John Coffey

The process of getting a car ready for seam welding will reveal all the rust that's in the chassis and that all needs to be fixed before any seam welding begins (if not, what's the point of seam welding the car?) Seam welding itself does not create rust. And a proper seam welding job finishes with all the seams sprayed with a good high zinc primer and sealed with 3M or Wurth body seam sealer. The car should end up even more rust free and rust resistant then when the seam welding process started.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in this thread. Having done it there are a lot of aspects to it that are not mentioned and that's where I'm saying there is ignorance. Seam welding will increase torsional rigidity within the limits of the original design. Will it be enough to eliminate creaks and groans, probably not. What seam welding does is improve the chassis ability to handle its designed loads. There's always a loss when going from the design board to production. While the S30 chassis may have been designed to absorb X Nm of torsional load on paper, when the chassis finally rolled off the assembly lines that number is now > X (i.e: maybe Hoji had a bad day on the spot welder when your car was made.) Does this difference matter on a street driven car? IMHO, no. A race car will see 1G lateral and under braking 9 or 10 times per lap (every 90 seconds) and spend at least 5 hours doing that each race weekend. A street car may see 1G lateral once per month and that's if the car is setup correctly. Less involved and less expensive chassis stiffening is more appropriate for a street car. Roll bar, welded in subframe connectors, strut tower braces, etc.

A lot of ignorance in this thread. Seam welding is a long time racer trick to reinforce the chassis and the S30 benefits from it and even brand new, off the assembly line cars are stripped and seam welded. Its a lot of work to get the seam areas clean enough to properly do the seam welding and the car needs to be pretty much stripped bare (including the wiring harness). I've seam welded five S30s, none of them were street cars. IMHO, it not worth the time or effort for a street car, plus the seams on the car now have 1" welds spaced 1" a part - everywhere. Some people feel it looks bad. Go on HybridZ.org and search - there are a number of threads with pictures showing the process.

Not sure about the Fairladys. My post above was about USD S30s.

Well, it depends on which BRE you're referring to: The BRE race team or BRE parts. The race team did build their own headers and some their design was then used by Internpart to make and sell the headers you see in the BRE Parts catalog.

The 2+2 rear control arms and all 280Z rear control arms are built stronger then the 240 and 260 coupe rear control arms. Also, the front cross member and steering rack are stronger on the 2+2 and the 280Z. Stub axles went to 27 splines with a thicker shaft diameter. Front and rear strut tubes went to 55mm OD with a slightly thicker wall. Rear strut tubes are taller by 2 1/4" and the spring perches are at different heights then the 240 and early 260 parts. Rear upper insulators are 1" taller on the 280Z.

Command economics doesn't work - never has, never will. But the CAFE standards are a whole lot more complex and flexible that what's being discussed here and there's a lot of room for the automakers to hit those numbers. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/the-cafe-numbers-game-making-sense-of-the-new-fuel-economy-regulations-feature

For best handling you want the same size all around. The rims were custom with 5.75" of backspace. Offset doesn't matter. On the car in the picture I've run spacers up to 1" think on the front at speeds over 140mph without any problems.

Tire compound is more important then tire width as far as handling is concerned. That being said a 205 is a good fit on a 7" wide wheel.

275/45-16s on 10" wide wheels look good under ZG flares.

.023 wire in your welder?

We've all had that. Mine was diving inside a Viper entering turn 2 at Phoenix International Raceway and ending up in a tire wall. Hit so hard the 240Z emblem on the "C" pillar fly off into the tires. Never found it.

Just build one track 240Z for your club and share it like John (gnose) and Pete do.

Why do you need a warning? Your mind should already know that lifting off the throttle will induce rotation (which you catch by adding throttle back in and counter steering.) What more of a warning do you need?

Strut tower bars are chassis reinforcement, anti-roll bars are suspension springs. Both help with car handling but anti-roll bars can be too large and reduce the independence of the independent suspension. For a street car where ride is a consideration larger anti-roll bars and softer springs are good compromise. For a track car smaller anti-roll bars and stiffer springs will give better lap times. And the S30 chassis, with spring rates under 300 lb. in. really needs a rear anti-roll bar to balance the chassis. A lot of people confuse a neutral handling car with an over steering car. A neutral handling car will be more sensitive to the throttle, which is what you want in a neutral handling car and a lot of folks are not used to that. If you lift off the throttle in a corner, the rear of the car should step out in a good handling car.

People always seem to forget about the strut kits I sell... :-(

No. I ran stock rods with urethane/rubber bushings and the steering was rock solid at 148mph at WSIR. Your problem is not with the stock TC rod unless its bent.

I've heard that too but never actually measured it. I know the very early 240Zs are a bit tighter back where the diff strap is, but I don't know if there are any other specific differences. In general I don't think so because there wasn't any change in the published hip room numbers for the 280Z. The 280Zs with catalytic converters lost some room on the inside of the driver's floor pan and the seat mounts are different.

If the 280Z pan has the recess for the catalytic converter on the driver's side it will be a pain to fit it correctly. otherwise, it just takes some time and hammer/dolly work.

Well... if you're swapping in ZX transmissions then you have to grind that little boss off the ZX 5 speed. That boss does not exist on the 280Z 5 speed. Common thing to do. Like grinding off the boss on an R200 to give more room for a 2.5" or 3" exhaust.

IMHO, in order: Safety - fix everything under the car that is a safety concern (ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings, chassis rust, bent parts, missing nuts/bolts, flexible brake lines, leaking anything in the brake system, engine, trans, and diff mounts, steering rack boots, u-joints in the drive and half shafts, wheel bearings, hubs, lighting, gauges, etc.) Reliability - All the cooling systems, oiling system, electrical all works with no shorts, alternator and battery good, complete engine tune-up, fluid changes, etc. Then move on to improving the cars performance: LSD first - the single best modification you can do to improve lap times. Suspension - Increase spring rate, upgrade the shocks, anti-roll bars, performance alignment. Tires and wheels - light wheels and sticky tire compounds. A 205 width Hoosier A6 will grip far better then a 275 width Sears Roadhandler. Body and paint. Engine and trans mods.

Lash pads can kick out from over revving, poor valve adjustment, weak spring causing valve float, or because its Tuesday. Loosen the rocker arm, reinstall the lash pad, and adjust the valves.

If you are looking at "kit" cars then look at local registration and smog laws before putting money down. In some states they are treated as new cars and must meet most of the new car safety and smog requirements. Also, make sure you really, really want a race car. They are loud, hot, very uncomfortable, and a pain in the arse. Plus you'll need a trailer that it can actually get the car on (look how low that front is) and you'll need space for a second set of tires, tools, fuel, etc.

"Argueably, Datsun played a leading role in the development of the aftermarket accessory market in the United States." Compared to the aftermarket for Ford, Chevrolet, Mopar, etc. that was an annual multi-mullion dollar business before 1970, the Datsun Z contribution was and still is very small. The market already existed and was thriving before the S30 hit our shores. FYI... SEMA was established in 1963.

You seem a little fidgety behind the wheel Greg...