bjhines

Low fuel pressure with heat is exactly what causes the vapor lock problem in the first place.... A little chemistry and/or physics will explain fully... If you dead head the fuel system.. you are asking for trouble... It may not show up in a wimpy street driven Z car... but high heat with track use will reveal a host of fuel system issues that show-shiners cannot hope to understand... The stock fuel rails work well but must be insulated where they are closest to the head and manifolds... A helper pump set to run all the time in the back... working with the stock mechanical pump in the front... is a great system capable of supplying fuel to SUs or triple DCOEs... up to about 225HP.

Don't use the SOLID DIFF MOUNTS!!!!! This is what 6 years occasional track use will do... I have a rear crossmember that is literally falling apart due to the installation of a solid front diff mount. There are at least a dozen cracks progressing throughout this crossmember... all 4 bolt holes have radial cracks leading out in all directions... Here is a shot in the car... http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=5912&cat=500 Here is a close up of one of the visible cracks with it mounted in the car... http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=5913&cat=500 This is one of a pair of similar cracks that can even be seen through a layer of gunk from the rear... there are far worse cracks visible with the unit removed... I get them posted tomorrow.. EDIT: Added pics... The bottom shows no signs of damage... making this very dangerous...

nice design...It would be great in aluminum... There are a lot of us that feel all giddy if we can find a way to loose a pound off the front of the car... It is not that high...and it is not very far forward...soo no big deal... It just goes against the grain of thought in a "performance" application... I would add that loosing all flexibility in SOME areas is not a good idea... Like the solid differential mounts... I can post pictures of a differential crossmember riddled with cracks and falling apart from stress....

I have a set of Hayashi rims.... I will sell them if you need a set... They are reverse mount so the lip is DEAD FLAT... super wide and it makes them look super low profile.... They are 15x7 +4 offset... I have 225/50/15 Kumho victoracers on them right now... They fit under a 240Z with rolled rear fender lips... no visible change on the exterior... http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=4942&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=11853 This picture shows them with 205/50/15 Azenis.... I would have Azenis now if they made them in 225/50/15... as it stands I use Kumho Victoracers and Toyo RA1s... and occasionally Hoosier slicks... They are in fantastic shape.... though they are 20 years old... the original finish is great looking.. but the black powdercoating is chipping on the edges....the lips are showing just a few nicks... one wheel has a slight gouge on the lip... I have mounted 3 or 4 sets of track tires on them in the last few years... they always come out balanced with minimal weight... I have driven them at 125 MPH regularly..with no vibration problems at all... I have a matching set of Enkies... same black center with polished lip... but the Enkies look cheaper and clumsier....

check the location of the lower front control arm mounting bolts... If the previous owner significantly changed the mounting holes location... he might have actually needed to dial OUT excessive negative camber... You can mount up some wheels and check camber easily enough the way the car is now... I would check initial settings/ranges the way it is now...

I figured it out.... I only need to use one side/half of my hole punch set... the other side is entirely replaced by the flaring cup...I can use them with the greenlee punches... hole sizes are faily accurate for both designs.. soo they should work easily together.... This is a wonderful find... fairly affordable for a cool custom fab tool... Thanks again Tube80Z!!!!

Thanks for the linky Tube80Z....!!!! Jon.. those BMW E46 pics are great... The Subarooo is wayyy over the top for my track car... That thing could roll 50 times down a sheer cliff and drive away with bent rims.. I am somewhat boggled by the list... I own a complete electricians set of Greenlee punches 3/4" up to 2" conduit... with multiple bearings and bolts... $450 set plus a few individual extras... I think I will only need the top listed set..assuming I can fit the Greenlees inside with no problems..??? .. I need to figure this out before I purchase the wrong things...or half the equation if I need thier punches too...

I have been told that the rear X brace is not of any real benefit..aside from rear impact protection... I think I'll save the weight... It looks like the subframe connectors are IN... I likw the idea of tying the "door bar" into the rockers AND frame rails/tcbuckets. It looks like i will use the design of my existing hoop and add the front half in the new 240Z... My current track 240Z has a half cage...with the hoop tied into the lower frame on the lowest "shelf" behind the seats... the rear supports are tied into the front tops of the rear strut towers with a gusset plate... there is also a diagonal brace frmo the top left down to the bottom right joined to the hoop and floor frame.. and a seat bar that is curved on the ends to provide extra clearance...there is also a cross brace welded between the rear supports close to where they tie into the strut towers... I have not tied this into the roof of the car or the sides... only the rear frame and the strut towers.... I notice that there is quite a bit of movement in the roof frmo side to side... It is enough to drive you crazy with squeaking noises on the dome trim panel... I would love to know where to buy the sheet metal punches that press the lipped lightening holes for the roof/A pillar gusset plates...

