Just picked up this '78 280z!

[Glliw]

So after a few months of searching, I finally picked up my second Z. My first one was sold to help pay my way through college.

This is a '78 with 63K miles on her. There's hardly a lick of rust on the whole car, with only a slight bubble on the hatch and some showing through on the front of the rear quarters. The frame rails, floorboards, and spare tire well are gorgeous metal. The battery tray area looks great from what I can tell but haven't pulled the battery out yet so knocking on wood still with that.

The dash has a couple of smaller cracks that I'll attempt to fix later on. Otherwise, the interior is in great shape.

One of the cool finds I had with this car was a tire recharge bottle that looks to be pretty old, if not original. It had the owners manual, as well as one for a 200sx for some reason.

Now the bad news....the car was sold for pretty damn cheap due to front end damage. The bumper got smashed in, along with some dinging up of the headlight buckets. Hood took a pretty good bit of damage and I think will have to be replaced, along with the left fender. Cowl took a bit of damage, but looks repairable to me.

Also, the brakes suck like something fierce and the front shocks are blown.

All in all though, I'm stoked to have a Z again!

Here are a couple quick pics...

[siteunseen]

Sucky brakes = front end crash?

[Glliw]

I wouldn't doubt it if they were the cause, with how they felt on the ride home!

[Glliw]

I spent a bit more time with the car tonight and snapped a few pics along the way. I was mostly just cleaning it out and inspecting things. Its amazing how much crap people leave behind in a car they sell.

Here's some pics of what I got into.

[siteunseen]

At first I thought it looked to be a re-paint, but it looks now like the engine has been out and the engine bay has been sprayed with something like undercoating maybe? Find your color here 70-78 Datsun Z Paint Code Gallery

Then look for a silver sticker in front of the radiator for the color number.

[Glliw]

The code it has is 301, which is the Brown Metallic. What makes you think it was a repaint?

[siteunseen]

When I saw that the engine bay wasn't the same color as the car.

[Glliw]

Ah, I see what you are saying then. I'll look at it again tonight when I get home and see. I believe it was an undercoating or something like it that was in the engine bay. The whole underside is undercoated.

I wish I had more history on the car. Really all I know is I'm at least the 4th owner so It'll be interesting to see what I find as I get further into it.

I'm now wondering if the engine's been out what the reason was. I'll try and get the head and block codes tonight and see if they match up for the year...

[EhlersRS]

Will,

Looks like a nice Z and glad to hear the rust is minimal. What are your plans for the car?

Robert S.

[Glliw]

Will,

Looks like a nice Z and glad to hear the rust is minimal. What are your plans for the car?

Robert S.

Yes, very nice indeed! If only it didn't have the front end damage, hah!

My plans are not 100% decided right now. I'm torn between doing a DIY megasquirt injection system or going triple webers. To be honest, I haven't thought much past just getting the front end straightened back up as I know that'll be a decent chunk o' change to accomplish.

I think long term goal is to have it be a weekend fun car and do some autocross with it.

Tonight I got the front bumper off as well as the splash pan to inspect what all was crunched up in the front end.

Here's the bumper...looks like he rear-ended a truck, even though he said he was hit, heh.

A shot of the front end once I got the bumper off...I couldn't get the passenger's side shock due to it being bent in enough to where I couldn't grab onto that rear 3rd bolt.

Passenger's side suspension...greasy!

Same deal on the driver's side

Driver's side bumper shock mount area...looks like that tab of metal at the corner of the radiator support and the shock mount took a bit of a bend during the damage.

Does anyone know what these white plastic electrical boxes are and where I could get a new cover for it? Looks like this one got brittle over time and blew ou

Underneath the car...

Edited July 26, 2013 by Glliw

[siteunseen]

Call your local Nissan dealer with this part number, they might can get them or buy them off e-bay.

240Z 260z 280z Fusible Link Covers Two Genuine Nissan | eBay

[siteunseen]

Call your local Nissan dealer with this part number, they might can get them or buy them off e-bay.

240Z 260z 280z Fusible Link Covers Two Genuine Nissan | eBay