Nismo280zEd

Cool it worked... if you need more pics let me know.. i took those last night when i finally got done. -Ed

OK... i uploaded my pics in my personal gallery... so i'm hoping these show up...

After countless times of my radio going on and off, my headlights dimming, and the wipers coming to a stop I couldn't take it anymore. Then... my alternator went out. Took me about 5 hrs to get this puppy done but it sure is worth it. I installed a 1995 Maxima Alternator into my 1978 280z 2+2. Evidently there is a difference between the SOHC and the DOHC alternators on the maxima.. i took the single which is rated for 125amp i believe. (max load on the tag said 178amps) Was 145$ plus a 110$ core charge. Installation is rather easy for a custom modification. Prolly the hardest part is switching pullies, but after finding out how to do that it was rather simple. You do have to use a spacer on the shaft in order for the V-belt pully to not rub on the housing. I used some Bronze bushings and hollowed them out to fit. After that you have to modify the tensioner, which i did using about a 5" long piece of anlge iron. Another baracade you have to over come are the bolt holes. Evidently the OEM alternator for the 280z uses a smaller 10mm dia bolt and the Maxima alternator uses a larger 12mm bolt. I simply used some pipe ferings over the OEM bolts.. they fit rather nice, no play. Then just wire her up! Lights are brighter.. i can crank my system up till my ears pop, and run every electronic device in the car at the same time w/ no problem. If anybody is interested i have some pictures i took. Let me know, -Ed

Don't know if this helps... My father has an 89 Porsche 911 Carrera, when i was painting my car 2 years ago, i added some custom flairs in the back. I love porsches, so i copied the entrance to the flair and exit. They are EXACTLY the same as the 89... it only changes at the top of the flair due to the Z design. Anyhow... i also put on an after market flow through muffler to loose the weight of the "Turbo" muffler and the 8" long tip it had. My tip is about 1" past the rear body... 3-4" from the bumper and i have no problems w/ exhaust w/ the windows down. However... if you open the hatch while driving.. it sucks the fumes in like a vacumn. I suspect you have a leak around the rear of your car, silicon works wonders -Ed

they are stainless steel lines i don't suspect they are the problem, i'm gonna clean out the other parts tomorrow under the hood and see what happens from there. -Ed

I sent ya a PM thanks on the info -Ed

ok... so i just looked under the hood... there are two silver objects one is about 1" by 1" on the fender driver side... other is about 3"x4" on firewall... however the one on the fender i saw no "relief" valve.. or is this a take off and clean? firewall seems to be capable of being disasembled. -ed

sweet i'll check it out tomorrow... can't quite picture what your talking about at the moment.. but i'm sure after i look tomorrow i'll understand. by relief you mean like a bleeder valve.. or am i looking for something else? -Ed

so i was reading the "how to modify your Nissan/Datsun engine" book today.. and i read that the late model Z cars altenators can easily be put into an early Z car. So what are the down sides of puting an 83zx altenator into a 78 280z? the book said early z car altenators put out between 35-60 amps and the late ZX puts out 45-80 amps

Many of us would like to have a dual over head cam crossflow engine... but when you look at the price... why not just spend a little more and drop in a 350z engine and transmission? better platform for mods. If you convert an L serries engine to a DOHC then you might as well make it twin plug and 4 valves per piston, and if your gonna do that then your gonna have to have an after market ignition and fuel injection unit, I don't know.. just seems cheaper to drop in something already made and tested. Plus replacement timing chains would be a B* to get.

I live in Houston, TX and when it rains here.. it usually pours. I was thinking about taking the whole assebly from a 300ZX like a 96 or something. What's to stop us fromt doing that? I don't have a 300zx to look at the assebly but seeing as it IS a Z car.. shouldn't be too different.

I guess i'll just go down to Discount Tire Co. or NTB and pay for a life time balance. I can't "switch" sides because i have bigger tires in the rear... and the treads are directional. Well if it IS suspension it should go away when i get my new control arms and TC rods.

