Hey guys how are ya'll? I'm from Texas and I bought a '80 280ZX 2 years ago. It's a N/A 5-speed with a half decent body. It has rust in the usual spots that need addressing, and around the gas cap that seems to be the worst. I had it running for a year and in that while I changed the pads and rotors, a caliper, tires, transmission, clutch, radio, and routine maintenance. I had an exhaust leak and got into tearing down the intake/exhaust manifold off. Well.....ish happened and I didn't touch it for a good while (almost a year) and now I seem to be motivated to get my baby up and running. So I'm now gonna do a mild restomod on it.
Here she is when I had her running...
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Here are some plans I have for it:
Remove engine and paint it (pallnet rail, de-webb intake, header, exhaust, wire tuck, shave anything I don't want, Megasquirt, delete A/C) Pretty much a smooth engine bay. I was thinking about converting to dual SU's for sound/style?
Get the AZC front brake upgrade(eventually maybe?) Still debating on wheels, I want 16x9s but limited to tire selection. 17's are too much IMO but has better tire choice, using the Rota RBs. Get some s13 coilovers on it, T3 rods, bushings.
Upgrade to HIDs, alt upgrade, redo wiring harness, and audio upgrade.
Might respray silver, or do a dark forest green metallic.
I'm sure there's more that I'll do to it but this will take quite awhile since I only have a part time job and college. Turning 20 this year and hope to have this thing done a 2 years tops if I put a lot of effort into it. This might change since I can never make up my mind lol but I do want it back on the road, such a fun car. Truly a bond between man and machine with these cars!

 

Nice canvas to work on! i dig the silver and black color scheme. Good luck with your build, just remember its your car. Do as you please!

 

Turbo swap. You can delete while you have it on the engine stand and Mega Squirt it while you're at it. Clean up the engine bay and drop it in. You don't want to put SU's on it...

 

Decided to go turbo so I am beginning to plan out my swap. Can it be possible to run reliable boost on a N42 block with a p79 head? I have a guy in class selling me a p79 for 150 without a cam though. Or should I just keep looking around for a f54 setup? Looking for 250 hp.

 

Getting a complete turbo swap is always the cheapest way to go instead of piecing stuff together - you get nickel and dimed that way.

Once you have the turbo swap in and running you can start the MS3 build. That will keep the project moving instead of doing it all at once. You can sell the harness/AFM/ECU, etc once you do the MS build.

You can do a turbo build with what you have - you need a oil drain into your oil pan, turbo manifold, turbo, etc so if you go that road you may as well build a MS3 instead of buying the AFM, ECU, harness, etc...

 

So the other day I saw a fellow Z car owner and his car got me motivated to get mine running, which I have till the end of the year to do so. Anywho I was offered another engine from a 82 but I'm ending up using the one I have. I'm replacing all the seals/gaskets on it. Using a victor reinz for the head/valve cover/timing cover but what about the one for the oil pan? I hear the cork/rubber ones suck butt, and I see mixed feelings for the competition one that MSA offers. Anyone here have recommendations to one that won't leak on me?

 

Cork is fine - just don't over tighten and make sure it's clean to start with (eg degreaser). Spray on gasket sealer like Permatex is good but it would make cork a one time use - otherwise cork can be reused. Paper is a little more forgiving so that's what I would recommend normally....