jmortensen

Mike, you're wrong. The cam towers are removable and replaceable and even swappable between heads. On the first cam swap I did I pulled the towers to swap the cam which is supposedly a no no. On the second I put internally oiled cam towers from a later head in my E31. When you put them on, just make sure that they go on straight. Spin the cam and make sure it moves freely after torquing the towers down. That's it. No big problems or hassle at all.

Is $50K the reserve or the start price? If you set the car to start at your reserve, and then pay ebay for a reserve price, that's not very smart. I would imagine his reserve price is higher. $75K or something. He was asking $100K before. It's a super clean build, but that doesn't justify the price. I agree with Stephen, the car is everything a very expensive Z should not be. Here is a previous Hybrid Z thread about it with lots of arguing over value: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/95696-so-did-you-guys-see-the-125000-s30-yet/

I think the stock cams are stamped A, B, C and so on. My bro-in-law probably has 20 cams, I'm sure he could dig you out an A or B or whatever you were looking for. Supposedly the C cam is the way to go, but it cam in the 260 so I don't know if it is legal for your 240. You can email him at MatM AT m2differentials DOT com if you are interested. He's near Sacto, so shipping wouldn't be too bad.

How much is the OS Giken gearset? $2000? ;-) That might be a very good option for the people struggling to find an option 2 box. The later ZX trans is a lot better and has much closer ratios than the 4 speed or the earlier 5 speed. It's not that "close ratio" in objective terms, but comparing to the early ones I'd much rather have the close ratio due to the big gap between 2nd and 3rd on the wide ratio. The 4 and early 5 speeds are really bad if you have a cammed engine with a narrow power band. The T5 has about the same gear spacing as the early 5 speed. You can get a graphic representation of all of this using the Datsun trans calculator tool here: http://webspace.webring.com/people/cz/z_design_studio/ Coincidentally, I ran an 80 trans with a 3.70 like Phil and never got out of 4th on the track. I didn't do it to avoid 5th gear, but maybe that was a lucky side effect of having the "wrong" gearing. I know it was hurting me at autox though.

Check zredbaron's threads on Hybrid Z. They're in the stickies.

I would suggest buying How to Modify Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine by Honsowentz and reading all the sticky threads in the Hybrid Z L6 forum here: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/forum/32-nissan-l6-forum/ If you're searching here pay attention to what Phred says too. Lots of info, but you have to find and read it.

We're pretty much the same age, I'm 35. Cutting springs is only a bad idea if you cut them with a torch or you cut them too much. Sounds like your 510 is set up pretty badly. If you're interested in making it better, you can take a look at this thread. Although it is about 280ZX suspension, they're pretty close and a lot of the ideas like raising the pivots translate just fine onto the 510. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/85166-s130-suspension-tech/ I'm not saying that I never did anything stupid with my cars or paid the price for my mistakes, I'm saying that this trend is stupid in many ways. It's compound stupid. But I'll leave it at that...

I won't go into another long rant about these kids wanting to be different just like everyone else or explaining how "aggressive stretched tires" are really aggressively slowing the car down, it's getting boring. I will say that I drove my Z at Buttonwillow with the ride height very low (but not that low) and it exhibited bumpsteer that would actually cause the car to do an emergency lane change type of maneuver over one particular rise in the track. The bumpsteer issue gets worse the lower the car goes, and at a level significantly higher than these stupid cars are at, my car was downright dangerous. There seems to be no regard for functionality with this group.

The rear camber kit will adjust toe as well. Put that in and you should be able to get it dialed in really nicely.

Here in the US the government subsidizes insurance for people who live in the flood plain of the Mississippi river. Pretty stupid place to live, but hey, if there's no consequences and you get a house full of new stuff every couple years... :stupid: If they are charging "standard" rates, I would guess it is by government mandate. Surely an insurance company would know better.

Probably true. There are 4 (I think) castings for the E88. One is exactly like the E31, the rest have larger chambers so lower compression. Problems with the E31 are that the coolant passages tend to corrode and they tend to crack between the valves. If those two things check out OK, I'd go with the E31.

