IronMan's 1976 280z

[turboHLS30]

I've checked all of that. I replaced all the bulbs and any switches for the lights. I've made an extra 10 grounds so far but I'm going to make some more. Next weekend I'm putting the tank in my Z so I'm gonna work on the 'burban sometime soon. It really aggrevated me.

[JSM]

I've checked all of that. I replaced all the bulbs and any switches for the lights. I've made an extra 10 grounds so far but I'm going to make some more. Next weekend I'm putting the tank in my Z so I'm gonna work on the 'burban sometime soon. It really aggrevated me.

 

You did check the pedal switch?

[turboHLS30]

Yea I did. I just dropped it off at an electrical shop to see what they can do with it. Now I can focus on the Z this week.

[Ironman]

Small update:

 

1. Tried to remove lugs from wheels (To patch it) got 3 out but the last had a lock.

Didn't realize it was locks until after I rounded it out

 

2. HID's Were acting up on me. Turned out to be a loose connection.

(Things like this make me want to rip out the entire car, and rewire it my way)

 

3. I am going to order a r/t mount and maybe along with a full urethane bushing kit.

 

4. Got the car registered, and now on to the insurance.

 

5. Cleaned up the old polish around the body panels, and the soot under the hood.

 

6. I might purchase and start slowly applying Por 15 to the under body. (That stuff is expensive!)

 

7. Found the oil leak, turned out to be the oil pan gasket.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Ironman

[Ironman]

Small Update:

Installed the R/T Mount

 

I haven't been getting much done to my Z since Summer Vacation just started,

and I am now almost working 40hr weeks, mowing lawns, fixing things around the house, and renovating my aunt's house

My Z time is almost zero.

 

I did however clean up my garage in preparation of applying the anti rust coating.

 

Here are pictures of the R/T mount and the installed product ( Hard to get a good picture without a lift)

 

[Ironman]

Another small update:

 

Picklex 20 and Zero Rust Time ( The two products were about $230 to my door)

Here is the prep area

Before

After Some Grinding

Complete Grinding after Picklex application (Those paint stripper wheels are AMAZING)

After Zero Rust Application

 

Be sure to ALWAYS wear some sort of breathing apparatus when using Zero Rust,

even with the respirator I got a little woozy.

Even better would be to have a small fan to blow away the fumes.

 

I was going to do more today, but the Florida rain has stopped me.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Ironman

[Ironman]

Small update again:

Started to rip the interior in preparation of applying ZR and Picklex.

Some pics

All this disassembly is making my garage very messy.

Tommorrow I am going to clean and organize everything.

If I have time, I will start to get rid of the old insulation.

Time to go to work

[zsteelman]

Nice build so far, I am in the same phase right now, ripping out to find rust issues. I used the hammer and screwdriver method as well for the rubber coating on the interior. A good tip that worked for me is to pick up a wide blade razor scrapper. I got mine from Lowe's it was a Kobalt brand, about 3$, it has a razor blade on the end and has a thick sturdy handle that you can hit with a hammer to go at the coating. Congrats on the car, I would say go ahead and remove the bumper shocks if you aren't going to replace the bumper, it looks alot cleaner IMO.

[billyssp]

It's good to see another south florida Z owner .... Keep up the good work

[503Alex]

Nice car, I am also in the 17 with a Z club .

[Ironman]

Hey everyone,

 

Summer REALLY flew by.

 

I was told on Saturday evening that my car has to be ready and drivable in order to register it for school parking.

 

First half of Sunday I over slept.

 

Second half I finished grinding, painting, and putting back the interior.

 

I was pretty mad since I rushed, and there are drips and heavy spots all over the floorboard.

 

I stood in line at midnight for the registration that opens at 8pm.

 

It was a cool experience though, reminded me of being in Fast and the Furious , with all the cars and eventually cops (They were cool though).

 

I intentionally skipped the upper part of the center console, and floorboard/firewall since when I pull the dash out I can fully grind it down.

Instead of half assing it now.

 

The spare tire well isn't completely painted since when I install the ls1 tank or fuel cell (To run dual exhausts), I will be much easier to drill out the spot welds.

