CCC77

The fastest I have been is about 150mph as a passenger in a Corvette. The fastest I have personally driven was 130mph. I was racing and a car pulled out on the road. After my life passed before my eye’s I promised myself I never would do it again. Regards CCC77

You won't go wrong with either model. The 280 is not a slug by any means. My 82 280zx was a slug.(but it still was a car I really liked) My 70 240z that got written off did handle better, but in terms of a strait line drag race they really were about the same.(both in stock form) I would really like to get another 240 myself, but I got to live with my 77 280 for now. Getting those big bumpers off the car does make it look a lot better.

I’m not positive but I think 77 was the first year for five speed transmisions in north America. They only made something like 500 of them in 77. They made a big deal about it on my car, it has a big 5 speed emblem on the back of it.

There now you have a Canadian vote. Curtis

It really helps if you have someone around that has changed a clutch before, does not matter if it was a z or not. The hardest part for me was getting the exhaust out of the way. Get an alignment tool. I think this is a must. Draining the tranie is a good idea too, I never did because I always had someone with me to balance it on the jack. Good luck, its not that bad. The first time you have to change a head gasket you will be dreaming of just having to change a clutch. Regards Curtis

When I got mine off my junker I had the car rolled on its side. The front mounts came off no problem, but the rear on was a pain. I used a old wrench, a pipe, and a hammer. It was on real tight but after a lot of pounding it started to come a .25 inch at a time. I thought of cutting it, but it would have taken longer with a hack saw. Regards Curtis

Here is a link to the original rice boy page: http://riceboypage.com/ Curtis

Your 280zx would have the R200 Curtis

BTW you mentioned doing this car in a year. I would assume that you have a heated garage, correct? if Winnipeg had Nanaimo climate I would be in shorts all year.

Thanks I appreciate all your advice. One more question. Would I need to run premium gas at that compression level? I am thinking detonation would definitely start to be an issue. Curtis

I like the Mastercraft Professional tools that crappy (Canadian) tire sells. They have a lifetime warranty, and I was really impressed with the quality/fit/finish of there tools. Does anybody know who they are made by. I do not know who makes them, but they are excellent quality. I know a lot of guys like Craftsman from sears, but Mastercraft is the Canadian Tire equivalent. I prefer them because when I break a tool they replace it no questions asked. When I tried to get a Craftsmen wrench replaced Sears gave me a hassle. Said I probably put a bar on it to break it. Finally after arguing with them for awhile they gave me a new one. I took in a digital torque wrench that stopped working last week. My dad got it on sale 30 years ago from Canadian Tire for $29.99. The replacement model cost $99.99. No questions asked. I think the most important thing when buying tools is the warranty. I do have quite a bit of SK stuff , as well as Mac and Snapon. In my opinion no of it is any better than my Mastercraft stuff. I did do one thing I normally would not do. I bought a Mastergrip ratcheting wrench set from Costco. They have a lifetime warranty and Costco promised me that if I had any problems that I could not get fixed they would refund my money. I purposely put them to some pretty hard use, and you know what? They work great. They were $54.99CDN for 14 pieces. The cheapest I could in another brand was $49.00CDN for 7 pieces. Hopefully they hold up. Curtis

I was going to use the intake manifold from the 77 because it seems to have a lot less crap attached to it. Don’t know if that really matters. When I took the motor out of the 82 I did it rather hastily and may have left some of the associated wiring behind. I will have to check to see if the head on the 77 is a N42 but I think its probable a N47. According to this web page: http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/heads.html either of those two heads should give me high compression with that block. I just don’t know if that high compression is going to do that much for me? I do want to get more power out of it. I was also thinking of putting a hotter cam in. If I do, do I really need the all the extra compression from the older head?

I have a 77 280z that has some bad rings in it. I just took the motor out of my 82 280zx that I am having scrapped. That motor was in perfect shape the body was just a wreck. I was thinking of using the motor and head out of the 280zx for my 280z. The 82 has the flat top pistons and a little extra compression couldn’t hurt. Does the exhaust head and intake manifold fit from the 77? What is better to use? From what I have read I don’t think I can use the head off of the 77 on the 82 motor. Anyone have any suggestions? Or should I just redo the rings on the original motor? Thanks in advance Curtis

Thats great. I thought I read some where that if I didn't change the differential that my acceleration would suffer.

I am replacing the transmission in my 77 280z. It came with a 5 speed but it is slowly eating itself to death. I have a 5 speed transmission I took out of my 82 280zx. My question is: Is this a strait bolt in? I think that I read somewhere that with the taller gear ratio’s in the 280zx transmission I get a different differential. Is that necessary? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Curtis

Sure no problem. I will go take a picture later in the week and post it here. Curtis

mperdue, I have looked at you chart and I am wondering if maybe some of the info from www.zhome is wrong. I gave my autobody guy the Datsun paint code 216 and he came up with white. As well this web page lists 215 as white but from 84 to 97. http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/f.../car_detail.cfm My car also looks like it was painter metalic red at one point, but I dont think that was factory. Interesting topic. Regards CCC77

I could not agree more. Maybe they did the first test midday and the second one in the middle of the night when the are was colder. They didn’t state their testing criteria. I do believe they had a great big Royal Purple add in that issue. That couldn’t have anything to do with the test results? .

I read an article in Compact Sport Magazine a couple of years ago that was titled something like: oil change adds 5 horse power. They had a car on the dyno and got a base hp rating. Then they changed the oil to Royal Purple racing oil.(dont remember the exact one) They put the car back on the dyno and what do you know, its got 5 more horse power. That said I have also read somewhere that the cleaning agents in Royal Purple damage a lot fo internal components of motors. Dont know if it is true or not, but it seems to have a lot of Slick 50 type hype about it. Regards CCC77

You got that right. What the heck did they do to the Civic si model. They took a fun car and made it bad.

I still would not buy one. Yes the may have improved greatly, but their resall value still stinks. Yes I have had my fair share of problems with my Z's but look how old they are. If I owned one when it was new the only problem I would have had is a burnt out clutch. I have owened a Maxima and the only thing I ever had done on it was oil changes. Same thing with a Honda that I owned since new. Its still not a Z is an understatement.

Thanks I did search the info there. I see that people say the rear disc's from a 280zx are pretty wimpy. Is it possible to put the front disks from the 280zx on the rear of the 280x?

I have a 82 280ZX that I am taking parts off of before I tow it away to the scrap yard. The rear brakes are like new. What is involved in putting these on my 77 280z? thanks in advance CCC77

I am in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada.