mentallylost

Sorry y'all. They were there yesterday. They should be fixed now.

I like the idea, but I think that tilting the radiator farther forward would have allowed for more air to evacuate out over the hood with some duct work. I like the idea of the vents in the wheel wells too. Are you planning on venting the air into the wells? Or all the way out through the fenders? P.S. putting a space between the pics makes them easier to see.

They are pretty much the same motor with a few exceptions. The et motor has dished pistons (for a lower compression ratio) n/a motor has flat tops. The et motor has a P90 head (larger exhaust ports) and the n/a has a P79. I think that it is the same head except for the exhaust ports. Other than those things, you have different injectors, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and oil pan.

If you look through the Victoria British catalog at the part numbers, you will notice that the front fender, headlight buckets, rocker panels, lower door skins and rear quarter panels (except for 2 + 2's) all have the same part numbers between all of the 70 - 78 240's, 260, and 280z's. Even the hoods are the same except for the 77 - 78 280z with the hood vents. So basiclly, they are all the same.

Golf, African Cichlids and Woodworking. I used to play the guitar but crushed my hands in the Army.

If you scroll down through the sellers old feedback, you will come across a seller named spikescustoms (no longer a registered user). Spike recently sold to this seller a front strut tower brace for a Honda Prelude 92-96. But spike never sold one for a 240z. However the generic pic on this sale looks a lot like the same style being sold for the 240z. I would be willing to bet that this seller bought them for a Honda for $1.00 and custom fabbed some mounts to make them fit on a 240z.

I figured that since I was going to put these headlight covers from MSA on my car, that I would do a little write up for those that are thinking of doing this mod. It’s about time that I do this anyway; I’ve had this kit in my garage for about 2 or so years now. But anyway, here we go. In the box were 2 headlamp covers, rubber seals, and all of the tabs, screws and sticky 3m double-sided tape to either mount this kit with or without drilling into the headlamp buckets. I chose to hard mount the covers to the buckets with the self-tapping screws because I just do not trust the double-sided tape to maintain a tight bond. For too many years I have had problems with those tinted rain deflecting window cover things on my truck. The steps: While holding the lens with seal against the bucket, place a strip of low tack tape opposite of the lens mounting holes on the headlamp bucket. You will be marking the hole locations on this tape. Using a pencil, mark the hole locations directly across from each hole. Thoroughly clean the surfaces in the headlamp buckets with a glass cleaner or such as to remove all dirt, oily film, or car wax. You will be sticking the tabs to these locations shortly. Peel off one side of the double-sided tape and apply it to the backside of the mounting brackets. Cut the template from the directions sheet and use this to measure the locations for the brackets. Hold the template across the earlier penciled marks and press the brackets up against this template lining up the mounting holes. Press firmly for a moment to help insure adhesion. Test fit the lens into the headlamp bucket now to insure that the holes do line up. It’s better to adjust the brackets now than later after the tape has set. If you are not going to drill holes into the buckets to hard mount the lens, then you now need to leave it alone for 24 hours for the glue to set. If you are going to do as I did and hard mount these into the buckets, then move on to the next step. Using a 1/8-drill bit, drills a hole through the mounting brackets and using the supplied self-tapping screws, screw them into place. Now install the lens into the bucket again using the supplied screws and nylon washers.

I second b sosick, lose the wing. But I also second Austenp405, the scoop looks good. And if you are not planning on racing the car, then who cares if it affects lift and downforce a little. You shouldn't notice much of a difference in performance or handling for a street car. If you are going to race it though, then that scoop is a bad idea unless you have something like a small block chevy with an air filter directly behind the hole.

I wish that I had those skills. That car is beautiful.

The seller was right... it is a jaw dropper. It makes me wonder what the hell some people are thinking.

The coolant passages on the P79 are 7/16 diameter so I would tap it out to 1/2 and just match the threads to the plug.

I thought that you said that the block does not have the coolant passage and that the head did. If there is no passage in the block and there is in the head, then there is no next hole for the coolant to pass. Blocking the passage out of the head will then just keep the coolant pressure from being applied to the gasket. The coolant will still travel through the head and block and pass through the other passages.

