Engine & Drivetrain

I am going to put an E31 head, with 280 valves, on an F54 block. When I place a 2.8 head gasket on the E31 there is very little room between the valve and headgasket to unshroud the valves. Am I missing something? I know several people have put the 280 valves in the earlier heads, did they have custom head gaskets made to allow for room around the valves, and grind the top of the cylinder bores to match ( .050 above top of ring travel) or just clean up the head as much as possible Bob

Hey, I am new to this blog and am hoping for a bit of knowledge. I am about to buy a 1981 280zx and would like to know how i would go about converting the car to a manual transmission. If you could also let me know what different transmissions would easily fit into the car. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. thanks

I dont have a 280 zx but i wanted to know if anyone knows the size of the turbo and if you know where some pics are

I have been offered a motor out of a 280C which was a Datsun Sedan around the early 80's vintage. Can this motor be done up for maximum horsepower for a Z. Thanks Biker

Hi, so I own a 1973 240z with an l28 in it. I had a question as I I'll be changing the radiator soon. From my understanding a 280z radiator should fit generally alright in a 240z, and I am most likely going to get an aluminum radiator off ebay, as most seem to be ok. I would recore, but I am trying to shed some weight off the car. My question is that what will be better, a 280z 2-core, or 240z 3-core. I would get a 240z 2-core but those seem to not be for sale anymore. I was thinking of a 280z 2-core since I heard some people had trouble getting air through the 3-cores, and 280z 2-cores are available. I would highly prefer not to use an aftermarket fan. My other choice wo…

Hello all. I just bought a 75 280z 2+2 for a restore project. This is my first Z and first project. I originally had plans to buy a 240z with the same intent but decided to buy the best available car for the money. The car has been stored and covered for the last 15 years and is all original with only light surface rust on the hood and roof (appears the cover was not taken off to dry after rain). There is no rust on the body panels and the frame rails and floor pans are good. The interior is original and fairly decent with only cracks in dash and minor tears in seat bottoms. This is my question: Is the 2+2 model as popular as the 2 seater? I have not seen as many…

I did my research and decided on the 81/83 zx 5 speed and a later switch to a 3.9 or 4.11 diff.... Saved my money and ordered a rebuilt from a reputable z shop that does tranny rebuilds. There was some confusion evidently because they sent me a 77/79 z 5 speed. Not the ratio I wanted, I'm very disapointed because now they tell me they don't have one within the years I want and I have this fresh 77/79 sitting on my front porch. They have offered a refund if I want but I thought I would get some input from others that have run this tranny, before I go to the trouble of shipping it back. How bad is it? Is second gear right on top of first like the #'s show and how bad is the…

Hi all, I'm new here. Just got a pretty clean 1973 240z. The car has an L28/N47 280z motor and head in it, carbureted. Drives really nice. My question is can I bolt in a 280z 5-speed? Are any special parts needed at either the engine end or the shaft end? What about the interior shifter box? Guidance and experience are appreciated. Thanks.

Good day, for some time I am trying to understand a transmission noise that is bothering me. As you can hear in the video the gearknob is transmitting some buzzing noise which can be altered by holding the hand in front of the knob to act like a kind of sound box. You can best hear it toward the end of the video. I read about the buzzing problem related to worn gearstick bushing and ordered a new set of oem bushings, cup and pin. After the change the noise persisted I also changed the old after market wood knob to an oem rubber one. Also no change. Next step was to check for wear marks on the stick (read it in some other post). I found some small o…

if anyone would be willing to help me out, i just need someone with a 280z to pop off the black cover on the left side of the air flow meter and push the needle all the way over to full open and let me know where the silver needle (indicated by the red circle) sits. i have a picture there i made in paintbrush with numbers so you can use that or if you just want to copy my picture and put a dot to let me know where yours sits at. i would really appreciate anyone thats willing to help me out. thanks, aaron. afm.bmp

I'm back with more questions. I installed the pedals for my auto to 5 speed swap (just swapping pedals into original pedal box). I have a 280z master cylinder and the clevis is adjusted all the way out. My pedal is sitting at about 6.5-6.75" from the floor while the manual is calling for almost 9". When stroking the pedal, I bottom out on the floor before I bottom out on the master cylinder. I was told these pedals were from a 77 or 78 280z but have no way to know for sure. Any idea what might be going on here? I'm guessing maybe a wrong pedal (are clutch pedals different over the years/models?) or the wrong master cylinder. Got the master cylinder from Rock A…

well I just broke off the tip of the canister that goes to my dizzy vacuum advance. Where can I get a replacement or is there a way to bypass it?