neousmcswim

I live in Fayetteville, NC and have a R200 280zx Turbo differential that I want to have rebuilt with my Quaife lsd . I am looking for someone to do the rebuild and does not need to be in the local area.

I am just getting my car back after a year and half of nothing getting done on it, but an l28et install and body work. I am moving down to Fayetteville, NC with my black 1979 280zx turbo. I am looking for a shop that has a good reputation for exhaust fabrication and intercooler fabrication. I am looking to get some of this work started in January along with other misc work. I am also looking for a good interior shop, who can handle making a custom radio console( to hold gauges/ controllers) and repanel the rear of my ZX.

I agree with you John. I had already planned on leaving the car in there till end of Dec, trying not to make this a complete lose. After December I will not be coming back to the state and will be relocating to Florida a few months later. I have spoke to the owner and explained my frustration. Problem is I can't do it in person because of my training. I will have my wife go in with a revised project list, that is doable in a month, and have a talk with him about the budget and what is expected with the time line. She will also be getting twice a week updates from him and be stopping by every weekend to verify the work. In the end this is my fault because of my lack of experience with working with shops and not knowing how this works. From now on I will do all the work myself like I used to.

My wife has been a champ when it comes to helping with my project. She is more upset about everything than I am. I and the owner priced all parts and labor together, mistake one. There are no parts purchased except for the parts I have supplied. What you see is the layout of the different sections that I wanted to have work done on specifically. I was giving monthly payments which was mistake two. I should have stopped the payments until I saw work being done. But problem was I was away on training and have to much confidence in people.

I was dumb and did not make a contract. Just kept all the billing statements and have everything documented with photos. The owner knows the situation and knows exactly when the car is supposed to be done. Problem is I am gone after Thanksgiving till Christmas for training with no communication with my wife to check on the status of the project. I so far have given them about $21,000. When I go home for Christmas I will deal with everything in person. I have already made arrangements for a shipping company to pick up the vehicle to have it shipped to North Carolina if the car is not running. Lesson learned never trust anyone with your car.

