I have finally thrown my hands in the air and abandoned my attempts at a phased restoration. I just got tired of taking stuff off and putting it back on knowing in my head that I was just going to be taking it off again. It is also frustrating trying to work on stuff with a bunch of other crap in the way. Better to just take it apart and get on with it.

This will be my build thread. I can't hope to duplicate the super-human efforts recently of Hardway and Grannyknot, but somebody might glean something useful from my efforts and maybe save another z!

The subject:

1976 280z in driveable condition. I live in MD. It's a rust belt car in super condition, but there are still some problems. Somebody loved this car.

Progress:

I rebuilt the front and rear suspension and put on new wheels. The thread is here:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/suspension-steering-s30/48081-rear-suspension-rebuild-thread.html

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/suspension-steering-s30/48260-front-suspension-rebuild-thread.html

I have also revamped the brakes but I have not added a thread yet.

Problems:

The passenger frame rail was damaged at some point and replaced. The replacement is rusted out. The rail and floor pan need to be replaced. There are some other areas that are starting to exhibit paint bubbling. Time to learn to weld.

It's not as bad as I expected.

So I started tearing the car apart. Here's where I'm at:[/ATTACH]

Wish me luck. The plan is to keep pulling stuff off and hopefully pull the engine in 2 weeks (I'm out of town next weekend).

I feel ya Kselcher and I was in the same boat with my Z, thank for the kudos by the way. You definitely have some work ahead of you regarding the rust but its not impossible by any stretch. Your desire to document and share is the same that drives me, hoping my efforts might help someone in the future and I just like doing it. I look forward to your updates and know the rest of the Z community will pitch in whenever you need us.