Edz280zx Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 I got my 1981 280zx in Aug. of '06 from a friend of mine. I traded my pos 91 300zx straight across for it basically because the 300 was too damn expensive to fix up...price some Z32 stuff, you'll see. He had just given the car a quick, but passable paint job and was in the process of redoing the interior into black as it was originally a red interior. Here are some photos of when I first got the car. It's painted Mercedes Ultra Silver and had the MSA type 2 bumper on it at the time. Running stock 14" alloys with 15, yes 15 year old tires on it..lol. It's a base model which basically means it has absolutely no power anything. No power windows, no rear wiper, no cruise, and a manual rack:D. It's the lightest of the S130's and actually quite rare compared to the other 280zx's. I drove it around for a couple of months like this, basically until the end of summer, until I could afford some well deserved upgrades. Upgrade time!! First order of business was to decide what upgrades and replacements I wanted to do. I decided wheels were a definite must, as was a proper altitude adjustment. New carpet was deemed necessary as the carpet that was in it was generic speaker carpet. As far as performance, a coated MSA header was ordered up and a reworking of the exhaust from the header back was in order. I decided to pull the motor to have better access to the engine compartment and to facilitate an easier time of cleaning and painting the engine. The parts started rolling in..I'm sure all of you can understand the feeling of getting new parts for your project, as I was like a kid at Christmas. Opening each box elicited ooh's and aahh's from my wife and I. A special side note here...I really am lucky to be married to a woman who is just as much into cars as I am..thnx hon.. Anyway, winter was upon me and it was time to get wrenching. I went ahead and installed the wheels and tires, basically because I just couldn't wait to see what they looked like on the car. I decided to wait on the springs until the car was back up and running, so it looked like a 4x4 when I first put them on. Here's a pic the day I got them on. I went with the MSA 17" Konig Netz that came with all the mounting hardware including adapters. After that it was on to the motor pull. Basically it was straight forward and the only mess up was me forgetting to take the slave cylinder off and ripping the clutch hose off...oops! Time to order a braided line. Here's a couple of pics of the pull. Got the motor out, did some cleaning, painting & cussing at manifold bolts. Decided to follow the black and silver theme of the car and painted the engine cough*ford*cough grey. While the engine bay was completely torn apart, I decided that it didn't need the non functioning a/c so all the plumbing and associated hardware was uncerommoniusly ripped out and thrown behind my father-n-laws shop. This really cleaned up the bay and left the engine with only the bare essentials to contend with....basically the water pump and alternator...I like simple. I don't have too many pics of the install but here's a couple that I do have... As you can see, I didn't do a real good job of cleaning the actual sheet metal in the engine bay, but I knew I'd be redoing it later. I went ahead and got rid of the egr on the intake and made a really rough block off plate. I forgot about painting it and about a week after I got the car done it was a ball of rust hanging off the intake..lol. Live and learn I guess. Anyway, I reinstalled the engine the rest of the way, hooked up my new clutch line(sweet), hooked the wiring harness up and turned the key....and she fired right up!! Elation abounded, wine rained down, the clouds parted, ect..... After the engine was done she was still open header...so off to the exhaust shop to reinstall the exhaust and put a reasonable tip on. It turned out so so, but sounded absolutely bitchin. Basically it was a 2.5 inch exhaust with a Flowmaster 40 series where the cat used to be and pipe running out the back to a angled tip. After that was done I took her up to the dealership I was working at at the time and installed the lowering springs. It lowered the front beautifully but the rear was a bit of a disappointment as I believe it only lowered it maybe half an inch. I'm still running these springs today and it's one of my major pet peeves about the car right now...but I digress. Next up was the new carpet kit from MSA...good product. Easy to install with basic tools, and looks great. I did trim a little too much where it goes under the console but you have to look to notice it. Unfortunately, I do not have any pics of the interior as it looks now..I will try and remedy this as soon as I can. This was basically the end of phase one...here's some pics after the lowering. I drove the car in this form for about a year. I took it to several local shows and even won 2nd place in the s130 category at Branson Z Fest 07. My first win! Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Soooo....phase one ended and I drove the car that summer basking in the joy that can only be had from an old Datsun. As time went on I noticed things that were not up to par or were just plain annoying... the windshield leaked, there was rust on the edge of the roof causing the windshield to leak, the car had an annoying habit of just dying when hot...never knew when it was gonna happen, but if it was hot out, you could almost guarantee it, there wasn't enough power...when is there? the front bumper was starting to wear on me...just didn't care for it over time, the aftermarket steering wheel was flimsier than hell. All these things were noted and a plan of action was drawn up. This plan never took action and most of the stuff for phase two happened by chance or luck. I happened to find a rusted out ball of a 280z on ebay for dirt cheap which just so happened to have a triple carb set-up installed..this single purchase was what really started the ball rolling on the car. I got the car home and jerked what few parts that were useful off it and sent the rest to the big junk pile in the sky...just down the street...lol. Here's the engine that was pulled out of the heap...sad thing is this was a "built" motor, someone had put a shit ton of money into this thing and assembled it horribly. They put a big cam in it without replacing the cam followers so basically destroyed the cam which in turn ran metal thru the entire engine... You should have seen the domes on the pistons....a pity. Anyway, thru various swaps, car purchases, ect.. I had amassed quite a few parts. I had picked up triple carbs, Centerforce lightened flywheel, Dual Friction clutch and electric fan. I decided to go ahead and purchase an aftermarket ignition system (crane XR3000, with MSD Mustang coil). I also picked up a turbo radiator that was in better shape than my stock one. While all this was being done, I decided that it was time to get rid of all the rust I could. I would cut out the battery tray which was horribly rusted, fix the roof and install a new windshield. Since I had to have the roof fixed this would mean painting would need to be done. Now I have always like the look of a flat black hood, and I also like the fact that that paint is a whole lot cheaper than Ultra silver. This is the whole reason that the hood, cowl and roof were painted a different color...believe me, if I could have afforded to, they would all be silver. I also picked up 82-83 front and rear bumpers to get rid of the body kit nose and the chrome clad rear bumper. These too were eventually painted black for reasons already mentioned. I was pretty happy that all this was coming together pretty well. One day a buddy of mine mentioned that his dad was going to sell a set of 16x8 old school enkei meshies. Everyone has there holy grail of wheels...these are mine. I've loved this style of rim ever since I saw my first Trans AM GTA....don't ask me why but I gave up the 17's for these wheels.....later got the 17's baack, but that's another story..lol. Anyway, here's some more pics of the process...... From here until the finished product probably won't feature too many photos...I'll go back later and add some after I upload to photobucket...dialup owns me again..lol Anyway!! After all this parts gathering the destruction began. The old motor was yanked and MAJOR cleaning began. The battery tray was cut out leaving a gaping, albeit rust free hole where it had once been. The windshield was taken out and interior covered..I also took the dash out as I was supposed to get another crack free one..didn't happen, oh well. My buddy had a sand blaster so after the engine compartment was completely stripped and the wiring harnesses bagged, I blasted the entire thing down to bare metal. I cut a good battery tray out of another Z and welded it into the space vacated by my old rusty one. The engine meanwhile was stripped of paint and accessories. The timing cover, oil pan and all brackets were blasted, prepped and painted metallic blue or black. The block was taped up and painted metallic blue while the head was painted cast aluminum. While all this was happening, my friend whom I had originally traded with fixed the roof and smoothed out the welds on the battery tray. He then painted the engine compartment, hood, cowl and roof HotRod Black. I had originally planned on painting the entire upper body, hatch included, the same black, but after seeing another 280zx two-toned I decided against it. The entire fuel injection harness was chucked and the new ignition wired in. I had the valve cover polished and painted the recessed area around the lettering the same blue as the motor. All the wires in the engine compartment received new loom and tape...this really cleaned up the look of the bay. The master cylinders, both brake and clutch, were replaced with new ones, and the brake booster got a fresh coat of black wrinkle coat; I actually get alot of compliments on this for some reason?? After the engine was painted and dry, and new water pump and turbo oil pump was installed and she was gingerly lowered back into the engine