lww

Dave, It's often difficult for people that have always been 'employees' to get their minds around being self-employed and what implications that has for their financial planning. You found out that you were donating your time with the previous runs and that's not fair to you or your family. At the current price, your still spending about 3 hours to manufacture each harness. I think with the cost of your parts and supplies, you're still only getting about $20/hour for your labor. I'd say that's more reasonable than any other company out there. Think about an auto mechanic that charges $80, $90 and even $100/hour. They do this to cover their material costs, building space lease/mortgage and their employees labor. Even at these rates, there's still not much left for 'profit'. You should in no way feel guilty about providing a valuable product at a very reasonable price. Especially after you provided the detailed instructions to the public domain. Anyone that wants to save a few bucks can use your directions to do it themselves. Anyone that doesn't have the time, energy or aptitude and has $125, will buy one pre-built from you. It is VERY common for people to pay a premium for a brand new service or product when it first comes on the market. The fact that you started with the price too low is a common mistake for a new business. You think you've corrected it. Maybe, maybe not. But don't feel guilty, I would have bought my harness from you at $125 too. When MSA is charging $200 for a replacement blade style fuse box, that doesn't really solve the original design deficiencies inherint in the Z cars wiring, you can put your conscience at ease knowing you ARE solving the problem. I see your relay harness as an investment in the longevity of my Z car's original wiring and safety of my Z from possible electrical fire. Once production ramps up, initial 'start-up' costs have been recovered and economies of scale start to kick in, the production price is reduced. In some cases, the manufacturer will pass that cost savings on to the public and reduce the retail price of the product. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but as a small independant business owner, I'll chime in with my opinion. As has been mentioned previously, your target market is dwindling with the 240z's and it would be a bad business move to cut your prices before you've expanded your market. Find a way to produce the product for the 260/280z's and then, if your wife can stomach it, you can lower your price on the relay harness for the 240z. Cheers, LWW

Dave, I would like to say, after having used your headlight relay harness on my 240z's for the past several months, it is one of the best engineered OEM 'replacement/upgrade' parts I've come across in the automotive aftermarket world outside of heavy industry components like heads, manifolds, etc. I'm glad to see you're 'Back in Business' and I think your current pricing is in line with time and cost of materials. I hope things go well for you which ever way your life turns. Cheers, LWW

Yes, this is from the 2.0L L6 and has VERY small ports compared to the 2.8L L6.

Now that actually sounds like an idea Mike. I was originally going for the red/amber/clear euro spec, but with my 240z getting repainted Z32 Alpine White, completely clear lenses with red bulbs for the stop and amber bulbs for the blinker might actually improve the asthetics with the contrasting light grey tail light panel. You may be on to something here!

Not that I'm aware of. I have two other sets of lenses from them for a different application and I think the part about them being hand made is a little mis-leading. For the other lenses, the molds were cast from an original piece and are not 'manufactured'. There's virtually no way they could have reproduced the diamond pattern on the inside of the lens by hand. The lenses I've bought from them previously clearly came from a mold. Cheers, LWW

I just spoke to one of the guys and he told me it was a straight plug in for the tail light harness that came with the Euro spec tail lights. I would do a straw poll and see who would be interested in a plug and play harness. Count me as your first customer! Cheers, LWW

Actually, I would go for the plug-n-play harness regardless of the lenses. I'd rather have the bottom lens blink independantly of the top lens with my stockers too. I can't imagine the conversion is that difficult as it's been done by so many people who've converted to the Euro lenses. I have 3 friends that all have them and none of them mentioned the difficulty of the re-wiring or anything about it at all. I'll hit them up and get more details about the swap.

Hey Bryan, I really like the orange turn signal over the red stocker and the lens on my stock tail light is broken anyway. I figured if I'm gonna replace it, I'd rather do it with a Euro Spec configuration and I'd prefer not to go through the pain of trying to source a NOS set like my friend did. He was going for pure restoration with all New/NOS parts, but I don't have that kind of need. I just want the look and I don't care if they're repro's. Actually, he'll probably be buying a 'backup' set of these in the unfortunate event his are somehow damaged. No horse power added. I just like them way better.

These are for a 70 to 73.5 240z. For those of you not familiar, Klearz.com is manufacturing 'reproduction' lenses for Z cars. I've already bought some lenses for my 280ZXT so I know they are a legit company at least from my initial experience. http://www.klearz.com/zcar.html#8 If 5 or more people put in $20 deposits, they'll make a run of these tail lights for $200 / SET! Hello! $200 / SET? When was the last time anyone even found a price on OEM NOS Euro tail lights? I'll tell you. 2 months ago and they sold for $1200! After nearly a year long search, this was the LAST known complete set of Euro tail lights that I'm aware of. If anyone is interested, I know of someone in Canada with two driver side euro tail lights for $500 EACH! No passenger side. Not even a matched set. Anyway, I want a set for my 240z so I'm trying to drum up enough interest to get the run going. $200 for a set! PM me if you're interested. Here's a pic of a set of dis-assembled euro tail lights. This is similar to what will be delivered, so you'll want to keep your original housings: Cheers, LWW

David, Sorry to hear you're stopping production, but I'm VERY happy to hear your job situation has been resolved. Even if painfully. I had no idea you were a family of SEVEN! Holy cow! I'm barely keeping my sanity with two kids, let alone five! Anyway, both kit's you sent me are working spectacularly! I can't say enough about the quality of your workmanship and attention to detail. You've provided a great service and I hope someone can pick up the reins going forward. Cheers, LWW

