bjhines

HPDE TIME TRIALS... =TT for me... I figured the TT would pull a few others as well.... The cage is 1.5" .095 DOM... Chris Schimmel aka "Competion Cages" bent the tubes.. Mark Cooper aka "Hubcap Heaven and Wheels" and I are going to cut and notch the straight sections....and weld it up... The door bars and strut tower to A-pillar bars will be bent and fitted last... I will take it back to Chris next month.... Right now I am trying to figure out how to completely weld it without cutting off the roof..... We are also making mounting plates for all tube-to-body connections.... This is just a preliminary bend and fitting...

I case you ever wondered why your headlights go dim, strange things happen in the rain, etc, etc.... I present to you "SPLICE WARS" Nissan just didn't use solder... at all..... I am going to apply solder liberally throughout the car... engine harness before unwrapping. After unwrapping I'll be damned... FOG LIGHTS!!! Headlight splice.. kind of exposed if you ask me.. I dont like it at all... Soo this is why my horns didn't work... someone pulled too hard. How nice.. splices with extra wire!!! Fuse panel fully soldered... It took a bigass iron on one side and a little iron on the other... with lead solder in my teeth... I am adding relays for everything... but I thought I would show you guys what I found..... Typical ground splice. It had been very hot and melted the tape and browned the main power+ right next to it.... whew!!!

I had most of the tubing bent and I trial fitted it this week... The dashbar below will allow me to reinstall the original dash with stock guages and wiring... only the ductwork needs to change. I coped the fonrt A-pillar bars into the rockers I also cut into the rear wheel wells to get some extra room behind the seats without too many bends in the hoop. The A-pillar roofline looks ok.... The top of the hoop fits nicely out of the way... I have a lot to add... but this is a good start... I have a TT track event this weekend so I have to get the other 240Z ready... this project will have to sit for another week or 2.

ummm.... he only changed his tranny right.....???? That would not change his speedo gearing at all.... Plug the cable back in and it will read exactly the same as it did before... You have to change tire/wheel size... or the differential gearing to need to recalibrate your speedo gearing....

All I can say is.... WOW!... what a nice job they did.. It lasted this long and was just beginning to have a few lighting issues....Dome, Headlight, parking etc. I have stripped all of the electrical wiring... My intention is to improve.. but not to remove circuits... some of the extras will be beneficial... I have done most of the sorting... I still have a lot of work to do. To be honest... I have not actually planned this completely... so far this has been more of a fact finding mission. FACTS: chassis built 2/73 240Z California reg: EGR, AIR CON, etc. I always wondered about a few weird things about this crossover 240/260Z electrical system. ================================================ Fuel pump: Well... It follows 260Z standards.. It has a lot of extra wiring that serves to operate the fuel pump to prime the system and then shut off once the engine is running... Mechanical pump takes over from there... It has 2 cut out relays, several connectors(in 3 harnesses) and an inline fuse... It comes out neatly and leaves a connector that has IGNITION SWITCH (not fused)power and a green wire to the rear 14guage. It originally worked by operating the pump when the ignition is switched on... then the start key position would kick off a relay to cut the pump... then when the key was returned to the IGNITION position it would switch the pump back on... until the alternator came up to voltage and kicked off a second relay to cut power to the fuel pump....It was originally fused(15A) inline near the connector behind the heater console. ================================================ AIR CON: I saw lots of extra wires... in weird places... This sucker is wired for dealer installed AIR CONDITIONING. not much mind you.. but there are several unused climate control wires and connectors in my non AC version. They all get power through a relay and 2 fuses. Kind of redundant without AC... They have a 20A fuse panel circuit that runs a relay that operates the blower motor fed by BATT+/ammeter power. The blower relay circuit has an INLINE 20A fuse(blue wires). They are using a 20A fuse to kick a 0.2A draw relay that uses a 20A inline fuse off BATT+... the only thing the fuse in the fuse panel would operate would be the blower relay and the compressor clutch... in my car it takes only 0.2A to kick the relay... soo there is a useful circuit that cant be blown out by the blower... it is almost unused and isolated... ================================================ Dome lights: has anyone ever seen the kick panel courtesy lights in the diagrams???... The connectors are indeed there(on each kick panel near the door pin swich connectors)... I would imagine they are something similar the the glove box light without the switch... ================================================ FOG LIGHTS: There is a single RED 14G wire that runs to the front harness and splits to both sides where the headlight/turn connectors are. There is an unused connector behind the heater control panel that recieves power through the PARK/TAIL fused circuit... there are common grounds near the front clip connectors as well. ================================================ ANTI THEFT: This brings elaborate things to mind.... In reality it is a switch in the ignition key cylinder that operates the buzzer if the door is opened with the key in the ignition (regardless of key switch position). The same buzzer is tied into the seat belts, the passenger seat bottom, and the neutral switch on the manual transmission... This serves to operate the buzzer if the driver or passenger does not have their seat belts on when the ignition is ON and the transmission is shifted out of neutral(into any gear)... ================================================ WIPER DELAY/WASHER INTERMITTANT: The damn wipers are COMPLICATED!!!! most early Z cars diagrams dont show this in detail... but there are only 2 speeds for the wipers: slow and fast.... ahh... but there are 3 positions on the wiper switch: slow, medium, fast.... The slow setting uses an intermittant relay on the passenger kick panel.... This relay also operates the wipers if the washer button is depressed... 10 extra wires running back and forth with a big relay in the way... and these wires get you: not fast enough, still too slow, and almost fast enough.... LOL! ================================================ EGR CIRCUIT: There is a relay on the firewall right above the heater hoses... this is an EGR relay.... this took some creative thought... I have never seen the early system in operation... but I did figure it out... The relay operates a vacuum soleniod that deactivates the EGR valve until the car warms up.... There are several components in the system... A green wire that operates the solenoid, a thermostat housing temp switch, an interior kick panel thermal snap switch(opens above 32*F), and a firewall mounted relay. ================================================ I plan to add dual radiator fan relays, Headlight relays, FOG light relays, and an ignition system relay, one extra relay circuit will be added for future expansion. The harness has an amazing number of crimped splices all over the place... I counted 16 splices in the engine bay harness alone.... I am soldering all of them... I will also be converting some of the original circuits to operate new devices and guages.

