Tim's 1978 280z

[grannyknot]

So a buddy of mine has been hunting for a 77-78/280 for a long time and has come close to buying several times but for one reason or another they didn't happen.  Just a couple of weeks ago one came up on ebay that fit bill perfectly and Tim went after it and won the auction, it is now sitting in his garage waiting for spring!

The car is very clean with only one area of serious corrosion under the battery tray and a few spots here and there, easy fixes.  I'm going to do a little pre-safety certificate work on it tomorrow so will come home with lots of pics and details. Over the next couple years we are going to transform it into the car he has always wanted,  here are a couple of pics that were sent to me.

 

[Pilgrim]

Looks nice, but I'm a sucker for blue cars.  I hope it works out great!

[grannyknot]

I spent the day cleaning grounds and power connectors and worked my way around to the dim P/S headlight, I cleaned every connector and couldn't figure out why it was still dim. There was nothing left to check so I had a look at the fuses, Bingo, all of them were original and so oxidized that there wasn't much current passing through.  Replaced all of the fuses and it fixed the headlights but blew the ignition relay, water had leaked into it at some time in the past and it was ready to pop, I guess it wasn't use to full power.

Whiteheads had one to sell so I'll give that a go tomorrow and hope the next weakest link doesn't show up.  So the car has a Stage 2 DatsunSpirt engine with only 5,000 miles on it, the car itself has 95,000 mi. New 16" Panasport wheels with Toyo Proxies , new complete exhaust system but WAY too loud so I'll install a resonator and see if that will bring it down.  The 3.54 diff has been overhauled and a full poly bushing kit was installed.  I think we'll be removing most of the poly and replacing with rubber.

Tim has lots of plans and ideas for the car but they are evolving and changing from day to day,  I have encouraged him to just drive the car as it is for the spring, summer, fall season, then in Oct. we'll sit down and draw up a plan, I have a feeling his list of wants are going to be very different in the fall.  He has wanted a Z since he was a kid but has never driven one so this is going to be lots fun.

 

[gwri8]

He picked a nice one!

[Captain Obvious]

Nice work. Those fuses have given their all. I did the same thing on my car a while ago... Tossed out all the old fuses and cleaned up the fuse block fingers before installing the new fuses. A little contact lube on the fuse block fingers.

I would also recommend pulling apart and cleaning all the connections between the firewall harnesses and the console. You know... All the connectors that get corroded because the heater core leaked on them ten years ago.

Good luck with the project and here's hoping there aren't too many gremlins hiding under the newer paint!

[Holton]

Thanks Guys.

This is going to be a fun project and with Chris's help she should be a fine example of a 280 with its own special character.

[Captain Obvious]

Welcome aboard! I suspect if you're a friend of Chris', you're already a special character.

This is your place, right?  

[Holton]

Hi all... I was wondering if anyone has the steering wheel horn parts for a 280z. I got the original wheel from the previous owner but it is short all the parts. Hope you can help, Tim

[zKars]

I can fix you up. Send me a PM. 

[Holton]

14 minutes ago, zKars said:

I can fix you up. Send me a PM. 

Thanks, sorry but I am so new here I dont know what a PM is...

[zKars]

Aha! PM=Personal message. 

Click on my screen name, zKars, then when the new window opens, find the message button. Click it and type your message.

That way we can discuss details without polluting the thread.