NZeder

This was first post a few months ago on other forums - I believe a reporter actually followed up on this "barn find" he apparently tracked down the guy that took the pics. The story the reporter found out was something like this. "The story is that the guy that collected all the cars was a car saleman or yard owner and every car that come into the yard that he liked he took and put in this shed for storage (add to the collection)" I am not sure if they were paid for or as someone has stated just taken "The guy posted this story about a barn find to see how much interest there would be in such a story and told the guy that took the pics to keep the location secret" I believe this might have been to see if anyone would be interested in the cars - I can't recall the full story as I read it sometime ago on another website - I will see if I can find the link to the site that talks about the truth behind the "Barn Find"

What about some nice street fins these too are Japanese and period correct see attached pic for what the rim looks like - I will see if I can find a pic of these on a zed.

There are some new ones for sale here in NZ see http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=115885876

I recall reading an article years ago about when the 240z was first launched. The press were invited to a track, along with John Morton of the BRE team (I think it was John might have been another race driver of the day). The journo's got to drive stock 240z around the track. Then the fastest press member was given the chance to drive the BRE (or whatever fully spec'ed 240z racecar was there that day) around the track with John in the stock car following/racing against. Anyway the result was the racecar driver was faster in the stock 240z vs a good driver in the race prep 240z. So spend your $$ on your driving skills first as you get to keep these even if you sell your zed or whatever car you have.

Gavin - Alan would be upset with you using Series I and the like as this is more a US thing. You see in the RHD I assume due to different country regulations we don't really have real cutover from one version to the next. I have seen a car with a build number 1350 ish with all the US series I stuff and then I have see a car with 1200 ish with a mix of Series I and II. So I can only assume on the RHD cars part were used up as required and it might have depended on which production line the car came off as what parts were used (as in what was still in the parts bins etc) I think in the US due to regulations there are cut off/changes of the Series I to II due to federal law changes that required the cars be at X standard. So this would leave all the Y parts to go into spares or used on other cars for other markets ie ours and hence the reason we don't have real cut over between the types. Anyway that is one take on the subject. So will you cover just the RHD Australian Spec cars or are you looking to do UK spec, AU spec, General Spec (that is NZ as our cars were slightly different again) and don't forget all the JDM spec....

I have set of the EFIHardware and I just need the body of the car back so I can put these in - don't hold your breath as the car is a long term project (10 years now) so one day I will get it going and put a sound clip/video on for you all.

Excellent stuff - can't wait to see them fitted with rubber and on the car

doh.....brain fade again

But why - These rims a make in South Australia - just the only site I could find with pics and specs of the new Performance Wheels Superlite GTR happened to be a US site - Performance Wheels have not replied to any of my email as yet - I think I will have to get on the phone next week and see if I can get more info from them directly.

Nah locally made Arrow wheels - problem is they look good but the clearance for brakes is just crap - even the stock brake calipers had to be ground down to miss the bolts for that hold the 3 pieces together and these are 16" rims (I assume they use the same centre for 14", 15" and 16" with different shells - however these are very old rims as in 80's and they now make different size centre for different size rims) See there website http://arrowwheels.co.nz/ - I like the arrowlite but they are not cheap.

Well they are like ArizonaZcar but they are from JSK see http://www.autobrakeworks.com/datsun.htm Juan was good to deal with. This way I could get all the heavy stuff locally. So that is what I am doing on the fronts. The rears a different - I am working on a hybrid conversion using falcon and commodore parts so it will be a dics with a drum in hat hand brake - once I get it sorted I will post a pic and what I had to do in the brakes section - as I am not in a hurry I am still waiting for the rotors to be re-drilled.

Ok I found the answer to the superlite gtr question. see http://www.packracingproducts.com/acatalog/15__GTR_Wheels.html So the GTR is a light version - cool I will be ordering a set once I know what size I need to clear my 12.2" rotors (310mm) and calipers.

Just visited performance wheels site and on the superlite page they have a pdf that you can download - it shows that 17" are on the way also they have a new rims coming "Superlite GTR" they don't have a pic but it would be good to know what these look like maybe they are more like the RS Watanabe style? Time will tell.

Does anyone know if the 15x8 (8 spoke) will clear a brake setup like the ArizonaZcar.com setup ie 12.2" rotors and wilwood superlite calipers - total clearance required is 13.8" - anybody got any and want to take a measurement?

S30 = Chassis design or general model code if you like. But a S30 then the body/chassis number = Fairlady Z = JDM model = 2000cc HS30-xxxxx = H=L24 = 240z or Fairlady 240z (depends on the market ie Japan = Fairlady 240z) RS30-xxxxx = R =L26 = 260z or Fairlady 260z (however all Fairlady 260z were meant to be recalled, have the L26 carbed engine replaced with L20aE EFI engines - the chassis were restamped to S31-xxxxx = Fairlady Z) GRS30-xxxxxx = G = 2+2 (long wheels base) R=L26 =260z 2+2 This is just the basic info - and back then Nissan did not have the chassis code to show if the car was a Auto, Manual, factory ZG model etc.

our kiwi dollar is at a record high too so I was so tempted that I have ordered a set from Dave aka ArizonaZcar - I should have them here in the next week or two (depend if customs what to take a look see and charge me fees)