bay. Then came about the task of running new fuel lines since the injection was no longer in use. Once this was completed the header and intake were installed...she was starting to look like an engine again! I put the carbs on and realized that the 280zx throttle linkage was not going to work. Luckily I had kept the linkage off the donor S30 and ended up having to weld it to the firewall....all was good. After this she came together pretty quick. The new radiator went in with electric fan; new lower psi electric fuel pump; and I modified the exhaust once more...it now ends right after the Flowmaster...which is where the catalytic used to be, basically right under my ass! Makes it a whole lot easier to remove tho:D. All of this basically took place over the coarse of winter. The day finally came to fire her up! Excitement reigned supreme in the shop. I sat down in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition. Turned it to on, and heard the fuel pump come on. So far so good. Pressure came up to 3.5..good. Pumped the gas a couple times and turned the key........ Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 She fired first turn! And sounded MEAN. Then we noticed the smoke......lots of it. Long story short... during the time that the valve cover and oil pan were off, the valve guides dried up and cracked letting oil go straight into the combustion chamber...basically turning my beautiful Z into the magic cloud machine. Ed was not happy... Before I continue with the story, here's some of the pics from phase two that I promised. Here's the car during the tear down..as you can see the hood had already been painted at this point. When I initially started this, I hadn't planned on doing so much paint work, but Mark (my buddy) thought this would be a good time to go ahead and stip the car down and do the engine compartment the right way... In this pic you can see where the battery tray was replaced and where the welds had been smoothed. You'll also notice the green tape over the brake and clutch lines and the wiring harness was bagged up. I sandblasted the engine compartment, however some of the paint was still good so that was just roughed up for the new paint. Another shot of the car during prep. I went ahead and took the entire front clip off to ease work and to make sure frame was free of rust. I also undercoated quite a bit of the forward unibody..don't know if you can see it here.... Here's the engine on the stand after painting... Here's a shot of the freshly painted engine bay..and not a very good one at that.. Here, the engine has been dropped in and the header partially mounted..the wiring at this point is still a mess. Converting to carbs eliminated the entire driver's side wiring harness, it's very convenient that Nissan designed it this way as everything that was needed was all in the passenger side harness. I was able to basically just unplug the ecm, pull the harness thru the firewall and toss it out. Now I know why the turbo conversions are so relatively easy in this car... Here it is almost buttoned up. Next time I do something like this, I'll be sure to take much more pics and make sure to get some of the more interesting details of the build... Anyway, back to the magic cloud machine.... To say I was dissapointed was an understatement. It did eventually get a little better, but still smoked way too much. It would stop when I would really get on it and after I'd been driving awhile, but it was just way too embarassing for me. Unfortunately, it had to stay like this for a couple of months as work was taking up alot of my time at this point. A bright spot to this whole thing was the car taking first place in the S130 class at Branson Z Fest. I decided to go ahead and replace the motor since this was the original and had over 200,000 miles on it.....basically she was tired. Luckily Ryan, another buddy whom had been helping me all this time, had aquired a 79 280zx that only had about 90,000 miles on it. He had pulled the motor to do a V8 swap and the original motor fell into my hands...lucky day for me!! So, phase 2.5 began. The old engine was pulled, while the "new" engine was cleaned and painted. I stuck with the blue for the engine and decided to paint a spare valve cover I had sitting around and slapped it on as I wasn't happy with the polish job that was on the other one... Here's the engine as she sits now.. So basically that's where all progress stops for now...since I've basically been unemployed since October, no funds have been available for upgrades and the car has basically sat since September. I still have plenty on the "list" to do, and as soon as I can, I'll get back started on her. I still go out and start her up and driver her around the "block" every week or two. She puts a smile on my face every time. So...this was my first attempt ever at a "write-up". How'd I do?? Quote Link to comment
