Jeff G 78

I'm free and clear on this one! It had several engine swaps after I sold it to Glenn before you got it. How is the car now that you have owned it a while? I'm SO glad it turned out so nice. That's what I always dreamed it would look like, but I never had the money to finish it right. I was really close to buying it back from Glenn, but there were too many little things he did that I didn't like. I think you felt the same way and it is now perfect.

Yep, something went through there. Hopefully, it was pre-rebuild and there is no more debris hiding in the oil passages or screen. That pump is done.

There is no way I'd pay $5500 for a barn find. Every suspension bushing will need to be replaced, the interior needs work, the engine needs work, the brakes will need a complete overhaul after sitting for so long, and you haven't even addressed the fuel system, wheels and tires, or chrome, which I'm sure isn't perfect. You will easily put $15k into it on top of the purchase price and when finished, you will have a $10k car, not a $20k+ car.

What, no love for my crapcan Rob?

That's good to hear 30 Ounce. I have the same springs and dampers and also use 225/50R16 tires. I usually run my Illuminas on 1/3 to keep the ride balance right. Anything lower in the rear and it wallows a bit in the back. I really like the idea of the TTT setup all the way around. I have too much rear toe and would like to adjust it.

OK, that makes sense. If there is any debris in the oil pan, the pump eats anything that will fit through the pickup screen. From there, the filter removes the particles before they get to the bearings or head. You might luck out and repair it with just a new pump. I haven't found the oil pump receipt yet. I know I bought engine rebuild parts from RockAuto and MSA. I'll look again tonight.

Can't do a bushing since the rod already has a joint in it. A bushing would cause it to buckle under load.

Good question. I don't have the answer. I wonder if the FSM has an oil flow diagram?

I can't remember for sure, but I think I got my last turbo pump from RockAuto. It works great in my race car. If not there, it was MSA. I'll go dig out the receipt and edit my post. Good luck with the motor.

That's good to hear gnosez. If they truly don't increase the loads much into the body or make it harsher, I would be very interested for my street car. My car was hit hard in the LF before I got it, so the caster is off. I added a few washers to the TC rod which helped, but it's still not even side to side.

Again though, FIA curbs are not sharp edged, so the loads will be almost entirely vertical. I'll ask my coworkers that design suspension for a living and ask them what kind of longitudinal loads we see on potholes. As an aside, I had to run a test once where we disabled the ABS and hit a pothole at 45 mph with the brakes locked. After three passes, the front wheel centerline was noticeably pushed back and the front subframe was bent. This was on a production car. Needless to say, we saved that test for the end of the vehicle's useful life.

Have you been to Michigan? Our frost heaves can be brutal and act almost like curbs. The potholes are exactly like curbs. Most around here are 3-4" deep with vertical walls. I agree with you otherwise, but I still think MI roads would tear my body apart if I had TTT TC rods. Right now I have poly TC bushings and the impact harshness is ridiculous. On roads without abrupt vertical features, the ride is completely acceptable.

No John, but the TC does take the longitudinal loads when a front tire encounters an impact event like a frost heave or the vertical face of a pothole. On a track where there aren't many impact events, the TC loads aren't terribly high, but on the street, I'd guess they could get very high. Here in SE Michigan with countless frost heaves and potholes, I would think that the loads into the body could get rather high with the TTT TC rods.

What do you mean by "it doesn't look too healthy inside"? Is there any debris, or is it just showing signs of wear from age? Did you measure the internals per the FSM? I always replace the pump when I rebuild an engine, but low pressure is likely due to bearings than the pump itself. The only times I've seen a pump look bad inside where when shavings were forced through, causing damage in the form of dents and abrasions in the rotor and body. It might just be time for an engine rebuild.

I was going to say the same as Jim. I've had a dust shield get slightly bent and rub only when turning one way.

I'm not sure about auto-x, but most road race sanctioning bodies require at least SA 2005 now. Snell releases a rating every five years, so the next will be in 2015.

Very cool! My racing teammate is Scott Harvey Jr. He still races mostly rally like his dad, but also does some road racing.

Leon, What I will probably do is the same thing I did on the 260Z which is to reuse old rubber bushings on the rear while keeping the poly in front. If I'm happy with the results, I will order a new set of OE rubber and use 1/2 the set on the 280Z and the other 1/2 on the 260Z. My only worry with the rubber rears is that I already rub badly when turning and backing up. Softer rears will likely make that condition worse. I need to modify my OE valence to eliminate the issue. I already modified my rear fender lips to keep the rear tires from rubbing, but that's a different story. If I can come up with some data aquisition equipment, I might try to do some analytical NVH analysis.

Leon, you'd be amazed at how much recession is designed into modern cars. It's one of the reasons that the ride is so much better now than on older cars. One way of reducing the bump steer effects is to allow the whole subframe to recess. That way, the steering gear and suspension geometry stays the same when the system "gives". Most luxury cars have very soft subframe bushings in the longitudinal direction while stiff laterally. That way, they don't allow much deflection while cornering. I will be testing your theory when I swap the rear TC bushings for rubber. That's what I have in the race car and the ride is far better than my street car. It's hard to really tell though with the race car since there aren't many frost heaves on the track. The back-to-back test with my street car will be a better test. Your altered analogy is pretty much what I was trying to say, but I wanted to make it more drastic for clarity. And yes, the suspension deflection amounts aren't huge relative to the vertical deflection even on fixed subframe cars.

Correct Gary. When I saw your quote, I realized I had a typo in the formula. It should have read (RON+MON)/2.

IMHO (as an auto engineer), it's not so much how stiff the car is, but how bad your roads are. My '78 is a blast when I take it to the smoothish winding roads of Ohio, but here in SE Michigan, we have some of the worst roads in the country and frankly, it's brutal. It feels like the car is going to break whenever I hit a sharp frost heave or road repair patch. The poly TC bushings are likely the main culprit since most of the bone-jarring ride is due to a lack of suspension recession. All cars are designed to "give" rearward when the tire hits a bump. Think of it as trying to catch a hard-thrown baseball barehanded. To keep from stinging your hand, you pull your hand back as the ball reaches you. If you do it right, you barely feel the ball, but keep your hand stiff and it hurts like crazy. The poly TC bushings keep the front suspension from giving rearward upon impact. The spring rates and dampers only control the vertical movement of the wheels, but the bushings contribute greatly to the impact harshness. The other issue you might or might not have with the setup you mentioned is bump steer. My '78 has Tokico springs, Illumina struts, MSA bars and poly bushings throughout. The bumpsteer is terrible. We have a few concrete on ramps and on those where the slabs are no longer even, the steering wheel saws back and forth several inches. My 260 race car has a similar setup, but I relocated the LCA pivot points up 3/4" and out 1/4". The steering is rock solid with no discern-able bump steer even on very rough tracks. This spring, I hope to find the time to modify my '78 crossmember as well. I will also swap out the TC bushings for rubber to improve the impact harshness.

I don't have an owners manual handy, but from what I recall, it says to use 91 RON, not 91 (RON+MON/2). 91 RON is what we see as 87 at US pumps. I have always run 87 in every Z other than my 10:1 CR 280. My 260 race car gets only 87 and I run the wizz out of that motor with no issues. In our last race, we completed 1400 miles in about 22 hours of actual on-track time.

Some are easy, some are horrific to install. As for the ride, it will be way worse, but it all depends what your roads are like and what your tolerance level is. I would do it, but at a bare minimum, use 1/2 poly and 1/2 rubber on the T/C rods.

Well played ConchZ, well played.

25 years ago and long before the internet, I did the swap by myself in a weekend. The key is to have all of the needed parts ready to go.