A musician's therapist (The $300 Z)

[Zetsaz]

Nah, talked to him on Facebook about it. Was referring to baffled/chambered/diffused similar to a Flowmaster. Not a fan of Flowmaster sound, but it's something to consider. 

 

I got the super turbo on and finally got the exhaust tip loose from the MSA muffler. Honestly I think the exhaust top made a bigger difference than going from the Ultraflo to the Super Turbo. Maybe it was just a matter of getting the pressure wave to exit farther from the rear valence. At cruise you can hardly hear the exhaust, it's all wind noise now which is nice since it'll help me figure out which seals I need to adjust and finish up. 

 

I was noticing a strange sound today that I'm fairly certain is the brake cables brushing up against the half shafts. My hangers are torn so I'll have to buy new ones. 

 

Can't tell if I want to get a hoodliner, or not just yet. The hood is a huuuge resonance point. Car is feeling better and better with every tweak, but at this point, as far as being a cruiser I think it's... Hoodliner, finish seals, stereo... And if my bumpers and headliner would arrive already I could finally start to finish up the interior. 

[Zetsaz]

Small things taken care of the past week:

 

New driver side ball joint. Was told it was a bit worn after alignment. Hard to tell honestly, but even decent Moog parts are dirt cheap on rock auto so swapped it out today. 

 

New battery cable terminals. My 12v+ to relay board running megasquirt/fuel pump/spark/injectors was connected only by the original fused connection for the oem ecu with a spade connector... Not ideal. Hopefully slightly more reliable connection now, and better spark at higher rpm. 

 

Ordered a variety of parts as well:

-Carpet kit. Debated  on custom tan/brown. The price of a black kit is just hard to beat. If black carpet with a brown interior is good enough for Mercedes and good enough for the butterscotch 240z's, then it's good enough for me

-McMaster Carr weatherstripping. Hate the rear inner hatch seal and the top of the doors have a gap. Hopefully this solves two problems. 

-T3 Front and rear strut tower bars. No front tribar right now. Bit over what I could justify in the budget. Fortunately it's an add-on and not a completely different part. 

-Potential 280zx CV stuff... With my U Joints basically being welded to the shafts right now and longer days happening soon, I needed a cheap option. Was about ready to spend on futofab axles, but this allowed me to get CVs and plus a load of other stuff for less than the futofab axles cost. If I hate them down the road and they don't hold up I'll deal with it then. 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Zetsaz

[Zetsaz]

Nighttime brake update:

 

Brakes used to feel really spongy after starting the engine no matter how well I bled them. Always had to pump once before braking to feel right. Turns out the rear cylinders are notorious for not self adjusting when using the hand brake like they should. Makes sense especially since I rebuilt eeeeverything and there probably didn't adjust them properly the first time. 

 

Rear drums were slipping off by hand basically. Manually adjusted them and it feels dramatically better already.  

[walkerbk]

Make sure the auto adjustment screw is facing the right way. When I rebuilt my rear drums I put the screw in the wrong way and they auto adjusted backwards loosening up whenever you pumped the brake. If your brake issue returns this might be the issue.

[Zetsaz]

20 minutes ago, walkerbk said:

Make sure the auto adjustment screw is facing the right way. When I rebuilt my rear drums I put the screw in the wrong way and they auto adjusted backwards loosening up whenever you pumped the brake. If your brake issue returns this might be the issue.

 

Thanks for the heads up! 

First proper drive with the adjusted brakes today and the difference is incredible. I can see brake fade being an issue in racing situations, but for the street I'm already able to lock up the tires with these stock refreshed brakes with good pads and shoes (granted it's a bit chily outside despite the sunshine).

 

 

[Zetsaz]

Hint hint 

[walkerbk]

If your trying to use the 300z turbo set up, those axles won't work. They have to be the actual oem ones... if those are the 280zx ones looks fun.

[Zetsaz]

52 minutes ago, walkerbk said:

If your trying to use the 300z turbo set up, those axles won't work. They have to be the actual oem ones... if those are the 280zx ones looks fun.

