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The purpose of this short description of approximately 4 years worth of work is to provide some kind of direction and assistance to anyone wishing to improve the performance of their Datsun Z car.
As important as the functional improvements in the following text are, my priority was to emphasize the importance of keeping costs to a minimum and to use parts that are easily accessible. In keeping with these themes, I have resorted to improving the Z car by replacing the existing Z parts, with other factory Datsun parts from other Datsun vehicles from varying years, whenever I found it possible to do so, and with as little modifying as possible. When no Datsun part existed for a needed modification, I chose popular donor cars from other manufacturers, to aid finding these parts at any local salvage yard. As you will see when you read on, I have had a remarkable amount of luck in finding high quality, high performance parts from existing Datsun and Ford vehicles to update the braking and driveline. I have used Ford parts to improve the steering, power plant, and driveline, and a couple of parts from Alfa Romero, and Buick. Almost all of the parts (with the exception of the camber plates, springs, and threaded spring tubes) I have used were obtained in a salvage yard, with the exception of specific parts which were fabricated in my shop, with no special tools or machining. The only work that was carried out, was the aluminum welding, and exhaust pipes. Obviously higher quality aftermarket performance parts can be bought and installed, but I found that overall the costs were between 200% to 1000% more costly to do this than the method used in the following text, and for the type of amateur racing I was doing, this was not feasible. I hope it will be of benefit to your project and I wish you good luck! The attached sheets are only meant to be a guide in aiding or assisting your endeavors to improve your Z's performance and braking. In as much, you need to use caution, especially in the area of dimensions and measurements. I wrote the articles under the pretense that it would assist my efforts to duplicate the same process again. So in your efforts to duplicate my actions, always double check the fit and alignment of all pieces for final fit and form. My measurements may be accurate, but consider them a close approximation only. Good Luck
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