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I have decided that I despise money and have decided to embark into the world of project cars. In five days I will return from just north of Seattle with a 76' Datsun 280 Z (S30 chassis). I don't know why I chose something that is known to have insane rust issues, other than they look awesome and give me the cool car feeling. Why am I posting so early? My work life will be a bit crazy for the next couple of weeks, and if I start the thread now I will be forced to remember to take many pics and update this thread. Here are my goals:
Some random thoughts:
I should have my first real post up by days end next Monday.
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# ? May 8, 2017 22:51 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 03:13 |
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I should really stop putting off the S30 project I've always wanted to do because one day soon there just won't be any more left. For now I can live vicariously through you, which is dope. gently caress G-noses, right?
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# ? May 8, 2017 23:06 |
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I dunno G-noses just don't do anything for me. I more prefer something along this for front lines: except for that front plate, that needs to go.
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# ? May 9, 2017 16:07 |
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HELLO THERE, I TOO HAVE AN S30 BUILD: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3800377 poo poo, man, I'm glad there's more of us. Let's get a small army going on and terrify the populace! If you have any questions, I will offer any and all answers I possibly can; I have ENTIRELY rebuilt my vehicle from the ground up, as I received it as a VERY stripped roller, and have re-done most everything on it that isn't the interior or electrics. Also I know they're 'nice', but I feel you on not liking the G-Nose; aerodynamics aside it just makes the front of the car a little too big for me to be comfortably proportionate to the butt side. Your car's generation split is '74-'76; source parts from these years. At very least your doors and gas tank will not match '77-'78s, but '76s are definitely FI cars. Swap plans? Pie in the sky me, I'm loving rabid even seeing this thread. Waffle House fucked around with this message at 16:49 on May 9, 2017 |
# ? May 9, 2017 16:46 |
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Oh god I want a Z. Make it stop!
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# ? May 9, 2017 17:28 |
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the spyder posted:Oh god I want a Z. Make it stop! Rotary Z?
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# ? May 9, 2017 17:34 |
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Waffle House posted:HELLO THERE, I TOO HAVE AN S30 BUILD: Swap plan is stated above its going to get an rb25 . Power goal is probably 400whp and torques after all is said and done. I originally thought rb26 for obvious reasons then saw the prices for them and said gently caress that the 2.5 will work just fine. I read your entire thread front to back while i was deciding i wanted an s30. I will definitely be hitting you up for help. Lord of Garbagemen fucked around with this message at 18:32 on May 9, 2017 |
# ? May 9, 2017 18:30 |
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:Swap plan is stated above its going to get an rb25 . Power goal is probably 400whp and torques after all is said and done. I originally thought rb26 for obvious reasons then saw the prices for them and said gently caress that the 2.5 will work just fine. Yep, if you're going RB, and those are your goals, the 25 will be juuuuust fine. Unlike my 1JZ, the intake and exhaust sides are 'correct' for the Datsun, so you can keep your stock battery placement with no heat soak issues near the tray. I have a friend on Facebook via the Ratsun/HybridZ community who's done the RB25 swap that I could put you in touch with as well for anything I can't speak to.
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# ? May 9, 2017 18:58 |
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Waffle House posted:Yep, if you're going RB, and those are your goals, the 25 will be juuuuust fine. That would be awesome. I am pretty unfamiliar with jdm nissan powerplants. I know they have oil pump and cavitating issues that will need to be dealt with, but that is about the extent of my knowledge on the 25/26. What can the stock rb25 handle with said oiling issues corrected?
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# ? May 9, 2017 20:59 |
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I do like a G nose but only when they're on lairy dumb body kitted Japanese cars. Generally I'm a stock S30 fan, stunningly beautiful cars.
