1977 280z Light Restoration Project

[Patcon]

12 minutes ago, dmuzial said:

@Patcon thanks! Appreciate it. I have seen Courtesy mentioned a few times before. Is it because they have a big eCommerce presence?

 

Courtesy has a pretty good parts site but the best thing is, they are very supportive of the classic car segment. I like to see that rewarded

[siteunseen]

Yes they do know our small market and keep us "fed".

[DannDZ]

@dmuzial  I don't see much activity on this thread, so I thought I'd ask where you are in your project. Are you planning? Are you able to work through the winter?

[Muzez]

On 11/21/2019 at 1:56 PM, DannDZ said:

@dmuzial  I don't see much activity on this thread, so I thought I'd ask where you are in your project. Are you planning? Are you able to work through the winter?

@DannDZ Thanks for checking in! Had the in-laws in for the Thanksgiving Holidays, so went dark for the ritualistic "make everything in the house spotless only for guests to trash the place" dance.

Got the car set up on cribs and jackstands this week, so I am getting ready to go to work. Did a deep inspection. Chassis was in better shape than I expected, which is good. Few metal components which probably will need significant refinish or replacement (see e-brake components below). Going to drop the oil pan next weekend and then clean up around the transmission to see if my oil leak is from the main seal or just the pan. 

General question (happy to move to a different forum section if better there): found a 280z 5 speed transmission for sale near me for $75. Guy just pulled his 5 speed to replace for the ZX 5 speed. 80k miles. Good working order. Debating picking it up for expressway driving and added value on resale value (I presume). Worth the effort? Pros and cons of 280z 5 speed versus waiting and eventually doing zx 5 speed? 

[DannDZ]

@dmuzial, Glad you are able to get back to work on it. It's great that the Chicago winter doesn't stop the work.

Kind of a silly question, but did you glue and screw your stands together? My buddy and I are discussing if we want to make wooden wheel crates for next years work or to just rely on jack stands at the four jack points. A bit off-topic, but I'd like to hear from anyone following this thread.

[Patcon]

I would pick up any 5 speed for $75, but I am some what of a "collector"

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, dmuzial said:

Worth the effort? Pros and cons of 280z 5 speed versus waiting and eventually doing zx 5 speed? 

Buy it! Even if it sits in the corner and does nothing you will double or triple your money if you sell it, but more importantly if you don't buy it, it may end up at the metal recyclers and we don't want that.

 

2 hours ago, DannDZ said:

A bit off-topic, but I'd like to hear from anyone following this thread.

There are pros and cons to both, wheel stands put no stress on the springs or rubber isolators at top the strut mounts but you can't work on the brakes because of the tires, Jack stands give you the most room to move a round and access to everything but sometimes old rubber isolators tear away  with the constant weight pulling on them.

[S30Driver]

I agree, get that 5 speed!

Many of the later zx transmissions are close ratio, which most, including myself, prefer.   A great deal at $75 with no shipping if its local.

[Muzez]

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

There are pros and cons to both. 

@DannDZ @grannyknot covered it well. I am currently using a mixture of both. Most of the parts I am starting with are chassis, engine, and transmission related so the wheel stands give me a solid structure and great height to work on the car (about 2-4in higher than jack stands based on current config), but it does slightly limit what you can work on and your mobility. I have the back wheels on jack stands so that I can pull off the rear suspension components later this winter.

The wheel stands are pretty solid construction. I ripped some 2x12s for the boards and used deck screws to connect everything together. I didn't seen any advisory to use glue on any of the templates I looked at. 2 things to think about as you are building.

1. Measure your jack stand base.  You can make the wheel stand structure so you can put the jack stands on top of the wheel stands for added height.
2. Consider half fixed, half stack-able wheel stands. You can fix the bottom and then build a few additional tiers that can be added to vary the height where needed. 
   Bonus: I saw a cool design for a bench that uses the wheel stands as the structure. Can't find the template, but its mention at the link here.

@Patcon , @grannyknot,& @S30Driver any advice on common failure points on these transmissions that I should keep an eye out for? 

Also, will get you a few better photos tonight, but two questions:

1. I know almost 0 about HVAC systems and haven't had a chance to look through Haynes. I need to move the HVAC hose circled in red to clean up some surface rust on the frame (currently sitting on the frame, no play). The hose is on the drivers side of the car under the brake master cylinder and runs between the compressor and the firewall. Any idea if this hose is fluid filled and/or the best way to remove?

2. Will definitely send you a better photo of this tonight, but at the top of my engine bay and along the top of the trunk, there is a dark brown film. It has two layers, one brown (primary), then below it is white (secondard), then below that is the engine bay paint. Was there a protective surface coating on the engine bay that I should be wary of removing? Planning to do a deep clean on the engine bay this winter and wanted to make sure I wasn't removing anything important. 
 

 

[Patcon]

I would say that is one of the refrigerant lines to the AC compressor. Has Freon in it. Do not crack it open! Your best bet is to remove any clips if possible to make it looser and work around it.

As for the engine bay line, I would say that is just grime of some sort. Wash away...

[Muzez]

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

As for the engine bay line, I would say that is just grime of some sort. Wash away...

Trust me, I can't wait. 

[grannyknot]

Those transmissions are pretty tough, just run good quality oil in it.