dorifticon

About a month ago someone reversed into the front of my GTR with a towball and has seriously dented in my (aftermarket) intercooler. Luckily it hasn't punctured but it has still seriously deformed several of the tubes, which clearly can't be good for flow. so yeah, I can relate.

I highly recommend them as a car. My current power output could have been achieved much more cheaply, however it should become clear if/when I do a follow-up article why so much excess capacity was built in to the "phase I" mods.

Hey everyone Just thought I'd put up a post about my feature article in Autospeed on my r32 GTR, which also represents my first byline! Please support it by rating it (rating key down the bottom). And post up here what you think, I'm keen to know! Andrew http://www.autospeed.com.au/cms/A_111537/article.html

LOL cheers. BTW, I have the same handle on sau, I think my build thread is (for some reason) in the general forced induction performance section. Gives a blow-by-blow of the story so far. Also, there will be an Autospeed article in a week or so...

Well, seeing the pristine examples of zeds on display and then comparing them to my ratty interior and unpresentable engine bay has "motivated" (read: shamed) me into wanting to do some more work to my car.

cool.

So it is looking like we could have up to 6 zeds at this thing? That would be pretty wicked.

what is beforehand? Like, it is a pretty early start, right? Sometimes I am a bit, erm, "under the weather" on sunday mornings...

Hate to burst your bubble, but I reckon 98 per cent of people that see one wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 200zr and any of the other nissan sports coupes released between '85 and '95.

I ended up throwing a new set of pads in my current solid rotor setup. Car is back on the ground, and sitting a bit lower - not in the weeds, but lower. Can still fit a couple finger-widths between the front tire and top of guard. Took her for a drive, thinking the ride might be harsh, but having working dampers in there actually makes for a nicer ride. The new bushes have also removed all the squeaking and rattling. Makes no difference since it will just be sitting there but oh well. At least it won't look like a damn SUV.

I have finished putting all my new suspension/bushes into the zed, and was planning on upgrading to vented discs but could just pad-slap the existing solid rotor setup to get it back on the road. 22 November should be achievable. Will liaise with peoples closer to the day to organise stuff and things.

Logically, I should hate it, but for some reason I just can't. Although, I don't understand how the back wheels work relative to the guard flares - it looks like they're touching, when it hits a bump how does it not rip off/smash the rear quarter?

yeah, so that is much cheaper than mine at AUD$280 landed, but remember the dollar was only 82 or 85c or something. As I said, mine didn't have end links but I did get steering coupler, as well as steering rack bushes. Your rear sway bar mount bushes (the square shaped ones with round holes) look the same as mine, but the front ones (the D-shaped items) seem to have 4 items - so there is either 4 mounts, or they are some kind of 2-piece item. But in any case, if your existing bushes are as flogged out as mine were, it will be a worthwhile investment of time/money.

Dude, I dunno what help lube mobile is going to be... With mine, I didn't get to use all my bushes, because (it's a 260z) there is a particular issue with getting the spindle-pin out of the rear A-arm. In the end I decided that it was more trouble than it's worth. I don't know if there are similar problems with the 280, but being a 30 year-old car I suspect similar issues in terms of bolts and stuff being seized are going to arise. Your main issue is not going to be sorting out where the bushes go, but separating all the components. So, you will need to make sure the car is really, really securely raised up in the air, with a lot of redundancy in the jack stands, jacks etc. Because you will, more likely than not, need to exert some fairly serious forces with a breaker bar and a good quality socket and extension set. Best of luck!

That's a good price for a nolathane bushing kit, roughly what mine cost from MSA and I didn't get sway bar end links (just the bushes). With the $AUD really strong now, it represents good value. In terms of matching up the bushes, it is intimidating when you open up the box of nolathane but once you get under the car you will find that the bushes can only sensibly go in one place. Mine had some labels but they were pretty vague (referred to things like c-arm, a-arm, etc etc), so I just put them where they fit.

So, overall my plan worked pretty well. I put 2 engine lifting points on the front of the motor, and took up the slack. Then I unbolted the engine mounts and lifted the motor up about 4-5 pumps (had to unclamp the fuel return line and the air intake but everything else basically had enough movement in it to raise the motor about 1.5 - 2 inches). That left me with heaps of room to undo the lock nuts and bolts holding the steering rack in. Once the brackets are out, there *should* be enough room to lift the rack enough to pull the bushes out, and put the new ones in. However, the particular bushes I had didn't have much 'give' in them. I couldn't get them wrapped around the actual rack assy sufficiently well to bolt back in place. Since I was doing other suspension work, I had the tie rods undone and the swaybar was pretty loose. So I swung the sway bar out of the way, undid the steering coupler and had just enough clearance to lift the entire rack out. I had to slot the bushes in place and then kind of stand on them to squeeze them in, but in the end it worked. But yeah, the time to do it is when the engine is out of the car.

HI mate I have nearly finished replacing all the bushes in my 260z 2 seater, so I may be able to help. Do you mean the steering coupler (round rubber deal with 4 holes)? Anyway if you have photos I may be of assistance. Andrew