Phantom

Took the gauges to UPS on Monday to send them off and the car started behaving very strangely - rpm was surging causing it to buck while at a constant throttle - just before I arrived at the UPS store. Shut it down, delivered the gauges for shipment, and then went back to the car to return home. It wouldn't start - it would barely crank over. Couldn't see what the issue was under the hood and it had started fine at the house and run fine up until the last 1/4 mile from UPS. Called my son to have him come and jump me and settled in to wait. After about 15 minutes I decided to give it another try and it started right up and seemed to be running ok. I immediately headed for home and called my son letting him know I was trying to make it back on my own but I might still need him. As soon as I got onto I-82 it started bucking again and really didn't want to accelerate. Then I looked down and my tach said I was turning about 1,000 RPM when it should have been more like 3,000. Then I looked at the speedometer it said '0'. I have a CableX speedometer converter in the car so it obviously wan't working either. When I changed lanes i notice my signals seemed a little slow and the indicator light on the dash seemed dim. Long story short I made it home, just barely. Symptoms suggested I check the voltage on the 14 yr old Optima Redtop and it was a solid 8 volts. It evidently had imploded on the drive to UPS. I am totally impressed that the LS1 would even start and run in that situation. Good thing it did though as my son was also stranded at work with a loose battery cable and his truck wouldn't start. Have a new Braille GU1R coming my way.

Well - after almost 14 years of service my Optima Red top died - or maybe I should say it imploded. I noticed it was only around 12 volts coming out this past winter but it seemed to be doing OK. I went on a run today, car started OK but just a bit slower than normal. Everything seemed fine for about 8 miles and then I noticed I was having throttle control issue, the car was bucking in first & second gear. Got to my destination, shut it off, did my business , and came back out to a car that would barely crank over. Made some calls and while I was waiting for the cavalry to arrive i tried to start it again and this time it started and seem to run OK. Started for home and then the symptoms started showing up - the car was bucking, tachometer wasn't reading correctly, speedometer (CableX driven) was not working at all, and the turn signals were really weak. Barely made it home but a minute after I shut it down in the garage I had my Fluke meter out and was checking the battery. Yup - 8 volts. Not enough for the ECU or anything else to operate properly. It's a testimony that the car even started and got me home, Braille battery in my immediate future.

Figure it will save me about .001 sec in the 1/4 mile too! Drove the car that night and noticed I had a burned out dash bulb that will be easily replaced while its apart.

The winter weather is winding down and I've had the Z out a few times to be sure it is OK. During the winter I pulled the passenger side taillight assembly and sent it off to ZLEDslights for a warranty repair. One small LED had gone out. He turning it around in two days and it;s back in the car working fine. Today I pulled the stock "dual" gauges out of the car. The Voltmeter had become schizophrenic and either my oil pressure gauge or the sender is bad and since the sender was replaced a year ago I'm sending out the gauge to have it checked. APT Instruments - here they come. In the meantime I'm driving the car with a big hole in the center of the dash.

My son has Dodge Neon GT seats in his 73 240Z. He is 6'2" and fits ok. At 6'4" I've driven it and it was a bit snug for me - headroom wise.

I've kept mpg records on my 1977 280Z for 24 years now. The first 11 years was with the stock L28 with between 100 & 200,000 miles on it - that's how far I drove it in 11 years. After that it was with the LS1. The L28 originally had the 4-spd with the 3.54: R200 and then later an '83 280ZX 5-spd and 3.90 R200. With both set-ups i saw as high as 24 MPG on the highway but pretty much averaged 19-20 in combined city/hwy driving. Interestingly the LS1 with a T-56 and a 3.70:1 R200 does about the same - unless I'm in full aggressive mode and then it drops to the 10-13 MPG area.

'0' offset won't allow any wider than a 225 cross-section tire. If you have coil-overs and about a -10 to -14 off set you could probably run 245's.

With the right offset you can run 245/40-17's. Get an extreme performance summer tire with a tread wear rating of 200 or less. I can almost hold my LS1 (325 rwhp) with 225 width 300 tread wear tires. I'm running a 3.70 R200 LSD/T56/>S1

Rats, I had the dash out of my '77 last winter. Took a couple photos but they're not very good so I don't think thy'd help you much.

I'm running a '99 Camaro T56 with a custom torque tube set-up that uses Channel iron- not a C5 torque tube. Patience is the word when sourcing a T56.

That's basically what JCI did on mine. They used the Camaro Z28 driveshaft, shortened it and welded an R200 yoke on it. I've had no issues with it in the 12 years I've been running it.

Darn Mike - cut that out! Take care of yourself. It's the car that's supposed to be finished, not you.

I'm currently running 225 width tires front and rear under stock fenders and with stock suspension. With flares that wide and coil overs you should be thinking 255 front and 275 rear.

What is your opinion of the JPN flares? Are you using the regular or the wide version and with what wheels/tire?

I'm thinking of a dark metallic gray for mine too. Maybe I'll just get the body work done and then wrap it. Anyone know how long a wrap will last? My current paint job has lasted almost 19 years.

There are HID and LED conversions available. I have the Dapper Lighting HID lights and am pleased with them so far. They are definitely superior to stock.

The 300ZXTT is a 3.69:1 R230. I believe the Nissan Armada used it also but wit something like a 3.36:1 ratio. Not positive, you'll need to check it out.

If you haven't already, look at the Techno Toy Tuning R230 conversion components. My son, DarthZ, has the 240Z that Grenade300 built with an R230 and cryogenically hardened half shafts with CV's. Supposedly good for 700 HP. That would be my preferred route at this point. The 8.8 conversion is good too but it isn't as refined a solution or have enough installed yet for me to risk it.

I guess the bottom line is to determine what your desires and budget can put in the car and then work toward that while driving the car and, hopefully, not detonating the R180 u-joints until you can do the upgrade you want. I'd certainly recommend the diff/half shaft upgrade before doing any upgrades on the wheels/tires. I use my 225/50-16's as the "fuse" for my R200 u-joints.

Well, Nissan felt a need to go to the R200 when they went from the L24 to the L28 & the LS1 has over twice the torque & HP of the L28.

As long as your suspension is sorted out so that you don't get wheel hop the R200 u-joints will survive. I've lost one in 37,000 miles and it had over 200k miles on it.

R200 with u-joints will work fine with a stock LS1 if you don't abuse it like crazy at a drag strip.

Running a 3-row 280Z radiator that was recored to 4-row. Never had an overheating problem - even in Dallas when one of the cooling fan relays went out. Been running it for 12 years now with the LS1 and never an issue.

My car was the JCI development car so Johns Cars did the tach conversion.j I've seen some other guys here on the site that used someone else. I just know John. I know what you mean about the $$. These cars can get really expensive to do it right - no matter which way you go.

I kept the Datsun gauges but installed white face conversions and the higher wattage dash bulbs from Motorsport Auto and removed the green lenses. If you go with Autometer you'll not have all your gauges on the dash (Datsun has two split gauges) and you'll have to find another location for the turn signal indicators. If you stay with Datsun gauges you'll have to either get a CableX translator to drive your cable driven Datsun speedometer or you'll have to change the transmission over to a mechanical output. I went with the CableX and have had no issues with it in 12 years.