Pharaohabq

Hey Can't complain, those old skool centerline rims were the Shuzizit back in the day. I really wonder how long it was sitting with the tires that badly degraded. You might consider dropping the tank befor eyou do anything just to be sure you don't have a chum biscuit of crap in there. The thing about surface rust, is it's often hiding a ton of cruddy rust under the paint that hasn't broken through yet. Get a DA sander and some primer and cut through a couple spots to see what I mean. You can rattle can them to keep it sorta the right color till you can get a full paint setup. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with the car. It looks like you've got a decent basis to start with.

Okay. Well for $1000 I think it's a decent looking deal. I wouldnt' say you did badly. Of course Rust is a real issue. You should take a look at the seams and especially underneath. That rear hatch looks like it's got a bit, so I'd guess there's some growing out of site, maybe under the paint. A good washing and inspection is in order. Since the hood, grill and engine aren't stock, I'd also be looking for any signs it's been wreaked. Probably not badly if at all, but it's good to know your car's history. Look for wrinkled metal underneath, and in the engine compartment while you're looking for rust.

I'm going with the VQ35HR/6sp Nissan 350Z engine. In stock form its at 315HP. I know that's not quite 400, but it's almost twice what the 280Z came with originally. If I dish out the bucks for the Twin turbo kit then that'll hit 400 easy. It's not bad for a engine/6sp tranny that together weigh in at less than 800 lbs total. the R200 Diff is no trouble, though you may want lower gears since most of these engines can rev higher than the L28. In the end it Is up to you since it's your $. The LS-x engine is probably the easiest way to go. Just know that no swap is exactly easy, but there are kits out there to take some of the pain off your knuckles and put it in your wallet.

well a couple of points: The Salt on the roads is not much worse than the Salt in the air around houston from the Gulf. If your car is old and not well painted, it'll rust on both locations. though, the Magneseum chloride is supposed to be better for cars that regular road salt. It's important to get it washed off asap in either case. The Altitude Difference isn't high enough to really make a difference, especially on a turbo'd car; the ECU should compensate for the difference if you're running a MAF anyway. Next, Well I don't know how well you drive, but Z's are whole different beasts in Snow than they are on dry/wet roads. Especially if you have a lot of torque, I'd tell you to be careful. I know you hardly ever get snow in Houston. Aside from those, you should be fine driving your Z in Colorado on good weather days. I'd suggest buying a Jeep or a truck to get around Colorado in the winter. You'll have a lot less troubles just in general. It's your car though. Your risk. I guarantee though there will be nice days out that you'll miss your Z.

I'd say it is probably the normal L28 engine noise. Every L28 I've ever had sounds the same, light tapping noise from the valves. This is tru on a 100K mi engine as well as the recently rebuilt one. The only L28's I know of that don't really "tick" per se are the P90 Hydraulic head ones, and even then it's less but still there. I'd recommend you listen to someone else's L28 and see if your engine sounds the same. I'd bet it does. I was worried about it on my first Z till I heard other engines sound the same.

Well, You'd be well off to set yourself a few goals. If you want to do less work then go with the more expensive one, but really, Check them all out and see what's affordable and in the best shape then go from there. You might consider going with an S30 rather than limiting yourself to a 240Z as well. the Differences are very minor. There's a lot to be said for NOT picking up someone elses project. If you get to take it apart, then you know where you put the pieces and that you had X part, where someone else's project, you might find yourself having to buy a 2nd parts car just to replace missing parts the Failed Project owner "forgot" to supply you with. It's real Easy to get bit by the WhileI'matit bug and start buying a lot of parts before you're ready for them. you might resiste that idea to same yourself $ Phar

Doesn't Look bad at all, but she needs a good bath before you say she's in great shape. I'd guess it's been a few years since she's run regularly? Though She's got some 280Z traits (hood, front markers and tailights) The Carbs say it's older, but a lot of people have swapped the carbs in instead of the EFI system. What year it is on the VIN tag? 260's were only made in 74... Doesn't look too bad though. Looks like there's a little rust that you'll need to address quickly.

