Although it’s been a love/hate relationship with this project, I still plan to stay on the path to building it the way I want it. I have loved the idea of building a car that could be enjoyed on the track and on the street. I never plan to win any trophies with it, but love the fact I can drive the car down to the local track, spend the day there, and then drive it back home. The car has never been fully restored as you saw, but it’s got patina and soul. It’s a car that’s been used and a car that’s been driven – and driven hard, enjoyed to the fullest.
I’ve logged just over a thousand miles so far, being driven up to Flagstaff, through the canyons in Sedona, and back through Globe. I have a few loops in town I’ll take and storm back down into the valley over the course of a few hours. This was never fully developed as an outright race car, because I like the idea of being able to drive wherever I want. When I haven’t driven it in a while and start it up, I get the biggest smile and feel a bit giddy. No drivers aids or electronics to help out, just the raw output of the straight-six. It still scares me sometimes when I have my foot down on the pedal. Its really fun to play with, a source of freedom, a total personal satisfaction listening to the sounds, and knowing all the mechanical parts doing their job. The triple Webers have a very unique sound – it’s very exotic and you can feel the instant power behind them. It pulls all the way up to 7000 rpms without giving up and probably would continue if it wasn’t for the cast pistons…. I do get some exhaust fumes into the car, which is inherent in these models when you have the windows down, but it just adds to the overall experience.
So here we are today… with lots still to do. Plenty of lessons learned from just going out and doing it, rather than planning it out. Overspent on parts I didn’t need, just because I thought they would work and they didn’t. It happens, but trying to minimize the cost was still a goal which unfortunately didn’t happen exactly the way I wanted it. When you have to buy two engines within a year, that’s not good at all for anyone’s budget.
For the near future, the plans are to get the body prepped and find someone who can paint it or do a wrap… Get some turn signals back onto the car and get the interior put back together. Seam seal the rear inner fenders, and put some sound deadening and insulation down in the rear of the car to help prevent some of the fumes from coming in to the car from the exhaust. Redo the body wiring on the car as well at some point and under the hood. Reroute a few plumbing items and clean up the engine bay… and finally figure out how I’m going to re-do the front hubs. The center bore on the HRE wheels is 58mm, and the center bore on the hubs are 73mm on the car. So they will need to be opened up a bit on the wheels. Maybe a spacer or two will help offset some of that bore on the hubs so they can fit. Time will tell… What does the future hold? Maybe a 3.2L with ITB’s… but that will be way down the road unless I win the lottery or something!
A final lesson that was quickly learned was with these big tires… burnouts just dont happen anymore. Already broke a u-joint. Luckily I was right outside my house when it happened, and was easily able to fix it.
MOD LIST
Rebello P90 Head work Street Ported with supertech valvetrain
Rebello Camshaft (63DE) .487 lift 279 duration
Rebello 3.0L Stroker 297hp @ 6700RPM (Engine Dyno / Car Dyno 225hp)
Champion 3 Row Aluminum Radiator
Electromotive XDI Ignition with CAS
NGK Spark Plugs
Accel 7048 8.8mm 300+ Spark Plug Wires
Kameari 50mm Intake Manifold
Triple Weber DCOE45
MSA 2.5″ Coated Header 3-2-1
JDM Heatshield
Godspeed 10 Row Oil Cooler
Reduction Gear Starter
1983 ZX Alternator Mod
Energy Suspension Polyurethan Bushing Kit
Tokico Illumina Struts/Springs
5 Speed Close Ratio Transmission
Competition Clutch Stage 2
Competition Clutch Lightweight flywheel 10lb
Custom SS Exhaust
Magnaflow XL #12616 Straight through muffler
Toyota Front Caliper Mod with Cross drilled rotors
Maxima Rear Caliper Mod with Cross drilled rotors
Earls Stainless Brake lines and fittings
Vintage 3 Piece Hayashi Racing HRE 505 wheels 17×10.5 Front and 17×14 in Rear (-63.5 offset)
KUHMO 275/40/17 up front and 335/35/17 in rear
Ebay GT Fender Mirrors
JDM Tail lights
Datsun Competition Hood Scoop
MSA Victory Spoiler
Ztrix Street IMSA Body kit
Custom Upholstered
DCOE 45 jet settings:
38 choke
145 main
160 air
65f7 idle
f11 tube
00 Pump Bleeds
45 pump jet
Lastly, here’s my spreadsheet for the build, including costs and details:
Questions about this build? Comments? Discussion here: Widebody 280Z discussion
Stay tuned – I’ll be updating this build article as the project progresses. I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing you all at an event soon.
-Stuart