280Z Full Restore in 5 months, hopefully.

[rcb280z]

Can't wait to see pics of the seats.

[CG240Z]

More progress being made. Got the seat skins in, they look great! Can't wait to get them to the upholstery to see the final product.

Got the rear bumper filler off to get it ready for the 240 bumpers.

The suspension and fuel/brake lines has been completely dropped, disassembled and primed. I dropped the brackets and control arms off at the powder coat shop to get coated black. Hopefully they'll be done this week so I can reassemble them this weekend. Spindles are kicking my butt still, I cut them into pieces to separate the control arm, still need to get them hammered out from the strut assemble.

Fenders primed and welded in the emblem holes, with some grinding and bondo over them.

Made another big parts purchase, ordered the 240 bumpers front and rear and a bunch of things from Autozone.

[CG240Z]

The parts not being powder coated have their 1st layer of primer.

Front air dam came in.

[CG240Z]

I spent a lot of hours over the weekend behind the sand blaster, nothing fun about it, but it has to get done.

[EuroDat]

Your not a Z veteran until you have done spindle pins. They would be up there at the top of the list for worsed jobs you can do on a Z.

Your project is on steroids. Hope you can keep it up. What you have done in a couple of weeks would take me like 2 years.

Chas

[CG240Z]

Your not a Z veteran until you have done spindle pins. They would be up there at the top of the list for worsed jobs you can do on a Z.

Your project is on steroids. Hope you can keep it up. What you have done in a couple of weeks would take me like 2 years.

Chas

Thanks. I pulled the spindles out of my 240 before and I remember thinking "How the hell am I going to do this?". Two things are allowing this project to go so quickly. Having enough money saved up so I don't have to wait on ordering parts, and having friends and family help me. Without those two I'd still be in the beginning stages. It's crazy how much you can get down when you have 4 people working on it at once.

[CG240Z]

Picked up an 83' 5 speed and 3.90 rear end a couple months ago. Got the rear end blasted and rear painted with the diff cover clear. The trans was painted black, blasted that and am going to clear over the aluminum.

[ninjazombiemaster]

Has anyone seen these before?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]65233[/ATTACH]

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.

My 240 has them. The carpet wasn't attached all the way to the lip, and there's a flap to uncover them. The interior of my boxes are lined in foam. Dunno if that's factory, or a measure the PO took to protect them. I can take a picture later if you want.

Great progress, btw!

[EuroDat]

What are your plans for the front grill and bumper? I see your want to remove the 280Z bumpers and just wondering what are your plans for the front. The air dam looks like a 280Z type, I cant see if it has the recesses for the 240/260Z indicators on the photo. So just wondering how you will go about it.

I changed my 280Z bumpers to 240Z and still not really happy with the front. I have the PU air dam for the 240Z and the indicators but still looking at ways toget the grill to match the bumper without big gaps.

Been looking at modifying the metal shield that fitted behind the bumper and attached to the bumper shocks and front fenders. The other option is to make a new grill.

Chas

Edited August 31, 2013 by EuroDat

[CG240Z]

What are your plans for the front grill and bumper? I see your want to remove the 280Z bumpers and just wondering what are your plans for the front. The air dam looks like a 280Z type, I cant see if it has the recesses for the 240/260Z indicators on the photo. So just wondering how you will go about it.

I changed my 280Z bumpers to 240Z and still not really happy with the front. I have the PU air dam for the 240Z and the indicators but still looking at ways toget the grill to match the bumper without big gaps.

Been looking at modifying the metal shield that fitted behind the bumper and attached to the bumper shocks and front fenders. The other option is to make a new grill.

Chas

The front bumper will be 240, the grill will be 280 with the turn signals in the light, valence is 280 with brake vents. I like the 240 front valence better with the blinkers built in, but I have the 280 valence, and I'm okay with it. As far as the 280 grill and 240 bumpers going to go together, I'm not sure how they'll match up. I haven't gotten to the stage of mocking things up. I'll keep you posted when I get there.

[CG240Z]

More progress made.

Got both the spindles out finally. They key was to stand on a stool to get even more leverage with a hammer. Safe and smart right? haha

My buddies taping up some holes in the firewall, getting it ready for primer.

The primer laid out very smoothly. I've been using an Eastwood Epoxy primer. It sprays very easily and coats very thick. Couldn't be happier with the product.

I didn't prime around the battery tray, because it's just a hole and I'm still waiting on the new one from the metal shop. That will need to get welded in.

[CG240Z]

Next up is blasting and painting the rear strut assemblies.

Started getting the rear brakes put together.

Got most of the front suspension put back together. The driver side rack and pinion bushing isn't fitting, I need to call the company to see what they say. So until then, I can't get that bolted down. I got most of my parts back from the powder coat shop. Holy cow did they come out great! The parts look brand new! Really excited about this. Also got the new MSA sway bars on. Much thicker than stock. They are beefy for this little Z.

Just an example of the powder coating, this brake shield looks brand new. You couldn't buy something new this nice.