BleachZee

oh ya, I forgot about the camber issue. That's just another reason not to do the swap. I guess I would need camber plates up top too which isn't a problem but they only work with coilovers. money, money, money... Stock brakes with stainless hoses should be fine for street driving.

I was thinking of a straight Z31 strut swap on the front. The whole thing goes in there but adds some caster and pushes the wheel forward an inch. You can push it back about a half inch by adjusting the tension rods. That puts a little stress on the inner a-arm bushing but oh well. On the other hand, all this is for a brake upgrade? My brakes work great. The 4 to 5 lug adaptors from TechnoToyTuning are looking pretty attractive compared to all this work. Plus, its my only driver since my truck was stolen 3 weeks ago... I have new 280ZX struts front and rear... and this Z31 swap looks like it would require me to buy all new Z31 strut inserts. I can always re-sell the 280 stuff at a small loss. The timing is bad for a big project like this. If I had my truck, maybe it would work. I'll probably end up just putting in my 280ZX struts and then using 5-lug adaptors. I might hang onto the Z31 suspension for a while and see if I have time and money for it down the road.

280ZX ---> late Z31 rear suspension? 1987-89 non-turbo with rear vented rotors. Ok, it appears that the lower mounting point on the rear strut is only an inch further back but it is about 3 inches lower on the Z31 a-arm than the 280ZX a-arm. Really stiff springs that would normally raise the car 1 to 1.5 inches would possibly work.. because after you lower the mounting point, the overall drop would be around 2 inches from stock. I have some Mercedes springs that may just work for this. The only downside is there will be very little upward spring travel. The strut will be almost fully extended at standard ride height. But if the a-arm itself bolts to the 280ZX crossmember, and if the half shafts are the same length.. (either S130 or Z31) then this swap should work. I have enough spare parts to mock up the entire rear suspension out of the 280ZX before I swap the rear. That is, if I go for this. Also, the two mounting points of the trailing a-arms will be slotted to help correct some toe and camber problems associated with a suspension drop.

hmmm... I may look into this further.

In my case the rear Z31 swap into a 280ZX would be to have the 5-lug and disc brake upgrade all bolt-in. But as you can see here, the strut sets back too far. Even if I swapped over to coilovers it would not line up with the 280ZX strut insert. The Z31 has two positions where the 280ZX has one inbetween these two. but that is a good idea, and might work well on fabbing up coilovers on a 280ZX. Still, the price is about the same as having it done by Modern Motorsports. (I think)

I've had the same problem finding low profile 16" tires. 16" seems to have the least selection. I decided on 225/55/16 and 245/45/16 That's about as wide as I need anyway for my street car.

ya, I think I have one.... uh, I'm keeping busy in the evenings this week but I'll try to remember to grab it. Send me an email as a reminder as I may lose track of this thread. your ZX looks good

That would be pretty rare to find, as only a 280ZX with a 5-lug swap will be able to even mount those 350Z wheels.

Since the L24 and L28 blocks are the same deck height, why not just have the L24e block bored out to 86mm. Install the L28eT crank, pistons, ect. Then stick the P90 head on there and go. unless you're trying to do this super cheap and not rebuild the engine. With the bored out block, no oil pickup or dipstick modifications would need to be done and you'd have your bottom end rebuilt and at 2.8L Chris Grey has an L24 turbo in his 1st gen Maxima. That's how he solved the problem. Keep the stock block and boost it. If its not already, don't forget to do a 5-speed swap and take out that 3.36 R180 and put in a 3.54 or 3.7

I don't know why I didn't notice before but you can't swap the entire Z31 trailing a-arm into the S130 (280ZX). The Z31 uses separate shock and springs, like a 510. The 280ZX shock/strut is inside the spring. The mounting points inside the fender are completely different. so.... the 280ZX arm and strut must be reused.

If you can't find a turbo spec cam, you can run the stock NA cam from a P79 head. The cam has just slightly more lift but works fine in a turbo engine.

Those Skyline rearends look completely custom fabricated. For that matter, you might as well put in a 300ZX TT rear steering suspension. We are looking for something semi bolt-in, right? I've got an '88 300ZX full suspension because at one time I was considering a 5-lug swap. I didn't think the whole rear would swap over, but maybe I'll look into that again.

I know a guy who knows how to check the lift on his own cams. He said his regrinds from Delta Cams in Tacoma were not what he paid for. hardly more than stock.

Iron cross wheels are not the same. Those are more common 14" wheels and come on the non-turbo cars. These are the 15" Turbo Swastica wheels.

If the 280Z ran good but just had a tired engine, you can just swap in the 280ZX block/head combo and reuse the 280Z intake manifold with all of its own electronics. That would be really easy.

Your 1980 engine has dished pistons already and an open chamber head. forget about using that block. Just swap in the complete turbo engine and don't waste your time with the NA engine at all.

It should be the same as the Z31 and maybe Z32 bolt pattern and offset. Its a RWD 5-lug, probably not quite +40mm I've got RX7 wheels on my Z31 parts car. (5-lug)

Plans changed for me. So no 5-lug swap. The main reason I was going for this was for wheel options and I had my eyes on a certain set for a long time. Anyway, I found some used deep dish 4-lug wheels and just bought those. I guess I'll have some 5-lug parts from a 1987 300ZX to sell then. Rear vented rotors. Thanks for the update Glenn. Maybe one day I will go with 5-lug. Right now I'm finishing up my L28 turbo swap into the 280ZX. For those following this thread, here is a related topic on drilling the 280ZX hubs. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106046 The S30 5-lug redrilling techniques are the same though.

I'm running a narrower track in front but I'm thinking it will be more than fine for just a street car. Also remember there are far fewer tire choices for width and sidewall on a 16" wheel than a 17". I bought 16 inch and found pretty much only two choices to go with that are even close to stock tire outside diameter.

How about those 240Z front ends on the 240SX? I like those conversions too...

Maybe his Supra is AWD!?!

What is the importance of the coolant line in the throttle body. Can it be bypassed, and if it is what is the effect? James made one random post on Zdriver.com as well....

I have some wide wheels like that. Mine are still together and I was going to dissasemble them to clean them and polish. Should I re-use the bolt hardware or do I have to buy new? Mine are Simmons Racing wheels 16x10, 16x9. The only available combination of tires I have found that will be wide and not oversize are 245/45/16 rear and 225/45/16 front. Rear are exact stock diameter. Front are slightly undersize. 16 inch low profile tires are not very common.

They also came on the regular Fairlady Z, not just the Z432. My 1970 Fairlady still has the stock mesh grill with some sort of Japanese car club emblem stuck to it.

You also have the option of using 300ZX parts for the conversion. What year Z is this conversion for?