260DET

According to How to Hotrod and Race Your Datsun, all (presumably US) 240's were fitted with a 16mm front bar and no rear bar. The 260Z and 280Z models came fitted with a 18mm front bar and 20mm rear bar. It seems that rear bars of various sizes were available from Nissan for the 240, they are kinked between the mount locations, the 260 on ones are straight there.

Looks like mine is the fattest, bum heavy Z around Have to expedite that titanium exhaust system. Anyone got any front/rear weights for theirs?

No Steve, providing you talk metric.

With spare tyre in, half+ tank of petrol. No driver - F580, R610 = 1190kg. With 85kg driver - F610, R660 = 1270kg. Note heavier at the back Note also, '77 260Z with R200 diff, battery located behind passenger seat, FJ20DET engine.

This is why trying to ID Nissan boxes by model etc with 100% certainty can be impossible, unfortunately. While both my FJ20DET boxes look the same from outside, both have the B series type shifter arrangement, the guts are different. The heavy one has certain C series parts that do not fit the B series. Got any idea what the ratios for the C series Skyline/Pintara are, Ben? I need a spare C box with reasonably close ratios.

Yes, lets hear about slip angles. Speaking of which don't believe anyone who says that Zeds understeer, oversteer or whatever. They can be set up to do just about anything you want, its all about body stiffness, weight distribution, wheel alignment settings, springs, shocks and sway bars.

No, as I said before, there is a C series box as well as the B. If you want additional info on that point to what I have already posted, have a look at the Skyline/Pintara workshop manual.

IIRC the C series box is the one which is stronger than the B series. The C box has wider gears, beefier selectors plus a few other detail improvements. The C box came out in the early 80's eg one of my FJ20DET engines came with a B box, the other with a C. I believe that the Australian Skyline's and Pintara's had C boxes as did some/all 280Z's but don't know what their ratios are, it is all a bit of a lottery trying to identify them externally. Don't know who is making special gears but it is someone other than Hollinger that I heard of. Hollinger would probably know though.

What some are doing with late model (stronger) gearboxes is to have new gears made up in the ratios of their choice. Not cheap, somewhere around $1000 for each gear (pair of gears) IIRC.

If you want to convert to adjustable platform coil overs, they have a big range, three different lengths (the longest are the best) in increments of 25 inch/pounds. With my engine and setup I use 275's front and rear.

Just one comment, on your proposed tyres. My experience is that the DOT R type are not particularly suitable for everyday road use. Most do not cope with wet roads well, at least some tend to 'tramline' ie follow slight ridges or indented lines in the road surface. So, two sets of wheels is a good idea, one set shod with ordinary road tyres for everyday use, the other with the race tyres to drive to and from track events if you don't have any other way of getting them there.

Told the other day that a Proflex suspension system for my 260 would cost $4-5000. They are all custom made to order and application, rally applications usually have particularly long travel. I guess that the cost would depend to some degree on how much DIY was involved.

Koni, Bilstein etc are gas shocks, gas over oil. I'd guess that the root of your problem is overheating, particularly overheating of the oil. The way round that problem is to increase the volume of oil which can only be done significantly by using a remote reservoir shock system. I'm assuming that you have the valving right in the Koni's and your suspension is otherwise well set up. If it is, changing to anything else other than a remote reservoir shock like Proflex would be a pointless exercise IMHO. But its your money.:classic:

For your sort of use I would use Bendix Metal King Plus, IIRC they are sold overseas as Axxis brand. Should be a good price, kind to rotors and will take quite a lot of heavy use.

I've got a spare set of recond Sylvia calipers here in Brisbane. The brake pads are DB 1166, the mounting holes are 114mm apart. From memory they suit rotors around 10-12mm thick. The handbrake brackets etc were altered to suit my 260Z.

On 260 struts, they have a larger tube ID as well as a thicker wall section. The larger ID means that you have a bigger range of shock cartridges which will fit inside from which to chose from.

Carl, my understanding of the OE bushes is that they are in shear because compliance (movement) occurs as a result of deformation of the rubber part of the bush. The outer rubber surface is locked against the body by the locating brackets, the inner metal surface is locked on to the suspension arms when the large cap bolts are tightened up. With the OE bushes, the range of suspension arm movement is limited by the capacity of the rubber to deform (twist) up to a point. Past that point and the rubber would shear due to its elastic limit having been exceeded.

The 260 struts have a heavier section tube which is the only difference I'm aware of. But I don't know everything. My Koni Sports equipped 260 is used for track work just to make it clear that I have no first hand experience in rallying. But one thing I have learnt is that shock valving is everything in any high performance application. With the Sports, as you would know, they can be revalved. Cost me around $250 per pair. Alan Stean of the Z Car Workshop here in Brisbane, phone 3808 2755, has a lot of rallying experience and could no doubt provide you with a good setup. I would go that way rather than trying to experiment myself.

Thanks for clearing that up Carl, my original negative comment on poly inner A arm bushes was based on an assumption that they would be in shear like the OE bushes are. Learn something new every day, good stuff.

'day Simon, when are you coming back to Q? You had a bit of a problem with the rear axle CV joints, all fixed now? Give us the good info on how best to do that conversion, anything that you would have done differently? BTW, as well as copying your front diff mounting I did the same with the gearbox mount. Works well.

Hope your new suspension setup works well for you texasz. Should you have a problem with front end bounce and skip, particularly over undulating going or in sharp turns, you may want to look at running a lighter front sway bar. I drove a car fitted with a 27mm front bar recently which exhibited the above characteristics, it was cured by going down to a stock 22mm bar and using stiffer springs with good (Koni Sports) shocks. There are enormous loads transmitted to the front suspension when using a big bar, even a 22mm bar exerts 268 inch/pounds, more than the springs a lot of people use. So, if you drive hard and have a similar problem to the above ........... Unfortunately, changing springs around and getting new shocks can be time consuming and expensive, tell me about it.

Good points Zvoiture, what I'm trying to establish is whether new poly bushes are superior to new OE bushes. The poly bushes squeaking bothers me because that COULD indicate a potential problem. Incidentially, I designed and had made up a new set of rear suspension arms with rod ends running on modified outer shafts. Now the rear suspension is fully adjustable for toe and camber, presently set at 1.5 degrees negative camber. And used new OE inner bushes. Sorry, can't post any pics, all my spare money goes on the car, not on computer accessories.

2manyZs is right, both nuts are torqued up as he says, your problem must lie elsewhere. BTW, I'm familiar with the Nissan five speed having just recond my own, which job is not to be tackled without a workshop manual IMHO. Staking the mainshaft nut correctly is important because they do tend to loosen up in use. I used some removable type Loctite on the threads as well, don't use the permanent Loctite because if the nut has to be removed again later it could strip the threads.

Have'nt heard of them. Proflex seems to be the shock of choice for rallying but they are awfully expensive. Koni Sports are good value if you are on a tight budget and would be acceptable providing the going is not too hard and rough.