daddz

Max, I know that but the back of the wheels were stamped "0" offset. Measuring the inside bead they measured 7" and therefore at "0" offset they do have 3.5" from either side of the mounting surface.

That sunroof just ruined the whole car for me. Other than that the car looks really nice.

Max, That wheel is a bit of a question. If you measure the outside bead it measures eigt inches wide. The effect is somehwat augmented because those wheels when purchased utilized a Mustang bolt pattern which is 4 on 4.25" or 4x110mm. I purchased a set of custom wheel adapters and the minimum thickness had to be one inch which made the wheels seem even wider. I have since removed them and plan to have them re-drilled at the Wheel Collision Center in Bath, Pa. They also re-drilled the 16x7 ARE's on the 86 300ZX. Those wheels were originally bought for a Mercedes Benz and since they were three piece it made the job somewhat easier. It helped that those wheels were brand new out of the box just like the big 16x7 Enkei's.

Okay this might take a while for me. The 1970 240Z with factory steel wheels 14x5: The '77 280Z with factory 14x5.5 alloys: The '77 280Z with big fat Enkei 92 16x7 zero offset and zero backspace: The '78 280Z with Enkei 92 15x7 zero offset and zero backspace: The '81 280ZX with no name 16x7 black mesh wheels (zero offset and zero backspace): The 1982 280ZX when I first bought it with 14x6 factory alloys: ....and now with 16x7 and 16x8 three piece Epsilon mesh wheels: The '86.1 300ZX with three piece ARE mesh wheels 16x7: The 86.2 with factory alloy wheels: The 350Z with factory alloys:

Steven, Not exactly: 1978 rated at gross bhp: 170hp/ 177 lb/ft torque 1978 rated at net bhp: 149hp / 163 lb ft torque 1979 rated at net: 135bhp / 149 lb ft torque 1981 (the comeback) rated at net: 145bhp / 156 lb ft torque 1984 VG30E rated at 160bhp / 174 lb ft torque In any case the torque value is what you feel as expressed by the twisting force generated from the engine.

I agree with most of the comments from us 280Z fans. I think you haven't been around most S30 fans long enough as there are many 280Z people with plenty of 'passion' for the car. I was aware of the 240Z when my father bought his first 280Z brand new back in '78 and they were expensive back then ($9200 in Feb. of '78) but that was a byproduct of the world's economies and monetary policy. The price would nearly double again by '82 when my burgandy hardtop was produced. When I was finally old enough to buy my first car I CHOSE a 280Z because it was fuel injected and all it required was a turn of the key and I didn't have to waste time fiddling with carburetors. At age eighteen I just wanted to jump in and sidestep the clutch at 3,000rpm and drive way too fast. The 280Z had the largest displacement engine for the S30 and out of the box it was fast and not quick like today's small Hondas and such. Now that I am older I generally appreciate all generations of Z cars and have owned all but the Z32. I have driven the Z32TT from Atlanta to D.C. and maybe oneday I will own one but there is no pressing need at present. Just look at my signaure line. I do like beating up on the Z31 though because it was not one of Nissan's better cars. For the money back then the FC RX-7 was a better deal and the build quality was better--I know as I have owned 2 FC's and one SA22 13B RX-7. The Z33 (350Z) is a big fat heavy pig although it is a fast pig it is still a pig. Again, Nissan could have done better and chose not to. The true successor to the 240Z in terms of spirit has to be the new BMW Z4 coupe. Inline 6, cab rearward styling, long hood and intimate cabin. Here's that stance for the S130 (280ZX): This is why I like the 280Z: Here is the old friend that needs to be restored 08/70: Here's how I think the 280Z should look in terms of stance:

