XelderX

Great car. I really enjoyed watching it on course. It looked like an awesome car to Solo in.

Was that the white one? I was working course for EP's run group.

I'll be thinking more about it. I basically just need a longblock to get the car running again, but I was offered 2 280ZX motors for a reasonable price and one of them happens to be turbo. I'm not terribly concerned with the complexity of the install, just not happy with the way the turbo motors look in the car. The carbs make the engine bay look so simple and clean where the turbo/FI setup has wires and hoses going everywhere. I can handle the extra wrenching and TLC the car will require. I don't see why I can't do a little hose and wire rerouting to clean up the engine bay. The motorcycle rebuild that has taken up my garage for the last 6 months will hopefully be out of the way by November and the 260 can get my full attention.

It's been a few weeks since I could get back to focusing on the 260. I spent a week in Topeka for the SCCA Nationals and had a great time. I got to take a good look at some of the FP Z's and they did a great job. I found a few local links to spare motors I can get. One is a turbo motor from a 280ZX. That's very tempting, but I'm concerned of the complexity of the wiring. I know it makes day to day operation of the car easier, but the wiring and extra plumbing in the engine bay looks like crap. The up side is that I can probably sell the SU carbs for enough money to cover the price of the turbo motor. Descisions....

I was out there and got to see the FP Z guys drive by a few times. I was running in FSP and didn't get to see any of the Z's run though.

A few pictures I took today. Some rust from the battery tray, inner fender under the tray, and the frame rail under the battery. The last is the oil cap with Japanese characters on it. The #'s on the block we 050945 IIRC.

I'll check on those block #'s tomorrow. The battery tray is rusted through the inner fender, but a good friend of mine has fixed a few of them so he is standing by for me to pull the engine and then he can get to work. I'm pretty sure it's a 5 speed box. I'll confirm that tomorrow.

I'll be there the second weekend in October with my Protege5.

Pics of the motor I took tonight while I was at the garage working on the Protege motor. Sorry for the blurriness. My camera is difficult at night. From what I've researched on here it looks like I have the SU carbs. I also did a more indepth search for rust with a friend of mine who does body work. The battery tray and surrounding sheet metal will need to be replaced. The floorboards right at the firewall will need a littel patching, but not bad. The passenger frame rail will need to be replaced right where it starts to bend up under the battery. Other than that the rest of the car is just minor touch up and cleaning.

I'll get engine bay pics up later this weekend and hopefully some interior pics as well. I'm thinking the motor is the stock unit, but I can't be sure. The carpet and seats were recently replaced, but I'll probably take it all back out to make sure the floor isn't about to fall out. Thank god there is a service manual in the car.

Sorry...still updating my profile stuff in between minimizing the window when the boss walks by. I'm in central, NC. The engine is the #1 priority right now. I have a few good salvage yards nearby, but I'm not up to date on what they have. I need to get educated on all the engine codes/interchangability stuff. I'll be on the lookout for a 280 motor. I'm always wary about buying full motors because they seem to always end up needing to be rebuilt anyway. I know a few local guys that race the classic Z's, but convienently enough they are all hiding now that I need them.

I just picked up a 260Z from a coworker. I haven't had a good chance to go through the car yet and see what the trouble spots are. 12 hour shifts at work are killing me. I know that it was run with little to no oil and developed a knock in the motor. I'm hoping a simple rebuild will get that taken care of, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up calling the machine shop for some major work. My engine stand is currently occupied so I won't get any updates on that for a few weeks. I believe the clutch was also slipping when it was parked last year. It has the MSA Aero Kit and it looks like it was being molded into the body, but it's incomplete. There is very little visable rust on the body and the car was being daily driven up until last year. This is my first attempt at a Nissan so I'll be asking lots of questions.