1976 280 Z from Ohio to Dubai

[BAS_DXB]

Grateful to see your involvement and support, thank you all, that's fantastic !

Today I will be sharing the story of the seats I have for my project.

The original seats of the car were remade a couple of times from the original black, then white, then black and red (the version I got when purchase it), but needed to be fixed again, so I started a hunt for something a bit different.

To my mind, racing, comfort and vintage look means Recaro, and I decided to go directly to the source: Germany.

I knew I had to travel to Austria for work in September, and took the opportunity to check https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/ and I luckily found these 2 original pieces in the Black Forest region (close to the French/Swiss border). The "Made in W. Germany" molded on the recline adjustment side cover is just too good !

I had an original flight from Vienna (Austria) to Paris (France) to see some friends while in Europe before returning to Dubai, but it got cancelled by the airline, so I decided to take the journey by train/car, with all the Covid lock down happening in Europe, that was a journey and a half. Took the train from Salzburg (Austria) to Munich (Germany) then a Bus to Zurich (Switzerland) another train to Basel (Switzerland), another one to Mulhouse (France) to finally rent a car and drive 1h deep into the Germany Black Forest to a beautiful town called Zell im Wiesental (https://goo.gl/maps/JyQkPe9DYV24LBXp9). Brought back the seats by car to Paris, and then flew them as my checked-in luggage to Dubai.

The restoration work has already started and I should get them finished by mid January.

Below is the selected fabric and leather - question: gold or black rivet ?

The inspiration for the seat is from Robert Downey Junior BMW E9:

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by BAS_DXB

[wheee!]

IMPORTANT!

You will need to remove the catalytic converter hump on the driver side floor pan in order to fit these seats. I left mine in and spent wayyyy too much time building that hump back into the floor only to realize I could no longer fit aftermarket seats in the drivers side....
Charlie’s floor pan does not have the hump built in for the catalytic converter.

[wheee!]

....and don’t forget about Carbon Signal, one of the best bespoke manufacturers of custom parts for Z cars right there in Dubai!

[BAS_DXB]

On 1/5/2021 at 8:03 PM, wheee! said:

IMPORTANT!

You will need to remove the catalytic converter hump on the driver side floor pan in order to fit these seats. I left mine in and spent wayyyy too much time building that hump back into the floor only to realize I could no longer fit aftermarket seats in the drivers side....
Charlie’s floor pan does not have the hump built in for the catalytic converter.

 

I guess I can remove the hump indeed... but I was thinking about reusing the original seat fixation brackets/sliders from the 280z, adapted under the Recaro, in order to allow the change if necessary.

Edited January 13, 2021 by BAS_DXB

[BAS_DXB]

31 minutes ago, wheee! said:

....and don’t forget about Carbon Signal, one of the best bespoke manufacturers of custom parts for Z cars right there in Dubai!

They are amazing, but their fame turned them quite thirsty I feel 😁 I checked them out for the seats, dashboard, console, door panels work and almost had to take a loan !

[wheee!]

 
I guess I can remove the hump indeed... but I was thinking about reusing the original seat fixation brackets/sliders from the 280z, adapted under the Recaro, in order to allow the change if necessary.

Mounting the seats on the rails is not the issue, it’s the side bolster clearance to the trans tunnel that won’t let the seats mount. I tried installing 370Z seats and the passenger side was awesome fitting but no go on the driver side without cutting out the hump I spent weeks building...

[wheee!]

My floors were much worse than yours. I would not even replace those!

[BAS_DXB]

11 hours ago, wheee! said:

My floors were much worse than yours. I would not even replace those!

It's difficult to see on the picture but the floor was already "fixed" with several patches and the same bad quality welding work (yellow highlight) on both side and the rails underneath are also in bad shape...

So the bump with the red arrows pointed should be leveled to the seat rails correct, to gain a bit of width ?

Thank you @wheee! for all these inputs, definitely helping a lot !

[wheee!]

Follow the angle of the replacement floor pan up the trans tunnel wall. Then you can make custom seat mounts for the driver side and fit any seat.

[BAS_DXB]

23 hours ago, wheee! said:

Follow the angle of the replacement floor pan up the trans tunnel wall. Then you can make custom seat mounts for the driver side and fit any seat.

Thanks for the lead !

[BAS_DXB]

Hey Guys,

Hope you are all having a nice and safe weekend.

Some update from the project, the original rear bumper openings are now deleted, as well as the muffler cutout, to get a very smooth rear end with the 240Z style bumper.

I had some corrosion in the spare tire well, which is now cleaned up, and I might add some drainage holes to prevent it from happening again.

The last strengthening piece on the left front end is now welded:

And finally a preview of the upholstery:

Seats to be completed by end of the week, getting impatient !

Edited January 13, 2021 by BAS_DXB

[grannyknot]

The 3rd pic down, I hope that welder has his #14 welding shade contact lenses in.