'77 280Z Project

[503Alex]

Hey all, I've been lurking for quite a while enjoying all of the great projects and info and finally decided to join. I got my 280Z back in April after I saw it at the PIR swap meet, and have been slowly working on it.

 

Here's how it looked when I first bought it:

 

 

 

 

 

I had all of the fluids and filters replaced, along with some degraded bushings and the steering rack boots (should have done this myself, I know!) After I got it home, I decided to tear out the nasty old carpet:

 

 

 

 

 

After that, I ordered some Sparco Speeds with rails. They came in and the centers were blue! Turns out that the Speed was being discontinued and decided to send out what ever color they wanted to instead of the black that I ordered. I returned those and ended up picking up a set of 240/260Z black seats off of craigslist that are in decent shape for a temporary solution. After that, I put on some NGK spark plugs, wires, new hoses/clamps with my grandpa. I ended up buying the OEM Nissan PCV hose (pricey, but it is beautiful) from MSA, along with a new PCV valve. I also got a new air filter to AFM boot, fusible link covers, and carbon canister filter and put those on.

 

A pic when I took off the grill for paint:

 

 

 

I did a repaint on the taillight surround (flat black on the surround, semi gloss on the bezels), and got a new exhaust (2 1/4" pipe, plan on swapping out the muffler for a glasspack):

 

 

[503Alex]

I also clayed and waxed it after I got it, it's a repaint of the original color, so it turned out pretty good. Still needs a polish though. I also picked up a nice center console from BRAAP which I'll be putting in too.

[Skib]

nice :cool: welcome to Ratsun

 

surprised Paul (BRAAP) has any S30 stuff left :rofl: I cleaned him out last year, bought up a ton of S30 and L series stuff

 

 

 

 

theres a bunch of PDX area Ratsuners :cool: were actually meetin up tonight at Red Robin on beaverton, the one off 217 on canyon.

[503Alex]

nice :cool: welcome to Ratsun

 

surprised Paul (BRAAP) has any S30 stuff left :rofl: I cleaned him out last year, bought up a ton of S30 and L series stuff

 

 

 

 

theres a bunch of PDX area Ratsuners :cool: were actually meetin up tonight at Red Robin on beaverton, the one off 217 on canyon.

 

Thanks. Yeah, just a few things left :D. Paul is a great guy, it was cool getting to meet him and Ron and see the S52 260Z out there. Wish I could've made it, but had a work dinner.

 

I've got a question for you guys also. I've been very happy with the condition of my car, and the fact that it has nearly no rust. Today I was drying it off after driving it in the rain (especially drying the floorpans) and as I was poking around with a screwdriver realized that a little bit of the rust went through (there was no hole before). I plan on POR15'ing a bunch of stuff, but what do you think the best way to tackle this is? The other rust pictured is just surface rust. Here are the pics:

 

(I've been working on removing the tar mat, and haven't quite finished yet hence all of the goo)

 

Thanks!

 

[503Alex]

On a side note, I'm dying to own a 510! :D

[Skib]

Thanks. Yeah, just a few things left :D. Paul is a great guy, it was cool getting to meet him and Ron and see the S52 260Z out there.

ya Paul and Ron are rad dudes, Iv been meaning to go out there to visit and pick some stuff up but havent had any free time :P

 

 

start with hitting it all with a wire brush and break off any loose chunks of rust, dosent have to be perfect mind you.

if you hav elike pin hole rust holes going threw you can just stick some duct tape over them on the under side when you POR15 over it and itl fill the little holes.

shit drys hard as a rock.

[dat77sun]

thats one nice 280z, what are the plans for it?

[503Alex]

ya Paul and Ron are rad dudes, Iv been meaning to go out there to visit and pick some stuff up but havent had any free time :P

 

 

 

start with hitting it all with a wire brush and break off any loose chunks of rust, dosent have to be perfect mind you.

if you hav elike pin hole rust holes going threw you can just stick some duct tape over them on the under side when you POR15 over it and itl fill the little holes.

shit drys hard as a rock.

 

I've got to stop by there too, but wasn't able to make it today. Thanks for the info, still need to pick some POR15 up!

 

thats one nice 280z, what are the plans for it?

 

Thank you. Short term plans are getting some POR15 on all of the likely problem areas, getting the timing set (just bought a digital timing light), and redoing the suspension. I'm probably going to go with the Tokico springs/Illumina combo mostly due to cost vs. a coilover setup. Also planning on getting a rear strut brace and some Sparco seats+harnesses. I'm also planning on picking up some of the ZCC 240Z conversion brackets and going with the MSA carbon bumpers.

 

Longer term, I'd like to do either a L28ET or RB25 swap.

[dat77sun]

i call dips on those seat when you get new ones ;)

[503Alex]

i call dips on those seat when you get new ones ;)

 

Sounds good :D.

[dat77sun]

how much you gona want for them?

[503Alex]

how much you gona want for them?

 

I paid $125 for them a few months ago. They came out of an early 280Z, but may be 240 or 260 seats. They look to have been redone at some point, are black, and in pretty good shape. It may be a bit until I can afford to buy the Sparcos, but I'll keep you in mind. Not really familiar with the market on these seats.

[dat77sun]

ok thanks, i thought we were talkin about the brown ones, but black is better :)

[503Alex]

ok thanks, i thought we were talkin about the brown ones, but black is better :)

 

I wish I would've kept the brown ones too, but I tried to give away the decent condition passenger seat at Canby and didn't get any takers so I ended up throwing away both :(. The black ones are in much better shape.

[dat77sun]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[503Alex]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I know :( haha.

 

I am going to take Skib's advice and put some of the silver POR15 on the pitted areas with some take on the bottom of that hole. Just got a POR15 kit ordered. Current plans are to get the floorboards stripped completely, prepped, and POR'ed, and then get my new center console back in there and correctly align my temp control surround (got a nice one from John with the '78 Bronze Z).

[503Alex]

Question for you guys, I'm removing this seam sealer in several areas so I can POR 15 everything. Is this a bad thing, or will the POR be fine in its place?

 

[503Alex]

Question for you guys, I'm removing this seam sealer in several areas so I can POR 15 everything. Is this a bad thing, or will the POR be fine in its place?

 

 

Bump on this question.

 

Also, I picked up those Riken mesh wheels that have been on CL for forever!

 

Demo shot:

 

 

Love it! :cool:

[dat77sun]

nice rims, ive been seein those on craigslist, too bad they werent 6 lug or i woulda got em

[503Alex]

Wow, I need to get some pics up of my new wheels. Loving the look.