datsunlover

Oh well.. I can live with it for now! I'll be riping the car apart again this winter (grr.. only a few months left of summer.. ) so maybe I'll get the carbs from Ztherapy.. or something! I was thinking of playing copy cat.. I found a V12 Jag for sale prety cheep.. but I got a free 280zx.. so I'm gona put my head on that engine to bump CR up, open the exhast and keep the SU carbs. I get a 5 speed out of this to so..

Oh man.. I have a few lights out in my dash, and I have just given up.. aside from removing the dash (or a fair amount of 'stuf' under it) I can't get to most of the lights. Trust me, it's a PITA!

I supose.. but wouldnt it act up like this all the time? It's like a heat realated problem caus after the car is compleatly warm, it NEVER does it. I can drive around for hours without a hick-up at all..

Yah man.. the first doom was a little freaky.. I thknk it was the 'boss' at the end (Hitlers head on a big robotic/robo cop kinda thing with big gatling guns.. ) "Comin for ya!" heh heh.. thats great.

Ok Im having a little problem with my 75 280z. Im running 240z SU's and normaly, I have no prob with them.. but recently, after I start it cold, it runs like poo.. It starts fine evry time, revs good, and seems to be running well.. but even after the temp guage comes up to where it normaly sits, If I try to drive it, it will still bog/backfire for 10-15 mins. Ussualy, after I see the temp guage read normal, I pop the hood and push up the choke on the fron carb and it smoothes out.. but then it still takes several minits to run well... it's like the carb bodies/manifold have to get warmed up to work properly!?! Anyone had a problem like this?

I'v got an 81' 280zx 2+2 that I'm parting out.. should be the same ecu. Send me a P.M. and let me know where you are located. Maybe we can work someting out.

Well, it finally stoped raining long enough for me to get the Z out for a cruise tonite.. So Im driving along, got Sevie Ray blasting (the sky is crying.. oh yah..) and I slow down for some construction (A main road here has a section that's been ripped up for 2 months now.. for about 40 feet. It gets pretty rough with 'washboard' throuout the day with the trafic, so you gota take it easy in a Z car!) And as I roll through, this woman comes up behind me in a Corsica (obviously doesn give a shite about her car) and proceeds to ride my rear end all the way through this short dirt section of the road... as I come bach onto the pavement, she's just too damn impatiant and swerves around me on the right (it's a two lane road) and proceeds to accelerate past me. By this point though, I have gotten back on it to get up to cruise speed again...but she doesnt realize this.... No shoulder check, and barely a milisecond later, she throws the signal on and trys to do a lane change INTO MY CAR!!!! I think my heart stoped for a second.. I saw what was happening and backed off (swerved a bit too..) and THEN she realilzes her mistake and gets back in her lane for a few more carlengths before makeing her change. Heres the kicker: About 1/4 of a block after this construction is an intersection.. and a red light. So I pull up in the right lane and look over at this woman (Well, I called her something else but anyway..) And she gives ME a dirty look!! EH? So I stick my angry German head out the wondow and yell "HEY!.. your pretty F'n impatiant arnt you!?!?" And as she rolled her window down to reply, I reved it up and dumped the clutch at 5000 rpm... BIG burn out, turn the corner, go sideways (burned all the way through 1st and skwaked into 2'nd.. scared the crap out of the girlfriend!) and leave her choking on the rich exhast and burnt tire smoke. Ahh.. the cure for road rage..

Wow.. awsome man! And Im with tim.. I think the stripes would go nice through the tail light panel (which is also quite nice btw!) Some day when I have a proper shop to work in, I WILL do something like this.. for now, I'll have to live with my quick $200 paint job and *ahem* not so great body work.. Keep up the good work dude!

Hmm.. maybe I'll try my hand at building a 'cherry bomb' style mufler.. My boss just did this for his sons motor bike (83 yamabog 400) and it seams to work pretty good! Just took a pipe with the same id/od as the stock pipe out of the engine, drilled a BUNCH of holes in it, and welded a cap on the end. Welded that to the stock pipe, then slid on a pipe (over top) with a bigger id/od (about 1/4" bigger I think..) and welded it to the stock pipe just in front of the smaller pipe with the holes.. Meh.. it'd be something to do/build in itself.... but I'll look into Dynamax anyway I think.

