Bowtie29

Well, I've been busy with all kinds of other stuff but finally have some time now to get back to work on the ZX. My coilover adapters are made, just need to pick them up from my machinist buddy. Hopefully have the front suspension back together within the next couple weekends. I've been doing some digging around looking for the easiest/fastest way to solve the rear camber/toe adjustment and stumbled upon this last night. http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6946&hilit I'm sure some of you have seen this. Should work awesome and give way more adjustability over just slotting the factory tabs. I've already got the rear subframe out of the car, so this looks like the best way to go at this point. What do you guys think? Maybe do a group buy?

Believe me, I want the Wilwood kit from Arizona Z, just don't have the cash to just plop down. I'm willing to put my life on the line with new/upgraded pads, rotors, and braided hoses, even if it is all just stock replacement parts. Someday when I've got the money, the wilwood kit will be priority, but just to run some auto cross events I'll have to skimp for a little bit.

When might this kit be ready? I'm gonna have the subframe on the ground tonight. Right now I'm thinking the quickest way to do this would be to slot the holes on the subframe brackets and run Z31 rear camber/toe centric bolts/washers and then weld on the little 'C' brackets that hold the washer in place. Anyone else done this? It looks like an easy way to go. Be awesome if there was a simple kit that include the parts to do so...

Well, I've got my rear coilovers all in, I haven't set ride height yet, but I'm wondering if any of you have made modifications to the subframe for toe/camber adjustment. I've noticed that there really aren't any "kits" to do so. I don't know if the toe is off or if it's just and optical illusion now that the hub/brake assembly sits further up in the wheel well. I would think that if the rear suspension on the ZXs needed toe to be adjusted the factory would have designed it to be be adjustable. I wouldn't think that raising the control arm at the coil mount point would change toe at all. Anyone have any thoughts on this? The picture sucks for showing this, but it was really the only one I have that shows where the brake now sits.

Yea, there was no way to really put it on the coilover. (I've got Kei Offices too) I think I'm gonna just put my big boy pants on and drill a new hole, waller out the center hole to fit the rubber bushing, and slot an existing hole opposite the new one. I just want it done. I'll probably make a plate just to add a little strength to the tower. I'm still waiting on my front tubes to get made up so I've got some time yet.

I saw your thread on that from a couple years back, looked nice. The top hat from the stock strut won't work at all.

Anybody have some S130 top hats on REAR S13 coilovers? I'm gonna get the old rear struts apart tomorrow and see if they will bolt onto my coilovers without too much hassle. I was going to just drill a second hole, but I've found that I would need to open up the big hole a ways an also elongate an existing hole. I feel that if I do that I'm going to significantly reduce overall strength of the factory top plate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid to do it, but bolt in would be so much cleaner. I'm also a little concerned that if at a SCCA solo event and they look at them they might have a problem with it. They do have some rules as to modifying strut mounts. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Awesome^^^ car is gorgeous! What are the tail lamps from?

I've had my '83 for almost a year now, just getting started on some upgrades and modifications. I got this car from my father-in-law who bought it new in '83 and parked it in '90. It has 80k on it and practically no rust, which is rare in Michigan. The interior is perfect and the price was to good to pass up. I'm pretty new to the Z car world, so starting to collect parts and learn what to look for and how to do things on these has been fun! I've got coilovers to go on, all new bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints, and fresh brakes to put on here over the next couple weekends. Long term plans include swapping in a LS1 I have matted to a T-56 and a 8.8 Ford IRS set up, but those are long term plans. Looking forward to doing some auto cross and just driving it until I need more power.

I won't be "welding" bushings in...still a little fuzzy this morning.

Well, for now I'll be retaining the factory calipers. I bought some eBay slotted rotors from ABT (Advanced Brake Technology). I'm hoping they are decent enough for what I plan to do. The customer reviews didn't state any problems with them. I couldn't beat the price either at $110 for all four corners. I also bought some Apex Stainless Steal hoses to replace the factory rubber ones. I sourced these from eBay too for $60. The kicker was finding a decent pad. I had heard good reviews from a friend of mine on the Hawk HPS but Hawk doesn't produce a pad for the S130 in that particular pad compound, only full race pads (I'll never generate enough heat running auto cross every now and then). So with some more digging and reading and searching I went with Porterfield R4S. A lot of guys run these as a cheaper alternative to the Hawk HPS. They're a more street friendly compound. Reviews were mixed, I determined that most of the problems with them were probably due to installer error, but not all, a lot said they took more pedal pressure to really get things woaded down, but I'll take a chance. I found them on topbrakes.com and they cost $126 shipped. Porterfield was the only company selling a pad that hopefully exceeds my braking needs. I was hoping to get going on everything last weekend but happily spend Saturday and Sunday painting my buddy's Z31. I'm still waiting on the pads to show up, and it will be a little but while I get the tubes welded on to the front spindles and coilovers and all the new bushings welded in. I'm gonna be sure to do a decent build thread when I get the suspension finished up. I can get you guys part numbers/item numbers for these components if you want. For $300 I hope this is a "cheaper" alternative for those of us daily driving/auto crossing every now and then. Not included in that $300 is front and rear brand new (not reman) calipers for all four corners. The local O'Reilly's could still get all four and the counter kid told me they were the last in the warehouse, so I bought them. I probably won't need them, but I'm the type that if I can have extras sitting on my shelf for something that is hard to get, I'll take 'em.

For those of you running S130 calipers on both the front and rear, what rotors and pads are you running with them? Stock replacements? Or some sort of upgrade. I'm looking to keep my stock brakes on my '83 280zx, but I would like to put good rotors and pads on it. Anyone have the part number for some Hawk HP pads both front and rear? Everything I find online says it fits the rear calipers. Nothing's specifically says front pads. Are any of you running slotted rotors or even some of those "ABT" rotors off eBay? Are the eBay ones any good? I'll probably just put a stock replacement rotor on the rear. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice. For what I'm doing, I'm sure the stock stuff will be fine. I'm looking forward to getting into the upgrades and refresh!

I'm quite new to the Z-car world, so I'm sure this has been discussed on here before and I apologize in advance. I acquired an '83 280zx from my father-in-law this spring and I'm just now getting some time and parts together. The car is super clean with 80k on it. I've got some rebuilt Kei Offices coilovers from a friend that were too long for the front of his S13 drift car project. I've read enough to complete the coilovers swap, and I'm looking forward to get started on that. So, to get to the point, I've been looking to do some sort of brake upgrade on both the front and rear. I've read some threads that talk about the Silvermine upgrade kit, but it seems that we could all just piece together those parts a lot cheaper than we could buy their kit. But that doesn't really upgrade the rear, and frankly, I don't want to spend $600 some odd bucks on brakes if I can piece something together for $200-300. Should I just go 5 lug and use some Z31spindles, hubs, and brakes? But, changing spindles will require some sort of lower ball joint/control arm change, right? Is there a kit guys have pieced together with bigger front and rear calipers and somewhat larger rotors? I don't have a problem running 4 lug, in fact I would almost prefer to leave it all alone and just fit some larger calipers and rotors on the stock hubs. I plan on running some autocross stuff next spring. I've got all new bushings coming for the car too, I'd like to really tighten up the suspension because as it sits, it's really wore out. The rubber bushings are totally dried out. It need brakes, I just don't want to put stock brakes on the thing because I know I'd be upgrading them sooner or later. I appreciate any advice and understand if you just post some links pertaining to this topic. Love the forum, I've learned a lot. Thanks