mlc240z

thanks for the followup, Chris. can't wait to hear it.

very nice, Chris! flowmaster with 2.25 exhaust piping. did you put a resonator in or straight back to the muffler? if no resonator, do you get the 2500rpm 'drone'? how does the exhaust note change when she warms up, (quieter, throatier, louder, higher pitched)?

this is pretty simple mechanical work. i think it was about $60 for ball joints, about same for outer tie rod ends, didn't replace inners). $40 for tension rod kit and rubber (requires 2 rubber bushings). also replaced all other bushings with poly. if money's really tight, buy the individual bushings separately. but try to scrape together the money for the whole bushing kit. it was $155 from Summit racing and will save you lots in the long run. individual costs are about $90-100 for just the front end and steering. and when you finally get around to it, you'll have all the bushings for the rear on hand instead of spending another $100 individually. be forewarned, once you drop everything down to do the ties and ball joints, it's real easy to get the IMAW's and WIAI's. i replaced springs, struts, calipers, rotors, pads, bridge tubes, SS brake lines, repaint, refurb rack, etc because it was just all accessible anyway.

what was the question, again? oh yea, turning the big 5-0 in June.

paid $5000 in Sept of 2005. came with a spare engine, trans and 5 boxes of misc parts. thought i overpaid, but PO did the body and new paint (not great but enough to buy me time). i don't know bodywork and figured i would spend all my time and money on the mechanicals which i can handle. plus the fact the only Z's i could find on the east coast were crappy rust buckets. i've got some rust issues but so far a fairly solid base to start from.

sorry, Enrique. i couldn't help myself!

it goes faster if you take off the hat, but the whip comes in handy for those really 'tough' screws!! glad to hear it went well.

Mike, did you have to fabricate that air cleaner cover?

looks GREAT!! enjoy it.

what Arne said, although i found i didn't have to remove the glove box.

sorry Tony. you have to "save" it

Mohamed, sweet video! great exhaust sound, nice and "throaty" and YES, i still love the look of the nose on your Z. keep up the good work.

Bean, so the procedure would be the same as what i've heard (and done) for the fronts. snug bolts up handtight when raised to seat bushings, then torque to specs when car is down and full weight applied?

looks and SOUNDS great, Mike. what's the exhaust setup?

don't know if they are the original caps or not.

Arne, these are on mine and look similar. wasn't too crazy about them. PO also had slotted mags. but they are growing on me. center hole size is 3.25" as best I can measure. My fronts have screw on caps, the rears have push on.

to get the most HP out of that fart can, you have to put the type R decal on your Z.

new camera. haven't figured out how to shut flash off yet so it's a little washed out. shifter is p/n 32841-n3101

bought what i think was one of the last shift kits from Courtesy Nissan on 9/05 (p/n 99996-e3030) for $40. it took a couple of months to receive. this is supposedly the Nissan Competition shifter/bushings that will allow a type B 4spd to fit in an early Z without any tunnel trimming. haven't installed yet:( don't know if this just was a temporary shortage or if it's NLA.

definitely caliper sticking, or possible hose kinked. my cousin once did a break job on my father's car and kinked the right brake hose. pulled like a bitch to the left. untwisted caliper/hose all was well. think it thru, one side is grabbing, other side isn't. car will pull in the direction of the 'good' brake.

we aim to please.

here's a shot of one side of mine.

looks like something to act as a standoff or cushion for the scoop. is there a corresponding indent on the back of the scoop?

i bought one of those generic side mirror replacement sheets (about $10). plastic backed with reflective mirror silvering. did same template fabrication, used heat gun lightly to give it a curve. attached with epoxy. seems to do the job. replaced the felt with store bought felt pads cut to size. figured they'd build up condensation without them. i like the aluminum can idea tho. very ingenious and will hold the shape better than the plastic.

similar to an old woodworking tip of backing up the good piece of wood with a piece of scrap to prevent tearout of a drilled hole.