Oddmanout84

I got my '78 280z for a little less than $1600 5 years ago in Temecula CA. In good shape, no rust, no mechanical or electrical issues. Just dryrotted rubber. I even drove it to the east coast, no problems. Search around, there's tons of good Z's in Cali, and the southwest.

Haha! I wonder if that was a factor in the decision process!! Nice color choice, phil! But you might want to repaint the valve cover to match... I've actually been considering the same Rota wheel setup lately that you're planning on (mostly based on a tire deal I'd be getting from a local Z owner). I hope you get your car back on the road soon, I'm itching to see new videos!

MSA 3 into 2 headers + Twice Pipes exhaust is what I'm running. GREAT sound, not ricey.

And THAT is usually the cause of 99.9% of the problems you will have.

Hit your starter solenoid with a wrench, violence works sometimes.

I was going to paint with this stuff, but got dissuaded by opinions (and informational books) from people with more experience than myself. I actually ended up spending less on a single stage urethane set which should by all means last a lot longer than lacquer. The only thing I give lacquer is that its shine is nearly unmatched, which is perfect for a show car that sees the light of day 3 times a year.

Stop it. Just stop. This thread is terrible and I don't even know why I bothered looking at it. I was toying around with the idea of getting an E36 as a DD a while ago but now I think you've sealed my fate. Jerks.

Careful, since you are still working around aluminum! Most auto stores also sell a spray that freezes bolts, so maybe you could use that to shock the rust along with light use of a torch if you're careful.

... which is what I should be doing, but I've been lazy. I might as well wait till I do the engine swap though.

Don't worry, I went through the same process with my headers. Lemme guess, its one of the studs at the very front or rear of the head? Mine snapped too. Lol, I've been driving my car for a few months and its still not fixed. Not the best thing, I know, but the other bolts hold the headers on just fine.

Maybe its my method, but I've snapped a few bolt extractors in the bolts I was trying to remove!! They can be frustrating!

I was thinking about it, its a better bet than rethreading the shifter.

I'm going to have to learn how to drive my Z again. A short romp around the block shows I no longer know where my gears are.

Test fitting some stuff while I mess with the last bits of sound mat and put the interior back together. I think they look pretty nice, I just have to adjust the brackets a little then paint them. Also took this as an opportunity to install the short throw shifter. Holy crap, I could keep my hand stationary and hit every gear by moving the gear lever with my pinkie (if the shift effort wasn't increased!). The throw is literally that short. Hopefully it won't be hard to find the gears I want when I'm testing this in action. The only thing that sucks so far is that I can't use my old shift knob because of the thicker threading.

Of course, since he wants to fill his ZG flares, he'll need spacers with those 0 offset wheels. Big-phil is running sportmax 002's (16x8, 0 offset) and bought 1.5" spacers on all four corners to fill his ZG flares, if I remember correctly. I'll probably be doing the same with 16x8" XXR 513's in the near future to fill out my flares. Unfortunately, none of these wheels come in sizes higher than 16", methinks, even Watanabes. The closest thing I can think of are Rota RBs, but I forget their offset measurements. I've also heard plenty of bad things about Rotas though, so I'm not touching those with a 10ft pole (says the guy who's looking to buy another cheepo-wheel brand ). Honestly if I were you, I'd go with 16" wheels. There's more choices, and really 17" just seems like too much wheel, not enough rubber for a Z. Look at 240hoke's Z, he's running a staggered set of Watanabe's and they look great. 16x9 -13, 16x9.5 -19 if I remember right. No spacers needed, but he is running coilovers. But for Wats, you're looking at dropping around to 2.5-3 grand when all is said and done. Something I WISH I could do!!

I fired .50 cals and 240G's for a living not too long ago. I've thrown frag grenades and know how to use an AT4.... But for some reason I REALLY want to fire that MP5, and have never gotten the chance.

Well I like them BECAUSE they're reclining! I like the option of sleeping in my car. They're also the perfect style for what I envisioned my seats being. I just hope they're comfortable.

what seats are those and where did you get them (and how well/what effort is required to get them to fit)?

Hope so! My girlfriend refuses to ride in the car, but more importantly I can't hear the radio!!

So now I'm wondering... if my cabin STILL manages to have too much exhaust drone after I completely cover the inside with 80mil Rattletrap mat, should I buy a resonator for the exhaust or will that kill the twice pipe's note. Or should I just weigh my Z down with another layer of rattletrap..

soundmat install = tedious.

I realize this is a pretty old thread, but what seats are those?

My calipers were '89 models, those are the correct ones. The "hangers" mentioned refer to the metal brackets that are used to hold the E-brake cables, which you will need if you want your E-brake to work. They are not essential to mounting the calipers to the MM brackets, though. I sourced my hangers from my local Nissan dealership through their parts dept. Be sure to purchase a Right and Left one, they're different. About $25 per bracket, and then a couple bolts to hold them.

In that case, I'll give it a whirl. Zip ties are holding the plug in place just fine for now, and I solved my "L28 has no balls" dilemma. Turns out I set my ignition timing to 0 degrees instead of 10 B.T.D.C. Durrrhurrhurrr!! She certainly has some "balls" now!!

I've cleaned the contacts before, I'll probably end up doing it again. From my understanding, dielectric grease impedes electrical flow, which is why I'm hesitant to apply it to such a low voltage component with tiny connectors. Maybe on the back so humid air can't get in and corrode it, but I'm wary about putting it directly on the connectors. I'm going to use zip ties to hold the plug in for now. I've been holding out on the EDIS/MS setup until I get the turbo motor ready, but I'd certainly like it too. I wanted to get a good understanding of how the stock electronics work before I completely overhaul them as well. Hopefully I figured out my Z's lack of balls too. I just got a timing light so I can accurately gauge the ignition timing, which I'm pretty sure is retarded well below 10 degrees BTDC (looked more like between 0 and 5 when I looked at it earlier. I'm really reaching out to find a new set of feeler gauges as well, as what I have now are primarily standard increments, with oddball wtf numbers for the metric. I have a feeling that my valve clearances are still a little off so I'd like to gauge them more accurately.