datsunfreak

Everything done, just a last mockup to triple check clearances. Caliper clears everything by a fair bit, it's perfectly centered on the rotor, and the pads stop right at the edge of the rotor. Good clearances between rotor and hub, and it looks like the wheel will have plenty of clearance as well. If everything goes smooth, it will all be on the car next week. Then it's on to making the back brakes a little cooler too... 😉

FYI, this was a typo. It's 43". Still a lot shorter than a 510, but nowhere near as short as a 240Z. 😄

FWIW, it's still not short enough, due to the 1200 having a 5" shorter wheelbase, and this having a long-tail 5spd. Center section on this will be 33", which is about halfway between a 510 and a 240Z. Also, I have spent the last 6+ months looking for a 510 driveshaft and cannot find one. 😄 The best I could find was the front 1/3 of one, which yielded enough bits to build our own with serviceable joints. This very one, in fact. I found this pic on google just to use as an example, then later realized the pic was from a live ebay auction... 😆

Got the final version of the caliper brackets cut, just need to do some finish work on them. Got the hubs cleaned, painted, and new ARP 2.5" studs pressed in... I think I am ready to install the struts on the car now, so that comes next. Then get the new brakes on and plumbed, then it's on to the rear disc conversion... 👌

Engine longevity is key, that's the reason for the higher octane (and a slightly fat tune). To run this much timing advance with a more aggressive cam, and keep detonation to zero, it's just safer to run the highest ocatane available. And we will never run all 8 plugs on this or any other Z20/Z22. 😉

Funny, I've only seen one that was still running it, in an old Datsun at least. Most vehicles that came stock this way stayed this way, but usually when you swap a Z20/Z22/Z24 into an older car like a 510 or 1200, most people convert to an L20b dizzy and just run one set of plugs. We typically run 12-14 degrees, and a more aggressive cam. But we also live somewhere that 93 octane fuel is available at every pump, and some stores sell as high as 95 octane. I wouldn't recommend running that much advance if you don't.

I had it pegged at 24 hours, so he's slipping a bit... This engine has been a 4 plug engine since 1980 when it rolled off the assembly line. About 30 years ago we replaced the stock 4-plug head with an 8-plug head that had been ported and cammed for better perfomance, and we had simply filled those superfluous holes with dummy spark plugs. All we did was switch from the dummy spark plugs (that had never fired even once) with something more appropriate (and more resistant to detonation).

We are in need of a part that we cannot find. If anyone reading this has a spare driveshaft (even if it's junk) for a 240Z/260Z/280Z, 610, 710, 620, 510, whatever, we need part of it for this car. It doesn't matter what year it's from, or what engine, it just needs to not have staked in u-joints, and it can't be from a 1200/B210/B310 (uses a smaller joint). I have 3 of the 4 pieces needed to build a "new" driveshaft, but the 4th piece we need is the yoke from either end of the tube. Looks like this:

But with better steering/header clearance and the proper clutch pedal height. 😉

And would result in either an uninstallable tie rod, or a bent one on the first dip in the road. And probably result in a broken ball joint the first time we took it down a bouncy path. The other issue that needed fixing was that due to the angle of the control arm, the ball joint was acting as our droop limiter. This is not a good thing. Moving the arm angle down gave us much more leeway here, enough that the ball joint should not be the limiter of droop now.

Picked up a set of BC Racing coilovers from a friend. They only had about 3k miles on them when I pulled them out (car was totalled in the rear), but they've been in storage for a bit... Removed the lower threaded tube, and replaced the 400lb springs with 200lb springs... Took the lower tube and welded it onto a 280ZX strut... They fit the car nicely now, but the stock 280ZX brakes looked kinda wimpy inside a 16" wheel, so thought I'd try an ugpgrade... Got some 300ZX rotors (11" vs 10" for the 280ZX), and made an adapter bracket... To mount a Brembo from a Subaru BRZ... That bracket was a temp, mainly to use as a drill guide in case I ever want to make more. I'll make a pretty/slimmer one for the final install, as well as clean and paint all this stuff. Definitely looks better with this behind the 16" wheels. Will post a pic once it is together for good.👌

I was at a local music/food festival, and it seems they had an impromptu lowrider car show there. Some pretty neat stuff, if you're into it...

FWIW, if you can find an SR bellhousing (actually front half of case), you can reuse 90% of your KA transmission. That's what I did when I swapped my S13, and it worked just fine. Swapping it over was pretty simple, too.

Now that the seats are back in, I could finish a few things on the front half. Dug the kick panels out of storage, but noticed one of them had a crack in it... Decided the simplest fix was to line the inside with 2-3 layers of aluminum tape... Filled the front side with epoxy, then painted it... Got that installed, thankfully it's the passenger side so it won't see much abuse. Also, driver side painted and in... Finally re-installed these two trim pieces to give the dash a more completed look. Yes, I see the dirty fingerprint, and yes it wiped off, and yes the column needs the paint touched up... 😄 Other side, had to add a screw since the HVAC controls are no longer there to hold it in place... And where I left it. I think this is all we are doing to the inside, so updates to this thread may become very infrequent. 😁 Door scuff plates should be here in a week, though, so may post a few pics of that. Still waiting on him to get the exaust done so we can give it a proper shakedown drive.