I bought a 280z, now what?

[Nate SERE]

I ended up buying a 280z today!   I drove it 300 miles back from Seattle to Spokane and it never missed a beat.   It was a blast!    It has a rebuilt L28 with dual round top su carbs. f54 block so flat top pistons w/ p79 head and cam was reground to a stage 3 equivalent less than 4,000 miles. new oil pump and water pump new alternator lightened flywheel .New clutch also.  It also has Msa header going to true msa twice pipes.

 

The bumpers and supports have been removed. It still has the stock wiring harness in it in case I want to go back to FI.

 

I figure that it weighs around 2600 pounds now.&n

The owner had cut the springs 2 inches in the front and 1 1/4 in the back and it rides terrible now.  I am going to look into getting a Ground Control Coilover kit.  I need to read a lot more!  Is it possible to do without sectioning the struts and welding?  I am looking for a fairly simple kit that will make it streetable, a little lowered, and have a better ride quality.   Would tokico be a better option?

I also want to start doing some simple bolt on performance parts.   The car is a solid running car, but isn't scary fast.  I was thinking that I could start working on the ignition and going with a z31 coil or msd blaster.   Msd 6AL ignition?  Mallory Unilite?  

Would these ignition upgrades help me to get more power out of the motor?

[rejracer]

"Now what?"

 

What do you want to do with the car?  Street, auto-x, drag, or class racing? 

What is your budget?

You going to turbo or stay N/A?

 

In my opinion, I think a good move is to take the car back to fuel injection, but a modern programmable system.  Before going that far, I would give the electrical system a good going over.  Typically people who don't like fuel injection, don't like wires in general and like to hack and slash electrical systems because they clearly know better than the factory engineers.

 

From the description it sounds like there are a few good bolt on parts on there already.  I'd focus on reliability, and basic maintenance.  Once you get the basics addressed, then proceed with a plan.

 

 

Is it possible to do without sectioning the struts and welding? Yes, coilovers are independent of sectioning.  I am currently running beta motorsports upper and lower spring perches with 12" hypercoils I bought used for 60 bucks. 

 

Would tokico be a better option?  There are other vendors that offer more variety.  Ground control and tokico are kits offered by specific manufacturers.  Check out Techno Toy Tuning(T3), they offer a pretty good coilover kit that allows you to run your choice of strut.  T3 is not the only choice, you can piece a system together for less, but some sacrafice in time in getting the package together. 

 

"Would these ignition upgrades help me to get more power out of the motor?" 

Recurving ignition will net you some power from stock.  A stock distributor can be recurved, do you know what parts are inside your distributor?  How much total advance, static advance, and vacuum advance is there currently?  Do you know where the mechanical advance is all in at?

 

You have a lot of reading to do.  I suggest taking a few months of as much spare time you can muster and just read on the most pressing issues on your car.  Make the big decisions early, so you don't end up upgrading the same part of the car 3 or 4 times. 

Edited June 16, 2014 by rejracer

[Nate SERE]

I will be driving this on the street 95% of the time and once in a while will autocross it.  

 

My budget is $5k or so for the motor and suspension.  I am into the car $5k, will be upgrading the stereo ($1k) and it needs paint and a little body work ($2k)   I would like to keep the entire build under $15k.  

 

I found a rb26dett motor and trans for $800 on cl but can't get in touch with the guy now.  

 

I want to go turbo with this.   I would like to end up around 350 hp.  

 

The next thing that I will upgrade will be the suspension.  It is almost not streetable right now.  It bottoms out on every bump and rubs in every turn.   I have looked at the T3 setup but is it really worth $2k?  I want a simple plug and play suspension without having to weld anything.   Could I just get new springs and shocks?

 

I know nothing about my ignition.  I am assuming its all stock.   There seems to be a little bit of hesitation at low RPM's and it stumbles a little bit.   Was thinking that a hotter spark might help.

[rejracer]

Considering the budget I would go with new stock springs, struts and a good set of wheels/tires for suspension.  You don't need anything from T3 or any other vendor unless you want to lower it.  To safely lower our cars more than about 1 " requires the struts to be sectioned.  To section the struts you will need coilovers and shorter struts.  Since you want to lower it, and it needs everything now, it makes sense to do a coilover kit.  After buying the coilover kit you will still need struts and bushings, plus the other dozen things you will find as you tear it apart.  Expect up to 2k depending on strut choice and what else needs to be done immediately. 

 

As far as motor upgrades, if you go standalone, you can address FI and ignition with one upgrade, as well as prep the car for any down the road upgrades. 

 

These old cars need head work and intake manifolds to make good power. On your budget I think those are out of reach.  Make good choices early on, as they say, buy cheap, buy twice. 

 

If you want to go turbo, the cheapest initial route is L28ET.  If you go with an RB, then you will need to modify the cooling system, build/buy mounts, Driveshaft, intake ducting, exhaust system and wiring.  From the RB swap that I helped a buddy on, the engine was less than half of the total cost, and that included the RB 25 trans. 

[Nate SERE]

It already has Atara Racing wheels and wide tires on it.