mareospeedwagon1: i would really like to see some pics of that setup ifit isn't too much of a problem but if its a hassle don't worry about it. as to the over complicating a simple task, its just what i do best LOL.actually most of the problmes have sprouted rom the fact that i'm working with rather limited reesources andfunds at the moment. i only have a few parts cars for parts to choose from and one toolbox of MISC tools to try and use for every little thing. cashflow at the moment is non existen for me and i'll be frank and say that suspesion and steering is a whole new ballgame for me. first i learned about motors theni have been tesaching myself about turbo systems and now i'm trying to teach my sef suspension but as you can see my progress has been limited.

on a very down note i had to put my 1200 into my storage unit today because of the law enforcment. apparently somebody in my neighborhood didn't like to see me working on the car in front of my house (parents won't let me use the driveway) and called the cops on it. so i had to get it put into storage by today or they were going to ticket me . do you know how hard it is to transport a car with no front crossmemebr or anysor fo suspension in it. luckily i was able to rent my friends flat bed trailer fron his parents for the day. it was still a PITA toget it onto it. it kinda makes me mad that somebody did this. i mean can't they worry abpout their own problems instead of mine? its not like i was making a racket wihile i worked on it. in fact i was careful to always not use a radio and top make sure i cleaned up after myself hell i even sprayed the concrete almost every night after i got down working to help keep it clean.

well, since i won't be able to mess with it till i get back from boot camp and will have to wait quite a while till i can take it iout of storage i'm realy leaning towards a aftermarket mustang II double A arm setup. there is so much stuff avalilable for it. plust they come in five lug so rim choice is opened up as well. add in the fact that they usually come with some really nice willwood brakes on them. yeah i know it cost a pretty penny but i need a money pit/hobby to help keep me sane

Welcome back on board mareo

Keep your posts comming

Pedro

Hi mareo,

Welcome back!

You can have all your old posts
back! I will send you a PM (Personal Message) about it.

"stuck"... after some posts you will get the hang of it. The old club was a simple and reliable a12 powered 1200... the club just got CA18DETed!

daniel


<small>[ Edited by danielblues on 2002/6/5 13:25:06 ]</small>

Did my reply to this post get posted? I don't think it did. I loved the simplicity of the old club but I guess we are stuck with this one. While I was at the SCCA races in Memphis last year, I saw a 1200 that had 280ZX struts. The swing arms, 20mm swaybar, and stabilizer bars were stock 1200. The strut assemblies bolted to the 1200 ball joints. The top three bolt holes were enlongated to give needed caster adjustments. the car had a 2" spacer between the strut and ball joint to lower the body. The struts had adjustable spring seats. the vented disks from the zx brakes looked great. The tires stood out a bit and needed fender flares. I posted photos of that setup in the old Yahoo 1200 Club but that place is history now. I have everything in storage right now so my photos are not readily available. I think that you may be over complicating a pretty simple process of installing the ZX struts in the 1200. It seemed close to a bolt in job.

After looking at the different rack and pinion steering set ups in the scrap yards lately, I think I will go with a Sentra setup. I will use the stock 1200 column and weld or thread the flex flange onto the end of it to fit it to the rack and pinion box. The Sentra bok also comes in power steering but for a 1200, come on, that's just more weight that isn't needed. If you want power steering, get yourself a Cadilliac. LOL

<small>[ Edited by mareospeedwagon1 on 2002/6/5 12:49:48 ]</small>

well i finally managed to get the front end pulled today. i would have done t yesterday but we had a bad rain storm so it was a no go. i even managed to get the steering coloumn pulled as well (PITA!) i'm thinking that i have opened a bag of snakes now that i have experimented with my ideas a little today.

i'm goign to have to fab up a new mounting plate for the 210's coloumn to fit properly then cut off its old one and weld the new one one. the big problem is that the 210 steering coloumn is longer than the 1200's by 5 or more inches. so when i tack on the new mounting plate i 'm goign to have to locate it farther up the shaft to even things out. wish me luck. i also tried to swap the electronics form the 1200 coloumn to the 210 coloumn but it wasn't meant to be either so i'm goign to have to get creative with some wiring and electrical tape as well tommorrow. anybody have any ideas on how to get past my coloumn woes? if it gets too gnarly i might just save the cash for a flaming river setup and front mustang II double A arm suspesion setup. they have lots of custom pieces available for it and are somewhat reasonably priced. thats last resort though since it would take some major sheetmetal surgery on the shock towers to fit it in.

