Selling the X & Bought an 75 Datsun 280Z

[lookforjoe]

Took the rear struts & hubs apart after doing the Fuel pump setup. Removed the drum brake back plates that are no longer needed.



cut down the nub of the spindle, to make sure the Z31 CV cap doesn't hit



removed the (too short) wheel studs & cleaned the outer flanges



Still not happy with not having a hub seat for the wheels



I may weld on a sleeve (cut from a Volvo), that will allow me to use a hub centric ring (65.1 - 73.1) to set the Konig wheels. Have to have the nubs turned down in that case, to get a good seat for welding

 

[lookforjoe]

I bought the Z31 (300ZXT) axles that go with the Silvermine flanges - Trackmotive brand off RockAuto.

What I don't like is that the existing flange doesn't sit in all the way, so there is about 8mm lost in terms of overall depth for the new axle, which as we know is longer than stock. The other factor is the one others mention, that Nissan didn't bother making the flange concentric with the hub/axle, so that has to be addressed.

The way the plates are supplied, they are supposed to be welded in to the recess provided, but since the stock flange isn't hub-centric a jig of some kind is required to center the weld flange to the hub.

What I'm thinking of doing is removing the inner flange & having the hub shaft turned with a 4mm shoulder for the new CV flange to seat on, so I can get the flange surface back to stock depth. That should prevent the CV from bottoming out & binding, I hope.

stock flange



6mm thick



new flange is 12mm



Old flange only sits 4mm into recess



other side recess for CV cup is 4mm

 

[lookforjoe]

Modified the vintage aftermarket wheel to fit. Cut the hub from the original worn out wheel. The advantage of this is that it will sit further away from me. With my height, the stock wheel is too close to me when the seat is correctly placed for clutch pedal operation. This wheel is shallower.

welded after this - forgot to take pics

added JB weld to fill the (minor) gapage on the front side

 

[kmead]

Modified the vintage aftermarket wheel to fit. Cut the hub from the original worn out wheel
View attachment 75315

View attachment 75316

welded after this - forgot to take pics
View attachment 75317

View attachment 75318
added JB weld to fill the gap on the front side
View attachment 75319

Hope you are confident in your welds

History suggests you should be.

 

[lookforjoe]

Hope you are confident in your welds

I know, right?? I've never done this before, however I researched some, and it's been done by others. I made sure I got good penetration on the spokes, and welded the edges up to the cast aluminum hub as well, I confident it will be fine.

 

[lookforjoe]

Degreased, then soaked the rear tube/hubs in acid, then cleaned up & treated them with rust convertor. I'll paint them tomorrow.

Finished the steering wheel. sanded the epoxy, primed & painted

reinstalled the horn contacts & pad retaining ring

Back in the car

 

[lookforjoe]

Since I had to cut off the exhaust to deal with all the rear suspension work, I decided to put together a 3" SS rear section, starting after the existing cat, then going to a 2.5" Stainless Works rear muffler (ran it on my X1/9 K24 swap for a few months). The 3" SS exhaust I put together from a exhaust I had made years ago for my Volvo C30, before I converted it to AWD & had to make it all over again.

Forgot to take pic before I cut it up - this is what it was

Eyeball the general placement, then cut, & tape together to check clearance off the forward crossmember and lower control pivot & diff casing



tack welded, then recheck fit







I'll be adding a 3" - 2.5" step from this into the muffler



looks pretty good



step down & dogleg to attach to existing exhaust/cat. I'll rework the entire exhaust forward of the 2 bolt 3" flange when I do the VQ35DE



2"-2.5", 2.5"-3", dogleg, 3" 2 bolt flange

 

[lookforjoe]

New emblems

 

[lookforjoe]

Where I had good butt-joins, the welds are clean (enough, I'm not a professional). Where there was discrepancy/offset, so so much.





More work on the exhaust today. Got all the tacked seams welded, and figured out the muffler placement







cut down the 3"-2.5" step for the available spacing



have to figure out the hanger here, have to make sure it pulls it slightly away from the spare well



like this maybe



or here, to push it away from the spare well. There is a hole in each corner of the gas tank, I could use this one, and add a smaller outward placed one to locate the strap from potential rotation



maybe one set here

 

[lookforjoe]

Got the stub axles & flanges back from the machine shop. Now I (just) have to weld everything.

