260DET

So, is the mystery buyer going to tell us all about his plans here? Contribute dude, contribute.

Don't follow Jason, why downshift if the car is carrying good speed in 5th in which situation downshifting inevitably slows the car. I notice that some historic drivers use the gears a lot, sometimes apparently to slow the car, and honestly don't follow how that improves lap times. It looks busy but busy is not always the fastest.

But Jason would have been flat through turn one

Next our mystery SA 'collector' will be, gasp, grabbing S30's that have been, err, customised

Some secret squirrel from SA snapped this up, is there a phantom collector at work?

That is good news

There are multi purpose boots around that may suit the steering, general parts shops usually have them.

Probably not a good option now what with the weak Pacific Peso but the US may have wider 15's or else check some of the American brand tyres that may be available here, like Goodyear, BFG and so on. The overall problem is that when a new tyre comes out only the larger diameters are catered for.

Agree, which is why a good forum is way better for a continuing discussion and ease of locating previous information of value. It's a pity that a lot of people take the easy way out and use the book of faces for car stuff, often apparently just to make a single line valueless comment.

Beauty Jeff, have ordered one.

Nice job on cleaning the bodywork Jeff. You seem to know things, without access to dry ice, what's the best way to remove that bitumen sheeting stuck on to the bodywork. It's everywhere on the Z31 including hollow bits where a chisel can not get in to.

It's refreshing to read the posts here, obviously the problem is not a lack of intellect and talent in this country but a lack of constructive outlets for those qualities. As for Sydney, the die appears to be cast, too many people wanting to live/invest there so the result is inevitable unless govco changes the rules. And that is not going to happen while those with influence are making money from the situation. On the subject of govco wastefulness, just the other day a woman was taken by a croc up north. It was her own fault, her family had the grace to comment that she had intruded into the croc's territory. But what does Qld govco do? We are going to spend $3 MILLION on a survey of the croc population. Just a typical throw money at a perceived problem kneejerk reaction

There is nothing great about Brisbane, glad I moved away.

Yes, while you are working you have to go where the jobs are, no getting away from that though hopefully improving communications technology will change that a bit. Don't think that the housing boom will bust, it may pause and readjust for a short while but in the long medium term will keep on inflating. We should not forget that our living standards are relatively high though, much of what is considered 'essential' today was not available or considered a luxury not that long ago. So there are false expectations at work here too. Also relevant is the fact that our standard of living is partly supported by allowing foreigners to buy our land in the form of mining or real property, the latter being something that a lot of countries do not allow. Private debt is very high in Australia, some of which no doubt is relevant to funding extravagant lifestyles. On top of all this we have multi levels of government all of which impose all sorts of costs that eventually have to be paid for and from which we demand all sorts of services and attention, a lot of which we should be able to do without or do ourselves. Basically I think we are living beyond our means as a country.

OE suspension will be junked and replaced with S14/15 (wanted) suspension for a start, it will be a long term project while the 280ZX is still in one piece so there are plenty of things which are possible given time and money to reduce weight. Like home made composite swinging panels.

Due to popular demand here is a pic.

If you want to try DIY there are plastic glues available and spray pack paint to suit. Or perhaps someone who does plastic welding could help, eg damaged plastic bumpers are routinely welded.

It's a turbo auto Aub but the car will be getting a V8 so the complete powertrain will be junked. Is the fuel pump in the tank?

Pick it up today and will open a build thread, some of the planned work could be applicable to S30/130's so it should not be completely irrelevant to the spirit of this forum.

It's eligible for 3D which is fine, just want it log booked as an alternative to being road registered. It will basically be a backup chassis for the 280, initially.

Choice of engineer is crucial, some of them forget who they are working for. My 280ZX V6 engine and gearbox conversion was pretty well completed by the time one was engaged, presentation is all important as is the quality of work of course.

Need more pics, engine bay for a start. Was the Z31 a resto job too?

Go kart is fast and has so much grip but it's just not for me, a good track car is so much more engaging. Dirt track go karting might be interesting but no tracks around here.

For a project race car, to be similar spec to the present V8 280ZX 2+0 but log booked if it ever gets finished. Body is pretty good, passed the fridge magnet test and no sign of any big hits except underneath where the front part of both rails is bashed in but the rest of them and most of the sills seem OK. T roof has to go, present idea is to make some simple shape patterns from rod and check a wreckers yard for any likely roof donor. Enough of that, the big question is - am I still welcome here or is a Z31 a model too far (cheesy grin) Should I open a project thread or take my Z31 and other 80's memorabilia elsewhere? Thought that the go kart would stop more project car madness but no, it's pretty boring compared with a good track car so it's going to be sold. For some people there is no salvation.

Using crush tubes to mount something big and solid is pretty common OE eg front X member to the chassis rails, S chassis diff mount. Can't see an engineer knocking that method of attachment back.