Phantom

Got a call from the shop today. The "auto cosmetologist" no-showed two weeks ago so I gave them his name and number to contact again. Hopefully he'll show up this next Tuesday. Need to get those dash cracks fixed!

Understand, I'm just ending a vacation with my wife after dragging her to the National Plastics Exposition in Orlando. I'm an industry consultant and equipment sales rep so need to attend the triennial show to catch up with all the latest goodies and meet with my principals. In the meantime I managed to keep some progress in motion on my Z which is currently in the shop. Have fun. The change of pace will do you both good.

There are aftermarket variants of the T56 that will also work but cost more. You'll need to do some more research. Go onto LS1.com and get an education on what's involved with using an LS motor out of a 'vette with an F-body T56. Those guys there or at LS1tech.com are good sources. I assume you're wanting a manual transmission, not an automatic like a 4L60E?

Liability Insurance covers the other drivers car and it's cost is based on your age, gender, etc - or basically how likely they think you are to stack into someone else. Unless you volunteer it an adjuster wouldn't look at your car as his agency wouldn't be paying for repairs on it. What will probably happen is they'll drop you after you have an accident - whether you have an L28 or an rb25 in the car.

Heck, I saw a running '70 240z with a clean title for sale in CA last week for $800. It was rough but all there. The deals are out there. If he doesn't want to sell - keep looking. Your biggest issue is location as good cars are hard to find up north.

So, I have the stock 280Z tank in mine and it starves under hard cornering if I'm below 1/4 tank on the gage which is about 5 gallons. Unless you go with a fuel cell starvation is going to be an issue at some point.

I finally got my order actually placed with ZLEDslights.com today. It took until yesterday to finalize the new design for the tail light LEDs. The car will have a solid ring around both the brake and turn signal sections that is more solid appearing than previous versions. The turn signals will be sequential and, of course, it will have white back-up lights. The front turn signals will also be sequential and he has developed conversions for the front and rear fender side markers. I am sticking with my amber and red lenses so I will have amber front and red rear LEDs. There is an option to have clear lenses and other potential color/lighting combinations. According to Samuel it will take about another 15 days to have the work done and the order ready to ship. He has links on his website, www.zledslights.com , that show the lights.

I pull off the battery tender, open the garage door, start the engine , and I'm off on whatever errand I need to get done. Built the car to be a daily driver and pretty much treat it like one - but my very most favorite one.

No update this last week. In Orlando at a National Plastics Exposition. We'll see later this week.

the " murder board" is a good idea. Need to have a full plan in place before you start buying parts. I've seen too many projects go south because all the steps weren't thought through and then the project died because of too much rework required.

All good advice above. 10 BTDC is correct for timing on the 77 L28. Any update on the status?

I'm 6' 4", 240 lbs and have been driving an S30 coupe since 1986. If you look into the racing history some of the teams preferred the longer wheelbase 2+2. Get the one you like - and then make it into what you'll love.

I like the flexible molding on the bottom of the front spoiler. Will save the kit repeatedly with speed bumps, curbs, etc. Wonder what the back end looks like? From the side I imagine it's about the same as ZG flares. $4k for the kit maybe? - If they are even offering it.

Follow the electrical leads from the water temperature sensor where it's installed in the thermostat housing. About 18" down the lead and into the larger part of the harness you should see/feel a "small lump" in the harness. Strip away th insulation and you'll find the aluminum bullet connectors where the wires from the engine temperature sensor connect into the harness. Those aluminum connectors corrode over the years causing higher resistance in the circuit which tells the ECU the engine is cold and to run richer. Pull the connectors apart, thoroughly clean them, coat them in dielectric grease and reassemble. That will eliminate that as a source of the engine running rich. My '77 was running so rich my plugs were wet with fuel and I was getting 5.5 MPG when I finally discovered the "lump".

You say you have a new battery but have you checked the voltage on it? You might have a parasitic drain somewhere and there's only enough juice in the battery to power up the dash lights. If I remember correctly there is a fusible link involved in the start circuit. If you still have them check them all for continuity.

From what I've read here so far the answer to the question is: "Because I can!" Seriously, you obviously have a lifetime of experience backed by a phenomenal shop - so why not?

So the specially formed hoses for the heater control valve arrived. The valve itself was checked out and is not leaking. Dash repair didn't happen last week. The guy couldn't do it. Have another "auto cosmetologist" coming to look at it this next Tuesday who is pretty confident he can repair it. Checked on the LED lights and the board has been designed. As it turns out my car will have the first of the new generation LED taillights from ZLEDslights and will also be the first 280Z to have sequential LED front turn signals and LED side marker lights. Only thing I'm concerned about at this point is the flasher rate.

Karate Kid: "wax on, wax off". It might help if you washed it first, though.

I've had a set of those on my car for about 18 years now. They are a mid/late 80's Sentra mirror with the special metal plate. I put together a dog and the part number for the mirrors long ago. Still think I have it out in the garage somewhere because i saw it a couple months ago. BTW - I really like mine.

Interesting that there is no mention of the Z anywhere on their website as far as past, present or future builds. It probably is a side job.

Mike, I was just looking at my conversion posts from back in 2002/3 and noticed you'd commented on one. You've been active on this site quite a while.

Back in 2002-2005 I did a series of "LS1 / T56 Update" threads on the build done on my 1977 280Z by Johns Cars in Dallas, TX. I just spent some time reading back through those updates and am realizing how far things have come since then in the LS S30 community. Interestingly almost nothing had happened with my car from 2005 until 2014. Since then it's had a TTT suspension upgrade and is now having a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff being done to it. Just for grins, though, I thought I'd continue the string of updates - with almost a 10 year lapse between this one and the previous one.

You'll be in good shape header wise then. I had a '99 T56 that i put a Hurst shifter on and then used a modified Z shift lever to actuate. The Z shift lever looks like a stock shifter except for the ball on top with the 6-spd pattern and "Hurst" on the side. Are you sticking with the stock tank or going with a fuel cell? I kept my stock tank as the '77 was already fuel injected. Used the stock supply and return lines and located the new, higher capacity/pressure pump in the stock location in the passenger rear fenderwell. When I ran my exhaust I ran 2.5' to an X pipe and then back on both sides. On the stock side I ran it in the stock location. On the passenger side I put in an oval piece where it went under rear suspension as there wasn't an oval cut out of the member there. I then wrapped both pipes over to the driver side and into a dual inlet Magnaflow muffler so it came out in the stock location and I didn't have to mess with the fuel tank.

The original JCI headers had 1.5" primaries. Other kits I've seen have 1.625 or 1.75" primaries. LS motors like to breathe so bigger primaries are better. Don't know what size the JCI primaries are now but I would investigate options. My car has a totally stock '98 Camaro LS1 that GM rated at 305HP. Mine dyno'd at 325?at the rear wheels so I don't think the smaller primaries hurt it too much.

Yeah - I remember him too. Didn't his dad also have a pretty hot Z? I think they used to post occasionally on the ricekillers.com forum.