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# ? May 9, 2017 21:09 |
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:That would be awesome. I am pretty unfamiliar with jdm nissan powerplants. I know they have oil pump and cavitating issues that will need to be dealt with, but that is about the extent of my knowledge on the 25/26. What can the stock rb25 handle with said oiling issues corrected? You'll be fine without building internals up to your 400hp power goal; I don't know much specifically about oil starvation on RBs, but as soon as I get home and on Facebook I'll verify with the dude that I can have you talk to him. For some inexplicable reason, CXRacing, Chinese eBay intercooler company, decided the S30 Z Car (and other Datsun products) was their baby, and now they offer kits for every possible swap: Here's an S30-compatible oil pan and pickup tube: https://www.amazon.com/CXRacing-Aluminum-Pickup-RB25-RB25DET/dp/B00FIXLZ4O And here it is included with a full engine, trans, and mount kit: https://www.amazon.com/CXRacing-RB2...CXRacing+Datsun
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# ? May 9, 2017 21:47 |
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Is it me Or do riveted flares look incredibly dumb.
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# ? May 9, 2017 22:15 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Is it me Riveted Z-Grande Flares were popularized on/by the Datsun Z in its heyday. Personal matter of taste; I like the flares, but not the nose:
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# ? May 9, 2017 22:45 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Is it me Just you. Riveted flares are loving awesome
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# ? May 10, 2017 00:37 |
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I think i dont like them because people never bother to colormatch them
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# ? May 10, 2017 08:29 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Is it me Those kits where it covers like the entire rear 3/4 panel and is just sat over it with exposed rivets are the worst. Real competition cars get a pass. Same with bonnet pins, 90% of the time I class them as ugly ricer bullshit putting warts on the bonnet and leaving a nice big hole that's a pain in the arse to fix.
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# ? May 10, 2017 08:31 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:I think i dont like them because people never bother to colormatch them ...but I don't like them a lot of the time because people buy generic ones which don't actually fit the arches of their car and so it looks like absolute shite.
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# ? May 10, 2017 10:08 |
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InitialDave posted:
Oh yeah I admit that on race cars they look real good, especially with insane amounts of aero. ^^those arent riveted tho. Im fine w/those.
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# ? May 10, 2017 20:31 |
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you should also consider that the factory wheel for a 280z was 5.5" wide, so
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# ? May 10, 2017 20:32 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:
They're riveted, look closer
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# ? May 10, 2017 23:35 |
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Alright , its happening!!!!!! The Z guy in Snohomish (City in WA) is a little flaky but I am going up either way, he says some of the cars are inaccessible and waited till 3 days before we meet to tell me that (been talking to this guy for nearly 3 months) . SO it may not be a car, but I am in luck a very highly recommended engine importer is only 20 minutes away from him and they have a couple of rb25's with trans , harness and ecu in stock so if I am not coming back with a car it will be the engine. Anyways pics shall be taken and hopefully a good thread will appear.
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# ? May 12, 2017 18:00 |
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Well in the short term this weekend was . No engine , no Z yet. Here is the breakdown: Saturday: Went to the Olympus Rally, was a blast here is what I saw: Subaru Crosstrek, with a six speed and anti lag. Nothing crazy just a bog standard STi. The coolest Saab 93? More Saab POWAH. Cossie (I think) , but he has put a 2.3 ecoboost in it, it was really fast on the day. Thats right, Toyota Rav 4 Limited LE, everything is stock, dude still goes hard in it. This thing is pretty crazy, guy is local to the Portland area. Supercharged, and it has rear mounted radiator. Z!!!!!!! I probably talked to this guy way to long, its a 77 hes got about 210 hp out of the l28 (heads, header,cam, etc) really cool guy. They have been racing this thing for like 10 years now. I should have another post up in a few about the Z.
