I decided on my first Project Car

HEY! I just recently went to a festival held in my town and every year they have a car show during the festival as the festival is celebrating the start of Nascar in the grand illegal sport of Moonshine bootlegging. Mostly people show up in Ford Deluxes and some Mustang's, Camaro's, mostly american muscle. But one man was there in my dream car, a 280z with a LT1 engine and transmission swap. I immediately fell in love. You can check out the car here at

www.dejavideo.net

Just click on the 280z and you can read all he has to say about the build, I also got a kicka$$ video of it idling and immediately knew i had to have one. My dad is all in for it, Im just wondering if its possible with about $2500 to buy just the car itself? I see some on craigslist all the time and I will get the money by about next summer. Its always been my dream to own an 80's American Japanese car and this fits the bill perfectly.

Questions:

1) Should I do an LT2 or LT7 swap in it, I know most here may not know a lot about Chevy Corvette motors but it you have any opinion let me know.

2) Or, should i just to a typical RB24 swap?

3) On either engine I plan on eventually twin turbo like eons down the road, so both of those should be able to hold it, but what would benefit more short term, the LT2/LT7 or RB24?

Thanks for reading and gimme all your input!

Here is a photo of the car, and I want mine to look just like it minus the wheels, probably get something different there.

I'm a huge fan of the S30 series too! You won't actually find any 80's 280z's though, if it's a 79-83 then it's going to be an S130(280zx). I own an 83 280zx so I can try to help.

Sadly you probably won't find a 280z for 2,500$ (at least in Texas). They're very popular and have reached the point where they're so old that most of them aren't even on the road anymore. I'd say you need something around 4,000+$ for an decent body that also runs. You've probably already heard that Z's are notoriously rusty, which is true. Try to find one with as little rust as possible for your money so you have a good base to put the new engine into. If you're going to own an old Z and do engine swaps/transmission swaps/brake upgrades(those rear drums)/etc. 4,000$ is going to be a fraction of the money you spend in the long run, make sure you get a good base first.

I've never heard of someone swapping an RB24 into a Z to be honest. I'm guessing you mean the RB26 from the GTR? I remember reading that you'll need to do firewall modification if you want to fit it into an S30. The stock L28 is a great base too, annnd I don't know anything about American engines, V8 swaps are pretty popular (even though I find them tasteless lol)

Good luck!

Hey Majr, I too love S30's, and I'm looking for one to build as well. Fortunately, All I've ever owned since I was 12 has been a Camaro or a Trans Am. That said, I have quite a bit of knowledge on them.

For a while I had the same idea of using a Chevy small block and a Turbo 400 trans, but in my opinion, a "better" swap would be to use a 1961-63 Buick/Olds all aluminum 215 (3.5L) V8, or any Land Rover aluminum V8 based off of them. The reason for this is to keep the car's overall weight the same so it doesn't handle like there's an anvil on the hood. A stock fully assembled 215 weighs something like 320lbs, whereas a SBC in stock dress weighs 500+, depending on what it came out of.

Here's some more info on the Buick/Rover 215: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_V8_engine

As far as finding a rolling chassis to build, that's another story. Where I live, (CT) the vast majority of pre-79 S30s are either ludicrously expensive, or are so rotted out that there's no way to salvage them. Hopefully they're not as bad in your area. Scour your local craigslist and see what's out there.

I'm in the same boat, so any questions you may have, ask away!

Thanks! Ill start off by replying to Strawberry.

You are right, I had the wrong engine. Its a RB26 and most of the 280's in my area are pre-1980, normally 77 so I'm perfectly happy with going that route. The reason I was thinking about a V8 was I love the sound of a deep rumble V8 and the power output is substantial as well. The other reason is one of my close friend's father is a master car mechanic and restores numerous cars, specifically Chevy/GM make. He is also a certified salesman of Chevy engines and gets new and used ones extremely cheap. Like its crazy how cheap he get them. So with that in mind, an LS2 or LS7 small block wouldn't be too bad. I did want a 300zx or a 240sx super badly, but as I met the man who owned this drag styled big fat tired rolling thundercloud of a 280z, I knew in my heart I wanted a Japanese made Corvette Stingray. They are unique, well put together (I mean, its from Japan!), and something to keep for a very, very long time. I do not mind spending the next 5-10 years working on this car, and making it a perfect resemblance of what I want in a 2 door, muscle coupe. The rust isn't actually as big of an issue as one would think. Being north of Atlanta Georgia, the sea air doesn't affect the cars up here which is good, I mean of course though, the car will still be rusty being its almost 40 years old

Now ZeroFox, that's awesome that you have the same idea! If you want, read up on the link I placed in my original post, it describes everything this guy did to his car, and in regards to the weight, he said that the weight of his LS1 was only 40 lbs more than the original Z28 it had when he bought it (The previous owner already did a V8 swap). That being said, an LS2 or 7 will be substantially heavier so I might go the route of a Buick/Rover V8, that will be very unique I think as well as it is all aluminum and lighter weight. The car situation in terms of a rolling chassis is the same as you, they are either ridiculously well-taken care of and are $6k+ or are just a steering column and brake pads lol. Ive found a few such as these:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4730470930.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/4720319019.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4708704235.html

All of which are reasonable, now they probably won't be available in May when I get the money to buy them,  but either way, that's whats on my market currently. The others are all showroom quality so the $$$ is definitely up there. Thanks for your input.

