danj

I need the hood stay rod and connecting bushing for my 83 280zx. Thanks Can contact me at danjhorw@cox.net

This is an sbc 383 Stroker in my 1983 280ZXt. Edelbrock Pro Flo EFI.

I completed the sbc conversion in my 83 ZXT. I originally had power rack steering but had to give it up in favor of the manual rack to allow the headers to free flow on the driver side. There may have been a better solution, which I lament bcause I do miss the power steering. If you can find a way to fabricate the headers around that steering assembly in the 83 model you will be among the few. Here are a few pics from a few angles of how we ran the steering rod. DanJ

PurePontiacKid The Tach is AutoMeter UltraLite Memory Pro Comp 5". I believe the part number is #4494. http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugedetail.aspx?gid=3145&sid=11 One thing I like about the guage configuration is that the 5" and smaller guages (2 1/16" I believe) fit right into the stock ZX dash with no fabrication required. Gives a nice sporty stock look. The speedo guage lets you calibrate the speedometer to any rear/tire configuration to reatin accuracy. I have pondered the wheel/tire possibilities for a long time. I would even stick with 15" rims if I could get the right tires for steering up front and launch in the rear. I had to convert from power rack to manual rack steering to install the driver side full-flow headers to install, so I need to stick with no wider than say 205 tires up front but would like 235 or larger on the rear without too much change in O.D. to keep rear ratio near 3:54 or lower. Thanks for all input. DanJ

Here's a few pics of my S130 ride. 383 sbc stroker, 700R4 tranny, Edelbrock EFI, MSI, Mallory, free flow headers. Getting ready for some Spring mods to the car. Wheels and tires are 1st on the list. Thinking 17 X 8 wheels on the front and 17 X 9.5 or so on the rear. Don't want to do any fender mods and would like to keep spacing and adapters to a minimum. Not much to pick from in the 4 X 114.3 lug configuration. Also, will be installing new carpeting and headliner with kits from ZCar Parts. Next would be a swap of the stock R200 3:54 rear for a 87-89 300ZX 3.7 LSD rear. Any thoughts, comments, questions, criticisms, or advice is invited. DanJ

RUNZ Do you know if the 50's will fit in the stock 6.5" wide wheels? Do you have 225's all around? Power steering? What car are you running the tires on? Thanks, DanJ

Looking for some input on tire choices for my 83 280ZXT. I have the stock Swastica 15" wheels on the car now, and do not want to change out the stock exterior look of the car. The car comes with P205/60R15 tires. I know there are fewer choices in the higher profile tires these days, especially with 15" wheels, but Kuhmo makes an H speed rated Ecsta LX tire that looks pretty good. The car has an sbc 383 stroker engine with Edelbrock EFI, 700R4 tranny and stock 3:54 rear (not LSD). Obviously need better traction and handling. Here is my decision point: Do I go with P225/60R15 tires all around, or change out for the same P205's up front and go with the P225's just in the back? The 225 is about an inch taller and an inch wider than the 205. I definitely need more rubber on the road in the back, but not sure how things will be affected up front if I increase the size of the front tires or have the different size on the front than I have on the rear. The car used to have power steering but that was converted to manual rack to flow the headers. I consider the car a street rod, not a rally racer or a long tripper. Occasional trip to the strip is possible, but only occasionally. What would be the pro's and con's of these tire size possibilities? Any suggestions from you experienced ZX guys? Thanks, DanJ

Dustin Since the MT's are 26" and the stock tires and wheels are about 24.6" OD how did that affect your gear ratio/rpm through the gears and across the 1/4 line? ***I am now editing this question since I located a calculator that does this work for us. When I load these numbers into the calclator the change in wheel size changes a 3.54 rear to about 3.35. Substituting a 3.7 rear and using the larger tires gets the gearing back to 3.5. Check out this link. http://www.venommotorsports.com/library/tirewheelcalculator.asp I didn't know the 700R4 would be an expensive alternative to the 350 or 400 tranny. Mine was custom-built and beefed up. I am running close to 500 HP at the flywheel now. May consider a 150 shot later. That would be the max I would be running on this set-up. One last comment and question. First of all you convinced me to stay with my original 15" Swastica wheels since they are in really good shape. The larger wheels and low profile tires don't really impress me either. The local speed shop has the MT P235 60 R15's and would like to sell them to me. Do you know off hand if the stock 15" 83ZXT wheel is 7"? The MT's require a minimum wheel width of 6.5" up to a maximum of 8.5" Thanks, DanJ

