cockerstar

A cam and intake/exhaust really go hand in hand. You can be fine with an intake/exhaust, but if you are going to do a cam you really should do the others.

Just cut/bend and weld in some sheet

If you lack a spare tire holder fumes will come in to the car? :S

I absolutely love your car man The hood doesn't look bad at all! Did you consider doing a full fiberglass replacement?

Yeah, just like Wldson said, you aren't going to be able to pull a match on your paint from a can. My Z used to be the same silver as yours, then I think it was sprayed blue, and finally someone threw a horrible coat of red over the blue and some bondo. Everything is faded horribly. If you have the time and budget for it, sand and primer everything yourself and then have maaco spray it with their top of the line that frequently goes on sale from $400 down to $200. It will look so much better in the long run.

I would replace the plastic ones with oem and try and run a small electric fan on the ac booster. Just wire it so that it comes on when the ac is on and then shuts off when it isn't. Seems pretty straightforward to me

If you have a fresh alternator, a radar detector should be just fine They just wear out after so much spinning

Hey Alec, is the clutch for the turbo model or the non turbo? I checked clutchnets site and they have different diameters, but the same spline.

Thatnx for the pointers guys I decided that I'm going turbo. I picked up the necessities and a new clutch from badjuju yesterday. He's a great guy and was pretty informative about everything!

I just want to say that it's really awesome of you to build your dad a car just like you know he would like it! Complete surprise?

Sounds like it would be a great canidate to be a donor for a turbo swap into an s30! How much are they asking for the engine?

rofl Have you seen the dyno vid of that? I honestly wonder how much boost they were making. In my county there isn't even emissions testing. At all... What kind of change would I be making to the powerband with a 6-1 header and a new intake?

Come to think of it, I have done a little fiberglassing work in the past. The stock hood *could* be used as a mold for an easy fiberglass one That idea is actually really intriguing me right now. Fiberglas hood and lose the bumpers. Maybe attempt to mold some new fenders if the hood goes well? I could even pull out the hood spring asly if I went with a 4 pin styler hood... I'm liking it The doors seem to be heavy as hell! Think theres any weight to save there? Does anyone have any preferences on a new cam? At this point, I'd prefer to not go down the route of a swap. In the future it would be amazing when I have the proper funding and resources to support it. Right now, I'm just making the best of what I have for a reasonable price.

Sorry, the rods are forged and the pistons are cast. I misquoted 510six http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=129409

Went to edit the title and some content and saw that half of it had already been taken care of. Thanx

So guys, I'm sitting here planning out my first build and I haven't decided on what I want to do yet. The car is a '79 280zx and she is bone stock (to my knowledge) minus a head back exhaust. Its the stock manifold>y pipe>2" pipe>resonator>2" pipe all the way back. I'm assuming that this means the previous owner cut out the cat and welded in a resonator... She has a strong motor and after some ps line, 2 u joints, and possibly a few bushings she will be running well. I'm still in the idea phase and really just getting my options here. Cheap is good because its my first project car Heres what I've considered so far: a) Intake, mild cam, headers, and custom exhaust. I know how to weld and have the resources to bend my own pipe so it should stay cheap. I honestly haven't ever done any work to an engine itself so the cam sway might be a bit of an adventure. Cheap N2O fogger set up running either a 50 shot or a 75 shot, nothing too extreme. Keeping the absolute bare requirements to stay safe and not have my engine explode. (Wideband o2, rpm cut off switch, clutch switch, WOT switch turbo fuel pump) c) Raising the compression a bit? Any ideas? What would you guys consider? This is all in the planning stages and I'm trying to net myself as much power as I can per dollar that I spend My goals for the car are as follows: -Keep it reasonable enough to dd when its done and be able to run on pump gas -Beat a mazda 6 down the 1/4 (ongoing bet/joke with a friend) -The occasional auto cross would be fun, but the local club doesn't meet often enough to warrant a build designed around it) -Have an overall fun car to drive over my accord The car wont be designed for show or much comfort. The interior is kind of beat up, but its still within reason. I gutted the hatch area down to the metal because it was very beat up back there. I don't have plans to buy new panels or carpet for back there. Its fine for me the way it is I guess that should give you guys an overall feel of my intentions. I didn't but the car with anything in mind other than having some fun while learning a little bit. I bought the car for an offer of $235 from a guy on craigslist. I'd like to keep the project as cheap as possible, but still have some fun. I currently have about $600 and I don't really want to put more than $12-1500 into it at the absolute max.

The internals of the engine in the zx are all forged with the pistons being the weakest point. They are able to handle a surprising amount of boost in their stock form. I believe that 18lbs has been reached on stock l28et internals with supporting mods. Be sure to keep everyhting cool. The internals will most likely be able to handle whatever you are going to supercharge to... What do you have in mind?

I hope that you really go through with this whole project because I really want to see how it turns out

So, is it safe to run a dry shot with the stock intake?

lol, I think I'd go through my first bottle pretty quickly if I knew that everything was running safely for my car, but with my local fill rates right around $4.50 a pound I'm thinking that it would wear off decently fast I'll be thrilled it I can run a dry shot safely on a stock intake I just heard that it was horrible with the flow to cylinder #1

Wait, so its perfectly fine to run a 50-75 fogger shot through the stock intake mainfold?? I was previously told that it wasnt a good idea and that wet shots were the only safe way to go with the l28 intake. I'd be content with a 50 or a 75 dry shot for now!

Correct Like I said, I own a '79 and it has a 5 digit odometer. It could very well be 173 Mileage shouldn't show up in the title and the car is too old for a carfax. My odometer shows 32xxx, but I know its at least 132. Use your discretion to decide what the actual mileage is.

is reusing a head gasket legit? like, is it perfectly fine for the engine?

What does the difference in ring widths do?

I'm assuming that I'd be staying off the bottle until at least third gear, but I have no idea what the feel is like because I've never driven a car with nitrous. I think between an RPM switch, a clutch switch, a new fuel pump, and a WOT only system I should be decent as far as keeping my engine safe for a few runs down the strip, right? After I get some cash from the race I can go back and do everything the right way If it does die it isnt a huge deal. It is a cheap build car after all. I still have a lot of reading to do on the subject! With the l28 intake a fogger style system should be avoided because of the uneven distribution, right? Thanx for all of your help man! Its been amazing!