Right, okay, So that's true, I'm not in Cali, I can't really attest to the Cali smog laws. It worked for me in New Mexico, and we're probably a pretty laid back state as far as emissions goes. I know the EFI system works, but it's work to put it together. It can be done cheap though. Reading the CARB sticker cert they cite on the Hesco.us site also says it's specifically for retrofit of Jeeps to the 91-94 EFI standard, completely removing the stock Carburated system. I'm not sure the sticker would work on a Z. My Z did pass NM emissions with the old engine. I imagine with my current swap I will have to pass 2007 veh emissions for the 2007 engine. Phar

Couple Questions, Why the 2002 Transam Steering shaft, and why the 2002 TA Gas tank? Phar

Hmm Tell me about the Vette brakes Think you could make them work with a Datsun hub, or are you thinking big adaptors? I haven't upgraded mine yet, but I've been leaning toward the vented 300Zx rotors and S10 brakes with the ZX/maxima stuff in the rear.

Well the Hesco site I gave you is pretty good so far as the documentation on their system. Like I said you really only need the wiring harness, the rest you can buy off Ebay or at a JY much cheaper. The Carb Sticker, I'm not sure how much of their system you'd have to use for that, but I know they're availible. It's really not too tough, Here is the Instuctions Now there are a lot of differences, but really a lot of the parts will work, such as the Vehicle speed sensor VSS, it just plugs into the speedo cable. I think I had to make a bracket for it though. If you checked out my writeup on my jeep site too, you'll see my jeep install. The Z is very similar, though cutting the notches in your harmonic balancer is a little scary, but if you mark them out 3 groups of 4 it's pretty easy. I think I posted a template on my jeep site. The CPS, you'll have to make a bracket to hold it, but it'll be positioned at the start of the first set of notches with the engine at TDC. 0 deg. I never got my tach to work with this system though. After market gauges are pretty easy. Read through it all and try to imagine how you can adapt it to the 280Z system. It does work, and your Z will run fine with it. Finding the ECU is the hardest on Ebay cuz some are locked, Need one for a 94 jeep 4.0/2.5L but not from a cherokee, wrangler only since the cherokee's had a BCU which would lock the ECU. I have a stock jeep harness, but the Hesco one is labelled and nice and new. Read up and let me know your questions. Pharaoh Oh!, I almost forgot, you'll have to weld in a O2 Sensor bung into your exhaust. That's easy to do/have done.

You might search on Rust and see the 100+ threads on common rust areas. I think there might be a sticky in the Body&Paint sub forum. Definitely look around, there's tons of info on here. Oh and Welcome to Hybridz. We love pictures and $500 would be a excellent price for a halfway decent 240z. Decent ones go for 10 times that, depending on where in the country you are. Since you're going to blast it anyway, you might consider going with new pans and bad dog rails anyway. Phar

Is it white white smoke, or is it smelly blueish white smoke? Have you pulled your spark plugs to see if any are particularly oily? If you open your Radiator cap and let the engine run, do you get bubbles in the radiator? is the smoke less with the radiator cap open? Have you checked your breather/PVC valve at the top of the valve cover to see if it's really oily/clogged? There's a lot that can cause smoke, most is not good, but some are a lot easier to fix than others.