 

 

When School starts, and I have access to the lift, then I will start ZRing and Piclexing the underbody.

Here are the pics:

 

P.S

 

I still suck at driving a stick (Practice makes perfect,right?)

Edited August 18, 2010 by Ironman

[Ironman]

Wow almost 2 months since the last update.

 

This one is pretty big.

 

1. Installed Suspension Bushings

 

2. Aquired LS1/T56

 

First the bushings

I used the master hyperflex Energy Suspension Kit. About 175 dollars if I recall correctly

 

Have few remarks/advice about the product/job.

 

1. The kit does NOT include the front sway bar frame bushings

 

2. The steering coupler has fitment issues (Holes are wrong diameter)

 

3. Removing the old Front Control Arm bushing is a *****!

I tried to press it out, didn't work.

I burned the old rubber out

Used a hacksaw to cut the metal "shell"

Used a combination of a air hammer and a punch/hammer to remove the shells.

 

4. Doing the Spindle Pins were a nightmare.

I just left it in there till I get/make the pin puller.

 

5. Before you do the job purchase these also

New Tie Rod Ends (Mine were shot)

New Balljoints (Also shot)

New Spindle Pins w/locks

 

6. When I put the new jounce stoppers in the Struts, the old ones were non existent (Odd)

 

7. Penetrating oil/ spray is your best friend here.

 

8. The only things I have to do are: (After the V8 swap), yes my prioritizes are out of order

New Tie rods

New Balljoints

Remove Spindle PIn and install outer CA bushings

Install Trans mount bushings

Dissassembly Rear Shocks and Install new Jounces.

 

9. The sway bar endlink bolts are too short for comfort/ physics

For the front, I cut the spacer to create the necessary clearance. (Destroyed the original bolts)

For the rear, I reused the original bolts/washers, but used the new bushings. (Metal is metal right?)

 

Now for the pictures

 

Above: 2 of my friends helping me out

 

Above: Under the Car shot (If you see any irregularities, PLEASE let me now thanks)

Any recommendations about the frame rail rust?

 

Time for the LS1

Got the engine/transmission/harness out of a 98 fire bird.

There are a LOT of Wires, have to take a picture.

I estimate I should be done by DEC 2010 - Feb 2011.

 

Right know I have to deal with the harness/computer related issues.

To make sure it fires up.

 

My plans:

Going to convert it to 99+ pcm/harness

Corvette Fuel Filter/ Reg with Walbro

Cable LT headers if they come out in time

JCI mounts

JTR radiator kit

JTR intake kit

Dual 3 inch exhaust dumped before diff, with X pipe muffler

 

 

Hopfully everything is straightfoward.

 

 

Heres a picture of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: I just thought this picture was bad ass, yes I did stage it.F (No tools and garage is closed. (Its my friends 370z)(EDIT: I don't have an erection in the picture, my zippers were down, giving an "illusion"), and yes we had drag race, stock vs stock, it looked like I wasn't even moving . Can't wait for the LS1, to show him whats up

 

Above: The Camaro is my sister, the conditions weren't great for pictures, but whatever

Edited October 23, 2010 by Ironman

[rturbo 930]

Looks great!

 

Regarding the frame rails, looks into bad dog frame rails. I'm not sure if you cut out the original rusty ones though. If it were me, I think I would probably patch the rust on the original rails properly, and then put the bad dog rails over top of them, which they are designed for.

 

Someone on here has a thread regarding that exact problem - whether to remove or replace the rails or not. I thought it was Proxlamus that made the thread but I couldn't find it.

[UofA_ZCar]

looks great so far, but why not repaint the suspension components when you had them out to replace the bushings? Awesome pics with the 370 and camero!

[Pharaohabq]

Pretty cool, Wish I had a lift. As for the frame rails, just tap on them with a hammer, if you bust through anywhere then you'll need to think about replacing/covering them. but since your floor pans are in good shape, I doubt your rails are bad. The rails aren't very thick, you will dent them jacking the car up on them w/o a 2x4 or something to spread the weight out a bit. On the food side, most rails look pretty dented by the time you get the car so it's not so big a deal. the Bad Dog rails might be a good idea anyway since you're going with the LS1. You should read through the V8 forum on here about chassis stiffening to prevent frame twisting. They've got some good advice in there. That v8 mounting kit is well worth the cash too, so consider that. it'll save you a ton of time.

