My Datsun 280Z "Rustoration"

[HaZmatt]

Hello, I wanted to post a build thread to document the process of my restoration. I have a 1975 280Z that I purchased off a local craigslist ad. Heres the ad.

Ive wanted one of these cars since I was in high school and was looking for one that was in decent shape without too much rust and that was running. I went and looked at this one and thought it was in pretty good shape. It had a little rust but I was thinking most of it was surface rust. I took it for a test drive and instantly fell in love. The motor was solid, brakes worked, and it cruised down the highway nice and straight. It felt like a great starting point for my project......so I thought.

Here she is the day I brought her home.

First thing I did was remove the front bumper

And the brackets

Edited May 8, 2014 by HaZmatt

[djwarner]

Welcome to the club of Z ownership. Almost all of us have walked down the path you are now taking. Someone in the forum has encountered just about any problem you will encounter. Don't hesitate to ask for help.

As with any Z, job one will be a thorough inspection for rust. If you have a Colorado or California car, you will probably fair better than most. But be sure to pull the battery and inspect under the mounting tray.

Again Welcome.

[rossiz]

beautiful ride, congrats! the previous post is quite correct: there is a great wealth of information on this forum, coming from folks who take a genuine interest in helping out. i'm a few months ahead of you (picked up my z in november) and thanks to the great help from folks here, she's now a solid daily driver

looking forward to seeing what you do with your new project!

[mjr45]

Where abouts in CO? I live up west of Colo. Spgs. and am willing and able, not necessarily real real knowledgeable, to help out. This club has fantastic members with tons of info on anything you might encounter.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks for the comments! I couldnt agree more, this forum has awesome members with a lot of knowledge that has been priceless on this build. Im actually pretty far along on the build and im just in the process of gathering my photos so I will try and post more tonight.

[HaZmatt]

Where abouts in CO? I live up west of Colo. Spgs. and am willing and able, not necessarily real real knowledgeable, to help out. This club has fantastic members with tons of info on anything you might encounter.

I live in Castle Rock. Thanks for offer, I may have to take you up on that!

[mjr45]

Just let me know, I'm always up for a little road trip, as long as I don't have to drive in the Denver traffic.

[HaZmatt]

So once I got her home I had a chance to really look her over.

Spare tire area looked good so thats a good sign.

Some rust on the rear hatch.

Dash has the normal Z cracks.

Interior is rough but complete.

Also removed the rear bumper

Fenders need to be replaced

Drivers floor pan is pretty bad.

Some more rust

The drivers frame rail is rusted, both frame rails in the fender wells are rusted, the battery tray is pretty bad, and the rockers are rusted as well.

There are definitely cleaner, more rust free Z's out there but it could be worse. I decided to move forward with the project and began to do a complete tear down for a full restoration.

[HaZmatt]

Most of the interior is removed.

Now its time to get the motor out

Removed the wiring harnesses

Removed glass and front body panels.

Some rust porn for you weirdos

[HaZmatt]

I scraped as much of the undercoating off as I could. This was fun....

Removed the fuel/brake lines.

Now shes ready to go to the media blaster.

She looked pretty pathetic when I left her there so I took a quick pic.

So with the car gone for awhile I turned my attention to stripping down the motor. I will be shipping it out to Rebello for a high compression 3.0 stroker set up.

All parts were labeled and sorted with ziploc bags.

[HaZmatt]

I got the car back after a week. They did a really thorough job. It was nice to finally work on it without getting dirty and greasy.

Then I worked on removing the suspension.

Next I started working on the metal work. Now I haven't welded anything since shop class in high school but I was eager to learn so I went out and bought a welder and got to work!

Heres some welding shots

[HaZmatt]

More rust repair pics

All interior frame areas were covered with Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating for rust protection

Heres the damaged frame rail.

I got a new piece fabricated by a local fab shop