Hey majr, my dad an i currently own a 1973 240z with a L28 engine swap(280z engine) with triple mikuni carbereutors. It is a tried and tested set up as it was used at a local race track, willow springs. I woul recomend sticking to the L series engines as They are pretty much interchangeable. As for carbereutors, id prefer tiple webers as mikunis tend to F up when they are not synchronized. In california, 240z tend to run around 4-5k in running rust free form. If you want to check out our orange 240z at my dads youtube channel@ jo2datsun240z. He also has a video of our friends 3.1 liter trip mikuni l28 by rebello. If you have any z related questions, i may be able to help you. Good luck!

I did, thats awesome. I truly don't know where I will take the engine, I really guess it depends on the car. If I can get a rolling chassis, no engine or transmission, Ill probably find whatever is available in terms of price and reliability at the time. As for rust, as long as its not totally rusted out, cosmetics are last on my checklist. First is making it fast, next is souding good, then its interior, then its cosmetics. I don't mind it being this POS looking Datsun (JDM AF style with the drift tape and all) as long as it sounds ok. Sure a clean and almost showroom quality 280z is nice and all, but as a 17 year old with a fix for speed and raw power under the floorboard and hood, I prefer this POS looking sleepers lol. I've always loved the people who take 30 year old cars and smoke new corvettes and what not, so that's kinda the thing I'm looking for. Like I said, more to be announced come spring when I get the money. Right now, its prep work. Cleaning my lower basement garage to be able to fit my new project in it, all my Christmas will be tools, tools, and more tools. If anybody has any must haves on 280z tools, list em out. Will help a bunch.

Thanks for all the comments and input guys, glad I can turn to some people on here to help.

Yee Youve got the right idea. For cosmetics, if you really want some street cred, use fender mirrors, and fender flares. It will give is the old school japanese touring car feel to it. It also allow you to put much wider tires front and back.

Yeah, I saw that link and I'm definitely gonna check out his build. I'm super envious of all 3 of those cars. I'd buy the 76 in a heartbeat if it was in my area. Here's some examples of what I'm dealing with, and why I've been searching for 6 months and still haven't bought a car.

http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/4736000252.html

http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/4711106648.html

There is literally nothing in between up here. It seems like there are some really good quality cars in your area, so you shouldn't have a problem finding one when the time comes. I will warn you though, aftermarket parts for the Buick/Rover tend to get expensive.

Thanks Takumi, I really don't like the idea of a fast looking car, because then you kinda have a standard to uphold. If it looks like youve spend 5k on the engine, and acts like youve spent $500, its no use. I want to really get my car up to beat my best friends Infiniti G37 his parents bought him. Im super jealous and can't wait to try to get 340 hp out of a V6 or V8. He always talks about how awesome it is and I hate every second of it while I'm driving my 2015 Kia Sorento lol. I dont mind if it looks like a total POS sleeper, as long as its fast and fun, I'm all down for it. Plus if it sounds mean AF, heck yeah.

Dang, that one is rusted out like crazy! I now realize how lucky I am in that aspect. We have plenty of the other cars though, 77 Datsuns that have been basically restored and are being resold. I wish I had the money right now, or I would already have bought one. I also noticed the price on those products and I don't know if I will be able to go that route straight off the bat, might have to work little more for those parts. Good luck on finding a car though! Whats your budget?

My budget is around 3k for a clean, original car, preferably already a 5 speed. Wrecked/run down 4.6 Land Rovers are everywhere, so buying a truck just for the motor shouldn't be more than 500, then a BW T5 trans should be another 500, and from there, who knows. Depends what I'll be able to afford. Getting 250-300hp out of a Rover V8 is definitely doable, and its more than enough for the little Z chassis.

Yeah. That sounds about like me. Im willing to go about $2500 for just the car, which is totally doable. The motor(if one is in it) i will get running, then worry about engine swaps. If no motor, ill buy a Land Rover V8 from a pull-a-part or get an LS2 or 7 and chunk em in there, the LS motors need more work though as the rear axles will need stiffening/replacing with zx ones.

Good luck with your search, there's one at my local junkyard (with motor/trans). I'll try to snap a picture of it next time I go. They deserve to be restored and not let out to rot so it's good to hear you are out to save one.

Thanks smooth! I appreciate it and yeah snap a pic! I love seeing them good or bad. My first job is getting a ton of tools together so I can actually work on it once I get it, so that's what I'm cultivating from my Christmas!