Home Built by Jeff

I have had a whole heap of advice over the last few days from a bunch of different sources and the issue is that there are several different parts that changed from year to year, not just model to model. In my case, the car is a 71, the gearbox, diff, etc, etc, could be from anywhere. I will see what I can find, but if I can get what I have to work all the better. Otherwise I could be banging my head against a brick wall for ages trying to source all of the different moustache bars and diffs, etc until I actually find the right combination that fits. As for the 'oblong holes' to make my diff fit in the moustache bar. It is actually quite a tight fit. Alignment could be slightly out, but time will tell. If I have a heap of vibrations to deal with, then I will sort it out.

After looking further into things, I think the best option for me is to just make up a simple spacer (around 5mm) to go between the back of the diff and the moustache bar. There is a heap of thread there and that means the axles have a good angle (unlike the early car, but also the diff will still line up with the diff mount.

My car came stripped in boxes, put together by a guy who has 20 S30's so everything is mix and match, which is why it is tough. As for going through each one, the title is as far as I can give you a heads up on. It takes so long to make these videos in the first place, going through and linking every part is beyond me. That is why you should watch them all ?

I will give that a go. From the sounds of things though, the reason for the moustache bar being moved backwards I believe is because the early ones weren't well lined up with the axels and they would wear out quickly?

The moustache bar is something I will look into. I should be able to get one from Zac. The solenoid sounds like it is a good thing, as long as it is all wired up correctly, which is something I will check moving forward. As for the clutch fork, I think I am almost there. When I reinstalled the old bearing and spacer into the gearbox last week at the correct length to match the longer collar, the fork was wedged hard against the end of the opening. Not right. Now that I have the new bearing with the new clutch fork, it all sits perfectly in the opening of the case. I think the issue is more that I have the wrong slave cylinder for this set up now. I am confident that my fix with the longer pin has corrected this mismatch of parts. This is the issue with getting a car in boxes from someone who has 20 of them from all different years. It is a matter of working out what goes with what. Zac is great and has 5 of everything, it is just a matter of piecing the correct bits together. I am just amazed at how many differences there are between S30 models. I thought it would have just been a slight cosmetic difference here and there and a slightly improved engine. It definitely goes a lot deeper than that.

I was looking at that. How do I tell if my diff is an R180 or an R200. I am thinking it is an R200 already in which case the mustache bar is the correct way around?

I was looking at that. How do I tell if my diff is an R180 or an R200. I am thinking it is an R200 already in which case the mustache bar is the correct way around?

This week I tackle the driveline, and try to make this collection of random parts work together.

This week I get some help to put the engine and box back into the car.

Time to install the clutch and gear box, getting ready to reinstall the engine to the car

This week I tackle the sound deadening but not everything went to plan...

It is 5mm MDF.

In this episode I go through tidying up and finishing of more of the interior trim.

One more thing to think about before you go too far, is painting the floor. Makes it much easier to clean up and looks better for longer, but it is pretty hard to do once you start filling it ?

My Bench is 1200mm wide from memory (so 4'). I didn't think about the compressor freezing outside, as that is not an issue we have to consider here. Like you said, the planning is half the fun, you just don't want to fill it with too much junk before you have your plan worked out ?

Great space. Get/make yourself some good benches, and I suggest at least 1 with a nice thick steel top so you can bash away on it and weld on it. If you put castors on it helps as well, so you can move it around if need be. I should have done it years ago. Also closed storage is much better than open shelves. It looks neater and keeps the dust out. With that roof height, I would consider building a mezzanine at some stage as extra storage is always worth while (no matter how big your space is you will always fill it and want more ? ) . For a compressor always go as big as you can, and even consider putting it outside, or in an insulated box, as they are really noisy. With a big space like that, something that may become an issue, is that you quickly run out of wall space. If that becomes an issue it can be worth thinking about making 'walls', eg, putting cabinets back to back moving into the centre of the space. I was amazed at having a good size garage and suddenly running out of wall space. In any case, planning what to do with that big space is a good problem to have.

Basically the computer controls the start stitch and the stop stitch. So you can program it when you first touch the pedal it will do 2 stitches forward then 2 stiches backward and another 2 forward all by itself. Then you continue with the run. At the end of the run, you push the back edge of the pedal and it does the same thing to the amount of stitches you choose back and fowrad and then cuts off the thread. Also if you stop mid run it always stops with the needle down. That means you can turn your work around and do a 90 degree corner and it stays in the exact spot. I thought the same thing, why do you need a computer, but this auto start auto finish just makes it sooooo much quicker and easier. The Juki one I have is all manual so to start you have the wind the thing forward and back 2 stitches manually at the start and the end and you need to cut the thread with scissors at the end of each run. Not a big problem really, the Highland just makes it much quicker and easier.

Sorry, my camera was playing up so I lost some of the footage I took. I will try to cover the sewing in more detail for the other stuff. My old machine is a Juki ?

It is a Highland which I believe is made in China like everything else these days. I believe it was about AU$3k new. I paid half that second hand, which is still a crazy amount for the time I will use it, but it is sooo nice to use.

I bought this machine from a friend who is a trimmer, and it is a HUGE step up from what I am using. Apparently it is better than what lot of pro trimmers use, as this one auto starts the thread (forward back forward) and auto finishes and cuts the thread off, so it is much much quicker and easier to use than my old machine. As for the pencil, I bought it from a sewing shop which is a fabric pencil.

This week my challenge was to make new door trims for the 680g and I decided to give diamond stitched inserts a go.

Lucky my Beetle is no longer yellow and my 911 is Signal Orange ?

Haha, you guys pay far more attention to the background than I give you credit for. ?

That thing is chunky! ? I got it from a big automotive trimming supplier in Sydney. You are looking for a Micro Suede.

The factory plastic trim pieces for my 240z are all cracked and broken, so this week I repaired them and covered them in alcantara.