deja

Because my car had been previously painted I was concerned about too much paint build up. I took it to bare metal by hand sanding using 60 grit, followed by 220 grit in preparation for the primer. Hand sanding is a PITA for sure but the Z body is very thin metal and I was worried about warping from heat using a sander, yeah I know, too paranoid. On parts that I could remove, cowl, hood, hatch, headlight buckets I used a chemical stripper. I am no painting expert but my buddy who is recommended using a quality urethane primer from TCPGlobal Urethane Primer. It is great for bare metal as well as fiberglass if you are using any body kit parts. You get what you pay for and how much attention to detail you take in the prep work. After I did all the prep and primer work my buddy came in and followed with a PPG base/clear.

If you don't need or want that fitting you might try an expandable rubber plug. You can get them at any auto parts store in different sizes. I used one on a unwanted fitting on my LT1 water pump.

When did Unique Autosports open a branch in India?

http://www.tunercat.com/ has about everything you'll need.

Very cool. I did pretty much the same thing to reinstall my 4L60E transmission without pulling the engine. I used a 22 mm socket bolted to a 12x12 1/2" aluminum plate. The socket fits into the swivel head on my jack making the whole thing much more maneuverable.

JTR, the LT1 uses the standard SBC mounting. You can make them but for the price you can't beat JTR. They also have Sanderson headers, the diff conversion flange, radiator, just about eveything you'll need. Get the JTR manual it is an awesome source.

I put a V8 in mine because that's the direction I wanted to go. But if you want to get it done the fastest and the cheapest go with the rebuilt Z engine. Everything will work with no modifications and the install will be much easier and faster. Used engine are a crap shoot, you never really know what you're getting especially if you're getting it on-line. A V8 swap seems easy on the surface and it is to a point. But trust me there are things you haven't even thought about and they will take time and money, lots of time and money. Don't take me wrong I love my LT1 and would trade it for anything.....well maybe a LSX!!!!

As I remember both bumpers, rubber, bolts and shocks came in about 75 lbs.

Take out all the bulbs that light up when you hit the brakes and clean the sockets, use some contact cleaner. Also check for a short on the brake light switch located on the brake pedal.

I just had my '77 locks out too. Like Trbulnt said the first one is what mine looked like. Most places I have seen show the Thailand version but I saw no way they would work. One thing to note: As you see in that first pict there is a rubber sleeve over the end of one of the lock arms. Mine fell apart for dry rot when I took the locks out. I ended up wrapping a few turns of aluminum duct tape around it. If you don't the travel won't be enough to engage the mechanism, that part slides into a slot. You might try some sort of rubber tubing if you can find some that would not be too big. Also grease the hell out of everything before you put it all back together.

Datsun's wiring harness was designed by someone that had no training. No color codes, connectors for no reason and poor grounding. They even switch ground on some circuits, what were they thinking. I always thought the British had bad electicals until I started working on my 280Z. When I went to the LT1 I pulled every Datsun wire out and replaced everything with the Camaro harness. I was shocked to see how much corrosion there was in almost every Datsun connector and the fuse block, and my car was really in good condition. Pulling the dash and replacing it all is a good idea.

Why are you even hooking up the stock efi harness? Here's a LT1 wiring doc that might be of some help. I ended up using a complete Camaro engine and chassis wiring harness to replace every 280z wire in the car and didn't have any wierd problems.

Sorry, I don't know how much clearance you need. If you have calibrated your tach to work on a 8 cylinder engine already it should be fine with the HEI. It gets connected to the TACH terminal on the HEI. The +12v from the ignition switch or relay needs to be present in both run and start positions. It will hook to the BAT terminal on the HEI and needs to be a #12 or #10 wire, anything smaller is going to restrict the current the HEI needs. Do not use a ballast resistor or a resistor wire. Remember the coil is now in the HEI cap, not external like you have now. If I remember correctly there is a third terminal on the HEI and it is not used.

MM takes a 280Z campanion flange, modifes it(I assume cutting it down) and then welds on their machined cv adapter. Remember this whole thing gets held to the stub axel with that big gland nut and torqued to somehwere around 240 ft/lbs. The cv halfshaft is bolted to it with 6 bolts.

Yes, I took it apart because of a bad hose fitting at the drier blew and I lost all the "feon". Then I built a new engine and put put the Ac system back on but did NOT evacuate it or add any feon. I just found out Summit has the drier for only $38 so I'll run over tomotrrow and pick it up since they are local. Better safe than sorry.

I don't know, I think I was looking at your first post backwards. I see what you're trying to do and if you could pull it off you have a marketable product since Modern Motorsports seems to be getting difficult to deal with. This is MM's 280zx adapter. This is the one I got from them. Sorry I can't give you any dimensions and I think they are critical, there's not a lot of room for error in this setup. Seems too me if you took a 280zx companion flange and cut it down and a 280z companion flange and cut it down you could weld them together and have what MM produces. Tolerances is what would be tough. To weld the together you would have to make some sort of jig to hold true so they are square and centered.

I drove mine about that distance on I-85 to get mine welded, just take it easy. You might hear some banging sheetmetal, especially on corners however! The link you're looking for was moved to FAQ under Body Kit and Paint How to mount them there ZG Flares

The idea on the alteredz link is too adapt the 280z 27 spline stub axle to the 280zx cv halfshaft. To do this he combined the 280z companion flange which would mate to the 280z stub and the 280zx companion flange that would mate to the 280zx halfshaft. What do you expect that u-joint to mate to?

My Vintage Air AC has been uncharged since I changed to the new LT1 engine last year. Its getting hot so I thought I should get it recharged. My question is should I get a new dryer since the whole system has been empty for so long? Or would it be okay to just get the system evacuated and recharged?

Almost any auto parts store has those 15/16" MC for less than $50. I got mine at Oreily's.

Look up both of those parts any parts store website. Search for the car not the GM part number. I got my motor mounts at Oreily's.

This has been covered here 100's of times. But in a word yes it will fit. Get the JTR BOOKand read it.

BTW if you haven't found it yet ShoeBox is an awesome site for LT1 information as far as parts location, schematics and other stuff. It helped a me lot during my build.

Remove the door hatch that screws onto the body door jam and see if they will close all the way without those attached. They should close flush with the rear fenders with no effort. If they do just play around with those latches until they close right. Its trial and error, go in a little at a time, its a fine line. If not you have some serious door misalignments or worse possibly some structural damage.

Looks pretty nasty guys. Too bad we don't have DNI anymore to show it off. Be sure to post some videos after you get it running.