VinhZXT

Racer, I still have one that will take the N/A drive shaft. I also have the one that takes the turbo driveshaft but the tail housing was chewed up by my driveshaft. I have shorten the turbo driveshaft for this swap but I can't seem to find the tail housing for my tranny. So I have everything sitting here. Let me know if you interest in buying everything. BTW I can't just swap the tail housing from one trans to the other. They are not the same.

No need to break a sweat over this guys. Both swaps require the same difficulties like I mentioned. The LSx swap will require a little more wiring but you don't have to worry about messing with the PCM afterward as compare to the carb. You still need to tune the carb. I don't know to tune carb and I have a friend with an SBC with carb and it never run right and still does until now. Plus the carb drinks about 10 MPG. That's why I stay away from carb The basic stuffs still the same for both swaps like: Engine mounts, trans mount, cooling, AC/Heat, driveshaft mod, tach and speedo, Alt wiring, shifter. Did I miss anything else. If you don't do any swap then you don't really know how difficult or easy it is. You just have to dive in and experience it. To be successful don't be afraid of taking chances. GL on your decision.

OK guys.. I've seen many of us have this problem and including me. So here is my little write up. Hope it helps everything and if this exist somewhere then the admin can delete it. How to fix 280Z flasher and turn signals intermittent problems. In an attempt to wiring the turn signal and blinker system from the Z into my C5’s cluster I need to splice in the correct wires from the Z. I can’t really do this because my turn signal and the blinkers are not even working. I look thru the wiring diagram for the flasher and turn signals in a Z and I figured out how everything works. Refer to this wiring diagram for a better understanding: http://autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d801d1d93.gif 1. The Blinker switch/ciruit: The Blinker switch/circuit serves 2 purposes. 1. Direct ignition voltage from the GRN wire to the GRN/YEL wire. The GRN/YEL wire is fed to a flasher (Turn Signal Flasher, right above the steering column) unit and out to the WHT wire. The WHT wire feeds the common wire on the Turn Signal Switch. 2. When the Blinker switch is pressed it disconnects #1 ignition from the GRN/YEL wire and connects 12V from the GRN/BLU wire to both the GRN/BLK (left signal light) and GRN/RED (right signal light) wires. Note the GRN/BLU wire is the output of another flasher (Blinker flasher, on the upper left behind the dash). The input to this flasher is RED/WHT wire and it is a 12V constant feed from the fuse box. 2. The Turn Signal Switch: The turn signal switch just direct 12v voltage from the WHT wire to either the GRN/BLK (Left signal light) or GRN/RED (Right signal light). As you can see both the turn signals and the blinkers are getting different power sources. So I treat them separately and I trouble shoot one at a time. I check the turn signal first by measuring the voltage at the turn signal switch (the WHT wire) and I have 12V. However when I push the switch up or down I get 0V. Sometimes I get 7V without turning on the signal. So I measure the voltage at the GRN/YEL wire at the big black connectors. On one side I get 7V and the other is 12V. So there is my problem. I cut the GRN/YEL wire on both sides of the black connector and put a direct wire between and my turn signals work. Problem #1 solved. Now I move to the blinker switch and it was the same thing. In short what I did was I cut all the power wires that go to that black connector and put a wire in between for each of them and everything worked. I can see on all the wires, after stripping the insulations, the green corrosion stuffs are on them. Here are the wires that I had to cut and reconnect: 1. GRN/YEL – 12V going to the Turn Signal flasher 2. GRN – 12V ignition input thru the blinker switch and out to the GRN/YEL 3. GRN/BLU – Constant 12V input to blinker switch to feed both left and right blinkers 4. GRN/BLK – 12V output to left turn signal 5. GRN/RED – 12V output to right turn signal. OK I think that should helps a lot of people solve this stupid problem. Good luck Vinh Here is a picture of the wiring connector in question: BTW the picture showed the wires I temporarily hooked up to test out the signals. It worked after I bypass the connector for the GRN and GRN/YEL wires.

Paz8, Very good point about the seperate power. The flashers and the signals get the power thru the flasher switch. So if the flasher switch is not connected then they all won't work.

Have you solved your signal light problem? If not I see why you have problem because your other post "Can't find my flasher switch" lol. Yeah without the flasher switch connected the blinker won't work. I am in the middle of wiring the Z wirings into the C5 cluster and just studied how this whole thing work, brake light, running light and signal and flasher. If you still have problem PM me. V.

