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Aaron's 75 280Z


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All of this was grabbed from Hybridz.org as I know how muc you all love projects. I will try to find older pictures as well as get some pictures of some of the new stuff I am doing.

 

I got this car when I was 17 it was butterscotch brown and in decent shape. I ran the car for about 6 months until I saved up enough money for paint. After that I drove her for a while then swapped in a 5 speed from a 1979 280zx parts car. Then trouble happened I decided to swap in a turbo :D. It has been a learning experience. I swapped it in and got her running, but not running well. I then decided I wanted MegaSquirt. This has been one of my favorite things I have ever done, that being said it definitely hasn't been all roses.

 

I got MS and all the parts over the span of about 3 years for gifts/ extra money when I had it. I finally put it all together and got her running (boy that's making a long story short), but she wouldn't run well for very long. It turns out a car left sitting for about 5 years without moving with gas in the tank might get some crap in the tank when the gas goes bad. So I got her running but the fuel pump would clog off and starve my engine for fuel. So I pulled the tank had it coated, left her sitting for another 6 months still has some crap in the tank (I put in a fuel filter and am hoping to run a few tanks through to see if this clears it up).

 

The Car:

1975 280z red w/ 2 black racing stripes

 

The Body:

A little bit of rust here and there but nothing bad, a few dings and dents the paint job is now 9 years old.

MSA front spoiler

Shaved rear bumper

240z front bumper

Deleted lower side and rear emblems

All chrome trim was masked off and painted black I think it looks really good.

 

The Interior:

2001 Toyota Celica cloth seats: fabricated using a mixture of the datsun and celica mounting hardware

5 point harness drivers side (over kill and thinking of going back to a 3 point (Youthful thoughts of coolness with the harness)

MSA Dash Cap

Generic Boost gauge

The interior was actually in pretty good shape and I have tried to leave it alone mainly

 

The Engine/Drivetrain:

L28et from a 1983 280zx

Pallnet fuel rail

60MM TB

Ported Intake

2.5" MSA DP, full 2.5 inch mandrel bent exhaust and catalytic converter I put on last night (1/26/2012) , exits from a 3 inch chrome tip I literally found on the side of the road :D.

MS1 V3.0 board running MSNS.

280zx radiator (I ran my mechanical fan through my first one revving to high and clearly something else was wrong)

Single 12" electric fan comes on when the car gets hot (I forgot the temp)

Oil Cooler (Compliments of the turbo auto car know I didn't have to just wanted to)

CIA (I know so cool)

5 Speed transmission from a 1979 280zx

Regular turbo clutch

 

Other Stuff

Push button start (stupid ignition switch after replacing the 3rd one I just gave up, now it requires a key and the push button)

Swastika rims

SS brake lines

 

Next on my to do lists:

Keep an eye out for a good deal on an Intercooler, BOV, and piping

Get KIA Sportage door weather stripping and find a good replacement for hatch weather stripping

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SOme things I have done over the past 2 years

 

Replaced the weatherstripping with stripping out of a Kia Sportage.

Replaced the intake tube going from the filter to the turbo connector

While tuning my LC-1 gave up the ghost so I am in the process of ordering http://14point7.com/SLC-DIY.php to replace the LC-1

Order some vinyl decals from RTZ as well as some HybridZ stickers for the car.

Ordered a battery tie down.

A couple months have gone by I built the SLC DIY and really liked it here is my review of the product. I also have driven the car quite a bit and worked out some bugs I still need to replace window felt and some of the other stuff. Now that my wideband is back in it I am concentrating on tuning the car again!

 

I got my SLC DIY-1 back in February of 2011. I immediately opened it to make sure all the parts were there, they were. I then packaged it all back up and stored it until I could work on it. I ended up putting it together in March, but when I came back to it I found I ended up losing some of the molex pins when I contacted Alan he promptly sent me the replacement parts and at no charge which of course was not expected, but a very nice and definitely made me a more happy customer.

 

The board looked to be good quality and the components were separated out by values. It was easy enough to solder all the parts on to the boards and the sockets make installing the IC’s much better than say putting them on the board themselves. That being said there were several locations where I wish the solder pads were just a bit further away from each other that way there is less worry of solder bridges, that however is just a very small gripe. When first put together the board didn’t work 100% due to the fact one trace had lifted and separated from a pad coming from Molex pin 5 once found a dab of solder to reconnect and the system worked flawlessly.

 

The 4 Seven segment display is a great added feature and one of the main reasons I actually purchased the kit, I don’t have a dedicated AFR gauge and didn’t want to have to run with a netbook all the time in order to watch the value. That being said the display updates very fast so if you don’t have a very stable AFR you can tell. The display can be toggled to display things like oil pressure, RPM, AFR, Boost these are little things that can be added to make it a more feature rich unit.

