Ryan Moore's Datsun 280Z project in Lincolnton North Carolina 280Z Z Datsun Nissan Ryan Moore Ryan Moore Lincolnton NC North Carolina North Carolina 280 240Z 260Z 240 260 N.C. Lincoln

PROJECT LS1 280Z V8

Ryan and I have started the conversion of his '76 280Z to a LS1 engine with a T56 6-speed transmission.

First the pictures when we bought it in the fall of 2003.

1976 Datsun 280Z

Ryan Moore

Lincolnton, NC

www.enviousbrush.com

We replaced the 4 speed with a 5-speed and swapped out the rear end for a 3.73 R200.

Replaced the oil struts with gas struts, All of the bushings were replaced with Energy Poly bushings.

New Steering Rack, added MSA ceramic headers and Turbo exhaust, Cold Air intake.

New seats, carpet, MSA steering wheel and much more.

But it needed more power. So we decided to upgrade the power to a Chevy V8 LS1 with a 6 speed.

The body will get a complete restoration also. We are going with Midnight Blue

Some helpful files for those people interested in putting a LS1 V8 into a Datsun 280Z

Click Here to Start at the Beginning

Click on the pictures for the full size

August 24th, 2010

Radiator installed last night. Unused plumbing disconnected and capped.

August 23rd, 2010

Aluminum radiator arrived today from JTR

August 22nd, 2010

Been working on the car on and off. Not too much happening, due to lack of income...

We got a huge Odyssey Battery and a cool brushed bulleted aluminum mounting

brackets. Also got the charging system for it. Also redid the wiring sleeves on the

engine block to be even more compact and organized. We tried moving the engines computer

into the passenger section. It just took up too much room though.

We have to re-look into this whole mess. I m sure I will have to have it

mounted where the battery originally was and have SDI make a custom

mount for it, including a heat shield. Found an Aeromotive answer to our

fuel pump/filter/sump pump problem. Having SDI analysis it to see if

it will be OK. Then save up for the damn thing $$$.

Download Installation Instructions

Battery and wiring pictures.

Wiring sleeve installed driver side	Wiring sleeves installed passenger side	Front beam wiring mounted in place
Odyssey Battery and Aluminum Bracket in place.

May 3rd, 2010

This is my turn to kick the cars ass! :)

I was able to do a move that a seasoned California Yoga Instructor would be envious of.

With my feet wrapped up in the roll bar like a boa constrictor for leverage and my head doing an exorcist double spin

 (minus the pea soup) around to see the bolts and using my gut as a massive pendulum to create excessive

forces against the climate control systems brackets, I jammed that mother into place!

Who knows if it will ever actually work, but its in place and that's all that really matters, right?!?!

I had to re-do the face plates a few times to get it installed in the correct order. I took it apart almost

4 years ago, I mean I have trouble remembering what I had for dinner the night before most of the time...

I also took a picture of the so called "ghetto" wiring that Ryan seemed concerned about.

Mainly just let him see how BAD IT ACTUALLY IS!

Don't worry I will be cutting down to size and bundling it up in a little bit.

It is easier to cut it down to size than to be too short and have to extend it.

PS. I have the electric back/neck heat pad on and started medicinal drinking!

May 2nd, 2010

This 280Z is kicking my ass! I got the alarm installed with custom mounts for it

and the motion sensor plus the 4 custom relay mount brackets with starter and fuel pump inhibitors.

Don't forget the secret switch! Those parts came out really nice, went to go ahead and put the heater unit in.

AAGGGHH! I had to un-bolt the steering column. Loosen the dash and completely take apart

the climate control system. All the new hoses had to come back out. Then I had to do some contortion

to my body to get them all back together. Seems like I should of put the heater/climate control unit

 in first before the dash. Oh well, I can't take the dash back out now.

It's all going back in, but my body could only take so much punishment for one day....

May 1st, 2010

OK, I'm Sorry for the lack of updates. I did a temp install and test of the

alarm and power door lock system. It all works great, door lock actuators

open and close. The starter and fuel pump inhibitors work when armed or triggered.