I've played with this a little bit... I used the Hesco Jeep EFI conversion kit to swap over my old L28 to 94' GM OBD1 Fuel injection. It cost about $600 bucks total to do it using a lot of Junkyard and Ebay parts, and the hardest part was getting the CPS to read correctly. The kit comes with the EFI harness for 6 cyl Jeep, but the EFI plugs are the same on the injectors. The TPS and IAC were easy bacause I just swapped in a Jeep throttle body in place of the Datsun Air flow meter. I didn't need any of the stock engine control stuff. The relays and the Jeep ECU I mounted in where the original Datsun ECU was. I had to swap in a GM Coil so the plugs would match, and the Distrib, I used the 83 ZX distr and modified the Pickup from a 94' Jeep distrib to read the pulses correctly. I closed up all thoe Air holes on the intake cept for the one to the brake booster, and connected a hose to a 94' jeep MAF. Really it's not very hard. The Hesco kit can be used on any 6 cyl engine. You just need to adapt a few things, like Temp sensor and the CAM sensor like I said for the Distrib. The Fuel pump stays the same, so no change there. There was a guy on here making custom harmonic balancers that would be ideal for a conversion, I couldn't find the link tho. Check out the Hesco parts. LINK HERE Most are much cheaper from the JY or Ebay. the Harness is probably good to buy since it's labelled and everything. The engine is more powerful and runs more smoothly than it ever did before. An advantage is the GM system is Asynchronous injection, instead of batch pulsed injectors, so it's more efficient, better gas mileage and less emmissions. You CAN get a Carb sticker from Hesco, depending on how much you buy. On all S30's they do a tailpipe test anyway, because the S30's never had a OBD1 or II port and certainly don't have the 03+ CAM port. I'd show you pictures of the setup but it's all ripped out because I'm in the middle of my VQ35HR swap ( Notated in the V6 forum on here) I have the same system installed in my Jeep if you'd like picts. you can check out my Jeep site: www.Projectjeep.com. I'd be more than happy to try to help guide you through going this direction if you'd like. I had a lot of fun setting it up and it ran fine till I decided to try the VQ swap (which is going slowly due to a lot of modifications) The VQ will be using the Stock wiring et al. Pretty exciting. Phar Oh and Classic Car insurance likely you'll prefer Modified car insurance. Basically the car gets much better insurance rates because you have to have the car be 18+ years old, and get an appraisal, and often must be garaged w/ a mileage limit. Look up hagarty classic car insurance (state farm)

Your Turbo sounds awesome on that dyno pull. Very pretty...

Now if it was half a flying strawberry newton I'd be more interrested... But really, ModernS30's post was valid, he was merely pointing out the fact that S30 restoration CAN be done at a young age and without too much money. By drawing a comparison between himself and the OP he'd accomplished that easilly without paragraphs of explanation. TennesseeJed, If you want a Z, and it looks like a decent deal on the body, then make an offer, worst they can say is no. If it doesn't run, then it's a good Discount opportunity. (not to mention upgrade opportunity later) As for insurance, Liability is going to be your #1 expense. If you can get on your parents insurance, you'll keep a little cheaper due to the multi-line aspect. As for full coverage, DON'T go through normal insurance, You'd likely be paying a lot for something they'd total for less than your deductible. Call up a company like Hagarty (state farm classic/custom car insurance) and see what kind of a deal you can get on an agreed upon value policy. (This means you'll have to get an appraisal and possibly have a miliage limit) You'll get a much better coverage for real value, rather than arbitrary junker value. It's Cheap too, much cheaper than standard comprehensive. Try the screwdriver test on the rust. Replacing the pans isn't as bad as you might think, you just need to be able to weld halfway decently. The pans can be made or purchased and the Bad dog rails are pretty easy to install. I good grinder with a wire brush, safty equip and a can of primer will pause a lot of rust till you can get into real repairs. Who knows, you could take Autobody classes in college too, to get not only a place to work on the car, but free materials and guidance in fixing it right. One of the best things you have is time... Phar

Yeah, If' you've got the L28e, then why not use that? You don't have to Turbo it. in fact you could just swap over your carbs to the L28e, and run it like that. The .2 liters will make a decent difference. Only anyone checking your block numbers could tell the difference, and even then how many people have the #'s memorized. Not that it matters since you're not staying concours anyway. So yes, Turbo would make it faster, but the L28, Carbed and well built (maybe even bored and stroked to 3.1) would be plenty of power, especially in something as light as a 260Z. So how about some pictures? We'd love to see your project. Phar

Might check with an engine builder / Machine shop, Perhaps there are pistons from something other than an L28 that might work.

Doesn't look too bad. Glad you got rid of that body kit, it's my least favorit design. I'm probably going with a MSA type1 lip, and a BRE spoiler. I've got a set of 73' bumpers to put on my 280. I've been playing with the idea of getting a MSA type1 for a 260Z and putting in 260Z lowers. Dunno...

