New To The Z-Car Family

[Shusaka]

For the longest time i thought the S13-15 chassis were fried gold, the best nissan ever had to offer and i was blinded to every other piece of nissan gold that was produced. I met one of my good friends Thomas after i got into drifting my old S14 and he kept telling me about his 3 Z cars but alas i was a fool and shot him down on it all, until i drove his 86 300ZX N/A. It turned me right side up and i started to give other nissan chassis a chance. I drove a few B13 sentras, helped Thomas with his VG30ET 85 300ZX as much as i could, gave my S14 back to the friend i got it from because i couldn't afford to pay for it and am currently driving my fiance's 97 Maxima. I have come to realize all Nissans are great, and just the other day i found this 1978 280Z in the classifieds for $1200 with 83000 miles on the odometer. I told myself hers my shot at owning one of my dream cars since i was young. I called the guy up and am currently in the process of purchasing it for $1000 through payments so i am very excited to soon be an old Z-Car owner and something hit me...i was so busy sucking up all the knowledge i could get about S-Chassis and their details...i am completely dumbfounded with no knowledge at all other than exterior appearance, engine codes, and the utter attraction to my new car. So i hope i haven't rambled on too long but i have heard great things about all the old Z-car guys and their willingness to help so i hope you all don't get tired of the never ending questions i have about my new car. Here are some pics, tell me what you think of her, and what is interchangeable between the 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z?? I just read GMAC's in progress 240Z build and am in love with the thread, i dont want to go that extreme, but its a step in the right direction for me.

[kelloggman]

beautiful car and welcome to the familynot a big fan of the rubber bumper diffenately needs paint but looks like its in really good shapewhat are your major plans with it

95 percent of the parts in the z family fit with each otherall of the engines are bolt on 240z-280zx

like if you dont like injectors you can run carbs so many things you can play with
Modified by kelloggman at 7:52 PM 8/23/2009

[gmac708]

welcome noobert Your Z looks good. Have fun with it. Let us know your plans and keep us updated.

[evildky]

pretty much all mechanical parts are interchangable for all S30's, the strut turbe changed a bit as did the upper mounting points, you can still swap sptruts around but 280 struts on a 240 will raise it, and 240 struts on a 280 will lower it, brakes are all essentially the same, the 77-78 got better rears with a dual pistons, also manyuakl trans 280's came with the larger R200 diff, the earlier cars and auto 280's got the r180, fenders are the same, 280 hoods have vents, door skins are the same, but the hinges and latched changed several times through the 8 years of production, the consoles and dashed changed with each model, the rear deck area changed a bit mostly to accomodate the redesigned gas tank in 76

[Shusaka]

Well thanks for the welcome, it feels good to finally have this car even though i dont get to bring her home and play with her for about another 4 weeks, a couple more questions...it has been sitting in a field for the last four years so i wanted to drop the old motor oil nast that has accumulated over that time period and replace it with some fresh nippon eneos 5w-30, how much oil does the l28e hold? also how hard/expensive is it to replace the rear drums with discs and where could i source such a swap, i also noticed when i went in today to apply another payment towards the purchase of her, with taking some more pics im about to post, it says it was built in 12/76 so i think its a 77 not a 78, so will it still have the twin piston rear drums and the R200 diff, and if so will the VLSD out of my old S14 bolt in if i swap the diff cover from 240SX to 280Z?? Also will the less "park benchy" bumpers from the 240Z swap easily onto the 280z?? thanks again for the help and the welcome and i look forward to the experience this car has to offer, and heres some more pics Is there a Fairlady Z or 280Z badge that will replace the plain old Z here??

[evildky]

240 bumers are an easy swap, you'll just fab some basic "L" type brackets, someone sells them but it's pretty simple to fab, just remember, those early bumpers offer no front end impact protection

[Shusaka]

yeah i am still deciding if "the juice is worth the squeeze" on the bumper, i dont plan on hitting anything but then again, who does?? also, it needs work with the seats, the drivers side is shot so is it easier to get them recovered or just to try and find newer seats or racing seats, and if i go the aftermarket seat route is there a NICO sponsor that makes S30 seat rails, or anyone at all for that matter??

[evildky]

if the car is a daily driver and sees much road use Id choose saftey over performance and style, if however it's a weekend toy or track rat then by all means

as for seats, most aftermarket seats don't fit well in the S30, they tend to be too thick int he bottom pr to meaty int he rear, my corbeau GTS2's sat high til I cut downt he seat mounting brackets, now the back of the seat prevents anyone much taller than me from driving the car (I'm 5-6)

there are lots of seats wswaps that have been done bit most are a compromise of sme sort, a bud used miata seats, and while I'm nto tall with a helmet on I nearly touch the roof due to the thickness of the miata seat, you could cut out the mount brackets all together and moutn the seat to the floor but many seats would ihit the hump in the floor behind the seat limiting leg room

MSA sells allt he pads, bindings, upholstry etc for OE seats

[Shusaka]

Yeah the z will be my dd for a while, and do you have a link to msa?? I am 6'5" And just barely squeeze into her now so i guess aftermarket will be out of the question, which sucks cuz I found a nice set of brides I wanted to put in...damn lol. Thanks a ton evildky, you have given loads of info and help I really appreciate it, this forum is much more welcoming than the Silvia 240 forum, it a really nice change, makes me feel right at home with you guys, thanks again

[evildky]

msa= zcarparts.comthey have excellent customer service by the way

[NSR_s30]

Nice s30 you got there, looks like a fun project. Definitely keep us updated on it.

[Shusaka]

thanks again evildky, another stellar bit of help from you sir...i found most everything i could want except a nice pair of panasports or RSWatanabe wheels, and i will try to update this with every wicked cool or retardedly stupid idea that i think might work for her, first i am trying to decide between L28ET or RB20DET for the engine, i know i want the NISMO 6 Speed Transmission, a NISMO adjustable preload clutch type LSD, and either panasport C8-16 Racing wheels with optimal offset, or the Wats with the same offset, decisions decisions...

[bigred240sx]

welcome aboard man. i too was with you on the s13-5 chassis being the best till i wrecked my s13 and found a s30. i am happy to say this is by far my favorite out of nissan s chassis cars to have driven. and z chassis. driven s13, s14, s30, z31, z32, and z33. she is a beauty by the way. and evil are you saying my 76 280 has the r200 since its a manual car.

[kelloggman]

dont bother with the rb20waste of moneyL28 for the winCheap parts for iteasy to make super powerfulfrom wat i hear easy to do

[evildky]

the 6 speed might be handy for the torque impaired RB20 but the close ratio's ont he L28 woudl just have you shifting constantly, and not squite sure what the nismo 6 speed would befrom or for but I tell you it won't bolt to an l28 without a bit of work

and not sure what a nismo adjustable preload clsd is but all cluthc type lsd's are adjustable preload with chims and disks, and if it's intended for the 350z they it used the goofy vlsd output shafts which makes instalation a bit mroe complicated as you'll have to work out the shaft issues

I <3 panasports but the C8's are overpriced imho, and the wantabe's wel I just don't get the overpriced jdm gear

[Shusaka]

the six speed is a cryo treated gearset Heavy duty S15 six speed and the clsd is trackside adjustable via popping out the axle and tightening a bolt/tensioner inside where the axle cone would go, and kellogg, why not the RB20, they are cheap, reliable, rwd, and they may not have the best aftermarket support but its better than what i have found fro the l28, and they are much less expensive than the 25 or 26 for install and upkeep, but like i said, both options are in the air, and a long ways off, first im repainting it matte white with the flat black louvres, flat black tail panel, and flat black hood, reminiscent of my all time favorite fairlady, the 432R, as well as to stop the spread of rust (main reason) and the im out to reupholster the seats cuz the driver seat is fried, and rrepair floorpan rust hole and recarpeting the floors and hatch, then ill look into engine choices...and thats all i have as a tentative chain of future events

[evildky]

the 82-83 T5 is good to north of 400 whp, and evne then it's repeated drag racing that kills them, on a road or road race car they don't get that shock load that snaps the output shaft

the L28 doesn't need aftermarket support, al you need si a fatty turbo (ptryyu much universal and to make any real power form the rb you'd need a larger turbo as well), large injectors (all the rb's come with reletively small injectors that would need upsizing to get the most out of their stock turbo's! but alt least the L uses topfeed), and a stand alone ecu (the rb would at least need a code hack to handle the larger injectors and unless you are dign a full tune you are leaving power on the table)

and either way you'll need to pipe in an intercooler to fit the chassis, and the L has intake and exhaust ont he same side makign shorter piping on a vertical flow intercooler which is far more efficient than a crossflow

and 2.8 liters has potential for far more power than 2 liters

[Shusaka]

well i need a strong beefy transmission because i do autocross and drift alot and the drifting is what i am afraid will hurt it because of the clutch kicks and i am famous with my friends for my "signature" shift lock drift initiation so the transmission is an essential peice that i need to handle the abuse i am sure that i will put it through. also your last post was a little hard to understand, do i need the upsized injectors and ECU for the l28 or will it run turbocharged on the stock components?

[Perrenial Badass]

I'd suggest laying off any of that until you've actually drove the car some. There's plenty of time for motor swaps after you've got the rust fixed and the suspension worked out.