 

The SLC DIY1 has now been replaced by the SLC DIY2. If the SLC DIY-1 is any indication of the quality and features of the DIY2 (which come pre-built and tested) then I would say that I think this is a great alternative to the LC1 or even the more expensive MTX-L, with the added benefit of being a small DIY type company. The extra gauges and information it displays can be used in conjunction with Megaview or in place of a small netbook. I really liked this product and hope more people using MS give it a try as it works very well with it.

 

All in all I think for all people wanting to have a more do it yourself wideband option this is the way to go, as well it will give you the option to have a gauge all you need to do is mount it where you can see it. Link to 14point7 as well as a vendor that offers good discounts here on the website. I try to not just sell products here, but I really do like this product and any one with Megasquirt or other things I would like to get the word out about these products.

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Here is where I am now. I should have some more pictures for you guys shortly. I can't find the cord to hook my camera to my computer.

 

 

 

- Tokico HPs (I ordered them they arrived Thursday 26 Jan 2011)

- Eibach Springs (Came with the HPs)

- Poly Urethane Bushings. I already installed several of the front I am dreading the back ones.

- Exhaust is way to loud I am going to be doing some work on the exhaust.

 

 

I will take pictures before and after of my ride height. I will also try and take some before and after video of my exhaust. I am getting very excited I have been putting off suspension for a long time I am ready to start it.

I uploaded the video of my exhaust before and after the catalytic converter install. It definitely smells better. It is still too loud, so I will be adding a rear muffler. The whole rear part of my exhaust needs to be reworked it just doesn't fit quite right so I will be fixing it in the next couple months.

 

My suspension parts came in I will probably start that project in the next few weeks as well.

 

 

Videos of exhaust

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Here is where I am now. I should have some more pictures for you guys shortly. I can't find the cord to hook my camera to my computer.

 

 

 

- Tokico HPs (I ordered them they arrived Thursday 26 Jan 2011)

- Eibach Springs (Came with the HPs)

- Poly Urethane Bushings. I already installed several of the front I am dreading the back ones.

- Exhaust is way to loud I am going to be doing some work on the exhaust.

 

 

I will take pictures before and after of my ride height. I will also try and take some before and after video of my exhaust. I am getting very excited I have been putting off suspension for a long time I am ready to start it.

I uploaded the video of my exhaust before and after the catalytic converter install. It definitely smells better. It is still too loud, so I will be adding a rear muffler. The whole rear part of my exhaust needs to be reworked it just doesn't fit quite right so I will be fixing it in the next couple months.

 

My suspension parts came in I will probably start that project in the next few weeks as well.

 

 

Videos of exhaust

 

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What you have here is a ratio problem.

Cut the exhaust off at the headers.

Add a louder stereo.

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I have had this car since I was 2002 when I got it I drove her daily for the first 2 years I had her.

 

That even included a time when I broke the drivers window and drover her for over a month with no drivers window. In Kansas Z replacements are not a dime a dozen. I ordered a window from a guy and when it got to my house it was the passengers window. So I called the guy he said keep it (If you look through the photos you can see I have it still in the wall of the shop incase my passengers side ever breaks) and sent me the drivers window.

 

The thing about 1975 280Zs they have similarities to 260Zs as well as 280Zs but it is not 100% either. So windows are finicky they must be from only from like 74.5-76 in order to fit. I got the replacement and spent about 2 hours with my hand jammed in the door only to have the window shatter when I was tightening the last bolt. I am not going to lie I cried because it was cold I was tired and I didn't want to find another window. I did find another and that one went in much better I learned a few things to make my life easier the second time around. The whole ordeal was about 2 months long I think. At the time it was October/November and I worked at Blockbuster. I got off work every night after midnight. There were many very cold drives home, because I lived out in the boonies about a 20 minute drive from there mainly highway driving. The things teenagers do to drive their dream car right.

 

I went off to college in 2005 and didn't get to drive the car again regularly until 2010. So she sat for 5 years I would drive her maybe once a year and only a few miles. The gas in the tank went sour (Have you ever smelled 5 year old gas it is terrible) and that caused me to have to re-coat the fule tank before I could get her running again because there was so much rust in the tank. Here are a couple pictures of her sitting at least I was able to make sure was getting destroyed.

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So Datsun story time. You know what I think would make an S30 like 3 times cooler T-tops. I remember reading an article about a business that made T-Tops for the S30 but burnt down I will see if I can find a lin. When I purchased my 280zx parts car I drove 4 hours to pick her up, and then drove her back 4 hours you know the thing I liked the most about that car the turbo, you know what I liked the second most the T-tops. Just cruising with the T-Tops off is so fun. So on the trip back I drove the ZX on I-35 in Kansas I only had 1 problem the muffler gave up the ghost and I started sounding like a early 90's Honda it was awesome!

