$3,000 to spend on upgrade

[mochi]

Ok im a long term luker on this site, finally made a profile to see the pics and post

 

 

Ok so i have a 1975 280z i have recently re man'd the engine (flat top pistons, hotter cam, high flow fuel pump). Swapped out the 4 speed for a 5speed from a later model 280z and swapped the drums in the back out for disks. ok i have 3000 to drop on the car again. Now the first time I got the work done, I just listened to the machanic. This time I want to listen to the Z community on where the money should be spent.

 

Here are some waning spots on the car right now:

 

the body makes noise when i hit a bump like a squeling noise

 

there is a clunk in the back of the car when i punch it

 

the battery keeps draining from something in the car

 

 

Now i have talked to the machanic about springs and coilover for about 500 for the part (he says he can get a deal for some HP) and upgrading the diff to a long nose r200

OH and Im not doing the work. thank you for your help

 

 

here is the car

Edited September 10, 2012 by RB26powered74zcar
Edited title to help clarify.

[SleeperZ]

You should already have the long nose R200, so that's good. Sounds to me like you may want to pay attention to the body/chassis integrity, maybe just make sure your car is solid, good shocks and tires, and renew the ball joints and suspension rubber. Unless the body/chassis is good, you'd be throwing away your money on coilovers...

 

Oh, and by your description, you need a new differential mount, and possibly new mustache bar bushings.

Edited September 5, 2012 by SleeperZ

[wickiewicked240z]

I would get new bushings all around, and the steering components, bearings on front and rear hubs and stub axles. Find out whats draining your battery. After that then you can start messing with coilovers. That clunk noise is probably the differential good luck getting rid of it. I have that noise also when I go thru the gears so I have too go thru them slowly by releasing the clutch slowly.

[BluDestiny]

Polyurethane bushings and tokico illumina shocks and tokico springs is the best thing you could probably do, other than better looking rims and stickier tires.

 

SleeperZ is right, that's an R200, and it is rated at more than 200hp. I don't know where you read that but forget it. Also you're probably not pushing close to 200. Can't make an accurate guess without a full break down of your engine build, but your stock EFI is the biggest factor.

 

You could find a higher geared diff to put in.

 

The clunking is probably your diff mount.

[mochi]

thanks for the replys

i have the 1975 (whatever month) the dif was the same that they put in the 260 which if im not mistaken is the r180

 

i was actually thinking about getting a haltech or megasquirt for a future Turbo set up

[madkaw]

You said you want to LISTEN to the Z community

You were just told that there is a 99% chance you already have a r200, but you still think you have an R180

 

Good advice above to make sure of your chassis integrity before throwing money at the suspension.

 

Good luck

[madkaw]

You said you want to LISTEN to the Z community

You were just told that there is a 99% chance you already have a r200, but you still think you have an R180

 

Good advice above to make sure of your chassis integrity before throwing money at the suspension.

 

Good luck

[Zmanco]

Unless there is something wrong with the current diff so that you have to replace it, an R180 will easily handle the power of modified L28. I would spend the money on suspension, tires (and wheels if you still have the 14" rims) and maybe a track day or two to learn how to drive the car better before I upgraded to an R200 (assuming you don't already have one).

[NewZed]

Somehow, I listened to all 10 minutes of your video.

 

www.xenons30.com/reference will have the Factory Service Manual. Does your mechanic know Zs or is he learning on the job?

 

Weird that you have an R180. All of the 280Zs were supposed to come with R200s. That is an R180 though, small and square and missing a molding mark under the drain plug. Maybe someone swapped it for the ratio. Maybe it's a CLSD. You should check before swapping. You might want to match your 5 speed first gear to your diff ratio, if you do decide to go with an R200. The 5 speeds gears changed over the years.

 

Get an RT-style diff mount to stop the clunking. I think that it will fit the R180, the front mount points are the same, I believe. It makes a big difference.

 

There are a ton of posts on the forums about trying to use the stock ECU with a hot cam and flat tops. Takes a lot of work to tune things back in. The Haltech will probably help you out. Will eat a lot of your $3,000 budget.

 

If your mechanic swapped in an internally regulated alternator, your brake warning lamp check relay might be on all the time, draining your battery.

 

If the horrible squealing is coming from your front brakes you're probably missing the ant-squeal shims.

[mochi]

thank you to all that posted.

 

And i was not trying to be an ass........about the dif

 

yall have a good day

[MidnightRider]

Rear end clunk.... most classic Z car problem ever.

[mochi]

UPDATE:::

 

i was able to get a 1985 300zx turbo t top for 600

so right now the 3000 upgrade is being put on hold till i can get the 300 road worthy hopefull it will only set me back 1000 bucks

 

the fuel system is crap (bad gas, need the tank dropped) and someone throw a brick threw the window lol

but jury riging it up i got the engine to turn over an idle by building a fuel pump assembly in the engine bay

 

if all goes well it will be at my mechanic by monday

 

so 600 bucks for a decent beater and if it blows up i can use it for parts

 

what do yall think?

[MidnightRider]

what do yall think?

