240znz

That's one hell of a good impact. Time to find a new one.

Most of the floor pan plugs are 25mm IIRC. I've used closed rubber grommets from the local rubber hardware store on m,y new pan. Look great and seal well.

Great thread Kats. I've only just found it. Great read.

My fathers cousins son is one of the miners lost in that mine at Pike River. We didn't know them really. Fourth large explosion today. All mining has risk. That risk is accessed and minimised as much as possible, but there is always a risk. Each miner made the decision to work in that environment and I'd guess that they would be been informed of the risk prior to signing an employment agreement. However, we expect to come home after a days work. The NZ government has called for the highest possible enquiry (being a Royal Enquiry) which we all hope will try to find out why and what could be done better. No matter how you look at it, 29 men went to work and didn't come home. My thoughts are with the families and fingers crossed they are able to remove the bodies soon so these people can start closure. I shudder to think what they are going through. It's been a bad 2010 for us in the South Island of this beautiful country of New Zealand. 1. 7.1 Canterbury earthquake and over 3377 aftershocks to date. Slowing down a bit now so getting better. 2. Skydiving plane crashes on take off killing all on board just south of the Mine Disaster on the day of the Canterbury Earthquake. 3. Freak snow dump hit our sorthern most city and collapsed a major sports complex, no one died. 4. 29 die at Pike River. Those of you who have visited this land know we live in a very special place on our globe. 2011 can't end fast enough for some.

To me, if a 2 seater ZX is lowered and in gun metal grey, then they look a million dollars. The 2+2 ZX and in fact any other Z in 2+2 configuration looks wrong. I also like the idea of a slightly modified L28 with a hair dryer attached. Wouldn't that be a nice tourer?

That's all good info but maybe use a closed rubber grommet to close the cabin hole instead of steel and self tapers. Looks kinda factory too. While you are there, whip off the inner door threshold scuff plate to access the holes in the side rails. Get the nozzle in there to.

We are now at 2210 and counting. They who don't know say we could have these for another year yet. Bloody hell. We had a 4.8 yesterday. I was an hours drive north and didn't feel a thing. My wife and son were at a swimming meet and they were evacuated as power was cut. We had a 5.0 last week and it was very shallow. You really do see the gorund move as the waves pass through it. I was working in the carpark of our central police station and watched the waves ripple though then hit the 14 story tower, first thing to move were the birds then the steel chimney on top of the tower started to sway...quite a bit. I went up the tower and had a look at the huge cracks in the stairwells and services risers...cracks and big cracks in some parts. Engineers think I will withstand a 9, yeah right!!! Life goes on though. Our nerves are shot but nothing we can do. Our house now has a few minor cracks in door frames and window edges but that is all. I drove through the small township of Kaiapoi 20kms north of Christchurch yesterday and it was hit hard, very very hard. The place looks bad. Huge shifts in the roads and infracstucture shot. It will take some time for things to come right there. All roads are open but some are blocked off as buildings are demolished. All the road fixes are temporary as the aftershocks continue. Crazy times people but, the people of NZ are very charitable and 17million was raised during a 12 hour music concert held on Saturday in our big city park. Local airline flew everyone in and they played for free. For those of you in San Fransisco, did you get the similar pattern of aftershocks?

Have a look at my user name and sig, that says it all (and always to be read with a large bucket of well rounded sense of humour close at hand...or is that humor?) No matter how it is pronounced, it will always be a Z. Welcome.

Yes, you are asking for trouble. Stones will flick up and chip the paint, leaving a area for moisture to turn into the ugly rust monster. My advise is to stip the wells back to metal, seam seal, etch prime, one or two coats of black stone guard paint. If you like the look of body paint in the wells, then prime and top coats as per normal.

double post

Rick, From what I have seen, read and picked up over the years on early HS30's is basically anything goes. I have HS30-00352. But I've seen the non-vented hatch on a 500 VIN and it still had the hand throttle...so who knows what each car actually got fitted with. I'll take a guess that if you really wanted as close as you can get the same spec as the US "Series 1" then you'd be looking for a sub 500 VIN HS30. Now let's see. Car would be a 69/70 model. That's 40 years old. I'd guess that less than 100 exist today which is optimistic, probably only 50 or so. I have one, I know of one other sub 500 in my town. So basically, good luck, your going to need it. If one came up for sale in good nick, I'd guess at a price tag of US$20,000 plus. I'd want more than that for mine. But of course the old saying stands, it's only worth what someone is willing to pay" A lot of guessing eh.

