V8_DatZun

i do have the 83 280zx.. guess i should have put that in the original post... i found a set of truck headers that are real tight to the block... go toward the back w/o dipping down very low at all...then angle down near the back of the block... i am PRETTY sure these look like they will work.. im going to buy them and if they do ill post for you guys the info. if not... i guess i have to use a manifold or do like you and custom make some... although i dont have a welder.... may have to use grumpyvette's method that he posted in one of the links... then just bite the bullet and have them made..

dont tell anyone.. but in its 350 form it WAS ford blue.. hah now though royal blue. that pic had a little too much flash.. made it look lighter than it is... actually a dark nice looking blue

yeah... lol kid was born.. and 1 yr and 2 months later i finally got to start buying up the final parts... and by the way.. read my delima in my new post about header problems... "DOH!"

Thanks for the post jim, but looks CAN be decieving. happens to be ROYAL blue... again thank you SO much for the post...

I tried to set the 383 in the car today... the headers i have are hitting the power steering. I have a home made mount which is basically a rectangle that mounts to the stock datsun mount... then a spacer i believe 2.25" and then a triangle shaped chevy mount. so basically the mounts are just lifted... no setback plate etc. the header i have is a center dump type block hugger header. the flange of the header hits the steering box before the mount even gets to the stock datsun mount. the 3 options i see that i can do is 1. use stock manifolds... question is how much will this hurt my HP?? 10-20 hp? 2. find a new header that still hugs the block.. but the tubes go to the rear of the header before dumping down. anyone know of a style like this? 3. use a setback plate. then i have the issue of having to get a different balancer, and my distributor being SO close to the firewall. ANYONE with a converted zx that can please tell me how their engine is mounted, and what headers they used i will GREATLY appreciate it. By the way... i searched... came up with some posts, but mainly just people asking how hard the swap is...

ah forgot to post that... .550 lift h-11 tool springs w/ 1.6 stock style rockers. thanks for asking. and yes... im eventually going to put some of the RHS heads on.. an engine builder i know is really into them and says they are pretty good... so ill probably save up and buy an aluminum pair.

Here is the 383 I have built for my 83 280zx. http://album.hybridz.org/data/500/10-30-2006_009.jpg here are some specs for the engine. Scat Cast Crankshaft Comp XE284H-10 Cam: .507 intake, .510 exhaust KB Flat Hyper Pistons Speed Pro Chrome Moly rings Stock Chevrolet heads (forget casting number have to look) with oversized intake and exhaust Elgin valves Holley 750 Double Pumper carb Edelbrock RPM intake Hoping to get to hear the engine fire off tomorrow! been about 2 years collecting parts and getting block/head work done.. im ready to hear this beast.

there are always sponsors... but then you have that problem of "your car is not complete enough for us to sponsor you.. what if you dont finish it?" well im sittin here thinking "if you GAVE me the part i'd be ONE STEP CLOSER!!!" i have no problem endorsing someone that is generous enough to give me a product, BUT its just the problem that no one wants to sponsor a z that is in the process of being rebuilt... they want to wait until you have a nice show car... and THEN "hey we'll give you our tires if you put our name on your car" well I ALREADY HAVE TIRES THANKS FOR NOTHING!!! sorry for the rant... lol sponsorship works like everything else in life i guess.... you get the help when you've already done all the hard work then other people want to take credit for it... i too would like to find a work at home income that would give me more time for the project, and more money to spend on it.... sound like a scam to me already. lol

well.. i've spent around $6500 on the drive train already.. and only spent 400 dollars on the actual car... lol so 2 years later.. engine is finally finished. YESSSS man they are going to make the imsa flares for the zx soon... take a look at this link.. http://www.zfiberglass.com/id10.html and scroll down to the VERY bottom... says something like "soon to come many new air dams some which have NEVER been seen on the z or zx, stock fiberglass hoods for z and zx, PANTERA HATCH FOR THE ZX, IMSA FLARES FOR THE ZX" wooooohhhh cant wait.. lol i have two 280z's but i had the zx first.. knew NOTHING about z's or zx's.. never even SAW one.. i was like "WTF IS THAT??? a PORSCHE?" nope... not a porsche something that has the potential to be much better IMO and yea b__sosick if you could take a pic of those tail lights PM them to me.. ill def be posting pics soon.. didnt get a chance to work on the car tonite.. going to put bedliner in the engine bay tomorrow though.. so ill post b4 and after pics... thanks for the kind words guys.. still a long road ahead though lol.

lol i live like 50 miles from SEZ i built the car to drive.. im just looking for a seat solution for trips like this.. i hope to still leave brackets for my race seat or seats that i can just swap out when i want to race around. but friday and saturday nites when all the rodders and ricers cruise i want to show off my hard work WITH my family that helped make it happen... lol my wife turns a wrench with me every now and then... dont think i could have lowered my 99 long wheel base silverado w/o her help...

hey.. nice looking car! i have a question about your cage.. is the shock bolted through the top of the cage or is the cage welded to the tower? hard to tell from the pics.. nice job on the car and cage keep up the work!

