78 Datsun 280z ------> 5.3 build

[SUNNY Z]

As some of you might already know, I bought this little guy in February of this year off here for little more than a song. It's as "rust free" as they get haha. I paid $1500 for it, and drove 7 hours each way. It had the 355 SBC / TH350 mounted, but nothing was hooked up. A couple weekends later, it was terrorizing the streets, getting flipped off by 50+ year old ladies (open headers ) I've wanted it to be an LSx, as that's the generation that I come from, and now it's going to be a reality!

 

Here is a quick pic of my 2002 Z/28

 

 

When I picked her up(not me--v)

 

 

Well today, I pulled/sold/delivered the 355 SBC that was in it for $900.

 

 

 

There is SO much room in this engine bay!!! (especially compared to an f-bod)

 

 

I have so many wheels / tires in my shop, its comical

 

 

 

I also deleted the rear bumper, and crash things. It was a whole lot easier when I realized it had to be done from the top

 

 

Thats really all I have for now, But I'll keep it updated as I make more progress!

Edited October 25, 2010 by SUNNY Z

[Slow78z]

That baby should haul ass! I'm doing the same swap on the same year car only I had to pay 2k for mine. Just ordered the cam for it today. I bet your done before me.

[SUNNY Z]

Thanks man!

 

Update: Just sold the JTR kit / some other stuff! I'm ready to start ordering mounts and a fuel system!

[SUNNY Z]

well i have a little progress to report.

 

I tore into the wiring, labeling everything, and taking it out of the engine bay. I'll be using a stand alone wiring harness, so 90% of this will be replaced / deleted.

 

 

Here's the engine bay, pre-cleaning, without all the wiring.

 

 

Here's where all the wiring now resides. haha, Just for the time being.

 

 

I did find a couple more small rust spots, in the culprit areas.

 

Below battery box

 

and on the drivers side, same spot

 

here's the rust on the passenger's floor pan. Not terrible, but I'm gonna replace it.

 

 

and the other Z. It's been driving me crazy lately, battling a nasty driveline vibration.

 

 

That's all I got done last night!

[SUNNY Z]

Just got off the phone with Nasty Performance. Great guys to deal with. We discussed my fuel system requirements and capabilities.

 

Here's what my fuel system is going to entail:

-Stock 280z tank (has internal baffles)

-Corvette FPR / Filter, located near the tank.

-Walbro 255 inline pump

-I'm going to get some sort of pre filter (brand undecided)

- -6 AN line throughout ( likely a combination of hard stainless, and braided stainless / teflon lined)

 

This should be PLENTY for anything I intend to do with the car for a long time, and is quite affordable.

-walbro pump ~$100

-corvetter fpr w/ fittings ~80

-Stainless hard line - 2.95 /ft

-stainless braided - ~$5/ ft

-pre filter ~$25

-misc fittings - ~ +- $100

 

Hopefully have it done for < $350, and it should support well north of 600HP.

 

UPDATE

 

I took the stand alone harness out of the box that I received it in, only to find that it was wrapped head to toe in black electrical tape. This is a serious NO-NO. It was built at least a couple years ago, and the tape decided to deteriorate, and get gummy. So I stripped it all off ( HUGE PITA )

 

Here's the aftermath

 

 

Now I'm left with a gummy harness, so I've been using adhesive remover to get all that **** off.

 

 

It was a good thing I did this, as I found some shoddy connections held together by the ol "twist, tape, and hope" method:bang:

 

I went to work on the engine bay, sanding it with 220, and taking all the unnecessary crap off the fender wells and firewall. I intend to weld up all the holes, and make it a nice smooth final product

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I went through the car harness, and trimmed out everything I won't be using. Leaving basically the horn, and headlights / side markers. All these will be run together, through the frame rail to the front, so they'll be completely hidden, and out of harm's way.

 

[Slow78z]

Just got off the phone with Nasty Performance. Great guys to deal with. We discussed my fuel system requirements and capabilities.

 

Here's what my fuel system is going to entail:

-Stock 280z tank (has internal baffles)

-Corvette FPR / Filter, located near the tank.

