ZohanIsBack

Pictures are horrible, but that one might actually be pretty good. Would have to trailer, though. If I needed another project............... 1972 DATSUN 240Z

Ugg, I hate that. When I rebuilt my auto transmission in a Dodge Shadow I bought for $300, I had to pull it and install it three times. First time I rebuilt it. Installed it and the input shaft wasn't lined up with a clutch pack correctly. Reinstalled, then didn't seat the torque converter correctly. Reinstalled and it worked. Haven't touched an auto since, but I would do it again for the right incentive, .

! I just figured it out, too. No worries. I'll have pics of the car on the rotisserie this weekend.

Ehhhh.... Sorry JM, the bike is a Bullit. One of the best handling downhill bikes I've ridden. Needs new rims. Apparently 7 foot drops onto pavement don't play well with stock rims.. Have a nice pair of sun rims going on for the spring. The move down here kinda beat it up in the truck. Man I road that bike like a bat outta hell up until a year ago. That's spring break's project. But agreed, pics in the background are as interesting as the main subjects themselves.

Thanks for the tips guys! First off, I am actually welding on extensions to raise the car high enough to go 360. I had already thought about getting it around, so I went ahead and measures the car. It was 68 inches wide at the fender wells, so I split that to 34 at the bottom of the rotating rod, then added 2 inches. In total there should be at least 2.5 inches of space between the car and the front tube of the engine stand. Since the engine stand is 3.5 inches off the ground with the larger casters, this brings the center of rotation for the entire car up to 2.5" + 34" + 3.5" = 40". I'm not going to use a spreader bar. The rotisserie should be pretty over engineered and I'll be adding slide in "lockout" bolts which prevent the rotating pad of the engine stand from sliding out if I were to pull on the car from the front. Think about the handles use to rotate the engine stand. It's basically this, but a locking pin/blot that goes all the way through. The last thing I want is to pull on the front end of the rotisserie and the rear slides out from the stand and the car falls. It's just an extra safety. Geezer: I do believe I have enough penetration on the metal. I'm at 80 amps and I take my time. I'm not too worried about it. Would love a bottle setup. I could haul my 220v arc welder out, but that would just be way overkill on 1/8. Besides, what wire welder can't handle 1/8? . Jmortensen: Haha! That sounds so sketchy! I plan to raise the car up with the hoist one end at a time and bolt the plate on loosely. I plan to make the adapter plate (so I can still use the stand for engines later) with two elongated holes so the car can be bolted up even at an angle. Probably will double nut the preliminary bolts to handle the load. Then do the rear and tighten the bolts. Add the 2-4 remaining bolts and it's good to go. Here are some more pictures: I had to correct the angle to be straight, like the other engine stand. This one is tilted back to reduce load with an engine on it. Meh... Fixed that... Solid weld, then I strayed off course on accident. Started on the second stand. And...pulled the engine. Any takers?

Posted this on another Z forum. Basically what I did tonight. I thought I would share what I consider to be a unique twist on the rotisserie. Basically, I started with two engine stands, the four wheel kind. I decided I wanted to be able to pull the car around my garage any direction and wanted heavy duty casters. So I said to hell with it -- I have a welder, so why not? I wanted the option to be able to work on the vehicle's interior while on the rotisserie. As in actually climb inside to an extent without risking it tipping over. And so this idea was born. I would widen the front beam of each engine stand and probably add length to the main vertical engine support to allow complete, 360 degree rotation (yes, I pass AWS certified bend tests for butt-end welds). I chopped off the metal casters and non rotating wheels, lengthened the front bar, and welded on the new 330lb caster (engine stand each rated for 1000). I'm in to it: $30 orange engine stand $35 engine stand $100 even (WITH TAX, !) 1.5 x 3 x 1/8 inch tube, 2 x 2 x 1/8 inch tube, 3/16 flat stock 18 x 18 inch, 22 ga CR steel sheet for body work. $50 in casters First off is to get rid of these. Here is what I started with if you imagine it under the forward support, . Here is what I got. Cheap HF casters. $6 each I should have used my stick welder instead of my cheap $90 HF mig. But not bad welds for a harbor freight tool with no bottle setup. Garage is a mess... :-/