This thread was well covered in every aspect of the load bearing system. The old adage really applies here. The chain (complete driveline) is only as strong as it's weakest link. I think it is obvious from the knowledgeable and experienced responses to this thread that there are many other links in this chain that would break before the 4-lug wheel would ever be a problem. DanJ

Thanks to information from BleachZee and Dustin280ZX I am planning on having a set of MT street radials put on my 83 ZXT 383 sbc tomorrow. Will decide on the front speed rated tires for mostly street use later. Before I write the check I wanted to be sure that I have the minimum wheel width for these tires. My stock tire size is P205 60 R15. The MT's are P235 60 R15. The wheels are the stock 83 ZXT swastica style 15" rims. The MT's require a minimum 6.5" wheel. Not for sure if I have 6" or 7". Don't want to remove the tire to find out if I can get the answer here. Anybody know the wheel width before I make this purchase? Thanks, DanJ

BleachZee Thanks for the info. Based on your number sit looks like I'll have the clearance I need in the front without mods for street use. I'm most likely going to go with the MT street radials in the back and some speed rated slightly smaller tires up front to help with the manual rack steering. DanJ

Dustin Thanks for the info on your ZX mods. I'm with you, I like the stock stuff and try to find things that fit into the existing body style and interior set up. So far, so good on that. Question: Was the 88 turbo ZX lsd a bolt on, or did you have to do some serious fab work? I have the stock R200 w/o LSD and really need that additional traction. Also, was the 88 rear a 3.7 that became a 3.54 equivalent when you mounted the MT drag radials? The overall diameter of the MT's is about 1.6 inches larger than the stock wheel/tire diameter on the ZX. If the 88 rear was a stock 3.54 to begin with, how do you think your gearing was affected by the larger rear tires? I'm running the 700R4 tranny which is close to the stock Datsun 5-spd manual in gearing along with the 3.54 stock rear, so my gearing is close to ZXT stock. The OD makes it a good daily driver. The MT's look like a good alternative for street/strip. Are you going to sell your ZX when you start your Malibu project? DanJ

Dustin How is your project coming along? Havn't seen any posts for a few months. The 83ZX poses some special problems like running the exhaust headers on the driver side, so there aren't too many of us with the 83 conversions. FYI--I have the 83ZXT 2+2 body with a 383 stroker, Vortec heads, Edelbrock EFI, Comp cam, 700R4 tranny and stock 3.54 rear without LSD. I noticed you are still running the 15" wheels with MT Drag Radials. Have you considered going with 16 or 17" wheels? I am trying to solve the wheel/tire dilema on mine now and would also like to add LSD to my stock R200 rear. How did you find/add the LSD and what tires are you running up front? Is your project car strictly for the strip or do you intend to use as a daily driver? I'm very interested in your project since it is giving me hope and guidance for what is possible for future mods on mine down the road, especially the turbo option. Nice job you did on the plumbing fab. Thanks, DanJ P.S. I'm originally from PA now residing in OK.

Guys I'm looking for some experienced help here. I have searched the threads as best I can to try and find some useable information for getting some good wheels and tires under my street rod. I have an 83 280ZXT 2+2 with a 383 stroker, 700R4 tranny, Edelbrock EFI, and the stock R200 3.54 rear. Suspension has been reinforced all around. Original ZXT brakes. Lost my power rack steering in the conversion. The car runs great but of course no traction. As we all know the 4-lug wheel choices for this vehicle are very limited. I have considered the 4-lug to 5-lug conversion, but would rather stay with the 4-lug to allow me to remount the original 15" wheels if desired to preserve the stock appearance if I ever decide to resell the car. I have corresponded a few times with Ross C. on this but we seem to have long periods of lapses in our communications, so I don't want to start a project and then not be able to finish it. The only 4-lug choices I can find are the one's offered by Motorsport. I like the looks of the Konig Imagine Opal wheel in 17 X 7. I think I would prefer a 16 X 7 wheel, but they don't make that size in that wheel style. I am considering mounting Toyo Proxes tires. Perhaps something in the range of 245X40X17. Once I make the purchase of course I'm stuck with both the wheels and tires, which will run me about $1,500-$1,800 or so. The tire dealer thinks the higher profile 17" wheels might be a problem with turning/clearance and possibly affect my gearing. My questions are these: For those of you who are familiar with the ZX body style and have had some experience with wheels and tire combinations on this Z, what choices are available in the 4-lug, and what would be the best wheel size/tire size combination?? Clearance issues? Steering problems? The rear of the car probably isn't going to be a problem, it's mostly what's up front. I do not expect to be racing the car on the strip. Also, no rallying. This is strictly for cruising and illegal street racing. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. If there is a useful thread that has covered these specifics I cannot find it. I know there are Hybrid Z guys out there somewhere who have already solved these issues. Thanks, DanJ