I went to X Shop(remains nameless until I get my car back). I went to them back in July 2009 to build my 280zx with a $25,000 budget, wanting it to be completed by DEC 2010.I researched this company talked to the owner and had some minor work done by the shop without problem. So I gave them a spread sheet of what I wanted done. (I have pics of my car before I sent it to the shop and current pics in the garage part of the forum.) I told the owner that I would be out of the state for the next year and half because of my military training. I periodically checked in on my car to see how things were going. Nothing was getting done except minor body work. The body work was awesome exactly what I was looking for. I was told that there were other projects in front of mine, but mine would get started after the summer rush. I had my wife stay on top of things when I was gone on training ops. Well it is a week before Thanksgiving and all that is done on my car is body work, which I was told took 2 weeks. My wife was told 2 weeks ago that the car would be painted this week. My car is not painted and nothing has been ordered, except what I have personally taken care of. I have lost all confidence in the shop and I am now just wanting the shop to install an l28et get my car running, maybe have the interior done and that is it. I have now stopped paying the shop. This is the first time I have ever had a shop work on my car. I normally build all my own projects, but my military training has stopped that currently. I just bought a Quaife differential for my 280zx and was going to have it installed, but I will wait to get the car back and find a shop to install it for me, since I have never installed a Quaife. I am currently located in Fayetteville, NC and in January will be looking for a shop to take car of some of the custom parts I still need done on the car. Also possibly L30et build since I have a spare F54 block,p90, LD28 crank, and 240z rods. Below is a list of what I was going to have done now I need to see how far my mechanic will get. Thanks for listening to my complaining, this forum has been a ton of help in my research to guide my build. Part 1:Body 1.The whole car painted gloss black. 2.Fix frame rails to remove dents. 3.Have the undercarriage reunder coated to prevent rust. 4.Have all chrome painted black. -window trim -pillar -door handles 5.Replace side view mirrors with MSA california style black mirrors from thezstore. -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/EM/50-1157 6.Fiberglass hood vents painted black -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7BSA1/50-1610 7.Wing that looks like the one below available from thezstore. -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7RSW1/50-1574 8.Black window tint all rear windows, hatch & front drivers/passengers windows. 9. Wheels Rota RB Royal Lip Hyper Black - Front 16*8 offset +10 -Rear 16*8 offset +4 10.Tires BF Goodrich g-Force Sport 11.Keep the tinted headlight covers. 12.Remove battery tray from engine bay. 13.Have only the z emblem on the hood, no other emblem will be on the car. Part 2: Suspension and Brakes 1.Powder Coated Black -Front/ Rear Control Arms -Front/ Rear Subframe -Hubs -Tension/ Tie rods 2.Replace all bushings. Replace rear subframe bushings. 3.Front and rear camber adjustment -Front= http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PSDC07/23-4172 -Rear= http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PSDC07/23-4178 4.Tokico shocks & springs HPK kit 5.OEM rotors all 4 corners, stainless steel brake line kits, street performance brake pads. 6.Replace all bearings, ball joints, and tie rod ends. 7.Replace brake line plumbing. 8.Steering linkage bushing replace and paint linkage black. -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PSDC11/23-4160 9.Rebuild all brake calipers and powder coat black 10.Clean up brake master cylinder and repaint brake booster. 11.Keep brake shield repaint black Part 3: Engine 1.Install L28et 2.Valve Cover powdercoated black w/ only Turbo and trim showing in silver. 3.Eliminate all emissions hoses and equipment off the engine and engine bay. 4.Intake manifold w/ a 240sx throttle body. 5.Convert throttle linkage to a cable. 6.Replace all vacuum and coolant hoses. 7.Replace engine and tranny mounts. Part 4: Fuel system 1.Upgrade complete fuel system to handle 400hp. 2.Clean and repaint the fuel tank black Part 5: Turbo/ Exhaust System Starting hp of 300hp 1.Have the intake air filter outside of the engine bay to left side of the bumper 2.Have Intercooler pipes run shortest route 3.Install HKS BOV and routed back into the intake. 4.Intercooler what ever you think to handle up to 400hp 5. 3†downpipe from turbo on back. 6. 3†exhaust pipe minimal bends possible with Borla XR-s Muffler. Part 6: Cooling System 1.Electrical Fans this is the fan shroud that goes with my radiator. - - 2.Coolant overflow tank aluminum 3.Radiator hoses black Part 7: Drivetrain 1.Transmission specifically 1981-83 280zx non turbo 2.Upgrade/Replace Clutch to handle 300hp. 3.Steel braided clutch line. 4.If I have enough money R200 280zx turbo differential with axles and/ or quaife lsd -thmotorsports Part 8: Ignition/ Electrical system 1.Clean up all engine bay wiring and engine harness. Have the least amount of wiring showing in the engine bay. 2. Use VEI Systems digital custom gauge cluster. All gauges are red, w/ progress bar for tach. Have the tachometer come with some type of shift light if possible. http://www.veisystems.com/home.html -Speedo progress bar & odometer -Water temp & Fuel gauge with progress bar 3.I want VEI Systems blue gauges for the 3 center gauges, progress bar on all. -Oil Temp=Cup 1 -Oil Pressure=Cup 2 -Boost Gauge= Cup 3 4.Boost Controller goes in radio area HKS EVC-S 5.Turbo timer mounted in radio area HKS Type-0 6.Relocate battery inside the car and have a lighter one. 7.JimWolf 280zx turbo ecu. 8.Route Spark Plug wires around the front of the valve cover, not over the top. Black Spark Plug Wires. Part 9: Interior 1.Lower seat rail on drivers seat to lowest point to allow for someone who is 6ft tall refabricate seat rail. 2.Convert radio console into a flat front surface to house gauges and other electronics 3.Fix door locks and have door hinge that will not sqeek when opening. 4.Have black carpet installed throughout entire car. 5.Have panels made for the trunk area, black. 6.Black floor mats with UltimateZ logo. 7.Have MSA formula black steering wheel all black. -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/SWM/50-3101 8.Black leather shifter boot. -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/LSB/50-2516 9.Black leather pistol grip shifter knob, Corsa -http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/CPGK/50-3550 10.Refabric door panels, ceiling liner, and dash with black, keep simple. 11.Passenger seat Corbeau TRS and seat rail.

Looking to buy 1988-89 300zx Turbo Manual ECU with harness and also chopper wheel from 300zx. You can contact Ben at bpmacklin@yahoo.com or IM.

awesome design. Good luck on the manifold. Hope to see pics.

Call junkyards before visiting sometimes they think they have what u need. When you get there u find out they tore the motor apart. The ones that give price and mileage are usually really good

Car-part.com it is where I found my motor.

I have heard the T5 is alittle notchy. I have read around that the 81-83' NA have the best gearing for my setup. I am going to stick with the 3.54 and I am going to keep with the stock L28ET with JWT ecu until I get bored.

thanks for the help, I think you guys said it best. Wait and feel the car out as I build it. Put what feels best for me. I am going to start off with 3.54 R200.

My 79' 280zx is getting restored and having l28et installed. I am building the car for Highway driving and sometimes drag/ circuit racing. My question is what is the best final drive ratio to get for what I am building the car for?R200 3.5/ R200 3.7/ R200 3.9. I will later get a quaife LSD installed.

I had the similar problem. Here was what was wrong. 1.MAF sensor(This really sounds like your problem) 2.Drop Resistor 3.Grounds

:mrgreen:I have a 79' 280zx and was missing on cylinder number 5 and had all sorts of electrical problems. I went to Ultimate Z (Streamwood, IL) and told them my problems and 5 days later they had all my problems fixed. They cleaned all my connectors in my engine bay, replace my maf and drop resistor, and checked all my grounds and pinouts on my car. They spent countless hours working on it, always giving me updates and price estimates before they did the work. The final bill was only $700. Awesome deal for so much time spent on my car. Anyone who has worked with wiring knows that it is a pain. I am going to them to get all my other work done on my car( Complete restore). I highly recommend them to everyone with a Z. They specialize in all 240,260,280z, and 280zx, 300zx, 350z. They can do anything you need just call them.