Chewievette

Well I did some research and found that Shelby started a company that produced wheels starting in 1973. and that they only made aluminum wheels. I did find one that seems to be identical to mine on ebay that has a Buy it Now of $75. They dont seem to be as rare as I was hoping, but still an interesting story. How many people do you know that have Shelby Wheels?? I guess its time to take them wheels off! I'm wondering how hard it'll be to find those center caps.

They certainly bear a striking resemblance dont they! Thank you VERY much for the lead.

I've been looking at a bunch of different rims online and nothing has that raised center around the bolts like mine do and none have the short spokes that dont protrude into the bolt circle. I cant pull the rims off for probably another month when I can get the car started again and drive it some place flat and solid, its sitting on a grass hill right now so I'm leery of jacking it up. Also, what kind of weight will I be looking for if they are magnesium, I know it'll be less than aluminum but what kind of numbers should I be looking for?

These are the rims that came with my 280zx and one of my friends said they looked like early Z rims so I thought I'd ask you guys. I'm trying to find more info on them but I havn't a clue what to look for. The closest I could find on my own are minilites, but still not quite the same. The thing that's really throwing me off is the copper color of the spokes. I have yet to see some more like this. I'm fairly certain that they are Magnesium, but I need to know for sure. and I want to know what I need to do to get them looking good again. Thanks. More pics: http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/chewievette/Cars/My%20280ZX/ <img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/chewievette/Cars/My%20280ZX/100_5801.jpg>

Locally, we have Jaguars, Corvettes, Mustangs, and Camaros that will chase you down, pull you over, slap the hand cuffs on, then wait for a regular cop car to show up, then go do it again.

I'm starting to shape up a plan for this car. This spring I'll be stripping down the car to bare frame and replacing all the rusted panels. When I start putting it back together I'll be rebuilding the brakes and cleaning up the suspension and drivetrain. I've decided that I'm going to rod out the straight six, sbc swap just seems like the easy way out. I'm going to focus the initial spending on the internals(obvious reasons) then get the triple weber TBI later on, most likely around fall ...if all goes well. Thanks for the input guys, its really helped me make some crutial decisions

You make a very good point and In all acctuality I'll probably have my head in the body work so long I wouldn't enjoy the tri setup anyways. I still might not ditch the idea completely however I do have some common sense. Edit: I called Weber today and they said that the stock ZX regulator, pump, and injectors will work fine. Which would make the price roughly even with the tri Carb setup for early Zs.

Acctually, its fairly accurate... My car currently looks like the top picture and its going to look like the bottom picture. ...or at least that's my excuse. :paranoid: I figure that I can spend money making it look like the picture you posted OR I can spend money making it look like the picture I posted. I just happen to like the look of the tri-carb a little better. Now that I get to looking both of the 'clean' cars are not 280zx's so I guess neither is a good comparison...

Here's one reason why I want triple webers: Stock: Triple Weber: Looks are a good deciding factor for me. Eventally I'm going to up the power to a Small Block Chevy, but I figured that I should have some fun while I'm doing the body work. I really want to see what this little six can do! Plus when I do my swap I'll sell this to someone for cheap. If you want it give me a call in about a year.

While doing some searching today I found the following website, let me know what you guys think of this setup. It looks to be pretty much bolt up. Like I said though, I'll be contacting weber today, I'll let you know what they say about it. http://www.racetep.com/ztripdcoe.html

I'm thinking about putting triple throttle body setup on my '79 ZX which already has FI. I'm curious about what kind of mods I'll have to make. If I read correctly the intake manifolds from early Zs bolt up to the ZX heads so if I get a triple weber intake and bolt the throttle bodies onto it I dont see why it wouldn't work, but since I'm new to the whole Z car thing, I thought it'd be best to ask before ordering parts. I'll be contacting weber later today to ask them about it, but I'd like to get some advice from Z car gurus. Thanks.