ohh... speaking of this... top hats contacting the gland nuts CAN UNSCREW THEM!... I have evidence of this... they do indeed seem more prone to unscrewing rather than tightening.. go figure... hmm a lot of tracks in the southeast run clockwise... trailbraking on a clockwise track would do it... for me... the answer to this is EMI camber plates... I will get more suspension travel with the strut rod running higher up.. and the top hats can NEVER touch the gland nuts...

J mortenson is right.. I just checked... and the top hat does not add that much height...It adds a little over 1/2"... It is hard to say because I can only compare the rear mounts.. I do not have a set of 280Z front mounts with their bearings.... but you do... measure them... I have the top hats with adaptors to fit 240Z front mounts with bearings... I can tell you that those parts are 2 3/4" stack height... you could further reduce that by another 1/4" by hogging out the mount and getting rid of the little bearing spacer... the top hat is entirely different than the stock upper perch... it places the spring further away from the bottom of the mount by ~ another 1/4"... it also has a spacer that is ~1/4" thick... you might be able to find a thinner bearing and get them down to ~2 1/4" total stack thickness. on the other hand... the EMI plates I have will place the top of the spring wayy up inside the tower... they are only 1 3/4" stack hieght... BUT.. they also keep the threaded portion of the rod closer to the top of the spring... follow me here.....it fits deeper in the well looking from the top... and the spring fits closer to the top of the tower.... the top of the rod is very close to the top of the spring.. and you will find that you loose some travel due to the fact the the shocks bottom out before the top hat contacts the gland nut...this may alter your end results another 1/4"+-... something you should do is to look at the set up without springs... forget the coil bind issue for a minute... put the car up on stands... drop the lower perch right off the bottom and let the spring fall down as well... Now push a strut up by hand until it bottoms out... 1. with MY stock 240Z mounts and adaptors and top hats.. the top hat will hit the gland nut before the strut rod actually bottoms out... regardless of overall strut length... 2. the other extreme: with the EMI camber plates... the strut rod will bottom out(in the cartridge) before the "top hat" portion of the plate hits the gland nut... all this does not matter if you use proper bump stops... but is can make a difference in overall suspension travel...

J mortenson... The adaptation to use coilover top hats with stock mounts makes them considerably thicker than the stock mounts with stock perches... I have this stack of parts.. I will get the measurements today...

You may not need to lower the sleeves... like we are saying... you can get close to 2" lower with 240Z mounts modified to fit the upper coilover perches deep inside them. EMI and DP plates are the same basic design... lots of adjustability with little or no modification of the strut towers and relatively short stack height...

on another note.. if he wants rubber upper mounts... he can remove the bearing spacer and hogg out the rubber inside the mount so that the coilover upper perch will fit further up inside the mount.. making the stack shorter... also changing to 240Z mounts will give another inch...

