My Datsun 280Z "Rustoration"

[HuD 91gt]

What did you do to paint the wheels black? They were silver previously

[S30Driver]

He mentioned that he had them powder coated.

They look great.

[HaZmatt]

Yep had them powder coated.

[HaZmatt]

Been busy with family the last couple weeks so I havent had the time to work on the Z till now.

I covered the floor pans, headliner, door panels, and a few other inner panels with Dynamat. I used the 34 sq ft kit and worked out pretty well. Should be nice and quiet now.

Also installed the door handles and hinge hardware.

[240tom]

Hazmatt, love this resto thread, you are doing awesome work. I'm in the middle of my own restoration, and am actually putting in Fatmat Rattletrap these days. I've been wondering about how much coverage I should do, reading all the other posts about this I can find (this club is such a good resource!) but getting confused about how extensively I need to cover everything. Some posts show every square inch covered with this stuff, others not so much. It seems to me that this material really only serves its purpose on the "flimsier" panels, like the floorpans, left rear quarter panel, headliner, and door panels, since it is meant to reduce or deaden vibrations, and slapping it on every square inch isn't necessary. That said, I find myself nodding at your placement scheme. Are you also going to put it on your tranny tunnel and on the rear deck? What is your thinking on how much to use and where to put it? Finally, do you also plan on putting down any kind of padding or foam for sound reduction? Thanks for any advice!

[240260280z]

for sound deadening you can do the tap test to hear what vibrates.

Another way would be to mount a speaker on a location then use a software tool to do a frequency sweep. You should hear the points were resonance occurs (excitation of the metal). The speaker's magnets and steel car shell make this easy to do but a super magnet may also help couple the speaker to the metal. If you use a magnetic parts bowl to couple the speaker, remove the rubber base as you do not want isolation of the speaker from the body.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Blue

[HaZmatt]

Hazmatt, love this resto thread, you are doing awesome work. I'm in the middle of my own restoration, and am actually putting in Fatmat Rattletrap these days. I've been wondering about how much coverage I should do, reading all the other posts about this I can find (this club is such a good resource!) but getting confused about how extensively I need to cover everything. Some posts show every square inch covered with this stuff, others not so much. It seems to me that this material really only serves its purpose on the "flimsier" panels, like the floorpans, left rear quarter panel, headliner, and door panels, since it is meant to reduce or deaden vibrations, and slapping it on every square inch isn't necessary. That said, I find myself nodding at your placement scheme. Are you also going to put it on your tranny tunnel and on the rear deck? What is your thinking on how much to use and where to put it? Finally, do you also plan on putting down any kind of padding or foam for sound reduction? Thanks for any advice!

Hi 240tom!

Thanks for the compliment. Ive heard good things about the Fatmat as well. In my opinion, you can go as far as you want with sound deadening. The sky is the limit. I think going all out is a little unnecessary unless you are doing a stereo competition car. For me, I am mainly concerned with replacing the factory sound deadening that I removed on the floor pans. Along with taking care of some trouble areas like the doors, roof, and rear hatch area. I don't want to add too much because this stuff is actually pretty heavy. I have a little leftover so I will wait until I start driving it and i'm sure ill find a few more areas to put it. I'll probably wait till then to see if I need the padding or not as well.

[Jeff G 78]

Any idea how much weight the Dynamat added?

[HaZmatt]

Any idea how much weight the Dynamat added?

I believe the shipping weight was 15 lbs.

[Jeff G 78]

Thanks. Adding 15 lbs. isn't terrible for a street car to get the NVH better.

[HaZmatt]

Hello, Im back. It ended up being an expensive weekend for me. I just bought my first brand new vehicle, a '14 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I really like it so far.

Ok back to the Z....

I also purchased this bad boy.

A 5 speed close ratio out of an 80 ZX. Now all I need is a new rear diff with some 3.90 gears and I'll be good to go. I may run the original diff for awhile but I think the gearing will make it sluggish on the low end. Maybe the torque of the 3.1 might make up for it, we will have to wait and see. I couldn't pass up the deal on craigslist for the tranny.

I also installed my firewall insulator I got from Black Dragon. Its good quality material but the fit isnt the greatest. It required some trimming.

I then spent most of my weekend rebuilding my heater box. The entire box was disassembled and cleaned. Replaced heater core, hoses, blower motor, foam seals, and re-greased all moving parts. It should work like new now.

This was nasty.

Clean blower fan and new blower motor.

New heater core on the right.

Hoses were brittle and leaking.

New hoses and reassembled.

Then I went to work on the wiring harness. Just scrubbed it down with degreaser and re-wrapped it with new harness tape. It turned out really good.

I hope to have the motor back from Rebello soon!

[Hardway]

First off, you are making awesome progress with your build. I love the attention to detail! Keep the pics coming.

I have a ZX 5spd in my '71 240z and it still has the stock R180 diff in it. I don't know what gears are in it but I know its not anywhere near 3.90. However, cruising around town and even fast sprints on to highway on-ramps are no problem whatsoever. The car makes plenty of power and doesn't strain the motor. I personally like it as it lets me take advantage of the full power range of the engine.