Restoration Unveiled Today 08.17.2019

[Car54280ZX]

Wowee Zowiee! I think that Piper might go a little faster than a ZCar but . . . I would recommend to take the plunge.

What's important about doing your own restoration, you know what you have when you are done. You know what has been replaced and when; you know more about the engine and drive train; you know more about every little detail. And it's worth while. That's my opinion. Just my down-to-earth opinion.

[Car54280ZX]

From the photo I posted earlier, see how sharp the engine looks? I had the fuel rail and numerous other parts re-dipped in cadmium. Not painted with the cadmium paint kit. It's the real thing. I had it done in Chicago. Please let me know if you want to know the name of the company. I highly recommend this company. They do a lot of industrial plating.

The only thing is you have to clean the items first. Yes, you need to sandblast all of it, and then plug the ends of the fuel rail. But it comes back absolutely golden.

[Car54280ZX]

On 4/2/2020 at 6:55 AM, dutchzcarguy said:

One is aside the other on top of the cube.

 

To Rich,

Your welcome.

i want to say, get yourself (if you don't already have one) the Original service manual, it's the best guide to solve problems. But..

Parts like the Warning Module, are in a block diagram, parts inside are not specified..  

 

I remember that i made some pic's of the inside… 

 

of that amplifier..

 

or as they call it on the unit: warning module!!

 

Lot's of... eh.... Cmos 4000 series?  real late '70 electronics !!!!

 

Look at it!  You can't believe this electronic unit is almost 40 years old!!!  todays electronics are hopeless when you look at/compare to this gem.

Every part can easely be replaced.. try that with modern electronics.. pfoei!

 

 

For as far i can see you only need to replace 3 capacitors on the circuitboard..  (In pic 1)  on the right one cap (C3??) just right from the black tape round the 3 wires.  and 2 caps in the bottom of the pic each on 1/3 of the board..(marked C1 and C2!)

Maybe also the tantalum caps..(The blue droplets like parts) @Captain Obvious  I don't know really but i think they are as strong as the rest of the part on the board?

In the '70-80-90 when i repaired electronics you had lots of books, today with the internet.. you just type the number which is on the Integrated circuit (ic) and you get all the info on it you'll ever need !!! 

for example a 4011..

https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/63585/HITACHI/HD14011B.html

 

 

I see the "can" type capacitor that is shadowed behind the the black taped wires, and the other "can" type capacitor near the bottom of the circuit board. Are these the ones you are referring-to in the first photo? These two might not be too hard to replace.Are these are power capacitors? The ones that look fried when they are bad?

[dutchzcarguy]

5 hours ago, Car54280ZX said:

Are these the ones you are referring-to in the first photo? These two might not be too hard to replace.Are these are power capacitors? The ones that look fried when they are bad?

Yes, those 3 probably need to be renewed. (at the bottom of pic1 are 2 caps..  one on a third of the width of the board (light shines on it (C2), a bigger one!) and on 2/3 of the width is a smaller one.. (C1)  the one  right from the taped whires is probably C3,  these 3 caps are electrolytic capacitors and (in this case) not likely to have leaked out of the aluminium can    (I prefer aluminium to aluminum as it is the same in Dutch!!) .

You can get these in a electronics store or order them.. just look for the capacity thats written on them ( in micro farads..  uF).  When you take the circuitboard out, you have to watch the plus and minus of the caps.  There are some BIG "minus"  stripes on... yep.. the minus side of the connectors..

Getting to the box in your dash is not a big problem, just take of the cover on the right bottom and take out the glovebox.. you've done that before.. (watch out for the top of the box and take out the lightfilament..)

Keep us posted!  ?

 

6 hours ago, Car54280ZX said:

I spent a boat load of USD's to get this back to original stock condition. North of $50,000.

Restoring a 240z was expensive, even 20 years ago for me.. but a 280zx, which is a much more complicated car can be even more costly..

I'm restoring my 3rd car now and this last one i keep all the bills in a file folder and it does not close very well now i'm at the end of the resto.. if you know what i mean.. ?

If i had to guess, i would say my restoration costs over 20000 euro's and not counting the over 1000 hours of prof. labour..   (as i'm disabled due to a accident at work in 1999..  (and privatly i tried to run down a big oak tree  in 2006, with my fireblade..) i count every 2-3 hours as 1 hour of work..  depending also on how i feel that day etc.. 

So if you had to pay someone it could get roughly to  70000 euro's...   

A labour of love.. it has to be.. otherwise it's a moneypit.

