78zstyle Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 +1 on the stroker 3.2 with tripples.. those things are sick and put out more HP than stock rb20s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbonat240 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 That's a nice stance! I love the look of non flared s30's with wide wheels and this is what I'm working on too (17x9 all around with 245/40 is the plan). Congrats on the hard work you have done so fast! I wish I had the same motivation, I just don't spend enough hours in the garage... I just noticed the disc rubbing on the front LCA issue. I e-mailed Dave at AZC to know if I was gonna run into the same issue. I have a '73 240z and my brake kit is the 5 lug alum hub conversion with 12.2'' discs. He told me to grind the LCA as needed. So I did a quick mockup since I thought I was gonna have a problem too but it's quite different on my car... just as I write this I realise that it's because you have some roll center adjusters (''bumpsteer spacers'') in your setup! This gets me thinking: I don't know if you feel comfortable to drive hard and put some heat in your discs since they're damn nearly touching the rubber boots. I would be worried. Maybe not on the street but I plan to someday use these brakes to their full potential on the track. Nobody ever had a problem with ball joint boots melting or is there an easy solution to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 That's a nice stance! I love the look of non flared s30's with wide wheels and this is what I'm working on too (17x9 all around with 245/40 is the plan). Congrats on the hard work you have done so fast! I wish I had the same motivation, I just don't spend enough hours in the garage... I just noticed the disc rubbing on the front LCA issue. I e-mailed Dave at AZC to know if I was gonna run into the same issue. I have a '73 240z and my brake kit is the 5 lug alum hub conversion with 12.2'' discs. He told me to grind the LCA as needed. So I did a quick mockup since I thought I was gonna have a problem too but it's quite different on my car... just as I write this I realise that it's because you have some roll center adjusters (''bumpsteer spacers'') in your setup! This gets me thinking: I don't know if you feel comfortable to drive hard and put some heat in your discs since they're damn nearly touching the rubber boots. I would be worried. Maybe not on the street but I plan to someday use these brakes to their full potential on the track. Nobody ever had a problem with ball joint boots melting or is there an easy solution to this? I've seen a number of race cars that have the same issue going, they've all got heat shield tape wrapped around the rubber dust boots. I'm planning on doing the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erehemantresni Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) Whats the offset on the wheels? Edited June 12, 2012 by erehemantresni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Whats the offset on the wheels? -19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 So more work has been done, starting with making some room for the wheels. Stock vs. New. There's a bit more rubber there now. This is going to need some work... Starting with a 1" pipe to get things going in the right direction. Fender rolling tool to flatten the lip Flat I've got some more room now, but I'm not sure it's going to fit these tires. Plenty of room in the front, but the back is going to be a challenge. On to the brakes. Bench bleeding the master went really well. If you use some syringes you can suck and push fluid through easily and get the bubbles out of the MC. Installed with prop valve. I was psyched to find out the MC cap on the Wilwood/Datsun is the SAME diameter as my Subaru so I was able to use my Motive power bleeder easily. There is a 240z adapter, but it's $32 and I didn't need it. If you haven't used one, I highly recommend one. You can bleed the brakes as fast as you can walk around the car. All I had to do was clamp it down since the cap threads are bigger on the Suby. Since there's a front and rear circuit, the bleeder gets switched between reservoirs when you move from the back to the front, other than that it's just opening the bleeders until you get a bubble free stream of fluid. I ended up bleeding the system 3 time since it was new and I wanted to be sure all the air was out. I think I got 90+% of the air out the first time, there were hardly any bubble the second time. The third time I did it just to be sure and I didn't get any bubbles and the pedal felt solid. Now that I had all the lines run and checked for leaks I could drop the engine back in! I also used the same bleeder unit to bleed my clutch while I was at it. I'm glad i did as what was in the line was some black chunky fluid with a huge air bubble. Clutch feels solid now with firmer pedal feel. Engine back in place, still stuff to connect. I didn't do anything to the engine except remove all the CA smog parts. It took another few hours to connect everything else and fill all my fluids. Transmission fluid sucks, it's like molasses. As soon as I finished I remembered the trick I learned about putting a tube on the bottle and using a air compressor to pressurize the bottle and get it all out in a hurry. Doh! I discovered that the radiator wiggled a bit on one corner as the goop that had held it in place from the factory had let go. JB weld to the rescue. So, all the fluids are in, fuel pump is primed, there's a little bit of juice in the battery... Maybe it will start... Less than five seconds of cranking from a weak battery and the engine roared to life! Best sound I've heard in so long! Next I put all the wheels back on and did some eyeball alignment to get it down the street. I started it back up and slowly backed outside checking the brakes several times along the way. It was