duder280z

This picture says it all.

As far as looks are concerned, it's better than I expected. However, just looking at it, it seems like it would be a circus act trying to get in and out of the car (at least with that opening angle). Just fix the doors, any decent lambo kit is north of $1500 any way. There are cheap kits, but you get what you pay for (cheap kit = gay hinges and bad fit). Anything that's wrong with the doors can't be that bad or expensive. Just my .02

Here's a pic of my baby's booty. One of these days I'll get to the point where I can do some body work and shave the bumper amongst other mods, but here she is for now.

Dude, I'm lovin the tail light panel! It's simple, clean, superbly functional, and still manages to look totaly cool IMO. Was that panel very hard to make? I'd like to try something along those lines. The SS trim around the exhaust is a nice touch too. Does the fuel filler there work? It looks like you still have the stock tank, if so, could we get some interior pics of that setup? Looks great man.

I don't know if it was stock, but my 77 2+2 has the same thing, but mounted with the stack towards the rear. I'd love the answer to your question too.

Word, and if I remember correctly it's now in the 550hp neighborhood. Damn!

First, welcome to hybridZ. Now in response to your question, um yeah, if you go back to the opening hybridz page and click on the "V8 Z FORUM" I think you will find all the answers you could need. Up at the top of the page is a search button that is very helpful as well. With just a little bit of looking around you'll see that people have put just about every engine imaginable in these cars. I also highly recommend reading the user rules, in the non tech part of the forum there is a section for new users. You should go there before you get ripped on too bad by the old schoolers for asking questions that you can easily answer yourself by searching. Good luck, and good searching.

I would think new lines would be cheaper, easier, and more reliable, but I can't speak from experience on that. The pump is inline, very simple to put in.

I am using a Walbro model 392 which seems to be the norm. I got mine for $120. shipped and it dropped right in without too much fuss. The return line will be an issue, at least with a hi flow pump like this one. If you do a search you should be able to find all sorts of info in that regard.

Yeah Challenger, looking sick! I was already thinking dark metallic grey when I change colors, now I'm sold. Very nice dude.

Well at least for initial tuning I'd think so. The carb requirements for a 2 stroke are pretty different than a 4 stroke in that a 4 stroke uses less air and fuel as a 2 stroke for the same given rpm. 4 strokes only need fuel and air every other revolution, 2 strokes need it every time around. The carbs on a 750 4 stroke of the same vintage would typically be smaller and jetted leaner. This may actually work to your advantage with a turbo (starting with richer jets that is). When time and money permits I'll be going Megasquirt myself, but I give you a big thumbs up for origionality.

OK, so they must be from a 3 cyl. 2 stroke. Those bikes were (are) legendary. I've heard countless stories from old school race bike riders that got to ride one of them and they all had the same reaction, freaky, scary, insane, retarded fast. That being the case, it makes more sense. If he can get it tuned right, it just might kick ass. Keep us updated dude!

Just a thought, I assume these are from a 750 4cylinder with 1.5 sets of carbs put together. If you multiply 750 x 1.5 you get 1150cc. The motor your puting them on is a 2800cc. Now I know the bike spins faster (old bike, maybe 9000rpm max) but are these gonna be enough carb to have any sort of top end? Bottom end could probably be great, but I'd think you'd hit a brick wall way before redline, even with boost. That was the first thing that came to my mind. If I'm way off here, someone please fill me in. If you get this thing running I'd love to see it sometime, Puyallup isn't that far from Lynnwood...

If you can, please take pictures and post progress on your bucket conversion. If it looks feasible, I may do the same. Just by looking at it, the JCR buckets seem shorter and wider, but the length may be an illusion caused by the extra width. I work with a guy that used to make molds for fiberglass production, he may be able to make a pair of molds if I had a pair of stock buckets to work with. I'd have to imagine it would be easier to mold in glass buckets, rather than metal buckets on glass fenders. hmm...

Yeah, this car is pretty unique. It came with the origional JCR catalogue and in there it said the kit was made to fit all Z's including 2+2. I'm not sure if the ducts on the rear fenders were customized to be longer, but it looks right. The women freakin love this thing, I got at least 3 compliments from chicks today while I was out in the sweet weather were having.

It's rare that I go out in my car and don't get a question or compliment. One time a dude driving by my church did a double take and had to turn around and come back just to get a closer look and ask a few questions. Oh, and the chicks totaly dig the pinkish purple paint, I hated it before I started getting such a possitive response from the ladies. Now I'm not in such a hurry to change the color. I love my Z!

One on each side, or 2 on the right?

Jim Cook Racing California Z wide body kit, Centerline rims 15x8.5 &15x10, Cowl hood, square headlights(trying to figure out what to do about that:?), a turbo conversion from the 80's, and for some reason the previous owner painted it a pinkish purple. The only thing I will give the color is, the chicks love it.

Did you loosen up the jam nut first(17mm)? I'm sure you did, but I've gotta make sure. I just did my first valve adjustment on my Z and it probably isn't perfect, but it runs better and quieter. My #1 exhaust valve was a bit tougher than the others, but it moved. All the adjusters worked the same way for me. Clockwise=looser clearance, counterclockwise=tighter clearance. A valve could get burnt by too tight a tolerance. The valve doesn't seat all the way and the burning fuel from the power stroke creeps past the seat creating massive heat in that area, hence the term "burnt valve". A compression test would be an easy first step in finding out. If that cylinder has low(or nonexistent) pressure, it's a good indicator of problems. By the way, an old school Z expert told me to do the adjustment cold. He said after 5 minutes or so the head cools off enough to make the clearances go wacky. So the first few may be good, but after that it gets out of tolerance and is never really right. The cold clearances are .008 and .010. Food for thought...

