Careless

Not sure what you're trying to say... this post came up on my latest topics. yet again, this forum keeps showing me old threads as active.

Hello Z peep holes, I am getting around to putting the interior together on one of them Z cars from Janyouharry of 1970, I was wondering what kind of carpet snaps the OE firewall insulator was equipped with. I have two styles that virtually fell off some of the pieces that I had here, and that @grannyknot supplied from his 1971??? orange car for the purpose of comparing and recreating of some fresh insulation. The ones that came off @grannyknot's pieces look to be a kind of "pyramid" shape with a masonite board circle behind them, and a countersunk screw in the center that has a nut behind the masonite circle on the back. Looks to be an M6 countersunk philips screw. Probably 15mm in length. They seem to match the ones from #7214 that I have here, but haven't removed from there. That car is a '71. The other ones I have that came off this car are some generic style ones that have 3 little tangs that fold over on the triangular back side and are staked into place. I put quite some effort into recreating the original firewall padding, so if I can use the correct carpet snaps, I'll go that route before gluing it to the firewall.

"so we had a load of barbie corvette parts come in yesterday, and everything was hot pink"

lots of these mods are popping up for various other non-datsun or non-nissan chassis. it's a very effective mod, and I like your approach, chris. I've seen versions that have waterjet cut brackets that loop down from the strut tower bolts and have an adjustable knob to preload the brake master or to adjust for manufacturing inconsistencies, just like yours. The most common one I've seen is for the S2000. though the nicest one I've seen was beautifully TIG welded and integrated into a strut tower bar base plate for a car that was in Option jdm mag. Can't remember what car it was ... DR30 maybe. I vote for yellow plating after a quick sandblasting :-D that'll do'er real noice for eye-candy points.

The crank will always turn with the same ratio in relation to cam, regardless of chain length if the sprockets remain the same size. the issue of having incorrect cam/crank geometry or relation arises from not having the same available chain slack or tension on both sides of the chain as OEM once the head is shaved- which changes the cam phasing in relation to the crank. You can try all you want to align the dots on the chain on both ends of the motor and it just won't line up. There is no in-between by tightening or loosening the chain by using a different tension, or removing/adding links- which is what creates the problem. The length difference is so small (but has a definite effect) that using a different chain length won't fix it. the amount removed from the head is so minute that the proper tension still resides within the confines of the same belt/chain length as OEM, it's just not achievable with only a tighter factory tensioner because you'd have to put a tensioner on the opposite side to mimic the appropriate chain length on BOTH sides of the crank timing gear. you can play with pulley/belt sizing and distance here, and see that belt length or chain length does not change speed of either pulley: http://www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng.aspx Another way of looking at it is if you were to put a tensioner on either side of the crank, you could effectively change valve timing by making them controlled by an auxiliary device, as one loosens up, the other one tightens up. This will shift the phase of the cam in relation to the crank depending on which side is commanding more chain length (than OEM) from crank to cam, but the speed remains the same. The side that has the higher increase in cam chain length will have its teeth squeezed closer together (for lack of a better way of visualising it); tighten the left side to make the chain longer = retard timing. tighten the right side = advanced timing.. Since there's only one tensioner on one side of the motor, we can't use this idea to correct the cam geometry, it only allows us to make one side longer or shorter, and doesn't allow adjustment of both sides. essentially, it's not the speed that is altered by chain length, it's the relation between cam and crank phasing which is influenced by available chain length on either side of the two spinny bits. Tighten one, and it pulls everything closer on that side, but you have to tighten the other side to bring it back into phase. you would need a variable cam timing device like Nissan VTC sprocket hub, but there are none that work on the L-series motors. But that's pretty much what's happening inside one of those. Tooth phase is shifting from one direction to the other to change valve timing. Kaimeri makes a gear driven chain guide that is adjustable that corrects the geometry on both sides of the chain to account for a shorter motor and keep proper tension on both sides. You don't need to use shims in most cases if you use that product.

I'll have to see if it's in the garage or if I lent it out. it worked on my 1.5 inch coolant tubes too, even though the bracket was for a 2.5inch exhaust, which I used for my 2.5inch IC piping on the 'ole Z31 Turbo. RE fitting issue: Get an M10 banjo to M10 inverted flare fitting from a Mazda Miata brake master cylinder, circa 1998. It will work on a 3/8-24 banjo bolt, they're interchangeable with M10 banjo bolts as far as the banjo seal goes. This will let you go M10 all the way to the slave cylinder. Had to do the same on another vehicle with a Girling slave cyl and we ran into the same issue you're facing now with the washer bottle- but the strut tower was in the way, so it was the best option. Love that flaring tool, btw. My friend has one, and its a joy to use.

It does decrease the outer diameter of the tube for a short length, but for a field repair it's suitable. one would just have to slide the hose on further down to the section with the original ID and use two hose clamps. one at the end, and one behind the barb. In most cases, the single clamp behind the barb should be enough, though.

The left looks like a JIC flare / AN Steel. What is the thread of the slave clyinder side? If you want to match to the master cylinder side, you have options: http://www.brucesspeed.com/brakeadapter.aspx

The left looks like a JIC flare / AN Steel. What is the thread of the slave clyinder side? If you want to match to the master cylinder side, you have options: http://www.brucesspeed.com/brakeadapter.aspx

I have made two bead rollers like that with vice grips, a 2.5 inch exhaust clamp bracket, and a machined washer. it's probably the most useful tool I built for under 8 dollars, and it's well worth the 2 minutes of welding required to get it set up. the part that takes the longest is dragging the welder out and finding a space to lay everything on to start welding.

