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A new year has started and my battle to get the 280z road worthy goes on. I had liked to get some more things done over the holidays but sickness and other obligations got the better of me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get some progress in. To prepare for a new years eve party I had to temporarily get the Z inside the garage so I continued my journey of stripping down the Z by removing the fenders and wiper cowl. I kind of regret but I'm also glad I did. Turns out the last “restauration” was a fairly cheap one. Some threads where damaged and instead of repairing the thread or welding in a nut they just left the bolts out, or in case of the lower mounting points of the fenders just weld and bondo them on. After getting them off I was met with the nice surprise of finding out they never painted the inside/back of the fenders or any non-exterior part for that matter, only primer. As a result I was met with a lot of surface corrosion spots. I also discovered the car has some crash damage on the front left that was never properly repaired. Some sanding, rust treatment and painting later the car already looked a lot better. At least now I know the Z won’t rust away in the next couple of years. Every panel I remove it becomes more and more clear that a full restauration to the bare metal of the body is necessary if I want this Z to survive at least another 10 to 20 years. I really wanted to start installing some of my new goodies from Apex so I decided to install the rear strut brace as it won’t interfere with any of the bodywork. It was freezing outside but with the help of a heater it was quit doable. I do love the look of the Apex rear strut brace. It’s strong, elegant, functional but doesn’t scream “aftermarket modification” which I like a lot. I don’t really want my car to stay stock but also not heavily modified, just tasteful, functional and a bit more modernized but still the classic look and feel. The last few couple of days have been pretty cold so I moved back to the garage for some of the car work. Unfortunately my garage isn’t insolated and I don’t have a strong enough heater but it’s better then outside and good enough for some paint work and rebuilding the hinges. Rebuilding the hinges was easier then I though at first. Having a vice does make life a lot easier when removing and installing the hinge pins. To get them out I just used an impact socket and an old bolt that was slightly smaller then the hinge pin. With some force they came right out. All hinge pins where worn which caused the doors to sag and the passenger side (which sagged the most) was even bent! The rebuild kit I bought from Zservices EU was great with the exception of the hinge pin bushings, both the outer and inner tolerance was out of spec on all of them. If it was to tight then that wouldn’t be that much of a problem as I could modify them but the tolerance was to loose causing the bushings to sit loosely in the hinge and the pin to have some play. I decided to rebuild the passenger side hinges anyway and will install them soon to see if they sag with these bushings installed. If they do I will have some custom made at a machine shop. Continuing with the doors I decided to do some spot repair on the upper corners of the doors as both sides had some corrosion under the paint, and the doors where off the car anyway so might as well do them now. Here to I discovered the inside of the door was never painted causing some corrosion on the inside of the doors. The more I work on the car the more I want to punch the previous owner and bodyshop in the face. Even so I can't wait to drive the Z, I guess that’s the S30 life for yea….

01-13-2026. Just a little something to keep my motivation going. New badge and antenna delete plug from Resurrected Classics and Z Car Depot. I know, the clear looks dull, it will just need to be sanded and buffed. I'm planning on using Poppy's Patina wipe on clear in the summer God willing.

Part 2-Sema Show 260z This video shows the construction of the Gull Wing Doors on this 260z. The workmanship is excellent and the Shop-Yorkshire Car Restoration is very well equipped with very expensive and high tech fabrication tools. The construction is very interesting and well planned out.

01-11-2025. Pretty cold out today, so I stayed inside and started looking into some of my wiring questions I needed to solve. My combo switch and adapter plate from Race Wire solutions came in the other day, and I will be using that along with the 12 circuit rewiring kit I bought some time back from JEG's. I got Chat GPT to help me keep it straight in my mind and went about figuring out how to wire in my combo switch with what JEG'S sold me. it will be installed in the dash, as part of the dash center plate I got form Skillard, along with 2 gauges and a cool panel/bank of switches made by Allstar Performance I ordered from Summit. now to decide paint the4 panel or upholster.....

Looks nice, Im guessing 260hp at 6500 to 7000k Do you plan on dyno testing it? Seems like it will be a super fun street car. Realy clean but not so over the top that you cant drive it everyday and enjoy it. Looking forward to more.

There was a guy in Socal i went to visit 20 years ago that built cars like this. He did work for Toyota making them an all aluminum GT2000 and working on Shelbys 2nd gen cobras. This is pretty impressive. I hope they make a Z one day.

For you that have been following along. My 3.12L is finally in my car and home. Gosh it looks so good I’m just going to stare at it! Amazing work by Andrew Kazanis! This engine was built and done prior to a shop fire. So it’s been through a lot! I love the contrast of the stock blue block and gold zinc and black. It features. My 3.1L 10.2:1 compression ratio 88.5mm bore. N42 block. Sonic tested. LD crank by marine crankshaft. Crank �Off-set grind to 84.6 stroke�Finish rod journals @ 1.8889" Thrust Finish 1.27”�R & R plugs with threaded plugs�Dynamic Balance�Ion-Plasma nitride, straighten & micro-Micro polish all journals E31 head. Port work by Andrew Kazanis Dsi valves Diameter: 45/36.5mm Length: 118mm, titanium retainers. Isky springs. Bonk cam. Roughly stock exhaust and intake port sizes. Vapor honed inside and out. Rebello JE Eagle pistons and toyota rods 221 CFM flow at .45-.5 lift. Mine is 88.5x88.5x.25x3.14159x 84.6x6 /1000 = 3122cc It is showing off my intake design and Efi throttle bodies as well as a bunch of my small parts.

There was chatter at one point about the welds on CX racing stuff being a concern (particularly the exhaust turbo header).....so you will want to check the welds carefully prior to putting everything together. Front and rear strut tower braces, a roll bar, Apex front side structure supports, and maybe stiffen up the rails .......bad dog used to make thick steel rails that fit right over the originals and then have them welded on. 500 horsepower is an incredible amount of power in a Z car. 300 horsepower in a 280Z is a windowmaker. Good luck!

Sorry for the delayed reply. Was having difficulty with my Password and trouble posting. Thanks Administration for correcting problem. Disc brake and Hand Brake Installation- First, Important Notice-The Invinclble Extreme 8.8 Differential Conversion Kit requires the use of 2015 to 2024 Mustang GT Rear Disc Brake system. All related Suspension Parts were created to work with these parts. Check carefully if any alternate brake parts are used for fit and function. Otherwise, Different Parts may require Modification at some level. I utilized NAPA Replacements Brake Parts (Calipers, Rotors and Upgraded Pads) for 2019 Mustang GT I painted the Calipers and Mounts with Polyurethane Bright Red to improve their appearance, Stainless Steel Brake Lines(from Amazon) were used. Brake Line Adaptors from EBAY connected the Male OEM fittings to the Stainless Lines. Brake Line Adaptor installed with OEM Clip to Stainless Steel Brake Line Hand Brake Modifications- The Hand Brake required a little more fabrication to function properly. I found these adaptors on Ebay although they were not designed for this particular job. The Above Two Parts were used together to adapt the OEM Hand Brake cable to the Mustang Caliper Hand Brake Cable Mount. The Cable Bracket with roll pin must be Slit to allow the cable to fit into the Threaded Cable Mount. After being inserted into the Cable Mount, the Bracket with Roll Pin is reassembled on the Cable. The Slot can hammered closed afterwards(or even tack welded) The Caliper Hand Brake Cable Mount had to be enlarged to 5/8" from 9/16"(use Unibit) to fit the Hand Brake Cable Adaptor. Insert Cable into the Nut assembly with JB Weld Epoxy to fasten cable to prevent movement. Allow 24 hours for the JB WELD to harden. Drill out Adaptor to 5/8" to provide Cable fit. /inserting Cable into Adaptor with JB Weld to hold it. I Assembled all together With the Hand Brake completely Loose, Slide Cable Roll Pin with Cotter Pin over the Caliper Lever Arm while pulling cable. Note-Stainless Brake attached to Caliper with Bolt(with copper washers-above and below. 0 The Hand Brake Adjustment Threaded Rod must be shortened by 2 1/2". Just use a Hack Saw to shorten a non- threaded portion of the Adjustment Rod. Pic of the Hand Brake Adjustment Rod in Trans Tunnel. The Shorten Adjustment Rod will move the Hand Brake Arm forward and make it easier to access. Final Hand Brake Adjustment was made when all Four Wheels were on the ground to the point the vehicle could not be pushed be hand. Wheel Spacers- With my 17" x 11 1/2" Wide Wheels and Deep Offset, the Inner Wheel Bolts would contact the Ca[iper Outer Face. US Wheel Adaptors provided 1" thick wheel spacers which get about 3/4" Caliper Clearance. I can probably shaved the Inner Side of the Spacer about 1/2" to bring the clearance down to 1/4" Clearance if necessary. Bigger Brakes with Larger Calibers and Vented Rotors would probably fit now(trial fit to be sure) if you go to LARGER Calipers and Rotors. US Wheel Adaptors can make spacers to whatever spacing that you might need. Also, the spacers can convert to different wheel mounting patterns. Wheel Inserts with 5 Lug and 4x 4 1/2" Pattern Matt Cochan at LOVE20BEE IN California found Watanabe Wheel Inserts for me. I sandblasted and took them to a local PowderCoater to powder coat. Extended Lug Nuts- Because the Narrow Wheel Lug Pockets, I went to Ebay to purchased Extra Long and Narrower Lugs. Almost all of these 14mm x1.25 lug nuts had to been retapped with Exlarge Long 14mm x 1.25 Taps because of bad threading. Extra Long Wheel Lug Nuts on Extended Wheel Studs. Next-Struts and Exhaust Pipes