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The story of how it all began, including pictures of ugly prototypes and crude early versions... What it all amounted to is a simple, strong bolt in swap that utilizes factory control arms and r200 mustache bar and allows the use of 2015 mustang brakes, hubs, cv axle ends and differential. The pinion yoke is a 1350 u joint one off a 1993 f250, it can be found at Denny's drivetrain. The struts that work with this setup are modified 2004 srt4 neon struts with their tops changed to the datsun 3 bolt camber plates. Most people simply contact bc racing and have them supply the 280z coilovers and exchange the bottom sleaves with the 2004 srt4 neons ones. Other people just use the coilovers they have and weld on the coilover tabs I also developed, so struts that work are basically anything you want. The brakes are either 13 inch rear brakes off a 2015 mustang or 11.8 inch brakes off a 2014 mustang. Both are dirt cheap, and both have a built in parking brake. I'm constantly updating the design with every batch, but here is what one of the components for a tacked cradle looks like. Pictured here is version 6, and the cradle bolted to the differential is version 4 I believe. *** Here's a picture of what it all ended up being in the end.

A few years back I purchased a 260z and instantly fell in love with Datsuns. I started this year by picking up a 280z on January 1st with the goal of building a fun track car. After some back and forth between engines and after having to put the project on hold to finish my Masters, I finally have the time to work on it. Ultimately, I settled on a 32v 4.6l build. The reasoning behind this was I was after an easily accessible engine that could put down reliable power and had no interest in the ls swap. One of my best friends is a huge mustang guy and his knowledge on the matter was another selling point for the Ford engine. If nothing else, the goal here is to have somewhere where I can lay out my thoughts and see the progress. For anyone interested in following along, you're more than welcome to check in every once in a while, check my instagram (projectdatstang), or find me on youtube (Eddie Huerta) as we will be doing our best to record and upload everything we do for anyone interested in replicating something we do, or for anyone who just wants to get a laugh from watching a couple clueless guys try their best at building a race car from scratch.

Picked up this non-running '73 240Z in Wisconsin, it came with an R200 (which I had planned to use, but am now going Ford IRS 8.8) and a mess of other stock parts. It looked to be perfect for what I was building and after media blast it's quite solid other than floorboards so here we go. Parts already here -LS3 TR6060 dropout from a 2010 Camaro w/ 30k miles (lookup Midway Mustang Dewitt IA) -CXRacing LS swap kit w/ headers and y pipe -CXRacing Front LCAs and TC rods -CXRacing adjustable coilovers -T3 Rear LCAs -Silvermine billet front 5 lug hubs -Silvermine front wilwood brake kit -Zedd FIndings Floorboards Parts to order -T3 rear backing plates -T3 rear strut tubes -Ford Explorer 8.8 Diff -Z32 rear 5 lug hubs and brakes -Wheels/Tires, S71B ~17x11 (5.5 backspace) and 17x9.5 (4.9 backspace). 315/35R17, 275/40R17 -Flares (TBD, maybe SSWorxs???) My rear end will largely be based on Sunny Z's build. Digging through the wheel forums it looks like 5.5" backspace on the rear is doable, any advice here on whether 5.5 is too much? The T3 plates should put the wheel in the stock location.

WTB: Fritts' 8.8 IRS swap kit. Will pay their original price. Ideally looking for the the cobra brakes version, but I can deal with whatever. Fun note: Ryan @ zCarDepot says they're in beta testing with their 8.8 swap kit. And Gabriel at Tech Toy Tuning is considering it as well, but is 3 months out on other projects. So hopefully we'll have competition on the market soon.