Looking for recommendations, particularly as to the engineering design aspect and philosophy. Does'nt seem to be much around, maybe a workshop manual would be as good as anything?

There is this book http://www.veloce.co.uk/shop/product...%20&%20Trucks&

 

You can't go wrong with the Factory Service Manual. courtesy nissan of texas has cd rom version.

 

If you're looking for a book on the 280ZX design history, there's a book simply titled "Datsun 280ZX", released by Nissan around 1979, that comes up for sale every now and then on Ebay for about $20. It's a large white covered book with a pic of aerodynamic flow around the 280ZX on it. It includes a lot of test data from aerodynamics, suspension, climate control, and more.

I also have this book title "280Z and 280ZX" which contains review articles on those cars, from various magazines, from the 70's-early 80's.

 

Thanks for those recommendations, will get both