80LS1T

The tranny is out of my car and I didn't get a chance to take some pics of it out in the sun before it went into the garage so I wont be able to get those pics till next week at the earlest(that's when I expect to get my tranny back hopefully!). The paint came out pretty good. There are a few spots that I'm not 100% happy with but overall it looks great! Now begins the fun part of cleaning everything up and putting it back together! I think its going to take me all night to clean the inside of the car with all that dust from the body work! Guy

I just got the car back last night. I didn't get any pics of it outside because I forgot my camera. I will get some tonight with it in the garage(I would pull it out but the garage is on a hill and the tranny is out of it(getting rebuilt this week)). I know I dropped the ball on the pics! LOL I will forsure 110% post some tonight! SORRY GUYS! LOL Guy

The drivers side manifold from a 93-97 LT1 will work. The manifold does have EGR ports though. I'm not sure about smog legal stuff, I live in WI and we don't have to worry about that were I live so I don't pay much attention to that stuff. Guy

I did this with 6-7 guys from work about a year ago and what a great time for a bunch of gear heads(we were all mechanics)! It was a league that ran for like 8 weeks but the place that we did it at filed bankrupcy so we didnt get to finish the last 2 weeks which sucked because the top like 4 guys were pretty close in points! The cars were electric and when they "ran" on a full charge they were pretty quick. The track we were on was a lot smaller than 1/2 mile though! It was still a ton of fun! I forget how much it was though? Guy

Well I inheritade my 1980 N/A 280ZX from my dad when he passed away in 1999. The car was in very good condition to begin with. It was in CA all it's life so the only rust on the car was the spare tire storage area(which is gone now and is now the area for the battery). At first I was going to restore it but after surfing the net for performace parts and seeing the infomous "Darius videos" I knew I had to go V8. I started my swap back in late 2002, got it running early 2003, drove it for a year on and off working out bugs(lots of them by the way! LOL), then in 2005 I pulled it off the road to do body work and it hasn't seen the road since. I just finished up the body work and will be getting my car back from the body shop tommorow actually and I will post pics of before and after(I'll just add them to this post later). Major Mods.... 1993 LT1/T56(with 1995 electronics so I can use TunerCat to tune it) -ported heads and intake -58mm TB -36lbs/hour injectors -electric water pump -dual roller timing chain set -LT4 Hot Cam kit(1.6 RR and LT4 HC)(probably going to go bigger soon) -custom built drivers side header and block hugger passenger side header -Fully rebuilt T56 with billet keys and steel 3-4 shift fork MSA II body kit painted House of Kolor Cobalt Blue with VihnZXT front spoiler mod and custom 3 piece rear spoiler(see body forum for pics and info(you will have to search for posts)). MSA roll bar, Tokico shocks and lowering springs, MSA big sway bar kit, Konig Monsoon 17x7 rims with BFG KD 225/45/17 tires(I've got some other rims/tires in the works though, so the Konig rim/tire package might for sale soon). Full Autometer Phantom series gauges which include...Speedo, Tach, Water Temp, A/F gauge(didn't know what else to use to fill a spot at the time(should have used a fuel pressure gauge)), Volt, Oil Pressure, and Fuel Gauge. I also made projector headlights for my car out of FX35 projectors with 350Z ballist, ignitors, and bulbs! I think those are the major mods. Guy

