1977 Datsun 280Z

One owner family from new!!!

Below is a note from the Son who was given the car by his mother in 2001.

All of the below was done in 2006 and since then Ive put 20K miles on the car.

As I said, mom bought the car in October of 1977 from NW Datsun in Dallas. I was with her when she picked it up. When she died in 2001, my father gave me the car and Ive cared for it since. There have been tons of maintenance items that Im not addressing, and the car was always maintained extremely.

Body/interior

In 2013, I had the car painted in the original Datsun stock blue. The shop that did the work removed all panels and doors, glass, etc and stipped the body back to bare metal. As part of the reassembly, all of the rubber window and door/hatch seals were replaced along with a new windshield. The interior received a new factory-style carpet kit and leather seat covers and foam pads. Both bumpers were removed and an aero kit from Motorsport Z and a set of 16x8 Panasport rims were installed.

Suspension

I installed a KYB sport suspension kit, which included gas struts and sport springs, lowering the car about 1 1/2. All bushings were replaced with polyurethane versions. Front brakes have 4 piston calipers that increase brake area by 30% and braided steel flex lines. Rear brakes are stock.

Rear diff

Diff was overhauled and received new bearings and seals, as well as new U joints on the half shafts.

Transmission

Stock 4 speed gearbox was replaced with a stock 5 speed from a ZX. Gearbox was overhauled to factory specs mated to a heavy duty performance clutch.

Engine

Original head and block were shipped to famed Bay area Datsun/Nissan tuner Dave Robello. He performed what he calls a Stage 2 upgrade, increasing displacement to 3.2 liters with a 10.5 compression ratio. Short block was balanced and blueprinted with custom rods and pistons. Head was ported and polished and received a stock cam from a 240Z. The head was machined so the cam would sit lower in the head, thereby increasing both duration and lift. The stock injection system received upgrades by installing an aftermarket throttle body that allows 40% greater airflow and the mass airflow sensor was modified to provide more fuel throughout the rev range. Exhaust was cleaned up by removal of old EGR system and adding ceramic coated 3 into 2 headers with a 2 1/4 freeflow exhaust. Stock ignition received a Petronix upgrade. Robello performed the breakin and dyno tested the engine with stock manifolds and a pair of Mikuni carbs. Test results showed peak HP at 243 and 250 ft/lbs of torque, which is about a 60% increase over stock. With the engine having fuel injection and headers, I suspect the output to be closer to 250 hp and 260 ft/lbs torque. Of course, all of the internal accessories, like timing chain, tensioners, oil pump etc were replaced during assembly.