'77 280 in the Great White North

[Rick in Canadia]

Hi All,

I have a '77 280Z; mostly stock; Fg fenders; I bought it at 32k miles; now 70K..

It was fun with the stock motor but there were frame rails to deal with etc. and I've always loved the 215 / 3.5 L aluminum Buik / Rover V8s.. so;

Starting the swap; have a 3.5 L Range Rover 8.. just took the original motor out (posted in Classifieds; complete and running; no butchery as the rover is complete with harness etc..) and tackling the rust.

Any recommendations re floor pans and frame rails? On that; will be replacing the whole rail set and the floor pans at once. Was going to use the bad-dog rails; may still for the strength, but will have the new 'rad to firewall' rails.

They all look to be the same manufacturer; are they?

At the same time I will be doing rockers with a tube inside, boxing back to the frame front and back with a cage mount as well.

I will run the motor stock to start with.. the twin turbos may come later.

Also, would it make sense to go to a ZX front member / rack etc. at the same time? I have ZX 15 inch wheels now but I remember hearing that the ZX units were better.. true?

Thanks,

Rick

[Walter Moore]

That is an interesting swap, 3.5L Rover V8 into a Z. Not many of those I bet.

Is the Rover motor an aluminum block engine? Depending upon the transmission type it might be lighter than the L28. It isn't a very common motor down here in the "lower 48" but still intriguing. Good luck with the conversion.

You will likely get more encouragement over at Hybrid Z.

I don't personally know much about the various frame rail replacements, and I am not sure that the ZX front end would even fit on the Z. I think the older body might be too narrow.

As for the turbos, if you get too much power you will need to upgrade the brakes. Like most cars from the 70's, the Z's stock brakes fade pretty quickly if you end up going faster than the max speed for which car was originally designed.

[Rick in Canadia]

Hi Walter,

Yes, the rover is all aluminu7m; barely over 300lbs.. will definitely drop some weight and bring it back to the firewall..

You may see more of those motors around as the Buick or Olds 215 cu in. v-8 They had them back in ~ '63-64 before they went to the v-6. They used the aluminum heads on the 300 the next year but then sold all the tooling to British Leyland who used it in the Rover car, TR8, land rovers and range rover..

Fun little engine; now up to a 4.6L in the range rover; many parts still interchange from rover to buick.. decent aftermarket..

Brakes; I needed front calipers on the 280; don't know if you have the tip archived here but sumitomo also made the calipers for the 4-runner as I remember; same mounting and offset.. but they are 4 piston instead of 2; all I had to do was cut some of the 'dust' cover for the bigger caliper; same discs.. more brakes, less smoke.

The auto parts store even took the old ones as castings..

Cheers,

Rick

Any recommendations on the best suppliers for the full front frame rails and floor pans? (Baddog has been good but that was just the rear sections of the rails..) Oh yeah; any Canadian suppliers?

[zbane]

Any recommendations on the best suppliers for the full front frame rails and floor pans? ... any Canadian suppliers?

http://www.datsunzparts.com/NewParts/bodyf.htm

Charlie Osborne should be able to sort you out.

[Zak's Z]

Rick,

As zbane mentioned, Charlie is the guy to see for the floorpans, rails, supports. He also makes them and I believe he supplies MSA and the like. He's in Kingston and depending where you are in Ontario you can pick them up or let him ship to you. Ive dealt with him on several items and never been disappointed.

Where are you located?, I'm just north of Toronto.

Zak

[bigoak]

He's in Guelph...

Apparently land of the Rover ...

Welcome to the board Rick...was the name a typo or intended???

Edited March 31, 2009 by bigoak

[Sailor Bob]

I like the name. Welcome Rick.

[Rick in Canadia]

Yup,

Did it for some other lists.. land of the Canadians, right?

Yup, Guelph; thanks for the lead; I'll get with Charlie tomorrow; great to have Canadian sources.

Anybody else swapped a rover 8? I know it has been done; there is a youtube video of one doing laps at a track day in GB; of course more rovers there.

Hey, I know a guy with a Jag v-12 motor if someone is ambitious..

Ok, that's just silly..

That makes sense about the ZX front unit; nothing really wrong with the 280 anyways..

Cheers,

Rick