280Z Full Restore in 5 months, hopefully.

[LeonV]

Great project, love the green/butterscotch!

[CG240Z]

Made some killer progress this weekend. I should clarify what I mean by "Full Restore". Is it not going to be a trailer queen, but it will be a damn good weekend driver.

Got the paint 99% stripped. Spent many hours behind the blaster, while I had friends grinding and sanding. Looks like the driver door took a good wack, had a good amount of bondo on it. And the right rear quarter had some bondo where it took a good wack also. What's funny is I bought this car from the original owner and didn't even think to ask if it's ever been in a wreck, haha. Whoever did the body work did a really good job, the bondo was on there pretty good. But all and all it's nothing that's not repairable, it's just how it goes with 30 year old cars.

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Stripped the interior completely besides the dash. The plan is to spray LizardSkin in to quiet the ride and keep the temps down. Also found these guys will tearing it all part. It will be a neat thing to have for car shows.[ATTACH=CONFIG]65224[/ATTACH]

Took a break from body work and tore the engine down completely. The engine has definitely been sitting for 18 years. Even with an oil change and running the engine for 30 minutes a few weeks ago, their was sludge everywhere. The engine will need some hot tanking for sure.

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Piston #1 is looking a little rough, so in an attempt to save money and time this engine is going to sit on the shelf for awhile. I have a 280 engine that my dad completely rebuilt for my 240 project that has zero miles on it. It already has the higher compression pistons and bigger cam. Doing this will save me the time of rebuilding it since I'm on a time crunch.

[CG240Z]

ahh.. bummer, not sure why the pictures didn't show up. Let me see if I can fix it.

[CG240Z]

Woah those are some big pictures.

[CG240Z]

Back to body work. Got 2 coats of primer on so I can see exactly what kind of body work I'm looking at. Primer went on very smooth. Didn't get everything primed, but got a lot.

Both front fenders need patch panels welded on at the bottom and they have some other rust issues. I bought one patch panel last week so I could start working on it. After looking at them closer I said scratch that, and I ordered two new fenders from Black Dragon. Time is money and two new fenders will save some time.

[CG240Z]

Has anyone seen these before?

I have never seen these before and my car didn't have them. They go over the tool storage compartments behind the seats. How do you get to them? I had no access to these compartments with my carpet going over them.

[rcb280z]

Those are on the earlier 280's. My 77 doesn't have them. Great project you have there. It's more enjoyable with a group of friends for sure. I would like to do mine again. Keep the pics coming.

[AndysPlit]

I am liking this thread. Love the ambition! Watching with interest indeed.

[AndysPlit]

That's an appendage from the 240. The 240's had storage compartments behind the seats on the rear deck. Yes, quite useless on our 280s .

Has anyone seen these before?

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I have never seen these before and my car didn't have them. They go over the tool storage compartments behind the seats. How do you get to them? I had no access to these compartments with my carpet going over them.

[EuroDat]

Its a long time since Ive seen a Datsun tyre inflation can. They are getting really hard to find these days.

Like most 280Z's its hard to survive 35 years and more without contacting something along the way. If it has not damaged the structure its ok. Panels, doors etc are fixable/replacable.

You are really moving at a blistering pace. How many friends have you got working on it? Its like watching your favorite TV series, cant wait till the next episode;)

Goodluck and don't forget to enjoy it along the way. Restoring is part of "journey'

Chas

[CG240Z]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. So far it's been between 4 or 5 of us hitting it hard on the weekends. One of my buddies likes to sandblast, that's the dammdest thing, haha. I hate it, so it works out very well. Over Hauling does a complete car in a week with a unlimited budget and 30 some people. Hopefully I can do 5 months with 5 people.

[CG240Z]

Ordered the front air dam, Ebach lowering springs, Tokico HP shocks, master bushing kit, and MSA sway bar kit. Getting things ready so I'll be able to tackle the suspension soon.

Making some killer progress on the body. The hood is looking good. I'll need to prime it again to do a final check.

<a href="http://s254.photobucket.com/user/taillonml/media/IMG_5470.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh101/taillonml/IMG_5470.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_5470.jpg"/></a>

Headlight buckets are all done, they just needed a little work.

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One of the doors has some rust holes on the bottom so got a patch panel made for it. Got that welded on and started getting it ready for bondo. Couldn't ask for it to come out any better.

Here's the patch.

<a href="http://s254.photobucket.com/user/taillonml/media/IMG_5497.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh101/taillonml/IMG_5497.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_5497.jpg"/></a>

And welded on.

<a href="http://s254.photobucket.com/user/taillonml/media/IMG_5501.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh101/taillonml/IMG_5501.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_5501.jpg"/></a>

Started working on the rear quarter. It's still going to need more work. It took a good beating some point in it's life.

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Something else that I'm pretty excited about is the air cleaner housing. My dad surprised me and blasted it and painted it for me. It came out great. It's really going to make the engine compartment pop! I was going to go with some sort of aftermarket intake, but I think this stock intake with a good air filter will work just as well and look even better.

Before the clear coat.

<a href="http://s254.photobucket.com/user/taillonml/media/IMG_5495.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh101/taillonml/IMG_5495.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_5495.jpg"/></a>

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With the clear this thing screams! Can't wait to see it in the car.

<a href="http://s254.photobucket.com/user/taillonml/media/IMG_5498.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh101/taillonml/IMG_5498.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_5498.jpg"/></a>