Phantom

The car appears to be restorable. I need to correct the valve cover - it says "NISSAN 2400 OHC", not DATSUN. the car also has dealer installed air conditioning which was very rare in the first year 240's. The car is not free. Owner is looking for $1k for it. It has no title - he lost it - but it is possible to obtain a new one. I'm considering buying the car, stripping it of the good parts and then sending it to be crushed but the VIN number is low enough that it bothers me.

VIN on this car ends in 1749 and data plate says mfg in 2/70. Has a valve cover that says "Datsun 2400 OHC" and an intact pointy top radio antenna. Some rust in rear fenders and along bottom of hatch opening. Doors good. Interior a mess but mostly there. Minor body dings. Bumpers are straight. This car is going to a crusher unless someone wants. PM me if interested.

Jon, Well, That would mean I've been driving it this way for 21 years as I haven't had a wreck, hit a curb or deep chuckhole since I got the car. Oops - I did hit a pallet on the interstate once. I wonder if that could do it? I'll have a local frame shop look at it once I get the suspension done and make sure everything is properly lined out and nothing is tweaked. It doesn't look too bad to me but I'm definitely not an expert in that area.

Well - the gift just keeps on giving. Turns out that the bearings that Parts Geek sent me were mislabeled and wouldn't fit. Fortunately not only did a local bearing house have the right bearings but they swapped straight across for the ones I had as they had a customer for them. Passenger side spindle pin had to be cut out which buggered up the lower control arm so now that needs to be repaired too. In the process of getting it up on the rack it appears the chassis has flexed a bit by where the drivers side tension/compression rod attaches and may need a little TLC. Have any of you frequent flyers on the crooked tracks had experience with that problem?

OK - so no one has any experience with Wong's Performance. Mail order tunes are OK for stock motors which is what I had done for mine by www.chipsbyal.com and my car runs great. My son's car, however, has prated & polished heads, a cam and some issues with the MAF that only a tuner with a dyne can properly sort out. He has already been "dyne tuned" once and is running so rich that he has fuel in his oil. Need to be sure that the next one does it right. SunnyZ - By the way - IDAHO is the great potato state. Iowa is corn.

280Z28 at the bottom of the "Maryhill Loop" and getting ready to stage for another run up the hill. The Washington Z Car Club and the Pacific Northwest Z car club got together and rented the hill for the day. For you history buff's the "Maryhill Loop is what is left of the first paved road in the state of Washington. It was privately built about 80 years ago by a man named Sam Hill who named it after his wife Mary. It ran from the bottom of the Columbia River gorge to the plateau above and is a serpentine 2.5 mile joy ride that now ends in a gravel parking lot at the top. The road is "historical" so it is maintained but not daily used. It can be "rented" for a day for $250 and used at your own risk. Those who really enjoy challenging the power, cornering, and braking power of the Z while knowing that leaving the road is not a healthy option can really get their adrenaline rush on this hill. My son and I made at least a dozen runs along with 20 other cars and definitely satisfied our "need for speed". One of the Performance marks on the hill is that the Z32 turbos could hit 85 at the "cattle guard" which was the only real straight (sorta) on the run. The 280Z28 consistently hit 95+ at that point although it did get a bit dicey on the diminishing radius turns that followed it.

I use Piloti's. Have black pair, a brown pair, and a blue pair. Only thing I have that keeps me from working the throttle and the brake at the same time with my size 12's.

If you're going to keep the independent rear suspension and take the car to the strip I'd recommend installing the R230 out of the Z32 turbo cars and use cryogenically hardened CV half-shafts. Supposedly that's good for about 700 HP. That is what DarthZ is running in his but he only has about 400 RWHP at this point.

Central Washington is not exactly prolific with dyno tuning shops. There is, however, a shop in Vancouver, WA called Wong's Performance Tuning www.wongsperformance.com, that specializes in LSX motors. Anyone here have any experience with him? My son is about to take his car there and I I'd like some feedback off this site if anyone has personal experience with Tom's shop. Thanks,

Zfan1 - got to agree with you if the car is going to have a solid rear axle. That says straight line car and nothing beats a good auto for that. Since I'm now in the Pacific Northwest and have all these wonderful crooked mountain roads i'm so glad I stuck to my guns 10 years ago and went with the T56. It is so fun selecting the right gear and then throttle steering through the corners.

Contact Techno Toy Tuning. I think they may still have some of the Koni's.

Here is photo of the brace.

I wanted a bit more in mine so I have a three point, triangular brace. Top bar runs straight across the strut towers and then a second bar runs from the top bar on the passenger side down to the bottom of the strut tower on the drivers side. Nothings more rigid than a triangle.

OK - some updates - First - John coffee -The Koni's definitely are rebound only adjustment but only 1.5 turns from one extreme to the other - or at least the ones I have are. Maybe these are a bit different from what you've worked with and will work ok with my 200/250 spring rates. What I meant by infinitely adjustable was that they aren't a 5 specific location adjustable like the Illumina's but can be set anywhere in the 1.5 turn range. Second - Found the bearings at www.partsgeek.com so cancelled bearing order with MSA and asked for only the seals which Parts Geek didn't seem to have. MSA sent seals and a pair of outer wheel bearings. ??? Still waiting on the returned goods stuff to send those back. Evidently a lot of places have the bearings but the main distribution warehouses for the local parts places here and for MSA were out and have the bearings back-ordered. I thought I might find some floating around somewhere so a quick internet search found them. Parts Geek actually had them from several different manufacturers but I went with SKF even though they were the most expensive. Fronts went on pretty well considering the car is 35 years old but rears were a different story. The passenger side spindle pin and spindle pin nuts were cross threaded or gauled or something, Anyway they were a beast to get off and the spindle pin threads were toast afterwards. SO - another order to MSA for a pair of spindle pins, four bushings, 4 nuts and rubber washers. Car has been down for almost three weeks now and I'm getting a bit frustrated. Hopefully this is the last of the surprises and I'll get it back on the road soon.

