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Hi All! I've owned a few s30's in the past and finally decided to build one. My car background is a lot of JDM cars including Supra's, AE86s, S13s, Skylines, a Stagea 260rs, etc. I have always loved the style of the s30 (don't we all), the aftermarket support for it and the random people who would stop me and tell me about their "Z" story. The story of this build started over a year ago when I purchased this 1978 Datsun 280z. The story behind the car (that I know of) was it is an American car that was brought to Washington and held at a speed shop awaiting restoration. Then was bought and stored in a heated warehouse for years in BC before i bought it. A little side story, I originally purchased a 1971 240z from the same person and they also had the 280z for sale but was well out of my price range. I would have loved to restore the 240z but unfortunately the amount of work it needed was well beyond my budget and experience just to get it to a useable condition. If you looked at it funny, rust would fall off the car. Mistakes we made. I was sold on what it could be but not what it will take to get there. almost a year later the 280z was still for sale, and the price was a little better. With some luck, i was able to convince the owner to trade back the 240z and cash for the 280z. Success!...Now, it seems the 280z was re-sprayed a British racing green but wasn't done the best and was flaking so i believe that's why it originally underwent the restoration in Washington. The car was just a rolling chassis, the front end had been primer epoxy'd and luckily had everything in boxes and labeled like "driver door guts", or "Rear hatch slam", which was nice to see. Now the goal of this project was to be a fun drivers, resto-mod car. It will be getting an RB26 from an r33 GTR, an RB25 transmission, DBW for the factory ITB's, Techno Toy Tuning full suspension, brakes, differential swap kit, running a Haltech S3 ECU and Wiring Specialties Harness, Poly fuel tank with an r32 skyline Radium hanger and Hellcat fuel pump. The bigger ticket items like turbo/manifold, radiator/fans, and then some smaller things are missing but most of the project is there now. I do plan of re-wiring the whole car considering I'm spending money in every other area. Now, just like anyone, I did set out with budget but considering since I last built a car, prices have gone up for parts which I stupidly didn't account for. Also a lot of, "well if i'm already doing this, then i might as well do that", and "since i have this off, i might as well get that." So the budget has been blown....but at least I'm happy! (maybe). BUT as it stands, the suspension and diff swap kit is in and the car is currently at the body shop getting the sunroof hole patched as well as some of the smaller trim holes plugged and a few small rust spots taken care of. Here are some pics throughout the build and as it stands. Any questions, advice or help for some "gotchas" will be welcome!

Great work so far! I’m sure this will be an awesome build. I suspect you will be running fender flares or a wide body kit seeing as your wheels are poking out a bit?

The access panel is to get to the fuel filler neck. I think I got the panel from Allstar Performance. I wish the panel was just a little bigger so that I could remove the filler plate though the opening. The one I have is just a little too small...

I have the ATL 12 gallon cell in mine. I also use the ATL Black Box sump with pump. The fuel return dumps into the top of the Black Box. I can use pretty much every drop of fuel in the cell without fear of starvation. My cell is below the rear deck and offset to the right for weight distribution reasons. You can just see the bottom of the cell in this picture:

Got my proofs back from speedhut with the Z in there.

I did a 14 gallon radium cell in mine because i plan on possibly running e85 and we have some 30-35 minute sessions with some clubs. I have it raised like an inch and a half out of the floor to make the bottom height where I was visually happy. My cell is advertised at 11.7" tall so if the ATL 10 or 12 is shorter then flush with the floor should be perfect.

I just found this site as i started building my Z, and will be following along as you finish up this project. We are on somewhat similar paths so this will be fun to watch it come together.

Lower than 100kpa at WOT could be elevation too, if this log happen to be somewhere higher than your used to logging take that into consideration aswell. Id think where you have the filter should be a good spot for air. unless the aero is really creating a negative pressure spot for some reason. If thats not the case id think your on the right track with looking at valve train stuff. But don't rule out the sensor itself or the hose feeding it.