one more thing i'm having doubts about are those litel bars that point forward and anchor right in front of the swaybar mounts then anchor in right towards the end of the lower contro arm. it looks like the ones on the ZX are goign to be WAY too long and im not sure if they point at the right angle. not too bad of a prob lem i think i might just have to shorten them with a cut off wheel. then maybe heat them up and bend them a little bit to correct the angle. and re-thread the ends so i can bolt them up.

i might also try to get the ZX swaybar to fit but i kinda doubt this and will probably just adap the 1200 sway bar to fit the the ZX's LCA. i know that i've said that i'm goign to get soempics for you guys but everytime i get rollin on the project i lose track of time and end up working till dark. tommorrow i'll have my GF helping so she can take some pics while i work for me. i'll update you guys tommorrow again with the progress made. wish me luck!

all i have to say is life is quirky! i just talked to my recruiter a day ago to make sure eveything was set for me to leave on june 3rd for boot camp. and they changed the date on me to july 8th now. plus instead of goin to fort jackson (known as relaxin jackson) i get the pleasure of going to fort benning which is supoosedly the most hardcore bootcamp for the army as you can tell, i like to be as lazy as possible LOL. but o well, at least now i have the time to see if i get get the front end swapped out.

on the brightside the weather has really improved. it been hitting the nineties for the last couple days. and i managed to get the A12 pulled out. LOL funny story (well kinda), i used a 2ton chain hoist that i had secured to a rafter in my garage to pull the motor out. then i backed my parents truck under the motor and lowered it into the bed of the truck. well i take it out to the filed where i'm keeping my parts cars. and realize i have no way to ge the motor out and i was all alone to boot. i know the motor isn't all that big but the auto tranny was stille attached as well as everything else too.

now i'm grunting and trying to pull the motor out of the back of the truck. it was goin pretty good and i got it out on to the tailgate. and was thinking about how to get it to the ground when i felt it shift and tumble forward. i went to go try to catch it but thought beter and jumped the hell out of the way. good thing too, cause when it flipped end over end off the tailgat the tailshaft of the tranny came whippin around and missed my head by no less than 3"!! scared the hell out of me i tell you.

tommorrow i'm goin to be pulling the stock crossmember,suspension and all.and see how the fit for the ZX looks like. hopefully it should be a somewhat straight forward swap. i'll find out tommorrow and let you guys know.

Uh oh John, George is going to think we are fighting! Still, I feel the need to point out that 2quick4u already has a parts car 280ZX. That is why he's going for that car's rack and pinion.

<small>[ Edited by dimlight65 on 2002/5/30 15:16:59 ]</small>

FWIW, Some 280ZX's (80-81) came with a gearbox, not rack and pinion? You might try to source parts from one of those?

I've always wanted to put in power steering. Just yank out that steering box and replace it with a power unit.. Seems easy enough, probably isn't though. Would be cool though. :)

weel guys, its been slow going lately since i have to pack all my gear and pack all the stuff in my room to a storage unit. but i did manage to get some more ideas and even a little bit of work done.

i think i migh have found a solution to the steering colu9omn dillemma. i looked at the ZX and decided taht it wil be a last resort type option, i can tell a lot would have to be done to it to get it to fit. but on the other hand the steering column from the 210 might just work . there are some sight mounting differances but not something i forsee being a huge problem. the nice thing is that even though the 210 had a steering box also the steering coloumn didn't hook directly into the steering box like the 1200's did. instead it uses the splined shaft that has a sleeve connected to the box. which is almost identical to the way the ZX's rack and pinion was setup so i think this will be my most likely avenue of attack. if this fails i might look into a custom coloumn like something from flaming river or what not to get it to work.

basically now i've just went through the 210 and the ZX and gathered every possible piece that i might want to use or might need to get the swap completed and have it sitting in the trunk of the 1200. that way it is waiting for me when i get back.