So sorry for the slow updates guys! Medical school is back in full swing, and we're working our butts off again. I didn't get to the dash last weekend, but I WILL be doing more to it tomorrow for SURE! May not be huge steps, but we'll see what I can crank out. I've been building a rotisserie for the datsun, so of course that takes time, too. The main problem we're having is the fact that the dash is technically below the window trim in the center. We wanted a v shaped look to it both from the top and front, which is what we did, but unfortunately now we have to built a small extension running across the dash. It will be a "bar" basically that covers the window seal and finishes off the look of the car. Not to fear, many cars have these, including the RX8 I'm modeling it after. I just didn't think it would be necessary. But...I was wrong. Here is a picture of what one of these bars might look like: Now, on to the good stuff. I did get the dash gauge cluster formed and it FINALLY test fit in the car. Tell me what you guys think. More bondo to come!

Hey Steve, thanks for the reply. I am pretty interested in auto cross, drifting, and circuit. I feel that I should build the car primarily for circuit or touring car racing. I am not really completely against bad dog frame rail connectors or replacement rails, but I was actually thinking of welding in 1.5" x 3" tube with a wall thickness over .090. I would like to weld the roll cage in to the frame rails for extra strength. The main problem I am having here is what you mentioned, how to make it comply with multiple racing classes. I want the car to be fairly strong, so if I can extend it to the front, I definitely would. Are strut tower braces generally accepted in mosacing classes?

I'm gonna chance this thread on this forum and see what you guys think. I know it's more of a hybridZ question, but I wouldn't mind other perspective, too. I'm doing an LS1 conversion and want to reinforce the frame pretty darn well to handle the torque. I'm thinking of going with a supercharger or moderate NA build. Either way would like close to 400 to the rear wheels. Not hard to do with an LS1 engine. What do you guys recommend for frame reinforcements? A quick search revealed the bad dog options, but I'm thinking of picking up the steel myself and custom welding it in. How does this effect eligibility for competition racing? Anyone have good links or ideas? Thanks!

Well, I will post it on Datsun classifieds for 450. I originally wanted 500 out of it, but I will try for 450 or pretty close, I suppose. If no one takes it after a month, I will part it I guess. My main problem is seeing all the negativity towards Al and the way he does business. I don't want to support that if possible. :-/

Well the guy who apparently built it did so in order to race it, but wasn't as happy with the build as he wanted to be and came up short on money. Either way, the engine had so much torque in first, it was super hard to start. The triple webers I just sold made a great combination with the engine that is in there. Should have thrown it on a dyno. :-/ So what do you guy suggest? Taking it apart and parting it, or grabbing the $300 and saying goodbye? The $300 sounds pretty good...

Alright, here ya go guys. Still wanting to get rid of this engine unless it's something real special, but I feel it's not. N42 head, The cam says E30 on it. Has a dizzy, fuel pump, and alternator on it. That's about it. Block is an L28, correct? So question once again is posed, should I sell for $300, or is there a way to squeak a little more out of it? Thanks!

So...I just sold a 280zx late model transmission to Al over at Datsun Parts LLC. Funny story, I thought I had an L26 with weber carbs. Turns out I actually had an L28 with weber carbs. No wonder I couldn't figure out why it performed so well. Anyway... He offered me $300 for the long block plus accessories. But those include a working OEM electronic distributor (from the 280z), the alternator, etc. The webers, intake and throttle linkage are now sold (shipping out Friday). How much is a long block plus accessories worth? It was fully working when I parked the car. No smoke, nothing.

