Phantom

How good is your insurance? I had my first Z stolen from the driveway in front of my house. Because I had a list of what I had done to the car (the receipts were in the glovebox of the car which, in hindsight, was not the place to keep them ) and the cost I assigned to them was reasonable, I got $3,100 for a car I had paid $3,200 for three years earlier and had invested about $700 in fixing up. In retrospect I kind of laugh - the car looked like it had been dipped in Porsche Red (7 coats of red & 3 clearcoat) but it was a $500 paint job. The rest of the work I had either done myself or used salvaged parts. It had bondo in every fender, the brakes needed to be rebuilt, the engine was burning oil (not a good sign for an old L28), the seats were shredded, the dash was cracked, and it had an AM/FM 8-track player in it with the stock speakers. They never found the car and I used the money to buy an old Sentra and pay off a couple bills until I found my current car 3 years later. Needless to say the 280Z28 is in a locked garage every night since the day I brought it home.

Still running the DS that John's Cars built for my conversion 4 years and 30,000 miles ago. Solid as a rock.

Mine is under the dash on the passenger side. There are photos of it in my personal album here on HybridZ. Kept from having to modify the stock harness very much.

Mystery component B is a fan added to the 280ZX models to avoid vapor lock when the car is driven in hot climates. This was not an item found on the 280Z, even the California models. Looking at that and at the fuel rails it looks more like you may have a 280ZX motor than a 280Z. This is not bad as the ZX had a broader torque curve. If you can find the head identification you can probably determine the car the motor came from.

MatMan, I've been counselling young men about their current or impending marriage for over 30 years now. Yes, I was around when God created the fossils for fossil fuels. The one thing that I always start out with is that the husband is the head of the family - like the captain of a ship. Because of that everything that happens in the marriage is his fault. No ifs or buts. That's the way it is. Once he recognizes and accepts that - because deep down in side the wives & kids actually feel the same way although few of them will readily admit it - he is on his way to being able to deal with anything in a marriage. That being said - I'll adopt a corollary and say that in nearly every case - no one is blameless in an accident. Everyone bears some of the responsibility. I don't care if someone is in the proper gear, in the proper lane, going the speed limit and have a great scan going on. If Scottie beams a Mac truck down in front of him to crash into it's at least partly his fault. He obviously did something to piss Scotty off. What I've seen is that a person who repeatedly stands on the "It's not my fault" platform is someone who is not capable of fully realizing and taking responsibility for their own actions. That may seem like a hard philosophy but this is a hard world and you have to be tough to survive it.

There's an old saying in the avaiation world: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots - but there are no old, bold pilots." I think that probably applies to stunt bikes, too. Phil - you know me - sounds to me like your bride is very concerned that she and your daughter have the security of having the husband/father around that they love dearly. I fully understand your feelings as I went through that too. It's all about priorities. Take care of those that are most important to you and your time will come again. Once your daughter is out of school take out a healthy life insurance policy that will set your wife up and go for it. At that point the only reason to beef will be that they are concerned for your safety. At this point, however, the responsibilities of family need to outweigh personal desire.

Bottom line - redline on a tach in a 280Z is 6,500. It would seem intuitive at that point that the L28 is not, in stock form, designed to function well above that point. I've driven three L28 equipped Z's and my personal experience bears that out. The 280ZX motors are even more that way with a camshaft & head design that lowers and broadens the torque curve. Does much better on the lower end than the earlier iterations but still dies above about 6,300.

Absolutely not - and I resent the insinuation. I have, however, seen posting after posting on this sight from someone looking for a good S30 to start a project. This qualifies so I've passed the information on. The woman that has placed it with them on consignment is upside down in the car having put $8k into making sure everything is absolutely right with it mechanically. I think it will sit on the lot a very long time due to that and that it is now the end of August and fall approaches so few people are looking for a sports car - especially an old one.

I was talking with a friend of mine today that is a partner in an auto dealership. They have a completely stock, original orange paint & black interior, 1977 280Z with 76,xxx miles on it - first time around on consignment. The little ol' lady who owns it has owned it since it was new and recently sank $8k into it getting everything fixed on it. Big mistake. Bad news first: It has an automatic It has one hairline crack in the dash It has one small crack in the console at the back edge of the ashtray The black carpet is sun faded. It has small rust areas at the trailing edge of both front fenders. Good news: It has working AC. It has at least a new starter, new fuel filter and new brakes. The tires have great tread on them. 14" with the old style mags that came on many that year. The paint looks very nice - good luster. The seats are almost perfect with only a small scratch, no tears, on the drivers seat. If the carpet was dyed the interior would be absolutely gorgeous. No rust arond the fuel door, trailing edge of hatch, doors, or battery tray. Frame rails looked good also. Didn't lift the carpet to check the floor pans. Glass is all good. Doors, Hood & hatch open and close smoothly. Seldom see one that looks this good. To bad it isn't a '70 240z with a 4-spd. She'd have a gold mine/ With it being a 77 280Z with an automatic it really ends up just being a great donor car for an drive-train transplant.