OK... now last time i posted this i was told that my car was not equiped w/ a proportioning valve. It's a 1978 280z 2+2 About a month or 2 months ago... I replaced the front brakes.. Brand new rotors and Calipers and pads. After about a week... the car starting pulling rather strongly to the passenger side. after a closer look.. the rotor and pads had broken in on the passenger side.. and the driver side looked like it hadn't even been used... So i sent the caliper back.. got a new caliper from a local autoparts store. worked a little better... but there are barely any score marks where as the passenger side is well seated.. and it still pulls to the right under braking.

OK, i posted this before with out much luck. My Left caliper sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, the caliper bleeds just fine, the MC has clean fluid, the lines arn't kinked... yet the driver caliper works normal and the passenger side sucks most of the time! Any ideas? New MC time? BTW.. both calipers are brand new.. and the passenger has been replaced twice now.. thinking it was a faulty caliper.

So if you have a 5spd 78 280z 2+2 it would bolt right up.. or throttle brace modification is necessary?

Sweet 8) There's another Ed on here Good luck w/ the weldn' -Ed

I read somewhere a while back that if a floater had the same piston size as a mounted caliper.. it produces like 30 or 40 percent more braking force? Evidently the floater is alot more efficient.. or atleast i was under that impression (could be wrong here) -Ed

I tightend them about 90 ftlbs. What SHOULD they be speced 2?.. same torque as the wheels... or tighter? -Ed

Just installed Ross C.'s honda adapters with some 17's up front. i have 205/40/17 on the front. First question... there is a wobble that is at it's worst about 45-50 mph... normall i would think the rims not balanced.. but they came balanced from the shop and you can see whe weights on the inside... at about 70mph.. the wobble is gone and is very smooth... so did i not clean my OEM hub good enough? Thus causing the spacer to be off center? or should i take the rims back to get re-balanced. Second ? has anybody put a 235/40/17 on before? if so.. does the tire bulge? or fit nicely? -Ed

I'm interested if anybody has installed Ross C. brake kit up front and compared braking with a JSK on a similar setup car? just a thought -Ed

Ok, so i stoped by wal-mart yesterday and what did they have... 7" sealed beam "sylvania Cool-Blue" halogen headlights.. plug right into the Z for 11 bucks a pop. notable clearer than my other halogens and "whiter" Just food for thought. Also.. a while back when having headlight problems I rewired the whole headlight system from the plugs to the switch inside the car and the fusebox. I put in about an 8 gauge wire for power and removed the fusible links and installed proper fuses on a block. After doing all this my lights were MUCH brighter. You guys mentioned installing a relay in the light circuit? How would this make my lights brighter? Would i still benefit from this modification? Sorry for the lenghty post, ED

Well i think there is a place here locally that rebuilds altenators.. hopefully they can replace the volt reg. in it. that will get me by till i figure out what to do.

I don't want to put the decel vacumn piece back on.. i'm trying to get ride of all that mess. Plus i like my rpms to just drop when i want them 2 and not hang. this piece has been disabled for many many years on my car. and always caused a couple muffled backfires... But ever since my head was rebuilt and new exhaust was put on... actually since 9-11 when i got my car running... it has had a big backfire at 3k. that is the one i want to get ride of. I was running high psi but it was set up on vacumn. so it wasn't much more than stock until you mashed the gas. Due to lack of MPG this piece is disabled at the moment and stock fuel pressure regulator is being used. Also i have a "hick-up" on low end when i'm starting off really slow barely applying gas... is that just my TS not adjusted right? when the head was rebuilt racing springs were put in too match the cam to keep from high end "floating" also i had the head shaved a little and only using a 1mm metal gasket.. i wouldn't call it high compression.. but it's higher than stock.

Tell me how your pipe turns out.. i'm rather interested in doing the same when i get some play time. -Ed

so no suggestions huh? -Ed