Phantom

VIN was 1779

Dreco - Stock Fenders? Coilovers? What is your wheel width/offset?

Bottom line, with 7 or 8" wide wheels you want to have your offset between 0 and +10. At 0 you can get away with a 225 width tire. With coil-overs and +10 you can easily run 235 width and possibly even 245 width tires. A -12 offset will pretty much limit you to a 195 width tire to stay clear of your suspension unless you have coil-overs. At that point you might(?) get away with a 205 width. Your $$$.

Well - progress is being made. All the lights are out of the car, packed up, and sitting in Fort Worth, TX in the middle of the ice storm. Hopefully they'll get to ZLEDslights in the next day or two. Need to do a repair on one of the rear valance panels where a small piece of plastic that a tail light retainer bolt screws into has broken off. The dash is out of the car and actually getting some good news. Everything under the dash appears to be in great shape - even the heater & defroster hoses. Should be able to determine the source of the coolant leak next week and also get the white faced gage conversion done along with the higher wattage dash lights. Hopefully the leak is just hoses and nothing else. Still haven't been able to find the OBDII connector. Sneaky little bugger. Need to get an auto cosmetologist in and get the hairline cracks that are just starting to form in the dash repaired, too. Still have the adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake line and the HID headlights to even think about. Also thinking about running an extra, relay controlled wire so that I can install some LED DRL's in the front spoiler.

Turned out that the issue was the vacuum hose controlling the EGR valve. It had a small split in it. Replaced the hose and it's good as new. No code and the car is running great. Since we're having top-down weather here in central WA it was fun getting it out with the top down and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

Back in August of 2013 I rescued a 2/70 build date 240Z out of a field about 10 miles from my home. I almost passed it by because of how rugged it looked initially. Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered that it was a numbers matching car that was mostly there and had no serious rust issues. I struck a deal with the owner and towed it home. At one point I considered making it a project car with my grandsons but abandoned the idea. My wife was not keen on having it sitting around outside and it looked like it was going to be difficult to recover the lost title on the car the system requires here in Washington. Anyway - I was posting the car up on enthusiasts websites in the hopes someone would want it to restore or at least use for parts. I just couldn't stand the idea of the car rusting away in a field or getting crushed. Long story short I made a comment about it on a Ratsun.net thread and that afternoon I got a text from some folks in San Jose, CA indicating they wanted it. I said sure and they were here in Washington the next morning with cash in hand. It was all kind of surreal. A few hours later they were on their way back to San Jose. The young man who bought it is planning a full rotisserie rebuild on the car. Music to my ears. So happy to know that a series 1 car is going to continue on.

Trackzspeed - The JCI stuff was originally developed on my car which is a '77 280Z. He then modified it for the 240Z. The goal when we developed all the components was to have an installation where the engine was relatively easily accessible for maintenance and the gearshift came up in the right spot/ This again a little different for the 280 and the 240. I also had an LS1 out of a '98 Camaro. FWIW the 97/98 LS1's aren't quite as robust fans the later models and they have a different designed head/valve cover which is harder to find parts for. Bottom line though, I have every component that JCI offers and I have as yet to have one fail in the 12 years and 37,000 miles I've driven the car.

Yeah - the title is a bit confusing. Thought was that the car started out needing just a few small things and then "the avalanche" of issues hit and it's turned out to be a lot more than originally planned both in time and in $$$. If I remember correctly the code it flashed had something to do with the cats or the O2 sensors. Guess I'll know for sure when I take it back this week.

So - on the way home after a month in the shop the car flashed a check engine light. Reset it and drove it and it was fine until I started it the next morning and the light came back on. Back to the shop next week. Evidently most mechanics in town refuse to work on these cars. Told them it's pretty simple if you just drop the front flip. The. Everything is pretty accessible.

Well, sure enough, the Z32 flashed a check engine light a few miles from the shop so now it will have to go back in again. That will be one of my "next week" chores. The 280Z28 is slowly coming apart. All the lights are out of it and on their way to ZLEDslights in Weslaco, TX. Once it's all done the car will have LED's in all the external lights except the headlights which are being converted over to HID. Dash is in the process of coming out now. That will allow easy access to the heater coil and control valve, and the connecting hoses to find the coolant leak. It will also make it easier to find the AWOL OBDII connector and to replace the dash lights and convert the gauges over to white faces.. Progress is slow but steady.

FWIW - I have a left side half shaft for a 280Z out in my barn somewhere. I'm in Washington. If you still need it I'll go look for it. PM me.