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# ? May 16, 2017 02:34 |
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The search begins: This was yesterday. We drove up to this guys place (https://www.google.com/maps/dir//67...29!2d47.9346361). You can see he has a ton of Z's. We narrowed it down to two cars: The Orange 6/77 Manu. Date: This car was covered in parts on all sides, I couldn't get underneath it to check for serious frame rust. Nor could I see much inside or get near it. It ran last year (not that that matters to me), no title (abandoned vehicle process in WA state, more on that later). He said it was clean nearly no rust underneath, he wanted 3,500 and wouldn't budge. The Brown 12/76 Manu. Date So more and more I have fallen for this one, and am thinking its the "One". Its a California car (as can be seen by the plates) the last tab on it said 1995. The owner brought it up to Washington in 2006-2007 and then abandoned it cause he couldn't pay the bill to the tech (another abandoned title). The interior is gone except for the Dash (with normal crack in middle), and interior harness. Engine hasn't run since 2008 (again this doesn't matter to me). I crawled underneath and there were some surface rust holes right behind drivers and passenger front wheel well, in front of passenger rear wheel well. However the tire were inflated and the frame rails didn't even have surface rust on them!!!!!. They still had factory paint or bare metal on both sides!!!! He wanted 2,200 for the car as is and wouldn't budge. I told him if he wanted to pull the engine and trans he could. Why I didn't buy Brown 12/76 on the spot. Back to the abandoned title, in Washington State there is a process for these cars. I would have to buy and take it to a DMV where they will fill out the paper work to start the abandoned vehicle waiting period. What happens is that I get a temporary partial title. The DMV will then make an attempt to the last known owner to ask them if they want to reclaim the car. If after three years nothing has occurred I receive the cars title in full with no remarks on it. This scares me because I think I only have recourse up to the purchase price from the mechanic (2,200). So if I were to do all this work and the owner somehow did show up and want his car back I think I would be out all the additional time and money. The mechanic said he has made multiple attempts to get the title from the prior owner and that all the contact's he has are no longer valid , but this still has me on edge so today I will contact the DMV and possibly an attorney and see what my options are. Engine Update: I went to a large foreign engine importer in North Seattle, they have no rb25's and a gen 1 rb26. They want 4,000 for the rb26 and don't seem to want to negotiate. They wont split the transmission (need the RWD not AWD) and it does not come with a harness or ecu. They wont warranty it for even 30 days, nor will they let me check compression before i purchase. I need help from other AI'ers, anyone know of a good importer that I can get a reliable rb25 or rb26 from? On an unrelated note, they have a ton of rb20's that they will warranty for 1 year, unlimited mileage. For Aussie guys what is the story on these? Can they make some power? My end goals are about 400 rwhp and torque, with some work could the rb20 be an option?
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# ? May 16, 2017 16:31 |
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Lots of things in this post make me say "nope nope nope." I wouldn't gently caress with title issue cars, especially when they're $2k+ old moldy Datsuns. I think you can do better but I haven't checked the market on them recently. Can't help with importers but shouldn't be that hard to find some on the west coast. Any mild interest I've ever had has been limited to looking on ebay.
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# ? May 16, 2017 17:52 |
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Larrymer posted:Lots of things in this post make me say "nope nope nope." I wouldn't gently caress with title issue cars, especially when they're $2k+ old moldy Datsuns. I think you can do better but I haven't checked the market on them recently. Yea I talked to the DMV at lunch, its not just nope but gently caress off nope. The real kicker is that California accrues late registration fees and will not release title until they are paid. So its like probably 2,000 in back registration. The search continues.
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# ? May 16, 2017 20:11 |
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I forgot about the crazy z car guy up in Snohomish. My buddy tried to buy poo poo from him a few times when he had his 510, but he always wanted way too much money and would not budge on the prices at all. Your experience sounds pretty spot on.