-Walbro 255 inline pump

-I'm going to get some sort of pre filter (brand undecided)

- -6 AN line throughout ( likely a combination of hard stainless, and braided stainless / teflon lined)

 

This should be PLENTY for anything I intend to do with the car for a long time, and is quite affordable.

-walbro pump ~$100

-corvetter fpr w/ fittings ~80

-Stainless hard line - 2.95 /ft

-stainless braided - ~$5/ ft

-pre filter ~$25

-misc fittings - ~ +- $100

 

Hopefully have it done for < $350, and it should support well north of 600HP.

 

UPDATE

 

I took the stand alone harness out of the box that I received it in, only to find that it was wrapped head to toe in black electrical tape. This is a serious NO-NO. It was built at least a couple years ago, and the tape decided to deteriorate, and get gummy. So I stripped it all off ( HUGE PITA )

 

Here's the aftermath

 

 

Now I'm left with a gummy harness, so I've been using adhesive remover to get all that **** off.

 

 

It was a good thing I did this, as I found some shoddy connections held together by the ol "twist, tape, and hope" method:bang:

 

I went to work on the engine bay, sanding it with 220, and taking all the unnecessary crap off the fender wells and firewall. I intend to weld up all the holes, and make it a nice smooth final product

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I went through the car harness, and trimmed out everything I won't be using. Leaving basically the horn, and headlights / side markers. All these will be run together, through the frame rail to the front, so they'll be completely hidden, and out of harm's way.

 

[Slow78z]

Well that didn't work out very well. Sorry about the coppied post. Anyways, I was going to say if you havn't ordered the corvette fuel filter/regulator yet the have a kit on eBay with the correct quick disconnect an -6 fittings and the filter. I just got mine in the mail the other day and it's quite the time saver.

[SUNNY Z]

I haven't ordered it yet. however, I have yet to find a price to beat this

 

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/LS1-Fuel-Delivery-Kits,41791.html

 

A member on here had it in one of his threads.

[Slow78z]

That's an awsome price. Looks like you got it all mapped out well. Good luck on the swap!

[1 tuff z]

great progress josey, keep us posted. you going to remove to brake m/c and booster and brake lines to really make the engine bay complete for the respray?

[SUNNY Z]

great progress josey, keep us posted. you going to remove to brake m/c and booster and brake lines to really make the engine bay complete for the respray?

 

Yep, it's like a fire sale. Everything must go. I'm gonna take everything out, or at least loosen it, and tape it up, so that I can get a good finish on the paint in the engine bay. I just acquired my buddy's welder today, so I hope to get a start on it tomorrow. (school / KSU football getting in the way) haha. I'll make sure to keep ya'll updated.

 

GO CATS

[emeraldlion]

Great progress josey, wish I was as diligent at photo-documenting my project. I started with best-of-intentions and what not but only have half a dozen photos. Did get the engine ready with swap parts though thanks to your delivery last week! Can't wait to see more.

[SUNNY Z]

Great progress josey, wish I was as diligent at photo-documenting my project. I started with best-of-intentions and what not but only have half a dozen photos. Did get the engine ready with swap parts though thanks to your delivery last week! Can't wait to see more.

 

Good to hear! I just hope by taking tons of pictures I can save someone some money / time by doing / not doing what I did. haha

[SUNNY Z]

Not much to update, but here goes.

 

This weekend, I hardly got anything done, due to the Kansas State Wildcats whoopin that longhorn ass, and of course, I had to celebrate in rockstar fashion

 

However, I did get some done on the z. Welded up a couple holes, (HUGE PITA btw). This sheet metal is the bane of my existence. It's incredibly thin. After some slow tacking, i was able to get a couple holes filled, and ground down. Then I masked off the engine bay, and have been getting it ready for paint.

 

 

I've decided I'm going to use all SS braided , teflon lined, line. This will eliminate the headache of the hard line bending / flaring issues. I'm going to be placing the corvette FPR near the back of the car, to eliminate the need for unnecessary plumbing and clutter in the engine bay.

 

I plan on ordering the mounts probably tomorrow, or shortly thereafter. Thats and thats all. For today

[SUNNY Z]

Well, the UPS man delivered this little bundle of joy yesterday.... (fuel system stuff)

 

 

and within moments of opening the box, of course i had to play with my new toys

 

 

Here is how the engine bay currently looks. Ready to do some final filling / smoothing and then paint!

