evandubya

About a month ago I found a 280ZXT 30mins from where I live, I got to buy it and drive it home today!!!!

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Body is in great shape except for the rust above the windshield, Runs ok with bad gas. Oil everywhere, looked like valve cover leaking. Took it off, oil above and below the crumbly gasket. I checked the oil before I bought it looked great. Drained the oil at the house and there's water in it. It must have blown the head gasket on the 30mile trip home! I don't think the po would have changed the oil before I looked at it.

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Kinda ruins a fun day. Oh well, I'm still glad to have the car.

FricFrac

Congrats! Let the fun begin!

NismoPick

Hurm....

Minus the front end.

But hey... it's a turbo.

Time for a hard core rebuilt and boost that baby!!!

evandubya

yeah, the hood got backed into, I don't like the front bumper. So besides the elbow dent in the top of the passenger fender and the rust above the windshield very little body work!!

Trex

My zx had the exact same dent in the exact same spot. A nice crease in the metal. A lil bondo and new paint and its gone! Looks like it'll be a fun project congrats

evandubya

Head Gasket isn't blown!!! There was a little oil in my drain pan there must have been water under that. I did a tune up, new valve cover gasket, took out the dash, vacuumed all the dog food out of the heater and a/c box, cleaned all the electrical connections, swapped the auto brake pedal for the manual brake clutch setup, put in a Gm one wire alt, and life is good!!!!!! I've put 400 miles on it so far. The automatic is horrible, but I have a BW T-5 in my shed.

I searched and saw it hinted at, has anyone actually put a t56 transmission in a turbo z, or just dreamed about better fuel mileage going down the highway?

FricFrac

Lol everything has been put into a Z.... but if you want to swap in a tranny the Z32 is the best one out there. It's the strongest of all the Nissan trannys right up to and including the 350Z (not sure about the 370Z yet....). The S13 is also a good swap since they are plentiful and it's the easiest to modify using your old Nissan bell housing.

evandubya

I'm swapping in a Borg Warner T5 I bought from a rolled Z. My little brother and I can't get it stabbed through the clutch and into the pilot bearing. I made sure everything fit on the transmission before we tried putting it in. Any advise?

FricFrac

Yup - keep wiggling...

evandubya

More wiggling yay!!!!

I'm almost certain this is the reverse switch.



I'm not sure what this one is.



Haynes manual and factory service manual is worthless for manual Turbos.

Thanks for the help guys!!!

evandubya

After hours of wiggling, and a thunk! It's in!! My wife helped me put the mount back on.

evandubya

Do I run ATF-3 or GL-4, can't find it in the Haynes or FSM. When I search on google All I see is run this the other is bad.

ThaPimpShrimp

I've always heard to use ATF.

https://www.zdriver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25129

Good luck!!

Looks like a fun project!

evandubya

Thanks, that's what I gathered, but there was gear oil in it.

evandubya

I read the article again, you say to use ATF. Bleach says it a non-world class and you should use gear oil. The article NismoPick put up says the 1970's ones need gear oil. World Class gets ruined by gear oil. then Burton power says use ATF, but are they referring to world or non? MY general thought is ATF is ok in either but might cause a problem in our non-world, so I'm still not sure what to do.

evandubya

world class started in 1985. ALL World Class T-5 use ATF oil and NOT heavy gear oil or Redline MTL! All NON-World Class T-5 use 70 wt gear oil.

So according to This we should use gear oil.

wrenchwench

thanks for this thread! I've been looking for this exact info and couldn't find it anywhere. I'm pretty sure that whomever had my car before me has put the wrong weight oil in. (at least that's what I'm hoping is wrong with it, lol)

ThaPimpShrimp

After re reading this and other information I found I think you're definitely right. Maybe Nismo or Bleach could confirm though

FricFrac

Redline MT-90

NismoPick

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx-performance-technical-79/gear-lube-use-20732/

Some die-hard mechanics swear by ATF in all T5's, but only WC T5's w/ needle bearings must use ATF. I suggest sticking to gear oil unless you want to experiment / risk the integrity of the transmission.

EDIT... for clarification, the 280ZXT BW T5 is NOT WORLD CLASS.

evandubya

Thanks guys I appreciate your help.

FricFrac

... which is why the more gooderest (since there is no "best") is the Redline MT-90. More gooderest for the Nissan 5sp and the Mustang guys tend to agree more gooderest for the NON WORLD CLASS T5 which is what we have in the 82-83 Turbo...

evandubya

It's official I now have a Borg Warner T-5 in my Z!!!!

NismoPick

Ya like? Now it's time for a Mustang short throw. You can grab them on ebay for a good deal these days, but I instead just hacked one up:

evandubya

Like thus?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-2003-FO...item58914ff50d