What about a rear cross... err... X brace... in the plane of the rear deck lid... from the rear most corners up to the top of the hoop... What about another stiffener from the seat belt shoulder bolts(240Z) to the opposite strut towers... my roof wiggles around the main hoop in one car..

ok... I have some USABLE 4 to 5 lug adaptors with hardware... I am pretty sure these came from Pallnet... as I recall they are ~50mm thick... and they allow you to use the wheels off a Y2K+ model MAXIMA...17x8?.. I am not sure of the details... I bolted them on at "Hubcap Heaven & Wheels" here in Cary NC.... and found a huge variety of late model stock and aftermarket wheels would fit...but most required a little fudging on the offset...too much offset outwards on most ...depending on tire width and if you use flares/coilovers they really open up the wheel market... I have not jumped into making use of them on my car.. I have too many wheels already..and all the free 14" and 15" Hoosiers I can wear out...I can never get 16 or 17" scuffs... 14"s and 18"s are common.

There would be a hoop in there in my car that I would tie the longitudinal into.. If I were to extrapolate a little.... It looks like you would run the "door bar" through the floorpan and out into the back of the TC buckets... at the rear you are tying the "door bar" back and up to the rear strut towers. The side verticals would be the "A-pillar cage bar"...??? not showing the rest? I guess the cross bar is the "dash bar"...???

That is a good price for 4 rotors... I think I overpaid $140 for just a pair of the power slot front rotors... they have held up well...but were not worth the money spent IMO...

I too am in the process of building up a track car...V-8 powered... in fact it is in the frame shop right now getting "corrected"... Next stop is the cage builder...then back to my house for the chassis stiffening.. subframe connectors: I have seen the subframe connectors employed by numerous Z car owners...although that would not have been the first stiffening that came to MY mind... it does make sense to have a "frame" that runs from front to rear... I have been told that they are just adding weight for little or no return in stiffening by 2 local S-30 race car owners... I am still open to adding them... Rocker tips: I have seen pictures and heard of folks tying the front tips of the rockers up to the tops of the strut towers...didn't Bondurant do this.... this was of course added in conjunction with the roll cage A-pillar tubes and a dash bar...this seems interesting to me... triangular strut tower bracing: this seems to be the area that would provide the greatest improvement...easy and removable if you like...although some of the bars seem to be weak where they bolt onto the tops of the struts... I am not soo sure that the firewall seam is really the best area to brace against either.. Sway bar mounting reinforcement: I have seen several approaches to this... It seems that this is a weak area in the S-30 chassis...I have had to fight stress cracks in this area on one of my Z cars... My favorite is adding a tube going from the top of the strut tower down to the top of the frame rail over the sway bar mount...as well as reinforcing the frame rail there too... front cross member K-bracing: I have seen a few members who added K-members to their front cross members...these tie the crossmember into the TC buckets..... this would seem like a good thing....

I have owned a few sports cars in my time... The stiffest...A 1st gen Toyota MR2.. it was soo stiff it would not settle onto 4 jackstands...It always rocked around while I worked on it...because it would not settle onto all 4 stands at once...scary at first...but stiff for sure... The loosest.... a friend's early MGB GT... no rust... but LOOSE as a 2 dollar hooker... and the prince of darkness was it's pimp... I think the Z car is somewhere in the middle... I noticed that my roll bar squeaks and shifts against the roof trim when I am driving... there is at least 1/8" of side to side shifting of the hoop against the roof in normal driving...

I have searched for quite some time for pictures...or write ups on oil cooler installations... Google seems to be failing me... or this is not within the realm of the average track car builder... I did not bring a camera with me into the BMW race shop out of respect for the race team's work... although it turns out... I would have been welcome to take pictures...I really wish I had them now... It seems to me that the pumps are around $200 with several competing brands. The oil coolers are listed as engine/tranny/diff coolers... soo there are a lot of them around... Hoses should be 1/2" with free flowing fittings.. there are several types that seem acceptable. I was told that around 15,000 BTU thermal transfer should be enough for the system to work with a V-8 powered track car...maybe less for short 30 minutes sessions where the temp may climb too slowly for it to become a problem...

ahhh yes... VLSD would be a problem.... CLSD appears to be possible.. but I have not had the time to poke around in the JY... There may be enough clearance to use the buttons.. but it has not been verified...yet... There seem to be more people opting to change to CV axles and later model, larger diffs... This would be a good thing for high horesepower cars...and it is my choice for my track built Z.... but I have other Z cars that could use lightweight, cheap, newer alterantives to the Quaife, Nismo, R2XX route... these subaru diffs seem promising... My personal situation was that I aquired a BRAND NEW in box..K-r180.. for a Maxima... I just wanted to install it with minimal cost and driveline changes.. to allow use of my existing spares for years to come.

so you let me school you and showed your butt... to simply say that you have never messed with an oil cooler.....and you dont see why... and you seem to know of no one who even runs a high powered engine on an old school car... and your "catalog picture" of the oil cooler set up was G@& &@^^ MOCK UP!!! for a picture in a catalog...!!!! I have a few old school nismo catalogs... the only oil cooler photo I can find is for a solid axle..and it also includes slingers and traps to further control oil flow in an awkward flow....live axle application...without the cover in place...which would seem to show the importance OF FLOW in the system...VERY different from your perception...

