Phantom Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 In 2002 I started a collaboration with John Radevich of JCI in Dallas, Texas. The goal was to build my 1977 280Z into a daily driver using an LS1 and T56. Ya search of "LS1 / T56 Update" will give a lot of the history of that project that resulted in one of the first S30's on the road with that combination in June of 2003 and a conversion component kit sold worldwide by JCI. Since then over 16 years and about 45,000 miles have passed. The car has been raced on quarter mile tracks, done the combination oval and infield at Texas Motor Speedway, done autocross work and a hillclimb. In between those fun events it has been my fair weather daily driver. The move from Texas to Washington state eliminated winter driving due to the corrosive deicing material used by WSDOT. Could it have been done better? Back then, probably not, but today definitely so. I'm happy to see all the aftermarket equipment available for these cars. I used to only shop at Motorport Ajuto in Orange, CA (zcarparts.com) for my bparts but with the drivetrain conversion my world was opened up to Arizona Z Car, Techno Toy Tuning, Silvermine and so many others. Every year that has gone by has seen the development of quality parts and systems for these cars - like zledslights.com down in Weslaco, TX and Dapper Lighting with their LED lighting conversions and Braille for their great Lithium Ion lightweight batteries IMG_4214.MOV IMG_4214.MOV . One thing that has remained constant, however, is the quality of the designed parts and equipment provided by JCI during that project so many years ago. To this day I have not had issue with any component designed by them. Thanks John, you did well for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Your build has been an inspiration to me and I'm sure to a lot of other members. It's a solid build and the miles you have put on it since you built it speaks for the quality as well. Congratulations and look forward to meeting you someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) On 7/17/2019 at 2:54 PM, alainburon said: Your build has been an inspiration to me and I'm sure to a lot of other members. It's a solid build and the miles you have put on it since you built it speaks for the quality as well. Congratulations and look forward to meeting you someday. Thanks for the nice comment. If I still lived in Arlington it would be fairly easy to hook-up but it's a good 2,000 miles from Houston to Yakima, WA. 'Course that would just be a good break in run for your car. Might be a bit tough on the ol' behind, though. Edited August 1, 2019 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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