2ManyZs

Since you're an accomplished welder, you could also try this. Cut the bottom spring perch off and weld it back on the tube lower. One benefit of this would be the fact you could move all of them to the same exact measurement instead of cutting the coils and possibly not getting them all the exact same length. The springs you have are probably pretty similar to the Stage ll European springs that were in the Nismo Competition catalog, and they are rated at 122 front and 140 rear. And as far as your camber irrgularity side to side, you could just move the one pivot point out 1/2 inch to get them closer to being equal. Remember, if you lower it too much more, you'll either need the strut spacers, or move the pivot point up on the crossmember to get the roll center back in line where it should be.

Mark, the main reason I say that the smaller spread in ratio from the 3:54 to the 3:90 wouldn't be as noticeable is because you have to factor in the extra weight a 280 is carrying. In a lighter 240 the difference would be much more noticeable with a change of .36 in your diff than it will in a 280. Now, if you also change to a lower profile tire when you do the 3:90 swap, it will negate a lot of what I just said as the lower profile tires will help your overall ratio change. Going from a 70 series to a 60/55/50 series tire when you swap the diffs and you'll notice a huge improvement, especially if you go to a 50 series with an overall smaller diameter. The main reason I said a 4:11 might be better is for the weight difference of the 280 with all else being equal. That extra 500+ pounds makes a big difference. I raced against 240's with 3:90's when I had the 4:11 in the 280(motors were pretty close to the same output), and with the same sized tires they could still out accelerate me out of the corners because of the weight difference. Now, if I had had a 4:37 in the 280, I might have been pretty close.

Tom, check your PM box, I may have found something that might help you.:cheeky:

I talked to her on the phone last week, don't remember what day it was though. She said she's been swamped lately, and I tried to call her this week with no answer, so maybe she decided to take a couple days off and "recharge her batteries".

I got nuttin.... The only one that calls me "Dad" is the dog, and I won't let her have my credit card.... But I did take Mom to NY a couple weeks ago to visit my Dad's grave.

Will, I booted that guy off our Classified For Sale section a while back. He listed 3 cars at once in our classifieds. He buys and re-sells cars after "sprucing" them up. I've seen him bidding on quite a few CA cars on Ebay.

Ken, since I know what you have on the car since you bought it from me, I vote against cutting the coils for a couple reasons(at least for now). 1. You have the adjustable bushings that with the "cheap" camber adjustment from MSA should allow you to have in the neighborhood of -2.5 or so camber. 2. If I remember right, the "cheap" camber adjustment plates that MSA have are the same ones that I had on the old ITS 280 that I got from GC. They are a top hat with long studs that protrude through a thick piece of urethane that acts as your top insulator. You can shave off a little of the urethane "top hat" for more lowering, without sacrificing suspension travel. The urethane "top hat" is slotted for a fairly good camber adjustment, which in truth, I never really needed on the rear of the 280 because if offered more negative camber than the tires I was using wanted, and I ended up getting the negative camkber by adjusting the offset control arm bushings. 3. If this doesn't lower your car enough, then you can still cut the spring, yet have to cut less off the spring and not compromise the suspension travel to get the desired ride height. 4. You may find that you won't need more than 2.5 or so negative camber with a lot of today's radials. I know that many of the racers I used to race with aren't running near as much negative camber with the race tires as they did in the past. This is the camber kit you're talking about right? http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PSDC08

There is a third caliper, the S13WB used on the T100 pickups. I saw one advertised on Ebay as fitting a Z car and e-mailed the seller about his claim. He said he knew of someone who made an adapter to bolt these on and you could use them with the vented rotors, but I don't have confirmation on that. It would all depend on whether or not the mounting tab spacing is correct and/or if it would need a spacer to center the caliper on the rotor.

http://www.automedic.org/smzcc/tech_tips.htm#Flywheel I looked them up on the Napa web-site and found them, but can't find the piece of paper I wrote down the info on.:tapemouth

Nah, you're alright...... I think we all know what a PITA electrical problems can be. I'm going to be stripping a 72 soon, so if you want the harness I'll put your name on it. But, I don't know what kind of shape it is in under the dash, it's been a "mouse-den" for a while till a black snake took up residence in the car last year....

