Phantom

Nope.

Here are photos of the set-up on my LS1 done by JCI back in 2003.

Yes.

Car is really looking nice. Question - Are you planning on doing a brake upgrade that includes disk brakes on the back? If you are you need to remove the NP valve (stock proportioning valve) off the firewall and the brake indicator switch (block right under the master cylinder) and then replumb the lines with an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake line. You'll also need to change out the master cylinder for one designed for rear disk brakes ( like the '81 280ZX master cylinder). This is a whole lot easier to do without the engine installed.

Just exchanged emails with Gabriel at TTT. Turns out that the 84-85 300ZX rear rotor works with his kit so if any of you, like me, have the 300ZX rotor/240SX caliper rear brakes now you can save yourself $100 on the kit and just use the rotors you already have if they're in good shape.

I went out and took some videos of the exterior lights on the 280Z. The videos were taken on an overcast day so the lights weren't as bleached out as they would be on a bright sunny day but they will probably still be good for comparison sake once the LED's are installed. Here are the OEM original lights: IMG_4729.MOV IMG_4730.MOV

Gary, Yeah - I have 16x7 wheels too. I can still get tires for them but they are becoming harder to find. Seems to be a good assortment still for race tires but ultra high performance summer street radial options are becoming fewer. Probably have at least 5 times the selection in the 235/40-17 or 245/40-17 sizes. What are you looking at running for an offset for the 17" wheels? I'm running "0" offset on my 16" wheels and my 225/50-16 tires just barely clear the fenders with a little massaging. I got them when I had the stock suspension but now I have Eibach coilovers so I need to move toward the center of the car to allow for wider tires.

Chubbs, Those look like ZG flares to me but it's hard to tell for sure from the photo. You might want to consider going with 17" wheels & tires. You'll need something larger than 15" if you ever want to upgrade with a big brake kit and 16" tires in sizes that fit the Z are getting harder to find.

Back when the S30's were built wheels & tires were 13", 14" & 15". When I decided to do an upgrade on my 280Z in 1997 16" was the hot ticket with a smattering of 17" available. Now it's getting difficult to find a good 16" tire to fit the car. In another 5 years it may be impossible. So here is the question: What size wheels,with correspondingly appropriate tires, do y'all think will Pioneer on into the foreseeable future? Are 17" going to stick with us or am I going to eventually have to go to 18"? Bigger than that is really not an option for a car with a stock body/wheel well.

David, you seriously need to find your glasses.

Shiny thing? I love shiny things! I'm thinking more along the lines of a full LED conversion for all my external lights, less the HID conversion for the headlights, though.

Just saw this thread after making a run to Pizza Hut in the 280Z28. Normally don't drive the car this time of year but winter has been extremely mild so far this year so took the car out. Found out that cold, nearly frozen, asphalt and high performance summer tires just don't get along very well. I broke loose more times in that one short trip than probably all of last summer. Just another confirmation that cold weather is not our friend. Good to hear that you'll be able to save your car.

Sometimes it just all catches up with you. I Put some money aside for some repairs and upgrades on my 280Z and then: The Audi A8L needed an oil & filter change, new wiper blades, an alignment, new spark plugs and new front brakes, and The suburban needed a broken passenger door panel repaired and the front seats recovered, and The 300ZX convertible needed new shocks, a new set of tires, and a 4-wheel alignment. At least all the other vehicles will be in good shape.

Saw that. Gives me hope for my car having some value, though, since mine has even more value in it.

I've been building, and driving, mine for 23 years now and I have about $40k in it. A few more things and then it will be time to start over. Bottom line, as long as you have money to spend you'll be able to spend it on one of these cars.

Go to the brake section of this forum and read up on the posts. In a nutshell you remove the brake pressure sensing block and the stock proportioning valve. You then place an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake line and adjust it to give you the correct front/rear bias. Which rear brake conversion are you doing? Techno Toy tuning has just come out with a 4 piston Willwood system that retains the ability to have the stock Z emergency brake. Check into it if you haven't already.

Well, October came and went because my commission check from a sale made in February didn't arrive until last week. MAJOR lighting project for the 280Z28 over the next couple months to include: HID headlights Higher intensity dash lights with white face gauge kit LED tail lights LED front turn signals LED side marker lights. Taking the car into the 21st century with it's lighting. It will be nice to know people behind me will be able to see my brake lights and turn signals. I actually had a Washington State Policeman pull me over because my turn signals on a sunny day were so dim he could barely see them. Won't have that problem any more. We'll see what is left after that and maybe I'll take a shot at the TTT rear brake set-up.

Dave, Let's return to one of the statements you made in your first post: "I would like to be able to do some track days and maybe autocross events but primarily a driver." Back in 2003 I worked with John Radevich at John's Cars, Inc. It took me a year to convince him to do an LS1 installation in my 280Z. His main business wast putting an SBC with a turbo 350 into older Jaguars so the Z and the LS were outside his main business. 14 months later I had my car and he had his conversion components he now sells world wide. My goal at the time was to build a car that was primarily a daily driver that I could take to the track if I felt like some fun. To attain that the car had to have OEM reliability, a comfortable interior with AC and a good sound system. 11 years later I think we achieved that goal. A lot has changed in the LS conversions for S30's since then but the difficulty in deciding end goals has not. It's still difficult because the cars can be great at anything you want them to do - but not everything. I chose the daily driver route so I sacrificed weight for comfort. I had a 280 which is heavier but more rigid than the 240 and still beefed it up with a 4-pt roll bar and front & rear strut tower braces. The JCI motor mounts are designed to keep the motor clear of the firewall to allow access to items for maintenance and put the T56 gearshift in the stock hole in the tunnel. My car has a totally stock 1998 Z28 LS1 - probably the weakest of them all running through the option 2 T56 from a '99 Z28 and a 3.70:1 R200 LSD. That gives me identical drivetrain gearing to the Z28 although my tires are slightly smaller in diameter. The 325 RWHP of my engine through that gearing and 225/50-16 Dunlops will light up 1st but holds solidly from 2nd gear on. In my case 1st gear is not a waste. I can't use all of it and I need to really be on my game but it is still a great launch gear. I'm in 6th gear all the time. I will cruise locally at 45 MPH in 6th with the engine turning just a bit north of 1100 RPM. My 3,000 lb car is fine there. Then again, I may be running it in 3rd and getting ready for a downshift to 2nd to intimidate the guy next to me. I never really saw what your HP goal is but, if you are really designing a car that is primarily a daily driver you're not going to put a big cam in it - just cause problems at low RPM. A smooth power band from roughly 1500 to 5500 RPM is wonderful for the street and pretty good for the track too. The tough thing to do will to stick to the vision you have for the car, not get lost in the minutia, and remember that your car is your car. It's not mine, its not anyone else, so to your own self be true.