Jon.... I made no derrogatory remarks about you or about your opinions.... I made a factual statement "The Nissan finned cover would make the mistake of picking up AND returning fluid to the same area in the differential housing....."" Your response was a dismissal and derogatory in tone by alluding that I should go and make my super water cooled jacket which was never part of the discussion..but a crappy diversionary load of BS... this post also shows your ignorance..which I am in a mood to point out.. Jons quote>> "Hmm. All this time I thought oil coolers were intended to cool the oil and only indirectly affect the housing temperature. Seems to me a water jacket and coolant sytem would be a better way to cool the housing... maybe you ought to get to work on that."

I am posting here to provide ideas and information to a forum that has much useful information... not all of it right... When I see someone posting information on systems that they may have seen in use first hand...but are still WRONG... I will let them know about it... I was as tactful as I could be in describing the operation of the system in GREAT DETAIL... and then you post this.. ""It also has some areas on the side that are cast for a cooler inlet and outlet, but they don't drill and tap the cover on the 300 ZXT. Easy enough to drill and tap the holes if you still felt like you needed an external cooler. It returns the oil straight to the sump, not to the gears."" I'll quote myself: ""did you not even consider that the 2 fittings on the finned rear cover were only intended to be used as PICKUPS...drilling only one side..... And what you took for a return was actually done the way I described with another fitting on the top front area of the housing...????"" all of this AFTER I have described the proper way to set up a cooler in a differential of this type...and a description of a historic attempt at a similar system. None of the finer points have been adressed... like maximum fluid temperature acheived without an oil cooler???... or where to place the thermo switch???... brands of pumps available???...what kind of coolers???? proper hose types??? proper fluid types and their acceptable operating temps... clearance and mounting locations???? Just someone getting into a *&$$ match over old misnomers... let's move beyond this to more important matters.

Wow... I want my stuff to last... Nissan did not build it's consumer cars to stand up to the rigors of racing... they were unconcerned with longevity in competition... likewise... the teams who raced the early Z cars had bugets that were BOTTOMLESS when compared to our meager cash stashes our wives don't know about...they determined that their rear ends lasted LONG enough... they were disposable compared to the lifespan I would like to see from my race cars. I am also pushing the drivetrain of MY race prepped S-30 WAYYYYYYY PAST it's design limits...... with a small block Chevy engine with almost 3 times the power... Driving style also has a lot to do with heat generated in the drivetrain... I would like to use more engine braking without worrying about building up extra heat... Early Datsun race drivers had far less traction from their tires... braking and drivline heat simply could not be generated at the rates that our modern tires will produce.. For all the spit polishing, chrome plating, and powdercoating I see on Z car drivelines... some of these folks could use a little help on spending their time where it counts... You jmortenson may have determined your rear ends to be sufficient..and/or cheap enough to replace regularly... I on the other hand can do the job correctly and have nice stuff for years to come...

""I thought oil coolers were intended to cool the oil and only indirectly affect the housing temperature"".. ^^^WOW!... I am again...stunned...^^^ You seem to understand some of the finer points...as you mention a waterjacket system...which does a very good job in most cases of getting rid of heat... But you seem to miss the fact that many things in life are half @$$ approximations of what SHOULD be done... Just because Nissan..or Hitachi.. chose to do things HALF @$$ does not mean that We cannot..or should not do them right ourselves... As we have found many times... The systems we have seen employed either by the factory...or by early race teams.. were often NOT WELL THOUGHT OUT... they made provisions for price and ease of assembly... not always because they determined them to be the text book right way to do it... If you were to bother with the trouble of modifying the rear end in any way... why not do it right... By the time you welded fins.. or changed the chassis to accomodate the rear cover... You could have installed all of the fittings for a proper oil cooler set up... You would still be in for a few hundred $$$ for the pump, cooler, and lines... but if you would consider getting a finned rear cover...modifying the chassis to fit.. and buying some sort of pump and oil cooler IN THE FIRST PLACE.. then why on earth would you go and do it WRONG???... did you not even consider that the 2 fittings on the finned rear cover were only intended to be used as PICKUPS...drilling only one side..... And what you took for a return was actually done the way I described with another fitting on the top front area of the housing...????

The Nissan finned cover would make the mistake of picking up AND returning fluid to the same area in the differential housing..... The top channel return port would allow fluid to come in contact with the full length of the differential housing before returning it to the pump.... It is important to actually USE the pump and cooler to draw heat from the ENTIRE housing...not just a little puddle in the rear.

you will find that the mass of the hot differential is soo great that you cannot hope to get enough suface area properly cool the differential with external fins..... The finned rear cover is made of aluminum..in full contact with the gear oil...and was STILL only suitable for "street" use... The pump/cooler will take up heat from the entire housing front to rear and dissipate it quickly through the HUGE surface area of the cooler... The pump/cooler also negates the need for the oversized finned cover... which makes installation much easier..