New Zaholic here...

[sonofzzzap]

Hi guys (and girls) I just wanted to introduce myself formally on here and give you guys a little info on me and my new/old kinda shiny Z-Car

The story behind my love for the Z:

I wasn't much of a car person in my early teens, I just cared about whether or not it got me to school and anywhere else I wanted to go. My first vehicle was a 1986 Nissan Hardbody 4x4 truck. I loved that truck, but didn't really have a deep respect for it or Nissan until I was 17 years old. It was the best truck I have ever driven and until this day will remain that way until proven otherwise. Sadly she died after a few offroad mishaps, but she died proudly at 240k miles.. and she didnt even smoke! Nissan/Datsun runs deep in my veins... starting with my father... My old man owned two Datsuns in the seventies when he was my age... A white 71' 240Z and a light blue 77' 280Z. He loved those cars, when I was a littleone, he showed me pictures of it and told me how he used to scare everyone that rode with him because of how stout it was... He got me interested in them and I eventually started looking at them and dreaming about owning one and mastering the roads with that long nose and short, rounded off rearend, eating the gears like there's no tomorrow. The dream lived on for nearly two years... until the dream became reality.

My 2nd vehicle was a 93' Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited... I liked the Jeep but as with alot of Chrysler cars... she was a money pit... parts were high, it was difficult to work on yourself, too many gadgets and senors and cpu this and that... it drove me crazy. She had a rear seal leak, engine idle problems, bad exhaust problems etc... so I sold her for $3000 cash... I spent almost two weeks looking at different cars... and then it dawned on me... ZZZZZZ my brain buzzed.. ZZZZZ So I looked in the trader at the Zs and kept my eyes on them for a few days.. Then I found the one... a 1977 280Z (the same model 280 my father had when he was 19 or 20...

When I first saw her I fell in love. Mechanically the car is very sound.. with less than 70,000 Orginal miles(yes, ORIGINAL) and a very very stout engine. She was about 40-50% restored by the man's daughters ex-husband. She needs a new exhaust system(you can smell fumes from under the car) and she runs a little rich (not terrible though).The interior is extra nice with a custom speaker system and original clean seats, only thing wrong really is the lock pulls and some lights need replacing; the original dash is cracked but the guy put a MSA half cover on it, I plan on getting a full cover in the future. Her exterior is what really needs attention. There are various rust areas on her, some worse and some better. and she is not her original color... she was sterling silver (Datsun color code number 306). Why they painted her red?? noone shall ever know... The original owner left her out and never garaged her while he was driving, so that is why rust has subdued her a little, but not enough that it is un-fixable.

Along with her I have a younger Z (by a year) a 78' 280Z 2+2 parts car, with a good engine with low miles that turns over(but doesnt run) and a good tranny, and a veeery nice body. I plan on using parts off her body (fenders and hood and rear end parts) and etc... to make one good one, then I plan on restoring her to her natural color.

I drove her home Nov. 27th

Things I've done so far:

-Replaced all fuses with new ones

-Lubricated the light switch(which took care of the headlight problem common with Zs)

-Idled the engine down to 1000rpms from 1500rpms (she runs much smoother now and doesn't burn up extra fuel like she did when I got her).

-cleaned and lubed a sensor on the injectors.(caused her to quit on me once. but hasn't since I cleaned it)

Money invested in both cars... a great deal of $1900

Estimated money iinvested when rolling project completed... $3500 + or -

My digital camera is broken so I bought a kodak disposable and took tons of pictures today, so I'll be posting them A.S.A.P.

I will surely enjoy talking and trading ideas and whatnot with you guys and learnin more about this great machine we call THE Z.

-Jared

[Fun_in_my_z]

Hey welcome to the club. You will find anyhelp you mght need here. Or have fun chatting about your car...Have Fun!

[MikeW]

Welcome. If you're up for a little road trip you can swing by the monthly Georgia Z car meeting Tuesday evening.

http://www.georgiazclub.com/