Wjbrooks11

Do you have a recommendation? If the answer is to put the car down while the body work is done I can, but this will be my first time getting into rust patching so I know it's going to take a while

I really dont know but I would be interested to see. I would assume the caliper brackets would need to be changed as well, I know some part suppliers provide the caliper/bracket as a combo. If you try please update the thread, I would like to know. I will be getting into this in February myself.

I know the rotors are different, the hat or center of the rotor for the 79-81 is much taller. You would have to change rotors and probably caliper brackets to make to swap. I have considered the same as I prefer the 82-83 caliper but my early brakes work fine so I haven't moved forward with the swap yet.

Great thank you!

The cam was stamped e30, from what I read that is stock? Maybe a regrind? I did a compression check and got 150-160 across the board. How would I check compression ratio? Went for a 30minute drive tonight and it is running fantastic!

I took it out today for the first time since purchase. I have driven alot of S130s, and I have never driven one with this much power. Everything seems to be stock except the headers and exhaust but when I went from 2nd to 3rd (5500 rpms) at about 60 it chirped and acted like the rear tires broke loose. Also did the most ridiculous burnout I have ever done in a ZX, dropped it into 2nd and kept it going for distance. It has killer acceleration and drives like a dream. I'm going to dive in and see what rear diff ratio this has and get under the car to see if there are any clues. The tip to stay in low rpms is a good one, I didn't think about that and was to excited to go for a drive. I'm going to recheck the valves hot after taking a short trip tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

It was running but very rich and not very well, I bought it this way last week. Previous owner said it needed valves but with no further discription. The car has new headers and exhaust and a fresh valve cover gasket, so I am assuming someone was adjusting lash and forgot to tighten the intake pedestals for cylinders 4 and 5. All of the other valves were in cold spec and really tight, these two were finger loose.

That is what I have been seeing reading through old forum posts as well. Another concern is I don't know for sure which rocker was on which valve, I have always read the need to stay in the correct place. Another hope for the best I guess. Looking at the wipe patterns they look the same.

The same 81 280zx I posted about with 81,000 miles failed my compression test (cylinders 4 and 5 had less than 40psi). I used a bore scope to look inside and cylinders all look good with great crosshatching and the valves seems to be ok from what I can see. I pulled the valve cover and two valve rocker arms were laying loose under the cam, one on cylinder 4 and 5 both of them the one closer to the firewall. Everything looks to be in good shape, no metal shavings chips scrapes or boo-boos lol. The rockers, clips and valve cotter(?) Are in good shape. Why would these fall out? What should inspect/repair before installing so this doesn't happen again? I do notice that the valve rocker pivots are not tight, could it be that simple?

This week I picked up a very nice 81 with Ttops, 80,000 miles, that needs some work. It's running very rich, something I am going to dig into after the holidays, and it has alot of rust to be cut out and patched. I would like to drive the car as I work on patching and have it all painted when I am done so here is the question - after cutting out rust and replacing metal, how should I protect it until I have patched it all? Can I cover it in clear, or should I use primer? My understanding is that primer needs to be painted pretty much right away, is that true? This is the first body work I will be doing and want to end up with nice paint. I really like the 842 light brown metallic that the car came from factory with. Thanks in advance!

I have had the holes on wheels drilled out bigger by a machine shop, they charged me $60 for all four wheels. This was with an 8 lug wheels so may be even cheaper for your wheels.

When I was four years old I went with my dad to look at a 1982 280zx 2+2 with T tops (black pearl). It had the voice that would speak remind you to turn off your headlights, tan leather with ZX embossed into it. I watched my dad shift the gears and looked at all of the cool switches and interior bits since I wasn't big enough to look out the window. When we got back to the sellers house I proclaimed "This is the best car ever, we will take it!". I'm sure my Dad wanted to kill me for ruining negotiations. This would be my Dad's second Zx, and over the years he bought 15- 20 more. Always S130s, mostly 2+2 T top cars. I was always in the garage helping him tinker and perform routine maintenance. When I started driving I was the only one of my siblings that was driving a ZX( I think because I showed interest) and right about that time my dad brought home a 79 coupe. This particular car was not his typical buy, being a coupe, a hard top, and an automatic. The car didn't run and we are not mechanics by any means. Tearing into it we became aware that it needed a head gasket. This being way to much for us the car sat for several years. In the spring when I was 19 I decided to delve back into it. I had pruchased a parts car (74 260Z) with a running engine and 4 speed manual. The L26 had an Arizona Zcar four barrel manifold and needed a bunch of work! I swapped the whole assembly in, engine swap and manual conversion and this was the first time I did more than a brake job by myself. Over the course of a few weeks I got the car running and slowly fixed different issues over several months. On my way home that fall the car started over heating and I had to stop several times to refill the radiator with water. I limped it home and put it on the back burner until I would have time. The next spring, when I had time I went to investigate and found that because I had filled the block with water and let it sit over winter I had a crack in the block. The car sat for several years after that. Last winter I finally brought the car back into my shop and swapped in an L28 with 60,000 miles. I also upgraded to a five speed, both came from a car that had been totalled by my brother. I kept the four barrel and added pace setter headers ( very cheap, not very quality) as well as replacing brakes, and struts on all four corners. I have put several thousand miles on the car this year and get a huge smile on my face everytime I think about driving it. I browse hybrid Z all of the time, and made my account in 2014 but usually don't log in I just browse. I have read thousands of posts and solved most of my issues by reading old threads. I have had S30s and several S130s and absolutely love everything about these cars. I have a 82 turbo coupe, with ttops and a manual that is my next project and I would like to see 200 hp with out aftermarket engine management, I have found several good threads about this and plan to start next year. I still have several parts cars and surplus parts from all of the years with these cars. I also plan to try and be a part of the forum and helping fellow members. Thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this and for all of the great information this forum has provided for me and my family over the years.