Z Driver

That makes me really want to powder coat some of my engine parts too.

The offset of the wheel is key. I have 16X7" in 0mm offset and I'm fairly sure there would be enough room for 8" in the back, in not sure about the front. If you spaced them out from the spring, they would almost surely fit.

Sweet, be prepared for some attention when you drive it. A nicely painted Z plus the unique styling of the Z makes everyone stare.

To verify spark, unplug the spark plug wire from #3 and hold it close to something metal to see. If a spark arcs from the wire to the metal, you have spark.

One of the body shop workers that painted my Datsun loved those things. He has two or three of them. He told me one odd thing about them was you couldn't lift engine out of the car without messing some things up, it had to be taken out through the bottom. He also said they were probably rusting when they came off the boat. Neat little cars though. The back looks like a mini 'Vette.

That's really neat that you have logged all the work done to your car. I've been logging my progress through pictures.

I wouldn't want to be the one to do an AWD lauch on that thing. It reminds me of the motorcycle built around the Viper engine.

The higher compression ratio means you won't be able to run much boost until you intercool it. You need to factor in other costs like a new fuel pump, the electronics, etc. I paid $1700 for a heavily modified turbo engine with upgrades turbo, intercooler with piping, FPR, and transmission. I still need to put another $1200-1500 into it because I'm going SDS or megasquirt for fuel, MSD 6BTM for ignition, I need a better fuel pump, different steering system, and other various parts. I'm expecting high 12's to low 13's out of my setup at ~16 PSI. This is an expensive little project, but I'm doing it right the first time.

It's a semi-custom piece. The casting is W-42 and I believe it came from an '81. The webbing has been plasma cut out and the EGR has been cut off and welded. All the emissions devices have been removed and it has a 240SX TB. The fuel rail is JSK.

hmm...looks like I'm definately in the market for the manual swap. I was just wondering because the guy I bought the turbo motor from had all three steering systems in his '81. He started out with the ball, went to the power rack unassisted, and when I saw his car he had the real manual rack. He said the power one felt the best of all three but he's not moviated enough to swap back.

I have '80 280ZX GL that came with power steering gear. The power steering lines gave out on me so I'm running it unassisted. It takes much effort to use at low speeds and has a lot of play. I'm doing a turbo swap and the steeing gear need to go because it's blocking my intercooler piping. I want a manual steering rack that came on the base model ZX's, but that requires a different crossmember which I cannot find. I was told the power racks on the 81-83's feel really nice unassited. Would I also need a different crossmember if I were to swap in that rack? If anybody has a manual rack assembly for sale with the crossmember, tie rods, etc., please contact me. Thanks

T3/T4 turbo, Tial external wastegate, and a 3" custom downpipe.

I have some pictures in my gallery of my turbo engine on a stand, but it's technically not a long block because the oil pan and head are on it.

Here's my BOV mounted on my intercooler piping. I'm not anywhere near installing it on my car yet, so this probably isn't very helpful. My pipes do not wrap around opposite end of the intercooler, they enter and exit on the same side.

Excellent work. Way to hang in there and save a car!

Would the 40 GPH fuel pump Arizona Z Car sells be good enough for my turbo project? I was wondering if that is a higher flowing fuel pump or if it is just the stock 280ZX turbo fuel pump. I'm going to be running ~15 PSI boost with 390cc injectors and SDS fuel managment. http://www.arizonazcar.com/inject.html

The color is Chrysler Industrail Red. It turned out to be more of an orangish color than I expected. It's okay because my car is orange anyway. I still have much work to do with polishing the metal parts on the engine. The crank pulley is going to be swapped out for a different one, so I didn't touch that ugly thing. I mocked up the manifolds just to see how they would look. I'll post some before pictures when I get a chance if anyone wants to see them. Any suggestions that would look nice?