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I should give him a call. I've talked to him several time when buying the parts. I read the PDF off ztrix site to a body guy and he was not confident in the success. but John may have some better ideas.

Looking good! You're motivating me to swap over in the future. But I think when that time comes I want to rewrite the whole care and tidy things up. Decades of splices here and there into the main harness has gotten messy despite being functional

waiting on apex engineered LS mounts to come in Tuesday. They sent me some to see how much I need to modify them to make them fit on the LT motor. Then there gonna make some to start offering for kits

John Washington (ZTrix) would probably be a good resource to talk to....he's been building/installing those for many years. I like what you've done with your front core support -- did something very similar on my car when I replaced the front frame rails. Great progress -- love seeing your updates!! 👍👍 https://www.ztrix.com/

Many, many discussion threads on this exact topic. Here's just one; but it should be helpful for you. You didn't mention if you had done any body or suspension work, so I'm assuming you are stock all around.

I'm real hesitant to try and mold the rear fenders. I have mixed feeling of molded vs "bolt/riveted on". So many Z guys mold them but very little details on longevity, expcially from something that is going to see excessive speeds, heat, vibrations. ETC. Anybody have any real world longevity experiences and installation techniques?

Although this is supposed to be mostly a race car, this car is a example of what I can build so and don't like cutting corners so changed my plans and going a bit further than originally planned. Pulled the glass (should have done that months ago). pulled the drivetrain and started sanding. Cut the arches for the rear overfenders. welded in the rear marker lights, fuel filler door, antenna, and started smoothing firewall holes etc. Hoping to get it in primer ASAP and start on body work. Found a few "easter eggs" under the paint but nothing too unexpected. Going to take the engine apart for a health check since its unknown. Depending what I find will be what I do. Hoping to see a healthy engine and just do basics. JZ are tough so feeling optimistic.

Screw up fixed, new oil pan is on. Had to modify windage tray for rear pick up to fit. Started on the harmonic balancer, not sure it’s on all the way, hopefully I’ll get a little more time tomorrow.

I believe the winged maxima pan is the diesel pan

Older S30s won't charge without the dash either. The exciter wire runs through the ammeter.

Try willtheyfit.com

Committed to new tires. Far less weight to balance them as expected. The inside was more worn than I realized on the old ones. Went with Yokohamas in 205/55/15. Skinnier than I wanted but they were half of what the 200tw options were, weren't so aggressive, and they'll give me a couple more years of use before I spend bigger money to go up a size. Currently working on getting the AC condenser and drier mounted with the new hardware from vintage air. I'm hoping the drier JUST clears the intercooler, but I'm anticipating it being tight. Will be making new lower brackets for the intercooler as well. You can see in the pic they're extremely bent because they were so flimsy. As they say... Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution.

Came here to post that. I do know the infiniti M30 won't charge if the dash is removed. I found this out at PBIR in 2010 during a test and tune and found it wasn't charging so I drove back home to riviera beach with lights out.

Some maxima oil pans have "wings" but most I've seen were simply front sump.

A bit more time has past and a bit more work has been done. I have been trying to complete the body work and paint on the doors but I shamefully have to admit that exterior bodywork is not my strong suit. I did get an appointment at the body shop for next week to replace the frame rails and install the Apex front fender braces and asked them to repaint the doors and wiper cowl as well. I guess you win some and you lose some, and boy I lost this one (please don’t judge to hard). I moved on to some other small tasks and replaced the radio antenna for an aftermarket powered one. I did have to solder on a new connector as I don’t have the same connectors and plugs as the factory harness uses but I made sure that any changes are reversible if necessary in the future. I also ran new speaker wires to the aftermarket JBL speakers that came with the car as the existing wires where all corroded from the inside. Here again I used new aftermarket connectors on both sides so the speakers can be easily disconnected or switched from audio channel. The body shop would like the car to stay somewhat drivable under it’s own power so they can easily load her on the trailer and move her around the shop. So I threw on the trickle charger so the battery will be full and see if she will start after a couple of months of sitting still. After a bit of cranking she came to live. After letting her warm up a bit I checked the AFR gauge and to my surprise it was sitting at 14.5 idle! With a bit of gas the AFR rose to 12.3 under power and then settled back down to 14.5 at idle. Did the 280 just fix itself over winter? As the car will be off to the body shop soon I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing until the car is back as I would really like to be able to drive the car somewhere begin May. So I decided to look into the possibility of removing the dashboard while still being able to drive the car. After studying the electrical schematics for a bit I really didn’t see a reason why this shouldn’t be possible so as with anything I just tried it. Worst case scenario I have to put the dashboard back in. Turns out that the dashboard really doesn’t have anything to do with the 280z EFI system. If you disconnect the three big connectors in the passenger footwell and then take the dash out the car starts just fine. So now I have the hilarious combo of a stripped out but still drivable 280z. The car does feel really sad and empty now but soon she will be stronger then ever with some nice suspension upgrades, a new radio and a freshly restored dash and interior panels!

I was hesitant to respond as i've never had a "stock" Z but this makes sense. Some newer cars need the cluster to have the alternator charge but glad it worked out on the Z.

Yesterday after work I decided to just try and remove the dashboard and see what happens. Worst case scenario I have to put the dashboard back in place with a few bolts till she’s back from the body shop. But fortunately I didn’t have to! From what I could understand from the wiring schematics and pictures online the dash shouldn’t have any components or connections preventing the stock EFI from starting and running the engine. The dash just receives signals from the sensors but doesn’t send them. The only wiring connected to the dashboard where three connectors connected to the white panel in the passenger footwell. I disconnected these took out the dashboard and tried to start the engine. She had some trouble as the engine was cold and hasn’t started in a few weeks but after a few seconds she came to live and ran perfectly.

Finally found some time and finished up the engine bay for my new ITB setup! Next is finalizing my rat nest or wires. Swapping ecus and adding a few circuits made a mess. I’m happy with how it’s turning out.

As the title implies I want to find out if a stock 280z with the L28E (fuel injected) can start and run without the dashboard. My 1977 280z will be dropped of at the body shop next week for new Apex Engineered frame rails and front fender braces. The body shop would like to have the car running so it’s easier to move around the shop. In the meantime I would like to restore my dashboard and replaced a few tings like the bulbs and the speedometer. But for that I need to know if I can remove the dashboard and still be able to start the car. Does anybody know if the 280z can be started without a dashboard?

You might find more info in his build thread.

I was thinking of putting one in my Truck, I didn't realize it would also fit in the Datsun... Might be nice having two vehicles with the same engine. Do you have any thoughts on what throttlebody you will use? or are you changing to electronic?

Everything is verified and accurate and I'm running slighty rich actually. I'm just putting this info out there to help others. So many people scratching their heads replacing head gaskets all the time, this is why. Meanwhile my engine is running 14PSI with stock head gasket, no deck work, no head studs, everything stock with no issues.

Part 9-Middle Connection Frame Rails are fabricated and installed. In this this video, the Frame Rails connecting the Front and Rear Frame is being constructed and installed. It is pretty heave duty but besides acting as a regular Body Frame, it must also support those Gull Wing Doors. As the Roof will have be cut out for the doors too, extra support must be provided for door operation and replace the roof structure. I imagine the roll cage have a strong Center Roll Bar Section to accomplish this task. The Doors will be a major problem with sealing and allowing adjustment of the Gull Wing Doors;

DFW or TX area

Looking at your pictures make sure that the oil pickup is parallel to the oil pan bottom. With it angled like that its going to be a ways away from the bottom of the pan.