wheee!

A pic of the original door and the new one: All the new Delta regrind rockers back in place! And a shot of the new TTT outer tie rod bolts!

So my hovel was graced with the presence and presents of zKars today. Jim showed up with my replacement door shells along with a couple other bits and pieces. He also lent his hand showing me the proper way to reinstall the rockers in the E88 head! Thanks Jim! Here he is spending some quality time with his old stroker. And here he is enjoying a nice ocean aged whiskey... smooth!

One of my friends met with him at Monterey and talked about the 280 dashes and saw the prototype. Hung was very sincere and professional. Other than their lack of a professional business website, they are legit. I don’t do Facebook so I’m hoping to be able to pick up one of these dashes in the next year for sure. I’m sure they will be shipping soon.

Or merely a Doorman...? I'll see what I can dig up for Whiskey's for Monday..... I think I have a nice rare Ocean Aged whiskey you might like!

A little work in the shop tonight. I installed a new seal on the transmission output shaft. Also powdered a new plate for the a/c controls. I also added in an external temp gauge. I like knowing how hot it is outside. I might lower it a little in the housing.

A little more good news as my local hero @zKars has located some good condition 75/76 doors for me in his warehouse. Minimal rust repairs required and no bondo/damage. They might actually be from the same production run as my car! The original paint looks to be the same "240 Green" as my car was! That would indicate to me that they were built at the same time probably (as I assume they painted several cars the same colour during production).

I should know better than to cruise TTT’s website... My car hasn’t even hit the road and I am already changing parts! The outer tie rods I bought from TTT a couple of years ago are great, but they have improved the design to include high clearance bolts. This is great as they run VERY close to the rims. I of course had to order the new bolt set... Old: New:

I’m in for about $4000 Cdn on my brakes too...

Gotcha! Thought you were referencing the ebrake with that pic...!

I’m not seeing the ebrake caliper in that pic...

Anyone receive updates on their 280Z dash?

Don’t forget the famous model change in August 76! Mid year changeover.

The Wilwood products are very good.

Contact Edan at @silverminemotors for a quote on the parts listed above. I am super happy with the result and I finally have a car on the ground with park brakes that work! Nothing against Dave at AZC, but two years and nothing but promises is a dealbreaker. Now at least there is a solution for all the Track Pack owners out there that need a park brake! The end result looks perfect; exactly what I wanted in the first place.

Finished assembly: This install will add about 5mm to your track width so account for that when you do this mod. If you have adjustable track and camber, all the better! I use the Techno Toy Tuning lower control arms and they are very tuneable.

Park Brake Cable: This part is easier when the car is already apart for restoration! But you will need to get access to the park brake cable assembly above the diff. Remove the old system if it is still there. The new park brake cable comes with all you need. Insert the cable as per the old system, and attach with the included circlips. Route the cable back through the old supports. This sample is from my 280Z and the 240 might be different. The cable routes behind the strut tube and towards the park brake. Adjustments can be made at the linkage under the transmission tunnel as well as at the back of the caliper on the park brake.

Step 4: Install the Wilwood Park Brake. You will need to remove the spacer plate that comes with it. And then bolt the brake directly to the adapter plate. If you need to adjust the caliper to clear the rotors or to tighten the park brake, you use the adjustment bolt on the back of the brake. Slide the brake pads in as you assemble the caliper onto the adapter plate.

Step 3: Bolt up the rear caliper. I recommend you adjust the brake line fitting at this time prior to mounting as it is close to the rear strut. The fittings come with the Silvermine SS brake lines.

Step 2: The AZC rotors are a 310mm diameter. This will contact the Wilwood calipers so a modification is required. You will need to have the rotors machined down 5mm total diameter in order to clear properly. I know this is a mod you can’t do at home so it will cost you a few dollars. I paid a shop to do mine and it cost about $200 Cdn. Well worth it as the shop said the rotors are super hard to cut and they did a great job. You will also need to add a 5mm spacer under the AZC rotor hat in order to bring the rotor in line with the caliper. Too tight: Just right!: Mounted:

Step 1: One great feature of this kit over the AZC system is you don’t need to disassemble the rear wheel bearings in order to mount the adapter plate. Remove the AZC plate and bolt on the Silvermine adapter. Mine were powder coated black before install. Then bolt the plate onto the hub. You will need to install longer wheel studs at this point too. I ordered the 60mm M12x1.25 studs with 12.9mm knurl from RT Trackpro. https://responsetype.com/product-category/datsun/fairlady-z/ This will account for the new offset required to match the AZC rotors.

Like many people, I fell in love with the performance brake system from Arizona Z Car. The Wilwood brakes are great. I spoke at length with Dave from AZC and he promised me a working park brake solution (required to pass inspections here) for the kit “in a couple of weeks... I ordered the front and rear setup and patiently waited for the park brake solution. It never appeared. Two years of waiting and almost monthly calls and emails always ended up with “another two weeks”... At this point I became fed up with waiting and set about to find my own solution. After dealing with Silvermine Motors on some other key pieces, I noticed that Edan had developed a similar system for the rear brakes. I contacted him and ordered a set of his custom adapter plates and a set of the park brakes along with the custom park brake cable and stainless brake lines. There are a couple steps to modifying the AZC system to fit but the end result is a functional park brake on the AZC system!

The AZC system usually doesn’t include ebrakes or park brakes. Curious if it does.

Oh yeah, it’s all good. I have come too far to stop now. It was just a disappointment. I will fix the doors and then, just like the crappy quarters, it will all be water under the bridge.

I know. I emailed them a couple of years ago and they basically told me they don’t care about the Canadian sales. Everything is done in US dollars so they see the benefit of the low Cdn dollar and the swings of the currency. Too many Canadian companies are doing this and it makes me angry. One of the few that advertises in both currencies is BQuiet sound deadener products out of Lethbridge Alberta. Their site is in both US and Cdn dollars and they ship in Cdn dollars too.

Every day brings a new chapter in the history of this Z. Today I began tear down of the driver door. I quickly discovered that the door had seen some major repairs at some point in its life. The lock and door handle assembly had been welded in from a donor car along with some new metal along the bottom of the door. The poor metal repair resulted in some heavy body filler sculpting again.... almost half an inch thick in places. The door glass roller was broken, the regulator was bolted in with wood screws, the jagged metal of the speaker hole, the missing vapour barrier and resulting goo everywhere... I lost the desire to continue in the hot sun. I put my tools away for today and I will tackle it again another day. Very disappointed to see that much work needing to be done to make this door useable again. Oh well.... No pics today. I was too disgusted to look at it any more.