The vibration/movement sensors work too. Yesterday I mounted another relay bracket with

4 more relays. I also made some brackets for the alarm controller and mounted it. I don't have

any pictures because it is mounted in a secret place.

I ended up swapping the voltage gauge for the fuel gauge in the dash. I am getting

a small digital gauge and putting it where the fasten seat belt light was instead of using

the auto-meter one. Worked on the alternator bracket hitting everything.

April 10, 11 & 12th, 2010

OK, I talked to Speed Design Inc. and they suggested drilling a hole out the fender side

instead of coming through the engine compartment side. So what seemed like an easy thing

took forever since I had to go to 3 different stores to get a strong enough grommet to handle the

wire stress. It was go to the store and get a grommet, run the wires up through the frame rails,

grommet doesn't work, pull the wires back out. Repeat... I also disassembled the head light

assemblies. Wire brushed (removed layers of skin in the process), sanded and painted them.

I got new stainless steel screws and bolts to replace the crappy old originals.

Some idiot thought to paint the stainless steel rings that hold and cover the lamps emerald green.

So I had to remove the green paint, wet sand and polish the rings. Also hooked up new headlamp units that have running

lamps built in them, while converting the lamps to H4's. You can see a picture of them versus the lights on.

Next is to hook up the hazard switch and then all lights will be working!

Replaced everything with high temp nylon braided sleeves. Looks so much better than the

cheap plastic crap that car companies, except Toyota, use.

Now if I only had fenders and headlight buckets mounted....

April 6th, 2010

Drilled a 1" hole from the inside passenger wall into the fender mounting rail.

Put the wire snake up through it and pulled back the wiring harness through the

the rails. I need to put the grommet in, but you get the idea.

I tested the parking lights and they work. Next is to clean up the wiring

in the passenger side and test everything.

April 5th, 2010

Wow! Did I loose a lot of wires by taking apart and dissecting the old engine bay harness.

I made the new harness by wrapping everything in "harness" tape and then covering it all

with nylon braided sleeving. See how long they are?

I had to extend them some though since I will be routing them through the fender vents.

A great suggestion by a super smart and knowledgeable person on everything that is Datsun. LOL

April 3rd & 4th, 2010

Did a lot of under the dash wire cleanup.

Permanently ran the headlight and horn wires from steering column to the fuse block and relays.

Tested the horn in the garage which set the dogs off into a barking frenzy, lol.

Took apart the entire front end original wiring from the 280z. What a oily dirty mess.

After stripping the wire harness wrapping off I had to get a bucket with degreaser and cleaner to wash the wires off.

Made a new harness for the front lights and horn. I have to extend them about 12" to

get them to run through a different way. Not much to show on this.

Took the horn a part, cleaned off rust, sanded it and painted it.

March 28th, 2010

Took a Torque Wrench to the new sway bar linkages. Set them to spec.

Ryan ordered an Autopage C3-RS915-LCD Remote Start 2-way car alarm security system for the car.

I need it to start integrating with the wiring. So I can have starter and fuel immobilization built in to the wiring harness.

I mounted the 3 relay bracket with grounding and the 10 way power strip.

I have the headlights and high beams on their own relays connected to

the power strip that has direct battery feed coming in. The strip will handle up to 180amps.

This Datsun uses negative switching, so I used the +12volts coming off the

headlight switch for power to the relay switching coils and the -12v to switch between

low and high beam relays. The supply to the lamps is through the battery via the power strip.

The wiring isn't pretty at this moment, but I still have more to do, like wiring the fuel pump relay

into the security system. Then I can put it all together and make it look nice.

March 23rd, 2010

Received the black 5mm screws today from eBay Datsun guy.

Used my Droid phone "barcode" App. and got a Nissan code of #08313-51298

Called Courtesy Nissan and they can get them priced pack of 10 for 10.80.

I put the cleaned, sanded and painted front parking/turn signal lights and brackets on

using the new fancy Nissan black screws.

March 18th, 2010

Had the day off, after running around and taking care of some chores, I was able

to run around even more looking for a special heater hose. I had ordered 3

heater core/switch hoses, well one of them wasn't even close.

Finally I was able to find one that fit almost perfect after cutting it down to size.

I test the vacuum switched and they worked great.

Lots of cleaning was needed on the 2 parts that came in from ZMan in WA.

You would think that the Z the parts came off of did dirt track racing or something.

The dirt was brown, so I know it wasn't from the "red clay" southeast.

Everything has been taken apart, cleaned and put back together. Looks good!

I ran out of time before I could put it back into the car. I am going to need a

new vacuum line hose extension to run to the engine also.

March 15th, 2010

Finished up the last 2 relay brackets. So now I have one for the headlights, high beams and

fuel pump on one bracket.

March 13th, 2010

Steve helped today with installing the front and rear sway-bars.

They are monsters! Well the hardest part was having the Moly grease all over, not

being able to hold anything and then trying to compress the poly urethane bushings.

We were going by the instructions and having problems. Called a friend and

he said to "install the bolts backwards from what the instructions say."

That took care of it! Would it kill the bolt people to add about 1/4" to the length, so it would go together easier?

Front looking down.	Front from bottom	Rear sway-bar

 

I made the mounting bracket for 5 of the relays too. I also incorporated 2 extra grounding points

to the mounting bar. So there will be 4 total.

 

I finished painting and putting the rear end light assemblies together.

Got a couple pics with the left turn signal on and in reverse.

Steve helped big time with the reverse hookup on the transmission.

He put the held the connector and crowbar while I pushed on the tunnel cavity enough so he could get the connector in place.

March 6th, 2010

The days are blurring together... My back is killin' me! Just Kidding.

 I get things done, then hit a road block, switch to something else, hit a road block.

 I got the heater parts ordered from a guy on eBay that I think is a rip off.

But he has them and no one else does. More on him later...

I gutted, cleaned, painted and lubed the heater system. Stripped the old foam sealer strips off and put new ones on.

Ordered a new faceplate and front vent piece from the ZMANofWashington. He seemed nice on the phone and

had lots of valuable info to give me. http://www.datsunstore.com/ if you need something from him. He said

he has over 5,000 parts not listed, so call. The heater control faceplate I called about, to see if he (ZMANofWashington) had in stock.

Not only did he have it, but was able to negotiate a fair price for it. I took a part the front turn signals and used plastic

polish on them. I also stripped and painted the assemblies for them. They look great now.

That black and green paint over spray is gone. Now, the problem that I was warned

by Uncle Mark about. "You paint and clean everything up. Then the original screws look like crap!"

"You have to get new screws too!" I am having a heck of a time finding them though.

One guy on eBay wanted $30.00 plus shipping for 10 small screws. I wouldn't do it on principle.

I drove around and found a local parts place that sold me the 10 screws for $1.20.

March 6th, 2010

Well my knees are now shot!

Got a lot, sort of, done on the never ending wiring of the 280z.

I guess I could of taken the easy way out and left the old crappy wiring in. But what fun would of that been?

Drilled a couple of big holes to run the wires through on the floor running boards.

Ran the wires from the rear of the car all the way up front. Tomorrow I

start putting in relays for the fuel pump and the lights/fog lights.

Had to run to the hardware store 3 times today. That slowed me down some.

February 27, 2010

Well I tried doing the dash wiring while having it out of the car.

That did not work as well as I thought. I couldn't calculate the wire lengths exactly.

Also the Steering column connections played too large of a role in the gauges. I had installed turn signal indicators and bight light led's

into the tach. So Judy helped me mount the dash into the car. Well... that wasn't much fun either...

Even though I made a lot of head way today, I had to stop because my knees and back are killing me!

It's not in the picture but I covered everything in high temp nylon braided sleeves. The pictures

just show after I wrapped the wires in "wire harness" tape.

February 20, 2010

Working on more wiring. I have about finished the engine compartment wiring.

Took me a little bit to get the pin out on the LS1 ECM figured out.

I ran the majority of the engine wiring, just not the wires where I have to

jack up and go under the car. For example the starter.

