Jeff G 78

If you do go the wheelskins route, make sure you get the single seam model. They make a three seam model that is not nearly as thick and isn't worth using IMHO. The single seam version is actually very nice and has a good feel. Make sure you wear VERY heavy leather gloves when installing it, as the lacing will tear up your hands.

Damn, that's really an ugly hood bump. It doesn't flow at all with the rest of the car.

As an auto engineer, I drive a lot of different vehicles. We did a drive a while back with a C6 Corvette, CTS-V, older M5, 350Z, GTO, and Shelby GT500. This was the first time I had any real time in a 350Z and I really didn't have any idea what to expect. If anything, I thought it would feel heavy and bulky. Wow, was I surprised! The 350Z was by far the most nimble car of the group and felt WAY lighter and more connected to the road than any of the other cars. The C6 was a nice car, but felt cumbersome and big compared to the Z. Of the cars on the drive, the Z was by far the best driver's car and was the most playfull of the group. I always read on the Z sites about how the 350Z isn't a real Z and how it should have a ZX badge, etc. etc. IMHO, if those people would drive the Z and it's MODERN competitors back to back, they would change their minds about the Z. Modern cars are not and will never be 240Z's!!! The amount of saferty, emissions, and creature comforts that buyers demand, add huge amounts of weight to even the best designs. The C6 Z06 is the only car I can think of that defies the trend. Yes, the 350Z is the same as the G35, M, and FX vehicles, but that's what it took to bring Nissan out of the red and re-establish themselves. I think they did a hell of a job. The biggest problem I have with the 350Z is the ricer image it's getting. There is no way to predict or prevent this though, so we'll just have to co-exist with the new Z crowd.

I got down to 46.7

62877 here

Since my car is far from done, but I have shiny new wheels, my choice was easy.

Okay, I made a cardboard prototype and it looked too skinny. I widened the whole bracket and fine tuned the dimensions. I also found out that there is a feature in the firewall that requires the part to have an offset vertical component. I also plan on using thin-wall square tubing to cut the angle brackets from. Angle iron is no good since the inside of the angle is tapered and has a large radius. NOTE: I have not made this yet out of steel, so some additional fine tuning might be required. The top of the J-bolt needs to be cut down some, but it appears to have just enough threads in my case. My dimensions are based on a Red Top sitting in the factory plastic tray. Here is the latest screen dump as well as the dimensioned drawing.

Will do, John.

John, the answer is "sort of". I did a real quick tape measure job before I did the CAD work. I haven't had the time to make a cardboard prototype to verify the dimensions yet. I hope to do that this weekend. So far, I have a 1" wide x 1/8" thick main strap with 40mm wide angle brackets. The brackets are 165mm apart. The rear angle bracket is 15mm from the end of the main strap and the front angle bracket is 20mm from the end. The vertical part against the firewall is 65mm tall. Once I make a cardboard prototype and fine tune the dimensions, I'll clean up the CAD work and do a screen dump with the dimensions. My goal was to make it very simple to fabricate. The bracket could certainly be better, but it would be harder to make. Most OEM brackets (like the ZX) have main straps that are folded in the middle to make them stiffer. I simply used thicker steel. The estimated weight of the bracket is around 7 ounces right now. That could be lower, but it's not horrible. I also considered dipping the bracket in that rubberized tool coating stuff. I would mask the slot area and the J-bolt hole area with everything else being plastic coated. Any other suggestions?

Yes, it's for the red top. I plan on making only but anybody is welcome to run with the plans and make them for all. If I had the means, I'd use aluminum, but for now it will be steel.

Here it is with the slot at the top. What do you guys think?

Here is the basic bracket design. I still have to fine tune it, but this should give an idea of what I'm thinking. As far as the battery CG, raising an Optima battery will actually raise the CG above the original battery CG due to the lightweight plastic spacer below it.

But why would you want to raise the 40(?) lbs up an inch higher? You want to keep all weight as low in the car as possible. Even when it's raised, the stock hold-down bracket still won't work on an Optima. The battery is way smaller than the factory battery. I am in the process of drawing up my battery bracket idea in CATIA. I'll figure out a way to do a screen print and post the drawing when I'm done.

I was thinking of making a simple L bracket that goes from the bolt hole in the firewall down to the battery top and then across the center of the battery with a hole drilled to accept the factory J-bolt. Welded to the bottom of this bracket would be two angle brackets looking down that would sit on the front and back edges of the battery. I figure that 1/8" thick steel about 1" wide should work with the angle brackets being a bit wider. The firewall end would have a slot like the factory hold down. I would glue rubber pads to the bottom of the angle brackets where they contact the edges of the battery. The factory J-bolt would have to be shortened a bit as the Optima battery is shorter than stock. This bracket could be made from aluminum as well, but would need to be a bit thicker so it didn't flex at the J-bolt end. I'll refine the design a bit before I make it. When finished, I'll take pics and post them. Hopefully, I'll make it in the next few weeks.

Ahh, that accounts for around 5/16" of the discrepency. It sounds like somewhere between 8" and 8-1/2" is the stock height for a 280.

What tire size are you running TomoHawk? My 225/50R16 tires are actually a tad taller than stock and my car was almost an inch lower in the front and 1/2" lower in the rear than yours before I installed my springs.

I measured my car before and after the Tokico springs and it dropped exactly 1" at all four corners.

My car's specs are in my sig. Here is what mine measures: Bottom of pinch flange at jack points to ground: Front 6-7/8" Rear 7" Center of wheel to outermost, lower edge of fender lip: Front 13-7/8" Rear 14"

They are not Panasports.

I saw that auction yesterday and thought the same thing. There are plenty of good parts, but how do you hide five more Zs from the wife? I think I've had two parts cars at once, but that was years ago before I was married.

If I were you, I'd look for a much cleaner car. Even if you have to buy a California car and have it shipped to Tornonto, it would be worth it. The ebay car's body doesn't look that great and I'm sure you'll find a LOT more rust than what you see in the photos. I've learned my lesson and will spend the extra money on a clean body rather than a car that's good mechanically and questionable body-wise.

Yes, the Xenon air dam is urethane and will flex rather than cracking like the fiberglass one. The downside is that the urethane air dam is known to flex at higher speeds as well as sag over time. Most people who buy the Xenon part will make a center support out of aluminum to keep the nose from drooping. You will also need to use a flex agent in the paint so that it won't crack if the airdam is flexed during a curb or driveway hit. I plan on going with the Xenon one, myself. I really don't want to repair fiberglass over and over whenever I encounter a steep driveway apron.

My daily driver is a '89 Toyota 4x4 with 227,000 miles on it. My wife drives a '97 4Runner Limited.

Yep, it only has two horizontal bars if I remember correctly, but it's there.

Where in Michigan do you live? There is a club near Grand Rapids and our club in the metro Detroit area. As far as which Z is best, it all depends on what you want to do with it. The 240 is the lightest and most raw, while the Z32 is the heaviest and most civilized. Each model in between those two moves one step closer. The 280Z, is very similar to the 240, but is much heavier and probably much safer as a daily driver. Those big bumpers are ugly, but at least they will absorb some impact, saving the car's bodywork. The newer Z you get, the nicer the ride and comfort will be. It will also be easier to find a newer one if you aren't planning on searching nationwide. Most of us with early cars go south or west to find them and once they return to the rustbelt, they get tucked away from November until mid-April and are rarely even driven in the rain. If you can afford it, the 350Z is actually pretty nice. I heard all of the negative talk about it, but once I drove it, I thought Nissan did a very good job in capturing the essence of the Z with a modern, big car.