ktm

ezzzzzzz, I believe Marty is referring to the curved brace below the moustache bar (see the photo Z's linked and look at the bar at the bottom of the diffy). It connects to and braces two rear vertical transverse link plates. In the early 240zs, this bar was straight and as part of the R200 swap this bar had to be replaced with a later model brace.

You probably did not replace the throwout collar. The throwout collar matches the pressure plate, not the transmission. Get a throwout collar for a 280z and you'll be fine.

"Since he only gave me one rate, they SHOULD be single rate and not progressive." My Tokico's were progressive in the front and linear in the rear. I should get a picture of them since the car is up in the air....again.

Or you can do what I did and soak the sleeve in PB Blaster, apply heat, soak in some more PB Blaster, apply some heat, ad naseum for a few days. Then take the assembly to your local shop and ask them to press the sleeves out. I paid around $30 total for both arms.

You asked for a timeline and I can tell you what I recently spent simply refurbishing my brakes and suspension: 6 months up in the air. I stripped all the aftermarket and factory undercoating off the wheel wells, replaced all the bushings with polyurethene, stripped and painted all the suspension components (control arms, front crossmember, struts, hubs, etc.), installed remaned calipers, tokico shocks and struts, new to me differential, new to me 4-speed, new Powerslot rotors, etc., etc. My resources are not limited, I can only work on the car an 1 to 2 hours a night and maybe 3 to 5 on the weekend. Unless you have the space to do the work or can leave the car where ever you are working on it for an extended period of time, I would not do a fullblown refresh. It takes quite a bit of time to do it right. hls30 has a good idea about buying a spare set of parts, however, that does add up quickly. If you decide to go that route, Roger at Zbarn.com is a great resource. Hell, I just got her back on the ground in January (was on stands in July) and she blew a head gasket/cracked-warped the head. She is now back up on stands as I am now building up an L28ET. Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

xray, that is ingenious! I've gotta share that with others.

Rear ST sway bar mount:

Yes I did notice where he lives. He specifically mentioned Zbarn in his post "As early Zs are very,very rare here I have to look in the US (zbarn.com for instance)" Did you read all of his post? I was giving him a testimonial for Zbarn.

Zbarn is a great resource. His prices are very fair and he tries to find the best part in his inventory. I picked up a rear control arm for my 240z after a shop bent one remove a bushing. He sent me a 280z arm (interchangeable) that had 90% of the original paint intact and no surface rust. The arm did not have any damage whatsoever.

If your car is running rich (plugs fouling) then they are obviously getting a bit too much fuel. Check your cold start switch, coolant temp sensor, TPS, and O2 sensors first. Make sure these are in running order. If so, then you have at least narrowed it down a bit. Next check your AFM and make sure it is operating correctly and not sticking. These are all the easy checks. Check your fuel pressure and make sure that it is at the correct operating range. Too much pressure yields too much fuel. Things that affect fuel pressure are the fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator. If everything else checks out, the last thing to check is your injectors. Good luck.

I am not trying to start anything, but simply clarify your statements. The problem is that whatever we talk about here, on the boards, is available for search. If someone makes an outrageous (and false) claim (not saying that you did) and no one counters it, then others may think that information is true and try it for themselves.

You did say a STOCK 280zx, right? Then your times must be for an 1/8th. You are not talking to high school girls here. A 60,000 volt coil does not do anything; an ACT clutch does not add power, it only helps transmit power to the ground; a CAI does not do anything for these cars; a fuel cell, electric fan, and Taylor wires do not add power to the car. Trust me, you can not bolt on significant horsepower (excluding nitrous, turbos and superchargers). Exhaust, headers, and intakes do not add significant horsepower by themselves.

The stamps on the ring gear will be two numbers offset by a colon, such as 39:11 (3.545) or 37:11 (3.36).

I did not get your message about the evaporator (unless it was your PM). It's a good thing you asked. I have it sitting in my garage as well as a working, original blower motor. I'll drop you an email tomorrow. There are quite a few body shop places in the Azusa/Irwindale area. I am fortunate in that there are quite a few speed shops, including MSA, right by my office. Between the two I am covered.

I was heading out to one of my sites and saw a Le Mans Sunset S30 headed the other direction. I remembered your paint thread and saw a lot of similarities (same wheels, no front bumper, etc.). It looked quite good (if that was you) driving down the road.

I have always considered doing exactly what Rob Sass mentioned. Being from So. Cal, I see a large number of minimal rust cars being sold all the time. Hell, last December someone was selling a 1973 240z with triple Mikunis, ported/polished head, straight body, etc. for $2500.

Zeiss, I have a stock evaporator (big passenger side box) that I just tossed. It is still at home and I could retrieve it if interested. I am in So. Cal. as well.

Unfortunately no. How can you apply a fix when the part/area that needs fixing is completely covered by the bell housing? It does seem odd that a new bearing would make noise.

I really like the paint job. I could never put it on my car, but I do like it. It is really no different (though much more visually exciting) than the BRE replica paint jobs you see. I am not putting down the BRE paint jobs, but I tend to like wild colors and patterns.

Found out that my car had A/C at one time in its life before one of the previous owners took everything out of the car in the engine bay but left all of the interior components in place.

Spark plugs, wire brush/steel wool to clean electrical connections, multi-meter, noid light, compression tester (can do a compression test cold), 10mm through 14 mm sockets

Ah, that explains it. I always thought the 2002 Pathfinder shared the same engine as the Xterra. Thanks.

Nate, I am curious about this statement: "my Pathfinder even with it's LSD will blacken the pavement like nobody's buisness". Did you install an aftermarket supercharger or just being facetious? The reason I ask is because we have a 2002 Nissan Xterra SE (non-supercharger) and I've been looking into ways to give it a bit more grunt. It already gets lousy gas mileage considering how little power the V-6 produces. I've looked into a few aftermarket supercharger alternatives, but the cost to horsepower ratio was rather.....pathetic.

....which is why in my turbo build up I am completely removing the heater core and blower motor.....

How large of a gap are we talking about? Could you not use POR-15 epoxy putty to fill in the gap? I know that the epoxy putty is widely used as a sealant for the factory weld seams for those who strip off the undercoating (such as myself).