Thats kinda what I was thinking.. Im looking into (If the money holds out!) getting some bored out/rebuilt Ztherapy carbs, a decent cam, and straight 2.5 exhast (cherry bomb/glass pack in the trans tunel; I like the sound and it cheep!) .. shooting for about 200 horse in the end. Of course all the suspension and brakes (300zx/toy 4X4 swap) have to get done this winter too (my bank acount is screaming at me already ). For starters, I'll rip the driveline out of the ZX and go over the whole block and re+re as needed (new oil pump/timing kit/ect) and get the head done profesionally... Guess I should start ordering some gasket kits and get pricing on cams.. On a side note, a friend of mine suggested I simply do the motor 'junk yard' style. Pull my head, drop it on the ZX block (new head gasket) and drop it in with the 5 gear.. I must admit I am thinking about it.. I guess I could rip out the engine(s) in a weekend, get it together and running in another week or so and see if it works.. but I'm wary about 'trusting' the parts car tranny/clutch/block internals/ect to actually holding up to something like this with no prep work done.. and I figure I'll put the car away for the winter in a few months anyway... I dono.. I think about this stuff too much..

What's the stock head gasket thickness? Not really a big deal though.. I'll be uping the cr either way by swaping this head on that engine block.. I dont think I'd notice much difference between 9.8 and 10 anyway...

Yah, I believe my FSM calls it a 'fuel supressor' (I assume it's like a regulator of sorts..smothes out the pulses from the pump to fee the engine even/steady presure) and it looks like yours is shot.. or one of the rubber lines is leaking cause they're old and cracking probly. I'd say get it off there and cleaned up, and try replacing the rubber lines first (cheep) and if it still leaks.. call the dealer I supose.. (maybe bend over too...) As for the threaded thing... I think it's a valve used to relieve fuel presure from the system if work/repair is to be done on it.

Well, if you browse this forum for a while, you will find a lot of usefull info on this.. Im gona say probly 80% of the ppl on here have done at least a bit of work like this, if not more ah.. in depth undertakings (like full frames, floor/subframe conectors, ect). First off, you should really find someone who can WELD, or learn to yourself... this is the only way to properly fix stuf like this. You'll need some basic tools too, like metal snips/cutters wire wheels/grinder and hamers to clean up the damaged areas before replacing the metal.. Or maybe, you might want to find a 'less rusty' car to start with if you're not wanting to spend a lot of $$$ on repairs such as these.. they are quite expensive if you have to pay someone else to do if you can't do it yourself (maybe you have a friend who knows this stuf?) Most unibody cars (Z's in particular because they are 30+ years old now!) get very weak once the floors rust through because there is no strength left anymore.. If your frame rails are rusted too, you're into a LOT of work.. If the frame rails are ok, you have something to work with.. I'd say look around here for a while, try to get an idea of how bad your car really is, and go from there. Oh ya, welcome to the board man!

Yup. Rip it all out! All that crap is gone on my car, and it runs.. well, better! (I also diched the FI in favor of SU's..) Just make sure to plug off any vacume lines or anything left hanging. And that big white bottle thing.. what the heck IS that thing?? Overflow for the rad maybe

By 'pop' the clutch I assume you mean bump start.. and it runs fine after that? Id say the starter has problems, (worn solenoid/contacts inside the startor) or it is a bad conection somewhere in the starting circuit.. I'd suspect a bad ground..

Simple solution; ask him to show you a recent dyno run sheet for this car. If he says he doesnt have one, ask him how in the world he knows how much HP this suposed 3.1 stroker is makeing?!? On the other hand.. if it IS a high HP motor, its no wonder the stock clutch is shot.. the 4 speed itself is probly hurt too..

Well, I just got back from the shop and doing a compresion test on the 280zx motor. Got 150 - 155psi across the board.. a little lower than I would like, but at least they're all the same! So ah.. with my 75 head(N42 right?) on the zx F54 block.. and running 2.5 exhast, zx dizzy and SU's.. any guess on potential power I can make? Assuming the head work is decent and the stock cam is useable...

Yah well.. I have a 4 gear now.. but Im not sure if my 75 has the R200 to begin with. (??) Thing is, from what I can tell, the zx diff has better ratios anyway (3.9), so my 280 will get the 280zx rear diff and 5 speed as a package. (I have a whole parts car wohoo!!) As for the 75 head on the zx block.. I'll be ok with my stock 280z cam thats on it right now then? (assuming it's not too worn..if so, what are my options for replacement with this head/block setup?) I am thinking of doing a valve job and changing the timing chain/gears/ect anyway (its all apart why not right?) Just out of curiosity.. what would my comp ratio be right now? (bone stock 75 L28) Thanks for the help guys!