I was going to say polishing compound and wax, but Dave's method works better if you have the time/patience/energy. Polishing compound is a little less coarse so you don't need as many steps afterward and you can do it by hand, but it won't do as good a job as his suggestion. Still, I've had a bunch of old 70's cars and polishing and then waxing gets most of them up to snuff if you're not super picky.

Mike, you're wrong about the cam towers. Olzed, it really isn't a fiddly job to put them back on. You just put them back on and when you install the cam spin it in the towers by hand just to be sure you have them aligned. I've done it a couple times. I installed a cam and changed the towers to run internal oiling then pulled the towers again to change to a bigger cam later. Even when I put the internal oil towers on my E31 head, it was no problem at all. Just bolt them up and spin the cam to make sure they're all aligned and that's it. Denny, run the same head if you don't want to screw with anything else on an L24 block. If you run a later head with bigger valves I think you need to eyebrow or notch the block. Not a big deal, but it is more work that you don't have to do if you stick with a stock head. Heads are pretty easy to come by and should run you somewhere between $50-$200 for a good take off head, more if you find one that has a valve job and is all ready to bolt on.

It's not a backlash clunk. That's the first thing people suspect and the last place to actually make noise. It's almost always bushings or the front mount. Search "diff clunk" and you'll find all kinds of info, including some really good fixes like the Ron Tyler diff mount.

If you look you'll find that Nissan Comp used to sell a pilot bearing as an option to the stock bronze bushing. My understanding is that the bearing is much more prone to failure than the bushing, and I would run a bushing whenever possible. FWIW I once got a clutch kit that had a bushing that had too small an ID on it and you couldn't slide it onto the trans input shaft. Solution was to go back to the auto parts store and get another bushing.

I like that guess. Front diff from a 4x4 explains the super low ratio and the output flanges. If that's what it is, the thing probably has next to no wear on it.

Looks like a 4 pinion open carrier. You can't fit 4 pinions through a window type standard carrier so they bolt it together. Is this a newer diff? I've seen R200s with 4 pin carriers like that out of newer models.

You can download the SCCA rulebook from their website for free. I suggest you do that before you buy anything. If you autox in stock or street prepared, strokers are not allowed, unless your club has an open street prepared class which is a catch all that basically allows anything on DOT legal tires. The Z is not competitive in stock and is tough to compete with in the SP classes. John Thomas has dominated F Prepared for a LONG time in his Z but the competitors are knocking on his door. X Prepared looks like it could be a viable option for a 4 cylinder turbo Z car. I'm building a V8 Z car for X Prepared and it probably won't be competitive, but it sure as hell will be fun...

Some claim to be able to check U-joints in the car, I never could. I have to take the halfshafts out to get a good idea on the U-joints. Swapping the diff is pretty easy. There's no big mystery there, just disconnect the shafts and mounts and pull it out and reverse procedure for the new one.

Don't put the gears in that diff. Put the LSD into the diff with the 3.90 gears. MUCH easier job. I did a write up on hybridz.org in the FAQ section.

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7AD1/50-1401

Light flywheels make the car a lot faster and make heel/toe downshifting a lot easier. They can be tough to drive if you have an engine that has no torque. I've driven an RX7 that was nearly impossible to get moving and also a 510 that was pretty difficult to get off the line. That said, they're EASY to drive in a Z car. I think the long crankshaft means you already have a lot of rotating mass there. I had a 12 lb in my car with triple carbs, big cam and exhaust and a heavier than stock clutch and drove it in stop and go traffic for a couple years, no problem at all. A friend of mine has a 10 lb in her car with SU's. Both are very easy to drive.

I played that game at a friend's house when we were about 12. We had no clue WTF camber and caster were and thought tires should always be set to 32. Needless to say we didn't have very much fun with that one.

I'm excited enough that I'll buy a PS3 to play it. Might need a wheel and pedals too. Up to now I've been using the controllers, which really makes it a lot harder. Top Gear track should be interesting too. Didn't know that was part of the new game. Cool!

Don't pull that to change the struts. Just disconnect the rear brake lines and swing the whole strut down out of the fender and put your spring compressor on right there. Do a search on "spindle pin" to see what you'd be up against pulling those pins out. It's a real PITA, and not necessary to replace the struts.