Nigel

It's still there. The link may have changed. I'm not sure if that site is even maintained anymore though. https://www.motortopia.com/members/Nigel/mediapress/240sx-transmission-swap-14041/

I just received the "Diagram Datsun Z2 (72?) - 240Z" and within minutes of looking at it in depth, I've found numerous mistakes. For example, the battery positive has no connection to anything other than the starter, the horn is labeled as "passing" and is apparently connected to the windshield wipers, the hand brake warning light gets power from nowhere, The high and low beam switch is labeled as "dimmer," there is no high beam bulb shown in the speedometer, and the high beam wire, right headlight power and instrument dimmer wiring are all shown connected together. There may be more issues, but this is what has jumped out at me so far. Furthermore, switches are all shown only as blocks with no internal connections, making it impossible to trace wiring through the switch. All of this severely limits the usefulness of this diagram for any kind of troubleshooting and the convenience factor is nearly eliminated because you still need to have the FSM schematic on hand. I guess if all you want to do is follow a wire from point A to B, it's somewhat useful. But forget about trying to understand how the circuit works. It's only going to confuse the heck out of you, especially if you're an electrical novice. Great idea, but bad execution. Nigel

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond to these messages. I don't spend much time on classiczcars, and all of my classiczcars e-mail notices were going in my junk mail folder! Thanks for the postive feedback. This has been a tremendous amount of work, but I hate half-assed solutions! I've actually tried 3 other popular rear disk conversions and I wasn't happy with any of them for various reasons. There have been a number of developments since I first started this thread. I don't have time at the moment to summarize all of them, but I will try to do so soon. Or, you can check this thread out: Yet another rear drum to disk conversion option! - Vendor's Forum - HybridZ Nigel

As a design challenge, I decided to come up with my own rear drum to disk conversion kit that meets my standards (I'm a controls designer for the Nuclear Power industry) for a bolt on kit. I wanted to design something that: 1. Uses OEM parts where possible for ease of service and availability of parts. 2. Has an integrated parking brake oriented such that it will not interfere with CV axles. 3. Is capable of providing adequate brake torque to balance even the big Wilwood style front brake kits.There has been a long standing myth that rear brakes don't really matter that much. But upgrading the front brakes without a proportional increase in rear braking will actually result in longer stopping distances. There are very few OEM rear calipers with an integrated parking brake capable of providing adequate torque for much more than stock Z front brakes. However, with the right pads and an adjustable proportioning valve, this kit should be suitable for just about any front brake setup. 4. Has a wide variety of pad compounds available from multiple manufacturers. 5. Is modular to allow the use of a 300mm (11.81") OEM rotor, or a two piece 310mm (12.2") rotor for reduced weight and increased brake torque. 6. Is as light weight as possible. 7. Does not require removal of the caliper to bleed the brakes. 8. The parking brake cable does not rub anywhere, and is not forced to bend at extreme angles through the entire stroke of the suspension. So, I've spent the past several months educating myself on brake physics, crunching brake torque numbers, poring through brake part catalogs, designing brackets, and machining prototype parts to come up with the best solution to all of the requirements I've listed. I'm at a point now where I'm curious to see if there is enough interest to warrant a production run. For US customers (I'm in Canada, BTW), I would supply brackets, fasteners, a custom parking brake cable, brake lines and brake hats if a two piece rotor is desired. I can supply calipers, rotors and pads, but it's unlikely I can compete with US prices for those items. I have a connection for good prices on those parts for Canadian customers. There are two caliper options depending on the wheel clearance you have. One is aluminum, which saves a few pounds, but has a much thicker bridge and so requires more wheel clearance. The other is steel, and will fit inside a smaller wheel. As a quick reference, I have 17" Rota wheels, and with the aluminum caliper positioned to fit a 310mm (12.2") rotor, the caliper just clears by a few mm. Both calipers use the same pads. I'll provide a chart of required wheel clearance shortly. For the OEM rotor, there is next to nothing readily available in the Datsun 4 bolt pattern that is of sufficient diameter. This means re-drilling OEM 5 bolt rotors with the Datsun 4 bolt pattern. I can have this done, but it probably wont be all that cost effective. So, as an alternative, I'm looking into supplying centering rings and a drill template. If you're reasonably adept at using a drill press, you can drill the rotor bolt holes yourself with the template. The centering rings will ensure that even if your holes are out by a bit, the rotor won't be off center. I'm still working on final pricing, but ballpark for the 300mm OEM rotor option will be around $350US + shipping. This would include brackets, plated grade 10.9 fasteners, parking brake cable and DOT brake lines. I've seen the calipers listed on Rock Auto for just over $150 each. Rotor price starts at $40 each and goes up from there depending on quality. For the 310mm two piece rotor option, the hats will add an additional cost that I'm still waiting for info on. The rotors are Wilwood items that can be had for a similar price to the OEM rotors. I do work full time, and this is a side project for me on top of renovating my house and working on my Z, so I can't guarantee immediate action on everything. But I do have manufacturers already lined up, and once the go-ahead is given, it should only take a couple of weeks for production. As per hybridz rules, payment would only be required when the parts are ready to ship. Now for the pictures! Assembled kit with aluminum caliper and 300mm OEM rotor: Custom parking brake cable with stainless inner cable. No modifications required to cable sleeve mounting brackets under the car. Caliper attached to prototype aluminum bracket and parking brake cable attached to caliper. Note: production bracket will be anodized. Routing of parking brake cable. The cable does require small holes to be drilled in the control arms for a clamp to hold the cable to the arm. I'm looking into options that won't require drilling. Finite element analysis of 1/2" thick, 6061 aluminum bracket. Once I have at least ten interested people, I'll do a production run. I have a few people lined up already. Nigel