J mortenson... The adaptor that is used to fit the coilover upper perch into the upper mount makes it considerably thicker than the stock set up... In other words.. the stack height of the stock mount+perch is almost a half inch shorter than the stack height of the stock mount+adaptor+coilover perch... In other words... he has >4" stack height with the stock 280Z uppermount+adaptor+coilover upper perch... this would cause the problem he is having.. even though he is using stock length strut cartridges... He needs to get rid of that THICK stack of adapted junk and get simple camber plates.. I think the EMI plates are his best choice.. he can change camber AND caster... and they require no alteration of the stock strut towers to install...

I am posting pictures to show you what I am talking about... remember stock 280Z mounts.. 3 3/4" thick stock 240Z mounts.. 2 3/4" thick EMI camber plates... 1 3/4" thick... you will get 2" more travel at the same ride height by switching to EMI camber plates and readjusting the bottom perches... pics soon....

This is a common problem... I have mocked up and taken measurements from several different uppermount options to arrive at what I think is best for my track 240Z... choosing the right upper mounts is critical to setting up your suspension for it's intended use. I am using sectioned housings for my current buildup... but sectioned struts will make it hard to get proper ride height for street use without loosing all of your suspension droop... ie. sectioned struts can be too short for street use.. You can use what you have... you just need to get the right uppermounts... by changing the uppermounts you can get as much as 2" lower than your current set up without loosing anymore strut travel... I am assuming that you don't want the car much lower than it is now... you can change upper mounts and then raise the bottom spring perches.. thereby increasing the amount of strut travel available... Buy the EMI camber plates.... This should give you the proper ride height with plenty of strut travel...

well... I measured the upper mounts... The 280Z insulators are ~3 3/4" from spring perch to upper mounting surface... The 240Z insulators are 2 3/4" from perch to mounting surface... The EMI camber plates are 1 3/4" from perch to mounting surface... The EMI plates require no cutting of the upper towers... and they will drop your car 2" from where it is now... giving you plenty of room for suspension travel... The EMI plates can also give you some added caster... EDIT: your struts will not compress all the way into their housings.... usually there is about an inch of strut rod showing with them bottomed out... It looks like your spring perches will hit the gland nut before the cartridge actually bottoms out... the EMI plates will lower the car but they also leave more of the strut rod exposed below the perch... so you may lower the car but still have an issue with the strut cartridges bottoming out... on the other hand... I am using cut struts with shorter inserts... With the car set at streetable height I have virtually no droop.. which is equally bad...

The 280Z upper mounts are much thicker than the early 240Z mounts... If you are using the stock upper mounts with the coilovers... switch to the the early 240Z upper mounts. This will drop the car at least an inch and it will not reduce your strut travel at all... I have a set of EMI camber plates that have virtually NO stack height at all... they put the top of the spring within a half inch of the threaded top of the strut rod... and the spring perch to the strut tower is only 1.5" or so... I also have a set of top-hats that allow you to use coilovers with stock uppermounts... they have a considerable amount of stack height... even more than the stock set up... I'll post some measurements when I get a chance....

don't forget that offset bushings have another desirable effect... They are made of aluminum... and they rotate in thin hard plastic sleeves... they keep the suspension parts from twisting or shifting under loads... The same effect is gained through the use of Heim joints/Johnny joints/spherical bushings... they provide a hard location for the suspension parts... The main drawback to the Aluminum+delrin bushings is that they tend to wear fast and they will bind if they are forced out of their plane of rotation... like adding a lot of caster by pushing the wheels forward... You can account for this when you redrill your crossmember mounting holes... the crossmember is thin and flexible.. it will conform to the slightly angled holes when you tighten it up... you can also "flex" the crossmember's sides to align the sides of the sheetmetal crossmember with the faces of the offset bushings. You will also need to provide a grease nipple to the inner control arm mounting hole. This will allow you to grease the sliding parts of the bushings... When you get to the part where you need to drill the new holes in the front crossmember... 1. drill the front holes in their new location 2. get the suspension together(except springs)... try to have everything set as close to how you want it when the car is on the road... caster, camber using the bolt placed partially though the front hole only... 3.then I used a large drill bit that closely matched the mounting bolt size to spot drill the hole location on the back side of the crossmember... pull everything apart and complete the drilling process, deburr and weld the new washers to the inside of the crossmember in the new holes locations. 4. bend the sides of the crossmember to closely match the slightly angled faces of the offset bushings. This will allow you to push the wheels forward without binding the offset bushings... they will rotate in the correct plane with the movement of the control arms.

try taking the hubs off the car... pop the rear seal out and the inside bearing drops out... that is all you need to do...the rear seal is very flexible... it is very easy to remove and reinstall. Take the hubs to any shop with a brake lathe... have them mount the hubs by the races and turn the rotors on the hubs as an assembly... You will be amazed at how true this will make them...

