280zx LS1 MkII

[tir33d]

So here we are, a year later, can't find time to work on the car at work so the wife kindly went back to work and built me a shed at home. Lots of time lost building the shed, but finally have something to show.

So the new car came cheaply from a member here, was told not to rusty. Easy fix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, there was quite a bit of cancer, luckily I have a mate on tap that sometimes seems to do the impossible.

 

 

 

So along with the rust repairs, we had to build a new roll cage, my plan this time was to move myself back a little more, as on impact my head bit the rollcage on the last car. So lower and further back. The main hoop now rests on the mountings for the moustache bar, bigger than required plates, front towers were severly reinforced with 3 mm plate, same as rears, rollcage extends to front towers.

 

 

Removed the rear wheel well and reversed to accomodate fuel system'

 

So, can't just let it be, fatter tyres this time, 18 x 10 wheels all round 285 wide tyres. Running 18's I should be able to re-engineer my brakes to take a 355mm ford disk up front. I had to buy new coilovers - Ceika

 

Going to change heads on the motor to some smaller chamber heads from a 327, so more power.

 

Now my time consuming bit, I contacted the states and I couldn't see myself getting a IMSA kit for less than $4000. Never tried before but I decided to tackle fibreglassing. This will make you laugh....

 

 

So I made some rear flares and a ducktail to my specs - whether it will work is beyond me.

 

 

Decided to go the whole hog and do the whole front guard, might as well have a vent in there as well.

 

 

 

So i am currently also fibreglassing my bonnet, and I hope to be able to also do my doors.

 

Rust repairs are almost finished, when completed I am actually going to paint this one and make it look pretty.

 

all the mechanical parts are done, just need a clean and check.

 

Goal is to do supersprints and maybe play with a mate in sport sedans, although I would be down about 250hp for that game. But, not being spaceframe would probably do well in the lower class. Hoping only another 3 months to go. I only get about 15 hrs a week to work on it so its taking a long time.

[luvemfast]

Love it.

Only 15 a week? I'd be lucky for half that a month!

[imackz]

nice work, nice to see another V8 280zx

[tir33d]

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Need home made fibreglass bonnet, laid some alloy strips to give it a little structure, there is also a layer of Kevlar in there to help with strength.

 

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Front end is coming together.

 

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Had to fit a pedal box due to my seat being back an extra 12 inches (also allowed me to eliminate brake booster)

 

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Cant see much here, but this is my "McGuyver" (you young kids ask your father). Running a diff cooler cause I always burn my oil (think welding doesn't help). These T fitting allow for my magnet sump/drain plug and also a fill point. Lines run to a oil cooler with fan in back left corner.

 

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Nifty cnc work. These are a 5.3 litre head that have been opened right up and 6L valves installed. They flow well but also provide 11.5 - 1 compression bolt on. The untouch chamber enables me to still swing a big cam without having to flycut pistons.

 

 

[tir33d]

So I finally got the new toy out.

Bodywork was still bare metal one week out from a track day. Proud to say I did the aerosol trick. Bodywork is being completed properly now.

Heres how it looks now.

Fair bit of rear end smoothing

And the sound

So took it to Wakefield park for a private day, really happy with the result. I could hardly change gears, must still have a large amount of air trapped. Tune was fat / rich.

Still managed a 67.3, bit over a second slower than the old girl (but that was on new kumho v710).

There has to be another 2 seconds in gearchange, bit more in tune and more in the setup.

Brakes brilliantly. I love the feeling of the pedal box. Turns in well and powers down great.

Gonna pony up and finally put a quaife lsd inside as I think my CIG locker is hurting me also.

 

[260DET]

Damn good work Phill, getting serious I see with a full cage and all. What's with the single exhaust pipe, last car I remember it was 3" twins which incidentally I'm told is best for power. Some in car videos coming up soon?

[Gordo]

Wow ,that's an Epic build . Love the fact that you've done all the work yourself. Very satisfying .

Great effort to get it on the track so quickly .

[tir33d]

Twin 3's were definetly less restriction, but too damn noisy. You cant get twin 3 over the moustache bar. I have redesigned the exhaust from collectors back that it now has 2 12' long 3' resonators, merges to 4' over the moustache bar then into a 7' barrel 14' long.

Its still got a good noise, but its not unbearable. 4' should be good for 700hp

I really didn't expect the car to run so well so I didn't pack the camera.

Figure I might have to renew my memberships, get the cage certified and maybe go to the supersprint round at EC in a month.

Not in a rush, I need another test and tune day before I get to excited.

[tir33d]

Long time since update on here.

Car has been going fine, driver slowly getting better.

What initially was a $10000 build has turned horribly worse.

Painted the car, finally have a car I like the look of.

Everyone always tells you to do things once, people probably should listen to these wise words.

 

OK

 

So I have struggled with handling for a long time, spent near $5K doing things twice, then finally spent another $3k and put some Red series MCA coliovers. Difference was amazing, spring rates dropped by almost 50% and handles heaps better. That was money well spent.

 

Replaced my front brakes with a set of AP's, and 365mm rotor. Much more confidence in my brakes,

 

Replaced my 200000km old LS1 with a L98 LS chev motor, rebuilt it prior to install, running a 250's cam and a bit over 11-1 compression, with Higgins cnc heads all still with my drysump. Removed my power steering pump, I now run a electric power steering pump from astra. Electric water pump also fitted at same time.

 

So after blowing a pinion gear in qualifying at Bathurst Challenge event it was decided that I need to fix my diff rather than repair it. I also suffered with high speed vibrations.

 

Being that I am surrounded by old school muscle people we have gone with a independent 9 inch. This is giving me nightmares. To find anyone willing to step outside of the square is a hard thing.

Over the time of this car I have snapped 2 stub axles and one CV shaft, I have discovered that sending 600 hp to a Datsun diff is always gonna be difficult, no burnouts, no drag racing starts, just have to baby it.

 

 

 

[260DET]

R200 vibration is interesting, at your power level the pinion must start to flex or something. Sounds like she is handling pretty well now which is a plus for the much criticised semi trailing arm rear suspension even though BMW got it to work well, I was going to modify the STA rear suspension on the Z31 project but then decided to make a whole lot of extra work for myself. Anyway, good to see what you are doing with the outcast, beating lots of S30's, ooops, I didn't mean that lol.