Z-Monster

hi everyone i am a few ays old in this site which i have recently stubled upon while surfing the net for brother hybrid-z's!!! what a find. i have since spent all my days surfing this site for knowledge and know-how. you guys reallyknow what yall are talking about and i hope i will be able to assist anyone who is willing to ask anything about this conversion. now a little about myself. i live in malaysia and i have recently returned home to malaysia after 7.5 yrs living and working in NYC (6 months ago). yes i was there during 911 and dont wanna talk about it. anyways on the brighter side of things my project dubed z-monster thus the nick started off as a bone stock 1980 280zx with a little rust here and there but nothing serious. it as probably taken me approx 4 months to get it to where it is today and its a daily driver with no problems as of 3 weeks ago. the engine transplant and the time it took me to get the car rolling from stripping was only 3 weeks!!! since then i have taken the car to the sepand international F1 circuit twice. it ran along evo8's and 9's. (lap time 2m55secs) blame the slow time due to lousy tires.. i have had lotsa done like replaced r200 diff with s14 cv joints, power steering upgraded to rack and pinion, skyline r33 brake install, ogura stage 4 3 plate clutch and flywheel, sard fuel press reg., sard boost and ext. temp meters, nismo r33 300kmh meter cluster, r34 gtr 2 core custom intercooler, custom coil over suspension, custom oil pan, blitz BOV, i/c spray (since malaysia is hat as hell) 2 speed electric fan, jaguar 4.8 v8 fuel pump etc....thats as much as i can remember for now. enjoy the pix feel free to comment and ask any question you like. i also have a friend who owns a business exporting jdm spec engines to the US, aust and europe. i'll do my best in answering your questions. oh crap after doing this i realise i dont know how to post pictures into my thread... let me figure this out. ;0

i'm in malaysia so i run on kmh... i have installed the nismo gtr33 instrument cluster in my 280zx.. it was pretty much plug n play.. as for the ratio for rb20 vs rb25 tranny's. they are different. you also have to take your rear diff into account.. as a conclusion your speed reading will be wrong all the time unless you know how to regear everything to fit well. i'm running a r200 rear diff with 4.11 final drive and a standard r33 gts tranny geared speed sensor with 17" rims so i dont know jack!! ahhahahah

ey brother i understand your frustration as i have experienced the same thoughts you are having. no worries i have done the swap and i use my 1980 280zx with rb25det daily!!! so hear are the answers you ahve been waiting for. oh i live in malaysia and i completed the project in 3 months if thats good enough for you....with lotsa help from a friend. do we have a for sure answer that the RB25 will drop in and use the stock engine mounts on the zx? how about tranny mounts? -the engine crossmember mount needs to be cut and paste a little taking some off here and there and pasting the r33 crossmember parts to fit. i also had a nissan cefiero aka a31 engine mounts connect the engine block to the crossmember. i believe the s13 shares the a31 mounts.. same ****. oh the tranny mount needs the be relocated and its not a tough job just follow the tranny mount locations and get a s13/a31 rubber tranny to avoid your gear lever from excessive shake at high rpm. does the drive shaft still have to be modified or with the position the stock mounts place the engine in will it fit? -you should reuse your 280zx long shaft aka prop shaft. but you will need to cut it to fit. after installing the rb25det and its manual tranny the distance from your tranny to diff is decreased so chop it up and weld after making sure it is balanced!!!! is it confirmed then that the RB25 oil pan will work and not need to be modified for the zx? -bull crap!!! you will have to chop your oil pan where your crossmember crosses and use the part you chopped out to paste at the head of your oil sump to maintain quarts. what else am i missing here? what have those of you that have completed this swap have to do to make it work? -i went ahead and customized my suspension, installed a gtr34 aftermarket 2 core intercooler. maintained the 3 core radiator(works f*****g good) maintained the 280zx brake pump coz too lazy to install the r33's one( holes are different). used the disk and calipers of the r33 only in front. maintained the original disk and calipers behind. relocated the padels had to bring them up and relocate throtle cable output through firewall on side of brake pump. installed a new r200(lsd) rear diff with cv joints.(my half shafts with coupling broke under power boosting to 140kmh=87.5mph) changed my power steering ball joints to rack and pinon. took a unit from a s13 tie rods needed to be shortened and crossmember needed to be moddified so make sure you do this before cutting oil sump coz i did it as an after thought so my oil sum needed to be chopped up again. do this only if you want your car to perform like a modern day road monster like mine. forget it if you like the free play of the old fashion streering box. so thats it for now i am too lazy to think of what else to tell you... there were hardware upgrades but you never asked so i'm not telling... i'm a 25 yrs old kid with too much power on my hands you had better ask all b4 its too late...hahahahaha lol. oh ya i just ran 240kmh last night and i think it will do 280kmh=175mph easy...all the best.

i also have had this problem as i take my z into the track once in awhile. it has not reoccured since i installed a fuel pressure regulator and replaced all my hoses running to and from the fuel tank. also checking the fuel tank breather helps. hope you get to resolve your problem as i did.

hi everyone. i am a new in tis forum and am loving it. i wish i had dont the same as our trend starter by asking and doing my research in installing a rb25det into a Z because its been 5 months since i started my project and its only now i am reliably ripping the tires off its wheels..... i started this conversion with a 1980 280zx (2+2 of course) droving it in stock form for 3 weeks before finding a r33 gtst as the new heart. 3 weeks after that and after lotsa money spent, hard work, lotsa thinking to make everything look stock, my car was running again!!!! i had refabed the engine mount to fit with the help of a stock nissan s13/a31 engine and tranny mount. the conversion was pretty straight forward with the occassional thought bubble coming up, and lotsa "while i'm at it's"!!!!! since then i have replaced my r200 rear diff for one which doesnt whine, changed 2 sets of tires and have another set of semi slicks waiting for a track day to come round and two clutch sets, a semi race exedy and a full race triple plate ogura for my drift events. as yall can tell i have gone way over my budget. i had built my car as a daily driver at the same time is ever ready for track duty with fully customed suspenssion. i live in malaysia and i have had the pleasure to be the only running 280zx having done this conversion. i know that for a fact as there are very few 280zx's in malaysia and hardly anyone whos willing to do it. as a project car i deem this combination possible bring you lotsa of satisfaction if done right. i say go for it with an open mind and your project will not dissapoint. be prepared to exceed your budget as mine did. i have nothing to regret as i just ran 240kmh last night and it was only pushing 5000rpm on fifth gear. 1/4 mile @ 13.754 on street tires and lotsa wheel spin... anyways i can go one forever as i am estatic in finding this site and having so many who share my passion. keep up the projects and hope i iwll be able to contribute to the site as it has for me. cheers. p.s. meter calibration might be off by a little... lol

hi i am not sure about the 280z but i have a 280zx which i had a custom suspenssion build for me and i customed a set of s13 sylvia custer adjusters to fit. the s13 custers are just about right fir into place with a little fabrication on the lower arm and chassis mount. check it out and see if it will work the same on your 280z.