[hansmeister]

CAR54280ZX, thanks for the info on the fuel rail.  I have already done than to mine by a plating shop here in LA.  I believe the process is to zinc plate first, then polish that to a high shine, and dip in heated sodium dichromate.  I paid $150.  It looks like its gold plated.  Waiting for improved weather to clear coat the intake manifold, and then begin the assembly.  I also set up a plating line in the hanger to do the small stuff.

Yes, the plane has been a labor of love, and as you might expect, when it came into my life 32 years ago, the ZX took second fiddle, and now I must pay the price for that.

The plane is an Oshkosh award winner, and has been extensively improved.  I cruise 210 mph at 8500' burning 14.5 gph.  You can take a look at www.hdneubert.com.

[Patcon]

Pretty plane!

Quite the resume too!

Edited April 5, 2020 by Patcon

[Car54280ZX]

On 4/5/2020 at 12:02 PM, hansmeister said:

CAR54280ZX, thanks for the info on the fuel rail.  I have already done than to mine by a plating shop here in LA.  I believe the process is to zinc plate first, then polish that to a high shine, and dip in heated sodium dichromate.  I paid $150.  It looks like its gold plated.  Waiting for improved weather to clear coat the intake manifold, and then begin the assembly.  I also set up a plating line in the hanger to do the small stuff.

Yes, the plane has been a labor of love, and as you might expect, when it came into my life 32 years ago, the ZX took second fiddle, and now I must pay the price for that.

The plane is an Oshkosh award winner, and has been extensively improved.  I cruise 210 mph at 8500' burning 14.5 gph.  You can take a look at www.hdneubert.com.

From my extensive research on plating, I also believe that your explanation of the process is right-on! I went to the Caswell Store to see if I could do it myself. But after extensive reading about do it yourself blunders, I decided to have it done professionally. Home / garage doers need to perform this process in warm weather temperatures and with lots of ventilation.

But, I’m not sure how they can polish the fuel rail. Hard to do on the fuel rail.

In my case I think they dipped it in another chemical after the zinc plating, but before dipping it into the yellow chromate solution.

In addition to the fuel rail, I had them apply the yellow chromate to several other miscellaneous parts like the hose clamps, small bolts, nuts and washers, and other pieces from the engine bay that had the yellow chromate originally. I believe they put these small parts in a basket for immersion.

I can say that they did a great job and all of the parts carry that irradiance color. 
Beware. If you clear coat the intake manifold, it’s considered as a modification and you will lose points in a serious car show. Take it from me. I powder coated the intake manifold, the valve cover and transmission bell housing. Only to discover that I lose points for these minor upgrades.

I hope I don’t get hammered by the web master when I explain that the firm who did the work was RELIABLE PLATING, located in Chicago, in a good neighborhood! Cost me $150 for the entire inventory of fuel rail parts including hose clamps, washers and nuts clamp bars, etc. This company did an excellent job, with a two week turnaround time. This company is a sizable outfit, but they do this plating all the time for small time automotive enthusiasts!

 

 

[hansmeister]

I read your comments and replies to the mods you made, and points to be lost.  I have no intention of going to Branson or any serious show.  I'[m just interested to bring it up the standard you have set, and enjoy it as long as possible.  I printed all your photos on 11 x 17 for reference.  The body is in good shape except for rust around the windshield and one corner of the hatch.  It used to be just covered, but now its inside a Harbor Freight tent.

My valve cover is polished, the transmission was overhauled and had them clear coat it, and fuel rail looks like gold, so I'm loosing points already.

As I did with the plane, I'm trying to as much work myself as possible, but age is creeping up.

Thank you for all your insightful comments.

[Stang]

Car54280ZX you did a wonderful job on your car. I just bought what I think is a all original 810280zx. I would like to get it judged any idea where to get this done. 

[dutchzcarguy]

On 4/8/2020 at 6:08 AM, hansmeister said:

I'm trying to as much work myself as possible, but age is creeping up.

@hansmeister How are you Hans?  I saw you haven't been on the forum since april..  So busy with the 280zx?  If so make your own thread about it!  Hope you are well!

Here a pic of my restored/refreshed car.. a 1979 slick roof 280zx 2+2

Still busy with little things like a restore on the rear window washer pump..  Drove over 500 km. Oil looks still fairly clean!

[hansmeister]

dutchzcarguy,  I live in SoCal, and this summer has been damn hot.  Impossible to get any work done.  I'll ramp up in the fall when temperatures are more to my liking.

[dutchzcarguy]

Oh.. i know the feeling..  last summer of 2019 we had also a few very hot days of 40 C  ( 105 F ??)  one gets nothing done..  especially when you are a bit older.  Hope to read about your restoration on this forum later on!