gvincent Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Well I bought another Z to do my HybridZ project. Here is my long story. I originally was going to use my beloved 1978 280Z that I have owned since 1982. I had taken the Z off the road in 1993 and parked it in the garage. I had started to do some body work to it during the 90's and with Kids and everything never found time to work on it seriously, We moved in 2000 to a new house we had built and I promptly parked the Z in the new garage. I drove it onto and off the flatbed tow truck from our old house about 15 miles away. It got buried under boxes and became a storage bench until this year when I cleared out the garage and built a garden shed to make room in the garage to actually work on cars, What a novel idea!! My beloved 78 is half in primer and faded and cracked silver paint, I had taken off all the chrome and bumpers, lights etc. to do the body work which I hate and am no good at. I also have some rot on the passenger side frame rail so I new I was going to have to have some welding done which is another thing I am no good at. My 78 has a perfect interior with no cracks, a great running L6 with a mild cam and headers, it has all urethane bushings up front, 7/8 sway bar aluminum cup tension rod, and Eibach springs wih KYB struts, I took it to Bob Sharp Motors back around 1989 or 90?? and had them do all the suspension work. I have had a Jones to build a Hybrid Z ever since I was living in CA and drove a friends Scarab back in 1980. I am originally from CA and came to MA in 1981 Well enter the 76 280z, I was adding up costs in my head for my HybridZ project and decided it would cost me more of my budget to get the 78 fixed and painted than it would to find another Z with a blown engine and a good body and frame. Well I found the 76 and drove 6 hours to western NY state and trailered home the 76 280Z The body and frame are in great shape, the motor was blown, the kid who only owned it for a month said the oil pressure went down and the motor stopped DUH! the previous owner before the kid had spent a lot of money restoring this Z, all new fenders, hood, had the motor rebuilt, Kaminari kit front and rear bumpers, new carpet, new emblems paint etc. the restore was done in 2003 so the car was in great shape. The frame rails had been done completely front to rear and the floors are solid. New clutch cylinders, brake cylinders, rotors calipers, etc, everything!! Paid the kid $2,400 for the car and brought it home. So the project begins, I had already been collecting odds and ends here and the for the swap, I have the JTR mounts, Chevy motor mounts, Aluminum radiator, JTR radiator mount, a new steering wheel, Toyota calipers, braided brake lines and a bunch of other little stuff. A new engine hoist with a leveler, and a bunch of new tools. After the new year I will be pulling the motor and trans and prepping and painting the engine bay. I have been shopping for a motor and trans and thought I had an 1999 LS1 with a brand new T56 out of a 1999 firebird with 112K on the motor but the weasel backed out at the last minute. In the mean time I had passed on a totaled 1998 camaro that EvilC had found, Oh well Shite happens! So now I am looking again and I am leaning towards a GM crate or stroker with a T56 although if the price is right I won't turn down an LT1 either. I am giving my self to mid to late Feb to find the right combo. I will post pics as I go along with this project. To start are Pics of the 76 280z coming home on the U-Haul and you can see the buried 78 280z in the garage which is cleared out now and both Z's are in the gargae right now. I bought a tent/garage to move my 78 280z outside for the winter as the WIFE insists that her new 35K Infiniti G35X use the other side of the garage for the winter. So I have to button up the Old Z first and setup the garage tent in the next week or two. More to come.. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 Well I cleared off all the crap that was piled on top of my old 78 Z, started it up and moved it over a bay and pushed the 76 HybridZ project in to the garage. I swapped my old 15" Enkei wheels off my 78 and put them on the 76 to see how they look. It will look better once I lower the car I think. Next is to set up the tent/garage and put my old 78Z in there for the winter so my wife can park the Infiniti in the garage. Once that is done I can pull the motor and trans out of the 76 HybridZ. More pics are in my Gallery More to come Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 Removing the FI harness, Yes proved my Pre-School teacher wrong again. I was able to stuff square objects through a round hole! Now to search and try to start to figure out this wiring stuff!! Radiator, hoses next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 Well I bought a 88 Trans Am with a 383 stroker motor in it, it runs great the transmission has a leaking front seal but I don't want it anyway it is an automatic. It was a steal at $700, it sat for 2 years but I got it started and the engine sounds great but won't idle below 2000-1800 RPM and as soon as I put it in gear it stalls so I had to two foot it to move it onto and off the trailer. So it looks like I am going Stroker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 Bought a 95 Firebird Formula with a LT1/t56 combo. Now I have to figure out if I want to go with the complete LT1 combo or the Stroker motor and the T56. I am going to have to search and research how the Stroker will mate to the T56 first and see what is involved and what it will cost. The stroker I know has more power but I haven't driven it in the 88 Firebird yet as the auto tranny has some problems and I can't keep the motor running when I put it in gear it stalls. The LT1 Firebird is freaking FAST! I just drove it around the block here and burned rubber all throught first and second gear, I hit second gear at 50MPH! and was doing 75MPH in second when I let off the gas. I don't know if it is stock or not. it has a Borla exhast and headers that I can see. I posted pictures in my album and will post here as soon as I figure out on my Mac an easy way to reduce the image size so it will let me post here. I am sure there is I just don't know, Maybe I'll ask my daughter..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 I took advantage of the warm weekend and pulled the old drivetrain out of the HybridZ project car. Picture are in my Library. It's wicked cold again though this week so cleaning the engine bay is out of the question. Maybe I will grind/cut the transmission mounts out of the tunnel. Need to pull the Stroker motor next, Then prep and paint the engine bay. YAHOO it feels good to be making some progress instead of collecting junk cars! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Cut off the old transmission mounts to make room for the T56. I hope I cut off enough but I would like to keep some strength if possible. Jason did a nice job welding in new sheetmetal in the battery tray area. I started prepping the engine bay for paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvincent Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well I had a good father's day weekend and got the chance to really spend some time on the project. For the past month I have been slowly prepping the donor car by removing parts and tagging all wire connections. I did not cut a single wire and have removed a lot of parts. Yesterday I started at 10:am and dropped the driveshaft, disconnected the brake lines and removed the ABS module. I then jacked up the rear of the car and put a pair of my son's mud truck tires and wheels under the rear wheels of the donor car. I then lowered the front down with no whells on to blocks just low enough to get a couple of dollies under the trans and motor. I then removed the trans mount and the strut bolts and engine cradle bolts. I then used my engine hoist to lift the front body of the car high enough to clear the engine and propped some tree logs and blocks under the car to hold it up. I then pulled the engine and trans on dollies with a come-along wire ratchet. Once clear I hoisted the engine and trans, loaded it onto the back of my truck and drove it to the garage where I put it back on the hoist and sprayed it with degreaser and hosed it down. This took this old geezer a total of 8 hours with no help to do. So those people who say you can drop one of these engine and trans in 4 hours had to have had help and be a lot younger! Check my gallery for the pictures, for some reason I guess I am over quota for posting pictures?????? Thanks, greg Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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