11-26-2025. I got the rear tires mounted on the wheels and balanced, and I was able to attach one headlight bucket and then started painting several coats of filler primer for deep scratches. The bucket has deep scratches in the metal in the bottom of the scoop portion, so this will get a start on filling them, and then I will put some glaze on there and sand it smooth and sealer prime it before color and clear. The other headlight bucket, after sandblasting revealed a crease in it, and I don't have the moxie to want to fight and fix a crease and make it look good, so I ordered up a reproduction bucket. I then got a call from J&S Polishing, and ran down there and picked up my intake and valve cover. Pics heavy.

Time to update the build threat again. Things are moving slow at the moment but none the less progress is being made. I have contact with two local body shops in the area for the frame rail repair and to measure the body to see if it’s twisted in any way. One of the body shops is specialized is classic car repair and restauration but will probably be quite expensive but none the less a representative will come by to look at the car this week. The other body shop is a more generic one that also does a lot of classic BMW’s and has done some paint work for me in the past. There hourly rate is a lot cheaper, I know they deliver great work and I know they sometimes are willing to do cash work. To save money on the body shop hours I decided to bite the bullet and order a bunch of parts from Apex Engineered which should arrive somewhere next week. Deciding what to buy was quite difficult as the shipping rate varied a lot but in the End I got the shipping down to $284. I all I bought the frame rails, front fender braces, front and rear control arms, steering knuckles, front crossmember and the rear strut brace. As importing stuff from the US is pretty expensive I decided to place a bigger order then what I strictly needed to maximize the value for my money. As the car needed to get welded anyway I ordered the front fender braces as well to reinforce the front of the car as they weren’t that expensive and seemed to me as a worth wile upgrade. As for the control arms my main reasons for buying those was to delay any major body repairs. If my body turns out to be twisted repairing it would turn into a full on restauration project. I do plan on restoring and repainting the car some day but not now, so as a temporary solution the adjustable control arms allow me to tune the effects of a twisted body out a bit. At some point I would like to get the full Apex Engineered Retro Mod suspension so this will give me a great starting point to work from anyway. To save some more money at the body shop I will strip down the interior and remove the fuel lines myself before sending the car of for welding. But before doing that I still have a chance to fix some small stuff surrounding the engine. My backorder from Zservices in France finally came in together with a used Bosch AAR from a Porsche 944 as my original AAR turned out to be broken. So last week I took the valve cover off to adjust the valves and replace the gasket as it was leaking a lot of oil. Good thing I did as the valves where very out of spec. The adjusters where a pain to get loose but after that adjusting them was very easy. I put everything back together with some new NGK spark plug wires and started her back up. Even with near freezing conditions the car started right up and idled better then ever before. The engine still runs very rich at idle and I suspect it might be an injector issue but other then that the engine runs great and the emissions are within the limits so I will place that issue on hold for now. My plans for the coming weeks are to strip down the interior, remove the fuel lines, front fenders and doors. This will also give me the opportunity to clean and inspect those parts of the car for more hidden surprises. I will also repaint the fuel lines as they are full of undercoating and try to restore the dashboard as with any Z mine is cracked. As for the doors I want to rebuild the door hinges and maybe try and reupholster the door cards as mine are actually of a 2+2 and have a giant hole instead of a second door latch. I’m hoping to get the car back on the road after this so I can finally start to enjoy my 280z this spring. Video van WhatsApp op 2025-11-24 om 10.58.36_fab92d46.mp4

Got a lot of the rear track attack kit put together today. It went together pretty well, their videos are very helpful. Only minor issue was these lock washers being too big, just ground them down a bit.

I don't know how you have the engine placed, but I would offset the engine about 1 inch toward the passenger side. The drive shaft angle is easier to minimize with the engine shifted in-line with the pinion. This also makes the weight distribution a little better when you are in the car.

Good work! You seem to be making some great progress these last few weeks. As for me I just got my 280z to run a bit better. Today my final part from Apex Engineered should come is so I will strip the car this weekend so the car can be send off to the body shop.

