rturbo 930

Bumping this. Looking to finally get my Z on the road, which, of course, means plates. The dilemma? Historic tags, or regular tags. I don't want regular tags as I really doubt my Z will pass with my modified L28, which leaves historic tags. I would think there would be standards for what condition the car is in, but are there? My Z looks kinda like... well, total shit lol. The interior is completely gutted, and it's a few different colors, although I'm gonna paint the doors, which are currently black primer, so that they don't stick out as much. This is more or less what it looks like, but I'm gonna get some silver spray paint to make it look a bit less a piece of shit. The other side isn't as bad. (BTW - since when can't I use photobucket/img tags to post pics on here? wtf?) Anyway, think I'll be able to get historic tags for my Z, or will they shoot me down? Maybe I'm overthinking this?

He's saying that just because they get power doesn't mean they work. They might be clogged or something.

Okay, so what have you checked in the fuel system? First few things I'd check would be the filter, pump, and the injectors. The filter and pump should be easy to do, but I don't know how you'd check injectors. Although, I'm not familiar with a stock 280Z, if it has a mech fuel pump, I'm not sure how you would check that either. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

Well, what have you tried? The first thing you should do is check to see if you have fuel, air, and spark. Once you figure out what's missing you can go from there. Also, telling us what year/model Z you have would help.

I know he posted at one point something about losing his job. I'm guessing the funds just aren't there. Might be having trouble finding a shop to do the work as well.

Also added this: Which is much more reasonable. I can't think of a single car off the top of my head that can be lowered 3" without rendering it completely useless. My BMW will soon be lowered 2" and I already know I'll have to modify the rear suspension to make up for the added camber, and possibly the front as well. Another inch, and I wouldn't be able to drive it, period. And something tells me, he actually does have people come in with cars literally slammed on the ground wondering why their **** don't work.

In the future, you need to do a bit more searching but... http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/72999-subaru-rack-size-compared-to-stock-z-rack/page__p__694365__hl__%2Bsubaru+%2Bpower+%2Bsteering__fromsearch__1#entry694365 http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/69002-subaru-rack-280z-rack-comparison-sedan/page__p__650673__hl__%2Bsubaru+%2Bpower+%2Bsteering__fromsearch__1#entry650673 http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/46504-lt1-and-subaru-rack/page__p__442704__hl__%2Bsubaru+%2Bpower+%2Bsteering__fromsearch__1#entry442704 You use the stock steering column, it's only the rack and tie rods you're replacing.

How far do you wanna travel? http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/3057569988.html Yeah, I know, it's brown, and at the other end of the state. But it looks pretty solid and complete.

Nice work man. Don't believe you mentioned it, so what's the plan for the motor?

More like Stancehunters... I really want to like the car, since it looks pretty good, but if your frame rails are dragging on the ground, your car is simply too ******* low! I love low cars, but, at least with sports cars, they still need to be able to perform as intended.

That sucks dude. I don't think that shell can be fixed. It likely won't drive the same ever again, even if it was fixed. If it were me, I'd try to trade the '78 shell for another 240z shell and swap everything over.

Gotcha. Wonder if it'd be easier to buy that dash, and modify it, molding in your own vents/glovebox?

You guys know about this dash, right? http://www.pdkfabrication.com/Dash.htm

Do some searching, as that's been covered many times here. In short, you will use an RB25 RWD trans instead of the AWD trans. You might also consider using an RB25 instead of an RB20. I think it'd be a much better swap, but that's personal preference.

1700lbs?! Jesus, that's light. Looks like you still have the stock doors, any plans of replacing those with composite pieces? Any idea how much the car will weigh when it's done?

Yeah, this. Pretty sure the bottoms should pretty much be at the lower body line.

+1 Sorry, but that's not going to look good at all. At the very least, don't cut up a decent dash to do that.

I might be off here, but I seem to recall reading that side skirts also help the aero of a Z. If you did the side pipes, you could possibly work those to act as side skirts as well, while freeing up space under the car at the same time. Would probably require custom pipes though, or work to the rockers and I don't know if that would affect exhaust flow. Just some food for thought.

Looks good dude. Really not much criticism for ya, honestly. Personally I think I would have painted the hood and the valence so they look like they're part of the car, and not an after thought, but aside from that, it looks good. What are you power goals?

If I had to do it all over again... Probably would've skipped the whole Z phase and gotten an E30, which was my first choice YEARS ago, and it's also what I finally have as of September. I bought the Z thinking I'd enjoy the metal work, body work, etc. What I found out is that I absolutely hate working on cars. There's a lot of bolt on support for E30s and they're easy to work on to boot. Works for me. And my favorite thing about it? Well, aside from the AC, heat, nice interior, EFI, and all that... It has no rust. None. I love it. If I had to do a Z again? I'd start with a solid, complete CA car, instead of going thru a bunch of rust buckets. Sooner or later, I'm going to be selling all my Z stuff. I'll probably end up with another Z at some point, but it's going to be a while. And I'll probably go with an RB25/26.

When I was putting my dash in my 240z, the column sagged probably 1-2 inches while I had it unbolted up top. That's why I asked. The firewall is known to be pretty flimsy in these cars, so like I said before, once you have it bolted to the dash, it should be fine.

Did you bolt the steering column to the bracket under the dash? Does it move up and down at all? If it does move, then it'll probably sort itself out once it is fully bolted in.

Hey Mark, if you don't have anything in mind, you might look here for some ideas, since he did more or less what you described. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/645045/1973-datsun-240z Not sure what page it's on, but it should be closer to the end than the beginning.

Depends on the year. Late 280z, yes, the latches are different. Early 280z doors are a lot like 240z doors, enough so that they'll bolt up. I've got doors from a '76 on my '71, and they fit fine.

I'm only 21, so obviously I haven't, but the car that got me into Zs is still sitting in my parents barn - a 1978 280Z, bought in 1980 for my mom after her car was stolen from the airport.