No, if there is no passage in the block then leave the gasket intact. However if there is an open passage in the head with no place for the coolant to go, then you may want tap some threads in the passage and use a pipe plug to block it. I have never done this before, but maybe someone else with this head/block combination has?

The felpro headgasket that I ended up using was a result of a cheaper headgasket (I don't remember the brand) that blew from the blocked passage between cyl's #5 + #6. I was more than a little upset with myself. I know better that ot use cheap stuff. And my motor had less than 100 miles on the rebuild. So when I bought the felpro and saw that the same coolant passages were blocked again, I pulled out a hole punch to free the passages. And just to be sure that I didn't weaken the gasket too much, I spayed both sides of the gasket with a can of copper gasket spray from Napa. So yes, I do recommend clearing the passages. Either by finding the correct OEM gasket P/N 11044-P7911 , or punching the gasket with a hole punch. But you are right Dave, the OEM gasket would have been the better way to go. I just was not in the mood for another run to the local Nissan dealership.

Yep, it's right about .021 above the surface of the block. I was alittle nervous seeing that the P79 doesn't have round combustion chambers for the piston to clear into. I am running a F54 block and a shaved and shimmed .080 P79 head. I am using a felpro head gasket for a 83 model L28 and the thing that I don't like about it is that there are 2 coolant passages blocked by the gasket. I ended up using a hole punch to free the passages. I don't know if the 78 model head gasket has the 2 passages blocked.

That has got to be the oddest grind that I have ever seen. What is it?

How about placing a bead of high temp RTV around the base of the tube?

Well now I feel bad for thinking that my wife was being cheap by not getting me a newspaper. lol Truth be told, I think that she has reallt put more $$$ into this car than I have. Although the time and labor have been all me.

A door-to-door Holy Roller approached me today while I was working on my 83 280zx in the garage and asked if it was a Mustang that I was working on. Talk about an insult! Now I realize that not everyone knows what a Datsun is, let alone 280zx. But this guy had to be in his late 40's and should know kind of what a Mustang looks like. My first thought wasn't to laugh it was really kind disgust. The laugh didn't come ‘til later as I reflected on it. After he insulted my car like that, I sure was in no mood to discuss religion.

Yeah, the wife laughed it up a bit. So did the brother-in-law, the sister-in-law, and I am sure that a few of the neighbors did too.

Don't laugh! The wife wouldn't spring for some newspaper. So I got caught using some Christmas wrapping paper to mask off the car. I can't really complain though. My wife has put a lot of time and money into this ride. But I do think that the wrapping paper is a little embarrassing .

Thanks for the comments y'all. Yes, it is big. Yes, Bob Sharp's cars influenced this. And yes, I am going to end up fabricating some side skirts to go along with it. Ultimatley, I will end up building a wide body for it. If you notice from the front end view, no tires penetrate beyond the end of the dam. They are fully enclosed. And the front end is only 5 inches off of the ground. So it's big yeah. But it's going to push a lot of air aside. It's built from 20 gage steel. And it took a lot beating with hammers, rolling with pipes and bars, and welding to get the shape. Not to mention the seemingly endless back and forth with templates making sure that it is even. I will end up lowering the car 1 1/2 inches when I get back to the suspension. D280zxmod, good looking car.

I started to fabricate a front air dam for the zx this weekend. It's not finished yet, but I thought that I would show some of the progress so far. I still have yet to cut out holes for the turn signals, and I am still debating vents for the brakes.

Get the tires balanced. I would be willing to bet that you will find that your front wheels are out of balance. Generally if you feel the vibration in the steering wheel, it's the front. If you feel the vibration in the seat, it's the rear wheels. But that's how balancing affects the car. It's only through certain vehicle speeds that it's noticeable.

I don't recommend it. j/k I polished my intake, and I have got to say that it was one of the most pain in the butt things that I have ever done. I sat there for days just sanding and smoothing. I started with 80 grit cloth and made my way down to 320 grit. After that I then attached a buffing wheel to my drill and just used some polishing rouge. It was such a pain that I didn't even attempt the bottom of the manifold. It still looks like hell still, but it does look a whole lot nicer. I think that next time I might powder coat instead. P.S. The car looks great.