The only problem is that I think the smallest offset they make is +10 - this is from the NZ importer (http://www.work-wheels.co.nz/) when I emailed them about these rims. So at 16 or 17x8 and +10 = you will need coilovers and at only 8" wide they will fit stock fenders - I know this as my new 240z has 16x9 and they fit stock fenders and stock spring perches - the rubber does have a stretch look - 225/45/16 This is the email reply I got (price in NZD includes shipping and GST which is 12.5% in the land of the long white cloud) Brakes details form to fill in as attached. 16 Meister S1 2pc 16x8 +10 is the smallest offset available. 4 pcs $2,980 delivered to you You see for me the rims on the 240z look great but it has stock brakes (ok for now) and in the future I want to run much much larger brakes so I will have to change the rims so with rims, rubber and brakes it is at least a $5K job if I go with these nice looking Work rims

Now don't forget that Nissan Japan did homologate two type of ZG Flares the standard ones you see every and that were fitted to the HS30-H (ie real ZG road cars) and the ZG Overfenders known as the B flares there were much much wider and can be seen on the Nismo S30 see here for a pic.

Here is a pic of a 260z (well actually a Fairlady Z ie was L20aE power now L28e powered) and it has the performance 16x7 rims on it. So I think the photo of the orange 240z is Panasports before performance released the 16 as that photo is not new I recall seeing it on another zed site about 3/4 years ago and I don't think performance wheels had the 16's then.

Guys I email the team at SpeedHut.com about their gauge faces. here is the reply So there you go they can do them in km/h or both if you like just $10 USD extra which is not too bad. The stock pricing is $89.95 USD + shipping.

these have been list on the yahoo auctions before - many times before. I think I first spotted these over 1 year ago so at 40,000 yen I guess even the locals think it is too pricey. if you check the guy who listed these you will see he has a heap of early Nissan NOS parts ie Z stuff, Skyline, etc. They will get sold one day when someone wants them bad enough

I know of the link - and I believe he has now changed his site so you can't see those pics/write-up from outside of Japan now What he had done was this. Used a Subie backing plate the none R180 rear end units which have the 190mm internal drum setup but the one that share the same size internal drum as the Nissan's 174mm. Then he machined up a 8mm spacer that was pressed onto the 260z stub axles before the first bearing thus pushing the stub out 8mm = clearance for the 63mm hat of the R34 rotor - can you tell I have done a fair bit if learning reading - research on this topic :wink: Anyway his result was a internal drum setup using a redrilled nissan R34 rotor and the subie backing plate (not sure got lots in the translation but he may have replace the subie backing plate when he upgraded to this setup as his first setup did not require the spacer or have a vented rotor) but the result was a 297mm by 18mm vented rotor with the required 68mm center hole for spigot location and a 63mm total hat offset. So I started from there but my setup does not currently involve a spacer behind the stub axles as I did not like the idea if you look at the shape of the stub axles it has places the bearing to seat but you have now moved these 8mm away = 8mm less lock down of the nut etc. My engineering side of me just said there has to be a different setup and there is. But as I stated this is still in development so I don't want to give too much away at this point in case it is wrong then other waste time and $$ on parts. But as stated it is so far a very simple engineering task and using common parts here in NZ and AU = all good for us. More to follow in the coming weeks I am just trying to get the rotors sorted now once I do and test fit I will begin to let the cat out of the bag with photos etc (which I have not taken yet) Regards Mike EDIT: Just spend some time looking over the drum specs and the common rear disc conversions and you will soon see the problem. But most rear disc conversions on the zed involve a caliper with handbrake build-in and either 280zx (series II), R31 or 300zx rotors (4 stud = no machine work) all of these have 47mm hats. Now the stock drum has a total height of 67mm (this includes the dust lip) the stock backing plates are not flat either they move back form the mounting face to make room. Now the path I am heading down looks like (on paper to all work out fine give or take 0.5mm = the drum dust lip can be machined down this far if need be) it will work out fine. Now I am sure other parts might have been used with the same result but I went this way other might find different solution but we will not know until someone tries it :wink: Enough of that for now - sitting on my PC does get this done any sooner - time to go out to the garage again and do some more measuring and tinkering.

Sorry checking DBA catalogues shows that the R31 your local or imported models be they GTS or not have the 260mm by 10.5mm with 47mm total hat = small not much improvement over the drums with good pads/shoes. R32's run a bigger rear at 297 x 18 vented with 63mm hat these have an internal drum for the handbrake that is 172mm in size. The problem is keeping the internal handbrake drum with this setup as with the 63mm hat you run out of room for the internal drum backing plate mounting - well with some engineering it could work and in fact I believe Stewart Wilkins Motorsport is working on a solution for this setup on the rear of a zed. Can you tell I have been looking into this stuff too - I have a plan and once I complete the test fitting etc I will post a write up on the setup I will be moving to. But lets say this - so far it has been a simple process and the plan is to the following size rear brakes. 302mm x 22mm vented with an internal drum in hat handbrake setup that has the cable in the factory location (still working on the leaver setup not sure if I will change the leaver of the donor brake parts or have my hand brake cable ends remade or make a conversion plate thing) also the chosen rotor is from a new model car so I am still waiting for the aftermarket rotor manufacture to release the product....June is what I have been told....

Hell yes for just a crank the going rate is around the $150-250 mark (depends if you have to purchase the whole bottom end too). A going LD28 goes for $250-500 with most up the higher end of that number for a runner = a lot less than what he is asking. Shipping will be the killer when they are 22KG just for the crank without packing etc.