iistevo84ii

Ill make this as breif as I possibly can..... My 1976 280z is my #1 favorite of all the cars I've ever owned, except..... the three speed auto has to go!!! Almost 4,000rpms at 75mph is getting old, plus the tranny makes my car slow!! So what transmission to choose?? 4 spd probably would be the easiest swap, but I want a 5spd. It is my understanding that late model z's and zx's were the only ones to have a 5spd. So that leads to ratios. My car has a R200 with what I assume has a 3.54 in it. If I wanted to stay naturally aspirated with the L motor, what 5spd would best complement that 3.54 ratio??? So my list of needed parrts consists of (feel free to add if i left something out): Tranny clutch Flywheel master slave pedal or whole assembly?? metal hose that connects the master an slave Drive shaft??? I was under the impression that I would not need to get a new one no matter what z or zx tranny I used. Crossmember-same as the auto?? This will probably be a Jan-Feb project for me. Any help is apreiciated, and my wallet is open, so if you have something I need drop me a pm!! Thanks!

This thread is SIMPLY FOR PERSONAL INPUT AND ADVICE ONLY!!! I'm having some trouble deciding what I want to do with my car perfomance wise. For the past 4 months I've been contemplating all my options, and I'm still torn!! My budget will be ~$5,000 give or take a grand or so. My car has a stock L28e with 3 speed auto, and whatever I choose WILL BE A MANUAL!!! Options: 1.) SBC 350 with WC T5 or T56 Problems: Too much power for daily driveability??? Gas prices?? The good: crate engine, probably easiest swap 2.) Rb25det with 5 speed Problems: Could be more work than I want to deal with The good: Reliable, exotic 3.) Rebuild L28et 5 speed tranny Problems: First solo rebuild, reliability?? The good: "classic" / exotic 4.) Ls1 t56 combo Problems: Cost, too much power again?? The good: No rebuild needed, kind of exotic Its just really hard to decide so all Im asking is for imput and advice. Dont tell me to SEARCH, because Im not asking for imformation, Im just asking for Personal preferance and input. Thanks!!

In my quest of narrowing down what exactly I want to do with my car (performance wise), I came accross a bump in the road. Many of you talk about how you rarely use 1st gear in your T56/V8 combo, and I also realize many of these are HIGH HP engines. Well one of my ideas was to buy a crate engine (many of you may rather build an engine, and its not that I could't, but having the peace of mind of proffesional assembly and warrenty really impress me). The one I was looking at was a fairly stock engine puting out about 290hp/330tq. THis is where my question comes in.... If my memory serves me right, alot of the T56's where matted to cars with 350+ hp and tq. So with keeping the R200 (3.54) and using that engine, would that combo work?? What Im saying is, would the gearing be "good" with that amount of HP/tq, or would I be better off with a different tranny?? Any light that you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated. Other advice/comments are welcome too.

Here is the deal. Found out some of my wiring in the dash was melted, so I mad the dash pulled out. Although the dash cap is nice, I'd rather have a nice dashboard without the cap. So, I just got the new Motorsport catalog, but am not willing to shell out $900 for a new dash. Also somebody has a complete dash with electronics in the "for sale" section, however I haven't got any reply from him. If anyone can help me out, I will reward you gernerously!!! Thanks PS-There aren't any on ebay either.

All bulbs were replaced. My car does not have AC. I pulled everything out, the entire console, cleaned everything (even the connections). I just dont get it. Where would I find a wiring diagram??