Rear brakes are what let him down. He only has 240SX calipers/Z31 rotors out back. They're barely an adequate match for stock Z front brakes, and he's got the Toyota 4x4/Z31 rotors up front. You can see the front brakes are locking up early and taking the car longer to stop without enough load transfer from the undersized rear brakes. With some bigger rear brakes, I think that would have been a much closer race. Regardless, I have huge respect for Mr. McSwain. Forty years of automotive evolution, with teams of engineers and millions of dollars of investment were almost wiped out by one guy with a hand built car! Big thumbs up!!! Nigel

Brake Master Cylender Hard to believe that page has been online for 15 years! If you can think of it somebody has likely already tried it. Nigel

! That certainly crossed my mind. I have had plenty of punctures mind you, including a 5/16" dia. trailer hitch pin. But the tires have always held enough air to allow me to drive a considerable distance regardless. I've only experienced 2 catastrophic failures that required pulling immediately to the side of the road. One time was in my grandfathers car. Unbeknownst to me, the rear tires were worn down to cords, and the tread completely let go on one. The other time I was test driving a friends Z. Somehow, something made a V shaped gash in the inner sidewall of the tire and it rapidly lost air. I would have noticed hitting something that would do that kind of damage, but there was no warning. So, I suspect that it was damaged previously. His Z was notoriously sidelined for various issues, occasionally self-inflicted.

FYI, significantly increasing the brake torque on the front wheels without a proportional increase in the brake torque on the rear wheels can actually result in longer stopping distances, which defeats the purpose. You need the maximum combination of front AND rear brake torque to generate the load transfer onto the front wheels for the bigger front brakes to take advantage of the additional traction. Otherwise, additional front brake torque will just overpower the traction of the front tires more easily, and a sliding tire takes a longer distance to stop the car. Also, the AZC Wilwood calipers come with four 1.75" diameter pistons. Nigel

I've been driving my Z for 10 years with no spare. I've been from Toronto to New Hampshire and back and also to Nashville and back. In 20+ years of driving cars in general, I've never had a catastrophic tire failure in my own car that's required me to install a spare. I don't even have any roadside assistance memberships. I do carry a can of fix-a-flat and a puncture repair kit in the Z just in case.

I finished installing the hood this past weekend. The vent was a piece of cake to mount on the hood, but getting the hood on the car turned out to be an unexpected nightmare! I'll save that story for later though. I've painted the hood and vent satin black for now, because it was quick and easy to do, but I'll probably have them painted white to match the rest of the car when I have the whole car repainted next year. Nigel '73 240ZT

I finished the hole yesterday. Note, you can only cut back to about 6" from the rear of the hood before the hood frame gets in the way. All it needs now is some paint. BTW, the vent is not on the Classic Datsun website. I paid $175 + shipping for mine.

Les at Classic Datsun came through and has released a reproduction of the Competition Hood Vent. I'm not sure if I'm the first, but I just received one. The quality looks to be very good. There's a flange bonded to the bottom of the vent for mounting. There were no threaded inserts molded into the flange, so I used some 1/4-20 clip-on nuts that I found at Napa: http://www.motortopia.com/files/11549/album_datsuncompetitionhoodvent/4de244c13a1de/IMG_3382.jpg Here you can see that the entire length of the engine can be opened up for venting: The vent matches the contours of the hood very well. Other than some scuffing and minor sanding for paint, no work needs to be done to make it fit. I wish I could say the same about the hood, but it was free. Mounting holes drilled: Next step is the cutout in the hood, which I should be doing today. Nigel

Does anyone know if anything came of this? I've e-mailed CDM, but in the mean time, I thought I'd ask about it here. My engine bay gets pretty bloody hot with the turbo, and I have terrible hot start issues, even with fuel injection. This vent would go a long way to getting some of that heat out, without letting a lot of rain water in, and I do like the look of it. Nigel '73 240ZT

6'7", 38" inseam. I've spent 10 hours in my Z, driving from Toronto to New Hampshire. This year, I'm driving to Nashville. Awesome car for tall people. Unfortunately, other than the Z31, I haven't been able to fit in any other Z, including the 280Z because of the door handles. Nigel '73 240ZT