Need extensive work on 280ZX Turbo in Virginia, recommendations for a shop?

Jun 17, 2006 Last reply: 20 years ago 1 Replies

I have an 82 Turbo. It has the dubious distinction of being built by me when I was in college and still learning how cars work. About two years after I finished it (from 97-99 it was daily driven, although it went through a couple motors as we sorted the turbo/boost/intercooler/timing problems, what with spun bearings and thrown rods and stuff), I moved out to Virginia (from San Diego), and it has been sitting in my (heated, etc) garage now for six years.



I have driven the car about 100 miles in the last six years. The last time I drove it, I put a full tank of gas in it (back when it was a lot less than $1.99 for premium) to prevent the tank from rusting. Figure this was eighteen months ago. I think the gas has since gone bad. There was about 3 gallons unused at the top, so I went and got three gallons of gas, and hoped that the addition would be enough to make the rest viable. No dice. I also noticed, to my chagrin, that I'm receiving no spark to the coil.



At this point, the car needs an alignment (it was wacky in california), a set of tires, a new exhaust (the current exhaust leaks and the cat is certainly fouled -- although I don't know if it's required in Virginia on cars of this vintage), a new transmission (I want to go with a T-56, as the current T-5 has a "broken" reverse gear). This necessitates a new driveshaft, and so on. After all this, I am thinking new motor as well.



Anyone out there who can be trusted with this work?



alex


We do lots of turbo ZX work but are in Atlanta. Here's a sample of a conversion we did to a 280Z.

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My first advice is to get rid of the stock fuel management system as it's a REAL problem on those cars and it will never be reliable electrically or mechanically using it. SDS EFI works great on these cars, haltech is another good system.

Bottom line, we can straighten it out no question about it. I'm not sure who closer to you can deal with something like this.

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