Older and Wiser....

[ttate]

Hello all,

In my youth i had the best car in the world, a 78 right hand drive Datsun 280z. In my comings and goings i didnt treat my car well and when she gave up on me (every thing still ran but not in peak condition) i parked it and upgraded. Now that im older i want my Z back. After waiting weeks for a new ignition switch, which arrived today, Im ready to get started on getting it back on the road. After attaching the ignition switch, i realized i have no idea on how to get the car going again and everything in the car is in japanese. If you all know of a book or something that will get me going let me know. I did purchase the Haynes auto repair book but that covers repair and maintanance. Was looking for a from ground up type book any suggestions will be appreciated.

thanks,

TT

[Z dreams]

With the good people at this site and your Haynes a Z can be restored or rebuilt. There are forums where about any thing you can think of has been covered. Plus the factory service manual can be Down loaded.

John

[Wade Nelson]

Start by replacing all the fluids, ALL THE FLUIDS, Tranny, coolant, diffy, brake fluid, clutch fl uid, ...draining the gas tank, etc. Remove the plugs, squirt some oil in there, let it sit overnight. Squirt some more in the next morning.

Then go buy a new battery and try turning it over. See if you can get oil pressure to register on the gauge.

At that point yo'ure ready to see if it will start.

Absolutely DO NOT try and start this engine on the "old stale gas". It may start, but then the injectors will clog. It's so much easier just to drain ALL of the old fuel out, install a new fuel filter, and let the NEW fuel dissolve all the deposits left behind.

Chances are ALL your hydraulics (clutch, brake master & slaves, etc) are shot, rubber rotted. Brake fluid absorbs moisture and you live in a humid area.

There are NUMEROUS threads on this site about starting up a parked car. Here's one:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread43849.html

Suggest you search on keywords like sitting, parked storage, etc. to find others.