 

 

 

 

Here's the current pile of crap i've removed. Well at least 75% of it.

 

 

I started taping my harness up, and beautifying it. Of course using vinyl, non adhesive tape.

 

 

Also picked this up last weekend, from a friend's parts car. Its out of a V6, so the pump will have to be changed. Not sure on what i'm gonna put in it yet.

 

 

I then started the hacking of my spare tire well, to fit the F-body gas tank. Here it is, Pre-Op

 

 

 

 

Annnnnd more harness work

 

 

Post-op. I cut the braces with a cutoff wheel, and the rest with a sawzall. Note the half a cutoff wheel blade in the opening in the picture. That is why you ALWAYS wear safety glasses when using this kind of thing. It split while I was using it and hit me in the eye. I did have my safety glasses on, (thankfully) and it just put a deep gouge in the lens. WEAR your PPE!

 

 

A view from the bottom showing the supports that must be cut.

 

 

And the tub. I got a little off my trajectory in one spot, but I'll have a cover over it, so it'll still be pretty.

 

 

I hope to mount the tank, and get the fuel system plumbed this weekend!

 

I plan on making a specific thread (hybridz) on how to do this swap, when I get it all done.

[SUNNY Z]

Well I made a little more progress this weekend. I worked on getting the f body tank mounted. It was a real PITA to do this by myself. Here's some of the ghetto fabb'n that took place.

 

Just a hood-rich way of holding it up so i could measure it.

 

I went ahead and used some 1.5" square tubing, rather than the 2" that a lot of people have. I did this only because it's what I had laying around, and is PLENTY thick enough to get the job done.

 

Here is the first support

 

 

And then the tank, with both supports welded to the frame rails, front and back.

 

 

I then started mocking up the FPR/ filter. It's gonna be all in stainless, the blue line is just for a template.

 

 

The FPR will be mounted to the rail, as shown

 

 

I then started bending up tank straps, out of some 1.5" strap that i had.

 

 

Here is a picture of the car, as it sits. With my buddy doin a cam swap on his 07 KFX 450 in the background.

 

 

Then a friend brought over a pony keg of a microbrew, and needless to say, that was where productivity ceased for the evening. haha.:chug::chug:

 

[SUNNY Z]

Small update for now. I found an engine from a local guy on a message board. He currently has it installed in a '71 El Camino, which he was doing a turbo build on. He changed directions, before even firing the engine, so I'm getting a STEAL.

 

The motor is a 2000 5.3 with 100k.

-232/240 .595/.608 115 cam (From Exotic Performance Plus (EPP) For boost )

-Comp 918 beehive springs rated to .625 LIft

-ARP rod bolts (~$100)

-Autokraft oil pan ($400)

-All front accessories

-Edelbrock Pro Flo Intake ($400+)

-Edelbrock Fuel rails (~$150)

-RC racing sl4-750 injectors (75lb) ($500+)

 

All new aftermarket stuff, never fired. I'll be picking it up for $1200

 

Also, the JCI engine mounts showed up today! I'll be building my own trans mount. (I think the $100 the get for theirs is just plain stuuupid) Deer season will be consuming the later half of my week Thursday-sunday, so I don't plan on getting much done, just thought I'd update.

[YeaJimi]

Subscribed, Nice Z's btw.

[SUNNY Z]

Quick shot of the brackets I build for the rear of the fuel tank mount straps. 2.5" angle iron, 1.5" wide. drilled a 3/8" hole, tapped it to M10x15, threaded the rod into it, welded the back side. I then welded these to the 1.5" square stock above the tank. Came out really nice. More pics to follow later

 

 

 

 

And then I FINALLY finished the body work in the engine bay. Ended up smoothing most of the welded areas over with bondo, to get just the finish i wanted. Here it is after 1 coat of primer.

 

 

 

[SUNNY Z]

Update for the coldest day of the year so far. BRRRRRRRRRRR -3*

 

Just found a local 2000, 67k mile, T56 and centerforce clutch, everything is there

 

-$1000

 

YEAH Baby!

 

This project is actually starting to take shape!