just picked up a 73 240z

[mikeith]

how do i know how much to cut? do i just compare the shock inserts to the ones for the mr2 and section to match the difference in length between those two?

[evildky]

measure the length of your insert, and measure the depth of your strut tube, subtract the insert form the tube, add half and inch to cover kerf and gland nut, you can always ship the insert, and thats a lot easier than cutting it back apart to add more tubing

[mikeith]

measure the length of your insert, and measure the depth of your strut tube, subtract the insert form the tube, add half and inch to cover kerf and gland nut, you can always ship the insert, and thats a lot easier than cutting it back apart to add more tubing

haha you lost me??? are you saying to cut the tube so that it sits 1/2" above the casing part of the shock insert?

[evildky]

have you read this?zerothread?id=237090

[mikeith]

yes infact i have the link to your build saved in my favorites... LOTS of good info!!! just still confused on how much to section for the way i am doing it

[mikeith]

quick question... i know i'm going to want to do camber plates on all 4 corners and since i'm going to have to buy shorter shocks i'm looking at spending roughly 400 for coilovers, 400 for 4 camber plate kits and about 540 for new shocks so thats 1340 total...

would it be worth it to spend a little more and get these

http://www.arizonazcar.com/coil.html

[evildky]

the azc package is very nice, not sure which inserts he's running, what kind of compression and rebound they have or what kind of spring rates they can handle but the adjustable strut height is a very nice feature to have, but when welding the threaded adapters to your struts you'll want to make good and sure they are welded on there right! the weld will be under a lot mroe stress than the weld fomr sectioning the housings, I'd plan to tig their adapter to the knuckles

[mikeith]

the rates are available in 180, 250, 375, and 500 lb. and aparently the shocks are preload and rebound adjustable... i was wondering about the weld myself. and the fact that the threaded sleeve has a 3rd stop plate thing that looks like is meant to work at the bottom like the one for the spring perch does.... which would take away from wheel/tire width

[evildky]

the housing sna spring will be roughly the ame diameter as any other coil over swap so clearance will nto change, with these you cut yur strut tubes off at the knuckle, then weld the silver part at the bottom of those housings on, the black cartrige threads into that housing for adjustable ride heights, the problem with most conversions is the strut is at a set height, his conversion allows you to raise or lower the strut inside thehousing without changine the spring preload, and yes I saw the spring rates ha as available the issue si have is that the valving for a dapper on a 180 lb/in spring si very different form the valving required for 500lb/in spring, he also says that they are adjustable but does nto specify if they are rebound only or compression and rebound adjustable, or if the valving is tied together like the tokiko's, which is one thing that sets them apart, most adjust rebound only

[mikeith]

all L28's came injected, webbers were never factory equipment

the 6 speed, if it's an early 5 speed it might be worth $300 or so, if it's a later 280zx 5 speed then it's worht about $100-150

the sunbelt engine, well, if you cna prove ti was a sunbelt and what was done to it and or a dyno sheet could be worth $1000-1500, that assumes it's a ballanced and blueprinted race engine making north of 250hp

just got off the phone with john williams and got some better info on some things.

the motor was built to stock specs just with forged pistons and has about roughly 4000-6000 miles on it., stock compression and the heads have port/polish job and different valves. he estimates it makes 190-200 hp.

the transmission is from a 77 280z and was rebuilt at the same time as the motor and has a new clutch kit.

the brake rotors are from a 84 300ZX and has 4-piston calipers from a toyota 4-runner... i asked him about upgrading to the willwood setup and he said that this setup was better and not to go with the wilwoods because they flex under hard braking???

he said for the rear the best way to convert to disk is just to use the kit that retrofits 240sx brakes on back. and to get a 79-81 zx master cylinder but AZC's website says those setups are basically worthless. i figured you have enough track experience to help point me in the right direction on this issue

[evildky]

well, his debunking of wilwood si just plain wrong, the junkyard z31 toyota swap is fine but it in now way compares to the willwoods, the willwoods are a lot of money and requilre larger wheels, the junkyard swap si great for the mildly modified car but when you start makign big power you'l want serious brakes, if you want to run a basic 300 hp V8 then the brakes shoudl be fine, but if you plan to turbo it, spend the money on real brakes

[mikeith]

thought i'd post some updates of some decisions i've made

i think for now i am going to build a L28ET to make around 400 whp since it can be done for about half of what the turbo ls2 is going to cost be able to get my money back out of it later on. thanks to dave i've learned alot in the past couple days and i think i'll probably end up with a L30ET

i still plan on doing an lsx turbo later on but i was going to have to have the ls2 for a while go back in later and tear it back down to add forged internals and better flowing heads cam etc. so i think ill do this and go back later on and do an ls3 instead of an ls2 in a few years when the price on em drops since they already have the heads that i want and the bottom end is alot stronger than the ls2's so i could get by w/ just low compression forged pistons instead of a complete forged rotating assembly.

i have decided on a wheel though since i can get intro's at just over cost i am going to get these gt sports only w/o the rivets. and i can always have them rehooped pretty cheap to make em wider later on IF i ever decide to add flares. i originally wanted CCW sp500's buuut i ran into the following problems-i cant get them in a 17"(has to be 18"+)-i would have to convert to 5-lug-i could never change the width if needed since they are a one piece forged wheelnot to mention they are 3 times the price of the intro's

here is a picture of the wheel i'm going with probably run a 17x8 in front and a 17x9 in the rear. i'm going to have to do ALOT of very fine measuring to get the offsets right because i do not want to have to go back and add spacers

[ARZ]

I have never seen those wheels, I like them, any weight numbers? Intros?!?!, can you supply any more detailed info.

probably run a 17x8 in front and a 17x9 in the rear. i'm going to have to do ALOT of very fine measuring to get the offsets right because i do not want to have to go back and add spacers

This is the EXACT same wheel sizes Clifton and I have/had (Clifton sold his car). Clifton had an old Koni adjustable hydraulic strut in his car and used Z31 stubs in the rear, with a small spacer. After a while he modified a stock lower control arms to give him more adjustability inboard to make the tires dead vertical. He was still running some MAGIC stock halfshafts. Dont know why he never broke his, but he did beat on it and they never did break.