Just gotta say, an admin (Mike) noticed I was having trouble with the classifieds site and contacted me to help me sort out the problem. I didn't even have to ask and was gonna wait until next time I went to post something to make sure they weren't just tweaking things. Very impressed. Really speaks volumes about the attentiveness and care the forum management put into this community.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread43701.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread4667.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread10693.html Still not great documentation, but there's hints and tips hidden in those. Good luck!

Here's the good stuff! Body filler going on last night and tonight (technically also last night since its now past midnight. . .) . Second pass sanding the end caps. Still a little tight in the car. Might go down another few mm on each side. More foam added to the top of the hood to shape it better. That's all guys! More updates by this weekend!

Left side of instrument cluster foamed in. End caps of the dash all foamed. First pass sanding. Final shape on the passenger side pretty much all set. I'm very pleased with the way this turned out. Driver side still needs tons of work. I like the curves from the center dash to the bottom passenger side and will attempt to mirror (though at a higher level) on the driver side. Side views Closeup of the center. Needs some body filler.

Plastic piece leftover after the pour. The cardboard is what I use to keep the foam from expanding really think, and instead expand vertically. The foam actually exerts quite a lot of pressure, and when pouring this stuff in pontoons, they have to cut relief holes to keep it from damaging the pontoons. A little behind the scenes sneak peek at what the metal work looks like. So glad that is done! A heating technique to preheat the metal, then keep the foam warm for maximum expansion and curing speed. It's amazing the difference heat makes. I wasted so much of this stuff by not knowing how to pour it correctly the first few pours. By the time I got to this part, I was spot on pretty much every time.

Hi all! Here are some updates on the dash. I apologize for the delay. I went ahead and have been doing work on the dash without doing updates. Medical school just started again today, so I am stretched for time like crazy now. With my BMW project done and my buddy back from break, we'll try to work hard on it over the weekends. Just not going to happen that much during the week as I need to study. Here's where we are now: I finished foaming the entire thing I shaved and sanded the foam to shape Jon (fellow student) and I started applying bondo and finishing the last shapes We poured a little extra foam over the instrument hood because it was just gonna be too much bondo. And the pictures and videos from what you saw last until tonight: Starting to pour the center part of the dash. This was actually the most fun in my opinion because it transformed the dash so much...

Yeah, it's a little weak on the motor. Probably has just a tiny bit more than stock on it right now. But it's a straight daily driver and I love her! Your skyline is....Wow....

Dang guys, lots of people here with both BMWs and Datsun. On the BMW forums I'm on, I was noticing a few people had Datsun, too. Must be a think with some of us Datsun/BMW people. Here's a pic of my E21. Recently rebuilt the entire top end and timing. Runs super nice... Not sure I'm gonna keep it though... Kinda thinking of selling so I can build up an offroad project.

Psdenno, no you're fine. I like that dash a lot, but unlike the dash I am building, it still doesn't feel modern enough (more like a cross between a racing aluminum dash and the old style). And the one which is shown to be mainly fiberglass follows the older lines even more closely. The whole point of the dash I am building is to literally bring the car's interior into spec with a 2012 Mazda, Suburu, or Infiniti dash. This is extremely important to me and the person helping, so we will stop at nothing to push it all the way to the edge of modern styling.

I personally love the new classifieds, as I've already said because they cater more to organization, which the old one lacked. But what's going on with the username and login? I was able to login fine with my forum user and pw when you first made the switch and a few days after, but today I can't login, but it says my username is taken if I try tor register. And yet, my password doesn't work. So basically, my account got screwed up somehow and now I'm locked out. Can't get a "forgot password" email, either. Database errors perhaps?

Oh man, sorry to hear about that... Good luck with the parting out, though. If it's the one in the picture, I bet she was really something. Low mileage motor, too! Is it built at all?

Beautiful, original car. I wonder if it was stored in the winter. Looks awful clean, then again, photos can be very deceiving. Either way, it looks great. These cars are slowly only going up in value, and I love them for that!