Nismo280zEd

If you don't have the money.. stay with your FI.

...?anyone?

I replaced mine recently and they "click" or squeak when driving.. but i can't find anything that's rubbing... just the new rubber wearing in maybe? -ed

Mike.. where you gonna do all this glass work?

I usually spend about 400 to 450 in supplies to paint a car. that is excluding sanding materials. This will yield a show quality paint job.. everything takes practice. Think about it this way.. it's just paint.. you can fix it. -Ed

bump?

You may not want to hear this but if your going to do it.. do it right and you WON'T have to do it again in a couple years. PPG is really not that expensive especially black. They money comes from usn' expensive primers. -Ed If your going to be that cheap why don't you just go down to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some rustoleum or krylon spray paint.

Just replaced all the U joints on the halfshafts on the 280. Greased them up.. and they squeak! They arn't rubbing on anything and they only do it while the car is on the ground. IN the air they don't make any noise... is this just the rubber settling on the seals? I even sprayed some silicone spray on them to see if that would resolve the squeaking but with no luck. I should mention they are the U joints with Greasable fittings. I've double checked to make sure they are full of grease too. What do you guys think?

I already like my 1-3rd gears though.. I just want a taller 5th for cruising.

Ummm... Well I disagree with some things said here... and what school are you attending savageskaterkid because they should have taught you about the older lacquer paints. As mentioned no it is not necessary to take down to bare metal unless you just want the bragging rights of it later on. However.. in the area with body filler.. I would take it down to the filler or primer if there is any since you said it doesn't look like it's sticking. I would scuff the old paint with some 250 or 350.. whatever you want. You just want to give the paint something to stick too. Then you will need to put down some sort of Epoxy Sealer otherwise the older paint will bleed through and crackle and spider web your pretty house of kolor paint. Then scuff the sealer and lay down primer... sand the primer till the body is smooth you DO NOT want any "his and lows" this WILL show through in color and clear. Primer is your friend and much cheaper than color and clear... sand your primer but do NOT go through the sealer coat (the epoxy based paint) Also after scuffing the old paint.. you can use reg lacquer thinner to clean the car.. works just as good as ANY degreaser. Just move quickly as you dont' want to make the paint "mushy" the lacquer thinner WILL eat the paint if your not careful. Once you degrease... 100% rubbing alcohol or as high as you can get.. works really well as a "prep all" just make sure you wipe it on and off. Make sure everything stays clean.. you dont' want any monkey wrench fingers touching your car now. Then the system usually goes depending on shade of color, 2-3 coats color, 2-3 coats clear unless your doing show thend you can almost double the clear. Sanding the color can be done if you have runs.. don't freak. Hit it with some 600 wet take the runs out and smooth the paint out.. wait for it to dry.. clean with rubbing alcohol, then spray the color again. Most 2 stage systems are applied "wet on wet" meaning you apply the clear on the color while it is still wet, they chemically adhear to each other and bond much better this way. I usually spray color.. let if flash for about 30 min.. spray another let it dry for 30-60 min depending on ambient temp, then clear, I wait longer between clear applications as you can put too much on too fast and the paint can't breathe and you'll get funky results when it all starts to dry out. But if your brothers doing it.. don't worry about half of this post. Honestly though.. if you can spray primer.. you can spray color. Practice with the primer, it's cheaper, and you have to sand it anyway. -Ed EDIT.. Yes.. you put the filler OVER the primer. That is the way I do it.. however.. some guys will tell you to put it on the bare metal.. whatever you do.. DO NOT put bondo on bare metal I repeat DO NOT PUT BONDO ON BARE METAL. If you are going to put fillers on bare metal.. I recomend fiberglass re-inforced fillers (usually waterproof) or marine fillers.. (usually waterproof as well).

wow.. how did I miss this thread.. I actually painted my car with a product Racer X recomended to me as a rust inhibitor and works as an excellent bare metal primer. It's called Zero rust.. I painted my car for 50 bucks and still have half a gallon left. However... as Racer X mentioned... black black is a NIGHTMARE to clean.. I have to get out the green scotch brite pad to get all the bird poop off it. (yes.. the pad you use to scrub the pots and pans). However people love the look, In either case... I'm going with black pearl and high gloss to make my life much easier. As Racer X mentioned.. I would use a deglosser additive from a local paint store and experiment in small mix batches with your hardener, paint , and deglosser. This will yield a more "weather proof" paint job in the long run than playn' with the hardener to get the look you want. I hope this makes since... I have a card a lady at a paint shop gave me when I was going to go with a flat SI blue on my car... 28.8.32 for Flat 20.8.32 for eggshell. These numbers are ounces... first number is deglosser, second number is the catalyst for the clear, third number is the clear. This was for PPG 2021 Clear I believe, still it should give you an idea of the amount. -Ed

