hunterzed

I don't know for sure but I'll ask him about the camber and offset and get back to you. I do know that he still used spacers to fit +40 offset 18"x8" rims. Not sure how big but they look like 25mm spacers. Steve

Go to a toy shop that sells plastic models that you put together yourself and buy the red translucent paint that they sell. Paint it on the inside and it'll look like new. I've done this a few times when I've restored cars in the past. Works a treat.

The S13 stub axle bolts straight on if you don't want to weld. I posted some pics of a mates car that he did the conversion on earlier in this thread. Gives you different choices for brakes as well.

Could you do something like the LD28 intake with a water/air intercooler as part of that and would the cross member stop you using a centrally located dump pipe?

I like how they have done the door handles as well. Couple of nice touches. Plenty of thought went into that car. That one of the better 280zx rear ends that I've seen done. I like it.

Those last 2 are from this guy in Europe. http://speedfreak.nu/forums/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=38678 Some very clean fab work.

Ducati have changed their engine from a screamer configuration to the 'BIG BANG' setup that everyone is talking about. It has to do with the balance of the bike in relation to getting the power to the ground when leaning over in the turns. As you can probably guess there is a very fine balancing act for motorbikes between when and how the power is delivered compared to the lean angle of the bike. If you can get the power down smoothly then you can start to power the bike up earlier when exiting corners. Ducati are going back to the double pulse configuration which is like having 2 V-twins bolted togeter with 2 cylinders firing at the same time as each other but I don't know about the spacing between firing of opposing pairs. There are benefits for something that is as light as a motorbike where just pushing your leg out to the side changes the roll center. However they are not doing this to gain more torque or power. They are only doing this to change the way the power is delivered and as Paul has said there are no tangible benefits to doing this in a vehicle as heavy as a car where the engine alone is nearly as heavy as a complete motorbike. Just my 2 cents.

I'd be interested but only if they did a version in Kilometers as well for us guys that know how to count in metric.

Well I said they just look like it. Its hard to tell when you can't actuall see how the strut attaches to the hub. I see what you mean by the rear hubs. Is there a reason (other than availability maybe) that you would just use the Z31 rear hubs?

It might be an old tread but perfect timing. Thanks guys.

They just look like S13 front struts with the vented disc and the Z31 rears. Thats all you need to do the conversion.

I own 3 280zx's. 1 x 1980 (reciprocating ball) and 2 x 1982 (power rack and pinion). One of the later cars is off the road for a full rebuild but I have recently driven both the other cars hence can do a back to back comparison. I'm not a professional driver by any means and both of the running cars have not been freshened in the suspension for a few years. I bought all 3 cars around September last year and both running cars were tram-lining over undulations in the road surface and would wander on a straight section of road as well as being twitchy and unpredictable in the corners. Definately not like you'd expect from these cars. All I did to fix the problem was to correctly adjust the front wheel bearing pre-load and now they both drive and handle beautifully. I didn't adjust either car very much to get a big change in attitude through the steering. I checked that the rest of the steering was in good order as well. I don't notice too much difference between the two types of steering for the type of driving that I do which is as a daily driver on the road but I would say, that the rack and pinion seems to give a more confident feel through the steering wheel. This of course could be as much to do with the suspension in each car which is not identical as it has different brands of shocks but still have factory springs in each. So the test really is inconclusive unless I spend the time to change suspension on each car to get a better comparison. Not likely to happen though. If you like I can get some dimensions of the moving parts like the diameter of the main shaft and tie rod ends etc so you can compare it to the earlier S30 racks or to other racks. I won't be able to do this until I get home on Tuesday.

Will these sumps fit a 81-83 280zx as well with the steering rack at the rear of the cross member?

Good work guys. It'll be well recieved. Especially if you include a 280zx version of the kit too.

If you're on a fairly tight budget for this then you could try something like Wax did on his RB30Dett build and get a nissan patrol sump and do a mild modification like he did. I'm sure you could get some of these over to the states for not too much and they are cheap cheap cheap here in OZ. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=154593

One question is, if you cut the targa roof off a 280zx would you graft it on so you use your original window frames or would you also graft on the 'B' Pillars to add strength but lose the pillarless look of the original Z. If you fit a roll cage and tie in the strut towers you should be able to graft the roof on above the drip rails and maybe add some frame rails to the roof just inside the drip rails so you can have the strength in the roof as well as have the pillarless window line of the early Z's. It would also be easier to match up the difference in the roof lines as well. Especially if you take it all the way back to the hatch rather than just cut it in line with the 'B' pillar. Having driven both slick and targa roof I'd have to say that the targa is a whole lotta fun on a nice dry day but unless the seals are reasonably fresh it is a wet pain in the butt when its raining. The next thing to think about, is how to tie in the windscreen and window surrounds with the targa tops. Ie. The crome moulding. I thought about shaving the drip rails on my 280zx but it would be a hassle to tie in the moulding strips to match.

I haven't gone as far as buying the parts yet and doing a side by side comparison but you can get the hubs off a z31 to bolt straight on to the 280zx and it will give you 5 stud as well as vented rotors. Without the parts in front of me I'm not sure if you need to swap the trailing arms as well as the hubs and I'm pretty sure the CV axles bolt straight up but the uni joint axles don't. But as I said without the parts right in front of me to compare I can't say for certain. I do know this has been done before to convert to 5 stud and the axles on the Z31 hubs don't taper down like the S130 does so they are a little stronger.

I like the clean lines you ended up with deja. Looks great.

Here are a couple of the pics. S13 hub installed Adapters for the z32 calipers With coil overs installed And this is the car that they are on.

Here are some pics of a guy from my local area that has done the S13 swap so he could get better brakes and coil overs. Hope this helps you guys. Plenty of pics. http://newcastlezeds.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1184213091/80#80

Which is why I said that he could probably get them sent straight to you instead of going through OZ. He imports them so I'm sure he could get them sent to anywhere.

Ben from Otomoto here in OZ can get them to you. He imports them from Japan. He could get them sent straight to you. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,4072.15.html

Couldn't you graft the roof off a 280zx onto the 260 and brace the A and B pillars to match?

Yeah the pic is just flipped. You can see the bonnet catch at the back of the engine. I had a double take at that one too. I wonder what the manifold at the top is though. Oh and if you get composite doors made up, I recommend that you use kevlar instead. Then you can flex the doors and they just pop back into shape. Much more forgiving than fibreglass or carbon. I used kevlar for all the panels on my 4x4 race truck and they lasted through a lot of hard work. lol

black dragon auto. Thats the only place I know of.