98cobra+75280z Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I've been a member on here for a couple of years now and have since owned two z's. The first one I bought back in '07, its a '75 2+2. I swapped in a '82 l28et and drove it around for a year or so. the body on the 2+2 is pretty rotten so i started looking around for a good roller that i could swap my stuff into. While looking around i started updating the drivetrain; -MS 1 v2.2 running an HEI 4 module. -larger water-cooled turbo -walbro 255 pump -AEM wideband I got the car to run on MSnS about a month ago, and then i found the perfect donor car. Its a '77 280z that is extremely straight and only has rust in two areas, the pass frame rail and battery tray. Working on the car tends to be a slow project, i only have time on some weekends and on breaks. I'm currently finishing up my last year at Purdue University studying mechanical engineering. And on my summers i have been working for Ford in dearborn so there is no way to work on my cars then either. Im hoping to finish, or at least get the 77 driving this winter break. As for some of my custom touches i am currently finishing the back roll pan that the previous owner started. I also finished my center console and started going through the suspension and prepping the engine bay for the turbo motor. Here is a switch panel i made that will go under a new pioneer radio. let me know what you guys think, it was made from a sheet of aluminum and some hand tools. my plans after this week, since finals will be over, is to button up the suspension and body work. Paint the engine bay and run all the wiring for the megasquirt. Then patch the frame rail and battery tray. Then install the interior and engine then hopefully load up my base tune and drive it around a bit. Ill try and keep this thread updated with pics if you guys want! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theramz Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Great find, keep us updated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wastedarmchair Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Good luck bro, she went to a good home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98cobra+75280z Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Time for a massive update! The car has been drivable since March, but with school being insane and my internship at ford taking me back to Dearborn and five hours north of home I haven't had much time to update of work on the car for that matter. But here is my build update from December when I bought the car to March when I got it back out of the garage and drivable. I wouldn't say the car is finished since I am scratching my head at a possible RB25 swap in the hunt for more power of course. Anyways here it is! This was the car when I got it pushed into the garage, I need to add that I live in Indiana and that this build took place over winter break with one space heater haha. And as luck would have it when spring rolled around and the temps warmed up my dad found a deal on a propane heater. Of course by this time the cold of winter was behind us. Anyway, The car was a mere rolling chassis with sectioned strut tubes but an otherwise incomplete suspension. So the first step was to take all the suspension off of my '75 and put in on the '77. The sectioned strut housings are still in my garage and waiting on me to pull the trigger on some ground control coilovers. Money is of course a little tight right now, but I only have one semester before I graduate from Purdue and then I can start really building my dream Z. After the suspension was buttoned back up I felt that the interior was the next on the list. Mostly because I could put my space heater to good use inside the car. First I took care of some minor rust on the pass floor and rail. After that I installed all the carpet from the '75 and also some '90 jeep Cherokee seats. Then I installed my wideband and boost gauge along with my switch panel and pioneer radio. I also took the time to clean up the door panels and put a dash mat over the heavily cracked dash. next I got a new shifter ball for my birthday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98cobra+75280z Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Next step was the motor and wiring. So first I pullet the l28et from my '75, along with my MS1 and relay board. I needed to clock the turbo so while I was at that I tied up the turbo coolant lines and installed my WBO2 sensor. After a couple hours of wrestling with the motor it was finally in. Then I began to piece together my wiring harness. I installed quick disconnects to the engine harness to make working on the car easier. Next I attempted to install my 440cc injectors, The injectors wouldn't sit in the manifold so off the manifold came to be filed out. then I put in the big injectors and my palnet rail. Took the time to finish the intercooler piping as well. After the motor and wiring were finished it was finally time to get the car out of the garage and begin tuning. Also some pics of the completed car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98cobra+75280z Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Here are some pictures of the car in its present state. Its running 15 #'s right now but I did try 18 to see how it felt. But i'm hoping to get it dyno'd soon to see what power it has. Then i will start working on my cobra since turbos are on my mind it will be getting a built teksid along with a single turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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