Hubcentric flange for locating the wheel





Inner flanges modded to accept the Silvermine flanges (also modified to be centric). Collar is to increase the weld surface area



Will be like this. Total depth to inner surface is 29mm, same as stock. 4mm inset for CV cap, which I will remove if the stub axle depth becomes an issue

 

[kmead]

For the muffler mount I would tend toward the rubber loop type fitted to modern cars if you need to apply ‘pull’ pressure. The larger bearing area of a formed hook will work better in this instance. I recall you doing so with the X at one point. The car side mount would need to be designed so it won’t just rotate on the pin of the existing stud.

have to figure out the hanger here, have to make sure it pulls it slightly away from the spare well
like this maybe



or here, to push it away from the spare well. There is a hole in each corner of the gas tank, I could use this one, and add a smaller outward placed one to locate the strap from potential rotation



maybe one set here

 

[lookforjoe]

For the muffler mount I would tend toward the rubber loop type fitted to modern cars if you need to apply ‘pull’ pressure. The larger bearing area of a formed hook will work better in this instance. I recall you doing so with the X at one point. The car side mount would need to be designed so it won’t just rotate on the pin of the existing stud.

Yes, to that end I made a bracket (from a Volvo dash support) to utilize the stock hanger point at the front end of the muffler. I didn't want to use the softer Volvo hangers, as there is very little clearance off the spare well





reinforced to make sure it can't flex. The lip at the top tucks over the frame bracket





muffler hanger attachment



in place. Drilled an inboard hole in the stock welded bracket to positively locate the new bracket.



With that figured out, I tack welded the hanger to the muffler



Removed & finished the seam welds for the muffler inlet & tailpipe section. Just have to weld on the Redtail exhaust tip when it gets here.

 

[lookforjoe]

Removed the front pipe. One of the Datsun guys on Turbobricks said the 2-1 junction is a severe choke point.

His solution was to make a new 2-1 section in 2" pipe

I can't weld something like that, Dealing with welding those to the flange, and the collector are extremely awkward, from my experience with the first header on the K24, I'm not willing to risk it.

Stock front pipe.

Flange. Making 2" pipes fit the flange would be tricky. I thought about using a 1 7/8" holesaw to get it close, then grinder to get the rest. I don't have a spare DP, so just not worth it.

taper point, only about 1.5" ID in there

So, I cut off the upper section of the DP where it's approx 3" wide & modded another section of my old C30 3" exhaust to fit. after a bunch of back & forth, I tacked it here. To minimize the reduction in the stock collector I cut it so there is only about 1/8" tuck.

test fit - clears the heat shield (next to my finger) by the same amount as the stock pipe - just looks like there's no clearance

It was raining at this point, so I took it down & seam welded the joint. But.. it moved, so I had to cut the pipe & add a pie cut (to be welded later) to get the pipe pointed where it needed to go

 

[lookforjoe]

Got the rest of the front section figured out. No room for the 3" resonator though.

Added a dogleg to get good alignment with the rest of the front section





added a straight section off that, into a 3" cat, then another 10" section into the mid connection



good clearance all around





fitted the cat behind that



10" section between cat & dogleg into 3" flange



removed again to tack rear mid section



re-installed one more time to figure out the hanger off the transmission case, then removed. Now I have to seam weld all the junctions

 

[lookforjoe]

Welded up all the seams, took almost 4 hours(!)
After that, I had to reinstall it to figure out the center mount.

I decided to make one that used the stock mounting points

Once I had that figured out, I tacked it in place & then removed the entire exhaust to finish the mount welds for this & the rear muffler hanger

Archie was hanging around me much of the day

I had forgotten about the trans mount / carrier bushings, so I did those now

put the exhaust back in (hopefully for the last time)
clearances still good

Hangers

Still waiting for the Redtail Performance tailpipe

 

[kmead]

Looks like you need to blow the cobwebs out.

As in try driving it

 

[lookforjoe]

Looks like you need to blow the cobwebs out.

As in try driving it

Indeed!
Still have to finish the rear suspension & driveshaft mods before that can happen, hopefully over the next week.

 

[kmead]

Indeed!
Still have to finish the rear suspension & driveshaft mods before that can happen, hopefully over the next week.

All in due time. It was just funny seeing the web inside the muffler.

 

[jimmyx]

I watch your progress often on this thread, but did I miss something? Did you actually decide to part with the X, or is it staying in the stable?

 

[lookforjoe]

I watch your progress often on this thread, but did I miss something? Did you actually decide to part with the X, or is it staying in the stable?

Yes, the X will be sold.