John Coffey

The 280Z system has an Electronic Control Unit with a number of integrated circuits. Those can be replaced with programmable units and resistors. JWT and Jet both offered these upgrades at some point in the past. The units have to be sent to the shops and turn around time was about a week. There is (was?) a kit that let you install the 280ZX ECU in place of the 280Z ECU and that ZX ECU was easier to program/modify.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?31593-HLS30-00016-or-Wick-Humble-s-car-for-15K

Finding Z cars by VIN is probably not possible. Your best bet is to post and monitor the main Z fan sites here in the US.

In SCCA ITS trim a L28 with the OEM fuel injection can make 195 hp and still have very good driveability and fuel economy.

No such thing. SCCA only issues log books for road racing. Are you taking about a lap sheet? If so, Pegasus sells one here: https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=5205

Do a good tune-up including a valve adjustment. A lot of these cars fail due to the EVAP system having leaks. As mentioned above, check the gas cap, all the fuel tank vent lines, the charcoal canister, and all the related hoses. Make sure the PCV system is good and the EGR valve is working. As mentioned above, make sure the car is good and hot when you pull in. One option might be to install a 190 degree thermostat. BTW... doing all this will also make your car run a lot better.

Agreed on the $1,000 and that's assuming good, current (or non-op) titles on both cars. They are both parts cars. A hit on the rocker panel (which is the "frame" in the middle of a S30) is generally fatal.

Really cool! Nice work!

The fiberglass body parts saved him 50lbs., max. The car might weigh 2,250lbs. Parts are nice but they don't increase the value of the car you are buying. Could be bent suspension or just crappy body work that requires a lot of camber for the tires to clear. The suspension isn't a big issue. Body work is. Sounds like the body work and paint is crap. It could also hide a lot of other issues. Minor issue. AC is about $1,200 for a good Vintage Air kit. The car is a project as far as the body is concerned. Its only going to look worse over time until you address it. IMHO, $3,000 is a reasonable price for the car.

Regarding performance, a shorter tire is a much better choice for an S30. You can get the car lower without having to relocate suspension mounting points. The old Hoosier 225/45-14 R3 was a great tire and you could run a 4.25" ride height at the front and still have the roll centers above ground and a reasonable camber curve up front. Unfortunately, if Tech was paying attention, you could get disqualified for running the S30 that low in a SCCA ITS race. EDIT: And always remember that tire compound is more important then tire width. Compromise in the direction of stickyness over wideyness.

Yup. Racers don't use pedal covers.

You're going to have to experiment with different boosters. There was a bolt pattern change on the booster where it bolts to the firewall. Occurred sometime inn 1973 so you might have to re drill your firewall if you have an earlier car.

Larry Hassler 626-485-1556.

The new RTVs are fine in this situation. The problem is the people applying it. More is not better.

Maybe try a 280Z or a 280ZX brake booster.

Javier always had a few questionable things in his "legal" engines. The questions never got answered even after a couple tear downs under protest.

I conduct myself similar to any 51 year old racer. Cynicism is our middle name. Hopefully in about 10 years I can earn the title of Curmudgeon.

I don't post here or on HybridZ with the intent of getting future customers, I'm not that kind of a businessman. I was posting on these sites and a Moderator at HybridZ before I opened the shop in 2003. If I was posting with the intent of getting future customers I would have blown smoke up your butt and said you were the brightest poster here on the site. That's not how I conduct my business or myself. I'm honest and don't BS my customers just so I can squeeze another dime out of them. If I think they are wasting their money or their time, I let them know. As I said before, build it and prove me wrong.

That's great! See post #28 above. Sunbelt hit similar numbers a while ago with one of Chet's engines - which won the ARRC twice. It takes a lot of labor to get those numbers with stock parts. Javier hit the 190hp number I mentioned above back in the early 1990s. Here's a video of his 190hp engine in an ITS race back in the day. Javier's car is the red #35.

BTW... except for my "yawn" comment, I was constructive in all of my posts and even encouraging: Unfortunately, what I had to say wasn't what the OP wanted to hear, even though he asked for it. So I get crap for posting the correct answers in a way that makes someone feel uncomfortable and contradicts their own opinion? I build race cars. I've raced Datsuns with junkyard L24s, professionally built L28s, and a race L30 costing tens of thousands of dollars. I've built race and street cars for customers running L6s, LT1s, LS1s, SR20s, RB26s, 20Bs, 13Bs, 2JZGTEs and God knows what else. I'm not a psychologist. To quote Jules: "If my answers frighten you, then you should cease asking scary questions." Yeah, and sometimes I'm full of myself... :-)

I missed your reply Steve. How many of these Internet engine build threads have you seen since you started posting on the various Zcar forums? Probably a lot. Since 1999 I've seen hundreds and they always follow the same basic format (at least the more intelligent ones). 1. Technical question with some good facts and some erroneous assumptions. 2. Generic replies and some "go for its." 3. Some posts begin with corrections on the erroneous assumptions. 4. OP defends those assumptions (sometimes the OP takes it personally). 5. More posts going back and forth defending previous posts. 6. OP posts more information about the build plan that wasn't' disclosed earlier (cost concerns, parts availability, schedule, etc.). 7. Arguments increase defending various relevant and irrelevant positions. 8. Thread gets closed and deleted. Just waiting for this thread to take its course.

If your primary concern is cost, then this thread is a complete waste of everyone's time. Power is made in these engines through the labor put into the build. Its not about the parts used, its all about the effort put into the build and labor is by far the most expensive part of any engine build no matter who does the work - even if you do it yourself. Again, how fast your junkyard build will rev has much, much more to do with the quality of the build and the quality of the tune then stroke, mass, or MOI. Orders of magnitude more.

Yes if you're willing to do some machining on the parts, especially the crank. Again, the issue is reciprocating mass, not stroke length. Knife edge the crank and take 15 lbs out of it and you'll be amazed at how fast a L28 can spin up. Lightening the flywheel and reducing the MOI of the flywheel/clutch also helps significantly. BTW... there's not much of a different in "rate of spin up" between a stock L24. L26, and L28. The perceived differences have far more to do with the state of tune of the engines being tested then stroke, mass, or MOI.

Build it and prove me wrong. And yes, I'm an admin on HybridZ - your best resource for information on what you're planning to do.

Another Internet engine build... (yawn) My old racing 3L had a LD28 crank and it ran to 8,000 rpm regularly and would rev faster then the Autometer Tach could keep up. The issue under discussion here is not the stroke or the displacement. The issue is the reciprocating mass.