Bluto Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I know we have few folks on the board who have spent more than a few hours on 510s and 510s dont have a hardcore rip it apart and rebuild it forum like this one. If anyone has some insight on this all help is appreciated. I have swaped the ford 2.3t into my 510 and need to switch to rack and pinion due to the starter location(next to the oil pan vs next to the block on a L series motor) The plan is to do what Braap and friends did on the vg30tt/510. Swap in a rack and pinion from a 280z. They used 200sx(I belive) struts but I think the 280 struts will be workable? My question to Braap is, would you do anything diffrently if you had it to do again? like the location/length of the tc rods? I would like to use a monoball setup like you guys and Brian F. did on his yellow car, but Im not sure if that will happen right away or down the road. To Jmortensen and anyone else who has experience with modded 510s.. is there anyone else who has out there who has gone this route for steering? I know Bryan Feldman swapped to a race rack but I am going to try to get this done with what I have availible(cheap) Thanks Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Sorry. The most modded 510 steering I saw used stock pitman and idler arms that were drilled out for 5/8" rod ends and used a drag link that was 5/8" tap tube and tie rods from the same. It was pretty cool, but no help to you. Never seen a rack swap... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted February 10, 2006 Administrators Share Posted February 10, 2006 ........My question to Braap is' date=' would you do anything diffrently if you had it to do again? like the location/length of the tc rods? I would like to use a monoball setup like you guys and Brian F. did on his yellow car, but Im not sure if that will happen right away or down the road. Thanks Sam[/quote'] Haa.ha… Hmm.. in regards to the VG30DETT 510 project that we did for Dave Lum, would I do anything different if we were to do it again, you ask? YES! I would jack up the radiator cap high enough to clear the removal of the rest of the car and then proceed to drive either a 240, 260, or 280 Z car underneath it, then reattach said radiator cap. All fixed!! LMAO.. Ok, in all seriousness, this question is best left to the owner of that 510, Dave Lum, owner and web master of http://www.datsun.com. He is actually currently in the process of redesigning a completely new double A-arm suspension for that car and I’m sure Dave would be more than happy to talk high performance 510 steering with you. In fact, he was just out here at our place last weekend with that 510 discussing front suspension options with Ron Tyler. http://www.datsuns.com/red/index.htm I don’t feel comfortable giving out his personal E-mail address so I’ll post him privately linking this thread, maybe he’ll chime…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 The one we did up here we used a an entire 240z crossmember, rack and struts. New slotted strut tops were welded on. Custom steering shaft needed to be made from the upper portion of the 510 shaft, and the lower portion of the 240z shaft. TC rods we ran forward instead of backwards, also did a 300zx brake conversion at the same time. The only caveat really was that the front track increased in width by a couple of inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted February 10, 2006 Administrators Share Posted February 10, 2006 The one we did up here we used a an entire 240z crossmember, rack and struts. New slotted strut tops were welded on. Custom steering shaft needed to be made from the upper portion of the 510 shaft, and the lower portion of the 240z shaft. TC rods we ran forward instead of backwards, also did a 300zx brake conversion at the same time. The only caveat really was that the front track increased in width by a couple of inches. When we originally did Daves Rack & Pinion on his VG30DETT 510, Drax240z conversion was pretty much how ours turned out, complete 240Z front suspension, including rack, cross member, struts, steering knuckles, etc, though our T/C rods ran back just like the Z car. This required notching the frame rail to accept custom built boxes that the T/C rod pivot attaches to. We then used some plate steel that bolted to the bottom side of the strut tower and the Z strut hat attached to that. Dave has since altered the suspension to some degree, maybe he’ll chime in and tell you the latest details of the current set up. DRAX, just curious how you dealt with clearing the rack & pinion tie rods with the forward facing T/C rods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Just a combination of "bumpsteer" spacers and trial and error to find a suitable position. It was very tight indeed. Here's a pic of the install... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Damn that is tight. Looks like the TC rod JUST cleared the tie rod. No sway bar, or did you reroute it to the rear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Damn that is tight. Looks like the TC rod JUST cleared the tie rod. No sway bar, or did you reroute it to the rear? Many years ago that's how Michael Spreadburry's car looked. I helped him do a swaybar. We mounted it under the TC boxes on the front of the car. There was just enough clearance between the TC rods and the tie-rod but it never touched. On my 510 it uses Michael's old crossmember but I shortenned the rack and went to rear facing TC rods. That way I didn't increase the track width. It hasn't made it much farther than that as I started playing with Zs again. On the steering column you can take the end out of teh Z column (it has a bearing) and put this into the 510 column. Then all the 240 steering shafts will fit. You will have to lightly hone the end of the 510 column to get the bearing to fit. They usually have a bunch of gunk up in there from years of use. Cary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunscom Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Ruschman pretty much covered what we did, very much like DRAX except we went with rearward TC's like the Z: http://www.datsuns.com/Tech/510_rack_conversion.htm I have since moved to Z31 front struts (technically 200ZX V6 struts but the same thing). My progession went form 240Z struts to 4-cyl 200SX struts (spindle angle is different between these two, and so is the hub the rotor mounts to), then to Z31 / 200ZX V6 stuff. The Z31 struts let us put Z32 brakes on the car with little other mods up front. I still have the extra 3" track using the 240Z crossmember gives me, not really an issue especially since I'm now running NA Z32 (16x7.5) wheels (in fact my car was never low enough for this to be an issue with any of the wheels I had up front - generic 15x7's. 280ZXT 15x6 swastika's, and the current ones). 240/60/80Z struts will work, 280ZX struts won't unless you build some adjustabale lower control arms to correct the camber. What would I do different? If I had to keep the struts (I hate struts) I wouldn't change a thing, I love the steering & brakes! Note some 240Z racks (like mine) are aluminum, others are cast iron. Same with Z32 brake calipers - '90-92.5 are aluminum calipers, all later are iron. Note '90 was the only year of the 26mm wide rotors up front. So 1990 will be the lightest Z32 brake upgrade, but I went with '91-'92.5 because I'm as concerned about being able to find replacement parts and a couple extra lbs of brake mass I can live with since I have nearly 400hp in a 2500# car. In sum, my current setup: Z31 struts, 240Z rack, crossmember and lower control arms (now adjustable), easy-to-fab camber plate/spring adapter to run the smaller diameter springs (now coilovers), bumpsteer spacers. This picture gives you a good idea of the current setup (except struts) http://tinyurl.com/9gy5o, and with a little work you can use the 510 strut tower caps and it will look factory! http://www.datsuns.com/red/2k5view5.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluto Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Much thanks to Braap, Dave, Jmortensen, Drax and tube80.. That was what I was hoping/expecting to hear.. Ideally Ill have a rack and member to start with by the end of the week. As for brakes and struts to use.. Im not sure if I will leave the brakes stock or bolt up the wilwood bits and pieces I have been gathering for the Z. I was just about ready to do a complete suspension/brake/wheel upgrade on the Z but the 510 is going to be much cleaner (rust, paint and overall fit and finish on the mods) so it may get all the new bits. Ill post pics and updates(probably more than a few more questions) on this thread. Thanks again, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I'd recommend some 280zx struts/brakes up front. Very inexpensive mod, and a great brake package for the 510. (bigger rotors, and vented... and a true bolt on!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Yep. That's what most of my friends have done on their 510s. A couple of them even have 240 springs and hats. Cut the bottom perch off of a 240 strut and welded it onto the ZX strut. then the 240 spring goes on with the 240 top hat. The 240 stuff is like 1/2 the diameter of the 280ZX suspension, so then you can slot the crap out of the tower and adjust camber quite a bit. It's like a cheapo sectioned strut (ZX struts are shorter)/camber plate/big brake/kinda halfassed coilover - adjust the spring perch till you get the ride height you want sort of mod. The ZX brakes really stop a 510 pretty damn good. Then throw some 79-81 ZX rear disks on, I don't know what's involved for that but not much, slot the rear crossmember and flip the washers, Subaru LSD and you've got something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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