I figure this kind of post would answer a lot of questions on the 280ZX chevy V8 swap... First of all yes a SBC(small block chevy) does fit in your 1979-1983 280ZX/T. It will fit in your 2+2 also. If you what want a kit to mount any first generation SBC or the second gen SBC LT1/LT4, you can buy mounts from www.zcarparts.com or www.stealthconversions.com. Both kits are very close in price. If you see the term JTR used in a post they are refering to www.stealthconversions.com mounting kit. They are most likely talking about V8 mounts for a S30(240,260, or 280Z), however JTR also makes mounts for the 280ZX. The JTR kit allows you to move the engine further back than the MSA kit if you use an LT1/LT4 engine because you wont have a distributor hitting the firewall. Transmissin choices are pretty much unlimited. You can fit any tranny in the tunnel of the 280ZX, it just depends on if you will have to remove the "ears" in the tranny tunnel to make room for bigger trannys like the T56 manual 6 speed transmission. The JTR kit comes with a mount for either a 700r4 or T5 transmission. The MSA kit comes with a mount for the 700r4. You can also use a TH350 or TH400 if you want but they are less desireable because they are 3 speed transmissions so fuel milage and high speed drivability will suffer. You will have to have a driveshaft made that will work with your chevy transmssion. What you will need to do is take your driveshaft that is too long and have it shorted by a driveline shop. This is not a big deal and usually costs around $200. What most shops will do is have you put your driveshaft in your transmission all the way and then pull it out 3/4" and then measure from the u-joint center on the yoke of the driveshaft to the center of the adapter flange of the differential side of the driveshaft. This will give them the measurement that you need to make your driveshaft. Exhaust manifolds are the biggest problem with a 280ZX SBC. If you have a 280zx with a power rack and pinion you can buy headers from www.stealthconversions.com. However, if you have a 280ZX with a reciprocating ball type steering(large gear box on drivers side fender), you will either have to use ramhorn style exhaust manifolds or build a custom header for the drivers side because a block hugger will not work due to the center ports dumping right into the gearbox. You can keep your V8 cool with a ford taurus 2 speed cooling fan and a decent alluminum raditor but some guys don't upgrade from the stock raditor and seem to get by. You can retain all of the gauges, if they still work, if you have the analog gauges(not sure about the digital ones?). You can recalibrate the stock tachometer by turning the adjuster screw on the back till it reads the correct RPM's. If you have a transmission with a cable driven speedo you can get the correct gear for the speed sensor and hook it up to your speedo or if you have a transmisison with an electronic output sensor you can buy a http://www.abbott-tach.com/cablex.htm to convert the electrical signal to a mechnical signal to your speedo. The other gauges you will just have to transfer the sending units from the old L6 to your new engine and they should work. Can the 280ZX handle the torque of a V8, YES. However its probably not a bad idea to add a front and rear strut bar or even a 4 point rollbar(especially if you have t-tops). Hopefully that answers a lot of your questions on a SBC swap! Guy

Yeah but you know those post will still be popping up the V8 forum..."hey can I put a 350 in my 280zx?" LOL Hopefully this will help with those kind of posts! Guy

Your probably not going to be able to do all that in one day. You will need a press to get the old control arm bushings out of the rear control arms and even then, they will be a bitch to get out. The best way of doing it is to get the rubber part of the bushing out and then cut all the way through the metal part of the old bushing to the control arm and then use a press to get it out(this makes a huge difference in how easy they come out). You shouldn't have a problem doing the rest of the bushings/suspension though. I have the same stuff in my car and I really like them. You'll be amazed at how much better the car handles with all that new stuff in there! LOL Guy

That's what changed my mind about L6 turbo vs V8....I saw his first videos and I've never looked back! LOL I can't believe your not running P/S! It's got to be a bitch to turn! Was there no room for it or what? Guy

What about a6t8vw, his cardomain site... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2314369

Its possible but you will have to add material to the middle of the airdam to make it wider. I hope you have experience with fiberglass! LOL Anything is possible with enough time and money! Guy

No, you can get a 350Z Track edition(already has the big brakes) up to par with a C5 Z06 with 5-7K easy. My service writers 350Z put down 400RWHP @8.5psi. That car would eat Z06's all day long in stock form.

This post seem to be the first one where you state that the car is cut up at the shop? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=93154 I didn't find any posts where you stated that you dropped it off a the shop on X date though? Guy

Sucks about your 350Z, you didn't really have it that long did you? My service writer just sold his 350ZT for $25,000. It was a super nice car too. It had the turbonetics single turbo, forge 8.8:1 Weisco pistons, forged Eagle rods, Ruff racing staggered rims(oh did they look sweet!), nice sound system, APEXI fuel controller, Apexi Wideband O2, Greedy Profec B boost controller, and turbo timer. I told him he didn't sell it for enough but he's happy its sold. There was absolulty nothing wrong with it he just figured that it was time to sell while he could still get decent money for it. Now he's looking at C6's, Z4's, 330i(06'), FX35/45's and RX-7's(still trying to convince him to swap a LS1/2 into one of them! LOL). If it was me I would be all over a C6, you can pick one up for about 35K all day long and they just look and sound so nice! Chevy finally stepped up to the plate with the interior too! Not to mention after seeing multiple videos on the internet of those things just tearing up the streets, it just looks like you get a lot of car for the the money. We all know how nice the LS engine is and now its even better with the 6.0! I don't know if the C6 is in your price range but that's where I would be looking if I was in the market for a car like this! Guy