Jesse OBrien Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I purchased an s30, which was supposed to be delivered today but has been postponed due to technical difficulties. It should show up tomorrow, if all goes well. Basics: 72 240z l24, bad starter (at least) stock 5spd stock r180 stock brakes flat black (except for rust spots) a pair of rust issues bolt-on roll bar 4 flat tires no seats broken headlights stock wiring no title (no information at all in the DMV database for the past 7 years) Immediate plans (this week): Install this pile of parts: with different wheels for those tires (you'll see) Install my new(to me) l28et (anybody have suggestions, threads I should read, or sites I should visit before diving in?) Inspect the clutch and address the immediate problem of it not engaging Inspect the brakes and address immediate problems Inspect suspension and address immediate problems Change all the fluids everywhere Bolt down the roll cage Get a Xenon/BRE front end for it (if you know someone who's selling one, LET ME KNOW!) Re-route the ignition wiring so I don't have to have a key made. I don't like keys, by and large. I've been thinking about exhaust, and would like some input. Should I do a single side-dump through the driver's side fender or run something all the way back to a motorcycle can or two? If I do the side dump, it'll have a plate and be something like this: only in front of the door, not behind it. Pics of my $500 project to come as soon as it's here. (yes, this was in the members projects area, but I forgot other people can't post there) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B00STDZ Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Always remember to search. Are those headlights HID swapped? Looks like you have a project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I had a similar idea for the exhaust whenever I get to the SR20 swap I want to do but lately I've been thinking about just having it run under the driver side on the outside of the frame for clearance of the full belly pan and so I can have a muffler on it and then just have a turndown at the end pointing down and away right in front of the rear tire. I'm also not too big of a fan of bolt-in roll cages, I rather have it welded in. I'm gonna try to stiffen mine up as much as possible so I wont need a roll cage but I think I'll still need an at least 6-point. I want it to be cageless because mine has great interior and wanted to keep the stock appearance inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theguppies Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 what are you going to do with the stock L24? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Always remember to search. Are those headlights HID swapped? Looks like you have a project! Those headlights are h4's off ebay. 35 shipped, and I'm not about to complain (they even have the little directional lights in them... sweet!). It's definitely a project... whenever it shows up. I'm hoping for today, but we'll see how that pans out. I had a similar idea for the exhaust whenever I get to the SR20 swap I want to do but lately I've been thinking about just having it run under the driver side on the outside of the frame for clearance of the full belly pan and so I can have a muffler on it and then just have a turndown at the end pointing down and away right in front of the rear tire. I'm also not too big of a fan of bolt-in roll cages, I rather have it welded in. I'm gonna try to stiffen mine up as much as possible so I wont need a roll cage but I think I'll still need an at least 6-point. I want it to be cageless because mine has great interior and wanted to keep the stock appearance inside. My interior has been long gone, and anything that's still there is going to have to go away. I just sourced a fresh dash with no cracks or bubbles, so I'm going to take advantage of that and have it shipped out here sometime soon. My old exhaust on my v8 240z had two side-dumps, and was mounted up in a pretty funky way. If you aren't going through the fender, you have to go under it, and that gets kind of messy no matter how you approach it. I don't have any pics, but I'll get some from the current owner (helping him put everything back together with a new motor) the next time I'm over there to illustrate what I mean. The cage won't stay bolt-in for long, but I'd rather have it bolted in than bouncing around in the cabin. I'm going to expand on it before I actually weld anything in anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuclear_z Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 i would seriously consider having the exhaust behind the door... When travelling you will have exhaust fumes sucked up into the cabin if you put it in front... Nothing more annoying than smelling like a person thats tried to off themself in their car everytime you arrive somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 lol, I've never thought about the fumes getting into the car when I was planning for it. Too bad you dont have interior, I love the interior in my car. If it wasn't for the interior I would build it as a 800 horsepower V8 race car instead of a 500 horsepower SR20 daily driver. I still keep on straying my ideas towards the race-car side until I catch myself...I think I'm gonna have to build a race purpose Z in the future at some time, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 i would seriously consider having the exhaust behind the door... When travelling you will have exhaust fumes sucked up into the cabin if you put it in front... Nothing more annoying than smelling like a person thats tried to off themself in their car everytime you arrive somewhere... I love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning You do have a good point, but from what I've seen, the rear hatch sucks up exhaust fumes just as much. I've never been in a Z that doesn't smell like exhaust fumes or a fuel leak. Either way, you smell like a "serious driver" after being in a Z. lol, I've never thought about the fumes getting into the car when I was planning for it. Too bad you dont have interior, I love the interior in my car. If it wasn't for the interior I would build it as a 800 horsepower V8 race car instead of a 500 horsepower SR20 daily driver. I still keep on straying my ideas towards the race-car side until I catch myself...I think I'm gonna have to build a race purpose Z in the future at some time, lol I like the dash and center console, but that's about it. The whole vinyl-style rear is just hideous, if you ask me. I like having it down to metal, since it resembles an old fighter plane cockpit. I've even been toying with the idea of putting switches on the roof to enhance that feeling. In other news, I picked up the wheels that are going on this car. I think they'll be flat black by the end of tomorrow. I've been toying with the idea of leaving the lip polished aluminum, but I think they'll end up solid black. They still have the old crappy tires on them, and I hope to get the good tires mounted+balanced tomorrow. Pics to come tonight/tomorrow. My Z should be here around 10pm PST or so. I'm sure I'll be excited then. Hopefully the rain quits sometime tonight. I hate working in the wet, almost as much as I hate getting my garage wet because I moved a wet car into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuclear_z Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning