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

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

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.

The Beginning