G-Tech

I think it is important to tie the front and rear to the body in some form but you don't have to get crazy. I have 400whp and ive told you what ive done. i beat the hell out of my car and it takes every bit of it with no issue. I think a 4 point "cage" will take care of the rear (don't get confused as i did, a "roll bar" doesn't do much for strength)and you will want something for the front. maybe tie bars from the fire wall to the strut towers and from there to the frame rails would work. i don't think stitch welding is necessary but like i said, if it makes you feel better then do it.you may wanna try the s130 pages for more specifics on chassis stiffening. the 280zx has kinda been the black sheep of the z's, not many have gone all out on them. i've searched the best I can and have found 4 other s130's with LS's, and one is in Australia or something. none have posted much in specifics as what they've done. that's why I started this thread. i have been working on mine for 10yrs and just recently decided to post about it.for weight, the most popular is take spare tire out and put battery there, aluminum radiators are affordable, brake rotors with aluminum hats, I tried getting Fiberglass panels from company called show cars, horrible experience I had with them.

I say have at it!!! For drag racing or racing from a red light, who cares about balance. You just won't get the most out of it when it comes autocross or having fun on off ramps or on ramps. Sounds like u know what your doing. Do something with the stock brakes, your gonna want stiffer springs in the rear and definitely do Stub axles since you have a stick shift. What I did to stiffen it up was strut braces and made my own frame ties. If u go turbo, it will help with header issues. So just build it how ever it makes you fell warm and fuzzy inside. There is no text book way to do an s130, the cage is gonna be a custom built thing so make it up as u go. And yes u hijacked my thread but there doesn't seem to be many already done so let this thread be about help people build a 280zx LS swap. Good luck, keep us posted.

Dirty dingo has good parts. I have their alt. Bracket..just make sure to take your time putting the motor in the right place. I know I was getting frustrated and wanted to just make it work but I'm glad I went threw the extra work to make it low and close to the fire wall. It will also be needed to get the tranny to fit right without any mods to the tunnel. I'd like to see what u do with the cage. I did floor and frame rail replacement but I did the MSA roll bar and I'd like to replace it with a real cage

Here are some pics of the mounts

Those mounts could work. What I think will be your problem is were the mounts bolt to the motor end up behind the cross member. I had a small block Chevy in the car first so I already had the jtr mounts. Then I got sbc to ls swap plates. Problem then was the motor moved to far foward. My dad said to try reversing the mounts. I put the passenger side on driver side and visversa and it actually put the motor in a good place. I had to weld bushings on the mounts cause now the slots in the mounts went up and down Instead of right and left. Hopefully u can make sense of the pics, I know this may be confussing but I was able to make this work and I'm sure there is other ways to get mounts to work.just be creative. Good luck with yours, keep me posted. the headers i felt were the biggest obstacle.

I didn't have it that bad but I had the same spots. I bent up sheet metal and replaced part of the rails. the corner part was for sure the trickier part but just piece by piece replaced it all. at some point I tell myself to stop looking and start doing. I did do afterwards frame ties out of stainless 1x3. welded it to the front frame rails, welded along the bottom of the car and made a piece that went up to the rear subframe and welded to that, that would help you a lot. hope this helps

if you find somewhere to get them please post it. there is not much out there, I need for the door seal mounted to the car that goes all the way around the t-top

Im sorry,I dont even know what car it was for.i will remember to make a note of that when I have to replace it some day... some of the auto stores are nice enuff to just let you go in the back and look at their selection of hoses.just take measurements of what you need. if you buy one and it doesn't work just return it and try another. that's what I had to do.i know each end was too long and i just shortened it.

sorry for the extra post here but the pic of my steering shaft shows that I drilled and tapped threw it to put a screw threw it then what the picture doesn't show is that it allowed me to cut that ear off so that I had more clearance. there is pics of 2 different options for headers, both of which still had to be modified before they would fit. I also made a solid aluminum spacer to get rid of the rubber piece on the shaft. I made it smaller diameter than the rubber piece for more spacing.

an iron block might make it a little nose heavy but the power of these swaps are so much fun over the 6cyl. my alum block makes my car 2918lb and almost 50/50 weight, I actually have 20lbs more on the rear of the car. my bell housing for the t56 hangs an inch lower than my pan so you could go a little lower if your modifying a oil pan. so if you are on a budget you could try modifying a pan, the canton one just fit perfectly and has baffles for oil slushing around. the biggest issue will b headers and making the engine sit as low and as close the fire wall as possible. the rear ends are pretty dependable but I have a quaife rear in the r200, I would definatly use cv joint out of a 280zxt or 300zxt is even stronger. and the rear springs are really soft for the power you will have. im up to 420lb springs in the rear and 250lb in the front and it has a real good balance. I was snapping stub axles cause I was having wheel hop issues due to either the toe in when it squats or rebounding from bottoming out the struts. but once I got the car to not squat so bad the wheel hop seemed better. I also got 300m stub axles from modern motorsports. lots of fun it is having it all done though, the car really rips. here are some pics of things like steering shaft mods and stainless 1x3 frame ties