Possible Donor car need help

[tdab]

I have a chance to buy a fairly nice 83 280zxt with 5sp. The car has 120k and runs great. Pulls nicely through all the gears. Doesn't leak anything. The only rust I could find is right behind the drivers door leading into the wheel well. It had new paint about 4 years ago (factory silver). The people really took care of it. It has some sweet 15" rikens on it with some older goodyears. The dash (black) is perfect. It comes with all the reciepts of work that has been done on it since new. The only drawback is that it is a 2+2. It has an aftermarket front airdam and headlight covers. Other than that and paint it is bone stock. I know if this car was parted (minus motor/tran), you could make out.

 

Are there any drawbacks for using the 2+2 model as a donor for an early Z? The only thing I can think of is that the driveshaft may not work in an S30. Other than that, is there anything I'm missing?

 

The other thing I'm thinking of is it would be a dam shame to part this car out, but the price is right! This car looks so nice, I would consider not even buying an early Z and just keep it if it wasn't a 2+2

 

You guys have any thoughts?

 

t

 

(edit) speel cheak lol

[cygnusx1]

To drop any ZX motor into the S30, you dont need the driveshaft from the ZX. You could use the entire S30 driveline including transmission. If the "donor" car is nice, you are probably paying a decent amount for it. I would not butcher it. For reference, you can find good running ZX Turbo cars with 100K miles on them that are rusted to death for between 400-700bucks. You can still sell most of the parts off of them anyhow. Oh and to answer your question 2+2 Engine will be fine in an S30. It's the same.

 

SAVE THE "WHALES" -- oh, I mean the "ZX 2+2's"

[240hoke]

Hey Tdab. I know what car your talking about. Its in the auto trader. i called the guy and it sounded like a sweet buy. I wanted to buy it but the only thing i want is the long block and the tranny. So i couldnt justify the 2800....

 

Anyhow, did you notice that there is also one in there for 800 bucks?? I havent called the guy yet but i was gonna check it out tomarrow.

 

 

-Austin

[tdab]

I called on the $800 car and it is sold!! It was rough, you didn't miss anything.

 

The guy with the 2+2 would sell it for less than $2800. I talked him down over $500 from that price.

 

It's a sweet car, but I would hate to part it out. I may just wait. The guy said he wanted it to go to a Z person, so it would be messed up to cut it up. On the other hand........!!!

 

t

[Guest bastaad525]

eh who cares if it's a 2+2... you can still make enough power easily to make it plenty fast. Unless you're like me and just dont like the way they look.

 

You dont use the zx driveshaft, you stick with the 240 driveshaft, which is the better end of the deal anyways as the 240 shaft has replaceable u-joints, the ZX does not.

 

Another advantage if you kept the car as is, though small, is that you can find intercooler kits with premade piping that is already made to fit the car, which you can't find for a turbo 240. A very small advantage... but considering the price that some people have paid for piping alone, still good to be aware of.

 

It'd be a hard choice for me too... I miss my ZX, for it's power windows and steering, easily replaced disk brakes all round, and more solid feeling, and wouldn't mind a turbo ZX. But at the same time, I'm addicted to speed and also like not having to smog my '72, and would most likely end up swapping the motor anyways.

 

You can find beater 280zx turbos for cheaper, definately, but if they look like crap they probably havent been taken care of... hence you take more of a risk on the engine. On the flip side, I paid about as much for my donor car as you are looking at paying for that 2+2, it looked in good shape, and the motor ended up needing to be completely rebuilt not 3 mos later. Goes to show, you never know.