 

Why won't aftermarket 300zx turbo ones work? 

These are from a 280zx. Another user on this forums makes the adapters. Supposedly working well for him, and the 280zx are shorter than the 300zx so the adapter width is less of an issue with binding. Will have to see once I try them. For less than a quarter the total cost of futofab units, I figured I'd at least give them a shot. I'm doubtful they'll be a weak point with my modest power goals and very conservative use.

 

-Got them installed tonight! (Only took 4 hours longer than expected...)
-Also swapped my driveshaft for one my friend had included with the 5spd. Front U joint on mine was fairly bad. I'm sure that was contributing to the clunking as well. 

-Took the axle opportunity to put lithium grease on my poly bushings. Right control arm was squeaking BAD. Hopefully with everything greased up I'll have a quieter ride as well.

-Carpet from Zcardepot arrived yesterday. Fitment is... okay. I'm confused by the thin pieces that go nearest the seatbelt mounts. Will have to check against a friend's original carpet nearby.

-My bumpers shipped! Covid has messed with the shipping industry quite badly, I was patient with Datsun Garage since they were very open about the situation from their supplier and offered me a full refund any time I decided I wanted it. Should arrive by Friday  

 

Sadly it's been constant rain here, so I won't get a chance to fully test everything, potentially until next week. Excited to see how everything is feeling though.

[AydinZ71]

@Zetsaz congrats! Good luck with the axles! I have never driven an S30 with CV’s so I’m curious to see if there is any noticeable change at various speeds. I ordered a pair from Fritz for the Subaru R180 Torsen LSD to OEM hubs. 
 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by AydinZ71

[Zetsaz]

2 hours ago, AydinZ71 said:

@Zetsaz congrats! Good luck with the axles! I have never driven an S30 with CV’s so I’m curious to see if there is any noticeable change at various speeds. I ordered a pair from Fritz for the Subaru R180 Torsen LSD to OEM hubs. 
 

 

I'm stoked to try them! Today is very nice weather... somehow. I'll let you know how they feel. Between the mildly worn out half shaft U joints, and the noticeably worn driveshaft U joint, I think it's going to feel great. Was lucky enough to have a better driveshaft on hand. The front U joint on mine was clicking and had noticeable movement even when I was just moving it by hand.

I'm concerned I'll have to dump some more money on it soon though. Had heard some transmission or clutch noise in specific cases last time I drove it. Will have to check when specifically it's happening and see what needs to be done. It may be a bad pilot bearing but I'll have to confirm if it was only when the clutch was depressed. Might finally upgrade the flywheel and clutch. I'd been holding off since I couldn't commit to a swap, NA, turbo, or just doing more mild upgrades to this. 

[AydinZ71]

@Zetsaz forgive my ignorance, as I have not followed your build so far.

 

When I put the L28et in my 71', i wore out the OEM driveshaft u-joints in about 4 weeks. I didn't think anything of it, so i just replaced the driveshaft with another OEM junkyard unit. this time, 3 months later the U-joints went bad again. My front diff mount had gone bad too, so the diff was lifting 1/2" (and made a terrible "thud" noise). I figured the misalignment was what wore out the joint. Replaced AGAIN with another junk yard unit. I finally pieced 2&2 together and realized the additional torque was wearing out the OEM joints. The 4th time I replaced my driveshaft, I went to a local offroad truck shop and said "Make me one that is durable for 300ft-lb of torque". For $300, they made a custom one with spicer u-joints and was 1/2" larger in diameter (this was 2004). I highly recommend if you replace your driveshaft, you get one with replaceable u-joints! Even if you dont run big torque numbers. its a PITA to get back under the car and drain the tranny oil. 

[Zetsaz]

6 hours ago, AydinZ71 said:

@Zetsaz forgive my ignorance, as I have not followed your build so far.