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# ? May 18, 2017 00:39 |
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Want me to take a look at this for you? About 40 miles from me. Tell me what to look for in terms of rust. https://memphis.craigslist.org/cto/6096229400.html
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# ? May 18, 2017 03:08 |
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EvellSnoats posted:Want me to take a look at this for you? About 40 miles from me. Tell me what to look for in terms of rust. I'm not quite ready to look out of state yet. At lunch I went and looked at a 75 280 the thing only had 19,000 miles on it , zero rust . I told the seller the car was probably worth more but my max budget on a shell was 3,000. He said if it didn't drum up more interest he would sell to me. This weekend I am back up to Snohomish to look at another Craigslist ad (https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/6109948150.html). The year is right, I can probably talk him down to 3k. As long as he has a clean title and minor rust , that could be a good car.
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# ? May 18, 2017 05:22 |
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As a Banana Z owner, I approve of both of these yellow '77s. Here is a handy rust guide for anyone looking at Datsuns:EvellSnoats posted:Want me to take a look at this for you? About 40 miles from me. Tell me what to look for in terms of rust. That one looks nice imo Lord of Garbagemen posted:I'm not quite ready to look out of state yet. At lunch I went and looked at a 75 280 the thing only had 19,000 miles on it , zero rust . I told the seller the car was probably worth more but my max budget on a shell was 3,000. He said if it didn't drum up more interest he would sell to me. This weekend I am back up to Snohomish to look at another Craigslist ad (https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/6109948150.html). The rust holes around the wheel arches are from flares. You'll want to clean then bondo those ASAP unless you're putting flares back on. Wiring diagrams are very available if you feel like chasing down the gremlins.
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# ? May 18, 2017 15:28 |
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Z CAR HAS BEEN ACQUIRED So I bought a Z today. Its the brown one that that i looked at last Wednesday. I contacted the owner again and said i could do 3,750 and he agreed to it. So i went down at lunch today and am now the proud owner of a 280. Here are some thoughts on driving it home:
So first up disassemble and prep for media blasting. More updates to come.
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# ? May 22, 2017 21:35 |
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In need of an auto? Y'all crazy... US spec bumpers ruin the looks of such a pretty car.
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# ? May 22, 2017 22:29 |
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Sub'd! Hello there! I've got a 74.5 260Z project that is currently dead. Floor kits and frame rails are the way to go if you need them. Depends on how dead your chassis is to start with. Lord of Garbagemen posted:Here are some thoughts on driving it home: If you have an auto and want to go manual you can - the firewall is stamped for it. The plastic cover is a dash cap (if it matches the entire dash contour) and is done to cover a cracked dash which happens with age. Only three... just you wait... just you wait. I had solid floors with a minor rust through spot until I realize the floors were not floors but the remnants of metal held together by sound deadening. extreme_accordion fucked around with this message at 16:29 on May 23, 2017 |
# ? May 23, 2017 16:20 |
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extreme_accordion posted:Sub'd! I feel like i am part of the cools kids club now. I am not to worried about the auto, the l28 and trans are getting yarded out for an rb26 and a cd009 six speed (likely the hr version if i can get my hands on it.) I might do the frame rails just for the chassis reinforcement , but a couple of the Z guys in Portland /SW Washington have said that the money would be better spent on a roll cage as the reinforcement is need higher up than the frame rails provide. We shall see though. As far as rust, here are some pics from what i pulled apart last night (I am a poo poo picture taker, please forgive): Gas tank is super clean, not much visible rust from the rear end Passenger front wheel well. I tried to put a wrench through the rust patch and couldn't get it to budge possibly just surface rust. random pic another random pic Z without bumpers, best Z. Moar bumperless. I dunno I will start attacking the interior tonight will have more pics and rust updates tomorrow. Z questions, can I jack the car from the rear using the rear diff? I am always petrified of doing this on my other cars but that's because they never been RWD cars. I set the car up on stands using the frame rails (I couldn't find obvious pinch weld spots like on my subies) is that okay for the Z?