 

I think you should take the R200 out and VG30ET out of the 300ZX and put it in the 280Z

[gogriz91]

This may fix the rear end clunk.

 

http://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html

[RebekahsZ]

Your 280z is a real piece of crap. It is gonna be a total money-pit and you should just let me take it off your hands for $1000. I know, I know, it seems like a rip off, but in the end, you'll thank me. What do you say?

 

Actually, really nice car. Start with the radiator ($20 and a few minutes at an old-school radiator shop) and figure out the battery draining short ($200 at a autommotive electrical shop). Then check all your u-joints in the axles and driveshaft (free). Check your disc brake conversion really good for the squeeling sound, you may be dragging a brake line on the axle or something when the suspension squats under accelleration. The bad noises usually come from the most recent "upgrade" you did. If the u-joints and brake "upgrade" isn't a problem then put a jack under the front end of the differential and see how much it moves when you jack the car up by it. If it moves a lot, replace the insulator (a real pain of a job)-pay somebody to do that for you. Heck, while you are at that, just have the dude replace all your u-joints and be done with it. Move the jack to the back of the differential and jack the car up again. Mustache bar bushings almost never go bad, but the diff mounting studs on the back of the diff can loosen up. Honestly, every diff I ever had in my car had some clunking whether it was brand new or old (they have backlash from factory or they'd be so tight they's burn up). I've tried solid mounts, RT mounts and brand new OEM insulators. If your u-joints and front insulator are fine, just drive the crap out of it and don't worry about a little clunking - they all do it and it isn't the end of the world. With the power your car makes, that R180 is fine. Get rid of the "high-flow" fuel pump and it may solve your over-rich problems. Cars with lopey cams are always rich at idle. Those Hal-meters don't work as advertised-it is a waste of money. Just find a "reliable" mechanic and have him figure out your over-rich condition. All Z-cars run a little rich-that is why they stink like gas inside. Don't waste money on a trip to the dyno. Your car makes 150 to 175 hp (at the flywheel), so that is 100 to 135 at the wheels max, I promise. Neither one is gonna make you a star at the dragstrip. Gotta turbo or V8, or spend a butt-load of dollars and spin it tight if you are gonna make respectable horsepower in a Z-car. If you put an LSD in the car, you won't be able to peel out and impress your friends as easily, so skip that. Go out and DRIVE it or sell it to me. Park that bicycle and lay some rubber. All that will cost less than the money you have left after buying a second car. Super clean car; I'm jealous - must be nice to live in Vegas where things don't rust (much).

Edited September 11, 2012 by RebekahsZ

[mochi]

Thank you all again for keeping this post alive. I am planning on using the 300 as a beater until she dies, then for parts. Im not going to get the R200 done until the 300 untimely death. I believe yall that the WHP is too low for upgrading the dif. But sadly I had to get emergency work done on the 280z, I had crazy noise (poping) and waable coming from the front drive's side wheel. The machanic told me that it was the bearings and the lug nuts (the treads had worn completely down. So Im currently 1200 dollars down 600 to fix the bearing, oil change, smog, aliment, and nuts. Then another 600 for the 300zx.

So right now im still going to throw 1000 in the 300 for my daily driver while I get the 280 up to prefection (whatever that is)

Also thank you for the information about the haltech and LSD

 

I ment to say I have a high flow oil pump sorry for the misinformation.

Lastly Vegas is cool but the problem is high crime (car theifs) and super bad drivers everywhere lol

 

Edited:

Oh and Im going to the machanic to sure up the dif

Edited September 11, 2012 by mochi

[RebekahsZ]

Sounds like the front lug nuts were loose and the wheel beat them to death. If you own a Z-car, you gotta learn how to turn a wrench or you are gonna be bankrupt. A new set of wheel studs should cost about $20 and it takes about an hour to replace them. You are getting jacked by your mechanic and it is burning up your budget. Start trying to do some of these projects yourself. This forum exists to help you thru it. When you have a problem like that, take a picture and post it. We'll help you thru it. Now, go around to each wheel and make sure each lugnut is torqued to 75 foot pounds so the rest of them don't fall off. Get a 1/2" drive torque wrench and a 13/16" deep socket from Harbor Freight to do the job.

[MidnightRider]

Careful, the 280z is a very easy car to steal. Someone who comes prepared could do it in a minute flat without damaging a thing.

[mochi]

Thank you again RebekahsZ

Im still learning this car, but the main problem is I dont want to break anything so Im a bit nervous when working on it.

I used to work on my 240sx exclusivly but I would break stuff while fixing stuff (but also that was without the help of a forum)(nico kept deleting my name)

But next time hopefully I can get that beater 300zx up and runnign so I can spend the time taking my car apart, I was thinking of doing the prep work for getting my car painted.

 

Oh and what was wrong with the car was the bearing went out and the lugs where all bad, added with the smog, oil change wheel aliment 570

[nacitar]

Careful, the 280z is a very easy car to steal. Someone who comes prepared could do it in a minute flat without damaging a thing.

 

Why is this so?

 

I wish to try to remedy this problem.