I have been getting my high temp nylon wire sleeves from here: http://cableorganizer.com/nylon/

February 15, 2010

Picked the dash up from www.klassicrides.com today.

They even cleaned and painted the vents I stopped off last week.

Dash was restored with black leather and black stitching.

Still needs some leather conditioner rubbed in, but I need to wait until I finish with the wiring first.

I have to say, looking at it makes you just want to say WOW!

How many handmade leather 280Z dashes are out there do you think?  Not many....

Look to see what it originally looked like when I first took it out of the car.

 

By the way, the scary part is, with the gauges the dash costs more than the whole car did 6 years ago.

Can you say NEED MORE INSURANCE?

February 8, 2010

Stopped by www.klassicrides.com to drop off the vents for the dash.

I saw the leather dash being worked on. The stitching was fantastic.

January 30, 2010

Worked this weekend on sanding and painting the rear tail light assemblies.

Also I started on the "rear" section of the wiring. Stripping out what is not needed and cleaning it up.

Before after during pictures below.

January 25, 2010

Worked this weekend on mounting the fuse and relay block.

I made brackets that will stay under the carpet and out of site.

We purchased the wiring kit from American Autowire:

 http://shop.americanautowire.com/highway22panelwiringkit.aspx

January 23, 2010

I finally got our deposit back.

January 22, 2010

Still no deposit Returned from The Car Shop in Lincolnton

I put the gauges into the dash and took it back to www.klassicrides.com over at Lake Norman.

Said it would be 3-4 weeks to complete.

Started on the wiring today. I took apart all of the plastic loom junk that GMC uses.

I started putting on the high temperature braided wires one at a time. Long way to go, some before/after pictures:

January 20, 2010

No deposit Returned from The Car Shop.

I went to The Car Shop in Lincolnton to get my deposit and he didn't have it.

Said to come back Friday the 22nd. Not holding my breath since I have been lied to constantly.

January 10, 2010

Set back handed to us from The Car Shop in Lincolnton.

Well 8 months ago I was recommended to The Car Shop on Horseshoe Lake Rd in Lincolnton.

Car Shop kept saying a few more weeks or 3 weeks it should be done when I would call to check up on the progress.

Well Ryan and I went to Car Shop 1 month ago to see how things were progressing.

Nothing had been done in 8 months, not touched.

He gave us his word that it would be done first of January and if it couldn't be finished in time he would call.

No call after a month, so I call Car Shop, still nothing had even been done to the seats, dash or door panels.

Now I am struggling to get our deposit back too.

I talked to some others that are having the same issue with the Car Shop.

Of course the 280Z is back home and I need this stuff done ASAP. A large body shop in town told me that

they switched from the bad service at the Car Shop to a different company.

I also talked to another place in town that told me they do not recommend the Car Shop to anyone now. Great....

So I went to Klassic Rides over at Lake Norman area today. I took a tour and it is a very nice shop

 and they do full restorations. I dropped the dash off with them. www.klassicrides.com

January 10, 2010

Car made it back home!!

Still work to be done of course. I am going to start on wiring tomorrow.

First I want to thank the guys at Speed Design you did a great job.

The pictures do not due justice to the paint job in the sun.

It looks Black as Night until the sun hits the pearl and then it is a fantastic shade of Dark Ass Blue.

Everything is PERFECT and thanks again guys!

Look at picture #22, the tree's reflecting. Picture #24 shows the color with the sun on it.

By the way the LS1 motor is HUGE!

on it. After I finish wiring it the car will go back to Speed Design and get the fenders, hood and hatch put back on.

Then the driveshaft, LSD rear end and all of the other stuff put together.

December 31, 2009

Ryan and I went and saw the car today. It is "Dark Ass Blue". Looks fantastic! Ryan was ecstatic.

It's hard to see the pearl paint reflections in the pictures. The shaved rear end came out perfectly.

Next the motor and transmission go in, the brakes get hooked up too.

Then I start the wiring fun.

December 21, 2009

Car leaves to go to downdraft shop to be painted Lexus Blue Onyx Pearl.

December 5, 2009

Roll bar and front end painted Lexus Blue Onyx Pearl.

October 17, 2009

Well we put the engine/trans in today and then yanked it back out. Also some pictures of the body work being done.

The passenger side engine mounts will have to be cut and welded to allow better fitment of the headers and alternator.

They are too close to the motor mounts for comfort. The inside is completely coated in ceramic sound /heat deading lizard skin.

September 15, 2009

Stopped of the Lizard Skin Ceramic heat control. The inside had 1 coat of the sound control sprayed.

The side markers and antenna holes have been welded shut. The drivers side "dogleg" has been welded in.

September 1, 2009

Things are moving along nicely! The car is mostly primed.

The engine compartment is almost finished smoothing out. The door hinges are working great too.

That's not rust by the way on the front fender, its the residue from the stripper and the primer.

August 28th 2009

Bought the Lizard Skin sound proofing and paint sprayer for it.

They are suppose to have the ceramic heat on Wednesday.

They are priming the whole car today!

August 8th 2009

Went to help work on the car today. Took the engine and removed all of the unnecessary wires,

air conditioning compressor, power steering motor. Removed the exhaust manifold and installed the headers.

Lots of body work has been done!

Purchased	Working on it

July 10th 2009

Well Ryan graduated from the Naval Academy and the promise

I made to him to have the car done is far from the truth.

There has been some progress this last couple of weeks though, things are being done (finally).

 

March 6th 2009

Dropped the door panels, seat and dash off to get covered a couple or three weeks ago. I called, nothing started yet.

Nothing going on with the car right now. Hoping they finish up soon on the 510 so we can be put into production.

There is no time limit on perfection!

December 30th  2008

Working on making our own door panels

October 20th

Roll Bar is now installed. Stereo Mount in spare tire well.

July 19th

Went and played helper with the car today. Was helping bend the roll bar tubing and bending it straight.

Watched the cutting of the cross member and testing the fitment in the car. In order to achieve

the maximum amount of rear movement of the seat we made an indentation in the wheel well.

Now the roll bar base can sit farther back.

June 28th

Been a while, but I got to work on the car today. Uncle Steve came and helped also. We got the car on all 4 wheels!!!

Finished cutting and grinding out the engine compartment. Ground down what was left of the old transmission ears.

Cut off everything in the front of the car, mounts for things not used anymore.

Got the last V8 motor mount drilled out and put on. It goes where the steering shaft is.

Here are some very blurry pictures. I tried using my camera phone...

Mar 28th 2008

I heard that the tires were mounted on the wheels and that they look good.

Also the new new new lug nuts fit and work!

Mar 27th 2008

I redid the tail light wiring and ordered and received new tail light gaskets.

I got them from the same guy as the door handles.  So the tail light assembly is officially completed.

Mar 25th 2008

I Test fit the speedometer and tachometer into the dash. The fit great. Only problem I have is I can't

find the top inside mounting screw. I will try this weekend to fabricate some rear mounting brackets.

Mar 15th 2008

Worked on suspension with Ryan today. We got rear in and most of the front.

Had fun putting the control arm bolts in and pinning them in.

Good thing   was there to figure it out and make it work!!

Found out the 1/2x20 lugs were too wide compared to the wheel hole.

So I need to get 1/2 open end tuner lugs. I found some Gorilla ones I need to order.

We can put larger tires than the test 245/45/16's in the pictures, BUT it seems that

they don't make anything larger than that in "street" tires. I can find 265/45/16's in

racetrack or slicks. So Ryan might get another set of wheels/tires just for the track.

Ryan is looking at Toyo T1-R's

There is plenty of room between the inside of the tire and the strut, but the flares

come out a little farther than the tire, for looks. So we might put a spacer in to bring them

out some more, give it a wider stance.  I'd like the wheels out towards the end of the flare more.

Testing with rear flare taped on.	245/45/16 tire on.	Rear shot from the bottom.
Looks pretty!	Ryan putting in suspension	Rear rotor and brake w/wheel
Installed the bumpsteer spacers.	Front control arm installed
Rotor fills up the whole wheel		Steering Rack is in w/ V8 mounts.

Mar 14th 2008

Ordered some parts needed to complete the suspension. Last time it was found that

a sleeve for the rear control arm poly urethane bushing was missing. Luckily I found a guy that had just 1 sleeve,

So I didn't have to buy the whole kit.

Had to get Gorilla 1/2" acorn, open end, lug nuts for the larger studs, that were put on.

Bought the MSA aluminum 1" bump steer pieces to adjust for the lowered spring height.

Found and bought a brand new pair of original equipment Datsun door handles.

Mar 6th 2008

Started working on the tail light restoration. Used the lens cleaner from Eastwood.

It did a great job of cleaning the old haze off.

Mar 1st 2008

Worked on the car today.  Cleaned up the engine compartment some more. Just about finished that part.

Worked on the suspension some, took these picures:

Feb 23rd 2008

Been working on the wiring for the dash. Rewiring the new gauges to the original wiring.

Also did the Tach and Speedometer modifications to get the turn signals and bright lights indicators installed.

I am installing them into the original mounts.

The next fun part was the Speedometer reset button. I used an old Philips screw driver and some heat shrink to

to make it long enough to use.

Jan 28th

Picture of the suspension parts.

Dec 3rd

Flares are on the way. I picked up the hinge rebuild kit from Nissan dealer. He took for ever so I got a discount.

Ryan picked the paint color for the body.

Color is 2006 Lexus    8P8   Dark Blue/Blue Onyx Met/Mica B/C

Nov 23rd

Ryan was home for Thanksgiving so we went up and met Mark and Roddy. Looked at the car and

went over "stuff".

Nov 18th

I met Matt Sparks and bought his Walbro GSL392 fuel pump for the Ls1.

Nov 17th

I started working on the resistor change out for the fuel gauge linear problem. It wasn't what the math

calculations said it should be. So I did the old trial and error and I got it.

With sender at 1/2 way original set up		With sender at 1/2 way new set up

HybridZ link to how I did this

Nov 16th

The MSA parts showed up at the shop. I couldn't believe it, but happy. Ryan comes home next

week and hasn't even seen the LS1 motor and transmission yet. Just pictures here.

Headers still have not, so I called Jags That Run, I found out that they had the headers in stock, but just haven't

gotten around to shipping them out for the last 2 weeks. Guy said he's been busy with other stuff,

well they took my money 2 weeks ago just fine. UGGHH.

There are good places on the internet and well..... I talked to Les at www.classicdatsun.com (good place)

He said that the flares won't be ready to ship for about 2 weeks. He won't charge until he ships and will

call as soon as they are ready. Now, that's honest business practice. I will try to order more from Les.

Also add Dave at http://www.arizonazcar.com/ to the good to business with list!

 The resistors for the fuel gauge adjustment should show up today. So I will work on that tonight

and post pictures and update the thread on www.hybridz.org . http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=127360

Nov 15th

Ordered the resistors needed to fix the linear part of the fuel gauge to sender ratio.

Nov 13th

Received the Voltage Gauge from Summit Racing and installed it.

Hybriz Z link to gauge install

Also Motor Sport Auto said everything shipped and will be at the shop on Friday.

Nov 12th

Ordered The ZG flares from www.classicdatsun.com, 2 week before shipping though.

Went to Steele Rubber in Denver, NC and got welting part # 20-1591-44 for in between the

flares and the body.  We are painting the flares the same color as the car and molding into the MSA Type III body kit.

Called MSA today to see status on order, delayed 2-3 weeks for front air dam.

I told them to send the steering poly bushings anyway.

November 10th 2007

I went over to the shop and worked on cleaning up dirty area's with a wire brush.

Wire brushing around the doors hatch and windows. Vacuuming out everything,

Cutting out the original transmission mounts that won't be used, painting the wheel wells black.

I removed the fuel sensor from the gas tank to bring back home and test the new meter with it.

