1973 Rebuild

[Patcon]

Congrats on the job.

[Matthew Abate]

Thanks!

/M

[Matthew Abate]

Okay, most of what I've been doing this week has been on the house work, so the Z work has been limited to research. Originally I had intended to figure out what I wanted the finished car to have on it and just do the installation of all of that stuff once, but the more I look into it the more I realize that the things I had originally intended to do might make the car no fun on the street, and I really don't intend to ever take it on a track day. I might do some autocross stuff at best.

 

So I am bailing on the majority of the mods until the car is on the road. This should help my budget a bit in the short term, but will probably result in wasting money on fixing up parts that eventually come off in the long term. Whatever.

 

Right now I think I am going to continue to body / paint work (obviously) and keep the original engine and suspension until I find out how I feel about them. I am limiting the immediate mods list to the 5-speed and the Subaru differential (unless I find something else that is better or more cost effective).

 

This should give me a pretty satisfying car. Who knows. Maybe I'll be happy with just that stuff.

[rossiz]

driving it bone stock (or close) is a great way to learn the car so you can make careful mods that will matter. the other nice part is you'll be so happy to have it on the road, it will be christmas day for a few months, then when you do each mod you get another exciting upgrade every time. spreads out the joy and you'll really appreciate the difference each mod makes.

[Matthew Abate]

Well, I think I might be able to get it on the road by this time next year then. I had a guy from Kanter Auto Restoration come by today and check it out. His welding quote was pretty high, but he was talking about cutting a bunch of pieces to fit instead of using new floors. If I get new floors the price comes down, but he prefers to do small patches if possible because he said he can make it look original without compromising the structure and geometry of the car.

He also expects me to strip it and do the undercoat myself. For no more than $6,000 he will weld it, etch prime and then do a wet on wet epoxy coat, and paint the outside, door jambs, and engine bay. The inside is not included and would just get a coat of "plastic" over the repairs.

This isn't really what I was intending to do, but it would get the project moving. I had planned to completely strip it, paint the entire car with fresh paint, have it under coated, all with the suspension off.

Lots to think about...

Edited November 4, 2015 by Matthew

[Matthew Abate]

Back on the topic of transmissions and gear ratios, here's some info I've dug up that could use vetting...

From this thread on HybridZ (http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/106071-is-the-280zx-na-tranny-the-same-as-the-280z-5-speed-tranny/):

79 and earlier 5spds have a Porsche servo style 5th gear synchro, while 80 and up have a borg warner cone type synchro.

81-83 boxes are identifiable by only 1 ear where the exhaust mount is.

early 5 speeds and late 5 speeds have the speedo cog locking slot cut into the cog body 180* apart from each other. The speedo cog mounting hole is 180* out on the housing to match the new cog body. 81-83 5speeds have taller shifter mounting ears making the use of short throw shifters easier.

81-83 boxes were intended to be used with 3.70 or 3.90 diffs. Earlier boxes are intended to be used with 3.54's.

And various ratio data for FS5W71B transmissions from all over:

1977-1979 280Z (3.321, 2.077, 1.308, 1.000, 0.864)

1980 280ZX (3.062, 1.858, 1.308, 1.000, 0.773)

1981-1983 280ZX (3.062, 1.858, 1.308, 1.000, 0.745)

1977-1978 620 (3.321, 2.077, 1.308, 1.000, 0.864)

1979 620 (3.592, 2.246, 1.415, 1.000, 0.882)

1977-1980 720 (can't find ratios)

1980 720 2WD (3.592, 2.246, 1.415, 1.000, 0.882)

1981+ 720 (can't find ratios)

1977-1979 810/Maxima (3.321, 2.077, 1.308, 1.000, 0.864)

1980-1981 810/Maxima (3.321, 2.077, 1.308, 1.000, 0.833)

If anyone can help fill in the blanks, verify or counter the HybridZ statements, or advise, it would be much appreciated.

Here are the 240 4-speed ratios for reference: 3.592, 2.246, 1.415, 1.000

/M

Edited November 11, 2015 by Matthew

[Matthew Abate]

Did this today:

/M

[ksechler]

Nice work.  Car doesn't look to bad rust wise.  Mine was a mess under the battery tray.

[Matthew Abate]

Update: This project isn't dead, It's just not moving.

I spent the last few months doing research and getting my garage in order for snow. so there isn't a whole lot of room or time to do anything to the Z directly. But I have been working on my Z knowledge.

Two developments:

• I bout new floor panels from Zed.
• I learned how to weld.

Now, to be sure, I suck at welding. I need some serious practice and don't feel confident that I could do the floors correctly at the moment. But I will keep practicing as I look for a shop to paint my car. Maybe I'll get good enough before I find one and end up doing it myself. Maybe I'll end up finding one and just having them do it. Either way all the supplies and materials are in hand so my knowledge is the only thing holding it up.

Finding a shop in northern New Jersey is proving pretty tough, though. They seem to want about 8 times what it would cost me in Arizona, where I lived the last time I did this.

I'm also looking into a new engine. I don't need one, but I am inclined to go 2800cc and sell my non-original-to-the-car '73 engine, keeping the '72 SUs and whatever else can be repurposed. Right now I'm leaning F54/P79, but I would love to hear that an E88 the better choice, because I have one of those right now.

Anyway… ONWARD!

Edited February 18, 2016 by Matthew Abate

[Patcon]

What welder are you using?

[Matthew Abate]

I ended up impulse buying a Hobart Handler 140 from northern tool because I had a couple coupons that didn't cancel each other out, plus free shipping, so not a bad deal even if I maybe should have gone up a notch, or maybe a different brand if I hadn't had the deal.

/M

[Patcon]

I have the Hobart 210 or 230 from them. I like it and haven't really had any issues. I find running thin wire .023 or .025 makes it easier to weld on these thin cars. Real thin areas on setting #1 about 20 in/min thicker stuff on #2 at about 25 in/min very rarely up to #3 or #4. Also keep the feed line as straight as possible if it has a lot of turns in it sometimes it doesn't feed consistently. You should have plenty of welder, so with a little practice you will figure it out. Are you using shield gas? I don't like flux core wire....