gnosez

Can I assume you're running on stock springs and not coil-overs? If stock you will have to flare the rears I believe but can just roll the rear lip if you have coil-overs. I'm running 16-8s on my 240 with 225X45 in front and 245X45 in the rear. The fronts are set for 2.75 neg camber and 2 in the rear. I have rolled the lip and built a custom mini-flare. Without the neg camber the rears wouldn't fit without cutting out some of the wheel well/rear qtr panel.

Ron - one of the speeches made during the election campaign for the ZCCA Exc. Director position talked about moving the ZCCA closer to that of the BMW, Porsche, Miata, and Jaguar clubs. Then and today I seriously doubt anyone (other than me) has taken the time to put together a table listing the various ways in which our clubs operate and how our corporate sponsors support us be it at the local dealership, regional or national level. Even discounting the differences in earnings and expendable income between Nissan and these other brands, Nissan and/or the ZCCA has a long way to go to even see the field these boys play on. And the amount the ZCCA gets from Nissan wouldn't buy a fully loaded Sentra. That said without Nissan at the conventions, the other vendors (TOYO, Bose, etc.) would have no reason to show up either and their funding would be sorely missed as well. Given the number of people at Niassn uninterested in what we do I for one have no confidence a champion will emerge. I would love to be wrong on this however. When Mr. K isn't able to come to the conventions I fear that Nissan will drop out as fast as our Zs are......

Go to www.designengineering.com and look under "products" and then "hose and wire shields" I used the velcro version to wrap my fuel lines for my triples. I don't have a manifold heat shield and it worked great. I made slits for lines coming off the main hose. Looks good still after 8,000 miles.

Don't be holding your breath expecting any support form Nissan for the Mitty (or for anything else either). But before I go into more detail on that here's some info on a few of the cars mentioned. The owner of the 240/280 #33 BSN, the 900hp 280ZXTT, the 300ZX single turbo, and Tom Cruise's SCCA 300ZX Showroom Stock cars will be at the Mitty. He was not intenting on bringing any of these and was instead going to be driving 5 different vintage cars. He may make room for one of them. The Cruise car won't be ready until early June, the 280ZXTT hasn't been started in years and the 300ZXT is waiting on the custom build crankshaft to be shipped. That leaves the #33 car which was run at The Glen last year and could be taken to the Mitty but not run hard (needs a few days with the BSN original engine builder, along with a set of tires and a suspension tune-up). There might be another Japanese race car of interest in the owners' collection and I'm trying to find out what it is and in what shape it's in. Now as to Nissan, a little background. There are three entities involved, Nissan North America Nissan Motorsports, and NISMO. They have different agendas and staffing. Nissan NA and the MS folks I believe have already announced they are supporting a truck race event the same weekend and are not available to help out. NISMO's answer to the question was also negative. After seeing the promotion of the Mitty in CMM's last month, I contacted the Executive Director of the Z Car Clubs of America with a set of simple questions: 1) Would Nissan (any or all three) provide some support or attend the Mitty? 2) Was there a communication process in place that allows the ZCCA and Nissan to exchange information pertaining to events like these? 3) Would the ZCCA assist in getting the message of the Mitty (and similar events) to others and help to coordinate things? The answer to all three was, no. Nissan (NA, MS, and NISMO) have either no interest, couldn't see a reason to do so, or are too caught up in the headquarters' move from LA to Nashville. As to the Z clubs standing in for Nissan and carrying the company banner, that was a local dealer issue. I got to wondering how many Z owners (1970 to 2005) own other Nissan vehicles and whether that might be point to raise with them in the future. It was Nissan that brought up the issue of ROI (Return on Investment) at the last ZCCA convention when the subject of convention funding was mentioned. Given the amount of funding they provide, I calculated that Nissan had made at least that much in profit from the 350s, Titans and other Nissan vehicles parked in the hotel lot alone. I also got to re-thinking my choice of two replacement vehicles I will be purchasing this year. There is no formal means of communication between the ZCCA and Nissan that would cover events such as this. Nissan makes up its' mind and does what is in its' own interest. No schedule of the events Nissan will be doing or not doing is given out (or it seems asked for either). The ZCCA was unaware that Nissan was not going or that there as a Japanese marque weekend for the Mitty. I asked if Nissan would welcome the ZCCA's involvement to help promote the event harder but there was no real interest at all to see what Nissan wanted or didn't want. The ZCCA is made up of local clubs and has fewer than 10 people who are elected or appointed to the Executive Committee that oversees all ZCCA business. In this manner ZCCA member clubs can decide to promote and/or put on any number of events like say going to the Mitty. Local clubs are the main players in any Z related event. That said, I was not able to get the ZCCA to see a potential benefit to promoting Zs and other Nissan products at the Mitty nor could I get them to see the benefit to having something like the Mitty coordinated at a higher level than just at the local club level. Not controlled but coordinated through increased communication, website promotions, etc. Even a simple email to clubs in say a 500 mile diameter of the Mitty asking what their plans were, did they need help getting the word out, etc. A "ZCCA" banner to be displayed at the Mitty? A follow-up article to be written with pics to be submitted to CMM? Oh, well...... I hope to be there in my 240 Datsun anyway.