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# ? May 23, 2017 17:43 |
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:Z questions, can I jack the car from the rear using the rear diff? I am always petrified of doing this on my other cars but that's because they never been RWD cars. I set the car up on stands using the frame rails (I couldn't find obvious pinch weld spots like on my subies) is that okay for the Z? You can jack Subarus that have the same diff up by the diff, but I'm not sure if the Z has robust enough support structures for that.
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# ? May 23, 2017 17:49 |
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The frame rails are fine for sitting on. The diff is a fine jack point.
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# ? May 23, 2017 19:42 |
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:Z questions, can I jack the car from the rear using the rear diff? Can the rear diff be used as a jacking point? Yes.
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# ? May 30, 2017 17:25 |
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Sorry for not posting in a couple of weeks, wife has me doing a ton of home projects. Today however, there is an update (albeit a small one). I was tooling around the hybridz forums and a bunch of those guys said they had good interactions with a jdm importer in Sacramento. I go to their website saw a thing, then did a thing: Here is what I saw: Here is what I did: I am a bit anxious over buying an engine site unseen, and not talking to the guy in person. Hybridz guys all seemed to have good things to say about their experiences. And, he did send me video of him doing a compression check (I would upload but don't know where to file share mp4). Cylinder 1 settled at 210 psi, and 2-6 all settled at like 215 psi. It seems high but they were all similar so that is the most important part. No transmission or flywheel (both perfect for my goals). It is not an rb26, but for $900 I can live with a rb25 instead. For anyone familiar with rb's, I am about 80% certain that this one is a series 2 rb25 (fan blades and grey sensor connector underneath the intake are what I was looking at). I am going to redo all the gaskets (including head) at that point should I just pull out the crank and have the longer snout machined on and the tomei oil passage restrictors put in, or is the internet forums correct when they say that was more of a gen 1 rb25/26 problem?
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# ? Jun 8, 2017 21:34 |
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:Sorry for not posting in a couple of weeks, wife has me doing a ton of home projects. Today however, there is an update (albeit a small one). RB25s are no slouch. This looks good; I am sure you noticed this, but I would like to point out some severed wiring pigtails that you may wish to track down and ensure are not related to the car turning over; they are most likely related to the donor car's ABS or another system that was not but a twinkle in someone's eyes when the Datsun Z was originally manufactured: I *think* that the RB25 was only used in Skylines and Stageas, so.... http://paulr33.com/diagrams/engine-ecu.html ...looks like this is the wiring diagram resource you'll need!
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# ? Jun 8, 2017 22:18 |
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Oohh boy, this'll be great. I love Z's and wish the recent ones kept such a unique look. My Z33 is awesome, but compared to the styling and all of a S30/S130 ... Looking forward to updates on this project.
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# ? Jun 9, 2017 13:40 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 03:13 |
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Small Update: Got some more time to keep ripping into the Z's interior, here are the pictures: These cocaine cabinets are the coolest thing. I didn't know they had them. Original Nissan P/N stamped parts are still in there and the Nissan jack is in the other side. Not necessary but definitely cool. This is a crappy little exterior strip that I think was a dealer install option. Anyway as you can see the screws have that nice petina on them, one light turn with a screw driver and the face was gone. So i had to drill out the heads of 18 or so screws to get the trim piece off. Took off the "quik dash" the original is cracked (not a big deal to fix) but i think the glue and poo poo left over might have KOA'd this dash. I am going to make some calls to a couple of resto places from Hybrid Z and see what they can do, if its dead I guess I start looking at options. Seats, windows, door cards, all the interior trim and carpeting stuff are all out. Basically all that is left is center console , dash , pedals, harness , and steering wheel. This is a pic of the drivers foot well, no visible tin worm (not even around the drain plug). I didn't snap a pic of the passengers but it looks the same. I keep waiting for that oh poo poo moment when the rust just appears but it hasn't happened yet. Once the rest of the interior is out I am going to try and play chemist and remove the sound deadening with dry ice and rubbing alcohol.
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# ? Jun 13, 2017 16:19 |