johnc

There are number of "legit" answers to the vague questions asked. You may not like the answers but they are correct. And yes, the Koni inserts can be removed and refreshed/revalved by Koni.

Install a bangin' stereo and crank it up. That will fix all the squeaks, rattles, etc. Otherwise, you're in the same boat as the rest of us - trying to make a 40+ year old car meet our current NVH expectations.

A 1.5" 60 grit drum sander on a 6" extension to your air die grinder can get rid of most drop through as you're building the exhaust. Or you develop some TIG welding talent and don't drop through...

How to align your car yourself: http://www.circletrack.com/chassistech/ctrp_1204_determining_wheel_alignment_string_your_car/viewall.html

Do you now have an idea of the difference between a muffler shop exhaust and a race exhaust?

^ Agreed. All tubing should be cleaned inside and out and deburred. Ideally you tack weld the joint in four spots 90 degrees apart and run a continuous bead from tack to tack. But, that's hard to do with larger OD tubing.

FYI... I make as straight a cut as I can using a band saw and make the cut about 1/16" longer then I need. Then I use a 14" disc sander with a machined table/vise to square the cut end. You can do the same using a hand sander/grinder with a 60 grit flap wheel and a T square.

You can or you can bend the front frame rail lip. No way of knowing. Lowering can create many different kinds of handling imbalances. Those can be tuned out with springs, bars, shocks, and alignment. Whenever a vendor uses the term "bolt-in" you must realize you'll need a $2,500 welder, a $5,000 lathe, and a $10,000 mill to bolt it in.

Nice part! Let know the pricing if you ever plan to go into production.

So... how many hours do you have into this?

Cut out the hump and weld in a replacement panel. You also must reinforce the floor pan if you're removing the OEM seat mounts. Just drilling holes in the floor pan and bolting the seat mounts to the pan is unsafe. You have to spread the load out on the pan as the OEM seat mounts did.

You can't make the car stiff enough. S30s with 8, 10, and 12 point roll cages are far stiffer then anything done with strut bars and nothing snaps on them.

Engines are emotional things. Trying to use logic and reason to justify this engine or any Hybrid engine swap into a 40 year old Datsun is silly.

A couple things reagrding the FRS/BRZ from what the local autocrossers have found out: 1. They sell them on shit tires to make drifting easier for the clownboys. 2. Once you put sticky tires on the car the lack of power ends the power drifting and exposes some serious understeer built into the chassis. 3. There are easy and not so easy ways to fix #2. 4. Everyone I know that has one (and some are national championship level autocrossers and road racers) loves the car. 5. FRS seems preferred over the BRZ but that may be due to production volumes favoring Toyota and Toyota dealers more willing to deal.

^ Agreed. Nice job. You've got a career in the muffler business if you get tired of eyes.

Yes and no. In stock condition the rear struts are too tall. But if you ever shorten the strut tubes the 280Z units will work just fine in a 240Z. You'll also get the stronger 280Z stub axles and companion flanges, the taller 280Z upper insulator, a spare set of rear brake parts, and stronger lower control arms.

Maybe my math is wrong, but a 8Kg/mm spring has a rate of 447 lb/in. I'm an old USA racer and I have to convert things into a measurement system that is approved by God. Shocks control the rate of extension of a compressed spring and the rate of compression of an extended spring. They do not add to the spring rate itself, just control the storage and release of potential energy in the spring. Shock valving works via hydraulics and rely on the incompressability of fluids to change some of the potential energy in the spring into heat. Shock oil is pushed through valves and ports in the shock at different rates depending on how fast the shock shaft is being moved and for our cases we don't care about anything faster then about 14" per second. Within the mechanical limits of the shock design, there are limits to how much force from the spring the shock valving and oil can control. If you exceed those limits the oil cavitates (air pockets form), the valving gets distorted beyond the material's yield limit, and/or things get hot enough inside that seals start to leak and the oil viscosity drops. Tokicos will tend to lose the upper gas seal and the adjuster valve fails open in the piston when the spring rate exceeds the shocks design limits. KYBs just go woogy.

Time 3 if bare bones and times 4 fully optioned. That's an estimate on my part based on discussions with Mr. Tomitaku-san when they visited my shop a couple years ago.

Its just a much better design overall. 10 clutches on each side, progressive lock timing, up to 100% lock, and a very smooth, progressive lockup. I did a little bit of crewing with a World Challenge Viper team in 2008 during a test at WSIR where they swapped out diffs. The wheel speed traces for the OS Giken were like a smooth hourglass compared to the stepped traces from two other CLSDs. The driver felt the OSG was much easier to drive and his laps times were better. I also had a customer who won the Solo2 FP national championship (finally beating John Thomas) in a E38 BMW. A huge part of his time improvements was the OSG Super Lock and some very specific tuning OSG did. He was getting a slight push from the thrid cone on during a slalom. OSG detemined that the flat clutch plates were locking a bit harder then they should because the gear oil was pumped out by the throttle on-off-on-off-on during his slalom runs. OSG came down to my shop and showed me how to install a set of their TCD plates which have small oil grooves. This solved the problem. Pics are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.464901636670.254755.143989191670&type=3 Full disclosure: I sell the whole OSG product line.

I talked with OP on the phone. He wants a 4:38 or a 4:64.

None of us here can answer "worth it" questions. That's something you'll have to answer for yourself. Doing the swap could cost you $100 or $10,000 and only you can determine if the money and effort involved is "worth it."

You're only creating preload on a spring if you tighten up against an unladen spring. That's typically not how a S30 coil over setup works. Minor differences in where the lower adjustable spring perch is on the strut generlaly occurs due to differences in the length of the strut tube and where the welded on threadded collar support ring is on the strut tube. Sloppy builders can oftehn be off by a 1/2" or more.

Stainless won't need coatings to look good. It you do want to coat it due to heat concerns then avoid the chrome looking stuff. Coatings simialr to JetHopt 2000 and Swain White Lightning will help reduce temps around the exhasut. I don't what Calico's equiviant coatings are but you can call and ask. http://swaintech.com/race-coatings/race-coating-descriptions/white-lightning-exhaust-coatings/

An alternative is to ask if you can get both rear suspension corners and everything offered above for $300. It will make pulling the diff and related compnents a lot easier and the seller gets an extra $50.

What do you mena by "aggressive fitment?"