 

 

Safety notes: Always use jackstands before crawling under the car, in addition to keeping a jack under it. if you pull off a tire, place it under the car if you're going to be under it. Don't make me find the car crush picts.

 

Phar

[Ironman]

Hey guys thanks for the replies.

 

I am probably going to access the extent of the frame rail damage,

But most likely I am going to go with BD Frame Rails.

 

I didn't paint the suspension components since I did all the work at school, and was pressed for time.

Now that I have the experience, I might do all the disassembly, and painting at my house.

 

When I was under the car, all the wheels were bolted/torqued on, I staged the picture for Facebook

I would never trust my POS $20 big red jack, on anything. Thank you for pointing it out though.

 

Couple things to update on,

 

Finally changed out the oil pump gasket (leaking oil).

In the process I screwed up the distributor timing.

After my teacher showed me how to fix everything, I was initially pushing 32 degrees idle, and 42-45 thottle!

We cranked it down a little bit, still have to do more fine tuning.

 

My one of my rear tires had its "cords" rip. Looked like a knife when through it. (Gotta stop doing those doughnuts )

 

On top of that, my brakes partially failed just before taking a turn about 45 mph (Thank god for Dual Reservoir MC's!)

 

Looked at my brakes, turned out one of my rubber lines had ripped/fatigued.

Most likely from me man handling it during the bushing install.

 

 

Lots of lessons learned.

[Ironman]

Small Update:

Haven't made major progress, life has been getting in the way.

 

All I really did was the harness work.

1.Cut it down.

2.Convert to 99 PCM.

3.Make it Pretty

 

Still on number 2. Should be done with harness work in a week or 2.

 

Here are some pictures:

Above: All the external wires needed to run the Engine

Pink is IGN,

orange is constant battery,

tan is OBD-2(Discarded in the 99 swap)

BLue and Green is fan relay control

Purple is starter wire

black- forgot (Probably Ground)

 

Here are some pictures that I forgot to post before:

The oil pump gasket install

My Ghetto Rigged Brake Job fix, I fixed it properly later.

 

I am going to order the fuel system related things, so I can bench test the engine in a few weeks.

[Ironman]

Theres no turning back now.

 

I pulled out the L28.

Took about 10 Hours , Learned lots of things though.

Most of the time was figuring out how the hell to take off the fenders properly.

 

Before I took out the engine, my sister came back from college.

Seems like the perfect time for a Datsun 280z vs 2010 Camaro drag race!

It was more to establish a baseline of speed for a before and after the swap comparison.

 

 

Here are some pictures of the removal:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Cutting Off Exhaust, it was welded together

 

Above: Me thinking

 

Above: My sister and I

 

Above: Lots of work left

 

Above: MMMmmm.....Parts... More to Come

 

Above:My Friend doing his happy face

 

 

Here is a video that my friend took after pulling the engine:

WARNING- STRONG LANGUAGE IN VIDEO

Edited December 22, 2010 by Ironman

[Ironman]

Time for a status update:

 

Since I want to bench test the LS1 before dropping it in/spending time/money.

 

All I really can do is the Datsun side of the work.

 

So I decided to:

1. Clean up the Engine Bay

2. Relocate the battery.

3. Paint the Wheel wells and cowl areas with Zero Rust.

4. Tap wires in preparation of the LS1.

5. Bend Fuel Lines/ Brake Lines

 

So far Steps 1 and 3 are done.

 

When I did the Zero Rust Application, I didn't make it perfect.

It was never intended to be a show car, just a very fun car to drive/cruise around with.

Although I will make a touch up coat to prevent any future rust formations.

 

Here are the pictures.

 

Above: Got Camber?

 

[ModernS30]

You just used the R/T mount as a bump stop to get rid of the strap? You can actually put a bolt on transmission mount on that thing you know that right. Mine doesn't even have the bottom mount any more.