Transition Car?

nope. The "ZX" logo stands for Z-extra (I think) So a ZX is the Z with the extra goodies. power windows, cruze control, power steering, nicer interior and so on. Also there were changes made to the suspention, interior shape and over size of the car.. I realy loved the way my 280ZX looked in everyway, but the drivers area was less roomey than my Z. The 280Z has more space in the cockpiit and less hatch space, the 280ZX Has a bit less seating area but a bit more hatch.

Hmmmm...Mine has features of the 280z and 280zx and as far as I know it is all original

What kind of features? I did have a bunch od '78Z's and a 1980ZX. the ZX looked a world different to me.. Have any pictures you can post??

If you read some of my other posts there are pictures. There is no "By Nissan" under Datsun 280zx (like all the rest of the 280zx). The Shadow from the robbed 280zx emblem on the finder does not match a standard 280zx emblem. The gauges are lit differntly from a normal 280zx and there is mount for a rear wiper.

I believe the 1978 280z was the last true Datsun. 1979 the 280zx Datsun by Nissin was the second generation of the 280 series. The 79 n/a had the same hp as the 78 turbo. Later when the 89 300zx body changed in 90 the same thing occurred, the 90 300zx n/a had the hp of the 89 300zx turbo.

The 79 N/A did not have the same horsepower as the "78 turbo," as there was no 78 turbo. Turbos didn't appear on z's until 1981 (in the states at least). There is no 280zx and a half. The 280z (again assume I am talking US spec for this post) was an S30, while ALL 280zx's were s-130's. 280z's and zx's share many drivetrain components, but they are completely different chassis. You just have a very early model when they were still finalizing the 280zx.

Okay and correction mine was built in Aug. of 78

If you want to be sure of the difference, just take a look at my car in the link in my signature. Mine was one of the last thousand or so 280Zs built. It was built in June of 78. You will see that my car is quite different from yours.

jas280z thanks for the correction, great thing about this site is there is always some one to get things straight.

No problem, it is nice to see someone else looking to get things straight. Too often this site is filled with misinformation.

Okay thank you for the information.

How are the guages different from other 79 280ZX's? they should be red at night, maybe some PO put something different in it. There no shared components outside of drive train with the 280Z. People check this link out,

http://nissan4u.com/parts/280zx/us_s130

If you have power windows, locks, and a rear wiper then you have a 280zx GL (grand luxury) package. The Datsun/nissan badging came out on the ZX's in mid 1980. The last true Datsun was in fact the 83. After that it went strictly to Nissan.

They are not all red. There are more colors involved. i.e. there is some blue and white on the sped.

Skittle, the Datsun by Nissan came out in 9-78 on out, Only 7-78and 8-78 280ZX had the Datsun only name. i have a 4-79 and it has Nissan under Datsun. Again use this handy dany by month of production parts cataloge it shows it all. The link is in my post above. Again, if no PO has messed with it it is no different than any other 79 280ZX.

I hope you spend this much time getting it running capcadetseipel, as wondering about emblem differences. Maybe a PO messed with things, totally stock 280ZX's are getting hard to find.

PO? And yes I am sitting idle on it right now. I cannot order the brake and clutch master cylinders until Monday morning then they will not be in until Tuesday. That is all that is left until I can drive it. Oh and I need to find a Datsun Z tag for the front of it.

Skittle,
If you have power windows, locks, and a rear wiper then you have a 280zx GL (grand luxury) package. The Datsun/nissan badging came out on the ZX's in mid 1980. The last true Datsun was in fact the 83. After that it went strictly to Nissan.
I had an 8/1980 280ZX GL but the badges said Nissan 280ZX. Mabe the P.O. changed them?

Thats what i said in a different post... lol I never had power anything in any of my Zeds.

PO?= previous owner