I have 34,000 miles on my conversion so far with the following issues: 1. Infant mortality on the relays for my stock Z28 donor cooling fans. Replaced both and no issues in last 10 years. 2. Burned through a lead to my starter. Relocated it further from the exhaust header. No issues in last 8 years. 3. Smoked my front brakes while racing at Texas Motor Speedway. Replaced front brakes with Willwood 4 piston calipers on 12.2" vented rotors and rears with the 240SX calipers on 11.4" 300ZX rotors. Still need to add the adjustable pro portioning valve but otherwise no issues in 9 years. 4. Broke a half-shaft universal joint on a 1-2 shift at a track which took out my parking brake and brake caliper on the drivers side. Replace 30 year old parts and no issues since then. 5. Stock clock doesn't work - probably never will. 6. Developed a pinhole leak in my modified 280Z radiator. Had it repaired and no issues with it since then BUT 7. Had to replace my LS1 thermostat because solder from the radiator repair got in it and screwed it up.

I have 35,000 miles on my JCI driveshaft now with no issues and the car has been driven hard. It is shaft #1 so maybe it's superior in some way to later versions. I did, however, break a half-shaft u-joint on the track and that was painful. The loose half shaft tore out my e-brake and destroyed the brake caliper on the driver's side. Broke it on the shift from 1st to 2nd and still coasted thru the quarter in 20 seconds. Still thinking if there I'd a way to install hoops on the half shafts.

I just noticed that the topic is locked and that I was unable to download the conversion manual that Grenade300 had created. Is it no longer available? If so, please PM me as I have access to the original file and can help make it available on the site. Thanks,

I don't know if this has been posted before but I did a quick search and didn't see it. I just found out that basically there are no rear wheel bearings for the S30's here in the US. They are on a national back-order and, according to a gent at MSA, it'll be 4 weeks+ before we see them restocked. That really sucks for someone like me who is trying to do a full coilover suspension upgrade. Oops - further searching indicates that maybe Parts Geek in New Jersey has some. We'll see.

Nope. He held the price which was really good of him. So far they've been a good vendor. Had an issue with a missing part and a slightly damaged part and they no questions Fedex'd me new parts on their nickel. The fun part now, though, is that there is a nationwide back-order on rear wheel bearings for the S30. MSA is saying they are probably 4 weeks out. That really sucks because there is no way I'm putting the new struts in and trying to reuse my bearings. That would be just plain stupid.

To make things worse there is now a nationwide back order on rear wheel bearings for the S30's. MSA doesn't have them, Nissan doesn't have them. Ouch.

The bottom line is what size tires do you want to run? If you have a stock suspension then you're pretty much limited to 225 x 16. Those will fit nicely on 16x7 or 16x7.5" wheels with a +5 to +10 offset. I'm running 225/50-16's all around on 16x7 wheels with 0 offset and a stock suspension. I'm going to coilovers but the tires will have to stay the same because the 0 offset puts the 225's right at the edge of the fender well lip. I'f you want to run larger tires then you can go to coil-overs which will allow 245's and or flares which could allow even more. My son's 240Z is running 275/40-17 tires on 17x9.5" wheels in the rear with coilovers and flares. He has 245/40-17's in the front on q7x8.5" wheels. Offset unknown. Depending on what you are going to do with your car you'\ll have to take some very careful measurements to see what will work. Lowering the car will also affect the decision. It's never as easy as you may think.

My conversion did not use the stock GM AC compressor. Both the compressor and my alternator were mounted on the driver's side and the Z just ain't got the room. That is why I have a "compact" Japanese compressor that was supplied by JCI. If you want to go that way I can give you the spec's off mine. FWIW - an essentially stock Z AC system just doesn't quite hack the Texas summers. Mine was refreshed at the time of the engine swap and even with all the new stuff it took it forever to finally pull the temperature down -IF - the car was rolling down the interstate. It never got completely cool in stop and go. That's why I'm glad I'm in Washington state now. If you want a system that really works you need to drop some serious dollars for a vintage air system. You connected with the Cowtown Z Club? Several of the old timers there will remember me. Also, have you hooked up with Jerry at All Z Car Specialist in SW Fort Worth? Great guy and a great source of used parts.

When I did the LS1/T56 conversion in my 280Z I replaced an L28 and a 5-spd and R200 from an '83 280ZX. With the new LS1 and T56 with an LSD R200 out of an '87 turbo 300ZX the car gained a total of 30 lbs - all on the rear wheels. To summarize - an LS1 with a T56 weighs 30 lbs more than an L28 with a 5-spd behind it.

All. Scott (AKA Grenade300) sold his car about 4 years ago just prior to going to Germany with the Army. My son, DarthZ, bought the car and has all the documentation. He is currently reworking the car and we have discussed updating the manual but nothing is in the works yet.

OK guys. Bought my first Z in 1986 and worked on it until it was stolen. Replaced it with my current one in 1992 and I'm still doing things to it. I have a Techno Toys suspension that just arrived, a new center console still in the box, a set of HID headlights and Higher wattage dashlights and the white-face gauge kit to install. After that I'm seriously considering finally getting into the bode stock LS1 and putting some more HP to the road. 21 years on this car and still lots to do.