My Nissan Datsun 280ZX (1979)

[Bruce Reign]

This is the car that I almost nearly totaled one night. I decided to soup this car up first just to learn how to do everything before I go out and get something new and mess it up. Plus I think I should make it up to it, it's older than me. When you're young and have some money you tend to make bad decision. I want to make sure I know what i'm doing. I met a guy at the local pep boys, he said that he can have the car producing 450Hp if I put $4000.00 into the engine.


He said he won't charge me anything to teach me, I thought that was pretty neat. He said that he had 350hp to the rear wheels in his 280zx. He's going to teach me how to replace the camshaft, rods, and pistons. We're going to install the headers, and an aluminum exhaust. I got the car for $2000.00, after engine parts, and a little cosmetics to the body, I should've put in about $9000.00 (including the car itself) into the whole project.


Not bad right? I'm going to keep the Mahogony color to it, and I want it to retain the original look as much as possible. The interior has to be redone, and I have to update most of the components (including radio, steering wheel, rims, shocks, brakes, tires, dash, carpet, seats, emblems, and I think that says it all) so it should be pretty interesting. After I do most of the work, I think i'm going to sell it. If not that, than i'm going to keep it as a Throwback, or a Beater.



Now being that I'm not the super mechanic like most of you here, as I go on with the project, i'll be sure to update this thread as much as possible as I learn more jargon, along with updated pics. By the way, the car is putting out 169hp now, so I figure the other 281hp shouldn't be that hard to obtain, right?

[Jetta GLI]

Good Luck

[Joel]

Good luck sounds fun.

[AlphaAndOmega]

Yea good luck...i prolly wouldnt sell it right away after you mod it. because you wont make even close to your money back. even modded you can pick up a 280z for fairly cheap. you should put a LT1 v8 in it with a supercharger. Ever seen the Darius videos? they are all over the net. Now that 280 is ruthless

[Bruce Reign]

Yeah, I saw that most people are putting in the V8's now. I was even thinking about going that route. But this is more of a learning thing than anything else. I want to learn the whole engine inside and out, so hopefully i'll know what i'm talking about in the future. My dad has a 280zx with the T-Top, so I might buy that one off of him and drop the V8 in it.

[FlyingOct]

Twin turbo LS1.

[NCTotalEclipse]

I picked up an 81 for $700. Mine's really a beater, but it's fun to drive around. Enjoy the 280! :thumb:

[Bruce Reign]

Thought I let you all in on what's going on. The whole project is about to begin. We were held back because of the weather here. I had to take a break and realize that I didn't want to spend my money on new car, and have a car come out later to put the one I just bought to shame. That's why i'm going to work on this older one, just to see what I can do for the money. Plus, it's a learning expirience. I know most of you are car people, but i'm about to purchase an F350 6.5 Super Charged Diesel Extended Cab truck from Ford. It's for the business, and that's something that i'll be happy with in 10yrs from now. Since there is so much talk of the Skyline coming to the states in 2007, I'll wait on purchasing a new car until then.

Inheritence is a bitch, and I almost lost control for a few moments. It's good to sit down and actually think about the consequences of every action. I went through all kind of close calls when it came to buying cars, and I was about to actually give someone a lot of money on a 2004 car with high mileage. I can't believe I almost fell for that crap. Today I got up and realized that I need to tie up all the loose ends in my life. I want to start my own production company, and I plan on it. I don't want to deal with this car thing though, i'll leave that to the professionals. Put it this way, I tried it, and lets just say bad things went down. I had a friend drive for me so I could catch it on tape and put it on the site for all to see. We didn't even start filming yet before he ran into a gaurdrail doing 80mph. Talk about depressing, that's was about 3 months ago.

It's no secret that I use to drink alot, and as a result I use to make myself look like a complete ass on these boards. The first step in getting over a problem is to admit that you have a problem. Well, as of December 24th 2004 I gave up drinking, period. No social drinking, no anything. If you came to my house, half of my fridge would be filled up with alcohol. It's a sad way to live. I gave it up that night because I really injured myself, bad. Not to mention the fact that I became really sick after drinking it. That was the worst night I ever had. I think it was a punishment of somekind. What's funny is that alot of the things said on these boards, I don't ever remember saying them. Over 3/4th of the post on this site by me was when I was drunk, and through the other names I had, and this name, that's a lot of drinking. I would wake up and wait maybe an hour, and then I would start drinking again, and I would get up around 5 and 6 in the morning.

This is sort of my testimony, you know the "You think you know but you have no idea" type of thing. Not looking for pitty or anything, but if you can read this and relate to it, it shows that you aren't the only one with problems in this world. Sometimes it seems that we're the only ones that get picked on our whole lives, but when you look at situations over seas like in Asia and Africa, you have to ask yourself, how bad can my life be? Not that bad. If you have an internet connection, then you're doing pretty good. This is more of a revelation for me. I spend way to much time on this site (No offense), instead I should be working on my own companies. Not saying that I won't be on here from time to time, but as for the unecessary post and all that, that crap is about to cease. I mean honestly, when we all think about it, when was the last time we all read a novel? I know I'm long overdue for one, so i'm going to buy one today.

With that message up there, I wish you all a safe passage through life, and hopefully one day we all will be in a position to create our own following.

Take it easy,
Carolina Bandit. :thumbs: