We're proud to announce that this month's Ride of the Month random winner is...Dave Cerutti's 1976 280Z.

Please take a look at Dave's Member Ride album HERE.

Congratulations Dave - awesome Z!

- Jim

Well, if you ever wanted to find a 280Z which has had EVERYTHING done to it, Dave's is the one! I can recall, when I first saw this car, just marveling over the detail work Dave has put under the hood. I don't see an A/C, but that doesn't mean it might not be hiding on the driver side, and I see a little switch inside which might activate it.

Wonderful car ~ injected, turbo'd, 'magic' ignition system, coolers everywhere, braided hoses, tower braces, pristine engine bay, big brakes.......really, what more could you ask for?

This is one of the Club's cars which is SO perfect, I would be afraid to drive it in traffic. That being said, I've seen Dave drive it a bit aggressively and he sure doesn't have any fear of using the car the way it was intended.

Happy for you, Dave ~ very, very nice Z.

Frank

Thanks, CTZCC and Frank! My intentions were always to make it a race car for the street, and the track. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it came out a little too nice, and I have too much blood in it, to regularly risk on the race track. I have been keeping track days to a minimum, but plan to do one or two track days per year.

BTW even though the bumpers suggest 260Z, she is a 280Z with a production date of 4/1976. Yes, I retained the factory 76 AC converted to r134a refrigerant.

Dave

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-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Nice car...put it on the track!

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Clive Bogle President - New York Z Car Club - NYZCC.COM
1971 240Z - LS1/T56
1974 260Z-L30
1976 Fairlady Z

HaHaHa! I should think the greater risk would be in CT traffic!!!

At least on the racetrack, everybody TRIES to go the same direction!

*(As soon as we can get Andrew to move his trophy and that beautiful 350Z off the Homepage, you can park your car in your Reserved Parking space there for the month of July. ).

HEY, ANDY! MOVE YOUR CAR, WILL YA?

Frank

Hehe. It has already survived Limerock in 2004 and Watkins Glen in 2005 at the National Convention. I hope to be at the CTZCC Limerock cruise this month, and also intend to sign up for a track day at Limerock this year.

Clive...get YOUR car on the track!

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-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Hey Dave,
Congratulations! It is a privilege to have such a beautiful car gracing the home page of our web-site for a month. Don't put that car on the track!! Ross

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

Beautiful Car ! Congrats....

Dave, I'm considering chin spoilers for my '70 240. Did you experiment with anything smaller before you decided on that snowplow?

The advantages of such an aggressive air dam are obvious, but what would you consider to be any disadvantages? Clearance? Gas mileage? Cooling?

Frank T
MbrshpDir

I may not be Dave, but if I'm right he has the same air dam as me. So far I couldn't tell you any negative things about it, besides that its one more thing (for me) to keep painted. The urethane its made out of is much more durable than the fiberglass version, and flexible too. Might weigh a tad more. Unless your Z is lowered more and has bigger wheels and tires than mine, you shouldn't have any clearance issues. I only had to trim a tiny 1/8th inch thick amount off the airdam from the inner side of my right wheel well, and that was only after I installed my new HUGE 17x9 wheels. Its not even noticeable. Didn't have to drill new holes in the metal to install the airdam. No cooling issues, no change in my gas mileage. And to me, well, it really completes the look of the car. I just haven't figured out how I'm going to make use on the brake cooling ducts yet.

So really the only disadvantage to it that I can see is a lighter wallet at time of purchase...

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-Chris

If you don't mind me asking, Dave... how did you go about converting your system to work on R134a? I have been told that the difference in pressures make it incompatible to shoot the refrigerant directly into an R12 system without modifications, and that it wouldn't provide much cooling power. I think I saw a 134a conversionkit for the S30, but it was over $1000... yikes! If its simple enough and cheaper than that kit, I'd certainly like to know. From what I've seen I'm either going to spend a ton on R12, or a ton converting the system. I don't want to drop money on rare and expensive R12, because I don't know if the system has any leaks yet. Its never worked since I owned the car. I'm assuming the reason is that when R12 went by the wayside they discharged the system and the owner didn't want to pay to convert it.

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-Chris

MSA R134a kit is $1,000 complete.

I need to visit more often!

Air Plow:
I went from stock valence, to plow. I still have the factory parts. The car steering used to get light at illegal speeds. Now the steering does not change. The front tires stay planted at illegal but safe speeds. Disadvantages? Less clearance which is why it's made from polyurethane and unpainted. Being a lowered car by 1" I regularly hit the ground. Usually not while driving or parking, but those that know my driveway, know why I hit the ground. I don't even cringe when it scrapes. It has been scraping for many years with no obvious damage. If it was painted and I had to touch it up everytime it scraped, I would never drive it! Just remember that being flexible, it needs some sort of support in the lower center so that it does not fold under at speeds above 100mph. Not that I would know that.

R134a:
10 years ago I changed a leaky condenser and evaporator, used proper compatible o-rings where I could get to them, dropped in some r134a compatible compressor oil, vacuumed the system, and charged it with a cheap K-mart conversion kit. I had to modify the low side charge port adapter from the kit to fit our valve. I think proper ones are now available. Don't top off the sytem, I think you need to use about 15% less r134a than the R12 spec. The main concern was that the R12 oil was not compatible with the r134a or its oils. You want to get as much of the old R12 oils out as you can.
It is not as cool as the R12 was. I would say I am at about 70% cooling capacity with the r134a. I don't use it often but it's there if I need to defog the windows on a rainy day, or take the blaze out of a really hot day. There are some newer replacements for R12 that may perform better than r134a. Do some research on current alternatives to R12. Freeze12?

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-Dave
76Z Turbo'd
72 In Progress---DONE!

Those rims are nice!!

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Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694