Check out Modern Motorsport. They have racing seats and the custom brackets to fit any Z car. DanJ

I am very interested in the outcome of this thread since I am in the process of putting together a plan for getting the power to the pavement in my 83 ZX. I'm running about 500 HP NA (Edelbrock calculation) on my 383 stroker with aggressive Comp cam and Pro Flo EFI. Planning on adding a 150 NOS shot. Currently just running the stock R200 open 3.545 rear. My purpose in replying to this thread is that I am a strong believer in calling the shots as they really are. No holds barred. The value of this forum is be able to share real world experiences so that others can learn and benefit from that. We are a unique group with a common passion for building, racing and otherwise enjoying hybrid Z cars, which many traditional hot rodders don't completely understand or appreciate. There is a wealth of experience and expertise to be shared on this site. We don't want to constrain ourselves by trying to be overly protective, defensive, appeasing, condescending, or politically correct. We have to trust and believe that the contributions of the members to this forum are open, honest, timely and well intentioned. Once we become too timid or thin skinned about honest feedback we become irrelevant as a source of useful information. Case in point, I belonged to a forum of investors a couple of years ago. It got so that if anyone tried to contribute anything that in anyway appeared to disagree or contradict the views of certain senior members of that forum, they were literally attacked by the 'cultists' that supported a certain point of view or acted as guardians for certain other members. Those who had other points of view were all but labeled as 'traitors'. Contributing members spent more time and words apologizing and appeasing than they did exchanging useful information. Needless to say I dropped out of that wasteful exercise. Let's keep this forum open, honest, timely and relevant! Thanks, DanJ

Plague oc You are receiving some good nuts and bolts advice from the respondents to your thread. Many of the HybridZ guys have been there and done that, and are a valuable source of tried and proven advice. (trial & error too) It really does pay to take your time and read all you can, put together a complete plan based on what you want your final result to be. I thought I would short cut the process by employing 'skilled' hot rod mechanics to assist with the plan and the fabrication when I had my 83 280ZX converted to a 383 stroker with 700R4 tranny, and Edelbrock Pro Fo EFI. The biggest problem I ran into was that every hot rod mechanic has their own idea about what you should be building and how it should be done, and few of them agree on anything. Even fewer really understand the Z cars. If you don't have your own plan and understand what's involved, you will end up spending a lot of money having someone else build their dream instead of yours. Worse yet, you won't know how to do any serious trouble shooting and refinements once the car doesn't look like anything in a shop manual and you aren't familiar with what all was done to the car. These are highly specialized projects that take a lot of knowledge, time, money and experience. There are few short cuts. Nobody will understand or appreciate your vehicle as much as you, especially when something goes wrong. In the end I spent more time, money and frustration working with the hot rod mechanics than I would have if I had done everything I could according to a complete plan of my own design and labor. There are some things you will need help on since you won't have all the tools or perhaps the facility to do all the work yourself, but if you learn all you can and do as much of the work as you can on your own, and put together a solid plan from the start, with the help of tried and proven Z car nuts, you will be miles ahead. Good luck with your project. DanJ

I have a 383 SBC in my 83ZXT. Clearing the steering hardware was a real issue on running the full-flow headers. I ended up having to convert to a manual rack steering and give up the A/C system. If you have the power rack it is nice to try to salvage that if you can. Driveability really changes, especially at low traffic speeds, when you give up the power rack. I had a speed shop assist with the conversion so I'm not sure how hard they tried to work around the problem. We didn't consider the JTR headers at the time. It might be best to locate someone that has actually installed the JTR header on the driver's side in the ZX and see what issues they still had to overcome. I know on my conversion it was the biggest hurdle in the fabrication. You can see from the attached photo how the steering rod was custom-fitted through the fabricated headers. DanJ

