FricFrac

I've got a thread going on in the group buy over here for a suspension adjustment kit for the rear end for both toe and camber. There isn't anything out there for the 280ZX (other than hacking/slotting the rear bracket but there's not a lot there to hack) so I'm trying to get enough people interested to get a kit fabbed up for us. Kit will be a weld on so you'll have to pull your cross member and cut off the stock mounts and weld in the new ones. $300 for each complete kit. Check out the group buy for more pics/info.

It will be a similar kit but it will need to be a complete redesign because of the much tighter constraints on the 280ZX in comparison to the 510.

We need ten guys to commit before Byron's willing to take on the task then it will likely be a month or two for the design and drawings and getting a test set on a car to start stress testing under load, extreme driving conditions, etc. This is a complete redesign from the 510 setup because of the smaller space available on the 280ZX for the brackets/body clearance. This will be a toe and caster adjustment. PPK's mod is a way old school mod they've been doing on 280ZX's since they came out and really the only solution out there until now. I've been bugging Byron about doing a set for the 280ZX and he has a small window of time to take this on before he moves on to his giagantic list of stuff to do. Regardless he'll put the time and effort into making this perfect - that's how he does all his stuff and he's an amazing supporter of the Datsun community. New control arms would be great but much much more expensive. There seems to be little interest in anyone making up a set anyhow - I've asked and most manufactures aren't interested.

I've been working on having a fully adjustable rear camber and caster kit for the 280ZX with a friend of mine who does an amazing kit for the Datsun 510. The 510 shares a very similar trailing a-arm suspension with the S130 280ZX. I just sent over a rear cross member and a-arms to Byron and in comparison the 510 is MUCH larger than the 280ZX (about 4 inches to play with as opposed to the 1 1/2 inches on the 280ZX). That means the 280ZX rear cross member adjustable bracket needs to be completely redesigned from the original 510 kit Byron makes. Byron is willing to redesign the bracket to work with the geometry of the 280ZX but he needs 15 buyers just to break even. He's willing to do the project if I can get 10 guys to commit to buying a setup in the hopes that he'll sell at least another five just to get his money back out (that's not including all the time in his design, etc). Each kit will be $300 each and will allow you to adjust both the camber and caster of the rear end. This is a MUST if you are lowering your 280ZX and/or if you are racing or auto xing your car and want to be able to tune the suspension. There is currently NO other adjustable systems on the market for the 280ZX and the only option is to use toe bolts and/or slot the rear cross member but there isn't a lot of material to do any slotting as it is and the adjustment range is minimal. For Byron's kit you would have to cut off the stock mounts and weld on the new ones which is fairly straight forward but does require welding - this is not a bolt on kit - that would require a complete cross member replacement and would be very expensive. The kit would be complete with everything you need other than removing the bracket and welding the new kit on. There's a bit of a thread on it and the installation is over [url=http://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx-brakes-wheels-suspension-chassis-81/rear-sub-frame-suspension-mods-35966/]here[/url] Here's Byron's 510 kit. Build thread is [url=http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6946&hilit]here[/url] and the install thread is [url=http://www3.telus.net/byron510/meston_motorsports_003.htm]here[/url] If anyone is interested in a kit please post to this thread!

Why wouldn't you retorque the bolts? If it's tight the torque wrench will tell you - if it's not then it was loose and needed tightnening. It's win/win. If it's loose and you don't re-tighten it then get ready for a leaky or blown head gasket....

The optical dizzy is easy to check. You just need 12V and a multi meter. Pull the dizzy so you can rotate the optical disk inside. diyautotune has a drawing of the pinout for the dizzy. Since it's an optical encoder wheel you just need to rotate it and see if it switches from 0V to 12V (low/high) as you rotate the disk. There are two optical sensors - one is 360 slots and the other is six so check both to see if they are functioning. As Gollum said check the wiring. Are you getting 12V to the dizzy for the optical encoder? Have you gone through the testing procedure in the FSM from www.xeonons130.com yet? The best way to test the ECU is to throw it into another turbo car. Do you have the part numbers frem each of the ECUs? There are a few different ones - maybe you have the wrong combination?

www.xenons130.com

I'd just get the MSA pipes (assuming it's an NA since you're putting on a header ). For a turbo though I would take it to a shop and get a 3" exhaust. The bends to get the exhaust over the cross member are quite complicated - not sure how much a shop would charge to do that so the MSA might be a cheaper way to go. It's worth asking the shop - you already know how much the MSA is.