I think all the S12 calipers are actually marked S12-8, and not just S12. I do know that there are differences between the 4Runner and 4x4 brakes, but not exactly which year they started to be different. While the 4x4 pickups still had the solid rotor, the 4 Runner's upgraded to vented rotors. I do know there was also a S13W(?) caliper used on the 4 Runners and trucks as well(or possibly just the 4Runner), but don't know the years that they were used and whether or not they will bolt up like the S12's, or if they would need some type of spacer to bolt onto the stock strut housings. If it's an S12-8, no matter what year it's off( or which model of Toyota), it will work with the stock Z rotors.

It's very possible Tom... it may have also gotten into the starter solenoid or starter itself. I think I mentioned that in my first post.... I guess we'll forgive you since you've been away so long.....

You can't use the S12W's with the stock rotor. The pistons would probably come right out of the bores. Use the S12-8's with the stock rotors. S12W's with the vented rotors. The vented rotors can't be used with the 14 inch wheels because the vented rotors are larger in diameter than the stock solid rotors.

I can't tell you what it feels like to go from a 3:54 to a 3:90, but I can tell you there's a very noticeable difference going from a 3:54 to a 4:11. At least there was in my ITS 280, with a basically stock engine. Much better drive out of the corners, and it will put you back in the seat in the first 3 gears, especially in 1st and 2nd. Enough of a difference that you'd really appreciate an LSD especially on wet roads. FWIW, you might find a 4:11 somewhat easier to find than a 3:90, as it seems to be the more popular ratio. There's such a small difference between the 3:9 and 4:1 that most people go ahead and opt for the 4:11.

The rear section looks like a full replacement of the under floor rail. The front section looks like a patch to be put over top of the original rail. Probably not a good idea if the rail is rusty, but would work fine for those rails that have been "modified" by someone that didn't know where to put a jack or jackstands.

Hopefully someone at Nissan will receive the "cranial-rectal inversion" that will allow them to see the lost revenues. When I worked for a GM contractor, someone at GM saw the light. For years, GM dealers couldn't return many parts that were for the older vehicles and had to sit on them or junk them themselves. Someone finally realized that these were the same parts that businesses such as Year One etc were buying up for pennies on the dollar from dealers and making a big profit. Hopefully someone will see that at Nissan and stop selling off their inventory of NOS parts, but for now, I guess it's up to us to buy up what we can and hoard the parts ourselves.:devious:

Both...... Nissan has sold off most if not all of the inventory of old NOS parts for everything from the mid 80's on back. Without Nissan's money, the OEM suppliers won't continue to make the parts.

Where have you been hiding Tom? Like Enrique said, double check your fusible link, and also you might want to double check the ground on the battery cable as well, it may have been pulled loose, or the acid may have caused some corrosion already. You definately need to do some clean up and neutralizing of any acid that spilled. The battery is a Group 24 for a replacement. Chloe at MidwestZ ought to have new hold downs and battery trays.

Guess it's not quite "all original" as he claims....:stupid: I was looking at the seats and thinking the same thing Ed. I will say, it does look like the original weatherstripping though.. ready to fall off the car.:devious: Looks like a full weatherstrip replacement candidate to me, along with restoring the faded steering wheel. Wonder what the dash looks like under the "dash rug" it's wearing.

Yup, they are now NLA as far as I know. I also bought a set about 2 years ago for about 120 each, and within a year the supply dried up and disappeared.:disappoin FWIW, Erik's prices are a bit "optimistic" to say the least on some of his items. I've seen him list early FSM's for 250 bucks, while they are still available from another source for 75 bucks each.:cross-eye

Or you can use those cheap plastic drop cloths from the hardware store like I'm using. One 9x12 sheet goes quite a long way and it's under 2 bucks....Just don't skimp on the tape, buy the best or you'll run the risk of pulling up the paint or leaving a gummy residue. The trick is to place the masking tape (2 inch or wider) inside the jambs, bend it, and then close the door or hatch so that it will stick to the door skin lip for example, and cut down the amount of overspray that can get into the jamb. Once you have the BC/CC sprayed on the jambs, you don't want any of the BC to get in there to mess up what you've already finished. The CC won't matter, other than possibly causing orange peel. Don't feel bad Ken, I'm getting mine ready to do the same thing soon. Just been too hot out there to do much hand sanding lately except for late in the evening.:cross-eye

Actually, I think you'll find the rocker panel and the crossmember measurements to be fairly close, if anything, the bottom of the pinch weld on the rocker might even be a bit lower than the crossmember.