I say be prepared to put the whole weekend into it.. and then some! If there are already spots that are showing rust, there is bound to bebe some more hiding under there.. and possibly a few holes too! If you have a few ppl helping you out, it's possible I guess.. just depends how 'bad' the body is once you get all the paint off of it how long it will take to bondo it up and primer it... BTW are you planing on using spray bomb cans to primer? if so, get about 2 times what you think you'll need (trust me.. ) and try to be in a well ventilated area also (again, take my word for it.. unless you like headaches and dizyness.. ) Good luck man!

Thats what I was thinkng.. just don't know what combos work well, what swaps work, ect. I'll see tomorrow if I can get a number off my 75's head... So.. my 75 block has what.. dished/relieved pistons then? Im hoping to not get into too much head work as well.. maybe some new valves/seals/ect as needed.. just wanted a 'throw it together' and go kind of thing.. but I dont wana smash the pistons into the valves! Oh yah, the 280zx engine only has 160000 Kilometers on it (100miles right?), and it apears that the car was maintained well (at least mechanicaly) so Im assuming it has a good bottom end in it..well, probly better than the the engine in my 75.. 160+k MILES! Im gona to a compresion test n it tomorrow as well..

Well that kind of sucks.. but what I'd do, is talk your prick bro-in-law down as much as possible, then throw an alternator in the thing, and swap rear ends. Ie; take the good one (from the 300zx) for your car like you want, and replace it with the one you remove from your car.. then, it's a running drivable 300zx again.. you could probly get $2 or $3 K for it.. assuming it's in otherwise good shape.. I've found its always easier to sell a running/driving car then a partially striped 'parts' car.

I had some 15X7.5 rims on a Z a few years ago.. and IIRC I was running 225/60/15 tires with no rubbing probs.. but I could be wrong..

Ok, I have to admit I'm not as well versed as I'd like to be in the Nissan Z motor.. and I searched, but anything I found.. well.. Im not sure what it really means.. Anyway, here's what Im thinking.. I have a 75 280z w/stock L28 (been rebuilt about 8-10 years ago) and Im running SU's and an open exhast (planing a 2.5" for the spring). I have come into a parts car with an L28; its a 81 280zx w/5 speed. Now, I want the 5 gear anyway.. but I'm wondering what would be the better motor performance wise? (I'm gona keep using the SU's whatever I do..) Or is there really much of a diffrence? From what I can tell, the ZX 2.8 has a slightly difrent head.. (apparently the exhast ports went to round instead of square?) but Im not sure what, if any, the diffrence would mean to me.. Really what I'm wondering is, would I be further ahead to just use my 75 2.8, or would there be any benefit to using the zx's 2.8? (either way, Im pulling the engine apart and doing a clean up/re+re as needed) Maybe make one good motor from the two? (I'd love to just do the 302 swap, but it doesnt look like it's gona happen this year.. Basicaly, I'm wanting a good reliable motor for street use.. but a few extra horses would be nice.. and Im trying to keep the budget in check too as I need to redo all the suspension as well this winter..) Soooo.... can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Well, I got thinking the other day.. I havnt dont anything to my daily driver for a while.. (93 Nissan King cab V6) Then my jery riged Ford escort seats started to rattle and get loose (bad hack job by me 2 years ago.. meh, it worked..) and I thought.. hey .. I have this 81 280zx for parts here.. with a nice tan leather interior.. well what else am I gona do on a sunday afternoon? So I goes out to the shop (I love working in a machine shop.. for a boss that lets me go in and use evrything whenever I want!) and proceed to chop/hack the seat rails up, weld up some pieces, build a few spacers, and bam! I got some nice dead cow to sit on in my truck! AND they sit lower (closer to stock position) and are more suportive than those worn out escort GT seats! Got the bottom tilt and lumbar suport in them too! Then I jamed the backs (zx is a 2+2) in the passenger rear corner in place of the factory flip out seat. (I mean really.. whos gona sit on THAT thing? it's like an 8" square 2" thick slab of vinel! Ive seen nicer 'bitch pads' on bikes...) Its a bit tight, but an extra seat none the less! I'll see if I can take some pics some time.. I just felt like sharing.. at least its sort of Z related!

Dude, Im tellin ya! Do it! DO IT!!