New Fairlady to the forums!!

[FlameRed04]

(Whats up guys. I HAVE to get to bed so I'm going to make this quick lol...

I just registered so I can learn more about my car. I have a '77 Nissan Fairlady Z.

Quick background... It was brought over in '84 by a guy in the military. He drove it a couple years, then parked it in '86. It sat there in this crappy old garage for the next 22 years!! We took it over last fall and got it up and running, all is *pretty much* well, there are only a couple minor flaws which is why I came searching for the board.

Anyway, here are a few pics.... A couple of how we found it, and a couple after a quick wash, no buff or wax or anything! I polished up the wheels today but didnt get any pics yet, I'll have some shortly. It made the car looks TONS better.

Oh, almost forgot. My daily is an '04 SRT-4.. still on stock turbo but making around 300whp, not too shabby.

Now, on to the pics!!









After some maintenance, a quick wash, and some new tires...















I can't believe how clean this thing is after sitting so long. There is absolutely NO rust on this thing! The only downfall is that it idles around 1500, I think its a IAC that needs replaced. Also, the wheels really need refnished, the centercaps are awful. The clutch also feels really bad, not even sure where to begin looking for that. Overall, a very solid, clean, rare car.

One shot of the SRT




Modified by FlameRed04 at 2:23 PM 9/3/2008

[Stealth-Z]

Looks pretty good. I have always liked the Black and Silver paint combo on them.

It is not a 77 though. The body style is the GS130 series. The state side equivelent would be a 280ZX. If the front plate is the original they had in Japan, it would have had a L20e motor. They had a higher road tax for L28's. Those had 33's for the top number.

[evildky]

yup, S130 chassis, so it's 79-83, someone fibbed to get the title, the vin plate in the door should have a date of manufacturer to help narrow downt he actual model year nto that it matters terribly, pretty much everything interchanges, and being a fairlady I believe it came with the L20a? not gonna move mountains with that anchor and the naps badge in the rear is odd, stands for Nissan Antipolutions System of some such, on the ca powered cars they got dual spark plugs as part of the naps package never seen a naps on an L6

[hbpignosePA]

that cleaned up quite nicely... im not a huge fan of the zx's but thats just sexy as hell

[nsrZ32]

Clean car. Not really a fan of s130's but cool no less.

It should have fender mirrors btw

[evildky]

I think they dropped the fender mirrors when they went to the power/defog mirrors

[DemonZ]

Yeah, it's definately a 79-83 RHD 280ZX 2+2, with the L28E motor.

Very interesting. Would love to see a picture of the Vin Plate

[NSR_s30]

NAPS badge, that is weird. Definitely a nice s130 though.

[evildky]

I thought the fairlady only got the L20?, I know there was an L20 ET in aus and that they made an L26 for 5 years in europe

[Stealth-Z]

I thought the fairlady only got the L20?, I know there was an L20 ET in aus and that they made an L26 for 5 years in europe

Actually there were S130 Fairlady 280Z's that had the L28. They were badged as Fairlady 280Z.

280Z's with the L28's had 33 on the top numbers of the license plates. Tax on larger displacement engines was higher than the L20's. The L20's were usually plated with 56.

I left Okinawa, Japan in 1986. Todays plates are different. I noticed they are using 3 digit on the top now, like 500. They "Y" designation has not changed. This, for the most part, denotes U.S. personnel under the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement). "E" plates were assigned to vehicles imported by U.S. personnel.

[FlameRed04]

Wow.. I guess I have some research to do. I'll get a pic of the VIN plate tomorrow if it's decent outside, the lighting in the garage isnt great.

Hopefully you guys can fill me in and be able to tell what exactly I have after that.

[DemonZ]

Hopefully you guys can fill me in and be able to tell what exactly I have after that.

Well what ever it is, it looks pretty nice

[FlameRed04]

Just figured I'd use this post since it is already here and to refresh everyone with the car.

I believe it is a 77... I was told that the body styles started a couple years earlier in Japan and that I could find the year in the tailights, low and behold there is a "77" in the tails.

It is a 2.0L... L20. Now, I need help finding a clutch. I am assuming I'll be able to use one from a US version, but I have no clue which clutch would work. I am looking to buy one very soon, this one is slipping pretty bad.

