Danalive

looking forward to seeing this with one of your heads in it, how much power do you think you might get from the 4 cylinder head? do you know the paint code for this? it would be on a sticker under the hood if its still there. looks similar to what mine was originally but was painted over in a lighter blue.

oh its definitely too loud, i swapped the head, so had to swap from a round port manifold to a square port manifold, the stock exhaust then wouldnt mate up, what i have now is just to i can test drive it before i take it to get a stainless system made.

Well its been a year since i got the truck, initial plan was 6months to get it on the road but here we are a year later and ive done a few runs around town in it and have a few bits left to sort and then i think its done. even just taking it up the road to see how it handles puts a massive smile on my face. thanks to everyone for their help along the way, the forum has been so helpful looking back at all the guides about how to fix all the things. it runs drives and stops currently, the passenger side caliper seems to be leaking so will rebuild that, the speedo doesnt work and the steering is pulling all over the place. ive gone through and fixed all the locks and handles, replaced both window regulators as they were shot, and all the window rubbers have been replaced, just the rear window / front window to do at some point, but for now they seem to be solid enough to prevent a leak in the cab. bought some vinyl letters off ebay for the tailgate and painted the front grill to match the steering wheel / mirrors, exhaust needs some work as it currently ends under the cab.

i rebuilt my l20b recently, it had little to no compression and the head had warped. i got 86mm small dish pistons (4cc instead of l20b 11cc) & rings from swmotorsport in australia, im in the uk and couldnt find anything locally so went with these as rockauto were out of stock of the zx pistons new rod and main bearings a gasket kit new front cover bolts as mine were rusty new water pump i think that was it, then i had a local machine shop bore the block for the new pistons and deck the top of it, check it over. also had them place the new pistons on the old rods. then i reassembled myself. total cost, with a new head was around £1000. the different 280zx pistons will give different compression ratios, you can work out yours with the ozdat calulator: https://www.ozdat.com.au/ozdatonline/enginedesign/

https://thebushking.co.za/ocart/index.php?route=product/category&path=272_300 came across this when looking for bushes before, in south africe, havent used them so cant comment on them.

ive been working through a whole bunch of little jobs on the truck, which i have no tasty photos of but here it is finally running & idling, ready for its first drive.

looks like a factory mirror

update time, pulled the rear drums, nothing inside, no hand brake brackets / forks, no springs, in a stroke of luck a chap messaged me as he had a 620 he was breaking for parts, it was definitely beyond returning to the road but i managed to salvage most of the break bits i needed for the rears. the only bit i was missing / couldnt get was the centre spring in the photo above, which is the top spring for the rear brake shoes, the silver one on the right is for an isuzu trooper/rodeo, which is a bit short but just about fits. Engine came back eventually, painted it up,found a little brass plaque on it i hadnt noticed before saying remanufactured rebuilt the block, was quite fun, everything went pretty smoothly, threw it in: throwing everything back together, still a few bits to do before firing it up

https://www.ebay.com/itm/162907278152 went with these adjusters, incase someone else ends up in the same situation

just pulled my drums off to replace the shoes to discover that there is nothing in there but the wheel cylinders. im in the UK so none of this is available off the shelf. looking on rockauto i can get the springs and cups for the shoes, but not the pins, well i can get 4 for $60, which seems like a ripoff. does anyone know the length of the pins so i can try and find some that'll fit here in the UK adjusters are also not on rockauto, ive seen some from thailand via ebay, any other sources? the locking tabs & cover for the back of the adjusters, theres some on ebay for big money, any other sources for these? also the large springs that go across the 2 shoes, and the 1 for the adjuster, would the front springs from an earlier drum fronts work? https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2023802&cc=1210138&pt=1752&jsn=7300 ive got new cylinders, just the rest im missing at moment.

Havent attacked the exhaust studs yet, but ive recently picked up a mig welder so i'll have a go at welding a nut on and hope the heat works its magic. Engine is still at the machine shop, 2-3 week estimate has turned into 5 weeks, hopefully get the block back this week and the rebuild can begin. in the mean time ive replaced all the ball joints, new discs, pads, brake lines and bearings up front, going to attack the rear drums tomorrow so it'll be ready to stop when it finally gets running. theres a localish show in a few weeks called retrorides, which had been my initial goal to have the truck road worthy by, might still be possible if everything goes to plan. been looking for a set of steel wheels, found a set of 4 15x6.5 steel wheels from an isuzu Dmax, 5 minutes from my house, brand new wheels and tyres, got taken off a new pickup as they swapped the wheels and tyres. got all 4 for £122, which is an absolute steal. I'm going to have a go at 3d printing a hubcap/nut cover, something like this but with a datsun logo in the middle.

looks to be in pretty good condition, any photos of the z seats? i have a pair but debatin wether to sell them and stick with the factory seats.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3060126&cc=1210150&pt=1720&jsn=431&_nck=HllVxRCey1%2B2aVRDo41oQXhbegy63eH0PchVaGVs1k%2BAll0%2F%2F7FZXjBdldY0BurSRwtpK4xYpI%2FSv8SPgdoT2Uh4R35LToLw%2BCExFX3KlfPPtg8XuhmpuPULODxZASWFuWhQP4NSoEsuy1tcUoVBs5Sa55o1x7uMWwu7yt6%2F%2F7MazCdpGkO44ST6mu%2BBsuNFvkNq9InishuSdohhRMN9iy4QiSFut2%2FVjcvwXl47qrz9xPdCeLIBaW%2FVGazhJOlIK5JFmdJlaVIMR%2BTKGkDu3brneKR7KITzcRadlesljxWwYvTX1ribkxzMPb%2BAdEKb this one

amazing thank you mike, old ones are missing from one caliper and snapped on the other. looks like i can get some in a kit from rockauto, unlikely to find them in the uk.

im rebuilding my brakes, need to find this part highlighted in red, anyone have a part number or a source?