72240z Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Did good on the write up and even better on the car. Clean, well thought out s130. I LOVE to see triples on a zx lol, nice. I think the paint scheme and wheel combo are much better current then beginning. Whats on your list? Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks for the compliments! The current list is as follows: Reworking the suspension..bushings, struts..possibly springs as the car just doesn't sit low enough for my taste, rear diff converted to r200 with cv's off a turbo Paint job..I love the current paint job, but the paint is reallly thin(silver) and I would like the bumpers to be bady color...I think I'll leave the hood black as I really like that look Brakes..I have crossdrilled rotors to put on, need some pads tho Interior...replacing the seats with earlier "tombstone" buckets A front strut tower bar..already have a rear one installed Eventually I'm either gonna build a nasty n/a motor or do the turbo thing...right now I just need to enjoy the motor that's in it..lol Redo the exhaust...while it sounds absolutely monstrous, I tend to get a headache after driving it for about an hour...am I getting too old? lol Hook the radio up Plenty of other little things that bug me...everyone has something don't they? Quote Link to comment
Phlebmaster Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 What can I say? WOW! Nice work man. :D Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Thanks guys, I really appreciate.. You know, you build a vehicle for yourself, but it's always nice to know other people like it too. Quote Link to comment
Jester Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Nice job Ed. Love the way it turned out. I think the write up was good too. Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 X2 Nice work :cool: Quote Link to comment
Skib Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 any chance of some video? who dosent love the sound of triples on an L6, i mean c'mon now :D Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 If I had the technology, I'd do it in a heartbeat...but alas, I don't..lol Quote Link to comment
Skib Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 :(:(:(:( i think, your going to have to drive it to canby in june so i can hear it. and then you can hang out w/ a bunch of ratsuners for a whole weekend. Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 I'd love to. We'll see..... Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted April 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Little update... Got tired of the gold wheels so I went ahead and painted them Gunmetal Grey to better fit into the color scheme of the car. Better pics to come, but this one gives you a general idea... Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Here's some better pics, as well as a close up of the "Z" badge... Here's one of what the interior looks like right at the moment...filthy for one..lol and one more for good measure.. Quote Link to comment
hughdogz Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Nice!! ...love the new look of the wheels, Ed. :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Got a nice set of early taillights, so I went ahead and installed them...what do you guys think?? Quote Link to comment
72240z Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 I always liked the early ones better because of the horizontal reverse lights. Them not having lines I think cleans up the look too, Looking good. Quote Link to comment
Bleach Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 They look good. I'm one who prefers the late style with lines. :) Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Allrighty then....well, the cars back under the knife so I guess this will be getting regular updates for awhile. I've decided to do the ole' v8 swap, so, first things first..pull the Datsun motor and cry a little...I did love this motor, but the quest for horsepower has no alleigiances. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, but here's what I got done last night...9 degrees with no heat sucks btw... More to follow....parts are already on the way : header, billet distributor..niiice! :D :fu: :hyper: Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 btw...for those wondering what my exhaust was...it's ALL in this photo :lol: header- 2'pipe - muffler - turndown....that's it....sounded good tho! Quote Link to comment
Danfinny Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 nice looking car, theres nothing like the quick power of the V8 but i am still partial to the sound of the l6 screaming down the highway.. Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted March 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 Well...the parts hoarding has started.. Bought these yesterday..My link Got this...My link And then these....My link Quote Link to comment
Edz280zx Posted June 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 finally got the motor back and painted....no smurfs were harmed... Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Wow I think you like to change engines. This is going to be fun. Keep up the good work. :D Quote Link to comment
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