For earlier Z the brake system is very simple. There is a 12V constant going into one of the wire of the brake pedal switch and the other goes straight to the tail lights. Can't get any simpler than that. Do me a favor and get your volt meter out check the voltage on both wires from the brake pedal switch. If you get 12V coming in and also get 12V coming out when press on the brake pedal this means everything is OK. Then do a continuity check for that wire from the brake pedal to the light bulb. If the continuity checks OK then you have a corroded connection in the power source leading to the brake pedal switch. Check to make sure your fuse is clamped on both ends good. I had this problem on one of my Z awhile back. There is like 6V coming out when press on the brake pedal. I found out that there was a corrosion at one of the connector. So when there is a load on the line it won't provide enough juice. GL. Sorry this is refered to the brake light problem. The signal lights is another animal. Check the flasher switch and the clean the signal switch contacts at the steering column for this problem.

Before wiring anything you still need to understand how everything work electrically in the car. Even with the painless wring you still need to completely understand how everything works before you can wire it up. If you understand how everything works then why not find out what really wrong and fix it. So the bottom line is find out exactly what is wrong first. There aren't many relays in your Z. Maybe 3 or 4 the most on the passenger side. Relay rarely goes bad. I suggest you start checking all the connectors associate with the main power feed into the relays and fuse box. Your car doesn't have 1 relay that controls all the electrical system in the car. So it has to be the main power feed either to the ignition switch or the main power feed to the fuse box that is not making good connection that caused the lost of power. I suggest you check the connection for the fusible links, check the ignition switch contacts. Behind the carpet on the passenger side there is a big connector that feed the power from the fusible links to the iginition switch and fuse box. Check to see there is no corrosion there. Good luck.

Mike, The first thing you should check is the O2 sensor. Try to swap the O2 sensors from one side to the other and see your problem moves. I had this problem with my LS1 swap but it was a different problem. I had to rewire my wiring harness at the PCM and I crossed the wires control the coils on the passenger side bank. The result was that bank was spitting raw fuel down the exhaust manifold and caused huge back fires. Good luck Vinh

Do you mind telling me what you are modifying? I am interest to see what you plan to do with that kit since I am very familiar with it. Thanks Vinh

Neither do I. This is the first time I tried using the chicken net on my fiberglass project. Man this thing was so easy to work with and easy to cut. I put 2 layers of fiberglass mat soak with resin and it is very tough. I just use the grinder to grind the high spots down a bit and it looks and feel pretty close to what I want. I think I can do better the next time around. For now I will leave it like that and move on to work on my exhaust system. When I come back to it later I might have some better ideas and might redo it. Thanks Vinh

Difficult shouldn't be the question here. It's how much? As you can see the LS1 drivetrain and EFI system is not cheap. But then again building up an SBC motor isn't cheap either. How familiar are you with carburetor and tuning it? How good are you with wirings and computer? Both swaps have their degree of difficulties. Some people don't like to mess with wirings and computer, some don't like to mess with carburetors. You should study both swaps in all aspects and pick the one that best for your familiarity which helps you maintain the car better. I have to say that I know nothing about carburetor so that's why I stayed away from it. Also I've heard that carburetors need rebuild once in a while and they drink gas like water. I've done 2 LS1 swaps and I think it's just a piece of cake. Plus JCI sells the mounts so you are basically can get the car up running in a week. Yes some experts from here can get an SBC swap up and running in less then a week too. So good luck on picking your swap. Just my opinion. No harm intended.

Here are some update pictures of my dash progress: This is after some rough sanding of the fiberglass. Still need a thin layer of magic bondo later on. The chicken net works pretty damn good with the fiberglass. Here is what I started out with: And here is what I got:

This is on a ZXs, I am not sure the bolts are different in the Zs. How many of you have made this mistake before? Using the brake caliper bolts in place of the knuckle arm to strut housing? I had made this mistake like 3 times. The brake caliper bolts are a tad longer than the knuckle arm to strut housing bolts. Everything this happened I had to replace the whole strut housing.

Al, I can see yours is much differ than mine. The area behind the seats on your car is very small. I don't think you can put any a convertible top on your car. The bow frame will sit on the trunk when you fold the top down. I am going to give some more thought into modifying this TR7 frame to fit my Z.

