A musician's therapist (The $300 Z)

[Zetsaz]

3 hours ago, Ben280 said:

Really jealous of that diff. I probably need to do a similar thing shortly out here!

 

It's going to be good! I had to wait months for it, but it once it was ready to go shopping was very fast. Even with tariffs on entry it cost me much less than it would have from a vendor here in the US 

[Zetsaz]

Final update before road tripping tomorrow.

 

I was so bothered by the vibrations last night come back home from my niece's birthday that I decided to pull off the front diff mount and inspect. 

 

It looks like the bolt through the bushing was either loose or the upper piece of the mount was warped and didn't let the side squeeze right on the bushing. Bottom was rattling back and forth when I moved it after taking off the cross member.

 

3 hours worth of work later and putting the RT top mount on instead I tested and the vibrations are gone! I had to grind part of the bolt going through the bushing to pull it out because I couldn't get any leverage on the bolts going through the diff and they block each other.

 

For a moment I thought it was placebo, so I kept finding multiple loads and speeds that it would vibrate the most at last night and got nothing. The biggest difference is the lock mechanism on the seatbelts is never rattling anymore which was a huge annoyance. 

 

TL;DR - the T3 diff mount (not the cross member itself) is probably needlessly complicated and is just too many parts stuffed into a tiny space. 

[Zetsaz]

About 800 miles later. Running smooth. Temps with the new e fans were steady all the way. Only time they climbed a *little* was on very long uphill stretches. But it's to be expected when the turbo is getting loaded more and the return coolant line from the turbo goes straight to the thermostat.

 

Overall very smooth, and as usual the long trip gave me a variety of small things to start looking at. Definitely want to update the mounting on the exhaust, just a bit too much movement and occasionally tapping the back and making some noise. New mounting method and the bigger muffler will make it downright comfortable on long drives.

[Zetsaz]

Not much to update on the car. Slowly thinking of the next batch of improvements. The struggle now is it's mostly in a really good place, so short of spending huge money on something like a change over to a Haltech R3 to control everything there's not too much.

 

Current "smaller" considerations are the following:

 

-Cam swap to a "small" Steve Bonk turbo cam - the lobe center/lobe separation on mine is just too wide for what I want. Bonk cam would get me more responsive in the low to mid range, with probably only a small sacrifice at higher rpm where I spend almost no time anyway.

 

-Swap to my 3.57 r200 and rebuild with the OEM kit and OS Giken LSD I have waiting. Should give me better cruising rpm and supposedly better loading on the turbo for improved boost

 

-New tires (and new wheels?) My tire options are just so limited for tires or something a bit more street friendly than 200tw that moving to 16" wheels might be the best solution. I'm now thinking that most of my road noise complaints are actually the current tires being near the end of their life. They've been on for years now and I think it's time to finally switch them out no matter what.

 

-Switching back to the OEM style front diff mount with a Kameari piece, and possibly even the OEM mustache bar. There's a small chance the T3 bar is fouling against the spare tire compartment and adding to drivetrain noise, but it also just feels like unnecessary bling. Looks great from underneath, but might be wasted money.

 

 

[Zetsaz]

Update - The Kumho tires I was using as a street option are no longer available. It looks like the only tire options in 225/50 are all 200 treadwear or under, so basically track only. I'd be interested in a couple of the 200tw options, but it seems like a lot of wear and expensive for a cruiser, so it looks like moving up to 16" wheels is the only option now

[jhm]

All my wheels are 15" and 16", so I can definitely feel your pain.

 

Have you looked at the Yoko Advan 052?  They make it in a 245/45-16 size, and it's pretty high performance.  I'll probably get myself a set, once I talk myself into the that high pricetag.  😜

 

I've been running the Bridgestone Potenza Sports (300tw)  in that same size the last couple years; and have been fairly impressed with them.  Great street tire, wear like iron, and can even put in decent trackday lap times with them once they've got some heat in them.