 

When I got the car home as I prepared for the swap I let several of my friends drive the 280zx before I pulled the engine. The funnest time I remember was my friend Jorim was driving and I grew up on a dirt road He was drifting around a corner and the accelerator stuck. So we ended up spinning and in the ditch the thing that annoyed me the most I had the T-tops in the back and they bounced and cracked each other I was so pissed. I wish I had a picture of the rear wheel when we came back in, it bent something in the rear suspension and gave it wicked awesome negative camber. It even popped the bead on the tire. Here is a picture of me with the car, before MegaSquirt and the 240Z front bumper, right after I had won best teenage car at the small car show that I was at.

 

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Quick update my brights haven't been working for a few years so I decided to take all of the switches off of the steering column. I greesed everything as well as clean the electrical contacts. I also found an electrical break in my main 12V line going into all the switches in the column. I have to get a new bullet connector for that but after I cleaned and reassembled my brights work now! and my wipers might even work a bit better. I took quite a few pictures of the process I just need to find my dang cord that goes to my camera. I will try and get photos up tomorrow. I also found that the little springy tab that connects my horn the plastic piece it connects to is broken so I fixed it with JB weld just need to let it set up and then drill a hole in it tomorrow, so I can have a working horn as well!

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I got a memory car reader for my computer see pictures below.

 

This was my exhaust before I but out the extra piece that I had to because I added in the catalytic converter it helped with the smell, but not with the sound.

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Here are the pictures I took when I took apart the switches on my column it is very scary to do just remember to work slow take pictures from all angles BEFORE you take pieces off.

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This piece is what wasn't working properly and that is why my High-Beams weren't working. I sprayed in a bunch of WD-40 and worked it around in the switch until it was clicking much better.

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The top of the switch for the brights

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Turn signal return parts this was very gunked up with old dried up grease and nasty crap.

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The piece that was broken with the horn I repaired with JB weld I will snap a picture when I put it back on.

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Inside of the wiper/light control on the 280Z

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Wiper Control Stuff

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My 12V feed that was broken

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Holy Cow the suspension is not fun it is hard. I will have to say I do feel very accomplished though.

 

A buddy of mine came over to help. Let me tell you now if you are changing the suspension on a 35 year old car it is always good to have a friend to help. We started and we got as far as the tie rod end (Read not far at all), and we were unable to get it off (that is an understatement. I sprayed that thing down with a TON of PB Blaster and was still unable to get the part off). It wasn't in the best of shape to begin with but after we got done with it it was pretty bad. We still couldn't get it even after heating and tapping because I forgot to by a tie rod separator rod so we made a run to harbor freight. We got back with that and it came right off with a few good whacks. The other side was a different story I sprayed it then started with the tie rod separator. It promptly split the separator. We then sprayed it with PB and let it sit for a while. Then heated it and beat it with the 3lb sledge until it finally gave. This took us a couple hours of the time. I won't lie it should not have taken us that long but that is what happens when you don't plan ahead or quality tools.

 

Then we got to the control arm bushing. It was also a nightmare Atlantic Z suggests getting the bushing pressed out but being stubborn I carefully cut out a strip with a hack saw this was also no fun and took a very long time. I 100% agree with the going to a shop with both control arms and having the bushings pressed out. This was honestly the hardest part for both sides it was just so time consuming and the parts just didn't want to come off. Proper tools I am sure would help with this.

 

The Springs and struts were a piece of cake. The harbor freight spring compressor worked like a charm and I was pleasantly surprised to see that at sometime in my cars past someone installed Tokico HPs but kept the stock springs. The struts were however getting old and you could tell were on their way out. The best part is now I have extra gland nuts. So I installed the new struts as well as the new springs. The Eibachs are quite a bit shorter for the front. The don't even need the spring compressor to get them on the strut. SO I repacked the bearing with grease and changed struts and springs out very easily.

 

Putting the parts back on was not hard at all. The control arms went in with relative ease. I put the brass sleeve in the freezer then pressed it into the bushing with my vise and had no trouble getting it into its slot under the car. The strut housing/springs went in great too. That is one of the main parts that having someone to help really pays off. If you read this thank you man it helped so much. I haven't rolled the car around but it is already sitting about 0.75" lower, and feels much stiffer in the front.

 

I have the tie rods on order. I also picked up some new steering rack boots today and will be putting them on in the next couple days when I get the tie rod ends in.

 

I am very excited to finish this and get it out of the garage and drive. My goal this year is at least 2 track days.