Thanks for the input. I expect to be on the street 97% of the time and likely less than 3% at the strip, so I do need a daily driver alternative as well as launch and straight line accelleration. I have read in the threads that the Quaife may not be as effective in straight line drag racing but is very driveable for cornering and decel. If it locks nicely on launch then it seems to be the all-pupose choice, but I haven't heard from anyone with specific straight line drag experience running the Quaife. Am also concerned about the strength of the billets as was reported in another thread that is underway. Once I add the 150 NOS shot I will be near 650 HP, so the strength of the weakest link is a big concern. The local guys are pushing the Ford 9" as the bullet proof alternative. What do you think. DanJ

JP I have an 83 280ZX. You linked me to a Modern Motorsport site before but it didn't appear to cover the 83 280ZX conversion to 5 lug. What all did you do to make the conversion? What year is your car? Danj

I realize this may seem similar to the many threads that have addressed this subject but I have spent hours reading those threads and am still left with some unanswered questions. 1. Is the Quaife unit an effective "straight line" LSD performer for 500-650 HP in an 83 280ZX 383 stroker? Need someone with drag experience here! 2. Is it worth the extra $600 and the shipping hassle to send my R200 open unit to Modern Motorsports for them to do a rebuild and send it back Quaifed? I can purchase the unit for $1420 from OptionsAuto.com instead of the package deal for $2,025 from MMS. 3. Is there a conversion kit available or necessary to do the reinstall? Any other parts to consider replacing while I have the unit out? 4. Are there instructions available anywhere for making this upgrade in an 83 280ZXT? I read and learned a lot from the threads on the various diff's. It did seem that a lot of the information was speculative or hearsay, and few contributors actually had drag raced with the Quaife LSD, or converted it into a ZX. Any specific help on these remaining questions would be appreciated. If it weren't for you HybridZ guys I would not be driving and enjoying my 383 280ZX. Thanks Much, Danj

Interesting thread going here. Now that I finally have my 383 stroker running in my 83 280ZX 2+2 I am looking into what's available to get the power to the pavement, so I'm considering my options for wheels and tires. How did you convert to 5 lug. I assume there are many more wheel options in 5 lug than there is in 4 lug. DanJ

Well, after 2+ years of trouble shooting and just sitting idle in the garage, I took the car to a hot rod mechanic I met recently at a classic car show here in Tulsa, to have him give it a final diagnostic before giving up on the EFI system and converting back to a 4 bbl set up. I called Edelbrock EFI tech support 1 more time to see if there were any more tests we could do that haven't been done. They told me that a problem was recently discovered with the Mallory Distributor that had been custom made for their Pro-Flo system. Seems that when the unit heats up the shutter wheel below the plate in the distr. moves which puts the distr out of phase with the cam. The timing will look right on the crank, but will not fire correctly. Once this wheel moves the 1st time, it never returns to it's correct starting point to reset. Also, a physical exam doesn't reveal a loose shutter wheel. Anyhow, to deal with this problem Edelbrock obtained a supply of the necessary fix-it parts from Mallory (Mr. Gasket) and they do the testing and repair in their EFI shop and return the distr units within a week. We shipped it off, they tested and found it defective, did the repair, and returned the unit. That stopped the back firing problem and I drove the car home from the shop today. 1st time the car has been driven in almost 3 years. Now my problem seems to be what kind of rear end/wheel/tire set up do I need to contain this beast. Thanks to all for the suggestions. It appears that the problem was pretty much unsolvable until Edelbrock discovered the Mallory Distr. defect. DanJ

I am still working through the proposed solutions I received. One of the problems with the Edelbrock Pro Flo EFI is that it is easy to set up and tune since it doesn't require a laptop to tune, but it is difficult to troubleshoot since there isn't a diagnostic computer-based set-up that allows you to see what the ECU is seeing. Anyhow I am going through a lot of analysis and testing, and should have an update by the end of this weekend. Dan H

I appreciate the responses I've received so far on this EFI/Backfiring problem. I'm going to begin tackling them one at a time this weekend, naturally beginning with the easiest and cheapest possibilities, and work from there to whatever it takes. The $100 reward is absolutely guaranteed and will be happily sent to the source that hits the nail on the head and gets me up and running again. DanH