wow those do look pretty good! glad to know everything is ok with z fiberglass

Well after 2 years of gathering parts and saving money, my 280zx project finally REALLY begins. The interior has been totally stripped, no panels, carpet, dash, seats, or steering column. I am currently working on cleaning up the floor inside of the vehicle. there is one spot of rust that is pretty bad just infront of where the passanger seat was. Looks like a drain plug or something was there... a spot big enough to fit a baseball through, other than that the floor is solid except the spare tire well which im going to cut out anyway. The dash is going to be replaced by a custom dash i am slowly chipping away at (Thanks GuyAndARedhead for the tips in your post) Gauges are currently undecided but will definatly be some type of El Glow gauges. A rollcage will be incorporated which will TRY and be as concealed as possible while still providing the most strength possible. The seats (which i posted asking opinions about in another post) will either be some JDM racing style pvc seats i have seen with a baby seat mounted between and back of the seats, OR some sort of bench type seat arrangement from possibly a 96 + ford ranger that has the fold down arm rest in middle. Outside of the car I am looking VERY hard at FiberglassZ's IMSA box type flares for the Z, (they will soon have a zx version. these will help maintain the edgy styling of the ZX) also a shaved back bumper with corvette (or other undecided) style tail lights. shaved side markers, door handles, and antenna. Im still deciding on the big open mouth look in the front with some custom type chrome grille, or the msa type 3 air dam. also may try and adapt some type of gnose. If i can FIND a custom ZX fiberglass hood that i like that will be another upgrade. The color plans to be electric daytona blue with extra silver, charcoal, and black glitter with enough clearcoat to make it look wet even in the heat of a south georgia summer. rims are undecided but probably 20" in the rear and 18" in the front. 15" all way round for race time. All of this is going to be powered by the 383 stroker (that gets to come home with me this wednesday) that will be sitting in the bedliner coated engine bay. and a racing kit rebuilt 700r4. Sorry for the long post this is my first ZX project. Its been kind of dormant for a few years and just wanted to share my project plans for the body and interior. and i know it is worthless without pics. Pics will be coming soon and I will add them to this post. I have some work to do to the car tomorrow so Ill flash some digi's and get them up on here. Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks

i like that idea also... would definatly have to have the rollcage in first though.. im pretty sure a z has no chance in a side impact with a chevy tahoe or ford expedition.

thanks for the responses guys! Vinh i really like your idea... i do that everyday w/my silverado... that is a more appealing idea to me.. if i can just find something to adapt like... possibly s-10 seats? they may be too tall though.. ill have to check.. possibly ford ranger also... i know the 96 rangers with manual tranny has the horseshoe shaped bench type seat w/a folding console/armrest.. thanks again guys..

THANKS for the pics and comments! i thought about that also but didnt know how the room back there would be. now that i saw the pic (i have a zx btw) with the seats in and everything removed i see i'll have plenty of room. the interior is totally gutted as of right this moment. no steering wheel, dash, panels, nothing. (the engine is in the shop comes out wednesday 383 stroker, working on custom dash, trying to clean the interior metal to prep for paint inside and out, AND trying to finish the engine bay for the engine to be put in thursday after thanksgiving) SOOO thanks for the pics... i just thought maybe the bench seat would work better but THEN i didnt think of the middle seat back rest being in the way trying to reach into the hatch.. so the car seat would probably be a better option. thanks again guys. any other suggestions still welcome!

I did a search and found nothing on this. I was looking at my z the other day and trying to figure out how i could go to SEZ with my wife and kid without taking two vehicles... I've also kinda brainstormed this before so it popped back into my head. Has anyone ever seen a bench type seat configuration in a 280zx? Like say.. take the rear bench out of a car of comparable size maybe one that is kind of U or horseshoe shaped... like the middle seating area curves in a little to clear the shifter (yes it would be hard to shift w/legs there but my son is also only 1 1/2 yrs old so not really an issue yet) ill also have the car setup for some racing seats that i can pop in for track/play time. any suggestions on types of cars to get the seats from? i figure someone here may have a car that they think may work and can chime in... thanks for any suggestions guys.

ok so i need two dryers... thanks for the info.

great write-up. thanks for the time and effort.

so what is the deal... anyone know for sure whats up with z fiberglass? i want a few pieces made but if they dont answer email or the phone.. etc.. im not sure if i want to order from them.

ummm... wouldnt a larger tank make your compressor work LESS hard once it is full and give you alot more time to shoot? more air=longer time for the air pressure to drain down, and less number of times your compressor will cycle correct?

thanks daniel... thats EXACTLY the type pics i was looking for... mainly for the carpeting and how the shock towers and all of the curves/etc of the old factory pieces were fabricated. anyone else with pics of the back of their cars?? i finished stripping mine down today. now i have to combat the rust what fun!

cool thanks for the tip! i have a smaller hp engine because it is a pretty old compressor.. i cant tell if it says 1/2 or 1 1/2 GE motor. it runs pretty smooth and fills the 10-15 gallon tank up fairly fast. how big of capacity will i need to paint a car without getting aggravated? 25 gal atleast? thanks again.

i bought an older used air compressor today (got a good deal on it). it has a 10-15 gallon tank. i was wondering is this big enough to run air tools such as air chisels, impact guns, hexnut guns etc. if not, can i buy another tank and connect it to my old one to make the 2 tanks get air at the same time? or would that not be functional? any advice is appreciated. ***never mind there was someone that posted a question similar to this in the body section that gave me my answer. i tried search through google and got nothing really.. sorry for the repost