280z build take 2

Hi, started a build thread when I thought I'd be using the z car for the Challenge, then plans changed.
75 280z

I hadn't touched the car in several months before today, and it sat pretty much as it did before:
stripped out, nasty red/orange interior, lumpy poorly done primer exterior, rusted out floors and door sills.

We went over to the garage today, threw out most of the useless crap I had kept for some reason (like the unsellable interior pieces), took off the doors and hood, and sanded down the horrible primer to smooth things out a bit. We're hand sanding everything with no blocks so we just got the left rear quarter done so far, but it feels a lot less like sand paper and a lot more like real metal now.
Going to get the car smoothed out, suspension gone through, try to figure out how to get the front fenders off so we can coat the insides, pull the engine, decide if I wanna use the l24 I have or just spend approximately the same money it needs on an rb20 swap, decide on interior and exterior color, fuel cell, autopower bolt in cage welded in, patch panels in door sills and where the bumper supports used to be, new floor pans welded in, probably new frame rails welded in while we're at it, etc etc the list is never ending.
I want to build the car, at least to start with, for NASA Outlaw Vintage racing, and as a weekend/fun day car.
I have some very used RS3's I will use to set the car up and make sure everything is working properly before I put some less-used tires on.
Buying Bart 15x7 or 8 deep dish steel wheels from Summit.

Without further ado, here are a couple pics from today's work:

I'll update as we get work done on it, hopefully we'll be able to do something every weekend now, things will pick up speed if I can ever get my own garage space.

Datsun....I'll be watching.

nice to see this one return, corey.

hes selling the other Z car if you want to be a LOT further ahead. he finally found his vette.....

michael

Dusterbd13 wrote: nice to see this one return, corey. hes selling the other Z car if you want to be a LOT further ahead. he finally found his vette..... michael

knowing how complete the other one is, I know I won't have enough for it=/
I'd love to have a complete one but I'm way too broke right now sadly. I'll ask some friends though

call him. hes talking about dumping it ALL for a pretty reasonable price.

and the other one is running/driving/insured/street legal now. hes been driving it to work downtown a few days a week, out to my place in albemarle, etc.

i know that for wehat hes wanting (5500 or 6000 if i remember right) you can tget ALL the good parts. and spare motors. and diffs. and a rust free driving car.

make a screaming deal for someone....

again, call him. talk to him....

I'll more than likely be hitting him up to buy some parts, wish I had enough to just buy the whole package though! this thing is frustratingly far from complete lol

Mini update:
Settled on a chalkboard paint for the exterior for now, leaving the interior the weird red orange it is now.
Going to get some sheet steel to weld into the floor rust through spots, same with the door sills and the holes where the bumper supports were in the rear
Need to decide if I'm going to rework the l24 or go with an rb20 swap. Going to get nearly everything else done before I cross that bridge...

Thinking of autopower bolt in cage, with the mounts additionally welded in. Anyone know of legality for this in NASA outlaw vintage?

Back to paint, preliminary plans are chalkboard green, if I see any other cool shades at the depot I'll prob impulse buy them instead
My EVENTUAL plans are to get the car on a rotisserie, go through everything at bare metal, soda blast, etc etc full nine yards, but I want to have fun with it for a few years before that=]

picking up a project motorcycle this weekend and I'll update the thread with what I get accomplished on the Datsun after dropping the bike off as well

Not sure if it helps with the motor choices, but my L28ET ran mid 12's with MS, a slightly dented EVO 8 IC, an n/a cam, and a 3" exhaust. Made lots of torque and was a ton of fun.

yes but finding an l28et setup is roughly the same price as finding an rb20 setup that will hold 4x the power the L will=/

Mine was $350. I do understand wanting an engine that isn't the L though, it's old tech, parts are tough to come by, sounds like a forklift in turbo form. But it is easy and it is robust, even if a bit crude. Since I've already got one, I'm just going to see how it likes 25psi from a holset.

Copper280z wrote: Mine was $350. I do understand wanting an engine that isn't the L though, it's old tech, parts are tough to come by, sounds like a forklift in turbo form. But it is easy and it is robust, even if a bit crude. Since I've already got one, I'm just going to see how it likes 25psi from a holset.

now $350 is a price I can get behind! I haven't had any luck finding them away from the $1000 range.
What I wanted to do originally was an NA l28 flat top + l24 head + triple webers, it comes out to between 10 and 10.5 to 1 CR
for that money I could get something sturdier with waaaaaaaaaaay more aftermarket support and way more power with way less mods=/
plus rb's sound nasssssssty. lol

rb's do sound sexy, but remember they need an oil pan that's NLA in order to fit a Z and that costs almost as much as the engine if you can find one used.

