love-my-V8-280Z

Bart, Tell me, you are getting pretty close to a LT1 expert... Has the opti been a huge amount of your problems? Would you say stay away from after market optis? I will have my LT1 on the road this summer and do not look forward to the problems you have been dealing with....

If life gives you lemons make lemonade!! Remember the things about the car you did not like? Now is your chance to get the car body you wanted and transfer the best’s parts to it... It’s a chance to start over... I just picked up a great 280 for $3,000.00. I just fell in love with it! Now you have a great parts car... Your very very lucky you did not get hurt. The car would have not mattered if you had....

It would seem I should understand what you are asking but I don't.. Are you trying to hook up the back up lights and the cooling fan?? I can help with both..

That is the core question of this site. Been discussed way to much to be asked again. You will only get your answers buy reading the history. If you are serious you will only get a quality answer by reviewing the many different angles the question can be answered.

I look at the restore as a tear town than build up. Strip it down.. as you have. Than restore. I do not like doing anything twice. I would dip or blast it. Have it primmered than go to work on the body. You will bang and scratch the primmer over and over. That’s fine. After all the bodywork is done, the interior is in and the motor is in and running than you will fine tune the remaining body repairs and paint it. Than install glass, trim, emblems.. You will want to paint the motor cavity early. I chose to paint mine the same color as the car. I wish I had chosen black. It would be so hard to change it if I decide to change the car color in the future.

Most of the datsun repair books have pictures with the relays labeled. You should review one and at least once look at each relay. you will find the ones under the dash are are fuel pump, head lights etc and the ones under the hood are for the fuel injection. Don't trust me, its been a whlie. If you cant figure it out send me an email with details on where they were bolted to the car and I will look them up.

If I think back 7 years ago.. I got a 280 for almost nothing. Than I thought a little paint and it would look great! Than how about a cool engine? Lets do it right. Found rust, needs of new rubber everywhere. It did not take long and I desired a well built, done right job. I just kept picking away. I added my receipts and I'm at 13,000. I even hate to guess how much on the little extras that I did not track. Sand paper, primer etc... Probably $14,000 and I have a lot left to go. In hindsight, I love the car but I would have been a head to buy a old camero or vett with a real good resale. I'm sure no one wants to hear that but its true. I have not even gotten the chance to drive my car. I hope it’s all worth it...

Slammed, You made my day. I blew up the original diagram and had to tape it together. The pages were different sizes and it was black and white. It was a pita! I drew every line on that diagram in paint. It took a looong time. I'm sure glad someone is using it. I hope it goes down in a history book somewere. I don't know, maybe some poor employee has to draw all the diagrams by hand? All I can say is, it was a lot of work.

I did not read the JTR book, but I don't see how you can hook up the LT1 following the directions from a how to install a 350 book. I would recommend removing the fusable links and getting a fuse block with a few extra plugs. I put my fuel injectors on there own fuse. Look over the diagram I sent you, look at the starter and you will see its a blue wire going to plug C2. You will see how I wired the MIL, data link connector, alternator etc.. Its very accrate.

I've read post from men that have already paid to the work done and when they got the car back they were not happy. It turns out to be a lot more work than the shops expect. You get it back and the gauges don't work, you don't like the sloppy job with the wire harness.. you can only imagine.

I'll sell you my 78/LT1 for the 10K I have already spent.. I'd guess about 400 to 600 hours of free labor!

Finding the right gauges in not hard. I installed all new and there are not to many things to look for, Its been a while so I can't remember details but You have to get a pulse speedo and the others are normal. Send me an email address and I will send you some very useful photos of mine. the gas gauge does need the right resistance, look in the history to find it. I had my sender rebuilt and told him what the gauge was set at and it came back perfect! No after market gauge is exact for the Datsun.

I have a 78, the fuel injection harness comes out in one piece but not the rest. You have to figure each remaining wire and figure out what you need and don't need. You will have to study the wireing diagram, you will find that plastic board with the plugs on it very useful. I removed the board and after I got done removing all the unused wires I mounted my LT1 computer in its place. Pretty tight but it don't get in the way. I have been working on a 280Z LT1 wiring diagram if you would like a copy. It would help with gauges and probably a lot of other issues I suppose, considering you said LS1..

I was able to have my sending unit rebuilt, If you can not find a unit let me know and I will work at figuring out where I had it done. It worked out great, I told him what ohm value to use to match my new gauge and it came back looking new and set perfect.

I comment the pros will tell you, a paint job is the easy part, a good paint job is all about how well you prepaired the part before painting.

I agree, many people will tell you there is no rust, but they don't tell you that there is a ton of repairs under the paint. If this is going to be your Z car to be proud of and invest money you will not get back, make sure you have a very solid car to strart. $3,000 will get you the car and all the motor you need. Installing a 350 is easy, he has not even done the hard part, getting the electric to work... If its a very soild car, good paint and clean lines, a fresh motor.. I would pay the $3,000. You can fly to Arazoina, rent a car and trailer and bring home a rust free Z for less than $2,000.

I'm restoring a 78, Lets see, It’s a 95 LT1 from a Z28 with a T56. I removed the oil cooler, routed the air intake to the front of the radiator, Removed the EGR valve, hugger headers, mounted the PCM under the dash, relocated the A/C compressor, sand blasted and repainted. Its in and running, Still needs some adjusting, I have the tuner cat software program.. As for the body, New gauges, fuel pump, dash cap, steering wheel, larger sway bars, urethane bushings, Brake overhaul, New head liner, carpet, floor mats, tons of sound deading mats, new door window etc rubber kit, Springs and struts. Need to finish the bodywork and paint... Than I will tweak the motor and move forward with a head and cam upgrade, maybe some nitrous just because...

You can make and install your brackets if you want to make the effort. I made these in my garage and bought pulleys at NAPA. It was somewhat of a pain to get it all lined up. Anyway here is two pics of how I went about it. I used the stock motor a/c, I still have not hooked it up so I can be no help there... I'm sure willing to help out if anyone has any questions.. Belt length, pulley size etc...