 

When I put the L28et in my 71', i wore out the OEM driveshaft u-joints in about 4 weeks. I didn't think anything of it, so i just replaced the driveshaft with another OEM junkyard unit. this time, 3 months later the U-joints went bad again. My front diff mount had gone bad too, so the diff was lifting 1/2" (and made a terrible "thud" noise). I figured the misalignment was what wore out the joint. Replaced AGAIN with another junk yard unit. I finally pieced 2&2 together and realized the additional torque was wearing out the OEM joints. The 4th time I replaced my driveshaft, I went to a local offroad truck shop and said "Make me one that is durable for 300ft-lb of torque". For $300, they made a custom one with spicer u-joints and was 1/2" larger in diameter (this was 2004). I highly recommend if you replace your driveshaft, you get one with replaceable u-joints! Even if you dont run big torque numbers. its a PITA to get back under the car and drain the tranny oil. 

 

Hmm.... I'll have to have a shop inspect the driveshaft properly. I'm still getting a bit of clunking I can replicate by literally letting my foot on and off the clutch at a standstill. Might be a combination of the driveshaft and potentially worn front diff mount. I already have an RT diff mount with the poly bushing on top, but I didn't get the top mount. More small things to take care of I guess!

Debating if It's really a big enough deal for me to worry about now or if I want to tackle the audio and the interior AC lines next. 

[rossman]

Clunking can be caused by many different, seemingly unrelated issues. Mine was clunking and it was driving me bat shit crazy. Turned out to be a loose right front lca pivot bolt. Tightened it up and BAM, problem solved.

[Zetsaz]

1 hour ago, rossman said:

Clunking can be caused by many different, seemingly unrelated issues. Mine was clunking and it was driving me bat shit crazy. Turned out to be a loose right front lca pivot bolt. Tightened it up and BAM, problem solved.

 

Mine just got better, but I can still get a small clunk literally every time I go on and off power and the slack through the drivetrain comes on and off. Only way I can smooth out low speed/low throttle driving to not be jerky is by riding the clutch slightly.

I ordered the proper top mount for the RT diff mount instead of the "snubber" I'm currently running. Hopefully that solves it. If not everything is getting retorqued again and I'm paying for the T3 front diff diff mount that uses a better bottom mount poly bushing.

[AydinZ71]

@Zetsaz In my experience the diff mount was the most likely cause of the clunk on/off power. Next was U-joints. Hopefully that will fix it! good luck! at least you are checking off the boxes. 

[Zetsaz]

Bumpers. Done. No more unfinished front, no more weird mounting points in the back, no more pilot holes showing up in the rear lower quarters. The alignment on the pilot holes was SUPER close. The 240z has more of an oval than just a bolt hole, but i only have that on the passenger side. Drivers lined up dead dead on. 

 

Front was a pain to totally line up from the sides, then I realized the rubber guards on the mounting points had the hole just a biiiit offset from where it needed to be. Bored it out, got a longer bolt so I could start the threading by hand, and it worked. 

[jpndave]

Looking really nice Omar!  👍

[Jboogsthethug]

Man this is looking better every day. So stoked to see how much progress you've made since you got it running! I guess that indeed is where the motivation comes from. Having a car that drives that you can tinker on rather than a non running car. I need to get my act in gear!

[1969honda]

Car looks amazing Omar!

[Zetsaz]

Thank you all! It's been fun getting to the point where I'm tracking down small stuff.

Right now I have new U joints on the way for the driveshaft. I suspect even the one I swapped in isn't perfect. I'm gonna replace it with Spicer joints when I do the top mount.

 

Parts I'm still waiting on include the headliner and A pillar trim, one taillight gasket, strut tower bars, some skillard rock guards to keep the headlight buckets clean (I was noticing some dirt build up I don't want on the hole I cut for the back of the LEDs) and... I think that's it right now.

 

All together will slowly start to quiet it even more and make it more enjoyable. The wind noise I'm still getting and the slight clunk on and off throttle are the only things keeping it from being completely enjoyable. 

 

EDIT: I'm actually really enjoying just cruising in it. I'll go out for coffee when it's nice or cruise Chuckanut Drive near me which has great views of the water and the San Juan Islands. I'm pretty happy I focused on the GT element before speed. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Zetsaz