'77 280z aka Project Tetanus (LS6 383, T56)

SH4DY · July 6, 2017

First of all, hello! I'm a newb here but not to modding. I've lived on the norotors forum for the past few years after building a couple of LS swapped RX-7's. I still have my FC (Solid axle, 4-link, LS1, 88mm turbo, TH400) and I'm trying to sell it to fund this project.

Anyway, I came across a '77 280z that had been sitting for 20+ years. From what I can tell it was silver from the factory, then red, then silver again. Lots of piss poor bondo work and rust. Lots of rust. But, for the price I got it for, I can't complain. I've already started cutting the floor pans out.

I have a torn down LS6 that'll be worked into an 11.0:1 382 with a custom BTR cam and a T56 waiting once I get the body sorted. I've had good luck with MS3Pro on my RX-7 so I'll probably go with that on this one as well.

***Will be updated as build progresses***

Parts/ build list so far:

Body/Chassis/Suspension:

New rockers, rear quarters, shaved rear bumper, new floor and trans tunnel, lower doors and front fenders patched

Silvermine Front and rear stage IV brake kits

SS braided lines

CX racing coilovers

New wheel bearings front and rear

ARP extended studs

Tubular frame rails (firewall back) and roll bar with additional supports throughout

Boxed in front frame rails

Energy Suspension full bushing kit

Wilwood Clutch and Brake MC

Wilwood brake adjuster

T3 rear sway bar

T3 front drop links

T3 RLCA's

T3 TC rods

T3 Mustache bar

T3 drop mounts and wishbone

Engine/ driveline:

464rwp/ 448rwtq on E85

LS6 based 383 - K1 crank and lite weight rods, Wiseco pistons, ~11.8:1 compression

Wagner CNC Ported 799's (300+ CFM)

Del West Ti Valves

Texas Speed custom grind: 246/248 on 116+0 .615/.615

BTR Springs, pushrods and trunnion upgrades

1.875" custom SS 4-1 headers

Full 3" SS exhaust

OBX 52mm ITB's with some Jenvey components

ATI Damper

MS3Pro Evo - flex fuel sensor, tuned on pump E85

Walbro 450lph in tank pump

Snake eater 80#/hr injectors

Aeromotive FPR

AN fuel lines

F-Body Camaro fuel tank

Champion 3 row radiator

WHP 300M 39 spline stub axles and Z31T adapters

WHP Chromoly shortened Z31T axles

MFactory Helical LSD

Monster Stage 2 clutch/ flywheel

GTO T56 with f-body shifter setup

Tick Performance Shifter

Interior:

Weld in roll bar

Speedhut gauges

NRG wheel and quick release

NB Miata Dash and center console

Summit reclinable seats with sliders

Racequip 5 point harness

Wheels/ Exterior:

Rota RBR 7.5" Front/ 8.5" Rear

MSA front bumper and rear wing

Skillard side skirts, grill, front and rear diffusers

Edited August 2, 2021 by SH4DY
Added more parts

BJSZED · July 8, 2017

Project Tetanus,,,,now that"s funny.

SH4DY · July 13, 2017

On to the pictures:

The Z as she arrived in all her glory/ misery. I'm pretty sure the car was used for practice by a highschool body shop class

Who needs metal for a floor board?

and the rust... ohhh the rust:

After some cutting/ sanding and priming:

I'm also redoing the steering wheel. Took off the old gross rubber, attached some MDF and started shaping. It'll eventually be wrapped in carbon.

Lots and lots of hours to go with the media blaster and sander.

scartail · July 14, 2017

I really like the idea of redoing the steering wheel. Aren't you concern the MDF will absorb moisture over time and crack/swell?

SH4DY · July 15, 2017

With the several layers of epoxy resin, and maybe a coat of clear, it should be pretty well contained

EDIT: I'm nixing this idea in favor of a something with a quick release.

Edited January 18, 2018 by SH4DY

SH4DY · July 19, 2017

I was able to get a little more done last weekend.

I cut out the horrible patch job on the outside of the drivers side frame rail, blasted, primed/painted and boxed in with 16 ga (I think? may have been thicker) sheet. I still need to do the small portion in front of the cross member mount.

After spending a couple of hours fighting with all the spot welds trying to remove the brackets in the engine bay I gave up after seeing how weak/ think the metal was. It also became pretty clear how flimsy the shock tower support must be. So, I cut a healthy chunk of it out (pretty close to the perimeter spot welds) and added new sheet (22 ga) along with some 3/4" tube. Once I get around to the fixing/ replacing sections of the firewall I'll add bracing to the back of the towers to the firewall.

Also shaved the drip rail. Still very much a work in progress

SH4DY · August 18, 2017

More welding for the drip rail: Trying to make this car as solid as possible with minimal bondo. Huge pain in the ass.

Added some angle iron to help strengthen the front frame rails:

After boxing in the lower portion of the rails I added a tubular piece to replace the factory frame rails. It is attached to the rear subframe.

Mocking up the motor and the new subframe for the LS swap.

I had some extra paint in the gun and wanted to see what it would look like on the car:

Rustoleum Satin black mixed @ 15% with Acetone. Single coat. I like it. I think it'll compliment the carbon fiber well.

Now that I have the motor in I can figure out the transmission mount and then start building the floors and tunnel.

SH4DY · September 13, 2017

Started boxing in the former battery tray area:

Trans is in! Going to have to redo the majority of the trans tunnel.

Next step is to get a bead roller and start on the floors and finish the firewall.

I think I might wind up going SLA ford 8.8": I started pricing out 5 lug conversions, brakes, suspension, LSD, axles, etc and its pretty cost prohibitive to keep the IRS. Pretty sure with a good 4 link and watts setup I can get this thing to handle pretty well... at least for any auto-x or back road driving I may do.

Edited October 13, 2017 by SH4DY

SH4DY · September 13, 2017

Not sure why those pictures are so damn big

Ironhead · September 13, 2017

Great work....I have huge respect for your bringing that shell back...I honestly think I would have run screaming from that one.

BTW...I like the larger pictures. The earlier ones in the thread were too small to really see what you were doing.

SH4DY · October 13, 2017

I decided to cut out those two rods. The one was right on the panel and it was was already trapping trash and was going to make smoothing the area a shore. I'll be adding a another down bar but it'll be a single curved 1.5" dia tube.

Made some progress (?) on stripping, blocking, priming the body. Still a long way to go. Hope to have it primed by the end of the weekend. Then on to the floor pans and trans tunnel...

SH4DY · October 16, 2017

So, after allll that work I decided it was best to just take it all back to the metal and start from scratch. The car has had at least 3 paint jobs and all those layers added up. It wound up being more trouble than it was worth trying to smooth out that mess or find a "good" layer. I'm glad I did though - it's going to make life much easier in the long run.

.

Painted the underside of the hood. There was some trash that got in the gun so the spray pattern wasn't great but I'm hoping I can clear it up with a little wet sanding.

Finally started working on patching the firewall. Still a lot of grinding to go but she's coming along. It's good to not have that gaping hole anymore.

SH4DY · November 6, 2017

Started working on the roll bar. It's a "Jegster" kit that I'm making fit more to my liking.

I tacked it in place to the car and welded in most of the bars then removed so I would weld all the way around the top. The bottom of the "X" will be installed once it goes back in car.

Did a little porting on the 241 heads:

I also found this mess after I decided to take the entire car back down to the metal:

It looks like it had a panel replacement at some point with metal that was run over repeatedly on a gravel road. Solid 1/2" of bondo covering it. The body line break was all bondo. I've ordered new quarters and rockers. I think it'll be much easier to replace the panels than try and fix them at this point. Once the panels are in I need to order seats to figure out brackets and then then the floor pans/ tunnel can get finished.

I'm planning on starting on the headers soon. It's going to be a tri-y and 180* design combined. Should be interesting.

Progress is slow but it's progress...

SH4DY · December 1, 2017

Passenger side header after coating. I'll be using slip fit connections for the 180* merge under the car into the collectors. Thinking about going with reverse megaphones. I'm making sure all merges are properly fitted - the outer plate is just a cover to help prevent any stress cracks.

Drivers side before coating. It's a tight fit the the brake MC but I'm not using a booster which helps.

Passenger side installed:

New rocker mocked up:

Rust bullet applied to the replacement quarter and rocker for the drivers side:

Inner rocker being reworked. Close to being able to get the floor pans in.

I've got lots of early X-mas presents showing up: Silver Mine front and rear brake kits, bushings, coilovers, and seam sealer, epoxy and high fill polyester primer.

Edited December 1, 2017 by SH4DY

SH4DY · December 21, 2017

Drivers side header before coating. Still need to add the crossover piece and tabs to lock in the slip fit connectors.

Reverse cone collectors. Pretty pumped about these.

First attempt at making dimple dies. Very DIY setup: a big bolt in a vice, an old bearing and race and a big ass wrench. I'm going to be adding them to the roll bar around the "X". Need to get a smaller bearing/ race for smaller areas.

More rust, rust rust:

I finally moved the car into the garage. It's getting cold here.

SH4DY · January 18, 2018

Got the roll bar in and started stitch welding the existing panels that were in good shape and adding more metal for rigidity. I'll be adding some gussets to the "X" and adding additional bars. Also, starting working on the floor pans with some DIY metal forming. Crazy how much stiffer the sheet is with the formed areas. I also had to make more room on the top of the trans tunnel for the bell housing.

This weekend I hope to finish up the roll bar and get both rockers finished then I can start on the floor pans and rear quarters.

On to the pictures:

Edited January 18, 2018 by SH4DY

SH4DY · August 23, 2018

It's been a while since I've posted anything but not because of a lack of progress:

Floor and tunnel are done. I took everything back to base metal and epoxy primed:

.

Some added reinforcement:

TTT Goodies

WHP Chromoly 39 Spline stub axles and Z31T CV conversion. New wheel bearings all around

MFactory LSD is in the mail (Thanks to user exlifesaver)

Block is back from the machine shop and I've started the short block assembly. Still need to finish working the heads before I take them to get valve job done.

Still have a ton of body work to go before I can prime but she's coming along.

Little teaser shot of the ITB's

Edited August 23, 2018 by SH4DY