NZeder

I have those speedhut gauges also - can't wait to get the car back and install these as they look classic but with modern internals etc and the fonts are close to the original look also. How easy was it to install in the standard location?

Ok from a non Ozzie - Australian Ford or Australian Holden (GM) = still a taxi not matter which side you of the fence you are on. Now if we are talking Ford vs GM then that is a different ball game as a lot of different countries and marques come into play. But if looking at just the GOD DAMN land then I would be Ford for a few reasons (which I might keep to my self or not) For the FORD are cars like pre 70 Mustangs, T-Birds, Coupes, Shelby Mustangs. Then the US and UK + Others working together to create cars like the GT-40, AC Cobra's and Cobra Daytona's For GM.....I do find it hard...50's vettes, and the original split window vette, the first stingray....the 350 V8 engine and the aftermarkets support for these....and that is about it from me. So that is my take on it - if it is Ozzie = good company car or taxi so who in the right mind would pay over $100K for a taxi? I just don't get it yes they might be a special model and the like but come on I would not sink all my hard earned $$ into a (when new) HSV GTS-R aka a 2 door taxi with a few HSV bits and a large Chev engine. Purchase something with racing heritage/history yes, a off the shelf car produced in large numbers (ie over a few 1000) with no history for over $100K no. Now NZ has no local car manufacturing anymore and I can say when this went away along with the import tariffs Euro cars are still no cheaper and in fact we have limited selection with only the base models here and usually at might higher prices after you work out the $$, Taxes and shipping cost would be better to import your self but then you have other red tape and issues if a new car and a model not sold in NZ or AU ie does it conform to the safety standards etc. So in part it is good to have a local car manufacturing industry as there will be a larger number of smaller business that also support these, exhaust shops, brakes (just look at PBR and were they have come from and what the have purchased and invented over the years..good on you Ozzies for that one ) When the car manufacturing was shut down here in NZ (no NZ brands just Toyota, Mazda, Ford, Nissan etc assembly plants) lots of supporting industries went away or off shore ie seat makers, glass manufactures, exhaust manufactures and warehouses, tyre companies cut production and I think there is now only one left. So if you can keep them you should as it will put a lot of people out of work = on the dole = you will pay for it with more taxes etc maybe you get a better car that is imported (ie not the Ozzie Friday Afro special that come out of Ford and Holden, and the other locally assembled cars, from time to time when the boy's just want to get to the pub)

cool - so maybe both are cars will be finished some time this year. ZG light cover good ness I have a few of those too

No the RX8 ones I still have and they are short - nice and short but still long enough for almost full operation. The BA units are just slightly longer = hard to get on thats for sure but work just the way I want.

http://www.370z.com.au/ I hate sites that don't work in FireFox forcing me to start IE

I will look into that one - I know the one I found that was the 432 unit looks to be substituted by most after-market suppliers with the zed unit as this is common on a number of Datsun from the 70's. But worth a look.