Some more grinding and other fun stuff. Talked to the shop about the need to cut out the wheel wells

and put flares on in order to get wide enough tires on.

The shop had the wheel mounts/bearings and the new larger studs ready to go to the machine shop to

get pressed in. The shop hopes to have some suspension/brake work completed by Thanksgiving.

I won't be able to work on it again until after the holidays. Except for the dash.

I also forgot to take a picture of the Limited Slip Differential.

November 9th 2007

I worked on taking the old gauges and gutting them, then inserting the

Auto Meter gauges into the old shell

The full write up I did can be found on hybridz.org

at http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=127360

November 7th 2007

Today was rough on the wallet!

Auto Meter Phantom Gauges with Blue LED upgrade

Sanderson JTR Ceramic Coated Headers

MSA Type III front air dam

October 26th 2007

Buying a used Walbro 255lph fuel pump from Matt Sparks this week.

Vinh showed a way to use it and move the fuel lines over to the passenger side of the engine.

October 21st 2007

Judy and I picked up 2 new fenders and a new cowl today from Sparks280ZT. They were in a lot better shape

than the ones on our 280Z. Took them over to the shop. Some pics of the new fenders and cowl.

October 20th 2007

The Day of POR-15 continued today. I lost!! It's on my face, both arms, even combined with

Brake fluid in some places. I think I am 95% finished with it. I know next we

will put the car on rollers and wheel it towards the front of the garage so we can sand blast

out the front area under the cowl. Then I will have to POR-15 it. I took the rear quarter panel windows out,

The rear hatch window, all of the door handles and locks. The rear Datsun labels and hatch mechanics.

I also gave some blood from my head and nose to the merciless Datsun God. I had removed

the hatch gas shocks and was using a axe handle to hold open the hatch. It was working fine,

THEN BAM! OUCH! #$%$%^!! #%$#%!!!!

I need to order the door hinge kit and re-do the door hinges:

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/body/doorhinge/index.htm

Also the shop sand blasted, primed and painted some more parts today.

The shop and I burned out the bushings for the front and rear control arms, in prep to install

the Energy Suspensions ones.

October 4th 2007

The seats arrived today from Yonaka Motorsports today.

The box was a mess,

but the seats were ok.

September 26th 2007

Got these 16 x 8" wheels from a HybridZ.org group buy by C2AUTO

September 22nd 2007

Went over to the shop, and worked on the car some today. I painted some more POR-15

underneath the rear side. I took the fenders off and the cowl and removed the wiper motor and linkage.

I sanded the rails and painted them. I also cleaned out and painted the inside of the fenders.

I got to see the finned LSD R200 differential that Turbo Tom brought over. But now I have an issue where the mounts will not clear the

extended cooling fins of the R200. I am hoping the shop can figure something out, or I have to go to Arizona Z

for their billet'd system. I really like the billet ones from Arizona Z, but the brakes put me behind budget wise.

September 20th 2007

Well the seats came, but damaged from FedEx, so I refused them. I talked to

Yakamoto Motorsports and they are sending out another set of seats.

September 15th 2007

Went over to the shop, and worked on the car some with them. First the shop showed me

the Arizona Z Wilwood Brakes and the Arizona High Performance Springs and gas adjustable shocks.

These brakes are massive compared to the original calipers.

I went under the chassis at the rear of the car and finished scrubbing out any dirt I missed before.

Then I started painting every single piece of metal with POR-15.

While I was under the chassis painting the welder was having fun trying to catch my hair on fire by

cutting away the drivers section of the tunnel. This is the area made wide on the 280z

for automatic transmissions. By taking out this bulge it will free up room for the seats.

Roddy was also was cutting and grinding in the engine bay. He cut off the throttle linkages and

grill mounts and other mounts that we won't be using. The pictures don't show

it as well as I would like, but its coming along great.

The shop was busy media blasting all of the parts. It also took all 3 of us to get the big spindle bolts out

of the rear control arms. The rear bearing assembly was also taken a part. On of the bearings was

 found to be bad. You can see them in the picture near the bottom/left front. The fronts are ok, they

are in the upper right. The silver is not paint, that's the actual color of the metal after media blasting.