I have the worst of both worlds. I have a T56 with an electronic output going to a CableX converter box that drives my stock mechanical speedometer. Beat that one!! All the problems I notice, however, are probably attributable to the mechanical side. Sometimes I'll be up to nearly 35 MPM before the Speedometer will register. Mostly, however, it starts off when I do. It also will randomly start to bounce - usually when I've been 'bounce' I mean between 25 and 150. I think that is probably due to insufficient lubrication in the drive cable and it having a bit too tight of a turn in it. FWIW, though, when I made my runs at Texas Motorplex my speedometer was within 3 mph of the trap speed (110) when I crossed the line. That leads me to believe that It's pretty darn accurate. I also cross-reference it with my tachometer. I've run calculations on tire circumference and differential and transmission gearing so I can math RPM vs speed. Again - it works out very close and consistent. Since I know 120 MPH is 6,000 in 4th gear and I've had to get into 5th a few times I know the old Z has hit into the 125-130 range. I think stability is a function of a lot of things - some of it perception. An S30 Z does have a bit of a tendency to bump steer so road conditions can cause some 'diversions' that are blamed on aerodynamics. The suspension being old and tired can contribute to this as well as worn bushings in the steering. What I do know is that my S30 seemed light and a bit unstable when I exceeded 105 in it's stock form on a shot suspension and worn bushings. with an upgraded suspension, urethane bushings and a Motorsport Aero II ground effects package it has always felt solid - at least up to sustained speeds of 120 at Texas Motor Speedway. since many things had changed I can't attibute the stability to any one thing - just the combination.

I got a real shock yesterday. I've owned my Z for 16 years now and put over 130,000 miles on it. I bought it when I lived in Texas and it has been my daily driver ever since except during the engine conversion timeframe when it was down for a year and during the winters up here in Washington. I used to rack up 8-9,000 miles/year on the car doing my daily commute to work and the occaisional track or other event on weekends. I looked at my logbook yesterday and realized that, although I'm still using it as a daily driver except during the period where they use deicer on the roads here, I have only logged 2,000 miles on the car in the last 9 months. That works out to about 2,700/year. Most of that is due to the fact that I live 4 miles from work instead of 17 and there is no Z club here in the area to get involved in. Sure has cut my gas bill.

There is a way to figure this. Measure the distance from the tire to the inside lip of the fender well on the outside and from the tire to the nearest non-rotating component of the car on the inside. Be sure and think about suspension travel, etc. and what the tire could get close to when cornering or hitting a bump. The shorter of the two distances, times 2, will give you the absolute maximum increase in tire size over what is on the car. Then you will have to see what tire sizes approach that dimension. Also remember that a change in profile will affect sizing, that a change in size will affect the location of the widest point of the tire. Best bet would be to find a shop willling to mount a tire for you to check it before buying. If it looks reasonable most of them should be willing. Tire sizing is not exact. There are variations between brands and even within brands. All 245/50-16 tires are not the same. After that is all said and done you then need to look at your wheel and ensure it's rated for a tire that size. If you get on Tire Rack they'll show recommended wheel sizes for different tire sizes.

Glad to see the battery is ok and good to see you found the problem - or should I say a symptom? I don't think you're completely out of the woods yet. If you have plugged your fuel filter that badly in only 1900 miles then you have some kind of a contamination problem. It may just be some residual stuff in the tank, or contamination that came along with fuel from a service station with contaminated fuel, or your tank may be rusting internally and need to be restored. I went through this with a car and found that the place I was buying fuel had rusted through tanks and they were pumping dirt and rust into my car. You don't even want to know what I went through. Make sure you're getting your fuel from a reputable place and not a local off-brand mini-mart. Watch your fuel filter. If it plugs again in the next couple thousand miles and you know you have been running good fuel then you need to drop your tank and thoroughly inspect it. That will tell you what your next move may need to be. Sorry about raining on your parade but I don't think you're clear of the problem yet.

