260DET

Never found any for mine, the stock guards are already flared and i found the best thing was big wheels and tyres.

Hey all, there is no proper argument here unless I'm involved. And I'm not lol. On shipping costs from the US, what has developed is that a lot of US sellers are over charging us to make extra profit, this is a trend that has developed over the last few years. Ebay US have their own shipping programme which cuts costs considerably but not all sellers use it. The S30 community is lucky to have someone like Warren who had the foresight to buy up NOS which otherwise would have ended up dumped, as so much was. Complain all you want about his service but just remember if it wasn't for him looking ahead there would be no one to complain about.

Yes, a lot of it is about exclusivity or the lack thereof, that's human nature. As I've gone on about before, the S30 is intrinsically a valuable car with it's propensity to rust being the only negative. If any of us sat down to redesign it within the standards of the day I doubt that we would change much at all even in the detail, by the standards of today it's a pretty damn good car too.

Y'know if this involved, say, a Porsche dealer the conversation would be terminated immediately unless the caller was a established customer. And really this is the way it should be because in business there is no free advice, someone is paying for it in one way or another.

Gavin is right about the cheap axe Datsun market which fortunately has been changing now for a while in that Z parts are becoming valued similarly to those of other desirable cars. We can still see the remnants of this cheap attitude, cars abandoned out in the open with no care now coming up for sale as 'restorers', old rough and bogged repairs and so on. What has always annoyed me is that very few people saw the real value of these cars, they couldn't see past the $ prices and so valued them and others in accordance with how much certain 'prestige' cars and their parts cost. Unfortunately this attitude seems to have existed to some degree with the race cars, little value being placed on a car once it was finished as a racer. I always knew that S30's would see their day and am pleased to see this happening now. Keep it going boys, you can't lose.

Hear ye, hear ye, it is announced that the front end is completed, all the bits and tricks mentioned in past posts have finally come together to form a complete front end. When the brake booster comes back a start can be made on making up new brake lines. But for now the front guards can go on followed by the bonnet for latches and hinges and the custom aka home made nose for it's final shaping and fitting. Meanwhile the front end is celebrated with a pic.

A couple of things, firstly to keep the compound curved shape of the hatch glass I tried to get a replica moulded in acrylic over the glass like had been done with the 260. But no one would/could do it so I decided DIY. The pic shows the moulding setup, underneath the glass with the acrylic sheet on top was a gas space heater but without an enclosure it did not sufficiently heat all the acrylic evenly. With the help of a heat gun we did end up with the compound curved shape which ensures that the acrylic is permanently shaped and does not require support but it's not as nicely curved as it should be. Not up to my standards but it will work, just don't look at it closely. The second job finalised is the front ARB, a straight hollow bar splined each end for the arms and running in bronze bushed brackets much stronger than stock. The car will have no rear ARB combined with a stiff front ARB setup just like the 280ZX's.

Just keep in mind that the booster and MC are separate. Retro Z says that the boosters are the same so all you need now is a MC with the outlets facing to the left. I always trawl egay in these sorts of situations, pics.

Looked for a lighter aftermarket replacement a while ago and found nothing. Wonder if a Z31 one would fit? They don't lock though.

As a restorer rather than a parts car this looks good value to me.

If you luck out then try using something like a baseball bat, rotate the wheel and use it between the tyre and guard lip. Do it just a little bit multiple times, a heat gun used gently on the paint may stop it cracking.

It's pretty bad, lots of suspect panels let alone the visible rusty ones. Very few people would take on a project of that magnitude so it's a small market, $5k would be it wouldn't it?

If no one can help Peter I'd buy the wheel on the condition that it is as described and pick it up when you are able. If it's wrong then cancel the transaction, through ebay if necessary. Also ask any questions you have, most sellers I've found are helpful.

Yeh well Jason's L28 was fuel injected and I'd bet that with proper development it would have pushed out better power. But hardly relevant when talking carby comparisons.

Someone actually using their car instead of mucking around with it lol.

The Hoosier Speedster's will be an interesting try, in the US Hoosier are noted for building wide race tyres designed to perform on relatively narrow rims.

Manual setup would have been a lot cheaper and lighter but nothing is free including pedal pressure so for a car over say 8-900kg I think that a good boosted setup has advantages. The boosted setup on the 280ZX is great, nice feel and modulation, having to push too hard on the brake pedal dulls feel etc and is distracting. And all the new hi-po cars that can lap faster than I ever will have boosters. This is not to say that an unboosted system will not suit some, it gets to be a personal thing.

The longer ones will be handy if spacers are needed on the front, old ones will be pressed out and the new ones pressed in. I like to finish off by giving them a big whack with a hammer just to make sure that they are bedded right in.

Lots of little things getting done along with the usual transformation of details that are first thought of as straight forward but which turn into hair tearers, if you let them. Just one example, the brake booster. Given the new 6 piston front 4 piston rear brake setup a bigger master cylinder was obtained plus a Z32 na booster which needed longer attachment studs. Turns out no one in Brisbane including BHSS can recon it. After wearing out Google someone on the Z32 forum came up with a name so pics were emailed and he said he could do it. So it was posted off to Paul at Power Brakes (SA) P/L this arvo. The project is nearly at the stage where things can be attached permanently, the big picture is looking great, some things are turning out nice like the Registered Design front guard vents, see pic. One of the basic things which is pretty cool I think is that 10" rears and 9" front wheels fit within the stock guards which on the S2 Z31 are already flared, obviously for that purpose

I've ordered ten of the S459's and just thought that the info found out along the way might be handy for others. The price of studs from some sellers is ridiculous, Nice are relatively reasonable.

FYI The standard Nice studs (S462) are 37.6 long, the optional long studs (S4570) are 73mm long and twice as expensive. The S462's are a bit short for aftermarket mag wheels but the others are way too long. The Nice cattle dog lists the S459 at 53.3mm long, the knurled part is point one mm bigger, a bigger hammer

Welcome Zorm, seeing that the site is having a nap I'll mention what I've heard in passing and that is converting from one side to the other is a hell of a job and not worth doing if another body is available. I'd advertise the RHD stuff for sale, you may be surprised at the response you receive, and look for something that involves as little structural work as possible. That's about all I can offer, pretty sure that there has been at least one thread here on the topic.

And here is the inspection report on the 2+0.

The Japanese agent I had when buying and importing the 280ZX 2+0 was good, they took their time and finally found a decent one. Even so it had some rust (which I repaired) that did not appear on the inspection report, the thing was it had a really good two pack paint job that had to be ruined to do the repairs. Obviously buying through an agent you don't personally know is not the best way to buy a used car from anywhere but practically the better alternatives are not always available to a particular buyer. It would be interesting to know what the Japanese take on all this is eg do the locals get fooled too and if so what's their response? Must say the your shark analogy is an interesting one when talking about used cars and their dealers lol.

It does happen a lot, rust and Japan go together and in my experience tarting up rusty/damaged cars for sale seems to have reached an art form there. The reports only mention what's obvious on a visual inspection too.