 

Some Pictures

 

Rear Before height below

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Front before height below

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Old and new strut for passengers front

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Yes that bench vise is on the floor I just got it yesterday and haven't mounted it yet

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Alright so I got my tie rods I went the cheap route and got them from Autozone we will see how long they last I will make sure to keep an eye on them. My thought process is if something goes wrong I can call teh shop down the street and have them in free shipping within a couple days. The crazy thing is one is clearly a Moog tie rod end while the other is the crappy Duralast. The Moog came pre-greased with a nice boot attached. The Duralast did not come pre-greased, and they had a crappy boot with it. One they had to order in from out of state the other was in a local warehouse. So you might get lucky and get the nicer one if they have to order them in. I took comparison photos you can see that the quality difference easy enough. I also picked up some steering rack boots. I also got them from Autozone. They usually have them on hand if you go in with a part number they will gladly get them for you. This means that besides checking alignment when I get this all finished and bleeding the brakes, which I will also do after I get the rear done I am done with the front.

 

I didn't get a picture but I dropped 1.8" in the front. It might settle a bit more as all I did was pulled it out of the garage turn it around and back it back in. Either way almost 2 inches I am very happy with that. I didn't want the car slammed just a bit lower and better handling. Enough talking here are some pictures.

 

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Below you can see the difference

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Well after taking off the rear suspension (Pictures will be coming) I checked the brakes and I think I have ignored them for long enough. I need to get new pads and shoes. Anyone have any advice I don't want racing pads just good quality pads for spirited driving every now and then and somewhat reasonably priced. I have stock brakes just FYI. I will be searching just trying to get the Ratsun opinion.

 

The spindle pin will hopefully be pulled tomorrow thanks to Darrel he will be coming over tomorrow evening if he is still free. I also found out that I might be here at this AFB for another tour so that means at least 6 years in one location I have yet to decide whether I am happy or not with this prospective news. I was going to try and make it back out to California for a few years. The bad news is that means I will probably buy a house here and most of my money will be tied up in that for the next while so I need to get this maintenance done in the next few months before I find out. There is absolutely very little chance the Z will ever be sold, but I don't want to have to tarp it in the back of my garage I want to use a set of tires up this year driving it. There are some beautiful mountain roads here that I will be hopefully driving this year.

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Well after taking off the rear suspension (Pictures will be coming) I checked the brakes and I think I have ignored them for long enough. I need to get new pads and shoes. Anyone have any advice I don't want racing pads just good quality pads for spirited driving every now and then and somewhat reasonably priced. I have stock brakes just FYI. I will be searching just trying to get the Ratsun opinion.

 

The spindle pin will hopefully be pulled tomorrow thanks to Darrel he will be coming over tomorrow evening if he is still free. I also found out that I might be here at this AFB for another tour so that means at least 6 years in one location I have yet to decide whether I am happy or not with this prospective news. I was going to try and make it back out to California for a few years. The bad news is that means I will probably buy a house here and most of my money will be tied up in that for the next while so I need to get this maintenance done in the next few months before I find out. There is absolutely very little chance the Z will ever be sold, but I don't want to have to tarp it in the back of my garage I want to use a set of tires up this year driving it. There are some beautiful mountain roads here that I will be hopefully driving this year.

 

HA! And now you know why I sold my goon! It sucks to have a car you wanna work on and then the 'house' won't let you!

I sent you an email about my Z parts contact, they may have something for pads.

Or you could go for something like this:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HWK-HB169F-560/?rtype=10

T—

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Darrel came over tonight we got 1 spindle pin pulled it came out very easily. The second pin was not easy and in fact it sucked and is stuck. I will be using the saw method where I cut in between the two separate them and either get it pressed out or I smash it with a sledge hammer until it gives way to my amazing physical prowess. Thank you Darrel for coming over and helping. It was great talking to him I always love having a fellow car enthusiast over to hang out especially when they are nice enough to bring a tool that is very helpful. He also gave me some great advice about tackling the rest of the bushing swaps. I don't know whether I will get to the pin again this weekend as I have a shift and 2 papers to write for school I don't know if they will allow much time for car work.

 

Just a thought I know there had been talks before about making spindle pin patches. I am in the military and have several contacts for getting patches made. I would love to know from everyone whether through posting or PMs if people would actually buy these if I had a patch made. I would obviously show off the design before submitting the order let me know what you guys think.

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So I had to work today, but I have been trying a little bit everyday to work on the Z. These rear control arm bushings are pain in the behinds! I want to melt the rubber out of them but I am a bit afraid that my neighbors will call the fire department on me. I have yet to get to a shop with a press because none are open it seems hopefully there will be one tomorrow. This rear suspension is a pain I should have just left the spindle pin where it was the bushings weren't in to bad of shape, and I could be out enjoying the car. I want to get this stuff back on before I redo the exhaust. This car is going to be like driving a different car. I want to change the mustache bar bushings tomorrow if I finish my paper for school. I hate working a full time job and going to school I know I am not the only person doing this. I just think it sucks.

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