FWIW, Bruce did the carbs on the car I'm currently restoring, and the valve cover was done locally with steel shot burnishing process, and they look identical in finish. a touch less aggressive, and it will look exactly like the inside of a cast aluminum timing cover, which are burnished lightly burnished out of the original molds. If you want to have a closer to OE look, try finding someone who provides vapor blasting services. I had the items vapor blasted prior to burnishing, because prior to that they were sandblasted. Had they been vapor blasted from the beginning, I think they would have been closer to the dull sheen, rather than high shine that the burnishing provides. You can prevent media contamination by making a block-off plate for the valve cover out of 1/8 alu and sealing it with RTV. once it's cured, you can remove any bolts used to squish it together and it won't go anywhere. Just be sure to shove a plastic bag into the oil separator inside the valve cover and seal it with duct tape. At a hardware store, you can find hole plugs for desks and cabinets, decorative stuff that fits right into the oil cap, and can be held on with RTV as well, and you can also get rubber plugs that can be RTV'd into the PCV tube, you can shove a small plastic bag in there too before sealing it up. It will come out as clean as it was going in.

so the new studs you got are the wrong size? I know someone that makes extended studs that may fit s30 hubs... he's local, and they're excellent quality. pm me if you need em! good prices too!

you're absolutely right. I would do it the way you've done it as well for the same reason. but before you weld that up solid, i'd slap a baseplate behind that bottom corner bar like you would on a roll cage intrusion bar. i like the through-hole cut on the top length, too. purdy nifty.

triangulated bars that connect from the door hinge area and the outside pedal box area to somewhere around the strut towers

Those are known as "Gacchiri Supports" in JDM-speak, though most manufacturers of similar units always tie into the door hinge bolts. And they're highly effective when used in conjunction with a strut tower bar. you'll see a noticeable improvement if the rest of the front end isn't made of jello. lookin' good!

I wouldn't be too concerned about that in a front-ender... Most of the front-shmucked S30's i've seen have nothing left in front of the strut towers. everything behind is usually tweaked an inch or so.

nice find on them buckets! is there gonna be enough room to put a 90 degree fitting for the clutch line? re: air chisels... imho, the best way to get good and repeatable results with an air chisel is to not use one. i've actually never used one to remove spot welded parts though. interesting method. looks like the modification paid off well. güd stuf

oh come onnnnnn. rust was part of the design spec on these cars. they sprayed them with muriatic acid right after they came out of stamping.

those fenders aren't nearly as bad as 182, i tell ya hwhuuuutttt.

is it running yet

Seems like the bumper mounts have thus far been adequate. It's currently being blasted but the weather is not playing nice. far too much humidity to complete the job right now. The flex shown in the photo was due to the rotisserie itself. I added shims between all the sliding points on the roti and it straightened right up. Once it was all straight, I loosened the center connecting bar and realigned and re-torqued it while the car was held straight, and so far the blasting guys haven't had issue rolling it around and flipping it over. now if the humidity drops, they can complete the job and I can deliver it to the body shop. even some snow would be welcome at this point!

you wouldn't need a 3 inch air tube, realistically. that's way overkill. go by the size of the throttle body on similar BMW motors with the same head design and displacement. guaranteed it's not 80mm. probably in the 65-70mm range- with which a 2.5 inch pipe should be suitable. it can also be squeezed or oval shape if need be. the "loss" in breathability from using a pipe that will fit well would be so trivial, it would be best to go with what works in the position you really want it. also, you'd be going from a smaller size to the larger inlet on the intake, so there would be no reversion or much of a hinderance due to the coupler sizing upwards/expanding to a larger inlet size rather than reducing to a smaller one. or just turbo the car later. you already got ms2 on there. stop playin' around!

lookin real noice, bruh! stainless MIG is so weird. it's got an odd sizzle to it, but generates next to no spark and before you know it, it's swiss cheese. it's the localized heat that doesn't dissipate that makes it tough to MIG on thin stuff. get a 80G Zirconia flap wheel, Chris. you'll love what it does to stainless. once it's all clean, some red scotch brite pad rubbed in the same direction as the original grain and you'll get what's called an "XL Blend" finish, which is what we put on most stainless railings when I was doing the stainless fab stuff. you can get pretty close to the belt-polish that way. here's an end-cap I did a while back: just gotta hover over the welds wit dem flappy flaps. minimal pressure required. I'd let you borrow my TIG welder if it was in operating condition :-(

have you looked at 944 S2 panel filters from K&N? great for making air boxes! you'll just have to sandwich them between a flange and use a latch or two like the battery box you made. http://www.promaxmotorsport.co.uk/images/thumbs/0000536.jpg

was there not another radiator hose that would fit? it looks like it could be pointed upwards right from the engine rather than in the stock bmw direction. seems like it would have been less intrusive to the body and less work to find something else... When I couldn't find compound bends for my V-mount setup, I used two 45* silicone hoses and put a coupler / joiner in the middle. The ones with the temp gauge port are excellent, because if you don't want to use it for a temp gauge you can substitute the hole that's there to really aid in cooling by utilizing it to feed a swirl-tank. They can be had on ebay for super cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-Temp-Gauge-Sensor-Adapter-Universal-1-1-2-38Mm-Aluminum-Blue-/112082905371 CV shaft joiner looks awesome!!!!