Well long time no update not a lot to report really been busy at work - global recession has not hit us yet (however just been to the NZ sales conference and had one of the bean counters from Head Office explain to the sales guys, I was there upgrading their Notebook only time they are all together at one time, how they should be improving the terms of sales so we don't have to have such large delays before goods are paid for....long story short below) Improve Sale payment one option. Our sales are you purchase X stock for Y $$ you receive Z $$ rebate. This does encourage sales but does not improve the payment terms/delays after the sale. So the beanies have said we should move to the old setup we used to run that is. You purchase X stock for Y $$ and you receive Z % discount when paid within 30-60 days (whatever term you want) Anyway the idea is you get the $$ sooner = you don't have to borrow $$ to cover stocks valve before they are paid for = XXX savings PA on interest. So back to the zed sort of - on a side note the Targa team I pit crew for here in NZ recently did a weekend Targa with the car (BMW E36 Evo 3.2L = not much work for us pit crew, bleed brakes, check fuilds, clean screen and check tyre terms/remove stones and maybe change the pads if the driver/owner is not happy) and the new 6 speed sequential worked like a charm, once the leaking hydraulic release bearing was fixed only the day before. So were was I that's right we finished 3rd in our class. Ok here is what I have done on the zed before work got busy and the targa. I had this idea of not using the stock tension rods/springs on the bonnet hinges for the following reasons. 1. They were not working that well with my G-Nose hinges and the bonnet would fall down hard as they could not cope anymore 2. I did not want to use them due to number 1 above. 3. see number 2. 4. I wanted a solution that would work and work well. So my idea was to use some gas struts/springs like most modern cars. This would fix my issue and hopefully give me the ability to place the bonnet in any location and have it stay put. Now remember this is for a G-Nose hinge setup. I first took a look at the RX-8 boot struts/springs and they were a good length but after mounting this up it was found they did not have the correct force to hold the bonnet up. So I purchased some BA falcon replacement struts from evilbay for $15 AUD + shipping ie about $50 NZD all up. I mounted these up - again in prototype form ie bolted. Different angles and locations were tried. Some were chosen for easy of installation/removal of the bonnet however these locations put the struts at wrong angle resulting in too much force = pop the bonnet and it would open all the way and was hard to close. So I currently have a setup that allows me to place the bonnet in any location and it holds good and true. Due to different prototype setups I now have a few holes to weld up on the radiator support panel and lower panel. Then I will mount up the brackets once and for all. The only issue is that I have to replace the lower bonnet bolt with a bolt that has a 10mm ball on the end for the strut to connect to = a little more of pain to get the bonnet on and off as this has a 13mm head were as the normal bolt is 12mm. Anyway once all this is complete I will get some pics and post up here. Now also while I was working on the car I took my spare RB25/26 engine combo (future rebuild project or sell of as parts....see how the $$ go) and installed these so I could check clearance etc. My aim was to ensure everything would clear fine. Well I did find an issue - my long long trumpet were fowling on the clutch master cylinder so a new master cylinder was called for. So I check if my short series tilton MC would work.....no the line comes out of the end of the cylinder = too close to the trumpets - might work but will be very very close = might not get aircleaners on. So time to hit the interweb again and look for a suitable MC. I thought I have found one the MC from a Toyota AE86 this was straight up and down MC and the line exited from the right (when looking from the front of the car back at the firewall) so I purchased one of these from the local REPCO only to find out that the line would exit right were the accelerator mounting bracket was (remember I have a 260z 2 seater shell so this is like the 73+ shells and this welded on).....ahhh....should have stuck with the L6 after all......too much $$ to turn back now. So I got hold of a parts manual for the Fairlady Z 432 and took a look at how their setup was around this area. Back to the internet this time looking at pictures of 432 and 432-R engine bays around the linkages and clutch areas. It was then I noticed that some looked to have a different MC one that was shorter. Looking looking researching and more researching resulted it was too hard to located the correct parts and would require firewall mods again ie removal of the welded on accelerator bracket for the bell crank, then I would have to see if the 432 parts were still available from Nissan which might not be a goer anyway (I have yet to check but I will anyway). So I was now back to looking for a clutch master cylinder that was short ie 80mm long on the firewall side without a side exit line connector. So armed with my AE86 clutch cylinder I went and visited a clutch and brake shop, family owned business which have been helpful to others in the past with these type of issues. After the guy when out to the store room and back several times each time bring back something different or odd shaped he finally returned with a dusty box that contained a MC that was the same length as the AE86 unit but it had the line exiting on the top just behind a remote pipe connection for a remote located bottle. The only issue was it was not a straight up and down mounting. I thought who cares I will just make a plate to mount it - it would work and that is what I wanted. So I picked up this unit for $50 dust and all - it again was a Toyota unit and interweb research later told me from what model. So I now have made up a new adaptor plate to mount this new clutch cylinder to the firewall and this will be spot welded on the car the next time the welder hits the body work (this weekend I hope) and I took my 4 year old son with me so he now has a hand in the car as he filed the sharp edges off the new clutch bracket for me. As stated above I will get pics next time I visit the workshop. And maybe in the next week or two I will have news on the rear DIH (Drum in Hat) handbrake setup I have in development (again currently only a one off and if it works I might consider doing a small run if the number are there and others like the idea/design)