You do have a good point, but from what I've seen, the rear hatch sucks up exhaust fumes just as much. I've never been in a Z that doesn't smell like exhaust fumes or a fuel leak. Either way, you smell like a "serious driver" after being in a Z. I spose it all depends on how much u drive your car. I drive mine daily, so I like being able to get to my girls house not smelling like a shagged an exhaust pipe. I think you will find that the fumes coming in through your window will be markedly different, especially if you have a race tune (i.e. rich on lift-off). There wouldnt be a massive performance gain from doing it, just looks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 I'm inclined to agree. I'll have to put some more thought into the exhaust setup. Right now, I have a locked drum brake to loosen, tires to get mounted, seats to install, and a starter motor to ... get working? Oh, and pics to take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Are you using those ZX 6 spokes? I have a set laying around and they look really good blacked out... Its giving me ideas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Are you using those ZX 6 spokes? I have a set laying around and they look really good blacked out... Its giving me ideas I have a set of them around here somewhere, but that's the only one on-hand. I was really anxious to have the car and get started on it, so I painted that wheel to see what it'd look like. I like my current wheels much more (mostly because they're wider and lighter) and plan to black them out too. I've got a heaping update coming as soon as my photos finish uploading, so stay tuned... !edit! current wheels: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Time to update! Those of you following my thread on Ratsun.net need not apply over here, this is a big old update that should keep everyone current-ish. Wheels are on, with old tires. New tires will be mounted when it's street-worthy. This is before settling, but they're 205/60-14 series tires, rather than the stock-sized 195/70-14s. It'll change my speedo and give a slightly shorter final gear, but I can deal with that. We'll see how it sits after it settles. My front end was a little messed up, so I took it off. I'm picking up a non-vented BRE front air dam this weekend to replace the stock valence and bumper. Do you guys think I should bend the bumper back to straight or just ditch it? I test-fit the roll bar and one of the seats as well. The roll bar is going to require a little bending to fit properly, and I definitely want to expand on that. I'm just not sure where to go with it, exactly. Run another tube up the floors to the firewall? Add a diagonal crossmember to it? Connect it to the floor behind the seats (right now it just bolts to the wheelwell)? The plan is definitely to weld it in, but not until it accomplishes something. I replaced the starter, battery, plugs/wires, worn distributor rotor, and coil. I'm fairly certain that the coil is the reason it's not starting right now, since it specifically says "6v, no external resister required" but the manual specifically states that a 12v coil is absolutely required. I don't have a resister on-hand, so I'll have to either source one at Radio Shack or find somewhere I can order one. I also cleaned the carbs. After that, I believe the only problems left to address are a bent clutch master cylinder rod (I have a 280ZX master cylinder, will that fit my s30 pedals, anyone?) and address a couple minor rust issues... There's another bad spot on the passenger's dogleg, but they're all going to be relatively straightforward welding jobs, and I'm happy with this so far. Fresh, uncracked dash on its way here in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 what are you going to do with the stock L24? You totally slipped under my radar. I'm going to drive it for awhile, at least. I'd rather take my time and do the l28et install properly rather than rush it in just to get the car on the road. Hopefully spark is the only issue I run into while building it up. I'm quickly falling in love with the simplicity of the l24. The carbs are beautifully simple, the engine has nothing to it, the electronics are almost non-existent... it's just a dream to maintain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 Unfortunately, the BRE-style (Xenon, if you're looking through the MSA catalog) front air dam I drove two hours to pick up was just a duckbill. Ended up driving home last night empty-handed in the driving rain. Along the way, a car had been hit and rammed into the median, and was stalled sideways in the middle of 80 (if you don't know 80, you don't know traffic). Helped the girl out of her car, got some cops there, and we even managed to roughhouse the tiburon out of the road eventually. I don't see myself taking the drive to Stockton again any time soon. Most boring drive ever. Other than the accidents, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SypherSlayer Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 off topic but the drive from the bay to stockton is by far not the most boring....driving south on I-5 after 580 is the most boring drive in cali......every time i make that drive i want to shoot myself hahaha oh and good luck with that chasm you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Yea, I-5 from sac to LA is pretty brutal. I recently went just for the weekend, ouch. I'd much rather drive all the way to washington on I-5. Oh, yea, ummmm.... keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icarus Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Unfortunately, the BRE-style (Xenon, if you're looking through the MSA catalog) front air dam I drove two hours to pick up was just a duckbill. Ended up driving home last night empty-handed in the driving rain as far as i know the "BRE style air dam" IS the little chin spoiler. the other one, the full air dam, is the "xenon" one... that is usually how i have seen them referred to anyway. my guess would be that they are known as "xenon"s in the US because Xenon makes them over here, but probably are based off of an earlier Japanese-made piece? both the 'BRE' and the 'Xenon' come in vented and unvented. and the 'Xenon' comes in the s30 and the s31 styles, the difference of course being the cutouts for the underbumper turn sig/marker lights in the earlier year cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 as far as i know the "BRE style air dam" IS the little chin spoiler. the other one, the full air dam, is the "xenon" one... that is usually how i have seen them referred to anyway. my guess would be that they are known as "xenon"s in the US because Xenon makes them over here, but probably are based off of an earlier Japanese-made piece? both the 'BRE' and the 'Xenon' come in vented and unvented. and the 'Xenon' comes in the s30 and the s31 styles, the difference of course being the cutouts for the underbumper turn sig/marker lights in the earlier year cars. I may very well be wrong, but I did feel a bit misled. I'm over it, and just won't buy parts from anyone unwilling to send pictures from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 BRE "air dam" It isn't a spoiler, its a cooling device. I swear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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