I'm really bored today so I decided to try photoshopping a pic of the ZXR and paint it black. This it my first try at recoloring a car, so be nice... I'm still trying to gloss it up a bit, it looks like flat black to me.

I couldn't resist playing with the ZXR decals in paint today... Let me know what you think... Stock colors ...ish Green: Red: Red/Orange: (Sorry about the bmps)

All of the wings that Motorsport sells are fiberglass. and none of them are the like the ZXR wing, they are all a little bit different. Thanks for the info guys. I'll be tracking these down for a while.

I'm debating what I want my car to look like when I get to the painting stage and I was wondering if anyone is still selling ZXR decals? I'm starting to think a Black ZXR would look sweet! Also where might I find one of the rubber whale tails? I'm also trying to think of some other colors that would look good, any ideas? Thanks.

No, it is not my primary transportation. I bought the car as my project and I figure that replacing the gasket is a good first step. Not to mention much less noisy... But from what your telling me it sounds like I should just mark off a whole day on the calender to do it good and proper. I guess I'll be reading up on taking the manifolds off. If you've got any tips for this process I'd surely appreciate them. Thanks.

The exhaust side of my gasket is shot and I assume this also means there's damage to the intake side, resulting in exhaust gas ingestion by the motor and one of the contributing factors to the poor performance of my car. I have the new gasket already but I was wondering how much it takes to replace it? Do I acctually have to entirely remove the intake and exhaust manifolds or will I be able to just unbolt and pull them away from the head enough to take out the old one and slip in the new one? Basically I'd like to know if this is a one hour job or an all day job? Thanks in advance. btw: I have a '79 280zx.

I can custom mold an intake made specifically for your car. It would require access to your car for at least a day for measurements and templates. I'm acctually working on a Shaker hood scoop for my dodge intrepid as we speak. Unfortunately I dont have access to a real shop so I have to use my parents garage on the weekends, forcing progress to be really slow. What I do is make a foam mold exactly how you want it, all the bends and scoops and such that you want. Then I cover the mold in a release agent and cover it with 3-4 layers of your choice of fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar, or carbon/kevlar hybrid(the colored stuff). When that's all dried I polish the top layer of resin, for a nice smooth shine. Afterall that is done I dissolve the foam mold out of the intake, leaving you with a near perfect seamless intake! It really is simpler than it sounds. The advantage of a custom intake like this is that it's one of a kind and can be made Exactly how you want it! And yes, I did draw it myself. Probably one of the better drawings I've ever done! usually they look nothing like how I want them to. ...go figure

I'll probably end up buying a Z later on anyways! They're like prigles, once you get one you cant stop! I didn't mean to sound so pissy the other day, so I'm sorry. I spent an hour or two last night trying to sketch what I want my ZX to look like and the pic below shows what I came up with. I'm not sure what to do with the tail lights or the exhaust yet, but I think this version looks pretty good. I'm going to try a front view later today and I hope it turns out alright. Let me know what you think, I always love hearing from other people. And just in case your wondering, Phoenix Automotive is the company I started last year. We build custom Seamless Composite Intakes

Okay, I'll go hide in my corner for a while until I get another hairbrained idea... Thanks for the help

Well my car needs a whole new front clip so I figured I throw in a bit of extra work and some readily available parts to make something totally unique. But I'll wait till I have some time to go over the car with a fine tooth comb before I make any big decisions. You did answer my question though so thank you.

Well for one, I like the look of the early Z front end better than the ZX. and for two because the only good looking fender flares I can find are for the early Z. and for three I would have gotten an early Z if not for the fact that this one bascially fell into my lap. I was counting on doing major body mods anyways, I just thought I'd throw my thoughts out to the universe(or at least the www) before I acctually do it.

I was curious if it would be possible to graft a front end from an early Z onto my 280ZX? I'm probably going to try it one way or another but I thought I should check and see if anyone had already tried it. Most likely I'll get the subtle Z fenders, hood, and air dam that should give me most of the parts. Is there anything else you would recommend that I look into? Thanks in advance.