josh817 Posted July 5, 2008 Author Share Posted July 5, 2008 An illustration of my frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 LOL!!! What a wonderful thing to wake up to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 How about a 240sx radiator in a 240z? Anyone know if that fits? I'm doing a search for info here and I honestly thought some hybridz'ers would have done some sort of custom jobs for their radiators since everything else is custom on some cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I think most people just buy aluminum ones off of eBay. Get dimensions, measure Z, go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 How about a 240sx radiator in a 240z? Anyone know if that fits? I'm doing a search for info here and I honestly thought some hybridz'ers would have done some sort of custom jobs for their radiators since everything else is custom on some cars. Go fishing, my boy! Nobody would know how easy it is to install a GM alternator, or a Maxima alternator, or a Z32 transmission, if someone didn't set out to the junkyard one day with a tape measure and a piece of paper to find out. I haven't heard of any simple and effective radiator swaps yet. Not a one, and I have been internetting regarding Z cars since I got the internet. SOMEthing out there has to be close enough to make it work at least, and if you are that motivated you can find it. I know my uncle has been running square port headers on an N47 for years without major problems... if it looks to you like it should work, then it will probably suffice. I wouldn't kill yourself if you get it together and you find a few minor leaks, and it MAY wind up causing you to replace the intake/exhaust gasket when you do get the right headers to go on it, but it ought to get you started at least. EDIT Where is Keller, anyhow? I have asked myself where you were at at least a half a dozen times in this thread, and haven't gained a clue yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 You get use to the empty promises after a while... hey man, back when I was 14, my father promised my brother and I that when the WWF/WWE came to Toronto, we'd go see it live. I don't even watch wrestling or TV anymore for that matter, but I've been waiting 11 years now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Keller is in Texas, just north of Fort Worth. And yah Dad has done it for other things. When he sold our karts he promised to get me something else to race in because he knew I loved racing so much. Not so much empty but from age 10 to now I've been waiting for it. The BMW qualifies, but I don't think it will ever be finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Keller is in Texas, just north of Fort Worth. And yah Dad has done it for other things. When he sold our karts he promised to get me something else to race in because he knew I loved racing so much. Not so much empty but from age 10 to now I've been waiting for it. The BMW qualifies, but I don't think it will ever be finished. meh. you win some you lose some. but your current project is going to finish amongst the winners circle, so just don't let obstacles get in your way, and man up and take your stuff back!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Ok boys enough monkey business. Lets get serious about radiators and electric fans. Dad is saying there are $145 new 280z (3 row) radiators at our local shop. However, I have found $210 aluminum (2 row but out performs a 4 row stock) on an ebay store. Do you think a stock radiator will work? Now for electric fans. I'm looking at 2000cfm fans. I am seeing a 14" fan but if I do this I will only be able to use one. If I use it with the stock radiator, do you think 2000cfm will keep me cool? Keep in mind I'm not racing this thing. Maybe mess around a little bit each day on the streets but this isn't a track car so overheating an issue? Also keep in mind this is Texas, and it gets to 104º. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I'd pay the extra $25 bucks for a real one, cooling system is something I wouldn't trust to eBay. I don't know if it'll keep you cool, but one thing you could do to assist with that is make a cover that goes from the bottom of the front bumper to about the front of the engine. I dunno if Zs have them stock, but Supras do and when they fall off it makes a 10*+ difference under the hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 I'm figuring that if the stock radiator (which was really crapped up) cooled me fine with a turbocharger, it should cool me fine without. To keep all the junk out of it I'll use distilled water, put rubber pads between it and the body of the car since thats ground, use water wetter, and because its Texas, only use 25% antifreeze. Plus the fact that this motor isn't intended to last 200,000 miles so you know... I need to get a hold of a guy in Louisiana soon too. He wants a P90A hed to play with, and I'm throwing in the new/refurbed/cleaned whatever you want to call them hydraulic lifters from the P90A I converted. He says he has a 4 disc brake kit never used he'll trade with me for. I'm also wanting to get metal headlight buckets since the fiberglass air dam bolts onto it. I'm growing a hatred for fiberglass because of the cracking and brittle state of it. When I start painting I need to find out if Aircraft Stripper eats fiberglass. Used it on the BMW and it worked like a charm but the BMW doesn't have any fiberglass on it either... The drivers side beam near the hatch is filled in and I'm scared to see how much car is REALLY under there... No rust problems, just some service along the front edge of the hood and in the door jams. Sand it right off. Then I have to fix the ass of the car where the muffler is.