Looks like if I took the gear from the 81-83 factory 5spd I'd be turning about 300-400 rpm lower than the same speed in 5th on my current five. Here comes trouble... I'll have to look up the ratio's on the 620 gear box.. I'd like a slightly taller 5th gear still. -Ed

Larry.. you always have what I need.. thanx. I wonder if you can take the 5th gear outta the ZX 5 speed and stick it in the Z 5spd box. That might accomplish what i'm lookn' for I'd have to calculate out the rpm to see what speed i'd be cruising at with that ratio. -Ed

I did a couple searches and came up with alot of info on rear end gears but I'm inquiring about Tranny gears. I'm sure with a few quick searches on the web I can find the stock 280z 5spd gear ratios, I was wondering has anybody changed out the 5th gear or overdrive on the 5psd. I like the current ratios of 1-3. 4th is ok but I want a taller 5th for cruising at higher speed or lower rpms. If i change out the rear end it'll mess up the gearing on 1-5th and I'm a huge fan of 3 gear in my car so that's not an option. Plus I like my stout rearend. I'm going to go to a tranny place that does racing to see if it's possible to get a slightly taller 5th gear put in. Has anybody done this before? -Ed

I think they would rub man my 14x6 panas with 215 on then cleared but only because the tire was below the spring perch, the 15's would put the wheel and tire up higher I think it would rub the spring. I believe the panas were a 10 or 12+ offset. -Ed

Mike.. there is a shop right off 1960 that can do it, they also straighten rims.. although they might laugh at the size of them when you bring them in. My friend had some alloy integra wheels done there. They use some sort of laser to do it... very interesting. -Ed

This is very interesting... I ran new lines on mine on the front half using the metric lines you can buy at Napa or Oreilys. I used pipe cutter to cut the lines, cleaned them.. then used a flaring tool to make my flares.. (single flare) They bolt up perfectly and no leaks. Also... if you are familar with the oil and gas industry several companies make pipe-pipe connectors... Swagelok is the one i use. A couple of those bad boys mad connecting to the old line an easy task. I also used these fitting to connect my 3/8" SS line to my 5/16" Z fuel line. Parker and some other companies make similar fittings. I like swagelok for their "double ferrel" design. This also makes removal and installation of line a snap. The trick to flaring tubing is go slow... don't screw it down as fast as you can... slow and steady. Also for SS I use a little lube, WD-40 modil one penetration lube.. something of the sort.. spray it on the tube and the flaring tip, this will keep the SS from cracking when you flare it. -Ed

That and BMW parts are made of gold and can only be obtained from certain places like Porsche parts. I have thought about doing this swap as well. -Ed

This will be amazing to see when finished. -Ed

For Webers it's a little different. You'll need proper intake manifold TWM or Cannon or other. Different gasket, header might or might not work depending on what brand it is. I had to get a new "thick wall" header to work properly with my carbs. You could weld on ears on the header if you wanted. Also if you don't want rubber hose running rampid in your engine compartment you will need to run hard lines up to the carbs. I recomend running a return line. Also with webers you will have to run a cable to be able to use the chokes. I use a bicycle shifter i picked up used from a local bike shop 5bucks with 6' cable.. used a lawn mower sheeth to run to the carbs. Also.. you will need to cut and weld pieces to make your linkage attachment unless you buy in a kit, then adapters will be included. Don't be surprised if you have to grind on the manifold to make things fit and work properly I gave TEP hell about that one. You will need an electric high volume low psi fuel pump. around 5psi. I highly recomend a regulator as webers are very sensitive to fuel pressure. Correction to the above post.. you CAN run a stock dizzy with webers, however it's a nightmare. I run a vacuumn canister with a one way valve to keep vacumn for the dizzy and brakes. I'd recomend mechanical advance or try the ZX if you want. Not to mention setting aside countless hours of learning about webers and jets. But hey.. they are alot of fun when you mash the gas pedal and you hear them suck in all that air -Ed

Thought I would post this up. Just finished running 3/8" SS hard lline for my fuel. I added a return line this time and SS valve to use as a regulator. Also plumbed up a fuel pressure gauge in the engine compartment with a bunch of AN fittings. I have it dialed in at about 3.5 psi right now. I also switched my idles to a 50F9 that helped hiccup on low end immensly. The car also is putting out alot more vaccumn gettn' about 27 on my gauge. Took it for a test drive and It can now be put in second gear and do 20mph with out violently lurging. Alos gained alot of low end torque.. I can let my clutch out without givn' it gas. Still awaiting my Mallory Dizzy... still on backorder till the 9th. -Ed

Yeah I could do a how to write up on my 280 for you. -Ed

The HID's will look good man, Mike and I run Hellas. We don't have A/C either lol curse of Houston. -Ed

alright.. you had me scared. -Ed

O Reily's and Napa sell metric brake line with the fittings on already and flared for you. Largest they carry is 6' No, not all brake lines use the same fitting, they use the same type however, flared fittings. -Ed