rturbo 930

Unlike 240Z replacement floors, the 280Z replacement floors I've seen are almost nothing like the originals. If you looks at the subframe connectors bad dog sells, the 240Z rail is flat, and has a flange, the 280Z rail has no flange, and is contoured to mate to the floor. There's a handful of bead rolls that do go over the frame rails, as well as a couple steps, curves, what have you. As for stainless, I've seen lots of people suggest stainless for various things, and based on what I know about stainless (not a whole lot), I'd say stainless is sometimes used inappropriately, ie. stainless bolt kits. Stainless isn't just steel that doesn't rust. It has different properties that make it inferior to steel in certain applications. I agree with seattlejester, leaving the ends open isn't a good idea. They're basically just dead weight if they're not connected to anything, and totally overkill for stiffening the floor. Honestly, I didn't even know you could weld stainless to mild, I thought you had to braze it.

I'm not sure how much stitch welding your bumper or tow hook mounts helps chassis rigidity

I think this is it. As it happens, your post jogged my memory, and I realized that I had seen it before, and that I also had it bookmarked. http://www.motortopia.com/cars/1973-datsun-240z-11118/car-pictures/240sx-transmission-swap-14041

Was it Nigel? Seems like he'd be the type to do that, and he lives in Canada.

That red looks great! The stripes are cool too. Can't wait to see it assembled in the sun.

Dude, your car is fine. Out here, it'd be considered practically rust free. You'd be pretty stupid to part out a car in that condition, it's better than 90% of Zs out there. These cars are coming up on 50 years old, and they are known for having rust problems - your car is SOLID. Just needs a bit of metal work. Even "rust free" Zs have rust. The car you're looking at looks like it needs a full strip down resto. It looks like it's been sitting in the sun for the last 20 years, and it clearly has had prior body work.

I've never tried pulling just the dash pad, but it's held in by quite a number of screws, and I don't think it's mean to be removed in-car. I'd pull the whole dash. Unfortunately, while the Z is generally easy to work on, the dash is an exception. It may be more work, but I think it'd be ultimately easier to pull the dash and replace the pad.

Someone beat you to it.

Yes, it was mentioned in the 5th post of this thread with a link to their FB page.

Honestly, the first thing my mind goes to is that the VIN is from a 78, and somehow made its way onto a 240Z body. If the scale is accurate, and the car is as you described, there's just no way it should weight what it does. That would be a good number for even a 240Z. There was someone here a while back with a car in the reverse situation. Early 240Z VIN, reshelled with a later 280Z.

That doesn't seem right. A 78 280Z with no bumpers that is otherwise mostly stock should weigh about 400lbs more than that.

Target weight is under 2000lbs, wet with driver.

I'll have to check to be sure, but I'm pretty sure OE pans don't have that little clearance in the longitudinal bead roll for the seat rail like the new pan you show there. The seat rail itself is formed to have clearance for the bead roll. Interesting to hear you had issues with the pans, because I've never heard anything bad about them. I think they might be the only replacement panel available that I've never heard anything bad about actually, at least until now.

It's doing it again. gogriz made a thread, can't reply to it.

Hey, welcome to the forum! Looks like a nice car to start with. I'm not sure if there's any additional value in a low VIN 260Z, but it might be worth looking into. I think your goal of 300hp will be a good fit for the S30 chassis. 800hp is definitely too much. IMO the S30 isn't really worth putting that much power into, since basically everything, including chassis, needs to be upgraded or replaced, and I don't need to tell you that that will get really expensive really quickly. 300hp is a nice balance in terms of power, and also what the chassis can handle with a few upgrades. If you keep the weight down, 300hp will be more than enough to have fun with. Keep us posted.

IMO the rear end is a little too plain without a bumper.

Can you post some more pics showing how it all goes together?

How the hell did you get it to weigh that little? Granted it has no hood, airdam, or bumper in that pic, but still. That's a good 200lbs lighter than I would've expected. Empty tank? A full tank would add about 100lbs. With a turbo swap and associated parts, heavy (?) seats, big heavy wheels, R200 diff, disc brakes, etc. I never would've guessed that weight. 2260 is about what a stock series one would weigh with no fuel. Well anyway, everything looks good! Also, I spy another Z. What's up with that?

Maybe a video of you ripping through the gears would help it sell

Did we even get those over here?

gnosez posted those pictures of that old race car if I'm not mistaken.

Looks like some quality work being done there!

I stumbled on this a while back. I think it was something Monzter did. Thought it was an interesting design, mostly because I've never seen anyone else do it.

Just stumbled on these. Haven't seen these mentioned here, so I thought I'd give you all a heads up. I don't think I've seen anyone sell a control arm with this design before. Anyway, here they are: http://www.apexengineered.com/store/p2/240z%2F260z%2F280z_Rear_Control_Arms.html Looks like it's their first product, too.

Okay, how on earth did you do this?