260DET

Custom fuel cell for the project Z, silicone is available in various diameters, proper fuel hose not so. Am thinking of general purpose silicone hose like is used for radiator and intake hoses.

Utter bollocks to you too lurcher, Jim Berry explained and showed me at his workshop what he did to increase clamping pressure and reduce pedal effort, the simple fact is that among other things he changes leverage. There is no magic involved, if you disagree then enlighten us all. He does a good single plate as do DCS but in my experience the sprung centre twin plate Exedy is nicer to use and more durable. And more expensive.

To reduce pedal effort on a big single they adjust the mechanical leverage rate but as the clutch wears it can lose that effect, I found that big singles wore pretty quickly too. The last clutch I used was an Exedy twin with sprung centres, it was really nice to use and with a much bigger total surface area did not wear anywhere near as quickly. I liked the slight clutch rattle at idle, race car!

Some early US import numbers mentioned near the bottom of this page http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/36255-1970-scca-runoffs-artilcle-with-pictures/

The S30 and 911 are similar in concept. both about the same size, both practical daily driver two door sports coupes. But to me that's about where the similarities end so it would be interesting to know if there were further intentions on the part of Nissan.

Asked the vendor why 8620 steel instead of one of the alternatives. The response was noncommittal.

Bundy and Coke for a mid lap reviver?

The thing with modifying a car is that you want to spend as little as possible on buying the subject so the way things are now it's unlikely that anything which could be considered original will be within the suitable price range. Which is why, as I said before, it's good that prices are rising and Zeds are not now being treated as disposible consumables. About bloody time.

Agree with Gavin about the few truly original cars bringing premium prices, that's a fact and applies to pretty well to any car model that has collector interest. Also if a Z is going to be restored as far as possible to original specs then it would not make sense to flare it unless flares were OE for that particular model. The owners of such cars are usually not going to daily drive or use them for motorsport, there are always exceptions but as a general rule those cars are going to cruised and displayed. On the other hand we have the performance car enthusiast who will be more interested in power, handling, braking and so on. The sensible ones, and the more expensive a car the more likely the owner will be sensible, are looking for something more than a standard car but done properly which looks good and goes well. In that market flares are almost a must and have the advantage of being an original factory option so being entirely acceptable period wise too. Two different markets really.

Fitting flares is a fairly recent thing, ten or so years ago there were virtually none, in fact looking through old Z nationals pics there were stock Zeds or race Zeds and that's it. It's the same with engine changes, Zeds used to be Zeds and 99% of owners were reluctant to spend money on them at all but now we have owners rightfully considering resale. My how things have changed, for the better.

Will be making a mould off the glass panels for structural fibreglass infills to be bonded in place. That will be done later, certainly after the cage has been done, no point in blocking off access prematurely. Wanted to get the bars you see in place to preserve some structural rigidity on the rotisserie.

So what steel are the OE ones made of Jason? These use 8620 which appears to be suitable but not particularly high spec, something like 9310 would be ace.

Sound good anyway http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/126597-cnc-1pc-performance-rocker-arm-sets/

The less than $300 rotisserie works!!!!! Check out that sturdy roof structure but it certainly needs the extra strength elsewhere that a well tagged roll cage will give, particularly above the door openings and down the A pillars.

What I mean is get an Exedy twin plate if it fits your car. Ask your supplier what fits and what can be made to fit, twin plates can rattle a bit at idle in neutral but for heavy work and lower pedal effort they piss all over a big single.

There are S chassis kits available but I like to try something with a bit of a challenge otherwise it's boring. Also with some fairly drastic modding it will be possible to get bump neg camber gain and maybe even a little bump/roll toe in gain, don't think that the Nissan multilink does that. Anyone got Susprog?

Yeh I wish this suspension was as simple as the S30's, I made a couple of sets of adjustable S30 LCA's years ago but the Z31's has reference points in space which loses me. Have thought about doing a rear suspension transplant from a later model car but that would be too easy lol.

Stock rear suspension component weights - each arm bare but including the hub is 14kg, the X member is 14kg too so a total of 42kg. Not including the coilovers. The arms are of course unsprung weight which is the main problem, they are multi function which is a bar to getting a lot of weight off them. It would not be hard to design completely new ones at about half 14kg but that would require complicated stuff for getting the various alignments correct and then jigs to use for the fabricating.

The Z31, like the S30 and the S130, looks to be weak both vertically and horizontally where the front chassis rails butt up against the firewall. Both points will be reinforced with braces welded across diagonally. The sills will have some RHS running front to back and tied into other structural points. Those and some cross transmission tunnel bracing are the major bits. RHS from the top of the A to the B pillar has already been done to close off the targa top cut outs, these will be tagged to the above door cage bars in due course. At present I'm looking at some pretty serious mods to the rear semi trailing arm suspension, the whole assembly weighs a ton for a start.

S chassis is one of those modern chassis cars like the MX5 I was referring to, the Z31's chassis is not in that class so it needs some targeted reinforcement as well as a cage which it will get.

Careful there, I have that book around somewhere plus one of the subject Zeds. They are a far better car than some of the coffee table experts think, particularly the two seater version

The L34 project? It will love Bathurst.

In my first video above the red Zed missed his turn in point by a mile, perhaps distracted by the white Zed going gardening.

Exedy Twin Plate if one will fit.

This project is very much alive, am hoping that it will be ready to take to Bathurst in 2017. As for doing a race car Z31 project there are pros and cons to work through but basically for race use it is not a particularly a heavy car and has good aero. It really is a development of the original S30, unlike the Z32 which is a completely new car. A new auto transmission package is planned using the same LS3 engine that has performed so well in the 280ZX, the new auto will be about 30kg lighter and have engine braking which is something that you don't miss until you don't have it. The two engine stands rotisserie is made so next week she should be flippable, very careful attention will be paid to firstly repairing the usual underbody dings and then looking at what can be beefed up with minimum extra weight to improve handling. Had a close look at a MX5 the other day, boy do they have some nice body stiffening features. There is a reason why those sorts of modern cars handle so well, I'm trying to transfer that knowledge to this project. Sorry, no pics