Yup - be sure to get that puppy load tested. It will probably drop down in the 9-10 volt range if a cell is weak. i'd still follow through and check the fuel filter while you're at it. It could be more than one problem.

Need to check the battery when the engine is not running. It would be better to pull it and take it to a parts place that can load check it. A good 12 volt battery should have 14.4 volts. At 13.5 you may have a weak cell.

You have confirmed that you have a full 14.4 volts at the battery? Those readings indicate you could have a dead cell.

Be sure you check your fuel filter and also the strainer at your tank exit before going hard after the fuel pump.

Cameron, I ran at Texas Motor Speedway not long after I implanted the LS1/T56. I had stock drums on the rear and the Toyota 4x4 upgrade with new Porterfield pads on the front. I burned half the material off the front brakes and had blue rotors by the end of it. Learned how to drive with limited braking ability. Since then I've upgraded to the 240SX calipers/300ZX rotors on the rear and 12.2" vented rotors with Willwood superlites on the front. Makes a significant difference.

I had a similar experience at the track - but I completely blew a universal on the drivers side half-shaft that resulted in it beating my brakes into oblivion on that side. Obvioulsy your ability to drive the car indicates that nothing is broken completely - just partly. I'd look real hard at your CV joints again as well as the differential. You can have damage that will make a lot of noise but not be really obvious at first look.

Heavy85 - Good run. You can really see the effects of a lightened 240 vs a "heavied" 280. My best run was a 12.9@110 with a 2.0 60' with a nearly identical set-up except body & tires. I was running 225/50-16's which would have been slightly larger in diameter & launching at about 1,500. Kind of scary in 1st & 2nd, isn't it? The key for you to get into the 11's is going to be tires - and hoping your rear end holds together.

The JCI compressor is a high efficiency unit that uses about 25% less energy than a standard OEM - or that's what I remember him telling me several years ago. I'm not sure the RPM issue would be significant with it. I notice my LS1 dropping maybe 50 RPM when it kicks in but that has not caused me any problems.

I have the original JCI compressor & bracket set-up. Mine's not as pretty as Gary's. There is a product on the market called Freeze 12. It is an R-12 substitute that does not require any equipment changes like the R-134 requires. That is what I'm running in my system. Trust me, if you're using most of the original stock AC equipment and blower you need all the efficiency you can get. My system is good to about 100°F but takes a while to cool the car down if it has been sitting in the sun.

240zprace - Mine ran a 12.9@110 on the set-up I described weighing 2,830 lbs plus another 220 for me at the time. I had a 2.0 60' which you ought to be able to reduce to about a 1.6 with your tires and a little practice. If so you should get into the low 12's no problem. Just Jim - Sweet. Where'd you stuff the motor in that thing? I don't remember there being a lot of room under the hood although the little four wouldn't have been much shorter than a V8.

Katman, Not Yakima - the sun shines here, snow - maybe. 240Zprace - much better - thanks! Those spring rates should work fine for you. On top of that I'd recommend some adjustable struts to further tune things. If you have the rear squat under control a little lift in the front for weight transfer could help. Have you made any trips down the strip yet? What is the tune on your LS1? My '98 with the ECU reflashed to 2002 parameters is running about 390 HP with stock internals, 315 to the rear wheels. I have a 3.70 LSD and 205/16 street radials. Here's my personal experience. In first gear I have to launch at 1,500 RPM and carefully open the throttle to avoid frying the tires and destroying the suspension & half shaft universals with wheel hop. Once I'm in 2nd its no problem. You'll be launching at higher RPM with the taller slicks with better traction, the 3.54, and stiffer spring rates but you may not be able to go over about 3,500-4,000. You'll have to experiment there. Once you get to 2nd just bury the throttle & hang on. Watch the rpm very closely because you'll bounce off your rev limiter in 1st & 2nd before you know it. With those tires & the 3.54 you'll probably never get out of 4th. My combination is good for 120 MPH at 6,000 RPM in 4th. You should be good for 135-140 at redline. Have fun.

Hey JustJim. Dude - you have a '58 Morris Minor. My GF in college had one that here dad had fully restored and it was a beauty. Then again, her 987cc 4-banger wouldn't get down the road like yours. Once it was up to speed, though, I could terrorize folks on the curvy section of the highway pretty well. Question - would adjustable struts accomplish the same thing as your higher spring rates - IE valve them to the super stiff mode in the rear and allow the front to rais a bit?