 

Your car's looking great....I love seeing the updates!

[Zetsaz]

1 hour ago, jhm said:

All my wheels are 15" and 16", so I can definitely feel your pain.

 

Have you looked at the Yoko Advan 052?  They make it in a 245/45-16 size, and it's pretty high performance.  I'll probably get myself a set, once I talk myself into the that high pricetag.  😜

 

I've been running the Bridgestone Potenza Sports (300tw)  in that same size the last couple years; and have been fairly impressed with them.  Great street tire, wear like iron, and can even put in decent trackday lap times with them once they've got some heat in them.

 

Your car's looking great....I love seeing the updates!

 

Feels like the options for smaller wheels are just becoming impossible to find, at least in the US. Europe and Japan still have lots of small new cars, so I think they have a couple more options. Even the more popular size Miatas use in 225/45/15 I can only find in 200tw, but they're so much shorter than stock, I think they always look terrible and out of proportion on the Z

 

Potenza sport looks okay. I think the 052 is out of the question as a 200tw, but moreso because of the cost. I'm trying to keep it under $200 per tire so I can spare some change for the wheels.

 

Right now I'm thinking of the Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02. They're 340tw, but supposedly slightly better on the comfort than most other options, which I have started to care more about now that the car is much nicer haha. Know the Toyo Proxes R1R are popular for some guys running 16s, but they're only in a 225/45 profile. 

 

I appreciate the support! I know many posts have nothing people can really respond to, so sometimes it feels like you're just typing into the wind, so I appreciate that people have been enjoying the build all these years.

Edited October 20, 2025 by Zetsaz

[calZ]

On 10/20/2025 at 7:04 AM, Zetsaz said:

Update - The Kumho tires I was using as a street option are no longer available. It looks like the only tire options in 225/50 are all 200 treadwear or under, so basically track only. I'd be interested in a couple of the 200tw options, but it seems like a lot of wear and expensive for a cruiser, so it looks like moving up to 16" wheels is the only option now

 

You could step up to 225/60R15. They're a inch larger in diameter than your current tires, but I think stock diameter tires are a little small for the wheel wells anyway. Some guys run 245/50R16 tires, and a 225/60R15 is the exact same diameter, so I don't see why they wouldn't work. 

[calZ]

Here's a link to pictures of @ktm's car that has 245/50R16 tires, so you can see the diameter. 

 

[calZ]

He does mention having to trim his stock valence a bit with the 245s, but 225s and you having an air dam is more clearance in two ways. Small chance of rubbing though. 

[Zetsaz]

15 hours ago, calZ said:

 

You could step up to 225/60R15. They're a inch larger in diameter than your current tires, but I think stock diameter tires are a little small for the wheel wells anyway. Some guys run 245/50R16 tires, and a 225/60R15 is the exact same diameter, so I don't see why they wouldn't work. 

 

Stock diameter I think is alright with wider wheels.  245/50/16 looks good honestly, but 225/60/15 has only a few options, and they're all basic all seasons  

 

As much as I want Watanabes in maybe a 16x8 0 offset I may just end up with the Panasports that Z Car Garage offers in a 16x7 with a slight positive offset. I'm not completely sold on the +11(?) offset of those. They're on a ton of Z's, and I think they would look a bit better as a 16x8, but short of something custom and over double the price I just don't think I'm going to get exactly what I want

[Zetsaz]

This might be the first Christmas break I haven't had parts waiting for me... It was a great feeling up until I took advantage of the warm weather Utah has had to take the car out for a soda and my window didn't roll back up. Something broke and things were jammed bad. 

 

Found multiple problems that probably eventually contributed to the failure.

 

-The body guy who did assembly after paint put the front sash on the wrong doors when it was reassembled. It was even marked to out things back correctly! 

 

-One of the aftermarket roller guides broke. No big deal. The normally only came with one, so I'm gonna leave it as is for now.