Well Im new to the whole Z "scene", in fact Ive only had a Z for a few months. Its a 1976 280z Coupe Auto. I have a couple problems. When I bought the car a few things never worked, the turn signals, hazard lights, and defroster light. So first the turn signal problem.... All the exterior lights work, however they don't flash. The interior signals dont work either, nor do the harards, or the little light in the hazard switch. THe brights DO work though. Defroster..... The rear defroster works (kind of), however the light in the dash that says "rear defrost" dosent work. Other possible related problems... The CD player (obviously after market) doesn't remember the stations. Everytime the car is turned off then on again you have to reprogram the stations in, which is pointless becasue you'll just loose them when you turn the car off. Also in the shifter there is a light that lights up the gear indicator (PRND21), that doesn't work either. So today since I had no plans, I thought I'd pull out the console and the blinker/high beam switch. I replaced all the bulbs with new ones, and used about 2 cans of brake cleaner to clean all the conections and switches. Feeling very confident that I had solved all my problems I assembled everything back together. Guess what?? Thats right..... I fixed nothing. Everything that didnt work before, still doesn't work. I also replaced ALL the fuses and the flashers just a couple weeks ago. So what do I do now??? Im stumped and kinda frustrated right now. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it, and if anyone wants to physically come help that would be even better, but I'm looking for any help I can get. On the plus side, I got under the car to see what diff I had because I was curious. Yup R200, I was so happy.

So Ive been throwing around the idea of putting a new engine in my car sometime in the future, and have pretty much decided its going to be either a l28et or chevy small block. I then began to think..... The mounts on a 70-78 Z are different from that of a 79-83 ZX, part of the reason the JTR mounting kit works only on the Z and not the ZX correct?? So then if one was thinking of doing a l28et swap, they would need to have custon mounts made because the ZX mounts don't work in a Z. HOWEVER!! Since the engines are all the same (l28), one could just bolt the Z mounts to the turbo ZX motor, and not fabricated mounts would be needed. Obviously Im a little confused, so if someone could help me out I'd apreciate it.

The break down.....

Cool!!! Its worth a check though anyway.... Thanks for the help

(Puts on newbie flame suit....) I recently (two weeks ago) bought a 1976 280z from on of the guys that had it posted in the for sale section. Now that I have the car, it is my natural habbit to begin to find out any/all information about the car (the detailed stuff that is). Ive been looking in the "archives" about the r-200 diff. I came across a huge list of what year a make Datsun's came with the r-200. The list said that 75-76 280z had 3.54 r-200, however it did not specify what transmission, and all the other makes did! So I guess that brings me to two questions. My title says my car is a 1976, and the car is an automatic. Did they even make a auto in 1976, or is my car maybe a 77 or 78 posing as a 76'?? Second question, if my car is a '76, did all the 280z's in that year come with a r-200 reguardless of auto or stick?? Sorry if these questions seem dumb, im new to the z world.

I searched as best I could, and found a slight amount of imformation. How much head room is there in a 280z?? I have a 280zx right now with Eclipse seats, and I fit just right. However being 6'4" I was wondering if I could fit in a 280z with stock seats. From my understanding, 240z's actually have MORE head room then any Z, but I just cant see that seing that they are the smallest of the Z family. Can somebody please help me out here??

FYI its not good to "vent" at newbies, thats how you lose members. But nevermind that... I agree that seats are a personal preference, however why would I want to buy seats to find out they dont fit in my car. Then what?? The point of forums I thought was to collect and share information for the "greater good". Maybe Im off track or out of line.....

The search function on the forum is actuallt quite lowsy Im sorry to say. Is there a better option then the T5 that would be relatively cheap. Ill search, but sometimes its easier to just get a straight answer.

So what are the differences here?? I made the assumption that my 79zx has the same tranny as the later zxt's. Is that correst?? What kind of power can they handle?? Would it be safe to run 300-350rwhp as a Daily Driver?? If someone knows of any good posts covering this Id appreciate it.

After looking through some posts about seats I found some usefull information, but some questions were left unanswered.... I want to get sport/racing seats for my car, nothing too fancy or expesive, and Im not going to shell out $$$$$ for a name like Sparco or whatever (although they do make quality products). I would like them to be leather, and this is what I found. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33701&item=7953331458&rd=1 Now this is where I have issues. Ive read that if you are tall, raising the seat can be bad. Well Im atleast 6'4". an inch or so raise and my head will hit the roof. However, I currently have eclipse seats, which I believe raise the seat too correct?? So perhaps there would be no difference in height with these seats??? I also read that width seems to be an issue, however I was reading that in terms of a 280z NOT a 280zx (which I have), so are there any differences?? What is the general consensis of the "best seat", I dont want to spend more than $700, and it MUSt be black leather. Help??