freakshow

In order to take the exhaust manifold off, you have to remove the intake. In order to take the intake off, you have to remove the fuel rail, some of the accessory brackets. Take a good long look at everything, it helps if you label everything for easier reassembly. Take your time. You will have to replace the intake/exhaust gasket, and maybe some wires, and if you break off a couple of studs, you will have to get them out somehow. depending on where you live, you might be able to get one of the more knowledgeable members here to give you a hand. If I was in your area, I would. cheap tools are a good way to strip off bolts, break bolts, and skin your knuckles. I would invest in at least a simple socket set from craftsman, or at least stanley form wal-mart. And you should at least have a haynes manual for your car, I would recommend the chiltons book over the haynes though, and the factory service manual i better than both of them.

I am looking for a machine shop in or around grand rapids michigan. I have looked a bit, but havent been able to find a shop that does engine boring with torque plates around where I live. I would rather not drive 3 or 4 hours one way just to have my machine work done. If anyone knows of a shop that does good work within a reasonable distance of grand rapids, I want to know about it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Black dragon also sells the one for the early s30 chassis http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icatalog/z/full.aspx?Page=44

Has anyone used the solid ball and socket rod kit from black dragon? It says it replaces the bushings with an aluminum ball and socket, I was just wondering if anyone had tried it. Here's a link http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icatalog/z/full.aspx?Page=47

Grand Rapids? How much did you give for it? It has to be an out of state car, or its been redone. I havent seen one with that nice of a body thats been in michigan long.

I also have a 79 280zx, I love it as my daily driver. I am in northern michigan, big rapids. If you need a hand and I am available, I always love to work on these cars.

My speedometer jumps all over and the needle just broke off. I am looking for the one that goes up to 120 mph. I might buy a whole cluster for a manual trans car. Analog gauges. I already bought a new cable.

I have been driving the car now for a couple weeks with the infiniti struts. I now drive with the struts set on hard all the time. The car is much more responsive and sticks a lot better around corners. The combination of the infiniti spring and struts, and the sumitomo tires is absolutely incredible. If you are looking to maintain a stock ride height, but get a better more responsive ride I would definitly reccomend this setup. The rear end squat on acceleration is almost nothing now. The car hooks up very well, and doesnt break traction nearly as easy as before. Good stuff. Cornering is incredible.

Sounds like a bad master cylinder, or the other common suggestion is the reaction disk. Are your brakes all bled properly? the reason you get good pedal feel when the car is off is you are using the remaining vacuum in the booster. My cadillac had this problem, changed out the master cylinder, no more problem. Look for leaks under the car, by the wheels and all the lines before you start going crazy.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=PTP-14-2001&N=700+4294925079+4294925130+4294839050+4294865789+4294907666+115&autoview=sku http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=ENS-7-18101R&N=700+4294925079+4294925130+4294839050+4294865789+4294907666+115&autoview=sku http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalog/parts/partsProduct.jsp?displayName=Suspension+Bushing+Kit&itemId=prod10062&navValue=14601896&parentId=cat10006&productId=388235&fromString=&itemIdentifier=388235_503143_5933_&filterByKeyWord=&categoryNValue=&isSearchByPartNumber=&categoryDisplayName=Suspension&store=2276&skuDescription=Energy-Suspension/SuspensionBushingKit&fromWhere=&searchText=&_requestid=627832

Just order it from summit racing. It would help if you stated what car you needed it for.

You probably already know this, but the chassis code for the m30 is f31. I dont know how close the f31 chassis is to the 300z, but I know that it looks almost identical to the 280zx suspension. I didnt get much of a chance to drive the m30, so I couldnt compare the two. So far the only things I have changed are the strut assembly's. The strut mounting points on the m30 arms are about an inch higher, hence my assumtion that the 280zx would be lowered. Other than that, I dont know what is different as far as actual part dimensions, and I will not know until I get into the m30 more.

http://s699.photobucket.com/albums/vv351/freakshow_mcnuts/datsun/

I imagine the reason I got no response is because the m30 is even harder to find parts for than the 280zx.

So, after almost a year of running on wore out 280zx springs in the rear, and cheap ass gabriel struts, I got fed up with my noodle suspension and pulled the infiniti strut assemblys. The things bolted right in. Got maybe a half an inch of drop, if that. The Infiniti springs are slightly stiffer, but not excessive, and I now have three way adjustable struts in the rear, so far I have only used the stiff and soft settings, but the soft is good for driving, and the stiff is good for handling. I am going to pull the fronts off of the infiniti tomorrow. The springs look like they are very close, but might be too stiff, as the zx fronts are still plenty stiff. I will post some pics of the car soon.

I re-read my chiltons, and it says the same. I had just flipped through to get the torque value, didnt read the whole procedure.

Torqued to 20 ft/lbs, as per the manual. The bearings were in good shape, I cleaned them off, re greased them with some good grease. Just drove it to Traverse City this weekend, about 150 miles round trip, performed beautifully, got 22 miles to the gallon.

I just went through this on my 280zx, no left to right wobble/play, but noticeable up and down (12 and 6) play. The brake pads only just barely come off the rotor. The pads keep the wheel from moving when you wiggle it left to right. I checked my wheel bearings and sure enough, the P.O. hadnt torqued the wheel nut on, only made it tight enough to hold with the new bearings, I took it all apart, cleaned everything out, and put it back together and torqued it down, no more wobble.

Yeah, I understand. After reading the first reply, it pretty much cinched the deal on the m30 trailing arm/rear end swap. The brakes on the m30 are rather stiff. The driveshaft is going to cost a fortune though.

I have a 79 280zx with the two piece brake calipers. When I redid my back brakes I broke one of the retaining clips. I have been unable to find a replacement, and my brakes clunk. I am looking to switch to the later year 1 piece calipers, but the part number on the rotors are different, so the rotors dont match. What I was wondering is if anyone knows if the parts just bolt on, or if I would have to change out my stub shafts and everything. It looks like the hat on the rotor for the later years is a lot shorter, so maybe the spacing is off on the later years compared to my 79. I hope that someone has worked on both and can tell me whats going on.

There are more differences between a 5.0/302 and a 5.0 HO. The 5.0/302 uses a different firing order, and therefore a different crank and cam. The 5.0 HO uses the 351w and I think 94 up 5.0 firing order, I dont have them right here in front of me or I would put it up here. If you are going fuel injected this is a very important point to put up. You will need the computer from the right engine or you will get piss poor performance and poor fuel economy. I am also looking at this swap, as I can get a 5.0 for $50 right now, and the 2.8 six performance in the 280zx often leaves me wanting.

I am looking for a set of centercaps for a set of 79 280zx wheels. I have two, but they are in poor shape. I would prefer to do a face to face deal, so if you are in michigan, I want to deal with you. http://s699.photobucket.com/albums/vv351/freakshow_mcnuts/?action=view&current=100_1307.jpg this is the centercap I am looking for, http://s699.photobucket.com/albums/vv351/freakshow_mcnuts/?action=view&current=100_1302.jpg this is the wheel it goes to. Let me know what you have.