Nice rims looks like Performance Wheels SuperLite GTR version aka racing version = lighter weight which they need to be as I think they should be called superheavies. I tried to order some here in NZ when they first came out in 16x8 but agent could not get them or some BS so I got the Rota RB-R from the US in 16x8 - shame would have been good to support a local vendor.

not bad - looks like a US 280z. I have seen a few zed this colour here in NZ

that is funny given that in 1970 the FairladyZ 432-R aka PS30SB left the factory with a black bonnet so you could say current as in from 1970-2009 it has always been in

I have a 245/45/16 on a 16x9.5 - here is the stretch - order of rims/tyres = rear, rear last is the front one furthest away Sizing are 245/45/16 on 16x9.5 -19 RS Watanabe for the rear and 225/50/16 on 16x8.5 - 6 RS Watanabe for the front The rears from the rear

You sure about that number I can only find reference to a JB1419 for a 77-79 Patrol and listed as 25.40mm aka 1" here is pic of the JB1419 for reference also Also on this site there is a post of the JB1419 partnumber as the 1" MC for the Patrol see http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,1639.msg21181.html#msg21181

That is a yes and no answer - yes to one version and no to another. I can't recall which is which but one is not a straight bolt on, I can't recall which it is a Series I (79-82) or a Series II (82-83)

off topic guys and you have more sheep than us. But what is up with the brown/red colour they are our girls are nice and white

200RWKW is doable my last 240z 3.2l had 186RWKW and I know of 3.0 with more not bad for triple carb cars either, with no EFI in sight or large cam's either I might add.

Cool thanks for the pic

Do you have discs on the rear? If so look for Lurch's post about removing the line pressure valve from the rear circuit this will stop the rears from having too much bias due to the 10lbs of pressure already in the line (require for drums)

hmm do you have a more direct side on shot - I have always thought that I would not want to go 17" as I think the car might end up with a wagon wheel look. But with these rims in RB-R 17x9 and 17x9.5 I might have to reconsider and have 17" as my backup to my RS Watanabe in 16" maybe I should look more at Toecutter 17" and maybe next time I am in Melbourne give you guys more notice so I can see some of these in the flesh etc.

yep he has through en a few ideas around before today too ie could a MX5 Double A-Arm setup be made to work in the S30z chassis etc. In the end this working progress RXZ front suspension is under development

That is a big investment with the $$ the way it is currently (well the NZ Passo that is, we are under $.50 to the USD ) I think if that was to happen I would be happy with just 1 size not a staggered sizing. So with that in mind if this was to happen I vote for the following 16 x 9 -15 in the RB-R style I know RS Watanabes are -13 but the -15 will give a little more lip and for those with stock spring perches a bit more room too and move the lip more to the outside of a ZG Flare. This will allow for the fitment of 245/45/16 on all 4 corners or if you want the stretched look 225/45 or 225/50 as I know a 225/45 will fit on a 9" rim as this is what I had on my 240z when I had the 16x9 arrow rims on it.

Yes that would be nice, like having RS Watanabes but a lower price per rim I would be keen on that would be nice to have 2 sets of rims but my one set of RS Watanabes in 16x8.5 and 16x9.5 killed the rim budget a long time ago. This does of cause rely on tyre manufactures still marketing/making the 245/45/16 which I hope the do given they were standard fitments on some cars

I little old and late to this thread but I might just point out that the redrilling for mounting behind the zed hub (as in like the stock setup) need to be 103mm PDC not 114.3 like the wheel. See the attached tech drawing of a 260z Rotor

a wise move though as the Z32 alloy ones flex a lot this is why even Nissan replaced the alloy ones with the iron units on the last of the Z32's

I can't help either as I have not get that far and I will be using a after market ECU also. I too am going to remove the fusible links replace with fuses when I install the relays for the ECU, Fuel Pump etc I did once see an article on a US Zed Club site on how to replace the fusible links with a more modern fuse setup. I will see if I can find it again.......searching now......found it http://www.zcarcreations.com/howto/maxifuse.htm

Yes but the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the cars