Guess it all depends on how well the tires stick and the drivetrain holds up. If you're talking basically a stock LS3 I don't think you'll have any cam "loping" issues at low rpm cruising speeds. If I'd had the option for #3, in retrospect, I would probably have opted for it. Any of those ratios, though, will have you in 4th gear in the quarter. One point with my car is that I get no wheel spin with the 225's at full throttle in the 2nd gear with the 2.10 ratio. Thats with 325 HP at the rear wheels and about 1,740 lbs on the rear wheels with my weight included. You'll have more HP and less weight but, hopefully, wider very sticky tires. I know a lot can be done to lightweight a Z but I don't think 2,300 lbs is going to be attainable if you really want the car to be a daily driver. When I first did my LS1/T56 conversion it added 30 lbs to the car. The interior, sound deadening, and sound system added another 170 lbs. If you're really careful your net gain going with quality stuff might be held to 130 lbs. Then you have to figure if the wide-body items are really going to reduce the overall weight of the car by much. Go to a truck stop and get the actual weight of the car now and then start asking weight questions and do the math. I'm thinking you'll end up more in the 2500-2600 lb range.

Dave, The Subtle Z/YZ combo is what my son has. He also has the Option 2 T56. Here's my experience with the Option 2 T56 & 3.70:1 R200 LSD. 1st gear is my start gear for hills, around town, etc. I then shift to 3rd or 4th unless I'm in a real hurry and then I go through them all. I enjoy shifting so that's most of the time. 1st is good to 25-30 MPH. If I'm drag racing I have to feather 1st to keep it hooked up. Even though my 280 weighs 3,000 lbs I'm running 225's so the drivetrain overpowers them. Unless you be sure to get some REALLY sticky tires you will have a similar issue even with the 305's. My son is running 275 BFG all-weather radials and he smokes them at the drop of a hat. They aren't very sticky. My car holds in second gear at full throttle so I expect yours would too. Obviously the rest of the gears hold. Any kind of road racing pretty much never gets down to 1st so it's 2nd-4th that count. My ratios work well for my set-up. I've done hill climbs, autoX and even run the combined infield and oval at the Texas Motor Speedway Nascar track. No complaints. My car was designed to be primarily a daily driver - thus it's heavier than other cars because of dynamite, a heavy house carpet, all leather interior, a 500 watt, 7 speaker sound system and AC. Any excuse I get to drive the car it's on the road unless we've had our winter snowfall then I put him up to avoid the caustic deicer they use up here on the roads. Have you thought about what you are going to do for lighting? New gauges will eliminate the dark dash syndrome of the early Z's. I'm installing new, higher wattage lights in my stock gauges this winter. I also have an HID light kit to upgrade my headlights which sorta glow at night. I think there might be LED options for that out there now. Check around. I'm also planning to get the LED conversions for my taillights, turn signals and marker lights. I want the car BRIGHT at night and I really want my brake lights to show.

Weedburner - good info. Never knew that. Where in WA are you?

Assuming you're running an NA motor I would opt for option 2 with the .50:1 OD. A couple reasons: 1) The car, with a 3.69/3.70:1 R230/R200 and stock OD tires will cruise all day at 60 MPH and 1500 RPM. 2) That set-up will allow you to pretty much just run 2nd gear doing AutoX work. Before you buy the Tremec also decide if you are going to go with all new gauges or stick with the stock gauges. If all new get the Tremec in it's standard configuration with an electronic speedo output. If stock gauges option it with a mechanical output. Have you determined your desired tire sizes yet? That will be affected by the brakes you choose, the suspension you choose and whether or not you plan on tubbing the rear or going with some kind of flare or wide body kit. I've been running my LS1 with an option 2 T-56 for 11 years now through a 3.70:1 R200 and 225/50-16 tires. I kept the standard electronic output and stock gauges so had to install CableX box to translate for the speedo. My son has a '73 with a 2000 LS1 with head and cam work putting 380 HP to the rear wheels running through an R230 LSD and 17" wheels & tires. He's putting a Reaction Research wide body kit on it to be able to handle 305's in the rear. He's running 245's in the front. Car is light and scary quick - but not done yet.

I have a 1977 280Z with the Johns Cars LS1 conversion using a 4-row 280Z radiator. If you really want the hose numbers PM me and I'll go out to the car and see if I can find some numbers. They've been there for 11 years now so hopefully the numbers are still on them.

All I see is the side of my car covered in dirt and road debris because the back of the wheel is not enclosed and will allow it to throw stuff all over the side of my car. I guess for a show car it could be cool but not a daily driver.

On me with your email and I'll send the photos directly. I bought the car from a guy who bought it from a salvage yard. I have both bills of sale but no title at all.