Brad-ManQ45

I certainly did mean Z31, and I am not knocking them either, I simply prefer either earlier model for esthetic purposes and their engines. If I could fit in a Z32, I'd be doing an LT1/LS! conversion on one of those for everyday driving/road trips!!!! I hope no-one feels like I was stomping on their toes...

A few questions and observations: How loud do you want it? How much do you want to spend? What type of driving do you do/contemplate using the car for? For an NA car, I would have a 2.25" mandrell bent system put in with a DynoMax muffler. 2.5" is overkill on an NA, and (this point has been hashed around a zillion times already), 2.5" causes unnecessary droning in the exhaust system and adds weight. If out and out top end is your goal, then 2.5" is ok.

TC is electronic traction control working in conjunction with the rear brakes. I have a Q45a, with all the bells & whistles and know a bit about these cars for anyone who wants to know....

When you are under boost and you press the clutch in, your turbo was supplying boost, which the engine does not need now (no load) this is the BOV venting excess pressure...keeping the turbo spinning.

Thanks for the replies.

At the risk of incurring everyone's wrath. Yes the Z06 was an option in '63, the Z28 came out in '68, '75 to '84 'vettes were pigs and the new Z06 'vette is NICE - a friend has one. You might say that Chevrolet had first dibs on the "z" - no-one who had one or talked about one referred to it as a Camaro, although I always heard the "28" with it. I personally love the looks of the early z's, which is why I'm building a '75 V8, I can appreciate my ZXT for comfort, conveniences and handling after the appropriate upgrades on a daily use basis. I have Eibachs on both cars, Illiuminas set on 3 all around on the ZXT and HP's on the 280Z, with big bars on both, and the ZXT is much more civil every day on normal roads (rides nicer even with 16" wheels and F1 Steel radials). Have NEVER liked the S31's, and find the S32's too cramped vertically (for me - 31" inseam 6' - my eyes are above the top of the windshield when my arms - 35" can get to the wheel), and too heavy, although BEAUTIFUL. When I hear someone say they have a "Z" I always ask what year and blow them off if after '83. Aside from the looks (S31 - purely subjective, certainly), and weight (S-32) factors, I feel that Nissan went to a totally different place with these cars, making them much more costly to maintain and buy parts for, and abandoned what made them GREAT overnite - well engineered, affordable and class dominating (love road racing at Rd. Atl.) I personally don't get offended by the 'vette community referring to the Z06 as a "Z" in this respect. Perhaps we should say that everything should be taken in context, and make sure which context is being used before we lose our cool... and even then allow others their illusions - unless of course their illusion insults you.

As a last resort, you may decide to pay for an HKS head gasket tha I'm sure will have the correct holes, but I am sure they are expensive. You could also get out your Exacto knife and cut the gasket holes yourself. I remember doing this on a 351C engine I had, on the suggestion of one of the Ford Hi-Perf book that I had. The only problem with this is that I seem to recall that there was some kind of (gas filled) o-ring as part of the turbo head gasket from a post on zcar.com. If this is true then the HKS route may be the best choice. OOPS - someone on ZCAR said they're not available any longer. Someone else said he knows someone who will make it for $100. However, I just looked in the Victoria British catalog and the is a head gasket for turbos and all NA engines built starting 3/81.

Thanks for the info - I am definitely interested in the machining costa for the CV adapters and axle shaft work. Parts are a variable that sometimes you luck out on - I have a few friends and contacts...

First a contraction for ease of typing: OOYA - Object of your affection/aggravation (whichever is more appropriate) Rules to live by when wiggling your connector: Be sure to let the OOYA know you intend to make her PURR (until you really put the hammer down and then expect her to ROAR), and that this won't hurt a bit... Not on public roads or in public... Don't be looking at anything other than OOYA when wiggleing because if the said object catches you said object may throw a fit and become even more of a headache... Make sure your connector is going in the right hole - many times you will get serious bucking/backfire when not connecting properly... Wiggling only goes so far - for maximum effect/contact you'll have to pull out and push in a few times... OK - MORE than a few times... Application of appropriate agents will help in this process, especially if the object of your affection is balking... Keep repeating until OOYA lets you know by her behavior you've reached a satisfactory conclusion (or you have lost all desire/ability to try again)... When finished, a nice cold six pack and a good sandwich caps the whole experience while you congratulate yourself on a job well done... After that - a nap maybe...

The topic says it all - '83 zxt - if I don't have the pedal all the way to the floor and constatnly add more pedal no problem. If I just floor it, at around 4K it seems to shut down. I back off the pedal and feed it in as stated above and no problem... Any ideas?

For those of us contemplating the swap, how much for the adapters and axle work? Thanks

If it really is an 8.5" wheel then the width (for backspacing) is 9.5". -7mm is about .25", meaning that you have 4.5" backspacing. If you are acyually measuring the width of the wheel (rim to rim distance), then 4" backspacing is correct.

The 280ZX ECU is not set up for MAF, only the 300's are.

$ is rigt - anyone priced a valve adjustment on a DUC?

Actually, if you have a 10" wheel, the whole wheel is about 11" wide. A 5" backspacing would have -1/2" offset. I have 16X7 wheels that are 8" wide. I use spacers because they have about 30mm pos. offset.

Very nice paint job! Chase - a pleasure meeting you and rapping w/you. LOVED the car. I recommend every go to his site.

I have an '83 ZXT and have had nothing but problemsfrom the rear calipers. I am doing a V8 '75 and will go with Ross's conversion.

Let me preface my following remarks by stating that I do NOT have an intercooler. I had a T3/T4 hybrid w center warter cooliing installed on my '83 ZXT at 134000 miles, with a simple boost controller. At the same time the shop farmed out the exhaust to a good shop that put on a 2.5" from the cat back to a flowmaster muffler. The car was quick (10 lbs boost). The Flowmaster was TOO LOUD. When looking at the exhaust I noticed no mandrell bends (against specs when I ordered the work). I took the car back to the mufffler shop and had 3" mandrel bent tubing from the downpipe back and a 3" cat and sraight through oveal dynomax muffler put oon it. The car sppooled faster and hit harder this way. I have problems with boost creep - occasionally hitting 15 psi (no detonation because of the T4 compressor section). I don't think your problem is the exhaust.

Back in '94 I had this same problem and took it to the dealer - $1400 and a new "control head" later it was fixed. I have since gone to analog dash and manual A/C and have all my parts from the auto setup which was working fine - I just didn't want to ever have to go through it again, and while I had the dash out to replace the wiring harness did the manual conversion.

I would get a water cooled center section and kit to install it also.

I believe it is in the distributor...

After seqrching here and zcar.com, I realize that I have a classic case of ignition module starting to fail on my '83 ZXT. It doesn't appear that the HEI conversion is feasible with this distributor - any other suggestions?

Shelby didn't use the 427 cammer engine...he did use the side-oiler tho. He said for a street car go 428 - the rod/rod bolts would go at just about any time on the 427's.

Can you say ceramic coating inside and out?

Alternator and voltage regulator is fine. Have gone through all connections. Thanks for the advice...