If the voltage is at 12-12.5V while running, the battery is not being charged. Running voltage should be at least 13.5V. On my 280Z, the voltage meter shows more like 15.5V with no lights or accessories running. In order for the battery to recieve any charge the voltage has to be higher than it is at full charge(12.6V or so is full charge). If you keep running it, it'll eventually go dead and leave you stranded. If you replaced the regulator already, it must be the alternator going bad. I had an issue with an old honda of mine that was similar. I noticed something wrong, so I checked voltage at the battery and it was something like 18V. I jimmy rigged my multi meter so I could read it in the car and had to manually regulate it. If it went high, I'd turn everything on. When it went down I'd turn stuff off. It was ghetto, but I made it home without burning anything down. I actually ran the car like that for a few months till I got rid of it.

I would love to just go for it. My main issue with that is, this car is my DD and I don't have a garage, or really even a place to work on the car for any length of time. I know if I had what I needed, the zxt computer would drop in and work. When I go MSnS, there's gonna be more down time and on top of that I'll want to tweek and tune for a day or two before I drive it any distance. The other issue is budget. I can probably get a stock zxt computer and stuff cheap. The MSnS is going to be $400 minimum and that's if I build my own computer. I also don't really want to go there without a wide band O2 setup, so there's more money. So I basically want to do what big phil did in the beggining on his car, zxt stuff on a na motor. Maybe I should watch that 1st big phil video again......

Ok, so I just got this car a few weeks ago and here's my situation. It's the origional N42 block and head(rebuilt around 50K miles ago) with a turbo conversion that was done in the 80's. It is running the stock computer with some band aids to make it run with the turbo(coolant temp sensor pot, fuel regulator, and mybe a tweeked AFM). Needless to say my mileage sucks. I am planning on MSnS when I get the time, place, and budget. For now I'd like to swap to a 280ZXT computer. What all do I need to do it? I tried searching, and didn't see this scenario in there. Maybe I'm not searching for the right thing. I know I need the ecu, injectors, and harness. What else? Thanks for any help. P.S. The elcheapo cold air intake I got on ebay is the best $42 bucks spent yet. It was running the stock airbox before. The improvement in throttle response and all round power is awesome.

Here's a few new pics that I snapped while working on the car. It's pretty dirty, haven't done any cleaning yet. It sure needs some work, she's idling at 1200-1300rpm when warm. The Idle adjustment screw is screwed in so that the spring is collapsed all the way. Either I have an air leak, or it's not the origional spring on the idle screw and it's just too far out. The connections on the coolant temp sensor don't seem to be hooked up right either. All that stuff is kind of a cluster f--k right now. For some reason one end of the temp sensor is plugged into the decelerator thing below the throttle body, I know that aint right. Can any one tell me, is the coolant sensor supposed to be plugged into the green wires or black? This is the stock 77 efi setup. What is the decel valve supposed to be plugged into? I have both the service and efi manuals and so far I haven't found any real info on this. Any help would be appreciated. On a different note, I freakin love my Z! I get so many people coming up and asking me about the car, it kinda blows my mind. It's a conversation piece wherever I go. Today I was cruising along and heard a few teenagers walking on the side of the road say "that thing is bad ass!" so I had to give em a little squirt in first so they could hear the pop off valve blow, then got some rubber in second. Fun!:burnout:I can't wait to get this thing dialed in! Do I really need a special tool to adjust the valves or does it just make it easier? Apparently my camera is set to a little too high a resolution, so I couldn't post all of the pics I wanted. I'll figure out how to shrink them eventually, just not tonight...and how do I put them directly on the page instead of attatching them seperately? Yeah, I'm a nOOb....let the ribbing begin!

If I had to guess by that description, I'd say a voltage regulator malfunction. Voltage goes out of control high, causes battery melt down and probably other electrical damage. Maybe burned up coil. Do 240's have fusable links? If it does, check those for signs of meltdown.

I agree with you on the temp circuit. It has an adjustable regulator and is running around 50psi currently. I will eventually get a boost sensitive regulator, but this works for now. I'll get more pics when the weather clears up some, it's been raining for a few days(Seattle, go figure). As for the boost pressure, it's a conversion of the stock motor done in the 80's running the stock ecu. I'm not sure it was intended for more than 4psi when it was built. I've been thinking about cranking it up a notch and seeing what happens, but I'm a little nervous without a A/F ratio meter to tell me if I go lean. I have a narrow band A/F guage, but this car doesn't have an O2 sensor, so I have to mod the exhaust just to do that(not sure it's worth it). The J pipe is an old school unit by BAE, I have no idea what that stands for but it looks cool. It would buff out to a sweet shine without much effort. It has a pop off valve that also works like a bov that is adjustable, so it should be pretty easy to turn it up if I want to get froggy. A guy had one for sale on ebay a few days ago, it didn't sell, he may relist it. I've got a short shifter(the stock one is super sloppy right now) and all new boots and hardware coming along with a basic cool air intake to get rid of that tiny stock airbox, should be good for some added driving enjoyment.