Looks good! Atlas is going to look great under the hood! Have you seen @Invincibleextremes 8.8 differential kit? then you can lay the power down, lol. Keep up the work, you've got a cool build going

These Aluminum Body Panels were introduced to the Public at the 2025 SEMA SHOW in Las Vegas. They were manufactured by Yahagi Industry Company located in Japan. The 240Z vehicle was in the Toyo Tire Booth at the Show. Front Head Light Bucket Front Hood Bottom Side of the Hood Right Front Fender Front Cowl Panel Front Aluminum Grille Right Front Fender Roof Right Rear Quarter Panel and Fuel Door Rea Hatch Pic Rear Panel left Rear Quarter Panel Flyer that describes Weigh Savings between Steel Panels and Aluminum Panels They would not give the price at the show but say it would be give out at the end of the year. I believe they are waiting till the Tokyo Auto Salon Show happening in Tokyo in January 2026. They were planning a production run of 100 of these Aluminum Panels. The well known Japanese Performance Company-Star Road is handling the sale of these 240Z panels. The panels have an excellent fit and well constructed. I would definitely recommend them.

The head is an E88 casting which came from a 240z. So, that opening was there for the stock fuel pump already. Though not a desirable head as is, this one has been milled quite a bit to get the combustion chambers to be usable for this engine set up.

DJHsuperZ The pics are fantastic of your build. Actually did not take you very long to completion since you purchased the MFactory LSD. The fabrications along the way are really spot on. Great choice on the stubs and axles . Have to say congratulations on a mighty fine build. Enjoy the ride you deserve it. Chip JDMPowerhouse

12-01-2025. First day of December. My right side headlight bucket I ordered form Z Car Depot came in, VERY nice part. Also a new set of front and rear side marker lamps. Why restore the old ones when new ones are available and affordable! My new 260Z fender badges should also arrive in the next day or so. Cool stuff.

I replaced the stock 370Z diff cover with a Nismo one, and got it bolted and torqued to the subframe.

Area27 in Canada is only 400m above sea level, so I'm not sure that accounts for the lack of nice airflow. I'll def take some stuff off the motor, and see what I can figure out. I'm still very new to the LS platform, so there's lots of learning to be had!

Decided to go with the ATL 12 gallon, just ordered it. It’s 10”. Will need to build a frame for it, should be good little project to practice some more welding.

Thanks. That’s the fuel cell that came with the car, it’s too big (20 gal) and I don’t like it mounted on top of hatch floor. Going to explore Black Friday deals, thinking of going with an ATL because of the bladder and other safety features and I’ll recess it down as far as I can, hopefully it’ll sit flush. Trying to decide if I should go with 10 gal or 12 gal, 12 gal is a little cheaper for whatever reason. I should burn approx 5 gal a session at Sebring, the track I’ll frequent most.

Wow, great progress! I love the cantilever design on the rear suspension. A few guys here have previously designed their own custom cantilevers; but AE is the only vendor that I'm aware of that has ever "mass produced" a system like this. Really interested to hear your feedback on how the whole TA package works once installed. Is that the final resting place for the fuel cell? If so, are you going to have a way to isolate it from the rest of the driver's compartment?

11-25-2025. My new fender and hood came in from Resurrected Classics today. I quickly hung the fenders on and took some pics to show how well they fit. Very impressive. High quality parts. The box does say "Made in China", but they are VERY nice pieces. I also went ahead and got the front tires mounted on to the front wheels. The wheels are 16X8 with 0 offset, the tires are 205/55R16.

Hey, the new Speedo looks great! I just installed a set of cheapo Amazon gauges in my dash and it was also a bunch of little, fiddly, time-consuming work. The supports on the back were the hardest parts. Great work!

Your work looks great. There isn't as much activity here anymore, but some of us are still watching closely. I really like the battery bracket. The more spread out the support is, the more secure you can make the battery without damaging it. I've always disliked the common OEM-style hold down bar.

11-20-2025. Well on the 260, interior, especially dash is a LONG way down the road, but all these black Friday deals going, and talking to speedhut they cut me a great deal, I went ahead and got the gauges I wanted for this car. They will go in my dash with a full cap, and the center section will be a blocked off plate and will house 2 gauges from speedhut along with some switches. At any rate, The gauges are going to be "Gulf Racing Blue", in modern script, and show black with orange lit numbers at night. I have some pics here but they don't show the "z" script I am having added to the faces. it is just the thin black outline of the original "Z" badge. Anyway, here is what they will look like, without the Z, there is a pic of the script at the end. These things are crazy expensive. I love that the speedo is GPS. Pics:

Today I picked up some sandblasting and powder coating from R&S Powdercoating here in Colorado Springs: And......you seem to always find hidden damage once everything is stripped off, huh?

