260DET

A couple of quotes from those who know a lot more than I on the subject of big front/no rear ARB's. 'My own opinion is that on most road courses a rear anti-roll bar is a bad thing. Anti-roll bars transfer lateral load from the unladen tyre to the laden tyre - exactly what we don't want at the rear. I would much rather use enough spring to support the rear of the car.' Carrol Smith 'The hidden power of the (stiff front) ARB is wedge at corner exit.' Paul Haney All I'll add to that is that the fastest S30's I know of do not use a rear ARB and that the basic problem with the S30 is turn in, or lack of it, which often is bandaided by using a rear ARB.

280ZX has timeless lines and just needs lowering with wide wheels to look great. Tacking on S30 flares just does not work, to do a sympathetic wide body job requires the guards to be boxed which of course involves metal surgery. Which is not cheap and which I am yet to see a good example of for the S130. And the fiberglass 'aero' kit stuff looks awful, sorry.

So what I'd suggest for practical conversions is either a straight six or a V8. Turbo V8, do a big single mounted at the front, side mount turbos on a V engine are really not very sensible, from a conversion point of view in the S130. I hate chopping rails to make a turbo fit plus to get it right its very time consuming and potentially difficult to service. There you go, 280ZX engine conversion practice in a nutshell

EDIT Apparently the engine bust was caused by the failure of an aftermarket mod, idiots.

Looks like she has been chewing PCP laced nails.

Just like always on HybridZ I'm believing everything here to be real and true

Don't know if it helped, thats hard to measure. I imported the shorty 280ZX from Japan myself, just had to have one, see link below.

Appreciate the comments, thanks. Car is a blast to drive but due to a couple of poor hardware choices does not put out the power it should. But that does not really spoil the experience, it just drives so nice. Suspension is three way adjustable custom built here, 400lb springs F, 300 R with a 32mm hollow front ARB and no rear ARB. Expensive but worth it. Engine has a Accusump to ensure 100% lubrication for reliability, forged internals, its been fine so far as expected. Using the stock DET exhaust manifolds, the left rail had to be cut for the turbo to fit. To service the turbo the engine has to be removed. Which is one reason why I reckon a naturally aspirated LS would be a good choice, particularly in the US. The 280ZX has a very large transmission tunnel so I'm guessing a Tremec would fit OK, had to do a slight mod to mine to clear the starter motor. But the Z32 gearbox fitted in easily. If the VG drops its guts then I'll look at a LS, VG sounds a bit V8'ish but you can't beat the real thing

Not sure exactly how a S30 should be set up using a HLSD because I no longer race one. But, following on from what I did learn with the S30, perhaps heavier springs at the front than rear and no (or a very light) rear ARB with a heavy front ARB would be a starting point. Anyway, JohnC knows, he had a Quaife in his S30

Pic of the engine compartment of my 280ZX shorty coupe, there is a VG30DET in there, thats not a typo, it a JDM VG30DET engine with a GT35R turbo and MoTec ECU. Project started about three years ago and I was just thinking, doing it again a na LS1 with 6 speed gearbox would perhaps be the choice today. Perhaps not as powerful as the VG turbo but perhaps more drivable doing the circuit stuff, not that the VG is a pig. Anyway I reckon that the LS1 package would be a good thing in a S130, routing exhausts around steering etc should be the only significant thing to do. Rest should be straight forward as far as swaps go.

That Z4 rear window line looks like a modernised version of the 280ZX coupe's. Actually lots of recent euro coupes use S30 and S130 styling cues.

Those large holes are better than nothing but would create a lot of turbulence in the air passing through them. But if such holes do result in an improvement then it seems to follow that cutting the panel away completely would result in an even better improvement. The alternative is to redo the panel to reduce the amount of air that could be trapped there in the first place. Like bjhines has suggested and ZR8ED has done. When mine was cut away as in the pic on p.1 the long term plan was to fit a diffuser there.

Might add that several R35's have been used in motorsport in AU for quite a while now and none have busted a transmission. This includes cars which have used the dreaded launch control many times. But to make the haters happy one did bust an engine recently

The inside wheel spin thing with a HLSD is misleading, if the car is set up properly, has adequate tyres and so on the inside wheel will never spin, never. Except where the track surface is loose, wet, whatever. Incidentially the S30 is particularly suitable to use a HLSD in, helps turn in for a start.

Sounds like a R35 hater trying to do his pathetic discrediting thing.

Two great cars, even with its power/weight advantage the Corvette did well against against a very sophisticated AWD car. Prefer the Corvette myself, without the blower, with turbos though.

Looks pretty good to me, although the pumped guards are a bit much for the stock wheels and tyres. Stick a turbo on it and welcome to my world, Z.

Cutting threads into the rod there is an engineering nono, its seriously weakened the rod with a predictable result. You need to find the person who did that and deal with them, its a life threatening thing to do. Suggestions ^ re using a spherical ball joint are the go or else get and adapt some adjustable rods off another make of car. Early front strut suspension Falcon or Torana rings bells.

280ZX coupe two seater. VG30DET engine, Z32 gearbox, custom adjustable S14 front and rear suspension, R200 diff, CV axles, Stoptech front brakes, stripped interior with stock dash, two seats, half cage, 30 liters of fuel, driver out - 1224kg (2737 lbs). Weight distribution, driver in - F 52.7%, R 47.3%. Mates 260Z with a RB30ET engine, similar gearbox, couple of fiberglass panels, full interior, weighs around the same.

HD is so good, it can transform an incar video, see this one pinched from Classic Z, check out the detail that gives it depth http://www.vimeo.com/1803106

From everything around it seems clear that the R35 is much esier to drive near its limits, Porsche on the other hand takes a pro to get the best out of it. The number of crashed wannabe hero Porsches I have seen.............

So spend more money and go slower, not the first time thats happened

Looks like this is one of those 'Look How Great My Car Is But It's Sooo Secret' threads

Cut mine out, left enough metal to bend in a flange to keep some rigidity there. In the pic the black stock fuel tank can be seen below the green bodywork.

Time for a laugh