Since hundreds of Zs don't have the insulation anymore indicates to me you can do it, but what I'm asking in return is do you know for certain it is in fact asbestos? Can someone verify that the fuel line insulation was made with asbestos? I'm hoping it's not and what I'm about to write below may be un-necessary for this insulation but should be followed should you ever encounter asbestos or what you think might be asbestos in the future. If this is the case, please wear gloves and use a mask. Don't cut, drill, break it apart, or rip it. Wet it with water if possible. Place in a sealed plastic container or bag. Since asbestotis takes 20-30 years to manifest itself if say you're over 65 no problem. However if you are predisposed a small inhalation may be all you need to get them started working on your lungs. Like many things some people can smoke their whole lifes without getting cancer and some people can work around asbestos for a few days and end up 30 years later without the use if their lungs.

Has anyone used a product called Zoop that is a final top coat/sealant for mag/al wheels? I've seen it advertized in Grout's and Eastwood for about $140. Before I spent that much I'd like to hear from someone with real life experience using the product.

Arne - good to hear the work is progressing and the parts seem to be okay. I got that long tail in about 10 mins before you emailed me looking for it.

Go to ZTherapy's excellant site and look through their pics. Or try Datsun's part listings. It it might be hard to figure out what's missing as opposed to what something is from any pics you post, however.

Phasma cutter issues delayed us and we will be shipping this week....prices later in the week.

It would help greatly if you could post some pics of the following areas: 1) rockers 2) doors 3) inner rear wheel well (facing towards the front of the car) 4) fenders 5) battery box area 6) hatch 7) hatch deck (with hatch open) 8) frame rails (under car from radiator to under seats) 9) floor pans (from under if car has carpets, lift carpets if possible) Without an engine, you can do anything you want with the car as long as the body is in good enough shape you aren't spending all your money on it instead of go fast parts, etc.

I switched from Mobil One after my L28 cam started to show signs of wear after only 5,000 miles. In talking with Dave Rebello, he was not keen on Mobil One for L28 engines and I have since switched to Redline for all of my drivetrain needs. I have since upgraded cams and have about 10k on it now with no signs of wear at all. The '80 tranny is fine and the quaiffe diff works like it should. I do oil changes at the 3k to 4k interval and change gear oil 2 - 3 times a season (April to end of November). Dam cheaper than replacing a set of bearings.....

I agree re: full vs half cage but if the law states you can't then you can't. So do the engine bay seam work, add a triangular strut tower brace (to the firewall and across the engine) and cap the existing frame rails if possible with 11-12 guage steel. A metal shop can bend a set up for you. Have them go from in front of the firewall to a rear body crossmember. Good Luck...

I'm running the tranny most people leave out, the 1980 5-spd. I've coupled it to a quaiffe 3:70 diff and a 3.2L L28 motor. Doing 80mph at 3,000rpm in 5th gear means I'm right at the start of my power band. Third gear is even better as the motor was set up for road course and highway driving. I've taken many a Boxster, Z3/4s in 3rd gear. I tell them all the same thing; "you need to lose weight".

Good to see you saved that 240!! Do you know that the next ZCCA convention is being held in Dallas, TX the last week of May? Go to: www.zcca.org and click on the convention link. There will be hundreds of Z and Z owners there. Our club race car can be found at: www.zccne.org (click on the club race car link). We are adding more HP after Bob Bondurant drove it at The Glen this summer and said in a not sarcastic manner "it needs more HP". A great excuse to go out and put more in 'cause Bob said we should. At least that's what I told my wife. Hope to see you at the convention.

