New World Datsuns...

noflers wrote:I think I want to bend up my own sway bar. Anyone done this? Anything I should keep in mind? If I can find someone to measure the dimensions of one of the aftermarket front sump bars, I think it wouldn't be too hard.

I have bent up my own sway bar. I did it for my 620. Pics in my build thread on Ratsun. I searched randomly at different times for a couple of years trying to find information on bending a sway bar. I found absolutely nothing anywhere on the web about it. I finally got in touch with a guy/shop in Portland that knew everything I needed to know, and stocked the material to do it.

I wanted an adjustable 1.125" bar for the front of a 620, not the 1" non-adjustable bar that Hellwig sells.

So, basically, it is 6' of 4140 in whatever diameter that you choose. Heat it and bend it to your desired shape, then have it heat treated. I do not know and didn't ask about the heat treat process/hardness. IIRC it was close the $100 for the steel and $40-50 for the heat treat, plus gases for your torch set. You will be running the torch longer than anticipated(more gases). Top it off with three trips into Portland(figure your time/fuel cost).

Recap, Drive to Portland($15 fuel)/buy material($100)/bent bar(uses gases)/drive to Portland to drop it off for heat treating($15 fuel)/few days drive to Portland again to pick it up from heat treating($15 fuel/$40 heat treating). That's $185 minimum(no gases). Now, figure a 2 hour minimum round trip to Portland and probably another 2-3 hours for bending the bar. So roughly 8 hours minimum of your time(whats you time worth).

Long story short, for $265 for the Futofab bar, I would pay it in a heartbeat. I built a bar that didn't exist in the size I wanted.

If you want to know more about it just ask. If you want the contact I worked with in Portland I will try to find it.

Wow, thanks for the input. Sounds like I might not be going this route as I don't have a torch set-up and getting everything in order for it seems to be a little overkill. I'm guessing this info still interests Jacob though, Nobody makes anything for his car. haha

Did some test fitting of the intake:


So with that attached, I can really start checking to make sure I have clearance where it needs to be. The single belt mod guide I read mentions a 3/4" spacer for the water outlet, otherwise you run into the TPS sensor. Well, it looks to me like I have plenty of room to add the water hose. For reference, the hose will come out at almost a 90 degree angle from the outlet.




Put in an order yesterday:
Fuel lines
Vacuum lines
Walbro GSL392 fuel pump
Fuel filter
Universal throttle cable Indy suggested
Clutch hose
280ZX trans mount

The bellhousing bolts have been the biggest hold up so far, they shipped yesterday, I ordered them 12 days ago... Oh man...

I was having the hardest time figuring out why the TO bearing and Pilot bushing from my clutch kit wouldn't work, I thought they sent the wrong parts at first, it was pretty annoying. Then it hit me, they aren't motor specific, they're determined by the trans used. My 71B doesn't use the 240sx stuff. Basically, you need the pilot bushing from an 85 2wd 720 truck (4wd also?), or anything that used this trans. TO bearing from the 720 works too.

Oh, and I want something like this for sure:

Like this? I got this at waytek.

Exactly. and realized I only need the positive as the battery is in the trunk, and grounded there.

That is why I only ordered the Positive. That And I can ground anywhere for jumping. Though depending on where you run the wire, you may want some bulkhead pass throughs as well.

Your the one looking for a shift lever on Ratsun, correct?
It was said that you thought the 720 shift lever had shorter shift throws, but that is not the case, the shift lever has nothing to do with throw other than the shorter the shift lever the shorter the throw, but some of the 720 transmissions had the holes the shift lever mount ears higher in the ears, the higher in the ears, the shorter the throw forward and back, it's the transmission ear mount hole position that determines the throw.




Some folks will even go farther and drill a new hole higher in the ears, then extend the finger in the shift lever, that dramatically shortens the lever throw, Jacob(laecaon) did that, he has details in one of his threads.

Mine looks like it has the ear hole real low. If I redrill the holes up higher, will all shifters still reach far enough down, or is a certain lever required? It sounds like they all will work, but want to be sure.

I still need to see how it feels before modifying anyway...

noflers wrote:Mine looks like it has the ear hole real low. If I redrill the holes up higher, will all shifters still reach far enough down, or is a certain lever required? It sounds like they all will work, but want to be sure.

I still need to see how it feels before modifying anyway...