Then the shop paints them Satin Black and the Clear Coats them.

I also ground down the rear diff mount to fit the front of the R-200 to use

with the Ron Tyler mount built by RoostMonkey from HybridZ.org

September 7th 2007

Ryan ordered these seats:

August 25th 2007

This is the hardest stuff I have ever worked with!!!!

Its hard hard plastic and it hardens in like 45 -60 seconds. There is no time to work with it and it is a

harder material than the dash. So when you try to sand it down the regular dash starts thinning out first.

Well after 7 hours of sweat working on it I finished/gave up and started painting it. Mrs. Moore says

"It's not perfect, but better looking than that cap thing".

August 24th 2007

The Texture Spray and the Plastic Prep came in at Eddies Auto Parts. $65.00 I hope this works....

I don't have any pictures today, my daughter Amanda took my camera to the football game.

You probably wouldn't want to see the dash restore progress anyway. I was hoping

Michael Angelo would come down, take over my body and perform some artistic magic.

Looks like my request has gotten screwed up in the heavens, Buck Wheat and Spanky responded instead.

It took about 5 hours to get the silicon residue off of the dash from the dash cap today, NOT a fun job!!

I filled the cracks with DAP and I am hoping to start with the cleaner/prep tomorrow AM.

August 23rd 2007

Stripped down the dash and labeled the wires for the new meters.

Started cleaning off the silicon residue from the removed dash-cap.

Beveled out the massive cracks and holes in the dash with a razor blade. Next I will be filling them in with SEM's rubber bumper plastic.

I have to figure out a way to keep the patch material from coming through the other side.

Went to 4 places, Lincolnton/Hickory/Belmont/Charlotte looking for the 4 SEM products.

Ended up ordering 2 of them from Eddies in Lincolnton.

I think this will take a lot of work and some divine intervention from Michael Angelo himself.

Received the Energy Suspension urethane Mount for the Ron Tyler differential mount.

August 22nd 2007

Ordered a Ron Tyler differential mount.

August 21st 2007

The shop media blasted and painted the differential cross member.

The shop ordered the engine and transmission mounts from John's Cars.

August 20th 2007

The shop talked us out of the 240sx/Toyota 4x4 brakes

and we are going with the  Arizona Z Car Wilwood brake kit all the way around.

The shop started receiving the brake and suspension packages. These are all coming from Arizona Z Car.

Springs and Shocks

Front Brakes

Rear Brakes

August 18th 2007

The shop, started to really take things apart. All of the suspension, brakes, drive train and the front window was removed.

The front window was a "bitch", but lucky for me, the shop did that.

Next we started cleaning and disassembling all the brackets, cross member, suspensions assembly's, axels, everything!!

We cleaned them off really good, in preparation for the shop to hit them with the bead blaster and painting.

We are putting disc brakes on the rear, so we had the fun time of removing the drum brakes and backs off of the rear brakes.

The air grinder got it down, then it was strength and ignorance after that.

The shop showed Steve and me how to take off spot welds and we started removing all of the

brackets and wire holders in the engine compartment. We didn't finish though....

Springs have been ordered from Arizona Z Cars and the shocks are in. This week I will order some rear disc brake conversion

brackets and start scavenging junk yards for calipers. Then I can use them for core replacements.

President of the Triad Z Club, Trevor Blandon, stopped by to see what how were doing.

It was good timing since he was able to take some parts that we won't be using off our hands.

September 19th 2006

The shop has pulled the original Datsun motor and drive train out of the car.

It is sitting way up now.

August 27th 2006

We hauled the car off to the shop.

My daughter Amanda steered the car while Judy and I pushed it up the trailer.

Once we got there the shop was there too help unload it.

August 24th 2006

2002 LS1 engine and 6-speed picked up and delivered to the shop.

March - April 2006

I have since stripped the card to the bare minimum. Only the emergency brake and steering are still connected.

The motor and tranny are still in, but not connected and ready for removal.