Thank you., JHM . Appreciate the offer. But if you had any kind of sloshing out on the street, then no, it won't work for the track. With a full tank and 40 tread wear tires up to temp at a place like Streets of Willow, every left turn with the car's physics fully loaded right sends a cascade of fuel out of the cap, down the fender, and gets me black flagged off. Darom -- I think that's the cap that's now out of stock. Unless you have a source for it we don't know about?

I installed 10-12 years ago, the fuel prices were high and there was some gas theft going on in my area. I needed a lockable gas cap

@tube80z - so I have done what you suggested here: I put lips on the battery tray to keep the battery from shifting at the bottom: The battery hold down "plate" has a couple of jog bends to capture the angled bracket that the tank mounts to. I just need to secure this plate I made (what I was referring to with the red outline above) to the main plate to finish this up.

Got out there this morning to gather some stuff to take to the powder coaters. It was also a good time to clean up the front suspension bits so I can put the front end back together. It was a dirt/oil glob on both sides, so with cleaner (g@s) and a toothbrush, a rag, a screwdriver, and a wire wheel attachment in my drill I got everything cleaned up enough to put together in my effort to get this hulk to the body shop for some block sanding and a coat of blue and clear, color sanded and buffed.

I bought, and installed my new Mfactory Helical lsd ... I also installed techno toys 4340 billet stub axils that i did have to make 4mm spacers where the bearing is pressed on against the flat plate side with wheel studs other wise the plate would tighten up against the bearing housing locked to where it would not spin freely , and I also used OEM 300zxt axils that were in fantastic shape like new internals i installed new grease ,and boots flipped the bearing cage on passanger side axil ,and painted them .... the adapters were from silvermine motorsports i came up with a method to center the companion flanges to adapters by using jb weld and using a digital measuring caliper to center before jb weld hardened holding the companion flange in a vice and putting the 300zxt adapter on top while jb weld cured to hold parts in position for welding ... i used a 2 1/2 thick machined flat large metal plate with 5 clamps to hold the companion flang ,and 300zxt adapter round plate tight with force on the 2 1/2 inch metal plate for welding process to keep every thing from warping, and it worked perfectly . I left it clamped until everything cooled down after welding ... The adapter ,and companion flange after this clamped welding run /spin true flat with no up and down or side play in movement while spinning zero vibration while running on the car .. every thing is worked out pretty good so far every time my TCI street fighter 700r4 hits 2nd gear both rear tires bark posi , and around the corners it feels great tracks fantastic ... some pictures

More from Sema Show- Fully Modified Toyota Truck with Tilt Front End nject Fuel Injected V8 motor to power it. Interior of this Race truck Rear Suspension for this OFF ROAD RACE TRUCK Eating Lunch at a Food Truck outside. Mc Donalds Extra Value Meals like Cheese Burgers Deluxe Costs $35 on the Strip. All the Strip Hotels charge for Parking. Even if you did not ask for a Room with a View. you may be charged for it and you don't find out till you are checking out. Even though I enjoy going to Las Vegas for the Sema Show, the cost of going is not worth it to me. So this maybe the Last Time that I go the Vegas! Even the hotel that I stayed at-Harrah's was empty. This pics show a Robot Vacuuming a Hall Way. Even McDonald"s on the Strip was empty. Eating Lunch at one of the numerous Food Trucks outside of the Main Convention Buildings A Razor Crazy Fully Modified with a Disc Brake with Taxi Cab Performance Casters and 48Vt Electric Motor. I still don't know what the Front Cooler is for. My guess would be the Cooler is for cooling the Electric Motor. Nismo Race Car on a Lift at their booth. Ford Gt with a Coyote Motor in it. HKS Booth with their Turbos, intercoolers and many other accessories. A Cute Mini Bike with a VW Fender Covering it. 240z with many Carbon Fiber Parts all over it. As you can see, the attendance is definitely down. this pic was taken in the Front Entrance of the Main HALL. Normally, there would be Wall to Wall People. Outside View Prismatic Powders-Wall of their wide selection of Powder coatings. Make you own Mid Engine 67-68 Ford Mustang You cut out the Mid Section of your Mustang forn the Firewall to to Rear Tail Light Panel then insert his new frame into the space. The Finished Product should look like this pic. I stiill working posting pics that for some reason are not posting.

