I searched and couldn't find anyone who's done this, or even asked about it...I'm wondering if it's possible to fab an S30 frontend to put on my S130...or will it just bolt right up? If somebody has done this can i see some pics or write up or something? I'm just not to fond of my big pointy front end.

 

not really sure why u'd want to do that... other than to say "I did that."

But since Z's are unibodies... they don't really "bolt together." You can cut & weld the two together.

Somewhere I've seen a 240sx w/ an S30 front end... kinda looked cool, but splicing together a 240z w/ a 280zx... kinda would look mis-matched to me.

 

For the cost/trouble of doing that mod, you may as well have bought a real S30. And don't forget, the S30 front had much worse aerodynamics too.

 

I saw it done on an S13 240SX... it looked awesome. I dunno about on our cars. I mean... I don't really see the benefit outweighing the cost on that one.

 

Yeah I would not do it.. But hey I am not the one asking..

 

Yes it's possible. No it wont bolt right up.

 

The closest I've seen is this:



Actuallly putting the open front-end from the S30 onto one of the S130's is possible, but I would estimate, to do it right, it would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 hours by an experienced body shop / fabricator. You're talkin' about 4 or 5 thousand in labor...

Probably not worth it. But I've seen crazier things... Case in point:

The IntegraCord 7:

 

.........


that is THE worst looking car I have ever seen.


EVER.

I can't think of anything to describe it. What a waste. If you haven't clicked this link yet, PLEAASE do so.

 

It's a Hybrid in the truest sense.

2nd Gen RX7 Turbo with Integra front-end and Honda Accord tail grafted on.

The amount of time, money and effort that went into that turd is truly unfathomable.

It must have been earth shattering for him to realize he couldn't even unload it for $1026...

 

Just take the front bumper off the 280ZX and do some minor fiberglass work around the lower corners. Stick on a wider 240Z bumper and you're done! Leaving the factory ZX headlight buckets and hood will make the project must easier.

I've had the bumper off and it does look pretty mean with that big open front end.

 

Yes it does, it looks pretty cool!

 

Alright, well i'll take off my front bumper and see what i can glass to change it a little bit. The bumper is just so bulky on my 83'!

 

yes it does, looks much more like a 240z with the bumper removed, i've wondered how it would look with a 240z style bumper on there, anyone care to photochop it?

here's a pic of my car with the bumper off that could be used





*edit, didn't realise that this is the only picture i had uploaded, i'll post a better one tomorrow

 

hey that's a good job there.. I like how it looks with the front bumper off..

 

I'm surprised MSA doesn't sell a mod to make it look like the S30 front end. Like you guys are saying it really does have that S30 front end look with the bumper off. It's almost like a completely differnt car right there, and I'd imagine it's quite a few pounds lighter at that point too.

 

Here it is with a modified MSA front bumper. This fills in the corners a bit and adds a lower air dam.

 

damn, i didn't even recognise that it was my car when i clicked on the last picture

i was thinking more along the lines of a thin chrome bumper like on the 240z models, but without the bumpers that stick out, like this one from your gallery

 

I could see that... but to make it look good, I think you'd need to do 240z style turn signals too, to cover the bumper indentations on the bottom of the fenders.

 

or just fill them in...


combine it with this lower valance and you have a winner

 

So you're saying ditch the MSA front dam, get a thin chrome bumper like the one in: http://www.bleachgarage.com/images/e...anby5_0569.jpg and combine it with the lower valance from: http://www.bleachgarage.com/images/e...anby5_0573.jpg

 

i say just run it with no bumper at all ...

 

No bumper at all? you could swallow a human body up in that front opening

The pics are ok. The bumper is a bit messed up but I had to cut it and bend it just to get it to look like it does. I'm using Paint Shop Pro. Photoshop at home would do better, and possibly I could use some of those Canby pics to get a 280ZX in better light from an angle. It would take some time though.

These are with a small lower lip, not totaly factory front valance.

 

At least it looks cool and it'll teach people to get away from the Z, it'd probably be less aerodynamic, wouldn't it? At least you wouldn't need a cold air intake. Plenty of induction.

While we are on the topic of the S30. Did the 280Z, 260Z, and 240Z all have the same style Dash? Or did the dash change from year to year?

So it looks like we can pretty much get the style of the S30 on our S130s. Now we gotta get the dash going.

 

The dash changed slightly from year to year but not by much.

 

i'll take some pictures of the bumper mounted on the car tomorrow so that you won't have to go through the trouble of having to mount it in photoshop

i really like that first picture in your last post, in the second one, wouldn't the chrome bar be much higher up on the car, just under the hood?