10-02-2011, 10:03 PM
Quick 6 month update - not progressing anywhere close to the rate that I'd like, but progressing nonetheless.
![[Image: EngineBay%2011.jpg]](http://www.93anthracite.com/240z/pics/EngineBay%2011.jpg)
Since the last update, I have:
-Primered, sanded, primed again, and painted the engine bay BMW's Alpine White III, plus added a layer of clearcoat.
-did the same for the front crossmember, except painted it Baltic blue like the cowl.
-installed a few random bits back in the engine bay
-installed a new clutch master cylinder
-had my original brake booster re-manufactured. I originally ordered one bay in July from Autozone (Advance, Fisher, and NAPA didn't have one, and the other Z-specific companies were more expensive and more headache). That one took 2 weeks, and was actually manufactured incorrectly (clocked wrong, so my Brake master was actually 90 degrees off and would have dumped its contents out). They wouldn't take it back to re-man, and would only refund me my money. After a lot of fruitless searching for people to re-clock it for me, trying to get CarDone to take it back directly to no avail, and trying a later model 280zx booster (internet lore that they'll fit despite being bigger than stock, might work for automatics...), I discovered that Fisher would take mine and send off to be re-manufactured. It took 2 weeks, but it came back looking great - wish I had know and just done that immediately when the first one didn't work out. Ended up getting a refund for the original, but they haven't sent a FedEx ticket to ship it back yet...
-attempted to install a brake master cylinder...yes, attempted.
WARNING: the following will only be useful if you ever do this on an early Z. However, this specific information appears to be rarely shared or else I wouldn't have discovered this myself.
The OEM BMC is a 7/8" bore on all S30-chassis Zs. The 280zx got a 15/16" bore , which will be a good idea to have for future upgrades in this department where the calipers displace more fluid than stock. The '79-'81 280zx has a unit where the mounting ears are top/bottom, like the stock 240z unit; the '82-'83, has the ears on the sides.
Everybody likes to call the later one the "incorrect" one, but nobody goes into depth about why. Since I had acquired cores for both from prior parts cars, I compared them and despite seeing the later model would need a little bit of trimming on the top & bottom in order to install, it looked like it would work. The earlier model is much harder to come by (b/c everybody and their mom knows about this mod and snatches them up), and getting one seemed just as hard as a brake booster.
Unfortunately, AFTER grinding and smoothing the top and bottom and newly ordered BMC, I found out why people like to call it "incorrect": the holes in the mounting ears are not spaced out equal to the bolts on the brake booster. While this is far from a game-ending situation, it did bring my grinding to a halt tonight. I'll still finish the job, but I think I'm going to end up selling it off and just having my early-model version reman'd too like I did with my booster...
Since the last update, I have:
-Primered, sanded, primed again, and painted the engine bay BMW's Alpine White III, plus added a layer of clearcoat.
-did the same for the front crossmember, except painted it Baltic blue like the cowl.
-installed a few random bits back in the engine bay
-installed a new clutch master cylinder
-had my original brake booster re-manufactured. I originally ordered one bay in July from Autozone (Advance, Fisher, and NAPA didn't have one, and the other Z-specific companies were more expensive and more headache). That one took 2 weeks, and was actually manufactured incorrectly (clocked wrong, so my Brake master was actually 90 degrees off and would have dumped its contents out). They wouldn't take it back to re-man, and would only refund me my money. After a lot of fruitless searching for people to re-clock it for me, trying to get CarDone to take it back directly to no avail, and trying a later model 280zx booster (internet lore that they'll fit despite being bigger than stock, might work for automatics...), I discovered that Fisher would take mine and send off to be re-manufactured. It took 2 weeks, but it came back looking great - wish I had know and just done that immediately when the first one didn't work out. Ended up getting a refund for the original, but they haven't sent a FedEx ticket to ship it back yet...
-attempted to install a brake master cylinder...yes, attempted.
WARNING: the following will only be useful if you ever do this on an early Z. However, this specific information appears to be rarely shared or else I wouldn't have discovered this myself.
The OEM BMC is a 7/8" bore on all S30-chassis Zs. The 280zx got a 15/16" bore , which will be a good idea to have for future upgrades in this department where the calipers displace more fluid than stock. The '79-'81 280zx has a unit where the mounting ears are top/bottom, like the stock 240z unit; the '82-'83, has the ears on the sides.
Everybody likes to call the later one the "incorrect" one, but nobody goes into depth about why. Since I had acquired cores for both from prior parts cars, I compared them and despite seeing the later model would need a little bit of trimming on the top & bottom in order to install, it looked like it would work. The earlier model is much harder to come by (b/c everybody and their mom knows about this mod and snatches them up), and getting one seemed just as hard as a brake booster.
Unfortunately, AFTER grinding and smoothing the top and bottom and newly ordered BMC, I found out why people like to call it "incorrect": the holes in the mounting ears are not spaced out equal to the bolts on the brake booster. While this is far from a game-ending situation, it did bring my grinding to a halt tonight. I'll still finish the job, but I think I'm going to end up selling it off and just having my early-model version reman'd too like I did with my booster...