I swear I'm not just making the L sound better because I have an assload of spare turbo parts.

well if you have spare engines/blocks/etc, I have a lot of spare z parts as well to trade ya=] lol
Still going back and forth on l series, I can be indecisive until the time comes to settle on a choice, after that point I have no problem sticking with something with no regrets

how are the front frame rails most concerned about the pass side and inner front wheel wells. i have a L28 block set up with diesel crank and .40 over and a head totally done with webers i would let go for $900.00

dustin has a spare non turbo late 70's efi motor and 4 speed in the back building......

and i know where theres a guy that builds pretty nasty 60*v6 motors. just think, aluminum headed, ITB 3.4 motor with 11.5:1 compression ratio backed by a close ratio 5 speed and 3.73 gears. all WELL behind the axle centerline, and dropped so low in the chassis it may as well be bolted to the ground.

thats what i wanted to do to your car before my wife gave me a bog ol hell no and dustin sold it to you. it would be stupid fun. and fairly cheap. and stupid light.

also thought about a ~25 PSI sr20 stuffed in one. michael

Dusterbd13 wrote: dustin has a spare non turbo late 70's efi motor and 4 speed in the back building...... and i know where theres a guy that builds pretty nasty 60*v6 motors. just think, aluminum headed, ITB 3.4 motor with 11.5:1 compression ratio backed by a close ratio 5 speed and 3.73 gears. all WELL behind the axle centerline, and dropped so low in the chassis it may as well be bolted to the ground. thats what i wanted to do to your car before my wife gave me a bog ol hell no and dustin sold it to you. it would be stupid fun. and fairly cheap. and stupid light. also thought about a ~25 PSI sr20 stuffed in one. michael

I like the way you think! lol.
I think I need to get this thing running asap so I don't give up hope on it lol
When I get my second promotion (just got first one, means I'm next in line to move up when someone leaves) I'll be hitting Dustin up for some stuff for sure!
I'd love to do an itb'd built 302 in there as well, an rb, an sr or ca, a volvo turbo engine for the cheapness and stoutness, a bmw 6, a bmw v8, a 1uz, etc etc. I need to get it running with what its got first so it's not so depressing anymore lol

cutter67 wrote: how are the front frame rails most concerned about the pass side and inner front wheel wells. i have a L28 block set up with diesel crank and .40 over and a head totally done with webers i would let go for $900.00

thats a deal for the diesel crank setup and webers!
and the inner wheel wells are in very good shape actually, the front frame rails are mostly good, no major rot, but dented in in a couple spots (I'd guess from improper jacking)

There are a few cheap 280z cars up in the Raleigh area right now.

Search 280z and Datsun on Craigslist Raleigh. Prices are in the 400-600 range for whole cars.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3305960837.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3301750803.html

Brett_Murphy wrote: There are a few cheap 280z cars up in the Raleigh area right now. Search 280z and Datsun on Craigslist Raleigh. Prices are in the 400-600 range for whole cars. http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3305960837.html http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3301750803.html

I'd like to get a parts car, but I need to wait til I'm in my own garage to do so, car is currently in a friend's garage and I don't want to intrude anymore than I already am

(James May Voice): Great News Everyone!!!! (no, I'm not here to talk about the Dacia Sandero.)
After really thinking hard about this car, I've decided that, come hell or high water, this Z car will be at the $2013 challenge.
(YAYYY!)
lol
this was my original intention for this car but idk what happened lol
I already have the super top secret paint scheme in my head, and it'll stay that way until it's painted (probably a week or two before the challenge lol) but I need to decide what to do for the powerplant.
To be able to really compete and make something awesome within the budget I need to get something other than the l24+SU's that need work.
I'm pming cutter 67 about the l28 setup he has, but what about some other ideas?
I'm $780 into the budget right now including the used rs3's I got a while back for it and the gas to go pick up the car, and I plan on keeping the suspension and brake work simple. $200 Bart circle track wheels, full polybushed suspension, and some sheet and rust converters to weld in the rust holes, the cheapest fuel cell I can find (usually the carolina hondas forum has good deals), and whatever diff I can get (there is a deal on ratsun right now for an r180 lsd)
there isn't too terribly much I can sell off of the car right now but if I found someone wanting to do a partial trade for the engine and trans I have right now I'd be set lol
I'd either like something neat with a turbo, a small block ford or distributorless chevy (chevy dis is on the backside so you have to push the engine further forward than a ford), or a strong straight 6.
I found a 2jz non turbo short block, almost complete other than the head, for only $200. don't know where I can find a head for it for cheap though=/
found a partial recently rebuilt 302 as well, needs belts, valve covers, and an intake manifold, also $200.
I like the idea of volvo engines with turbos but I'd like to be able to source a t5 or comparable man trans to put behind it and still be in budget so the b230 on the forums would prob be out=/
Any ideas with linkys?
I'm going up to NYC in a couple weeks so my money right now is being set to that but I have about $50-100 a week I can put towards the car every week, plus I plan on using my half of the tax money on it as well=]
Ideas?

everything you have mentioned has been done over and over. i always thought it would be neat to go with a VG turbo and i have one complete with tranny and wirring harness for $350.00

Oh snap! PM SENT!

PM sent to cutter67 about his L28.

Just turbo-charge the stock L series-it's stout enough to handle it for the Challenge at least, just don't go too crazy with the boost! A turbo L is way better than turbo VG... Or buy a zx turbo parts car-I got a complete stock '83 zx turbo for $580 a couple years ago.

corytate wrote: Without further ado, here are a couple pics from today's work:

This appears to me to be derogatory. You know I'm a Nissan/Datsun guy. I'll be checking in.