Just get the shift lever you need for what you have right now, it's complicated to modify your shift lever and drill the holes(maybe Jacob will tell us which thread of his has that mod in it), some of the transmissions only have the short ears, you would have to weld the holes up in them and then drill new holes higher in the ears then extend the finger on the shift lever.
Not all shift levers are the same, some have long fingers, and some have short fingers, yours is a long finger transmission.
The two short finger levers on the right are from B210/210 5 speeds.

I made mine a short throw shifter, but only front to back. Side to side is tricky on these. I liked it though. I basically used some scrap C channel and extended the ears up 1.5" I didnt shorten the shifter at all so it went up 1.5" as well. I had to extend the bottom of the shifter down to reach.









The welds on the shifter did not hold that time. At least I had a dogleg, so 2nd gear starts and 3rd gear cruising wasnt so bad to get home... I did reweld it much stronger and it never broke on me again. It was one of my first weld projects.

Oh and you can easily bend the shifter. MAP would be faster, but a Propane torch can get it orange hot and bend it to suit the car. I did this as I had a 620 shifter that threw my hand into the dash.

Wayno,
Ah okay. Sorry, missed where you said the fingers need to be lengthened to do it.

I found this a bit ago. Thread where you were schooling someone else on the subject. haha, I've read through it and I'm double checking everything on mine. I didn't know anything about the little springs that prevents too much side to side play, it's like a master cylinder residual valve, tranny style. http://forums.nicoclub.com/transmission ... 02912.html

I have a tendency to venture down the unknown path too deeply once in a while, definitely need someone to tell me to slow down sometimes. Thanks, ha!


Jacob,
Oooh, that's cool! Does it really required 1.5"? I was thinking an inch max...


Is it just a coincidence, or does did this come from a ZX, I'm guessing it's the former, buuuut...

Z........X

I don't even remember posting all that on there.
I didn't remember Jacob extending his shift lever that much, it makes for a short shift, but the side movement must be a lot, I would not extend one that much, only an inch at the most and probably not even that much, I think drilling a hole just above the one that exists is a lot, it likely would cut the throw distance in half, but the finger would need extending also, and that is the killer for most people, as most do not have the tools or knowledge to do this type of mod.
It would be a lot easier to modify the B210/210 transmission shift throw, just weld up the holes, re-drill them to use a 720 long finger shift lever.

Just no way it was going to go up just one inch. Would have needed to extend the ears. So I just went more.

You get used to it quickly. I really liked it. Though it may have made more sense on a dogleg.

You could have drilled that just above the holes you already have, that one looks like it has room for another set of holes, the one I have in the photo below doesn't have the room, it has really short ears.



His has tall ears also, but the finger on the shift lever has to be lengthened, that is the hard part.

You are right, for little gain. Nah.

Laecaon wrote:You are right, for little gain. Nah.

Too me a 20/30 percent shorter throw would be quite a bit, I expect that it would be for most.
Your mod will likely be a great anti theft device, I pressure wash for a living, I turn peoples water faucets on and off all the time, some are hard to turn, some are easy to turn, one time I turned one and it only moved a 1/4 turn, I could not hear the water coming out, I am half deaf(old), so I turned it harder and I still could not hear water, but I went to the other end of the hose and water was coming out, it turned out that the faucet was a quarter turn type, and I ruined it when I turned it farther, the reason I brought this up is that if someone hops in your car to steal it, they may think it is not in gear and push harder until they break the shift lever, or they may not be able to find the gears at all, you said it was tricky till you got used to it.

It was effortless still. What I did was essentially double the length at the bottom. Which in turn doubles the effort needed to get into a gear, doubles the effort at top. It wasnt hard, I could have gone higher and it still would have felt reasonable. But at a certain point there is just a mis match from front/back to side/side movement. Just redrilling the ears a bit higher is nothing, you probably wont even notice it. You knew when you got in gear, it clicked nicely; you just didnt know which gear(like 1,3 or 5) until you got used to it. If that is a antitheft device, that thief is a retard.

Motorsport Z sells a kit:



Notice they go higher than the stock ears as well. Also notice they have a shorter distance above the pivot on the shifter. I still had a full length 620 shifter, or way more mechanical advantage over their kit.



And now I am done littering in Jame's thread.

Not littering, educating.

I learned a couple things myself from this exchange.

Same^^^ Thanks to the both of you. And that's a cool kit, I didn't know there was one, but $179

Rest of the bolts came today, I plan on having the L18 out of the 510 and into the 620 within the week, we'll see how it goes...

Pulled the oil pan on the KA again, got a couple photos this time. Photos don't do it justice, but the cylinder walls all are more shiny than my bathroom mirror. That's as far as I got, APPROVED.