[1978 280Z LS Something / TH400 swap. Kill all rust]

New intake manifold mockup

[1978 280Z LS Something / TH400 swap. Kill all rust]

I just realized I never posted a build thread, like ever. So yeah; here we go.

 

Bought the car about 3 and a half years ago, and it drove okayish. Had to run with the MAF unplugged, and you could see the road through the passenger floorboard...

 

I intended to keep the rear end and make a fun street/strip car.

Got a lightly used 5.3l from a 2004 Yukon donor.

Fabricated up a hotside from some how-to articles here, and got me a cheap ON3 performance turbo...

Shoehorned it into the bay after cutting some stuff, figuring out where the intercooler will mount..

We found rust. We found a bunch of rust...

So.... 4 link and full tubeframe it is!

Well, the wheel & tire "fit"...

Fabricated the rear end, these axles are only 16.5" long. Sourced from strange.

 

Next up while I took care of some parts ordering, and waiting for things I pulled to sell.. Bodywork!

Oh yeah, tractor red primer!

 

Fabricated a seat mount and got the Kirkey into position, began to weld in the floorpanel(s).

 

 

Here is the new turbo ^ Turbonetics 88mm. Hoping that the 1400cc injectors will max out before the turbo does...

 

Hotside almost completed, the exhaust will exit out the passenger fender. I was getting ready to move across the country when the last few pics were taken (WA to FL).

So the garage was more of a dumping ground for stuff rather than my workspace..

 

The LS1 intake is gone now, and I have a new setup. I will post pictures later once I get the coldside started.

 

 

[Steering shaft shortening]

My tube chassis is almost complete, but I am at a small hiccup. Because I am going big tire - My lateral bar is almost perfectly mated up to the B pillar - and my tubs are flush there as well. So the main hoop and a few other bars are going to place me a little forward of full-rear stock seat location.... I will be using a Kirkey seat - but when we did a test fit - the steering wheel is super close.

 

Who has shortened their steering shaft, and what was the process of doing so? I am using the standard 280z dash as well. 

[building the first RB260Z in Germany]

Hey Spoon, hows the swap going?

I have 2 r33 GTST's and parts lying around, located in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

 

PM me and I'll drop my during my spring travels, I don't travel too much in winter, SUV uses too much gas...