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It already has front wheel discs. Download the FSM, and wiring diagram, and Owners Manual before you get too far along. And get a multimeter, it will help a lot with the EFI system. https://www.classiczcars.com/files/ There's also a thread on the forum somewhere about things to do before trying to resurrect an old Z that's been sitting. You can avoid some damage and increase the odds of a good startup. I'd read up on that before even trying to turn the engine over. Welcome to the Z world.

My '77 had an N47 head and a '79 ZX motor I bought had an N47 head. I think it's a 1979 280ZX motor. The cut head temp sensor, the fuel rail fan are what I'm judging by. That xenon page has some mistakes on the head dates. The '75 and '76 came with an N42 block and an N42 cylinder head, great running combo from the factory. I'm pretty sure the first ZX, the 1979, came with an N42 block? You will play hell finding an N42 cylinder head. That's the one before they did the EGR N47 head. N42s are a lot simpler and cleaner looking. You can pull the motor and transmission together and start working on rebuilding the motor. When you get frustrated or run out of parts/money then go to the interior and body work. 2 years is a good timeline or at least that's what it took me by myself. Have fun, you seem to have a good mindset going to work on your Z. Know when to walk away for a few days is the lesson I learned. https://datsunzgarage.us/heads/

Hello! This will be the start of my build progress for a new to me 280z. This build will take a couple years. As of right now, I don't have a shop to really take it apart. About myself: I've been working on cars on and off my entire adult life. My best friend at the time car me started on one of my very first cars. An 81 Crown victoria. During the late 2000s I had a Ford escort that I did a lot of work too. Between me and my friend we had 7 lol. Later on I wanted to build a V8 miata. I had the miata completely stripped down, every nut and bolt. Refurbished and painted all the chassis parts and zinc coated all the hardware. I was getting ready to start putting it back together when I couldn't bring myself to spend 10k on a drivetrain. I wanted an ls3 which was a common swap and required little effort. I don't have a lot of fabrication experience and I didn't want to fight it at the time. So I ended up selling it and I've been kicking myself since. I paid 1k for it and it had zero rust. I was planning on buying another one, but I just didnt like the exteriors of those cars very much and I really wanted a coupe. So the z car fit the bill. I wanted something I could use to expand my skills on. Id like to learn how to weld, and I figured the floor pan and the tire pan would be an easy start since reproductions are available. I've never owned one of these cars and I have been looking for a project for a while. I found this car in New Mexico for 3500$. It does have a little bit of rust. So far I have found rot on the passenger side floor pan and under the spare tire. It appears that the under carriage was undercoated and the heat managed to bake a lot of it to the point that I could pull chips off with my finger. The original blue paint underneath was very clean. Otherwise, the outside of the car is scorched but straight. The car was apparently stored under a carport for a lot of years but was facing the sun and completely baked the interior. That didn't seem like a big deal to me. I feel like my biggest hurdle with this car is going to be the electrical system. I was told that the ignition system was likely the problem, but browsing around the car, I have found some loose wires and splices. All the fuse panels seem to have been removed from their mounting location. My current goal is to get it running. I don't know much about these cars so I need to get to know the car a bit better before I go to town on it. I'm not sure what I want the end result to be. Once I get my shop built and I've had time with the car. I will stripe it down and rebuild it. It will likely end up mostly stock with reasonable upgrades, like 4-wheel discs and some engine upgrades.

No worries - I appreciate any ideas to get this fixed. I installed the hoses/gauge/zip tied it to the windshield wiper last night so if I get home early enough, I'll take it out for some answers.

So Zedhead posted a good pic of the starter relay earlier... it's up in the engine compartment in front of the battery. If you disconnect the starter relay and short the two black/yellow contacts together (on the car side of the harness), it will take both the starter relay and the transmission inhibitor switch completely out of the starting circuit. In other words... With the two B/Y wires shorted together, when you turn the key to START, the starter should spin even with the transmission in drive. If it still fails to crank even with that jumper in place, then it's something other than the starter relay or the transmission interlock.

Gotcha. You probably already mentioned that somewhere. And I hope the under load fuel pressure testing provides some clues to what's going on.

The stud pattern on the jenvey 40 and 45 itbs is the same as the 40/45 dcoe carbs. Thats the point. The itbs come in 3 lengths I think, and I suppose it is possible that the longest ones might be too long. You should be able to measure it up on your car.

Good idea, I will send get in contact with them. Thanks!

I believe the Jenvey's will bolt right up but not positive. You could email Redline and ask. I believe they sell Jenvey's

It's not a big deal. It will only affect things like intake/exhaust manifold gaskets. Look between the 1 and 2 spark plugs on the cylinder head and you''ll probably see N47 or P79. Check for numbers on the exhaust manifold. They might have used the N42 manifold from the 75. The port shapes are different.

Not being an expert, I’m sure someone has tried it and you might find an answer on HybridZ’s site.

You bought vales and guides already, as seen in the pictures you posted. You replaced the Far 311 cam with a street able Schneider. What all was changed with the new cam? There is a lot more to that than just swapping out the actual cam. With your new parts already bought and paid for just go ahead and take the leap. Have the head rebuilt, new valve seals that will not interfere with your cam's lobes. Make sure all valves are cut the same and seating properly. Don't get in hurry finding a cylinder head rebuilder. Find one that is recommended by mechanics or even better some machine shops. You've got time now moving to Spain and getting settled. Make a plan and budget. Don't waste time or money.

I think we have been through this before several times. The cylinder head needs to get pulled to see what the deal is with #4.

IF, (big if) the problem is electrical and is isolated to #4, it has to be located somewhere in the dist. cap, rotor, plug wire, sparkplug, and or any of their electrical connections. I'd pull the dist. cap (wires intact), and pull the plug wires. Using an ohm meter. check the resistance in the circuit between the contacts in the cap with the corresponding spark plug wire at the boot end. They should all be similar. Let's hope you find high resistance in the #4 circuit.

The coil and ballast resistor won't affect just a single cylinder. They will affect all of them equally. If you have a single cylinder problem it won't be fixed with a new coil and resistor.

These guys will help you with your car, they love to help. .https://forums.hybridz.org/search/?q=petronix&quick=1 We are more original equipment hence the name "CLASSICZCARS"