XYZ

Here's another angle for you to consider. I know the only reason I joined was because I had the ability to view this site anonymously for awhile so I could see what the quality and content was of its users. I found the content and format pretty friendly and once I really had some questions I started to use the site as a member. I also looked at zdriver (I think that's the other forum site) but I didn't like it as well. It's completely possible if any and everyone must sign in you may slow or stop new members from joining. People act like water in that they usually take a path of least resistance and if you put up barriers for them they will go elsewhere. I'm not sure what the motive would be to make people sign in if you are getting all the stats you need currently to shop sponsors but I think the site is pretty cool as is. I've done alot of research on this site regarding my Z from technical info to looking at other Z's etc. Anyway, this is one members thoughts. Thanks for setting it up by the way.

This may or maynot help but I had a similar problem with my car. Every time I went into my garage I smelled gas. Everyone who went in there complained. I was messing around with my carbs and noticed my oil levels in my dampers were low. I topped them off and my gas smell went away. I also adjusted the idle screws and the next day there was no gas odor. Maybe you have a simple problem like this. It's at least worth looking at since it only take a few minutes.

I was pretty surprised when the link didn't drop right in. The other thing I forgot to ask about is the torgue of 15 #/ft on the nut for the end link. The original shaft had two nuts top/bot. and I could see how you could get the torque because of the way the shaft on the link is designed. On this new link it seems like I could just keep going with the tightening of the nut and deflect the end of the sway bar until I crushed the new bushings. Not sure what to do with this. This may need to be part of my phone call to energy suspensions.

I started to replace all of my rubber bushings with urethane today. I learned a few things to make the process easier and I ended up wondering some stuff too. I'm hoping someone can learn a little bit from my experience and I can maybe learn something from my questions that follow. I replaced the steering coupler and swaybar endlinks. The coupler seemed pretty easy and would have been easier if I had figured out that jacking the car up first would allow me simple access to the nuts and the ability to turn the steering shaft with little effort. I figured this out after a half hour battle trying to reconnect the shafts in vein. Every time I tried to align the pieces I knocked a bolt into the u-joint and would have to start over after freeing the bolt. The other thing I learned was, to make it real simple during reconnection, loosen a nut on the lower shaft that allowed me to slide a collar up and down the shaft ( via tapping on it with a hammer), shortening it so I could get the two pieces together easier. Beyond those two things it was pretty simple. Neither of these things were explained in my Haines manual unfortunately. The next item, the endlink bushings were more difficult than I thought. This leads me to my questions. I got a complete kit from Energy suspension that I thought were direct bolt swap-out but I had to modify the sleeve that goes over the 5 1/2" bolt of the endlink. When I assembled the entire link with washers and bushings I had no thread to start the nut on the end. I removed about 1/4"of the sleeve to give me the necessary room. How do you compress the urethane bushings enough while trying to start the nut and avoid modifying the sleeve? Perhaps the bolt was too short, it's a 5 1/2" bolt. I haven't replaced the rear links yet as I want to contact the manufacturer to find out if I created any problems. The other thing I did, which I now regret, is knocking the little round seat that was on the top of the control arm off. Apparently this is a permanent piece but it looked very much like one of the washers for the bushing that had been compressed into the hole for this link. Again this was not part of the Haines explinations. I removed only one but still... Anyone know what problems I might expect by removing this seat? Can I use one of the old washers in its place? This seems to be a reasonable solution since it would be fixed on the shaft of the link bolt like the other washers. Sorry this is so long but I thought the history was necessary. Any feedback would be great and hopefully others who are rookies like myself can benefit from the things I learned the hard way.

Thanks for the feadback JC.

JC - When you switched calipers you went from stock Z calipers to the toyota calipers, straight swap? Is there any retro-fitting? Did you upgrade the lines from rubber to braided hose? Did you change the rotor (I believe that's the correct term) as well? This may seem like a stupid question, but what is advantage of the toyota caliper over the Z caliper? I want to upgrade my brakes as well when I rebuild my suspension and need to figure out the best upgrade. I've seen people actually change the rotor size to a larger diameter and I wondered if doing that means you can also change the stud pattern from 4 to 5 to get into a larger selction of wheels. Any feed back would be great.

Hi Everyone. 2 many, no offense taken. I honestly don't know where that sticker should go. I've been under the hood of exactly one Z, mine, so I have nothing to compare. I actually am surprised there is a specific spot for that sticker. I would think if it makes it into the engine compartment where it's visible then it's purpose has been served. I do know that the history I was given on my car leads me to the conclusion that it has never been repainted. I'm owner #3 and the second owner new quite a bit about owner #1's history with the car. Anyway, I'm content with my paint job (for now) so it no biggy for me. I thought I could help Ed by posting the picture as a reference and I may have muddled the situation further. I'm certainly no expert. I still believe it's worth contacting Nissan to see if you can get touchup kits for the color in question and seeing if it's what you want.