Awesome, Glad it's fixed. You should get him to log on here and see what cool mods are possible for his car. Guess we need a recommended upgrades thread.

that's a clean orange and brushed alum looking engine. nice! Here's mine: It's in there w/o the chains and such now, and at a better angle. I'll be pulling it again to better weld and paint things.

Yeah, That's the right attitude.. A Z can be a lot of fun, I've had 7 myself. Sold 3, wrecked one, junked one, daily drive one, and am swapping a VQ into the current project. You gotta love them to stick with it. Rust is a Major issue, 85% of the cars that are resonable priced have a good amount of rust. These carsd are 40 years old so it's not so suprising. You don't have to spend 1000's of $ to keep a Z running. Once you find a halfway decent one, you gotta just keep the maint up. (I drove my 2nd Z to deliver pizza, I know pizza delivery beats the hell outta your car. If you're going to need your car for that, buy a Jeep. MUCH better suspension) Read on this site about the areas that rust in Z's.. $1800 is probably too much for that 280Z. I paid 300 for mine, non-running but no rust, but I got a deal, I woulda paid $1000 easy for it. Running is not so important, it's finding one that doesn't need a lot of body work that's important. Engines are readily availible, even Turbo L28ET swaps. so don't worry too much about Running. I can rebuild an L28 in a weekend, if I've got the parts around. Autozone oreily's and other autoparts stores carry most of that. But fixing Body rust is a lot harder and time consuming. If not done well it can just rust and bubble out again. So really it's up to you, but you gotta know what you're getting into ahead of time. Sure you can replace body panels, and floor pans, if you feel comfortable with that, then all the power to you. It's knowing what's going to take too much of your time, and what your own skills are able to handle is what you really need to consider. Not to mention how much time you'll have to work on it once the bloom is off the rose so to speak. My current project has been going on a little more than a year. Some of these other guys have 3-4 years on their cars that things have been torn apart. Some people have plenty of time and knock out amazing work in a short amount of time. Just keep this in mind: Oh and take a flat blade screwdriver and see if you can easily dent or push a hole through the floorpans, that'll tell you if they need replaced or not. It might be all surface rust, but looking at the picts I'm not convinced.

Hmm Search google, SSR Longchamp XR4, there's a few sets out there for cheap. less than the $2500 you'd mentioned. eg. http://www.nengun.com/ssr/set-of-2-inches-xr-4-bs15-longchamp-88166

That black one in post #117 is pretty sweet. I like how they did their flares, though I'd be worried they'd crack loose. Pretty though. After seeing the old racing cars, I really wonder how many of them are still around? These I'm sure were 80's picts. I mean look at the moooostatchios on some of those guys. I mean this is a car porn thread but jeebeeus!

I've been working on my steering crossmember. The crossmember holds the lower control arms so you can't really move it unless you figure something else for suspension. I chose to go the same direction that Austin and Myron went with their crossmember and cut out a good chunk of it. I'm not having to mount my engine quite as low as they were but the oilpan and lower crankcase are pretty deep. the Cutout that I made in the crossmember provides about an inch of clearance around the front of the engine. I made a extra 1" cutout and boxed it in on the right rear side of the crossmember to keep space around the oil filter open. If this is too tight, I may have to look into alternate oil filter options. Anyway, here's some picts. Sorry for the crappy quality, they were from my cellphone. Pict of the front of the crossmember, you can see the extra 1"x1" .125 box tube bracing. another pict of the bracing, I changed the contrast so you could almost see the welds. Another pict of the bracing. I figured it couldn't hurt since I cut out so much of the original crossmember. The back side, I know it's hard to see, but I boxed this in with .25" steel. I left the Rack mount tabs in place since they didn't seem to be too close. The weld at the top took a couple passes to fill in since the sheet metal was curved. I welded all the seams, even the stock spot welded ones on the bottom, just for exta strength. Again sorry for the poor image quality. This is where I cutout for the oil filter. Originally I'd cut it too close to the suspension mount hole so I'd added back metal to clear the actuation of the lower control arm. Hopefully the oil filter should still be fine since I'd cut out a little extra clearance around it. I need to dremel out some ot the slag in the corner to clean it up a little more before painting. You can see the .25" plate welded in pretty well.