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Just bought the FAST EZ-EFI kit from Z Car Depot for my 1983 280zx. Put it on my car the other day and it runs worse than it ever has. Car will idle but is very hard to start and really rough when it's running. Using any more than 1/4 throttle will stall the engine. When I am able to rev the engine it's terribly rough. Feels like or an ignition timing issue. I know that when I removed the old EFI harness I disconnected a connector going into the distributor and the new harness did not have a connection to plug back in to the dizzy. Since adding the EZ EFI, ignition timing has retarded itself about 10 degrees at idle. Advancing timing does not help the issue. I have setup the ECU with all the correct parameters listed with the info from zcardepot. ECU doesn't throw any codes, all readings seem mostly normal for not being tuned. It feels like it could be a vacuum leak or vacuum not hooked up correctly as well however my vacuum readings are perfectly normal. Has anyone else has this issue? I will add pictures of the engine in it's current state along with the connections that were left unplugged when adding the EZ EFi kit, Including the oil temp sensor. Does this stuff really get left unplugged?

So I found an '82 280zx in beautiful condition for having sat out in snow, rain, sleet, hail, sun, etc. for almost 12 years. I contacted the owner and he told me he had no plans of restoring it and will give it to me for $1500. There's almost no surface rust and the engine still runs after all this time. I am planning on completely restoring it then in the future modding it as I make it through college and stuff. There is a slight misfiring issue whenever it starts, but the owner says he thinks it's spark plugs, but to be safe i'm replacing the spark plugs, ignition coil, fuel filter, oil filter, and ignition distributor rotor to get it running smoother. The driver side seat cover is torn, so I will also be getting new seat covers and also probably a dash cap since the old one has cracks all over it. I will then use that to learn manual (I know I'm a disappointment, I've wanted to learn for so long, just never had the chance to). I will post some pics of the car so you all can see the current condition and give updates as I find out more. The plan is to have the car in 2 months, then get it back running within that month, then drive it for a week or so to learn stick then I will set it in the garage and start the internal restoration. If anyone has any recommendations or if you find anything in the images, feedback would be very appreciated.

I have this lock looking thing on my driver side fender. I can't find pictures of this online or anything on it. It looks well done like it came out of the factory like this though. https://imgur.com/a/K8w7Wfr

Quick update for anyone wondering about these seats I have a 1983 280ZX and I threw in some corbeau GTS II seats with shaved bases and a corbeau dual locking slider on the driverside and a single locking slider, on the passenger side. and corbeau bolt in seat brackets. I'm 6 foot tall but have a 30" inseam so you can imagine my torso is a bit taller than normal. Anyways they sat higher than stock and I ran out of head room and had to drive kind of slouched with the T-Top sunshade removed. To fix the passenger side I removed the sliding rail and bolted the bracket straight to the seat, reinstalled and I now have plenty of room, even with the sunshade installed. I will be doing to the same to the driverside. But removing the slider makes it difficult to install the rear-outer bolt but its doable especially if you have small arms. Other than that, great seats that work with with my 2" 4pt harnesses.

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but had to make an account as I'm dying to figure out why I keep seeing photos online of 280zx's with what appear to be stock bumpers without any "bumps" for lack of a better term. Almost all s130's (including mine, 1979 2 seater) seem to have two bumps on both the front and rear bumpers, however these few that don't (I think) look much better. I also think the rear bumper on these "flat" versions might be smaller (protrude less). I have a theory that this may have something to do with the cars being JDM/RHD/not North American models but I haven't found anything to back this up. If anyone has an explanation or a place where these bumpers (or similar) can be purchased I would love to hear! I have attached some photos that I've found on the internet of the "flat" examples. Thanks! - Jim

im going to paint my 83 zx with t-tops. the last time i did it 10yrs ago i knew that when i took the weather stripping off a second time that i may have no choice but to replace them. the weather stripping that attaches to the body and runs from the doors all around the t-tops is not available, new or used (that i have found). was wondering if anyone has came up with a solution for this? maybe universal something? its a pretty unique piece. i hope there is someone that has figured this out, i obviously cant just throw the car away cause i cant find weather stripping. thanks for any help.

looking for a good set of weather stripping for a 280zx t-top car. i really need the pieces that mount to the car and go all the way up and around the t-top. i wouldnt mind also if someone has the weather stripping that goes on the doors. please let me know if you have or know where to get something. i know of a few places that have them for the older z's but the 280zx ( s130) is not as common. thank you

In need of a complete, working 1982/1983 Datsun 280ZX Turbo distributor/ignitor. I am located in 85120 I'm willing to hvw one shipped I need ASAP thank you.