To answer your questions let's start with the first one: The VG30ET and VG30E are generally known to be robust engines and have been known to produce as much as 1000bhp**. **see this website: http://www.a2zracer.com/page90.html The key is the bottom end cradle that Nissan utilized in the design of the VG30. Intercooler(s) are definitely the way to fly and will help the engine handle the extra demand. By the sound of this car I would be very nervous about modifying it until you are sure it has had regular maintenance and has proven itself to show good oil pressure--check the oil pressure switch as they are often not functioning by the time they reach this age. To answer your second question: It's always expensive to modify these engines (a friend of mine used to own an '88 Turbo SE (commonly known as the Shiro) and his used HKS intercooler set him back north of $500. You can swap in used intercoolers from late '80's Mitsubishi Starions and so on but you get what you pay for so be careful. The swap of a VG30DETT is more work than its worth and you get the same results from the VG30ET (see the website linked below). In Japan they offered a VG30DE beginning in 1987 and it was awfully cramped in that engine bay. It was a way for Nissan to test the powertrain before introducing the Z32. I would start checking the following websites for Z31 information: http://www.Z31.com http://www.z31performance.com http://www.zcar.com --the 84-89 section If you end up with a Z31 make sure you replace all of the suspension bushings with a polyurethane kit as the bushings are probable all crap by now and the Z31 was known to be a bit of a pig on the road at speed. Also, be sure to replace the rubber brake lines with some stainless steel braided lines. While I was at it I replaced the rotors with some cross drilled ones from KVR in England. Those two modifications coupled with the Tokico springs and struts made a new car out of my 86.1 (the one with the black mesh wheels). The next thing I would do is replace all of those damned vacuum lines in the engine bay with some SVH (silicone vacuum hose) like the ones from Hose Techniques.com. That made a huge improvement again. This may sound a bit odd but I would finish the early Z first as in my experience you can end up being spread too thin very quickly when fixing up old Z cars. My '86.1 started out as a 'daily beater' and it quickly started to suck alot of cash that I rationalized as "i I am sitting in the car everyday it ought to look better...". Had I to do it over again I would have bought an old Sentra or something more appliance like. Just look at my signature line and you can see where this ends up and then all of a sudden it gets out of hand.

David, When I bought my first Z car (a 1983 280ZX 2+2) I wanted to get a 2 seater so that I could make a replica of that Newman ZX or even the Don Devendorf IMSA ZX. There is an article from circa 1990 that features a 280ZX treated to that bodywork. The fact that Devendorf's Electramotive ZX had a 600+ hp L28 installed at a 45 degree angle was icing on the cake. These V8 guys should look at that engine before ruining a Z with a V8. I should scan that article at some point.

Some people have suggested the Fiero seats but I prefer the Miata seats. I have measured an S30 seat side by side with a Miata seat and in all dimensions ther are within an inch in all directions. The extra inch or so is most notable on the lower seat cushion as it extends the thigh support area. I also like the overall look which is the same as the S30 seat yet has cloth in the center which is most appreciated in both hot and cold weather.

Craig, I have just been through the alternator swap on both of my Z31's and it is a pain the a**! It wasn't really hard but the many steps required as compared to an L-series seems ridiculous. On the lifters making noise my 86.2 had a piece of carbon get loose and it jammed the electrode on the #5 spark plug. I suspect it was because of the high mileage (235k) and the fact that I let the car sit from mid-March until August of last year before driving it from Florida back to Maryland (920 miles). The car did fine from SoCal to So. Florida (2800 miles in 3 days). Good luck with your '80's wedge mobile as I like to call them.

Here are a few pics of my '86 hardtop twins: this is number 2 and has 235k on her and is from SoCal: and this is number 1 with 217k and is from Atlanta: If you have the money and time and patience I would suggest finding the nicest one you can as these can become expensive pets! As for the spotter's guide: The "Turbo 3000" on the intake plenum cover is for all Z31's '84 to '89. Usually the N/A '84 and '85 Z31's have four lug hubs but in the first couple of months of production in late '83 I have seen four lug turbo's. From '86 to '89 all models have five lug hubs and use a 5 on 4.5 or 114.3mm bolt pattern which is common on 2nd gen RX-7's and MA70 Supras as well as Mustangs from the SN95 platform. The four lug hub models use a 4 on 4.5 or 114.3mm bolt pattern which is just like the S30 and S130 models and I have swapped wheels from all three generations.

I just saw your post about the N/A to Turbo swap. It has been done and can be done to an N/A motor. If you get the car and are serious about this swap a friend of mine can give you a shopping list of parts that you will need. It includes things the front crossmember and so on. It is not a small job for the novice but it can be accomplished.

Just some advice from a long time multiple Z31 owner. They can become a nice driving car in the same vein as the S130 or 280ZX. The only problem is that with a Z31 some of the parts have been drying up at an alarming rate, especially the interior parts. Under the hood things can get worse from here. The vacuum lines are sure to have ocified by now. I have replaced them on both of my '86 hardtops and it is not a fun job. There are about 25 lines in different sizes. The intake pipe just aft of the air flow meter has a series of rubber bellows and one of them is no longer available from Nissan and must be sourced aftermarket and your best bet is the "hump hose" by boostcontroller.com which will run you about $30. Since it is a timing belt engine make sure the VG30 gets a new one before you start driving it everyday. Most people forget to change the cam seals and crank seal and when not looked after as in one of my cars the oil slick will visit your alternator and cause it to die an early death. If you have to change the alternator it is not a fun job as you have to drop the front sway bar and remove it from the bottom. Also be sure to look at the valve covers as they like to have new valve cover gaskets evry so often. In my '86.2 this job has been deferred by the previous owner for about 100k now and it can no longer be avoided. This is a fairly big job as alot of junk has to be removed to do this job. Just look at the driver's side of the engine and you will know what I mean. Be sure to check in the luggage area on both sides. Remove the toolkit and look at the panel underneath as rust likes to begin here. Also be sure to check the spare tire compartment and remove the temporary spare as this area can also begin to rust while no one is looking. Just like the 280ZX/S130 check to see where the semi-trailing arms attach to the unibody for rust and detoriated bushings as these usually don't last long either. My ex-Nissan mechanic custom made a tool which cuts alot of the labor time out of this job should you have to pay someone to do it the bushings can be expensive to replace. In all it sounds like a car that should be left alone for that asking price. You can get lucky with an S30 as it is much more simple to work on. Keep in mind Nissan packed alot of technology into these cars and that technology is now 20+ years old. Again, I must admit to having enjoyed my time with my Z31's but they are an expensive car to maintain and upgrade and you might be better off with something else if you want a "daily beater". If you are smitten by the Z31 be sure to jot down the VIN# and visit your local Nissan dealer and ask them for a printout of the Service Comm for that VIN#. The report will tell you the exact build date, retail date, in-service date, PDI date, and whether or not the injector campaign was carried out. If nothing shows up in the dealer's database call 1-800-NISSAN6 and have them "re-activate" the VIN# which takes about 24 hours. Just some quick numbers on both of mine: 86.1: purchase price 5 years ago: $2100 since then for parts and labor: $9500 86.2 purchase price: $1800 since purchase: $2100 --and this has not fixed all of the issues yet but at least the body is rust free and accident free like the other one.

Look what else this fellow is selling: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-CHEVROLET-1975-COSWORTH-VEGA-W-2K-ORIGINAL-MILES_W0QQitemZ300069669107QQihZ020QQcategoryZ6173QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300069669107 These cars are scarce as hell....

Unfortunately all of my cars except three of them live outside currently. The two best things you can do are: 1. Try not to park your Z over anything like grass or dirt or even flagstone as the moisture from the ground will definitely cause the rust to accelerate. You will see this in places like the door bottoms and such. 2. The car cover will help but don't skimp. I was lucky and ran across a $60 cover at Autozone around the corner from the house in Florida. The first time I put the cover over the '82 280ZX we had a 5 minute rainstorm that Florida is famous for and after the rain I checked under the cover and the car was completely dry! The covers only tend to last about 6 to 9 months in the Florida sun.

Carl and others, I would add to this discussion that I recall about four years ago missing out on a nice original 1978 Datsun 280Z that was in its original orange paint and had only covered about 28k miles and it sold on ebay for a little north of $9,000. I thought back then that was all the money for a nice original '78 low mileage 280Z. Along with the recent uptick in real estate the old cars have started to follow this trend. Besides stocks and bonds and artwork, what other asset classes are there? This is starting to remind me of the run up in classic car values that occured in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Only now it has filtered down into the more pedestrian or plebian types of cars. I recently read an article about my humble little old '72 Toyota Celica and the trend line is starting to show 25 to 30 perecnt increases in prices. As enthusiasts we might have to begin to adjust how we are using these old Z cars? There will always be a small segment of owners that will not drive their cars but with dwindling parts availability how long can this continue? Just try to find a nice example of a 1984 or 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE these days; it is almost impossible to find a stock well rpeserved example for under $5,000 if at all. It will be interesting to see how this develops but as for me my Z cars are not really nice enough to be compared to the ones featured in this discussion so i plan to keep on driving mine on nice days and generally keep up on the maintenance and correcting previous owners' missteps. It's a shame because I remember the days when I started buying 280Z's to use as daily drivers in the late '80's and early '90's and it was common in the D.C. area to find a $1,000 daily driver that could be run for a few years and then parted out or sold off. In my case I always ended up spending far too much and parting out was the only viable option to keep the parts supply going for the next purchase. A friend of mine was doing the same thing with MGB's and he went through a succession of them beginning with a '67 B and ending with his current long term project a '77 B. The MGB's stopped being affordable daily drivers in the mid '90's and thankfully a number of aftermarket suppliers have stepped in to fill the void and hopefully this will happen with the Z cars as well.

Dean and others, That is a shame about your ebay experience(s). I have frequently been on the buying side of the fence and have regretted a few purchases over the years. I always find that I have quite a bit of work to do to bring the Z or ZX in question back to complete operating condition. For some reason this usually equates to approximately $1500 to $2000 depending on how much deferred maintenance was uncovered. On the other hand I was the seller this past year of four different vehicles (three '78 280Z's and an '87 Supra) and some of them were definitely not in the greatest shape but I set out to be as honest as possible and threw in some extras to sweeten the pot. In a perfect world I would have kept them all as I seem to drift toward the neglected orphan Z cars. The problem with Z cars is that they were fairly affordable to begin with which means they were driven alot more than equivalent cars from the same time period. In addition as they depreciated the subsequent 2nd, 3rd owners either modified the cars or used substandard replacement parts and or methods which means that reconditioning one of these cars becomes and expensive proposition for the enthusiastic owner. Couple that with rising values and you have a bunch of fairly dishonest people who want nothing more than to unload their Z car for a hefty sum of money. One would hope that as the old car hobby continues to draw more people that this would cease to exist.

Did anyone see his yellow '77 280Z that was listed with a buy it now price of $16,500? That car was beautiful! The only problem is that I would want to drive it all of the time. If one had the money I guess buy both and park the BPE and drive the yellow '77 280Z with 42k on it.

I have an original Nissan windshield removed from my orange 280Z and it is up for sale if anyone's interested....

This gets complicated for the multiple Z owner! '70 240Z-- No presents other than continued storage in the semi climate contorlled garage. '77 280Z-- Little b*** got a new alternator Thanksgiving weekend. Lucky it didn't get a kick in the a** for that one. BTW, it was cold while changing that alternator in the parking lot not to mention having to file the alternator housing to fit the brakcet on sit. I swear next time it's going to be a Nissan remanufactured alternator. I must never stray from the factory parts bin again. '78 280Z-- This trollop decided that she would let water leak past the door weatherstrip and moisten the carpets which I just removed on Saturday. I have the new weatherstipping to install but have not found the time and proper weather to perform the swap. Then the heater solenoid decided to stop working again. '81 280ZX-- Over Christmas break the battery was given a charge and the old girl was given a nice drive before going back under the car cover in sunny, warm Florida until March. '82 280ZX-- This one received a new starter from the parts bin in maryland. Trouble is I had to deliver the part to Florida to isntall it. I spent most of the five days in Florida over Christmas exercising the old girl. It had only travelled 200 miles in 2006. It was back under the cover until March for this one as well. '86 300ZX.1-- This is the mother of all pain the a** Z cars to own. It coughed up its alternator on December 5 just as I was passing by Andrews AFB. I ducked in to the base to swap it for the '72 Celica so I could proceed to my class in College Park. The weekend before Christmas a new Bosch alternator was installed along with new Nissan fan belts. On the way down to Florida at 2:30 a.m. the new alternator pulley locked up at exit 99 in South Carolina. By 11 a.m. that same morning it was back on the road again with another new alternator! '86 300ZX.2-- This one has been slumbering since August 2006 and for Christmas she received a new Nissan timing belt and all of the attendant parts. '03 350Z-- No presents for this one other than some quality time with the battery charger. Over Christmas I didn't even bother to start this one. It will have to wait until March.

This has been an interesting day. The '87 Supra is now history! Two cars sold in one week. I might be able to actually get in the garage now? Even better the '78 280Z rewarded me with working heat this afternoon! It has been sitting since October 21,2006 and the tires were a bit low on air and she fired up on the first turn of the key. About two minutes into the ride the heat started working after a year of non-operation. I guess it is happy to be back home in the driveway instead of being stored offsite?

Anybody looking for a clean and fully documented '81 280ZX??? :-)

As of December 4,2006 HLS30-448652 has found a new home. In case anyone is wondering the selling price was $2400 and I threw in some extra goodies. The new owner lives in Leesburg, Va. and is generally excited to have another S30 project which shouldn't take too much to finish. The new(er) rust free fenders have been installed and it shouldn't be too long before the Z goes in for paint. Stay tuned as the new owner may well start to post here and keep us informed of the progress. He and his father currently own two '72 240Z's which may well turn out to be donor cars as they have some serious frame rot. His daily driver is a '90 300ZX 2+2 5 speed so it is in good hands.