ckelly78z

I had a green/tan 77 280Z back 25 years ago just out of high school and loved every minute of it. I took a Blue/silver two tone 81 ZX on my honeymoon 19 years ago, and then went cold turkey on the Zs for about 15 years until I found a black (originally metallic blue) 78 280Z with a 4 speed. I am just now still breaking in the "new" 83 F-54 flat top motor with a ported/polished/shaved P-79 head and a ZX 5 speed with more goodies to come.

And for God's sake, re-install the bolts back in the holes they came from when possible so they aren't lost or used in the wrong area. When I mentioned "only makes sense to you" labels, I had nothing cute or no diagrams in mind. I was thinking that I might label some vacumn hose as "under throttle body" or maybe "left", "middle", "right" when connectors are in a row. No one but me will be fooling with my car, so these make sense to me.

I prefer to think of it as one day closer to retirement from a hot factory....Happy B-day guys.

Very good looking wheel, but I agree with the offset comments. I am currently looking at lowering the car, but can't due to nice wheels with the wrong offset that stick them out too far.

Two guys in my Z car club (ZROC) in NW Ohio, bought their 72 240Zs from the same dealership in Okinowa Japan while they were in the service doing practically the same job, at the same military base, but didn't know each other, because one left for home just before the other arrived for duty. They still both own their very nice, and original Zs, and just met for the first time last year and had alot to talk about

Well, all in all, it was a complete failure of a rediculous plan. I just wish I could have been there to comfort "Power's young wife" as he was incapacitated.

Don't worry about labeling things in their proper names, just label it so YOU can understand where it goes. If I am pulling a motor to re-install later in the same car, I number items 1,2,3, etc... so all I have to do is match up numbers later.

I have that flywheel, and I had to use shorter bolts with it as well. I have a Nissan 6 puck clutch disc that has the center springs. It drives and responds very nicely with only minimal chatter upon initial takeoff.

Just last night, a guy stopped buy to buy the 4 speed tranny, that had been in my 78 since new. He has a 71 240Z that he said will be for sale after the tranny install and showed me a picture of it. I didn't ask the price, but it sure looked nice from the pic, which got me thinking the same thing about my car. I don't have any battery tray rust, but I do need rockers, and a cowl, and I noticed recently that holes in the front frame rails were starting, not to mention the Earl Scheib broom job paint that is fading fast. This all got me thinking how much work and money a good paint job and body work would cost compared to just buying a clean classic would be.

Man, that motor looks just like the 83 F54/P79 L28 I just installed in my 78 a few weeks back. I also want to go MS, and have found a few issues to deal with like a radiator pin hole, and a burnt fusible link, but it's all good. Happy motoring !!!

I'm in NW Ohio and last year, I looked at buying an 82 ZX turbo for $400 that had been sitting out for years up in your neck of the woods (Cleveland). I had brought along my 2 wheeled car dolly, but after about 5-6 attempts at loading it up on the dolly to tow away, I told the guy I couldn't buy it. The whole front fascia, and radiator supports were hanging down and catching on the tow dolly ramps. I would have towed the car with the rear wheels up, but the exhaust system would have been a problem there, so I ended up passing on the car. I was truly afraid that this rust bucket (worst i've seen) was going to fall in half on the 100 mile drive home. Bring the car home and attempt to build a stout street driver out of it, but if it turns out to be like the car I saw, just explain that it isn't safe to be on the road, and part it out so other cars can live on.

I used my stock exhaust manifold on my 78Z and ported the heck out of the lower end to be able to accomodate the much larger 2.5" downpipe and exhaust sytem that came with the MSA superturbo sytem. I noticed that the top end performance of the motor was MUCH improved, and it revved a little quicker. I wouldn't spend much money on mods that can't be used on your turbo buildup as well.

Sorry, This Thread Is Now Locked !!!

Towstrap towing is why I bought a two wheel car dolly. I got real tired of being the one in the "towed" vehicle in cold weather with no heat or defroster being the one who initiated all the braking.

Definately a boob man but not opposed to having both Shy, or brazen and bold ?

Wow, a real cutie there. Now it's time to get a minivan !

The old 735CSI Ford or Chevy?

I bought a JSK fuel railoff of ebay and am pleased with it's quality, but it took awhile to get because he waits to machine them until an order is received, and then only after all the previous orders have been filled.

Ugh, Women paper or plastic?

Definately the LS1 in my book. Blonde or Brunette?

After you install a new head gasket, drain out what you can from the oil plug, then I would run some cheap oil for maybe 5-10 minutes at different RPMs, and drain that out into a clean catch can to inspect for signs of coolant. Fill the car back up with some more cheap oil, and run for a few hundred miles making sure it gets completely warm several times, and drain again. If there has been coolant in the oil while you ran the car, it has likely ruined the lubricating properties of the oil, and compromised your crank main, and rod bearings so you should inspect those ASAP before running the car.

I used a file, and then some steel wool, and a scotch brite pad on my aluminum 6 spoke wheels.

I beleive that P-90 head has been used on a N/A car running the N/A flat top pistons. This mod of shaving the head .080", shimming the cam towers and spring bases .080", and then using the longer N-47 valves gives someone 10.0-1 compression ratio while keeping the timing chain tension, and valve geometry correct. It is usually done on a P-79 head for availabilty purposes but could certainly be done on a P-90 with the same results. Needless to say, using this kind of compression ratio with a turbo is not optimal.

I wish I had a pic or two of what I saw last month. An early 80s Dodge 1/2 ton pickup that was loaded up beyond the side rails with 80 lb bags of Quikrete concrete mix. This poor truck was sitting on the side of the road with two hopelessly shredded rear tires about 1/2 mile from the local Menards.

Man that wrecker is straight out of the original "gone in 60 seconds" movie, and for that matter, the Nova as well.