[Roach]

Good luck with the build hope you enjoy your Z. Mine is a pain in the rear Z31 it's like a child you really don't like but love anyways. peace

[Shusaka]

yeah i know that, im just thinking ahead, the first thing on my list for mods is just whatever it takes to get it reliable, also i just remembered, the rear sway bar is effed up, like the bolts on the mounts fell out cuz its just resting on the exhaust/driveshaft, is it safe to just disconnect the sway bar completely and takes it out or is that an integral suspension component that i will need to weld back in place asap???

[evildky]

sorry, I was assuming you'd do an L28ET build

and I autocross too, and when autocrossing, the R compound tires do not offer enough straight line traction to hurt even the stock trans, and unless you get a LSD under there you coudl have a trans made of glass and nto hurt it as you'll be spinning 1 wheel the whole time

the stick L28 can be turbo's, but your head isn't an ideal canidate for anything, you have the N47 whihc is scrap metal, you'd want an N42 or a P90 head, you'd also need a turob oil pan, or add a drainport to your pan, and the oil fittings, turbo manifold etc to convert your engine, it's easier to just find a complete turbo donor, and you'd be amazed and how good 230 whp feels in these cars, considering you are likley around 130 whp right now

[Shusaka]

what about the sway bar, will it be safe to drive without it? and is the l28 a motor that can be turbo'd without an aftermarket/upgraded ECU? if not what would you recommend?

[Perrenial Badass]

It will be safe to drive without the sway bar until you get it fixed. I'd be more concerned with the rust that made the sway bar fall off personally. Like, it being around where your seat bolts up.

[Shusaka]

i am very worried about that i was just wondering if it was safe enough to get her home so that i could perform a more in depth inspection on her to see why sway bar is not properly mounted and how i can fix it and anything else i can find in there

[evildky]

if you plan to autocross taht car you NEED a fornt sway bar! stock will get you by, but ideally you want the fattest you can find! the rear si optional, and with an open diff you are likely better off without the rear bar

if you front bar moutns are rotted out, bad dog parts sells the patch section of frame rail, but it'll need to be welded in, and if you have rust that bad there, chances are there si a lot more!

let me explain the ecu questin like this:if you add a turbo you are addng a lot more air

that means you need a lot more fuel

your stock injectors are too samall to supply enough fuel

if you put larger injectors on a stock ecu you will likely flood the eingein at idle and be rich all across the map, therefore yoiu need a turbo ecu to controll the injectors

to add a turbo ecu you need a turbo maf, turbo harness and cas which is in the distributor

to swap the turbo distributor you need the turbo distributor driveshaft which is under the timing cover

you'll also need the turbo manifold, oil pan, oil lines and fitting

so it's far easier to find a wrecked 81-83 280zx turbo and swap over the complete engine trb, ecu and all

[Shusaka]

who makes aftermarket swaybars for the 280Z? and its the rear thats rotted out. also wheres the ECU in the car

[evildky]

ecu is behind the kickpanel at the drivers left foot

MSA sells a swapbat kit with upgraded front and rear, nissan motorsport, suspension teqhniques, adco, and just about anybody who makes swap bars for cars

[Shusaka]

Ok, long time since i have been on, not much has been done to my car which has been cleverly named "Franken-Zed", as i have brought it back from the dead with multiple different cars donations(i didnt name it, my friends did and it has stuck sadly, lol). I recently painted it satin black in an effort to hide all of the nasty deformities that it has. I literally grenaded my LF wheel bearing, it blew my rotor into 3 pieces, broke my caliper mounting tabs clean off, threw the wheel/tire into my fender and bent my tie rod, that was a fun day, i will get those pix off of my iphone if i can, it broke and is my evidence locker if you will, and they should be up soon. anyways here are a few pix, will get more soon, and evildky, could you rename my title to Shusaka's Franken-Zed Build as this is now my build thread instead of my intro, thx



oh, and i also need some help from somebody that knows better than i, what is this called and where can i find one, thanks to GMAC708 for the donor pic from his immaculate build \/\/\/\/ the retainer for the cartridge was stripped out on both sides of my Z and its a real PITA to reinstall them when a spring compressor wont fit on car but the coil spring is way too long to just lower the car onto, keeps trying to make a C when i try that route, i am on a set of borrowed "strut tower to disc brake complete assy's" right now and my friend really wants them back, thanks again guys

[Shusaka]

hey guys small update, i began my bumper removal project at work yesterday, that was a major PITA, everything was rusted so bad i had to use my air hammer and chisel to "persuade" its removal from my car, now i am in the middle of removing the duckbill thing thats above the bumper, then i will paint match the roll pan to the rest of my car, will have pix tonight, also is it possible to put 280zx suspension on a 280Z??