It just gets more crazy by the day. We have now had over 100 aftershocks the latest was a 5.1 and only 6km deep just 10km from our house. Still no damage to my place but the army are now in the city to stop people coming into the danger areas which is growing as these significant aftershocks rip through previously salvagable buildings. Many of our old brick buildings are too far gone to be saved so down they come. Very sad as the soul of our city gets destroyed. Let's hope the building owners get the idea and put up good designs and not just cheapest option. We have been told to expect aftershocks for the next few weeks, less is frequency but as high as 6.1. Everyone is on edge want it to stop as nerves are shot. Thanks for your kind thoughts all, much appreciated.

Three zeds didn't fear so well around the city. Gnose 260 2+2 hit by falling bricks. 280zx hit by falling bricks. 350z hit by items stored in garage rafters. Same magnitude as the Haiti quake. We are blessed that no-one was killed. We have had 25 or so aftershocks so far as high as 5.2 First quake has been downgraded to 7.1 and a 3m shift in the surface and lasted just over a minute.

7.1 magnitude, 10km deep, 30km from the city where we live, fault line is 100km long and shifted 5 metres. Being woken by that was no fun. Watching your kids running down the hall screaming as they literally get thrown into the walls isn't much fun either, we all huddled in a doorway waiting for the horror to end. Very very scary. All in shock really. Power came back on at 10:30am for us. We are being told to conserve and boil water. Our emergency cupboard worked well with torches, candles and radio. If you haven't got this then please do so as soon as you can. This could have have been oh so worse. Lucky this happened at 4:35am Saturday morning. In a city of over 400,000 people, only one is in intensive care. City is closed down as brick facades down everywhere. High rises are OK. Pleny of sand volcano's everywhere as the ground liquafied. Just crazy. Zed is happy under it's cover with only a bottle of Jenilite falling down off a cupboard and now trying to eat my beer fridge. Just a few broken glasses and knocked over bookcases. Cheers James

Yes, Highway Star has to be an all time classic in a car. Another classic is Motorhead's "Build for speed".

Paint it all black. Cheaper that way.

The cause of the fuel smell in my S30 was a old perished vent hose from the tank to the filler tube. It had gone where the hose enters the rear deck which is covered by the rear internal plastic light cover. Pull the rear interior hatch covers in the boot and check the lines and replace where necessary. Remember to use fuel rated hose as the vapour will eat normal hose.

Bruce - great words to remind those of us who continue to pour copious amounts of cash into S30's. Because if you went into a rebuild with a selling price in mind and actually worked out the true cost, you'd never start.

What a hoot. Glad to see that this place remains constant. As for England not being in Europe. Poppy-****. Our pommie mates are all French anyway. As for said #400. Well, it looks a bit to gone to rebuild but don't tell Chris that or he'll want it.

Welcome Polecat.

Rice my zeeeeeeeeeeeee. Well done, job complete.

Good decision on the new shell guys. If you don't decide to use a cage, at the very minimum ensure that you put in front and rear strut braces. Even consider extending the floor top hats back so that they connect to the rear frame crossmember (that the suspension hangs off). That will stiffen the tub up heaps. Keep them pics a comin.

Surreptitiously Modified

IMHO the 2 seater 280ZX is a better looking beast than the 2+2 version, but you'll get plenty of opinons. As always, aim for the most complete, minimal rust one you can find for your budget. Good luck with your search.

Just found this thread and wow, what a project and some outstanding fabrication work. You should have a permamnent school boy grin etched on by now.