To each his own. Aside from the cosmetic flaws, which actually preclude it from being named 'best' at any show with the exception of 'Daily Driver', at best, it's one of MANY exceptional Z cars on this site. To me, it looks like it was put together by someone with a touch of schizophrenia. There doesn't 'appear' to be any theme or pattern. It appears to be just a mish-mash of different parts bolted together. Of course, it could be the realization of his vision. Who am I to judge... Unless someone asks me too! I definitely don't like the Z31 turbo hood scoop grafted on. It reminds me of the crazy Z car mods from the late 70's and early 80's, much like the ricer Honda's today but on a different canvas. I think it would exacerbate the over-abundance of positive pressure already under the hood on these cars. He better hope he never get's familiar with a curb or those wheels will be in serious need of repair. Unless the tires are riveted to the wheel, I'd be nervous they would break the bead and come off the rim under any kind of lateral load. The contact patch doesn't take advantage of the wheel width and the statement about the stretched sidewall making for a stiffer sidewall is dubious at best. I guarantee, you will never see that setup on any car at the SCCA Solo Nat's or Pro Racing where the tires are NOT regulated beyond requiring DOT approval for those in the 'Stock' classes. A properly designed racing tire, DOT approved or not, will provide exceptional tire wall rigidity while maximizing road holding and turn-in capability. Now, Ron's car on the other hand... Has a theme and a truly beautiful pattern based on the original roots of Z car racing. If I'm not mistaken, correct me if I am Ron, both Peter Brock and John Morton personally approved of the finished product. You've put your heart and soul into that car (well, Les' too!) although, I think one of you sold your's to get your hands on some of that original gear so there may have only been one soul left between the two of you to go into the car! :eek: Not to poo-poo these 'beautiful' cars, but a replica, even the best is still just the realization of someone else's original vision. I'm 'restoring' a car of a somewhat lesser, but to me, just as important ilk. Although, I am taking a little editorial license to 'modernize' it to some extent. Back in 1985, it ran 12.70's on an open diff and street tire(s). WooHoo! I have one that is going to be a pure restoration with the exception of a 5 speed tranny (have you seen gas prices lately?) and another one that's going to be a crazy RB powered 700/800 hp beast. I think the previous statment about context was the most important. Think about the context before throwing something out on the keyboard and you'll end up with support as opposed to slander! :dead: Remember, modesty is a virtue and this group has no shortage of vociferous opinions! :stupid: Cheers!

Damn! That makes sense now. Thank you! I searched the forum ruthlessly and none of the previous posts I found ever mentioned the center of the rivet needed pushed in!

Ok, so an incident at the local 'drive-thru' car wash and I'm putting in a new antenna... How in the heck to you pull the interior panels off to get into the driver side quarter panel to replace the antenna? Those damn interior rivets don't want to come out! I know I'm missing something simple here...

In my neighborhood there is an '81 280ZX, a '77 280z and a '72 240z in addition to my cars all within about 200 yds of each other. The guy with the 280z lives about 5 houses down from me, the 240z is one street over on the north side and the 280zx is on the same street on the south side. They are still running around if you look. Of course, I keep mine behind a locked gate or in the garage due to the rash of Z thefts in the Bay Area over the last year or so.

I've had a lot of different shift nobs and I finally came back to this one: http://www.courtesyparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CP&Product_Code=C2865-S3001 Best feel and functionality. And damn, it's classy.

So, now I'm searching through my FSM and can't for the life of me find the torque specs! Anyone want to give me a hint with a page #? P.S. I'm asking the wife and kids for the FSM on CD from Courtesy Nissan for Christmas this year. That should make searching a little easier...

What department? Plumbing?

Well, I just got a 'new' set of round top SU's installed and the throttle return springs on the linkage is over stretched so now, unless I stick my foot under the gas pedal to pull it back up it'll idle at 3000 rpm. Since it's sunday, I haven't had a chance to call the local Nissan dealership to see if they're still available. Anyone have any suggestions? I've thought about wiring enough coils together to increase the spring rate, but haven't jumped down that path yet. Cheers, LWW

This is probably the most frightening thing I've ever seen. I can't even make myself call it a... nob! I hesitate to think what might have inspired this design. I've seen pistol grip shift nobs before, but that's just ridiculous!

Sunday... SUNDAY... SUNDAY!!!

The date is rapidly approaching!

Aug. 7th! 3:00pm Stoneridge Mall 1 Stoneridge Mall Pleasanton, CA Website (Directions) http://www.shopstoneridge.com/static/node1803.jsp Meet in the Sears parking lot out by Stoneridge Mall Rd. indicated by the blue ciricle: http://www.kamikazeracing.org/dl/Stoneridge-big.jpg http://www.kamikazeracing.org/dl/Stoneridge-small.jpg Please post to this thread if you're planning to attend. If it works out as well as this last weekend, it should be a pretty good get together. Cheers, lww

Yup, they do look like old school Recaro's. They're actually made by Scat and they're called ProCar seats. http://www.procarbyscat.com/ These were installed in my Turbo ZX back in 1985.

Had to modify the stock sliders a little bit, fabricate an adapter for one of the back legs and drill new holes in the floor support for one of the front legs. Pretty simple stuff. Didn't even get a chance to use my welder... ;(