m1ghtymaxXx

The engine doesn't know what gear you're in, are you sure it's not clutch related? (clutch dragging or worn thrust bearing).

Interesting. Rather than adapt the stock struts housing to use the 240ZX spindles, why not just use 240SX coilovers? If you have camber plates, it's pretty much a bolt in affair. I'd love to see this pan out. Autocrossing my 280Z with a Willwood 1" MC, stock calipers/drums, Hawk HP+ and slicks made me yearn for ABS as that setup was very prone to locking up. I now run BFG Rivals and have been able to modulate the brakes much better, but I can see the appeal. Of course not all ABS systems are created equal, presumably the 240SX system is a worthwhile upgrade?

What's your budget? You won't get anything "better" until you spend significantly more money.

Thanks for the heads up! If the products are of good quality, it's a shame they aren't certified and sold under a unique brand name for less than established brand names.

What condition is the car in? What are your plans? Are you capable of doing all the work yourself? If you're having it done at a shop, I doubt your 20-30K budget will cover a full strip, blast and rebuild, RB swap/build, cage and suspension. You can probably get away with that budget if you're doing most of the labour yourself. Will it be a track car or a street car? You won't want a cage if it's going to be a mainly street driven car, unless of course we enjoy wearing a helmet while driving in traffic, or you and your loved ones don't mind the potential for serious brain injury from a minor collision. A half cage/roll bar might be a better compromise. It'll certainly help with safety on the track and street, provide mounting place for harnesses, and most importantly, keep steel bars out of proximity from your skull. And like Texas300 said, is the high power RB and all the other trimmings necessary? I would recommend bringing it back to good working condition, drive it, and see what you think the weak points are. I've had my S30 for 2 years now, and when I first got it I had big plans for it, but as I drove it, I found my desire to upgrade everything became less and less. Sure it would be nice to have more power, and I do have an L28ET ready to go, but I'm not bored with stock power. The stock brakes (with upgraded pads, fluid, and hoses) are perfectly adequate for spirited street driving and autocross every other weekend. Eibach springs and Tokico blues along BF Goodrich Rival tires have kept it a top contender at local autocross events. I finish in the top 3 overall at almost every event against a slew of FR-S' and Evos. For electronics, keep in mind these cars only came with a pair of 4" speakers in the 1/4 panels. You should be able to fit 5 1/2"s in that location with some trimming, though you might have to weld in some captive nuts though. Adding front speakers will required some creativity. You will find a thread in the group where a member is selling replacement fiberglass door panels with a build in speaker pod. Keep in mind it requires converting to power windows, and the panels need to be finished. If you're replacing gauges, you can fit quality aftermarket gauges in the stock locations, this has been well documented. You shouldn't need anything more than RPM, speed, water temp, fuel level, oil pressure, and boost and wideband AFR if you go the turbo route.

I think they look good, very Panasport-esque, but those serrated lips look hateful to clean!

Before this turns into another knockoff vs. brand name debate, you will be absolutely fine with Rota or any other JWL certified wheel. People seem to love to parrot stories of Rota's and other cheaper brands shattering on impact with a pebble. Keep in mind many expensive brand name rims are cast the very same as their cheaper counterparts, so the difference in weight and strenght could be minimal. If you're talking forged vs. cast, their's certainly benefits to forged such as reduced weight and increased strenght, but an incident that would damage a cast wheel will likely damage a forged wheel too, but the forged wheel would be prone to bending rather than cracking which should allow it to hold air and be repaired. Whether the benefits are worth the cost are up to the user. To me, the biggest issue is a moral one, the brand name wheels are an original design while the knockoff gets to reproduce it with less effort and undercut the original, but with that said, people who buy knockoffs are likely in a different demographic from those than can spend over 4 times as much on a similar product. Myself, I have Rota Shakotans, a shameless knockoff of the Hayashi Street, however the Rotas were $350 a wheel cheaper than the Hayashis despite the fact they look and weigh pretty much the same. I would love to support the original brand, but I can't justify spending the extra cash to do so.

Just thought I should point out that your post is more coherent then those of many members several times your age. Happy wrenching!

I like the dry ice idea. I've never tried it on undercoat, but it works amazing on interior sound deadener, sounds like it's worth a shot. In the past I've used a heat gun and scraper, followed by wire wheel and lastly a scrub with gasoline. It's a hateful job.

There have been hydraulic pumps of very similar design for a while now.

I should mention, I no longer have my 280ZX, but I do have the coilovers to sell. I planned to redrill the rear topmounts with the ZX 3 bolt pattern to make them 100% bolt in. I'll be putting up a for sale thread once I get around to it.