go time: I pulled the car out onto the road for the first time in 7 months and cruised up the road. Soooooo nice to be back in the Z. After a few miles I had the engine warmed up and went through the bedding in procedure on the new brakes. BTW, the AZC kit is awesome: They already feel great, I can't imagine what they'll feel like when they get a few more miles. Big change from the stock system. Today the Z got it's first washing of the year: No where near done working on stance adjustment, but I had to get the car out of the garage for the summer. I'm getting some tire rub in the back on large bumps and I'm not sure I'm going to try to roll/pull a little more or get some narrower tires and run a bit more stretch. I've got some definitive black marks on the fenders now to referecnce where I need more room though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devil280Z Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Great build! Your Z is coming along quickly and is beautiful. I wasnt planning on doing a build thread like this but after reading through yours i think that someone else will enjoy seeing my build as much as i have enjoyed yours. Cant wait for the next post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Well, summer was fun. Got the Z on the road, aligned, and worked a few kinks outt. My correct front sway bar bushings for the ST bar finally showed up, no thanks to FedEx, so I could replace the front bar after driving around with the stock one for a few weeks. When installed with the endlink spacer proved in the kit, the sway bar bottoms out on the frame with my setup. Removing the spacer completely and using a shorter bolt solved the problem. The 235/40 tires weren't going to work either, they rubbed in the back and I needed more clearance on the front to get any positive caster angle. I got a set of Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs in a 215/40 and swapped out the 235's. Problem solved. Before I started this project, I had a certain expectation/hope of how well this car would handle when I got done with it. I've still got some more work to go, but I've surpassed what I thought was going to be possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Still a work in progress, but I washed it today so I figured I'd take some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) Whoops, a year with no updates to this. Fun summer, got some great drives in around Vermont, and made some progress on the car. The four speed transmission was the next item that had to go. I found a 5 speed from a 280zx non turbo (thanks to a HybridZ member) in good working order, but it didn't include the shifter nor is a short throw shifter available for the transmission. The closest one available is this one from MSA: MSA Short Throw Shifter It doesn't exactly fit, which is exactly what I expected: Reshaping the ears seemed to be the better way to go, but reshaping the castings evenly was a bit of a challenge. Using a small belt sander with a coarse belt actually turned out to be the best tool for the job. I assembled and alinged the whole shifter mechanisim before marking and drilling the holes for the extensions. Holes drilled: Extensions installed: Shifter installed complete with the ugliest and worst feeling shift knob I've ever encountered. After driving with it for a couple of weeks, I drilled and tapped the original 4 speed knob to fit the bigger threads. It's not great, but it's better and looks stock. Next was getting it into the car which went pretty well with one mistake on my part. When I went to put the cluch slave cylinder back onto the transmission it wouldn't line up and the cluch fork was jammed forward. I'd used the 280zx throwout bearing instead of the 240z one thinking it was the same but newer, however I didn't look very closely apparently. 240z left, 280zx right: It was smooth sailing after I swapped the bearings until I realized how much further forward the shifter was compared to the stock location. I cut the tunnel for the clearance I needed and ended up having to cut the console and remove the ashtray for clearance as well. The stock radiator was leaking and got hot when sitting in construction traffic, so that was next to go. Koyo has a direct fit (Koyo Part R022352) radiator that takes holds almost a gallon more coolant than the stocker. The upper hose is a modified lower hose. I'm still on the hunt for wheels that actually fit the car. I decieded to give these a try. However, they don't clear the Wilwood calipers. It's close, but not going to happen. So back the wheels went. So next items to be finished: -Getting the turn signals and high/low beams working properly -Fitting a new center console or modifing mine. -Install the AZC parking brake calpiers (already not looking forward to this) -Make a decison on the engine; at the very least it needs a head gasket before next summer. -Find wheels.... Edited September 24, 2013 by GreenState Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
310z Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 As for the shift lever. I did all the same things to make the MSA short shift unit fit, very stiff and almost popped in and out of gears as you moved it. Went back to a stock lever and cut 1 1/2 in. off the top and re-threaded it. With new bushings it was stiff at first then loosened up just right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Those wheels would have looked great, too bad they didn't fit. Maybe some Epsilon Southern Ways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenState Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 The shifter actually feels really good, it moves freely. I took a bit of time to make sure everything was lined perfectly up as I went along. Hmm, Soutern Ways...possibility for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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