It seems there isn't much activity on this forum vs. about 10 years ago. I guess not as many of these cars are still being modified now. Anyway, an update on some progress. The pool hose I am using here is just for mock up purposes. It has the right ID to fit tightly on the fittings. I just heat up the the hose (a plastic/vinyl material of some sort) and then slide on the fitting. I believe this is helping to establish the actual hose lengths I need as well as "clocking" or indexing the fittings to the hose. Additionally, though I did not plan it this way originally, I came up with a great design for securing the battery to the tray... and made this upper battery mount bracket in such a way as to tie in to the bracket that I made to mount the oil tank in the car. The upper bracket I made today not only clamps the battery in place, but also ties into the oil tank bracket and the engine compartment panel, triangulating everything. This design makes the mounting for the tank very rigid. I still have a bit to figure out with regard to mounting the forward most part of the bracket that I made today to go on top of the battery. I think I may cut a plate like this red outline and rivet it to the upper battery bracket. This panel will sit atop of the angle piece that presently holds the breather tank in position. Then the two bolts (within the red outline representing the new panel) will join all three layers. The result here is that the triangulation appears to substantially strengthen the tank bracket. I won't have issues with the weight of the oil in the tank causing the brackets to bend/fatigue.

Yep that is there forever home. I can cover them if needed, but this is an around town hotrod only. no wipers, my version of a cooler AC Cobra.

You don't really need the brake line differential pressure warning switch. It does function as a decent junction block. You are also likely to want an adjustable proportioning valve instead of the stock unit unless you plan to run stock brakes.

Did you grab the engine and see if it moves? That's all I was suggesting. Trust (your ideas). But verify (that they work). “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. ” ― Archimedes

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like you could lower the engine quite a bit if you used a remote oil filter.

4200 parts being finished at Ortiz Metal Polishing

After many nights thinking about it, the current Black Friday sale and optimizing my order for the most value for my money I finally decided to pull the trigger. Maybe it’s because of the size and weight of the total order but the calculation of the shipping was a bit weird. As the parts will need to be shipped to the Netherlands I knew the shipping would be expensive but my shipping came down to almost $600!! By combining some stuff I got the shipping to drop down to $280,- while still giving me the stuff I wanted and basically a free rear strut brace. Here is a list of all the stuff I got: - Front fender brace - Frame rails - Rear strut brace - Front control arms - Steering knuckles - Front crossmember - Upper steering rack clamps - Rear control arms While weighting my options Apex dropped there Retro Mod line of suspension which allows you to keep the stock R180 or R200 long nose differential, axles and spindles. I really wanted to get the new rear suspension and subframe but found it to be too expensive for me at this time. By dropping the rear subframe I got to order the front crossmember, control arms and steering knuckle and still be a lot cheaper off. Weirdly ordering all the front suspension bits separately was almost $300,- cheaper than buying the Retro Mod front suspension kit. Seeing as I don’t need the tie rods (and the steering rack, you need to buy that separately) I’m even cheaper off. I’m hoping to get the frame rails and fender brace fitted over the winter and have the car ready before next spring.

My god, seeing that engine finally inside the car truly gives some perspective just how massive that engine is. The L series looks small in comparison!

