Here are the ugly stock brakes

It's not necessary to remove the entire strut assembly from the car to do the install but I like to start fresh with a bare strut housing.

Remove the stock caliper, and rotor.
 Remove and discard the old backing plate. Unbolt the old rotor from the
hub, now's a good time to really clean up the hub and make sure it's free of any nicks or dings (resurface as needed).

we've also installed new wheel studs.

Here's one of the new front rotor assemblies , please note that they are directional so pay attention to the little arrows (or R & L ).

Bolt the rotor to the back of the stock hub just like the original with  the supplied 10mm X 30mm bolts, lockwashers & flatwashers. If your Z is a 1970-1973  be sure and use the hubs from a 1974-1978 as these have a slightly different offset for the rotor and allow us to get the bracket into place, they will fit right onto the earlier struts and don't change  the position of the wheel. This is a good time to install new wheel bearings and seals.

  Install the rotor assembly back onto the spindle along with the bearings, seals etc.

Note: the outboard edge of the lower control arm may need to be trimmed or ground down so it will not rub the inside
face of the rotor (see red arrow), you must check for adequate
clearance when you mount the rotor, DO IT BEFORE DRIVING!

 

.  Tighten the bolts that mount the caliper to the bracket.
Bolt the caliper assembly into place on the struts with the 12mm X1.25 thread bolts. You can cut off the old brakeline mounting tab if you like.
 

Pay attention that the bleeders  point upward when the calipers are installed correctly
 

A correct install should  look something like this.
 

Braided stainless brake lines with fittings are included . Screw the short brass  fitting into the caliper (I use TEFLON tape) , attach the larger metric end of the braided line to the factory hard-line, finally screw the small end of the braided line to the caliper fitting as shown.

Do a thorough job of bleeding , a little bit of air in the system will really hurt the pedal feel and performance. Both bleeders on each calipers need to be bled.
 

Check the rotor for run-out, if needed the rotor and hub
should be turned on a brake lathe as an assembly. (Make sure your wheel bearings were correctly installed and the races seated first)

Use of the master cyl. for 1979-1981 280ZX is highly recommended as it has a  bigger bore and larger reservoirs , and it bolts onto the stock Z power brake booster.

   Always work the suspension through it's travel (including turning arc) to make sure there is no interference between the new brakes and the stock suspension, wheels etc.