My search for a good car ended up being pretty quick. I wanted a car that had a flawless interior, very little rust, but really did not worry too much about the condition of the engine or transmission because those are being upgraded soon. I lucked out and found a decent candidate, it was recently restored by an old navy guy but he wanted to let it go so he could fund a new corvette. It had very little rust, from what i could tell, the interior was in acceptable shape and the best part, It Ran! The only noticeable things wrong with it were some major dents in the frame rails from clueless mechanics jacking the car up over the last 30 years and a dull grinding noise when letting the clutch out which i am assuming is just the pilot bearing. I drove up to meet him the weekend after seeing the posting and ended up buying the car, this was late June of 2016, I was able to drive it the 250 miles home that day... kind of. My phone does not hold its battery very well and i was depending on the GPS to get me home, before i even made it to my state line, my phone died. This ordinarily would not have been a problem, but neither of the plugs in the car would work. I ended up stopping at a gas station to get a paper map and traveled like a caveman the rest of the way home. Then, the second i hit my county line, the clutch pedal just dropped to the floor and would not un-engage. I wrestled it into neutral and rolled into the nearest gas station. When i popped the hood i noticed the clutch reservoir was bone dry. Luckily they had some dot-3 for me to fill it back up and it lasted until i made it home. I would find the source of the issue later.

I have an 82 coupe and the raised section above the gas tank is rotted out in the rear corners. I know you can get floor pans and rails but are there any options for the rear (hatch) pan, besides a good donor body or hand hammering all that stuff out? If any one is getting ready to send a car to the yard and has a solid rear pan the're willing to cut out and ship, please let me know. I threw a ISO over in wanted to buy, but figured I would drop a line here in the ZX forum. Thanks for the input.

Any one parting out a S130 with a decent floor? I could really use the raised section of the rear floor above the gas tank (just between the channels). Mine is shot in the corners and I really don't want to hand hammer those corner bends. I'm out in Montana for the time being and stuff is scarce, found a solid wrecked car locally but the kid thinks he's sitting on gold :/. I can find floor pans for the zx but haven't been able to find that rear pan anywhere. I have a business so you should be able to ship freight. Here's some visual aid, round section is the access panel for the sending unit, spare tire well would be to the far right just out of view. A little help would be greatly appreciated!! zip is 59802 Thanks!

Hello Hybrid Z I own an 83' 280zx with a 2jz vvti, its going through a restoration now, I have most parts for the restoration, just missing on suspensions and wheels and it would be done. I was going to go with the techno toy tuning front coil kit and s13 for the rear, but a friend of mine, told me about accuair, and I kinda kept thinking about them, they looked cool and the idea grew on me. I contacted accuair and they said they don't have a kit for a 280zx just 300zx (90's) and s14. I saw two people with 280zx accuairs, but unfortunately they didn't reply to me when I asked them how they did it, so I thought I would get help from here, maybe someone knows who did this build or not. I'm wondering if I get s14 kit the rear would be bolt on, just worried about the front , and I dont know if this would be of relevance but i'll go with watanabe F 16 x 8.5 -5 R 16 x 9.0 -13 . I also thought of going through the the techno toy suspensions and s13/14 then change the springs to bags maybe..? Thank you

I am looking to get a custom bumper / air dam for my 82 s130 non turbo. Any one know where I can get that or who I can contact? I am ok with different types of materials. Company names company links or forum posts helps. I am in the Nor Cal area thanks, -M

Been doing some digging, to start piecing together this project build over the next decade or two. Found some interesting things here for everyone with an S130 or other models. Seems like they have 5 lug hubs, and other fun things to make swapping easier.