[evildky]

the tail light thing si an old redneck trick thats is very inaccurate, that might be when datsuns tarteds popping that style tail light, but all Z's came form the same factory, they build the S30 chassis till they stopped production in June of 78 and began producing the S130 chassis which is what you have

check the vin number, on the dash as well as the firewall, make sure they match, heck post up the vin and I can tell you when it was made, and the L20 cluthc and flywheel is interchangable with all toher L6's, you just gotta use matchin flywheel, most likely you ahve the smaller one, just get a clutch for a 240Z and it should fit

[DemonZ]

the tail light thing si an old redneck trick thats is very inaccurate, that might be when datsuns tarteds popping that style tail light, but all Z's came form the same factory, they build the S30 chassis till they stopped production in June of 78 and began producing the S130 chassis which is what you have

I was about to say the same thing

[FlameRed04]

I have a shot of the VIN plate at home, I'm out of town for work for a couple weeks right now.

So, you think a 240 clutch would work then? Doesn't have to have an L20 right?

[evildky]

domestically there were 2 different clutches use don L6's, the 225mm found on most 70-83 Z cars, and the 240mm found on the 2+2 and turbo models form 75-83, now that I think about it you car is a 2+2, might have the larger one, you might just have to pull it out and measure the disk, or if you get a clutch and flywheel as a set or either size it shoud bolt right in

[FlameRed04]

Any recommendations on where to get the kit? And which would you go with?

[evildky]

ultrarev.com had some of the best ptrices I found, and if you order by phone they've been known to discount even further

[FlameRed04]

I hate to seem like a dumbass, but I can't seem to find a complete clutch kit for it on that site...

[evildky]

here si the clutcheshttp://ultrarev.com/home.php?cat=326and here are the flywheelshttp://ultrarev.com/home.php?cat=327if it says turbo or 2+2 then it's the 240mm and if it says except turbo or except 2+2 then it's 225mm

[FlameRed04]

Search for the specific year and model though, its only bringing up a pressure plate for me under Clutches, and nothing under Flywheel.

[evildky]

what are yoou putting int he drill down menu? the links above are for all 225 and 240mm clutches and flywheels not seeing a problem?

[FlameRed04]

I was just putting in the year, make and model of the car....

The links you posted up and showing me ALL clutches and ALL flywheels.

[evildky]

the bottom linktakes me to the flywheels, and if I click on the top link, I can still select "clutch driveline" from the menu to the left and then select "flywheel" form the choises it brings up

or you could call them!

[DachshundTooAteEZ]

cool as, love it, and DAMN that's clean... At first I thought the thingies on the fenders were the original mirror stands, lol.

[FlameRed04]

UPDATE!!

New clutch is in, but on the way to my buddies garage where we did the clutch, the car was trying to die... Come to find out, bad alternator. Pulled the old one out, tried taking it to Adavance and having them find one for me.... Well, it bolts up, but doesnt charge the car? Trying to diagnose this problem now, as well as find the correct alternator for the car.

Which brings me to another thing... I'm still not 100% sure what year the car is. As you all were saying earlier, S130 style just as the 79(?)-83 280ZX. It has the L20 which was only available in Japan which is what makes it hard to find things for.

Here is a shot of the VIN plate.

[AZ-ZBum]

UPDATE!!

New clutch is in, but on the way to my buddies garage where we did the clutch, the car was trying to die... Come to find out, bad alternator. Pulled the old one out, tried taking it to Adavance and having them find one for me.... Well, it bolts up, but doesnt charge the car? Trying to diagnose this problem now, as well as find the correct alternator for the car.

Which brings me to another thing... I'm still not 100% sure what year the car is. As you all were saying earlier, S130 style just as the 79(?)-83 280ZX. It has the L20 which was only available in Japan which is what makes it hard to find things for.

Here is a shot of the VIN plate.

Very cool. Yes. Obviously an L20E and 2.0L inline 6 equiped S130.

There are no dates on that plate, but there might be on another place on the car? Maybe in the driver's door jamb?

[evildky]

when buying parts for the chassis stateside the car is for all intents and purposes a 79 280zx, the production number is way low, the S130's in the states production numbers starrted at 100000

when getting parts for the engine the L20A uses the same rods as the L24 but the crank is unique and pistons are unique

as for getting the car running, a charged battery should get the car running for a good half an hour, if it's dieing it's not due to the alternator unless you are running on a dead battery

[FlameRed04]

It's definitely the alternator. The car ran until the battery died....

I'll try to get a shot of something in the door, etc. to see if that would help.

Like I said, the alternator we got bolts up, just doesn't charge at all.. Do you think they'd be the same as the 280 being they have different motors?