I have the same width wheels in the rear and I used Dave's AZC rear 5 lug kit and use 17x9x35mm rear wheels and a custom camber plate with those exact coilovers. I am the first one to ever have them installed and running afaik.

If its a German car type ride you are looking for I wouldn't use Dave's, coilovers, they are a little to stiff on bumpy roads. But I have always run stiff springs and was more concerned with bottoming than the ride. They do seem to adjust both the rebound and the compression and you can put them ANYWHERE in the height range. In my opinion the coolest feature is an internal hydraulic bump-stop. Meaning the internal valving has a metered port that traps the fluid at the bottom of the travel and RADICALLY slows its compression. Its very cool, and you never hear that BANG like you did with all the other strut designs. They bottom very very nicely. Also if you buy them not installed you can move that welded tube around and give yourself a bit more tire clearance if needed.

When you say Clifton's car had rolled fenders, that's kind of a stretch, they were rolled a little and trimmed and not very much in my opinion. Mine is rolled but I did it with a ball peen hammer and I did it very carefully, I still need a paint job, so I wasn't to worried about damaging the paint. Both of us did not have very aggressive rolls after seeing what is out there, and neither of us did it with a professional roller.

As for the front we both had 17x8x25mm fronts with Dave's 5 lug aluminum front hub and Wilwood setup. We both had/have Dave's billet front control arms. I went out board as far as (safely) possible so we could get the tire further outboard. If you can get any offset you want for the front with that 5 lug kit he has, I would get a 35mm front offset. I have the 31 inch front kit and the 12.2 rear kit, and evilky is right, no substitute for Wilwoods. Also you have to remember all of Dave's brake setups are all aluminum parts. They are WAY lighter than all those junkyard brake upgrades and you get ALL new parts.

If you got any LS motor you would never need to breathe on it as much as 20 PSI. I have 20~23 psi going to my 3 liter Supra motor and I dont think you could control 20 psi on a 5.7liter V8 without doing a burnout in the burnout box first. This video is about 21 psi on 275/40/17 Kumho V70A's granted they were kinda dead and dried out but you get the picture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...watch

I have Mickey Tompson Street ET's and they are awesome but if the road or tire arent warm they are still struggling for traction at 23psi, bout 490 rwhp.

With 20 psi on a properly tuned LS motor, you would be well into the 800 HP range. My car stopped being controllable at Autocrosses at any thing over 17~18 psi. Im guessing 420+ wheel HP. 23+ psi sure is fun in a straight line.

Fun for me terrifying for passengers.
Modified by ARZ at 1:13 PM 6/4/2009

[Yarael]

Mikeith do you already have the ls2 engine? If not where were you going to get it from? I would love to put something like that in my 280z. If you would like I can tell you where you can see my Z its over at some of my buddies house and you know them as well. Hopefully one of these days soon I can get some money saved up to get mine going good.

[mikeith]

no if i had the ls2 it would be going in now lol! realistically it is going to cost around 6000 JUST for an engine/transmission/ecu(with a z06 clutch) then you will spend roughly 1000-1300 just on the parts needed to put it in. so your looking at 7000-7300 just for the swap... you can build a MONSTER l30 or l31 for less and still be 100% reliable!

since i already have a freshly rebuilt N42 in mine already so i think for now i'm going to just slap a mild ported p90 head on it, and replace all the studs, bolts, etc w/ ARP stuff, and run a small turbo until i can aquire what i need to stroke it.

are you a member of RL or WTI locally? email me your number and i'll do anything i i can to help you with yours aswell. i'm learning alot about these l6's but i still have ALOT to learn

BTW thanks for all the info ARZ... it will be a long time before i mess with the lsx swap... i think for now i'm going to just work on making a crazy fast L30ET... who knows i may end up not wanting to do the lsx swap

[ARZ]

BTW thanks for all the info ARZ... it will be a long time before i mess with the lsx swap... i think for now i'm going to just work on making a crazy fast L30ET... who knows i may end up not wanting to do the lsx swap

No sweat, If I knew what I knew now I might have gone LS, but the Toyota powerplant is still a great motor, 3 liter, DOHC, Turbo to start with, a bullet proof trans and a ton of options for clutches.

Still you cant say all that about the LS stuff. I get 28 MPG on road trips with the A/C blastin and I can still destroy liter bikes.

I even think the 6 speed has issues at 500hp or so.

Hell my complete ECU is factory, I just put a bigger turbo and airflow meter and some secret sauce to make it live above 17 psi.

[mikep1745]

damn thats nice good luck with her

[BadQ45t]

I like it, I sort of wish you had no big plans to change that engine...yes 190-200hp is not going to bring massive smoking tires, but it is throwback to the original 240Z and sort of like what people did with them when I was a kid and drolled over them.

I like the choice of rims, good luck getting them to fit without any spacers or anything, gives me hope that when my Bridgestone S03 Pole Position YR rated tires wear out on my 4 lug Z31 I can find some 17" rims to fit (you annot get YR tires anymore on 15" rims without paying a fotune).

Good luck....great score.

[evildky]

200 whp sure feels impressive in a 2300 lb car, and if you don't mind race gas, 300 is possible! but the cost of sucha a build would be more than the engine swap of your choice