Hey Zers, My Dad passed a little over a year ago and in doing so, told me to take care of his old Z. its an 82 280zx n/a. well,i didn't no to much about cars at the time but i know he said to keep the engine that was in it (didn't have to be stock). so after much reading and tons of "old Mechanic" advice,iv since rebuilt the entire engine. here is what i have done "surprisingly my self" so far.... Head (work done by Rebello) - N42 head, bigger valves,port,polished,some work done to the galleys for coolant and oil. Valve Train - Custom cam 512 Lift, 300 Duration, Stiff springs, new Rocker Arms/Lash pads.new timing sprocket/chain. Block- 0.60 over,JE Flat Top Pistons,Lightened and balanced crankshaft,new Barrings. CR- just at or slightly under 11:1 on 93 Octane, Timing *19 Int and *38 Full at WOT. (No Ping!) 220-240 psi Ignition- Modified Distributor (New Dizzy and Dizzy shaft), Full MSD 6AL-2 Ignition with Blaster-2 Coil Intake- Triple 44 Mikuni Carburetors Exhaust- MSA 3-2-1 Headers into a 2.75 inch,no Cat,Dynojet Ultra flow muffler. Drive Train- Auto to N/A 1983 5 speed,Aluminum flywheel/Drive-shaft, R200 4.11 Differential from 200sx Other- Turbo oil pump,new alternator, new battery,New *Champion 4 core Aluminum Radiator, Tires- Rear : 245-60-14 fronts are 205-60-14 -- Well that's pretty much it.i gutted the dash,all A/C HVAC stuff,no spare tire,12lb race seats,11lb CF hood, Custom Aluminum bumpers (look stock),all digital oil,fuel.air ratio,volts gauges.Steel pillar louvers from 81' ZX as well as the 130mph speedo. I havent had it on a dyno yet for max tuning or ran the track but it takes my buddies mildly modified 86' FoxBody Stang all day until i hit 135-140 mph,then wind resistance goes to s**t..but i can max out my speed around 6,800 in 5th gear,7,000 with some tuning im sure. 0-60 times are crazy,1st hits 38mph like intantly and 2nd hits 58mph not much slower,3rd hits around 80 pretty fast,4th is like my OLD 3rd but tops around 110-115 (speedo isnt to accurate around 100 so) 5th pulls nice all the way to redline. Post comments and let me know what you think. Estamated HP? P.S- Going from my auto gear of 3.54 to the 200sx diffy of 4.11 was an incredibly large difference in acceleration,car sounds like a F*****g Indie car lol! also vary streetable with the big cam and lower geared diff. wasn't to fun on the street with the 3.54 and that cam profile.

Hello Everyone! My name is Tate, I'm 16 years old, and this my 1983 S130 Turbo! I purchased the car 6 months ago with my own money that I had saved up from my job at a local pizza parlor. I saw the Z on craigslist for $2k and I had to get it. When I first got it...I knew nothing about how a car worked or what the hell a turbo was. The previous owner had installed an AEM Methanol Injection Kit (which I'm currently running water in...I know my turbo thanks me for that.) He also had installed an AEM Boost Controller with the setting set to 14psi on the stock Garret AiResearch T3 Turbo. I haven't changed it since I bought the car and I don't plan to. I know I don't have an intercooler yet and that I'm still on stock injectors...all very bad things to do with a high Psi setting on a stock turbo but that will all change soon. I actually just purchased an intercooler kit from CXR Racing. The best part about this car...only 75k orginal miles. I have done all the body work and painting myself on this car, as well as putting on the new wheels and tires and other upgrades. I have purchased everything myself and I can't wait to get her up to the high 300 range of whp...that is, if the Xenon S130 L28ET guide isn't lying to me (; I'm very proud of myself and this Z is nowhere near done...so please stay tuned and follow my progress! Here is what the Z first looked like when I bought it...God, I don't even know how I thought that ugly ass wing and those turbo decals were attractive... I still have this Center Tail Light panel by the way if anyone wants it...I know they are pretty rare. The first modification I did was rip out all the ugly 80's maroon interior and respray everything gloss black because #racecar Then I took off that ugly wing that worked better as a lunch table and order a custom JDM Plate Yeah....maybe I should move that JDM Plate to the front... But first...let me paint my tailights black... Here are some front shots I took... My buddy who has an R8 met up with me... Then one day...it dawned on me. I HATE THIS UGLY FADED 80's RED. LET'S MAKE THIS CAR RATTY. SO I DID. First...I resprayed the whole thing in primer grey... It was better...but I still wasn't loving it. My wheel and tire choice bothered me. It didn't scream agressive...it whispered "please don't hurt me." Not my thing. YES I KNOW THEY ARE EPSILONS BUT THEY WERE SO HORRIBLY CURBED FROM THE PREVIOUS OWNER I HATED THEM ANYWAY. So I traded with my buddy for some nice 'hipari' 195/55 tires and some pretty sweet steelies. Mmmmm....MUCH BETTER. Group Photo with me and my JDM Buddies... Fixed the JDM Plate by the way...(: It still wasn't doing it for me though...something was missing. I had seen something on, HybridZ...at least I think was HybridZ...where some dude with an s130 bought a Victory Spoiler for an s30 and put it on there...it looked pretty good and he said it fit fine. Good enough for me. SO I went down to MSA and demanded that they sell me an s30 Victory Spoiler...however to my dissapointment they were out. SO I got a BRE one instead. The salesman at MSA said "Are you sure you know what you're doing kid?" And I said "No but I saw it on HybridZ so, I'm sure I can figure it out." AND BAM IT LOOKS SO GOOD. Then I decided...hmmm...I've had it primed for the longest time...maybe I should try painting it black myself... Yeah...bad idea. You can't tell in the photo but I did a really shitty job. So I decided to do what any 16 year old boy would do...rat it out again. The new paint you're about to see is heavily inspired by Gage Kerr's 280z. That thing is so flipping sweet... Then I got my tsurikawa chain...a real one from Japan...because honestly, I love shakotan and bosozoku culture. I also got this sweet windshield banner made that says "party gang" in Japanese. It is the name of the car club that me and my friends created. Got my Crown Royal shift boot... GALLARDO And this is the most recent photo I have of her...taken today...stay tuned for more progress! Love it or hate it...I really don't care. This is my Z and I love what I've done to it!