You can't compete with technology. If you want a track car there are a lot of better options than a 30 year old car. What are your requirements for a track car? Do you need a cage? A pristine 280ZXT is probably the most valuable of the 280ZX (more than at 10th anniversary, ZXR, etc) so you might want to consider what mods would devalue the car or you may not be concerned about it's resale value at all. You can get a reliable 300rwhp out of the L28ET but as I said you're running against modern technology... $5K is a fair amount for a turbo 280ZX which of course depends on your region. The condition of these cars can vary drastically and rust can hide any number of places on these cars unfortunately. If the car is actually pristine (body wise - engine/drivetrain is pretty reliable on these cars so that's much less of a concern) then $5k is probably a bargin - if it's rusty then it's a ripoff. Is it a car you plan on keeping or something you'll buy and flip down the road?

Cleaning out the garage (SLOOOOOWLY...) and found a scrap Z22 head - side by side of the exhaust ports:

I haven't seen an S130 in the junkers up here for at least 15 years - count yourself lucky you have such a boundless supply.....

You don't need the injector resistor pack if you have the '82-83 harness/ecu. There isn't anywhere to plug the resistor pack in anyhow with the 82-83 harness.

Default "fail mode" is to do this - you're loosing vacuum somewhere. Do yourself a favor and do it right the first time. Pull the dash then pull the climate control system right out of the car. Get the FSM from www.xenons130.com to help guide you through. Basically you'll be replacing or repairing the vacuum lines. Most of the time they are hardened around where they mate up to the plug in for the switch, valve, etc. At the very least cut the 1/2 inch section that is hardened off and put the vacuum line back or better yet replace the line itself. Check the rotory vacuum switch as it can leak vacuum as well. You can take the whole assembly apart and clean it at the same time. I replace a the deteriorated foam with open celled foam strips (picked mine up from Home Depot). Do the same thing for all the venting while you have the dash off. You'll find the whole system blows like a hurricane now that it doesn't have 1000 leaks everywhere. Check the heater core and the vacuum controled heater cock - replace that if you can afford it. They are getting hard to find and if you plan on keeping the car it's a good piece to have new as it can leak down the road.

Get the FSM from www.xenons130.com and go through the trouble shooting - eg measure the resistance of the AFM and CHTS, etc. You may have a bad connection at the AFM - I make a kit to replace all the connectors because this is such a common problem with the S130 especially being 30+ years old. The CHTS and AFM at two of the major sensors that can cause these problems. The CHTS connector isn't as bad as the AFM which use usually corroded or the retaining clip is missing, etc. Other things to check for is the ignition module on the dizzy and making sure you don't have any vacuum leaks (take the oil cap off when idling, etc).

... and a custom bent is probably cheaper than getting one from Japan.... JeffP did a run but that was before my time so I missed out on the very limited run he did. I've contacted a couple of mandrel outfits but no one is interested in doing them - too bad.

+1 Good write up - pics would be nice if anyone does this swap in the future

Turbo/NA the pistons are different but the rods are the same

I love JL Audio subs - they've been making an excellent product for a long time with excellent clarity. Lots of other subs can pound it but if you're into anything other than techno.... The stock location for the front speakers is absolutely horrid with the left speaker in the center of the dash. Build some door panel boxes if you want decent imaging up front. Unfortunately there isn't room to inset them into the door so you'll need to fabricate something that fits and molds into the door itself.

Probably needs new syncros. Shortening the shifter is geometry - if you can't change the top pivot point I don't know how else you'd change the throw....

Pics! Haven't seen an SR swap in an S130 before

Don't get all hung up on the T5. If you want to upgrade from the stock NA 5sp the S13 is a fairly easy swap or go for the ultimate and swap in a Z32 tranny.

..wouldn't that be blowing the spark out if it was gaped too big not tight? The bigger the gap the harder it is to spark...

Fixed the last valve seat with the nick in it. All the valve springs and valves are re-installed. Spark plugs gaped and semi-indexed (picked the best of for the eight). Painted the head with high temp exhaust manifold paint to match the block. Ready for cam reinstall. The hot cam for the L28ET is the L28E NA cam. Hopefully the Z22 NA cam works well for a turbo application. Still undecided as to what turbo to run on this build. Probably will start with a T3 from an L28ET. I think a GT28 or GT30 would likely be a good final build turbo for this application. Big returns from a methanol injecton for the L series head and a boosted application - not so sure the hemi style head here will need the methanol as badly. Something to ponder for the future....

This is a real problem with the Z24 engines and their classic head gasket failure. Unfortunately the head bolts are rarely retorqued every tune up (if it even gets its regular tune up!) with these engines then they get blamed for failing head gaskets all the time... the real failure of course is not following the instructions....

Take a loop of wire at the ECU about four inches in diameter if you can spare it. If you have any issues down the road you now have a "service loop" to draw from but your install will remain neat and tidy. Did you get the newer DIY harness that has shielded wires?