Jump to content
HybridZ

280Z Restomod Progress


Recommended Posts

Douglas Arditti at Fabshop Miami has been busy and got the MSA front and rear anti-sway bars on as well as the Techno Toy Tuning TCAs. Hopefully he'll get new front and rear bearings installed this weekend before putting the painted brake calipers back on.

First pic shows 2 Zs at Doug's shop. Needless to say this guy is obsessive and does top notch work.

post-49397-0-61758700-1462999703_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-59948400-1462576479_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-04792300-1462576502_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-00477000-1462576529_thumb.jpg

 

After driving the car with the new beefier sway bars and the TTT control arms I can say that the difference is very noticeable. I was expecting a harsher ride (according to most of the opinions from the forum) due to the control arms attaching directly to the chassis without the benefit of the bushings found on the stock set up. I cannot notice any additional vibrations being transmitted into the car with the TTT arms. I do notice a MUCH tighter front end with better steering response and a much flatter ride during cornering with very little roll. I'm very happy with the ride quality and improved control.

Edited by dmoralesbello
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got the new front wheel bearings installed along with my my freshly painted orange pearl calipers. Hopefully the rear bearings and calipers will be ready in the next couple of days, put wheels and tires back on, set the car down and start on the engine components to send them out for ceramic coating, powder coating and plating.

post-49397-0-96243700-1462843432_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-75286200-1462843446_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-12489900-1462843468_thumb.jpg

Edited by dmoralesbello
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Productive day today at the shop. Disassembly  of engine parts for refinishing started. EGR "amputation" happened as well. Parts went to the platers for nickel finish, valve cover and intake plenum and other bits to powdercoater, and headers for ceramic coating. Ordered all new SS fastener kit from ZCar Depot as well as the new motor mounts from Nissan.

post-49397-0-20363700-1463087985_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-63881100-1463087742_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-03558700-1463087729_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-78324100-1463087759_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-34772500-1463087807_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-84015000-1463087821_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-90345200-1463087879_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-19992100-1463087919_thumb.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, your car really looks sweet, everything you've done is top notch!

I'm very happy to see your appreciative remarks. Thanks.

There are a couple of very cool additions I'll be working on in the summer months: swapping my clock for a JDM calendar clock (thanks to hr369 on the Classic Z Forum), installing LED replacement bulbs in the map light, JDM tail lights (thanks hr369 again) with a "trick" connection, clear lenses for my front turn signals with a "switchback" LED bulb which looks like a clear driving light until the turn signal is activated at which time it'll flash amber, wiring my front fender parking lights to work as turn signals as well,  and adding some tweeters to my sound system. Fun!!

 

post-49397-0-68749500-1463354190_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-51193400-1463354212_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-77911500-1463354201_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-19027500-1463354179_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-94515600-1463354224_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The valve cover was media blasted as well and orange pearl body paint was applied. I love that orange but don't want to make my engine bay look too "hot rod". The letters and stripes will be masked off and dark metallic grey applied so the valve cover will be dark grey with orange stripes and letters (same look as the air filter box). Intake plenum and AFM are dark grey. I'll post those next steps in a couple of days.

 

 

post-49397-0-31370500-1465045293_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-40014700-1465045317_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-15860700-1465045351_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished off the intake plenum by cleaning the different mating surfaces in prep for assembly. The valve cover got its final coat of metallic dark grey and the orange lettering and stripes.

post-49397-0-64651200-1465248815_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-82475100-1465248723_thumb.jpg

post-49397-0-36898800-1465248403_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-19599500-1465248521_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-22580200-1465248639_thumb.jpg

Should have the throttle body done in the next couple of days and then re-assembly starts!  :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some more progress pics.

Installed media blasted and powder coated brackets on new Nissan motor mounts;

post-49397-0-40452300-1466460144_thumb.jpg

Put in a new polished billet water pump pulley from California Z Car:

post-49397-0-50516000-1466636956_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-41021900-1466460199_thumb.jpg

And got my Jet Hot MSA headers back on. Love that clean look soooo much better than when they were wrapped. Hopefully the thermal advantage in the engine bay will be a benefit as well.

post-49397-0-85028500-1466460236_thumb.jpg

As you can all tell, the valve cover is back on as well.

Intake plenum, throttle body and AFM should be back on tomorrow. 

Edited by dmoralesbello
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...