Hey all, I was reading a post from G.I.Jonas from 2007 about a vg30dett swap into a 280 and I was reading through it trying to gather as much info about the swap before I started posting asking about this. So I have a 79 280zx and an 86 300zx, the 300 is wrecked frame damage wont be fixed ever again but I'm lucky cause the engine didn't take any damage aside from the radiator. blocks fine everything's golden on it. I have a real tight budget but a lot of willing people to help me with this build with a lot of skills, really skilled welders that are close friends and do good work for ridiculously cheap. But anyhow I wanted to originally boost on my l28 but I found out I have the n42 block and n47 head and that not the build I wanted, I wanted the f54 and p90a build but didn't have the stuff. Now I came up with crazy idea that everyone agreed they wanted to help me with, taking everything I can from my wrecked 300 and throwing it into the 280. So on that note the post from gi was on a vg30dett I have the vg30et in my 300 low miles strong engine and trans, I haven't done a swap like this before so I wanted to ask everyone on here what they think I need to do, G.Is post didn't have much info just picture and explanations not what he needed to change etc. I read that the stock steering needed to be changed cause it wont work but that's about it. I got someone who can do the custom mounts but what I'm trying to figure out is what all I need to do. This is what I'm assuming. Custom Mounts Wiring harness Steering Differential Axels? Transmission mounts? Ecu from 300 Custom driveshaft? or can I use the one off the 300? I'm just shooting to complete the swap on what motor, trans, parts I have off my 300 not shooting for performance build yet just getting the swap done. What else should I look into? Where should I start? What should I keep in mind when planning this out. Like I said I got the people to help and I have the tools. I'm also thinking I need to figure the measurements for creating the mounts. Any other ideas on what I should do. If someone could reply with something to help me out that would be awesome. Thank you all!

Greetings. With the lack of a Fender Mirror template for S130 on Google Image search, thought I'd make one, submit it, and let the Interwebz do its thing. These are two sources of Mirror locations I've gotten. Anyone really disagree? Thanks for any input.

I'm looking to get the following electronics from an '82-'83 ZX turbo: - Wiring harness - ECU Also need a driveshaft from a manual '82-'83 ZX turbo that has the BW T5 transmission. Located in Everett, WA. A bit north of Seattle. Hoping to get the electronics for $150 or less and the driveshaft for under $100. Doing an L28ET swap into a '76 S30 so if you've got anything else that you think I might be interested in feel free to shoot me a pm. - Brandon

Deleted for inaccuracy / insufficient information.

Hello, Me and my friends have started the first of what's going to be a huge series of "Budget Boosting" your car. If you want to know more details on the topic, check out the YouTube video at "http://youtu.be/5-1SnD5ZY5k" Hopefully you learn something, there is a lot of information in this episode. Have a great boosting day!

I got a buddy at a design school in Raleigh, and he wants to digitally model my 280ZX. The guy's in school for videogame/movie design, and this is all part of a project for a class he's taking. I've done some googling and forum searching, but I can't find what I'm looking for, at least not for free. Anyone got something like a technical drawing or blueprint of the car? BTW, I'll see if I can post a shot of the model when it's done.

Hello everyone! Im new to the z world and have just recently purchased a 81 280zx N/A. i would like to take it to my local track for open run an time attack. my question is . Has anyone used the k sport coilover set up an if so what needs to be welded on the kit? Hopefully this isnt a tired subject but i cant find any info on the s130 coilover kits. Thanks Chris