I looked at Daisenei's car and I thought it was a little difficult to know exactly what the color was due to the shadows. It is different than my car color for sure. I had a body shop recommend contacting Nissan to get a sample or touchup kit for my car giving them the color number. I have not followed up on that but you might try if your looking for a specific color. Obviously no guarantee's as to getting anything from Nissan but its worth a shot. I know my car is definately orange and the color in the members section is a reasonable rendition of my car color. I have included a photo of my color with the color tag and an orange stanley measuring tape for comparison. This picture looks more red than the members section and that has to do with the type and amount of light. I don't know if this helps but I do know color is a hard thing to describe and interpret. Good luck.

For what it's worth, my car is an orange (view in members rides for comparison to what your looking for) with the color code 110. I still have the original color tag in my engine compartment and it definately is orange not red. My car was produced in 74'.

Hi gang- I've got a question regarding side underskirt attachments. My car has aluminum rocket panels attached to it that I would like to remove. I don't want to repaint the vehicle as the paint is in great shape (for 30yrs) but I would like to remove the potential for rust behind the aluminum panels. Does anyone know if the urethane side skirts come as high up on the rocker panel as the aluminum ones I have? If so, are these skirts water tight or am I trading one type of water catch for another? My car is listed in the members rides section if your curious as too what I'm talking about. Thanks for the feedback.

Big rounded rearends are in vogue. Check out Jennifer Lopez!

Anyone have experience or know the differences between the Eibach pro-kit springs, the suspension techniques springs and the tokico spring sets. I'm looking at the springs which lower the vehicle 1" on all of these sets. Obviously price is a consideration but is there a huge difference between the three sets? I'm assuming it has to do with ratings.

I'm looking to replace all my worn bushings on my car and I was looking thru a catalog that had an option for urethane control arm bushings (no adjustment) or a camber bushing set (adjustment of 1 1/2 degrees). I'm wondering if the camber bushing set is worth the trouble over upgrading the basic bushing set. It seems the camber set is good for more adjustment and also bad because its another thing to adjust on the vehicle. How much does tire size play in this decision? I'm sure use of the vehicle comes into play as well. I'm not racing just looking to have fun on the weekends. I have a similar question regarding tension/compression rod kits the aluminum socket and and ball set over a basic replacement set.

last shot.

another shot.

I thought I'd post my 260Z for anyone interested. I got it back in Aug. 01 and have not yet made any modifications. It's almost all stock except the wheels and some engine modifications done by the previous owner. It's got an L26 with a cam, headers, and the 240 SU setup. everything else is stock including the original am/fm radio. It's got 77,700 original. The paint and interior is all original too!

To help us less experienced folk, how would you rank the order of upgrade if this is the path taken. The choices in components are: 1. springs/struts 2. anti-sway bars 3. wheels/tires 4. new bushings I talked with Nissan motor sports and the guy recommended springs and struts first, anti-roll bar, wheels. A local mechanic recommended starting with the anti-roll bar and bushings, see how it feels then maybe do the springs. An earlier reply commented on anti-roll bar and wheels. I imagine someone might want clarification as to the use of the vehicle. I'm personally going to use it for weekend driving and possibly some local track racing but mostly for fun. I'm not sure what the original person's use might be but I would think there is a systematic way to determine which upgrade comes first assuming it can't happen all at once.

I've got a general question that may seem kind of dumb but in looking at the many z pictures posted on the web I can't recall a single one having window tinting on them. I have a stratus that I had the windows tinted on and I can't image a ride without tinting now. It helps with the interior and I kind of like the look. Is this taboo to do to a z?

I've been going through a similar debate with myself about my suspension in my 260z. I first bought the car thinking I would restore it to orginal as it was pretty close to begin with. Then I started driving it and found out how fun it was. I realized, if it's this fun now and I can improve it further, why not? So I've decided to rebuild the suspension. I'm going to upgrade the springs, lower the vehicle, change the struts, change the sway bar, replace the bushings/rubber and upgrade the wheels/tires. I'm currently researching all of this and have just a few decisions left, namely the type of struts and the wheel component. I decided I would enjoy my car more if it performed better. I don't care if it's not stock because I want to have as much fun as I can with it and that, to me, means increasing it's performance. You just need to decide what you want out of your car. Hope you don't loose as much sleep trying to decide as I did!

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

2manyZ's - How did you deal with the raised parts of the cracks? Did you shave them down so they were basically flat with the rest of the dash or just not worry about it? It seems if you just leave the cracks standing up that the dash cover would sit up.?!?

Thanks for the advice 2manyZ's. I was thinking of using this remedy because I suck at electrical work and everything on my dash works and I just don't want the headache of creating electrical problems if I don't need to. I'm undecided about the half or full unit. My gut tells me to use the full unit to eliminate a possibly visible joint (with the half) but I need to sleep on it. Thanks again.

I recently became a Z owner and had a question regarding cracked dashboards. I wanted some feedback on people's experience with the dashboard covers that are available in lieu of tearing out a working dash assembly and repairing or replacing. I know there is a half dash and a full dash cover available but are they worth the money? The full dash cover is less than a hundred bucks and the half dash is around fifty bucks. This is about the only thing in the interior that needs attention.