Sho, I talked to John Washington last week. He is working on making a convertible top for the VRs. He said the top should fit the convertible Zs also. I also have a TR7 bow frame and haven't got time to modifying it for my ZX yet. So I am waiting for John's top and hope it fits my ZX convertible also. The car looks good BTW. BARACU, Where in PA are you at? I would like to check the dimensions of a convertible Z to see they are the same as my ZX. If so then I have a good chance of getting John's convertible top. Here is mine:

Careless, I am not in this situation yet but if I were I would leave the car on jack stands and fix the frame rail first. With the frame rails at least attach to the fender wells and the support of the 2 upper frames it would be strong enough to put it on a rottiserie. Then you can complete the bottom welding and connect the frame rails to the floor supports. The upper arms/rails (support the strut towers) seem to be a lot stronger (structurely) compare to the lower frame rails and I think those alone should be able to support the empty shell.

Lunar, Very nice... I could have fit the C5 cluster into your dash if I had that in mind. what type of gauges do you plan to use and how do you plan to fit them in that dash?

DavyZ, Oh my bad. The "CH" in Vietnamese pronouce like "J". Bob, The side skirts I got from Jim Cook Racing. The front is the MSA type 2 front spoiler which I modified the hell out of it. The JCR side skirts are not the same as the MSA type 2 side skirts. I don't think they make them any more. I see them in the catalog but when I order them MSA sent me the wrong one. You can see I molded everything into the car. Believe it or not after 9 years everything is still holding up pretty good. No cracks. I guess I did a good job with the fiber glass lol. Check out the other thread about the 3 piece spoiler. I have some info in there how to modify the front MSA spoiler to look better. Good luck. Vinh

DavyZ, haha I am no Jap. I am VietNamese btw. Yup what a coincident. I finished my car at the end of 1997 and then the C5 came out. The butt of my car looks a little bit like the C5 rear. Did anybody reallize that? hehe PS. I got those Riken rims from Ross back then.. lol .. and he still remember me now

Woodboxer, Sorry I didn't take any picture while I was doing the rear on my 81. That was my first Z that I made a lot of mods to it without knowing the results lol. For the sides I put a big piece of sheet metal to cover from the top to the bottom. That piece extend from the arc of the quarter back to the rear roll pan, covering the horizonal line and the hole for the rear bumper all at once. This will give it a nice round look if you stand from the back. Again I used lots of fiberglass mat and resin to fill up all the gaps, dimples etc. Then grind, grind and fill with bondo and sand sand and sand. I used something called "side spats" on the bottom of the rear rockers to compliment my side skirt. I think it will look find without the side spats if you don't have the side skirts. Try it and let me know how it turns out. Good luck Vinh

I did the knocking down method before and after the car was painted I can see those spots are lower than the rest of the body now. I didn't paint this car so I don't know how much prep did the painter did. So if you go with this method make sure you lay heavy primer in those spots so that when you put the paint on it the bondo won't suck the paint down. Good luck. Vinh

Jon, Not only you have to rust proof it you should think about building a piece of mud guard to cover that big gap between the fender lip and the flare. GL

Woodboxer, On the ZXs it's not the back that you should worry about. You can put sheet metal bridging from the bottom of the tail lights down to the lower valence. I remember when I did mine I had to smash the lower valence in to get a nice contour. The biggest problem is making the sides look presentable. Check my web site for my Yellow ZXT for more pictures. GL Vinh

Thanks Grumpy and everyone for the replies. I contacted the seller and will come to check out the motor. His reserve price is 5500. I have a guy that rented my garage and he is building an 8 second car for someone and it's all motor. So I think he should know his stuffs. I will ask him to check out the motor for me. Thanks again Vinh

Hi All, I just found this add on Ebay and the guy is in my neighborhood somewhere. I need some experts on BBC to tell me how much this engine worth and should I get it or not? Here is the info on the engine: On the left rear deck, behind the head , on the block the #'s are : 14015445 On the center deck on the block in the rear , are the #'s and letters : G 2 P On the right rear deck of the block , behind the head are #'s : E278 On the rear of the engine in the bell housing area it has : M IV Hi Perf 445 On the sides of the engine it has : GM 7.4 LG On the heads are a few #'s , they are : D 208 GM1 CFD G272990 On the valve covers that came on the engine it says : 2-22-73 3965775 ( which leads me to believe that this engine was built in 1973 ? ) On the front of the engine block , above the timing chain cover : TLO7X CH8 There are also stickers on the factory valve covers that read : Special Parts Notice This part has been specifically designed for off-highway application only . Since the installation of this part may either impart your vehicles emission control performance or be uncertified under current Motor Vehicle Safety Standards . It should not be installed in a vehicle used on any street or highway . Additionally , any such application could adversely affect the warranty coverage on such an on-street or highway vehicle . 2-22-73 3965775 Here is the Ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140076550360&fromMakeTrack=true Thank you much. Vinh