So I can now continue with the brake conversion here. Will document everything I did so that it's easily repeatable.

Here's a drum hub(left) next to a disk hub(right). There does seem to be a height difference, but not to much, according to the guy's measurements they differ by 5mm, where the drum hub is 47mm and the disk one is 55mm. Also the disk hub diameter is wider on the mating surface with the rim, which means the rotor(no pun intended) might not fit over the hub, but that can be machined down so that it fits.



Went to Jackie to check on some progress and point out some more holes I wanted covered up. Am going for the clean look running wiring under the fenders and so on. Only stuff I want visible inside the engine bay is the throttle cable, plug wires and water pipes, the rest of the stuff will be hidden under the cross member and intake as much as possible.

So leeg soos 'n hoer se hart... Soon that ass will be sexy and shiny!



Here you can see some of the holes cleaned up that will be closed.



Even having the wiper motor's hole closed up, that's going to be moved inside the car now. Also I had to cut some of the stone tray out when I fitted the intercooler, you can see some pieces of box Jackie was using to make templates a he just wanted to box it in.



But after some thought I decided that I really wanted the cut piece replaced and ended up buying a complete stone tray from paint and panel for the princely sum of R114...



He'll just cut out the piece he needs and weld it in. It's cheaper than getting just that piece from the wreckers, they are sometimes insane with their prices.

Some progress on the body, having all the holes in the engine bay closed...



Also had some progress on the brake conversion. Ended up using Nissan Almera disks.



Difference in thickness, old 12mm, new 22mm.



Difference in size, old 208mm, new 258mm. You also get a solid disk for the Almera which is the same size(apparently the 280Z used this as a rear disk), but about 500g lighter...pffft



Only machine work to be done, the hub must be cut down on the OD by about 5mm to fit inside the disk. If you previously had drum hubs this cut might not be needed.







Also the spigot hole of the disk must be cut 2mm larger, so the disk can fit over the spigot. The PCD in the Almera disk is already 114.3mm. The disk on the outside has the added benefit of widening the track by 6mm on both sides, but longer studs will be needed. Will check which size rims will go over this conversion when I made the calliper brackets.



Side by side comparison of the heights.





Now I need to move on to making the brackets for the callipers to bolt to the struts. Will post more pics when doing that.

OK, I have bit of a issue here, took the calipers apart and the sliding pins were stuck. Well they eventually came out, but they have little rubber sleeves on them, and on 3 of the 4 pins they ripped as they came out. Have phoned around and only place so far is Nissan, but they sell only complete rubber kits for the calipers which included piston seal, dust seal, pin dust covers and these rubbers on the pins(if he understood what I said), but it's R785 for the lot as it's for both calipers.

I only need these little rubber bushes as all the rest is in excellent condition. Any ideas where I'd be able to find some? I have already tried Autozone, Midas, West Coast Cutch and Brake and Ferobrake.



The guy at West Coast Clutch and Brake suggested I make my own with some rubber pipes. I'm inclined to try and do that, since I have little rubber vacuum hoses that is about the right size, I'll just grind flats on 3 sides like these have to let air out the bottom of the holes. Will see if nothing turns up I'll try to make, if that fails, I'll buy from Nissan...

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