Hi there,

how easy is it converting front and rear 280z bumpers, to 240z bumpers ?

Would be very helpfull if i could find out !

thanks,

240Z Man

This is a write-up on zcar.com. Search for the name 280Z-hab dated November 29. Sorry I don't know the year

"Here is how I did the front: I find a 240z front bumper and original mounting brackets. Remove the old 280z bumper and mounting brackets. Use the 280z bolts and bolt the 240z mounting brackets into place in the upper two 280z mounting bracket bolt holes. bend with a pipe wrench until they line up with the 240z bumper. continue to fine tune and test fit. Eventually the side mounting holes on the 240z bumper will line up with the 280z bumper rubber mounting holes. Go to Ace and buy some bolts for these holes. Test fit a bunch and tighten down."

He has really nice photos of his 280 so check out the final product.

Dave Ruiz

It wasn't fun doing to say the least. Dave and I ended up reversing the front bumper brackets and bending the hell out of them. Which involved Dave using a bench clamp and standing on them to get them to bend. We ran into more trouble with the front bumper itself but I'd imagine most people would have better luck then we did. We ended up getting a slightly bent bumper that stuck out 1.25" on each side. So it ended up needing to be cut in the middle re-bended and re-welded to get it to fit right.

The rear wasn't a walk in the park either, to get the sides to mounted we had to tear up the rear interior (inner quarter panels) to drill a mounting hole. 240z bumpers use a mounting holes that are side by side while the 280z have holes similar to 260z (diagonal mounting holes) so we had to drill new holes to get it to fit.

Note that we live in Washington so it rained during the majority of this work.

I attached a few pictures of the finished product and a comparison picture next to two 240zs.

I swapped mine out last fall. The front was fairly easy, I used a fiberglass one that I bought from MSA, couldnt find a decent original without paying through the nose.

The rear is a bit harder. I took it off and had to remove the mounts for the original. The drivers side was easy enough, the passenger side requires dropping the gas tank to remove the bracket. (I cut the bracket flush, still need to remove it).

My problem lies (still) in getting the passenger side to mount. You have to remove the interior panels to drill nad bolt in the 240 bumpers. Once again, the driver side is easy. The passenger side is a pain because the fuel filler tube runs down and is covered by another palate behind the interior panel.

For mounting both the front and rear, I used the brackets from this link, they bolt up very easily.

http://www.zccjdm.com/catalog.php/azcarbum/ct26899/Z.C.C._CUSTOMIZED_PRODUCTSe

Here are a couple photos..

Edited May 29, 201014 yr by MEZZZ

It wasn't fun doing to say the least. Dave and I ended up reversing the front bumper brackets and bending the hell out of them. Which involved Dave using a bench clamp and standing on them to get them to bend. We ran into more trouble with the front bumper itself but I'd imagine most people would have better luck then we did. We ended up getting a slightly bent bumper that stuck out 1.25" on each side. So it ended up needing to be cut in the middle re-bended and re-welded to get it to fit right.

The rear wasn't a walk in the park either, to get the sides to mounted we had to tear up the rear interior (inner quarter panels) to drill a mounting hole. 240z bumpers use a mounting holes that are side by side while the 280z have holes similar to 260z (diagonal mounting holes) so we had to drill new holes to get it to fit.

Note that we live in Washington so it rained during the majority of this work.

I attached a few pictures of the finished product and a comparison picture next to two 240zs.

looks way better than that plastic thing you used to have. Where did you get the old bumpers? I would like to get rid of the park benches some day but they are hard to find and pricey.

Just watch Craigslist and the Classifieds here at CZCC.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/pts/1765488190.html

And you can buy figerglass reproduction bumpers as well.

Dave

Yay craigslist is where I found my replacement hatch. I actually found three but some people can be a bit flaky on craigs list. I had to settle for a slightly rusted one but not nearly as far gone as mine. Oh well rust is my current battle than paint. Tyler's Z looks way better anyhow.

On 5/30/2010 at 12:51 AM, MEZZZ said:

I swapped mine out last fall. The front was fairly easy, I used a fiberglass one that I bought from MSA, couldnt find a decent original without paying through the nose.

The rear is a bit harder. I took it off and had to remove the mounts for the original. The drivers side was easy enough, the passenger side requires dropping the gas tank to remove the bracket. (I cut the bracket flush, still need to remove it).

My problem lies (still) in getting the passenger side to mount. You have to remove the interior panels to drill nad bolt in the 240 bumpers. Once again, the driver side is easy. The passenger side is a pain because the fuel filler tube runs down and is covered by another palate behind the interior panel.

For mounting both the front and rear, I used the brackets from this link, they bolt up very easily.

http://www.zccjdm.com/catalog.php/azcarbum/ct26899/Z.C.C._CUSTOMIZED_PRODUCTSe

Here are a couple photos..

 

I ran into the same problem with the interference of the filler neck panel. What is best solution? Just bash it in until there is enough room to get a bolt into the gap between the quarter panel and the fillerneck panel? Any alternative?