 

-The plastic guide on the front of the window that goes into the front sash broke  

 

There was a solution to all of these - I still have spare doors from the 76 body i started with. Swapped parts over... Still couldn't get the rear gap correct on the window despite adjusting everything as far as it went to correct.

 

Gave myself a day to think about it and realized the regulator might have bent. Pulled the spare, then removed the glass for the third time and pulled the regulator on the car... Definitely bent. 

 

Adjusted and also swapped the passenger side front sash to the correct one and now the windows move better than they ever have!

 

Not the most fun way to get a small "quality of life" fix on the car but I'm glad I got it done.

[ktm]

On 10/21/2025 at 4:43 PM, calZ said:

Here's a link to pictures of @ktm's car that has 245/50R16 tires, so you can see the diameter. 

 

 

On a random visit back to Hybrid-Z.  I kept the rolling diameter and back spacing, etc. as close to OEM.  Today there are SOOO many more options for suspension setups.   I bought my 240z back in 2005 before they were popular.  Ebay listing was under 1,000 and they were all true Datsun parts.

 

Glad to see this community is still alive.

[Zetsaz]

23 hours ago, ktm said:

 

On a random visit back to Hybrid-Z.  I kept the rolling diameter and back spacing, etc. as close to OEM.  Today there are SOOO many more options for suspension setups.   I bought my 240z back in 2005 before they were popular.  Ebay listing was under 1,000 and they were all true Datsun parts.

 

Glad to see this community is still alive.

Part of the move is definitely to keep the rolling diameter closer to oem. Separate from that it's really just about tire selection. I have lots of adjustability with all my parts, so other things are less of an issue.

Edited January 19 by Zetsaz

[Zetsaz]

Committed to new tires. Far less weight to balance them as expected. The inside was more worn than I realized on the old ones. Went with Yokohamas in 205/55/15. Skinnier than I wanted but they were half of what the 200tw options were, weren't so aggressive, and they'll give me a couple more years of use before I spend bigger money to go up a size.

 

Currently working on getting the AC condenser and drier mounted with the new hardware from vintage air. I'm hoping the drier JUST clears the intercooler, but I'm anticipating it being tight. 

 

Will be making new lower brackets for the intercooler as well. You can see in the pic they're extremely bent because they were so flimsy. As they say... Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution.

[Zetsaz]

Front end got tidied up quite nicely and I made new brackets for my intercooler. The drier clears, but I'll have to place the trinary switch on the #6 line instead of the drier. No big deal, but I wasn't able to make the rest of the hoses while I was here. 

 

Used on the threaded holes for the original airbox for one of the top brackets, and an existing hole made by the previous owner. The brackets on top aren't supporting weight, just preventing it from tipping forward or back so it doesn't torque on the lower brackets and bend them. Only downside is the brackets look slightly lopsided but the intercooler is centered!

 

Took the car to get aligned and they told me there was play in the steering shaft from a cross threaded bolt. Looks like the end wasn't all the way in and the bolt had never crossed to the threaded side. I loosened everything, chased the threads, and got everything tightened up.

 

Also added one of the missing trim pieces. Looks much nicer.

 

The car as a hole is feeling pretty good, and nearly everything is great. I'm just at a loss with the rear end. I know it'll probably help slightly when I go to the 3.54 rear and everything is rebuilt but there's just this persistent vibration. Flipping the driveshaft 180 somehow solved most of it, but I still get the occasional buzzing and it's driving me crazy. I'm about ready to go back to the stock control arms, oem spindle pin, stock mustache bar, and a kameari mount on the original front diff crossmember. Everything on the car just feels so great except for the rear end buzzing or squeaking. So much of the car is damn near perfect that the small issues like that are a distraction from enjoying it as much as I could. Alignment rescheduled for today, so we'll see what they find or if it solves my problems.

Edited April 10 by Zetsaz