Muzez

@SupremeCling They make replacement EGR assemblies and reinstalling FI is both simple and relatively affordable plus you can make some performance upgrades / QOL improvements along the way. Having someone repair your broken exhaust stud is probably $100-200 depending on how much disassembly you are willing to do (ask me how I know 😛). Plus for what you get selling your carbs, you can probably pay for most of the FI system assuming you still have the stock harness and ECU. One other thing to look into might be is registering your vehicle as a "street rod." Not sure what the certification process entails, but it looks like they are exempt from emissions. If you are interested in modifying the existing engine, maybe you can qualify for that? Good luck, stay with the hobby if you can. I sold my 300ZX more than a decade ago because I felt overwhelmed and I have regretted it ever since. Which vehicles are exempt from an emissions inspection in Colorado? Additionally, the following vehicle are exempt from an emissions inspections: Kit cars, all-electric vehicles, motorcycles, horseless carriage, vehicles registered as street rods farm vehicles

I think that is the direction I am heading as well. I like the idea of a bit more top end because I drive the thing out to my parents house an hour+ away and usually dial in at 80mph. 4.5k rpm the whole way might get a little annoying after a while. Also one clarification because I was curious, you mention in your post “The sweet spot for 'stock' like acceleration” what did you mean by this? I assume your goal when you set off on this whole evaluation was some degree of performance improvement over your current setup but did I misunderstand?

@Sean Dezart Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, from what I heard the resonator is a must. Had the opportunity to see one of your mufflers in action a couple of months ago. Love your stainless setup so that is where I am headed. Might try to put the headers up for sale this winter and see if I get any takers.

You have the stock diff installed for your 240z? And do you like the lightened flywheel?

This is just what I was looking for! Thanks so much! What did you end up going with?

Hi Guys, As far as I am concerned, gear ratios are black magic so I was hoping to lean on you guys for advice on how to pair a transmission with a diff. I am replacing the 4 speed in my 280z next year. I find myself in the enviable position of having two rebuilt 5 speed transmissions (1977 280z and 1980 280ZX) and 2 R200s (3.545 & 3.9). Is there any advantage to mixing and matching transmission and diffs? (e.g. a 77 open ratio 5-speed with 3.9 or a 80 close ratio 5-speed with 3.54) And are there different applications for the close ratio versus the open? (e.g. one is better for cruising and hills versus one is better for acceleration) I mostly drive the car to cruise or corner with a little SCCA next year. The car is mostly stock and the plan is to keep it that way (for now 🙂 ). I tried to look through some of the old posts on this topic, but some of it is contradictory and a lot of it was stored on GeoSites which is offline. Thanks in advance for the help! 77-79 1980 1 3.321 3.062 2 2.077 1.858 3 1.308 1.308 4 1.000 1.000 5 0.864 0.773

Did they replace the under the dash stuff at that time? Or its still the original evap components under the dash and just replacement condenser, compressor, dryer, and hoses? And are you on an OE condenser? Or a more modern PF unit. Trying to figure out the best unit for my upgrade next year.

Thanks everyone!

That is amazing! I really wanted to lighten the flywheel, but I am a new manual driver and was worried about lightening affecting drive ability. But if it’s similar to OEM, that is perfect! Edit: apologies, was on mobile and did not realize this post is 15 pages long. Sorry for replying to an old post.

Was cruising Black Friday deals to buy a 6 point impact socket set since all of my 1/2" drive are 12 point and I am tired of stripping my old rusty fasteners. I took a look around my 280z last night, and I don't see a lot of bolts that require a deep socket, but is it worth it to have a deep set? My plan was to buy the Tekton standard set (SID92321 8-24mm) and save the money I would have paid for a deep set ($80) to put towards batteries for my impact, but I saw GearWrench is running a promo for the standard & deep kit (84948N 8-30mm) for 50% off ($120, normally $235) that comes with a universal head and a few additional sockets on the top and bottom end. Do I save the extra $60 in the GW kit for parts and other tools? Or buy the bigger GW set even know frequency of use might be low but I will always be covered?

Hi Guys. Does anyone know if there is a difference in performance between the T3 and Cusco front strut tower braces? Looking into front strut tower braces and was leaning towards the T3 tri mount setup since I need to replace my hood latch assembly anyways and theirs mounts up to the stock latch. My only confusion was that they include an option to use their own home built front brace, or to use the Cusco front brace. Anyone know if there is a performance benefit? Or just catering to people with cusco bars already installed? https://technotoytuning.com/nissan/280z/z-front-tri-bar-add

Love this EU front spoiler. They make a carbon fiber variant which would be a nice accent

@Av8ferg is there a kit for this 260z front end? Never seen one of these for sale

Not saying do it, just appreciating creativity in all of its forms. :P

This part would make me a little nervous haha. This is another creative approach:

@zKars when you clean the lines this way, how do you clean out the Lacquer thinner once you are done?

Interested!

Hi Guys! Where is the best place to search for OEM part numbers? I used to do this on the Nissan site or carpartsmanual.com, but Nissan's website dropped all of the S30 models and carpartsmanual doesn't seem to have the actual numbers. I am trying to figure out the OEM gaskets for the 1977 L28. http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/engine-280z/engine-gasket-kit

Dumb question, but isn't the orange light cover removeable where you could just replace that instead of the whole assembly?

Had the same issue. Trying to get a repaint. Went to more than 10 shops. Only 3 would take my Z and 2 had more than a year of wait time.

Wait, Ferg, who is this top photo? And are there more of photos of this setup with the xenon, lip, and hopefully bumpers installed? Love that they kept the stock indicators. Second photo looks like the same car, but with the spook setup instead.

@cgsheen1 I have been having issues with the car on start up (sputters at start) and when I get on the throttle over 3K RPM where it feels like it is running lean, like it wants to go faster but is held back. I checked the fuel pressure gauge at lunch today and it has some fluctuations and is running low (see below). I drained the tank earlier this year to replace a hose between the tank and the pump, and there was a little sediment that came out of the tank. I am going to drop the tank this winter and see if it needs a recoat. In the meantime, I was trying to troubleshoot some of the other parts in the system. I was going to replace the filters in case there was build up in the filters and I need to make sure that there is no crimping in the hose that got replaced earlier this year (it was pretty tight to thread it through the bulkhead). IMG_6401.MOV

@EuroDat bummed to hear that the 240 stock valence won't fit, but I am glad you told me before I went out and bought one. That was my second option. With fitting the 240z valence and the BRE front spoiler, is the only issue the slightly lower ground clearance and that you really can't take off the BRE front spoiler or you will see the bottom frame? Or does it suffer from other issues like vibration? As a third alternative, do they make a air dam with brake ducts that is not PU?

Glad I am not the only one. Thanks for all the good responses guys, these feel way more resilient than my current approach. Plus maybe this will add another quarter to my resale value. 😛 Thanks again everyone for help troubleshooting this.

The issue is with the little rubber stopper. I don’t see it in your diagram. This is what it looks like with the piece missing This is the rubber piece that popped out, it’s missing a backer piece which holds it in place. This is what it looks like glued in as a temporary fix