I had to run an 8mm spacer in the front to clear the springs which involved swapping to longer S14 studs. Sounds like you're right on track.

yes. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/94002-how-to-install-s13-coilovers-on-280zx-and-poly-bushings/

These guys have complete frp doors listed: http://www.frpautomotive.com/frp_price_list_page.html Also it should go without saying, composite doors should be used only on a caged car with proper door bars. No intrusion protection otherwise.

Thanks! Found a few posts claiming the RT mount changed the pinion angle enough to cause a driveline vibration on stock motored Z...like mine. Suppose I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Not sure why the bump stop is allowing for much movement, unless there's another culprit causing the knock. If the chevy mount doesn't work out, I suppose I'll try and tighten up the bump stop with some washers.

Apologies for the near decade bump, but I just received the Energy Suspension bushing, and plan to head out to friends garage out of town, meaning I need to come prepared. I've had the Technoversions RT style diff mount installed with a bump stop (had about 1-2mm of clearance) but it never fully cured the knock, and the past week or so it's gotten significantly worse. I assume the stock diff mount is still the culprit, I went over all the suspect bolts and tried jacking up the nose of the diff and it moved a fair bit, though I wasn't able replicate the noise on jackstands. Anyways, I keep reading that the Energy Suspension bushing requires modification, though I can't find what modification that is. RB26's post (#3) in this thread has a broken link titled "GM Diff Mount Mod", but unfortunately it's...well, broken. I presumed there's some slotting or something required, but the pics in this thread don't show anything obvious. Can someone point out what I need to do so I can pack the appropriate tools? Also what do I need for hardware? I assume the stock bolts are used to fasten the mount to the diff?

Just for an idea of inter-Z fender flares, here's a S130 with Z31 fender flares (front)

240SX Plates will work fine on a 280ZX as well.

My question too. If everything else checks out, I would embrace the flames! +1 on a video!

The camber plates replace the rubber isolator as they're meant to be used with 2.5" universal 'coilover' springs and top hats. The stock diameter springs wouldn't allow much adjustability before they clash with the strut tower.

http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CXR&Product_Code=CB-280ZX&Category_Code=240Z For that price You would be hard pressed to build your own mild/aluminized system. I think I was into mine for about 300 with a cheap glasspack and Superturbo muffler, plus it took me about 40 hours being my first time, you certainly won't be able to build a stainless system for anywhere near that. As long as it fits well, it seems like a good purchase. Even if you have to tweak the fitment, I'd say you're still ahead.

Do you have roll center spaces or adjustable tie rod ends? I'm fairly positive their are pockets between bolt holes on the mounting flange. I can snap a pic when I pick up my wheel from the tire shop this aft.

Pics? I recently installed a set of used Chinese Recaro lookalikes (the fake Nismo ones) as they were cheap, looked decent, and and in better shape than the torn stocks seats. I figured Chinese seats couldn't be any less safe then the 37 year old stock seats...boy was I wrong! The driver's seat flexed like a wet noodle, and one of the bolsters was flopping around. I stripped it to the bare frame to investigate and found the bottom "rail" was broken in half between the floor mount and the reclining mechanism, as any stress on the seat back is concentrated in this area, and the tubing and welds were of horrendous quality. I then picked up some 1/2" x 1/8" flat bar to reinforce the main rails, and added beads around "crossbars" and floor mounts. I found it was worth the time to strip the passenger seat down in order to build slider addapters, upon doing so I found that someone had already tried to repair cracks in the frame with flux-core booger welds. I went over the passenger side the same way I did the driver's side and I'm happy with them for now, though I will be keeping an eye out for some quality racing buckets. In terms of fitment, they sit maybe a 1/2" higher than stock, and the driver's side is offset about 1/2" to the left of the steering wheel thanks to the 280Z cat hump, though I don't really notice when driving, for all I know the stock seat was the same. My DIY adapters are slotted for side to side adjustment, so I can sort it out once I gather the courage to take a hammer to my trans tunnel.

If it's in your budget and schedule, I'd certainly blast it. I can only imagine the luxury of work on a bare metal chassis after attempting to fix rust on my previous car.

Not sure where you're looking, but I've had no problem finding good tires in that size. I just bought a set of BF Goodrich Rivals in 225/45R15 as they aren't available in a 50 series. Not thrilled about losing an inch of tire height, but after all the positive reviews, I'm dying to give them a shot. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for another set of 15's to install them on as I just picked up a set of a cheap all seasons for the street to preserve the soft Rivals.