My wife's uncle has a few Zs that he is looking to sell. One that I'm particularly interested in is an '85 280Z. He parked it in the garage after the last time he drove it, so the body looks immaculate, the paint is flawless, the interior isn't rotted too bad, and things overall look awesome! The problem is that it's been sitting for 10 years and being the young'n that I am, I've never worked on a carburated car (though I have worked on carburated lawn mowers) . I'm assuming that the fuel system will be pretty well toasted all the way from the tank to the carbs, but what else would likely have gone bad from sitting?

I guess my question is, what kind of a project would I be getting myself into? What kinds of thisgs would it need? I know the basics (oil change, fuel system/tank clean, plugs, wires, etc, etc, etc...), but what kinds of things would likely be wrong with it once I started digging into it? I've had three 280ZXs, but I'm expecting this to be a whole different animal.

Thanks!

No such animal. The 280Z model years were 1975-1978. The 280ZX was 1979-1983, and the 300ZX (Z31) was from 1984-1988.

Are you sure it is a 85.

A '75, you mean? They were fuel injected, not carb'd.

It'd actually be easier to clean out the fuel system if it WERE carb'd. The L-jet has sensors, injectors, etc that gum up and fail; with a carbureted system, you can chase the fuel lines, replace the fuel pump, rebuild the carbs, clean out the tank and you should be good (which is what I'm doing to mine at the moment, which hasn't run in eight years...).

Pictures are worth a thousand posts.

Ugh... (embarassed face) yes, it's a '75. I typed the 8 out of habit from my '81 and '83s. He did say that it was carburated. I haven't looked under the hood to check for sure (it's covered in boxes at the moment) but I'll look this afternoon and update from there. Does rebuilding the carbs require new parts, or just cleaning out old ones? If so, about how much will that run me?

Depends on which carbs they are, because that will affect the availability of repair parts.

For comparison, I just had my SU's totally refurbished by ZTherapy for close to $500.

If the '75 is stock, the EFI is nearly identical to the ZX. Take a picture of the engine compartment, it will be clear whether it's EFI or carb and the type of carb(s) if it did get converted.

Ugh... (embarassed face) yes, it's a '75. I typed the 8 out of habit from my '81 and '83s. He did say that it was carburated. I haven't looked under the hood to check for sure (it's covered in boxes at the moment) but I'll look this afternoon and update from there. Does rebuilding the carbs require new parts, or just cleaning out old ones? If so, about how much will that run me?

SU carburetors aren't that complex. If those are what are on the car, you can probably rebuild them yourself. Of course, that isn't accounting for some of the wear that can happen in the carburetors. Anyway, rebuild kits from MSA are $26 each. A similar kit from Black Dragon is $20 each.

I have SUs on my 73. The car had been sitting for 2 years. I got it running again this weekend with only minor fiddling with the carburetors.

Nathan, can help you with your carbs, if you need it:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/2919682093.html

Thanks for all of the comments! I'll take some photos while I'm there this afternoon and post them this evening. Out of curiosity, what would be the advantage to converting to carbs if it was already EFI stock?

@Duffman:

Thanks for the offer! I might take you up on that. If you don't mind, I'd rather you show me how to clean them up as opposed to just switching them out.... I'm always out to get another skill under my belt! I'll PM or contact via craigslist to discuss arrangments when the time comes. Are you in DZA?