The 280Z28 went into the shop today. The list is almost legendary. The only thing that absolutely has to be done is the coolant leak inside the cabin repaired. Not sure if that is the control valve or the coil but we'll find out soon enough. Whiles it's there, though: All the external lights are being removed. The headlights are upgrading to HID and all the others are upgrading to LED. The dash is being pulled to: Give easy access to whatever is going on with the coolant leak, Track down the OBDII connector that went AWOL about 10 years ago, Replace all the dash lights, Install a white-face gauge kit, and Repair some micro cracks that have appeared on the original dash. Will be installing a new center console that my son gave me for Christmas about 10 years ago. Install an adjustable proportioning valve I've been carrying around for about 10 years. Replace the serpentine belt on the LS1 If it follows in the footsteps of the Z32 convertible there will probably be a few more items that will get done - while I'm there.

It all started out to be a strut replacement and 4-wheel alignment on the Z32 convertible. When it was finally done it was that - plus new heater hoses, coolant hoses, miscellaneous special order hoses, micro v-belts, alternator, plenum gaskets and valve cover gaskets. The car had developed an oil leak on one of the valve covers that then zapped the alternator (fortunately that was covered under an AutoZone warranty). While trying to install new valve cover gaskets & alternator nearly every hose under the hood had to be replaced because of cracking, leaking, etc. Ouch. I guess the good news is that the car is not a TT.

I always contacted Steve Ehlers at: Steve@RisingSunPerformance.com That was probably 15 years ago. Now his website can be found at: http://sehlers.tripod.com/risingsun.html/ and, per his website, his email is: sehlers@netzero.net Just 5 minutes with Google.

Sensitive, aren't we.

We seem to have drifted off from the original intent of this thread. In 1997 when I bought my wheels there was a lot of selection in 225/50-16 tires. That was the largest cross-section tire that fit both my wheels AND my fender wells. Today that selection seems to have narrowed, especially in the higher performance tires. In the meantime selections have improved in 17" and 18" tire sizes. I really don't give a rats behind what is available today. My original question was asking if there is any truly knowledgable person out there that has an idea where tire/wheel sizes will be 10 years from now. I'm contemplating getting another set of wheels and I don't want to pick a set that i'll have difficulty finding ultra high performance summer or all season tires for. As it is, my current set of Dunlop Direzzas will probably last another 5 years so maybe I'll just wait and check again when they finally wear out.

No way I would run stretched tires on my car. First they are not stable enough on the rim to survive performance driving and, secondly, they don't protect the rims from curb rash. Other than a type of show car I think they are just a bad idea all around. I like the cross-section of my tire to be 1-2" wider than the wheel width.

I also have a '98 Camaro LS1 in my 280Z. The big difference is that mine still only has 38k miles on it. One thing, though, from the factory those engines were set up with a bypass fuel regulator that required a return line to the fuel tank. Fuel pressure at the injectors is supposed to be right at 59 psi. I suppose you can set yours up with a correct pump/regulator to not have to use a return line. Last thing - don't go cheap on fuel lines. You won't like standing in the road,,or worse yet, your garage and watch your car burn to the ground.

I'm on the waiting list for the ZLED lights. I have my 300ZX in the shop right now and when it's ready the 280Z28 goes in with the first order of business to pull all the lights so they can get shipped off to be converted to LED. I took a video of my car in bright sunshine today with the left turn signal on and you can hardly tell its working in the bright light. It'll probably be 6-8 weeks before I have the lights back and have a chance to video the LED upgrade. Middle of January and it's 50 degrees and sunny outside. Is this really central Washington?

I'm running dual 2.5" exhausts through an X pipe but after the axle they both roll to the driver side where they exit though a single Magnaflow muffler that has dual 2.5" inlets and a single outlet. The car has a good sound at idle, does not drone, but really lets you know it's there when I open it up. There is a video in the Miscellaneous tech forum about ZLED lights with the engine running at idle. I thought a lot about running a Y pipe with a single exhaust but ground clearance became too much of an issue. You'll need to have at least a 3.5" single pipe to flow air the same as dual 2.5".

You would only want to use the 280ZX MC if you are going to disk brakes in the rear. If you are keeping the drums do no change the MC. They are designed differently depending on if disk or drum in the rear. I ran mine with the original MC at Texas Motor Speedway. Everything worked fine, right up until I had smoke roiling out from under the front fenders because I had overheated the brakes.

Mine is under the heater control valve on the passenger side footwell. Been sitting there almost 12 years now.

Next time you see John at JCI tell him "Hi" from Bill Davis. My car was the one he developed his conversion components on. 11.5 years later and still running strong.

Total displaced volume is related can be compared using either the areas of the bores or the bore diameters, as long as you square the bore diameters when comparing.

There is a difference between "need" and "want". You're right about "need" but then, again, "You can never have too much HP".