SEMA SHOW-Complete Early Model 240z and All Aluminum Body Panel 240z This After Show will give you details about the latest news of Early Model 240z Body Panels. The First will a Complete Assembled Sheet Metal 240Z manufactured in China. Jiansu Juncheng Vehicle Industry Company makes Toyota La Madzand Cruiser 40,60 and 70 series,Land Rover 90/110 series, Ford Bronco1966-1977 Nissan 70-74 240Z, Volswagen T1, MadzaRX-3,and ToyotaAE86. Individual Body Parts(Doors, Hood, Fenders, Grilles,etc besides complete Body Assemblies. Right Front View 240z Interior View 240z Engine Compartment Pic 240z Front Wheel Well 240Z Right Inside Door × 240Z Interior Compartment Front Core support Interior Compartment Seat Mounts Toyota A86 Interior Compartment These pics taken of their brochures. This is a page from their catalog. It shows the individual 240Z Body parts which are available. My opinion is they should try to sell the body parts that other than what is presently available. Parts like inner body panels, whole floor pans, inner fuel compartment, etc should be sold. Parts that are commonly needed to fix corrosion prone areas. After all, they already made the panel molds. Also, I have another comment about their body parts. Their Firewall does not have a Vehicle identification Number stamped on it. Without a manufacturer identification number, vehicle registration maybe difficult in most states 240z individual body panels Their Price List shows the Full Assembled 240Z costs $1500 arrived at Port of Los Angeles. Let me tell you my Automotive Background -I was a ASE Certified Automotive Mechanic and also ASE Certified Automotive Collision Repairman and Painter before I give you my opinion about these Chinese Body Parts. I gave this 240Z a good inspection and asked a lot of questions concerning the manufacturing of these parts. Their Sales Team was not very informed about the actual process of manufacturing of the body parts. So I had to go with what I could see and feel for this opinion. The parts seen to fit together ok but without a Frame Measuring Gauge( Tram Gauge I could not determine the Frame Squareness and Length. The biggest problem with these parts is their Corrosion Control Methods were lacking. They should be at least be coated Epoxy Primer before welding the car together. Nissan factory cars are completely immersed in tank of primer. This method insures primer covers even boxed sections of the vehicle. This a pic of the Storage Compartment behind both seats in the car. No Primer-Corrosion already on surface Maybe the Manufacturer was rushing to get the 240z into the Sema Show or maybe this is normal. This company was still looking for someone to distribute their parts in North America so we have wait and see. For more information- email this address Next-All Aluminum Panel 240Z manufactured in Japan

I'm sure that you've considered it and I don't know what you would do to cure it if it is a problem but those engine mounts are very long lever arms. What happens if you grab the top of the engine and pull it side to side? Probably best to test it now than to wait. Even the mass of the engine in a turn will place a lot of force on them. Just something that grabs the eye from the pictures. Unusual engine mounting. Edit - fore and aft also. Much lifting force on the rear mount under braking. Fatiguing of the front crossmember engine mounting points might be a problem. It wasn't designed for that type of twisting force. And you've moved the elastic portion up to the engine at the top of the lever arm. The attachment to the crossmember is all metal. Hate to be a Debby Downer but you have access now to work on it, rather than later.

THANKS! Well, that is my intent. as it is hollow, I will fit a spacer inside for the grade 8 bolt to go through on both sides, so 4 total. I may have to get inventive as far as a strut tower brace, the 4200 doesn't leave room for that!I I am planning on making a thick aluminum plate that goes across the top of the entire radiator support and have it polished for looks.

Today I cleaned up the motor mounts and alternator bracket and gave them a coat of paint. I also drilled out the holes in the motor mount pads on the crossmember and painted the visible spots. Lastly the wheels came in....16x8 in the front, 16X9 -15 in the rear. Tires are 205/55R16 and 225/50R16. have to slot a couple holes ont he alternator bracket still and a couple holes on the motor mounts needs some time with a burr bit but almost ready to drop the engine into the Z.

I'm currently running 15x10 wheels with a 5.25" backspace on all four corners. I use 23.0x10.5-15 Avon Slicks or Hoosier 275/35-15 tires on all four corners. I run a 1/4" spacer on the front and it just barely clears my coilovers. No spacer on rear, and I have at least a 1/2 clearance to the strut. I have a modified version of the SubtleZ body on my car which provides an extra 1.5 of clearance at all four corners. Below are some pictures with the 15x10s and SubtleZ kit.

I am planning to fully restore the body, repaint and preform upgrades but I was hoping to al least enjoy the car a few seasons and to take it at a slower pace. If it is in any way possible I would like to keep the car for as long as I can. The S30 Z’s have and always will be THE dream car for me and now I’ve driven it for a bit the bug has only bit me harder. I would love to just throw a bunch of money at the car as I do have some reserves but those are supposed to help me at least the next 50 years. For a bit of background, I’m only 25 and my right leg got crush in a motorcycle accident about 3 years ago. I’m doing good now and am walking on both legs again but the question is for how long that will be the case.

Did a dyno run today . 226 HP and 226 torque . pretty happy considering I’m running a stock N42 intake .