Mike's 75' 280z Individual Throttle Body Powered Street Machine

Mike reached out to us via e-mail initially in 2022 and inquired about some head gasket repairs, a few fluid leaks, and some other bolt-on parts. But his main focus was going to be updating it to a modern EFI system, but retaining the era correct look. We both decided that our DCOE individual throttle body kit was going to be the way to go. He also wanted to ensure that it had a modern A/C and heating system, as the Georgia summers can get just as hot, if not worse than Texas at times, and the winters are not much better in comparison.

We received the vehicle in early January 2023 and began the long, tedious process of getting this thing back to being road worthy. We received the vehicle with a blown head gasket, actively ingesting coolant. We started with removing the cylinder head and measuring the warpage of the sealing surfaces. We found that the cylinder head itself was warped north of 0.006”, and the block at approximately 0.003”. The block was still technically within factory specifications, however with the head being right at the wear limit, we did not want to have a tolerance stack issue, so we milled the cylinder head back down to get it straight. Mr. McPherson had previously had this engine completely rebuilt, and was wanting to avoid a complete tear down and rebuild, so we opted to leave the block as it sat and clean it up as best as we could.

While we were in there, we went ahead and added a Kameari adjustable timing chain gear so we could properly degree the camshaft to take full advantage of the Stage 2 Schneider Cam that was already installed in the vehicle. Once we got the engine sealed up, we installed our DCOE 45mm Individual Throttle Body kit, ported the intake manifold inlets, and put an array of powdercoated pieces on the engine as we did final assembly. We capped it off with our Plug and Play Megasquirt 2 Kit that features our drop-in Crank Angle Sensor, and our LS2 Multi-Coil Spark package.

From there, our focus changed to some of the other bolt-on’s Mr. McPherson supplied. We did a set of Z32 front calipers with Hawk brake pads, a few steering and suspension components, some exterior trim, and then shifted our focus to the Vintage Air A/C system. We did a complete upgrade including installing a modern Sanden style A/C compressor, as the OE units no longer have available rebuild parts. We made sure the A/C was blowing ice cold, and the heater was blowing hot. From there, some street tuning ensued, and we finished everything up and sent it back on a transport truck to Georgia. Mr. McPherson sent us a car that had been sitting with a blown head gasket, and we returned him an entirely different animal. The induction sound, the responsiveness, and the top end power of the individual throttle bodies are unrivaled to any other N/A configuration out there. Couple that with perfectly functioning A/C and heat, and this monster of a street car can be enjoyed in any weather conditions. Furthermore, Mr. McPherson had the vehicle dyno tuned by a local tuning shop in Georgia, and the car made 200whp, and a very nice and flat torque curve. Needless to say, he is loving his new setup and has found a new passion for driving his Z car.

ENGINE SPECS

EXTERIOR/INTERIOR SPECS

Christopher Miller