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 They sell rubber window stripping type stuff at hardware stores pretty cheap, that should provide decent insulation and be quite cost effective. Do you have a piece of fiberglass you can use as a test? Contacting the manufacturer would probably work too. Sounds like a good deal on those brakes. Get to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 Yah I have fiberglass kit with the resin and stuff but I hate working with that crap so much. All I know is that this aircraft stripper is killer stuff. Makes the paint blister up and you just use a putty knife and it falls off, unless if its recent paint, as in not 30 years old. The BMW had a different do on the passenger side and that paint took me all day to get off because it only took the top layer at a time. Same for bondo... you're better off using a sander for bondo removal. I have a constant fear of anything fiberglass, breaking. There was one day where I pulled into a parking lot and slow pulled up to the parking curb thing. I heard it slide over nicely so I was like ok let me gingerly back up... Bad idea... had a piece of rebar sticking 1/2" out the top, and it caught on the air dam and just tore it off. Tore the holes out on the buckets and part of the lip of the air dam... I fixed it easily but its just given me a hate for fiberglass. It may be light but leaning on it or hitting something on the road I'm screwed. I planned ahead while I was repairing it and decided to give it some bottom support in case if I hit a small poodle or something... 4 bolts on each side hold it at the top and then the bottom I bent some 1/8" iron flat bar and made brackets. Braced it at the bottom so it doesn't tuck under the car if I hit something, or even from the resistance at high speeds. Goes to some empty holes on the chassis.... Which is a scary thought because I have no idea what use to go there but thats ok. I also have to finish up on my duck tail spoiler whatever you want to call it. It was hollow and we weren't sure how to mount it... So I bought some of that foam sealant for outside spouts. It swells up like popcorn and it hardens. Put some blocks of wood in there too. I sanded it down even, and now all I have to do is helicoil the wood. We'll bolt it right through the wood so we don't stress the fiberglass and have that break too. Lets not get to far on body work yet though... That radiator comes in on Wednesday. Once its in, I'm buying and I'm putting the motor back in. All it needs is the flywheel and oil pan really. THEN I move onto all the stuff that drives me crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I would do some stress-testing on the bond between the wood, the foam, and the fiberglass before bolting it onto my car and subjecting it to aerodynamic stress. It wouldn't do to have your spoiler fly off at speed on a highway! I like the foam idea, but I would have mounted the piece of wood to the spoiler with a few strips of fiberglass somehow, and THEN filled the apparatus with foam; I couldn't tell you exactly how to go about making these fiberglass "straps" or connection between the wood and the spoiler, but just something light-weight to add to the overall strength of the bond holding spoiler to car. Of course, I may be grossly underestimating the adhesive and cohesive properties of the foam stuff, but I have used it some in the past.. but you may also be UNDERestimating the force that the spoiler will be subjected to. I can't give you an estimate of how strong it needs to be.. but it is something *I* would tend to over-engineer for safety's sake. Hopefully I am being a granny about it; if the foam DOES seem to hold strongly enough than its a great scheme. Urethane air dam FTW, period. If the car is EVER going to be parked in a parking lot, it shouldn't have a fiberglass lower jaw. The higher the ride height, the less likely you are to ever regret it.. and vice versa. The urethane air dams still need the bracing you set up, though. That looks nice, BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 The foam stuff is like rock solid but I worry the same thing. Or long term effects like the wood rotting or something. I think my only problem though with it now is that resin will melt the foam. I talked about glassing it on the car but I've seen some other dudes on here where they took it off and it was a disaster underneath so thats a no go. The whole spoiler is hollow so I may just drive in some seriously long bolts to where you put stress on the bolt rather than the block of wood. Its been up in storage for a while because I was originally going to get started with body work until the motor started losing compression and I was like forget it. Nobody on here or other boards seemed to know how theirs was mounted so I guess a ton of people just bought the car with it on. Even then, they couldn't tell me which is funny because its only a matter of opening the hatch, taking the back panel off and looking... The instructions that came with mine literally said "1. pre mount 2. trim to fit 3. mount and secure" and they gave me 8 4" sheet metal bolts. I was like uhhhhhh what do these bolt to.... This is why: I'll run the bolts through that section on the hatch. But as you can see, the whole thing was hollow and the only the to mount it to we that tiny skinny lip which was in the front so it wouldn't even be secure. Some people said fill it with resin which would be a good idea, until you see how much resin that is... I just fear it cracking. Thats why I hate fiberglass. You can't secure it as tight as you'd like because it'll break, so then you have to gingerly hold parts together and I don't like the thought of body work kinda flapping around. I must say though, the braces at the bottom on mine really stiffened it up. Even if I do hit a dog, cat, raccoon, baby, tire, rock, pinto, curb, girlfriend, etc. it will still break... just not so much... EDIT! Just had an idea. What if I took the concept of Quins radiator shroud engine underside plate thing... but do it on the underside of the air dam. Get some sheet metal and basically do the same thing that the bracket is doing. This way if you do slide over something, that lip there won't catch when you back up because essentially the lip would be extended to the chassis by sheet metal. Perhaps it could also give so same air flow direct like a shroud kinda, keeping air from coming into the grill and spilling out towards the ground. My mind seems sort of cluttered but it makes sense in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 The main thing is it goes back and seals up under the radiator, so ALL incoming air goes through the radiator. I like the idea. You could cut grooves into it and not tighten it down super tight so if you bump a curb or something it can slide back a little and not break your air dam. If that doesn't make sense, let me know I'll try and explain it better or make a picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 Yah that is a good idea although the I have it set up you can see that the air dam doesn't have any way to wiggle back and forth if I were to hit a curb which it can't go over. I think even with it able to move and at slow pulling in speeds, you wouldn't be able to stop in time until it tore a hole out like it did before. If any of you dudes can do me a favor and see how much space there is between the radiator and the water pump pulley (not the fan, the puller since I won't be using the fan). I want to see how much room I have to work with so I don't get this 5 1/2" thick fan and have it not fit. Everything I'm looking at is 2000cfm and up so I think I'll be set with one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Well... Another day another problem.... Put on my fly wheel and went to do the clutch but oh wait, you have the WRONG FLYWHEEL. >_< Doah!!!!!!! I bought it from a guy who said it was a 10lb JDM L28 Chromoly flywheel and indeed it was BUT Nissan made a flywheel for the l24, l26, l28 which was one size, and then they made a slightly larger one for the 280zx/280zxt. He didn't specify that part... and yah I did ask him the size and he said 240mm which is the one we know of, I think thats it. So basically the clutch pads sit about 2 millimeters off the edge and the pressure plate doesn't even line up. I called him up and he was unusually nice and didn't give any fuss about a refund since I hadn't used it. I think though I can get my monies worth and not have to go through all this stuff with him if somebody on here wants the flywheel. I would like to see $300 for it. Any more details on it are basically like it was made in Japan, resurfaced and I bolted it down but didn't spin it/use it or anything. My plan is to use my refund or if someone wants to buy it, use that money to either A: Buy a new one for the butt raping $500 B: Send my original one to the machine shop and see how much it will cost for them to lighten it. Whichever one works out better... I'll put it up in the classifieds if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Well I believe those holes you bolted into for your airdam support are for the front splash pan that goes under the engine. I also bolted my supports there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 hey, figure out if the clutch packs are compatible with your transmission from whatever that flywheel is from. chances are you can get a new clutch pack instead of selling everything. and then you can sell the clutch pack you got Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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