Add me to the list of Z owners who have installed Charlie's floor pans and this is from someone who sell frame rails. His are the best, period. Remember to leave the tranny crossmember installed before you cut out the old floor. Leave it in throughout the installation process. Take measurements before you cut out your floors, both inside and under. You want the tunnel the right size so the tranny fits right in without any rubbing. And a shameless plug. Should you need to replace your seat brackets, we sell a direct weld in (nearly) OEM copy. You can see them at: www.baddogparts.com - click on the "Products" button - the seat bracket pic can also be enlarged. And if you want a full length frame rail (from the T/C rod box to the rear crossmember) made from 11 guage sheet steel we'll be making them in the next 2 weeks. They're for Zs with added HP or ones that are a bit tired and saggy.

If possible get some video of the track as this will be the location for the ZCCA convention track day. Have fun and be safe. Show them what "old school" can do......

Okay, rub it in. Today we woke up to 3 inches of snow and at least that many inches of salt. At least some Z owners are having fun with their cars..........hope you get a big turn-out.

If either of those drivers missed an apex it was only because they were passing someone. I liked how it looked more like someone had set a fish hook into the cars out front and was dragging them back instead of them being overtaken. Thanks for making a wet, snowy day better......

Remotes only work with cars that have automatic transmissions. My wife doesn't like driving autos, hence my Z stays outside.......

I'm here outside Boston where the winters run from 50 to -15. My Z sits out in one of those "temp" garages on a platform. The car is covered and then the "car-jacket" with moisture tubes inside is zipped up. The battery was removed, the coil wire disconnected (so I don't start the car right up in the spring). The tires have 45lbs of air, the radiator is set for -30, the oil and filter changed just before I put it away with stablizer (does this really work?) in a nearly full gas tank, and all the other fluids were topped off. The car went in washed and waxed and will come out as clean as I put it away. The rotors will not be rusty. This will be the fifth year I've done this with my Z and each spring it starts right up like I had put it away just a few days ago. As of today I figure it will be in the "bag" for another 99 days. Now it might be 80 or it could be 120, but either way the car will just as nice coming out as it went in. I wish I had another garage so i could work on it all winter but the deal is I get the garage in the summer and my wife gets it for her car in the winter. Unless I want to go out each morning to warm her car up and wipe the snow off it (like tomorrow morning) that is. But since she leaves 2 hours earlier than me, I figure I can wait til spring. Ah, the compromises we make.

search under "winter storage" for the long answer. The short one is, no.

A hair blower will work just fine once you've nipped the buds off the front. Don't get them too hot as the plastic doesn't have much memory.

You can put our rails directly over your existing one (once you've taken care of the rust) or as a replacement if you are doing a floor pan project. If your rails have been crushed by jacking on them you will need to grind down the high spots first.

The major difference between our (Bad Dog Parts) rails and Charile's is that our's are 3 times the thickness. That said, Charlie's are a direct and near perfect OEM replacement. I in fact have his floor pans and his rails in my Z. As we were doing the restore work on my Z and after we welded in Charlie's floors and rails, I wanted them to be stronger and we came up with our first version. These are caps that can be easily welded over existing rails (once you have solved the rust issue). They weld onto the T/C rod box and extend the same lenght as the OEM did (behind the seats). I also wanted to jack my car up from one spot, hence our single point jack plates. You can jack your Z up using the new rails but we have no way of knowing what shape your floor pans are in, so we don't recommend it. We have added a rail cap for 280s that is custom cut to match the different undercarriage pattern of the 280s. And in a few weeks we will be selling a longer version of our 240 rails that will allow you to tie in the front and rear sections of your Z. Made for Zs with added HP & torque, this will be a 2-piece rail (to allow for differences between cars and to keep shipping costs down). We have improved the design so that the rails now will include a tab running on both sides of the "U" to make welding easier and the rail stronger. Will it solve all of the structural issues that need to be addressed for high HP Zs? Without a cage or front triangular brace, the answer is no. But it will do it's part of the job. Can you make your own, absolutely. Don't have the means or time, take a look at ours. We've sold over 3 dozen sets in the past 14 months and not one has ever been returned. And our return policy is pretty simple; all our parts, used or new, are 100% refundable. Our site: www.baddogparts.com

What I really liked was the fact that they didn't turn their nose down and treated Japanese (sports) cars as just another vehicle that people love to own and drive. None of this "euro-centric" bias (and this from a guy who owned a dozen or more of them). I've asked for a subscription as a gift. Come-on Santa.....