I am quickly approaching the part of the project where I need to paint the roll cage and interior of my V-8 project 240Z. This is a 1973 Blue 240Z paint code "115"... Has anyone seen how this color compares to say... 2000 Honda "electric blue"...??? or any others... "115" looks like it may be a little light for my taste... also it seems to have hints of other colors... I was thinking that it is maybe a little too 1970s color style for my taste...

ohhh boy.... gotta wonder what is in their water....

I had this same problem when I installed the Z31 vented rotors with spacers... I had an old set turned and when I installed them they were warped out of spec... Then I purchased NEW NAPA rotors... they were even WORSE... I ordered a set of JAP Mountain rotors.. better but still warped... I tried clocking the rotors around and the warp followed the rotors not the spacers or hubs. I checked with a few mechanics and they all said that "We see that all the time"... apparently the best way to "fix" this is to mount everything up and then take the HUB with the ROTORS to the machine shop and have them turned as an assembly.... It worked for me.. I am pretty sure it will work for you. You might try marking the assembly and mount them 90* and 180* clocked to see if the warp follows the rotors or the hubs... If it turns out that the hubs have a problem then take them to a machine shop and have the rear surface trued... also check to see that the bearing races fit tightly inside the hubs... this can cause problems if someone butchered your hubs in a past life.

It is usually best to loosen everything while the parts are still on the car... You can hook a wrench on 2 of the studs and use a breaker bar to loosen the nut... BUT... you can also bend the 3 studs out of whack and that will make it VERY HARD to reinstall the upper mounts into the vehicle. In the extreme case that the D hole in the upper mounts is augered out... you must resort to vice grips on the strut rod... again... this is why you use an impact wrench and do it while everything is on the car.... remember NOT to remove the nut... just loosen everything. as far as bump stops.... Autozone carries them with integral dust boots.. to fit a Nissan Sentra... same large diameter rod size. leave them long... variable rate spring there.

That is an alternate method to add anti squeal shims to the brakes... Many original designs used 2 or more plates with bent louvers or tabs to add springyness to the pads. I have quit using the original designs after they get squashed to death... the sticky back shims seem to do the trick.

When you are presented with the need to get more negative camber on the front end of the car... slotting the strut towers will not get you much... But if you get real happy with a cutoff wheel.. you can remove the innermost portion of the upper insulator housing... there is another half inch of inward motion that can be attained that way... If you are mashing it against the inside of the strut tower... then the rubber will still be supported on all sides... the spring contacting the tower will be your limit on how much you can cut.. Another easy free camber/geometry upgrade is relocating the holes in the lower crossmember to locate the control arms upward and outward... Many people who do this have to move the upper mounts OUTWARD to reduce negative camber... especially if you are running 10" wide tires... Jmortenson has been working on ideas for relocating the TC bucket to match this alteration of the control arm mounting location. another fix for the TC bucket location is to add a spacer between the lower X-member and the chassis... this would place the raised control arm mounts and the TC buckets in the same plane...

I added aluminum/delrin offset bushings front and rear... TC ball sockets... slotted upper tower holes(inward only)... added 1" B/S spacers...swaybars front and rear(I'll have to get dimensions later)... Tokico blues and someone's(MSA) blue springs(stock fitment). Adjusted ~1/8" toe out in front... -1.5* camber each front... Adjusted ~3/16" Toe in in rear... -1.5* camber each rear.... cant remember caster... I adjusted one side with washers to bring to spec with other side. In addition... I removed bumpers... relocated battery... added custom roll bar with chassis/floor reinforcement... NOT BOLTED TO WHEELWELLS. I added custom strut tower braces as well... The car handles great... no excessive push/understeer... no problems with the tail being loose/oversteer... I am able to rotate the car under trail braking without upsets or scares... I still need more camber in the front to reduce edge wear... I can get on the power in the turn without any problems... You need to remember to unwind the wheel to find grip in some cases... but this is normal for any car. Another great benefit from this is that the car is much more stable under hard braking at high speeds... The suspension does not move around under the car anymore with the offset bushings and chassis reinforcement... I can nail the brakes at the limit of trction going 115MPH and it stays straight with a neutral feeling steering wheel.. until you lock a front wheel, then you better be holding on tight.

ahhh haa... yes BZ is it... I could barely make out the lettering...