pads and Hawk black rear pads. Here is a pic of the difference between the small vented caliper pads and the large vented caliper pads. I don't think there will be any problem using the smaller pad sizes.... But the large pads are the same as the Z32 and Subaru WRX pads... They are easy to find instock with performance compounds.

You will really like the disks on the rear. In my experience... the drums can grip hard with aggressive compounds, but they don't modulate like the front disks. I find it much easier to keep rear disks spinning. Drums just don't want to let go once they stop. Another issue with the drums is that they tend to grow as they get hot... If you get race compound shoes, the drums will grow considerably as they heat up. This causes the pedal feel to change and brake bias shifts to the front disks which then get much hotter as they are worked harder. I tried to use the rear drums for years with various front brake modifications until I finally got the 300ZX disks and 240SX calipers. It made HUGE improvements on both ends of the car... The front brakes run cooler, and the rear brakes are more consistent.

That looks great... Make sure to tie it into the car real well. You might look into some gusset plates in the areas you are tying into. There are gussets in the front frame rails for various attachments.. try to get load transfered to those.

Another approach is to use a flat plate from the top lip of the airdam to the radiator support crossmember. This helps aerodynamics as well. ...

There ya go... That is about how much I cut out of my fenders... I do plan on lowering the car a lot.

In the future you can check things with a Volt/OHM meter. Check voltage at the posts of the battery while you have a friend start the car. If it is a bad connection you will see that the battery voltage will stay steady when the probes are touching the actual posts. If you move the probes to the wires or clamps the voltage will drop if there is a bad connection.

LOL, I have a RULE... I only post info I have PICTURES and HARD-DATA to back up. Jmortensen and I got into a heated debate over the R200 LSD units, and it turns out we were BOTH RIGHT and we BOTH had pics to support our claims. This is the way these rare issues should be resolved. I started the Wind-Tunnel experiment because I was frustrated over the wild claims by some people over S-30 aero. I needed REAL INFO for my hybrid project. Every time I used the "other" sites for info, It always seems that the info was "almost" right. I got used to the fact that the mods could be accomplished, but the parts-list was going to take a few tries to get right. The short answer folks were leaving out critical information that would have enabled an easy, first-time, fix. BRAKES for example... There must be a dozen variations on the Toyota front caliper mods. There are only one or two that will work on track and have an easy supply of racing pad compounds available. The largest of all the Toyota calipers accept the Z-32 and Subaru WRX pads, which are available on short notice in any compound. The other model Toyota calipers have a much narrower choice of compounds and availability. I know of several track enthusiasts who have ended up with the wrong calipers for their vented rotors. This is as frustrating as it is expensive. To make matters worse, the folks who suggest the WRONG calipers will argue that they were right all along and the fact that I wanted the USEFUL calipers is "RACE ONLY" and not worth discussion. blaaahahhh.... I would like to point out that the "Hard-info" we have available is often incomplete or flat out WRONG... The various wiring diagrams are full of mistakes. I can point out several major mistakes in the factory microfiche. The "full-color" diagrams available on E-bay are also chock full of mistakes. These mistakes do not seem to crop up very often in discussions, but they are there and they are frustrating. The other problem I have with the wiring diagrams is that they are short-hand versions of reality. If you actually unwrap your harnesses there are dozens of splices and wires that are not on the diagrams. This can make discussions worthless unless someone has actually unwrapped a harness from each model year for reference.

That new fuse block from MSA is NICE!!! I just could not bring myself to spend that much money on something I could fix for free. I definitely like the MSA box though and I would consider it for a future project.

That JHD guy is an idiot, I am never impressed with the shine and show types. They all claim to have ancient/lost knowledge about classic cars and ties to ancient dealerships. Most of them don't have a 4ucking clue. I love to wear them out at car shows. I see the old guys talking about their Z-cars and then I drop bombs on their "ancient knowledge". Knowledge is not gained through osmosis and exposure to Z-cars over decades of ignorant hacking. NOS... It is not that hard to look at a part and determine if it is NEW, OLD, STOCK, and it's condition... after lying on a shelf for 30+years. I am willing to accept that some NOS parts may have deteriorated after years of storage. This is DIFFERENT!!!!, They are 4ucking HUBCAPS!!!! The only NOS wear and tear I would expect to see is a possible scratch from rubbing on the packaging. If they are covered with dust, rust, dings, dents, grease, and the paint is comming off then they are 4UCKING USED!!!!! If JHD is reading this then I have a message... Suck it up and return the money or you will hear about it at the next show.

The fuse blocks have been the source of many problems. The fuse holder prongs are rivited to the tabs that the wires are connected to on the back of the fuse block. The brass rivets and contacts are easily loosened by previous owners improperly prying out the fuses. Once the fuse panel has been abused it will fail to work, work intermittantly, or it can overheat and burn the plastic parts and melt the cover. The best fix is to tighten up the rivets, clean the brass parts, and solder the contacts from the back. You need a high power soldering iron to do this quickly without melting any plastic. ...