77 280z Restoration

[Zed Head]

Might be the owner's Supra.

[Av8ferg]

Making progress on the interior.  I decided to go a different direction due to the challenges of a custom interior.  I don’t have the proper tools, experience and skill to do it right.   
I decided to buy an ACC molded carpet kit from Rock Auto.   I’m pretty impressed with the quality.  Way better than the MSA kit I was going to work with .  It took time to get this new kit in but I’m very happy with the quality and fit.  It’s cut pile, with a molded rubber backing and the a layer of jute matting.  It comes rolled up so I set it out in the sun for a few hours to work out the kinks.  The install was time consuming…three days to get it all in.  The reason is you have to make all the cuts for the transmission, ash try, seat belts etc.   Getting all the bolts for the seats, seat belts, rocker trim and so forth takes time.  You also have to cut out the larger section where the HVAC section is.   You have to trim slowly a bit at a time….fit, trim,fit, retrim for every section.   You finish each day with sore hands and maybe a few finger cuts.   It’s a bit messy too . The jute matting it very stout and hard to cut.   The key is take it slow to get everything fit.  It’s sitting pretty good, right now but a few days in the heat will help out.   

Take a look.! 

[Barefootdan]

Beautiful work! 

[Muzez]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:50 PM, Zed Head said:

It works, just pointing out the why.

You know me Zed, I love to know the "Why". 

[Muzez]

On 3/22/2022 at 8:47 PM, Av8ferg said:

The hypothesis we had when messing around with it was that it might be to keep dirt/grime out of the bushing/bushing holder that is behind it. Mine came with on on RHS too. 

[Av8ferg]

Got the car registered today, big milestone….last time it was registered was 24 years ago.


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[Av8ferg]

I decided to start investigating my rear differential and the noise back there.   While loosening the diff drain plug it became obvious the the bolts holding the diff to the mustache bar were loose. Loosen enough to allow movement of the differential.  I decided I’d make a run at getting the differential out, so I could install the new mount and TechnoVersion stop.   It wasn’t an easy task, potentially hazardous as the differential is very heave and awkward.  I had to remove mine with the half shafts installed because of one stripped bolt on half shaft.  Took me all morning to  get all this out.  
Heres are some pics.  Of note the part of the differential that connects to the propeller shaft has a different mounting plate on my differential and the ZX one.   Should fit fine because I measured the inner flange diameter and they’re the same.  Bolts are 8mm diameter on both.  Mustache Bar bushings ate shot….got new ones on order.  Can’t wait to remove the old ones🥲
 

made a video showing how loose the differential.   See link 

 

[Barefootdan]

wow thats crazy! I wonder if that was the main source of the sound. 

Any tips on taking the diff out? I think my plan of attack will be to drop the whole rear end as one piece if there's no downside.

[Av8ferg]

Dan, you don’t want to do it like it did.  It’s hazardous for sure.  I’ll post some lessons learned later. 
So after cracking open my old differential i discovered it is also a 3.9.   It seems to be in good condition like the ZX one I have. 
These differentials are not 100% identical.   The one I removed from the car is has 39.11 stamped in the Ring Gear.  The replacement differential I got from a 1982 ZX has 39.10 stamped on the ring gear .  The ring gear of the old Differential is thinner that the one from the 82” ZX.  29 vs 32 mils.  
I haven’t decided which one I’ll use.  Seems like the one from the 82 ZX has more lash where the half shafts mount the my old one.  . Here is some pics of the differences.  The 82 ZX Differential is in the left in the pic. 

[Zed Head]

Hey!  39 / 11 = 3.54.  That's what all of the 280Z R200's are.

I went through the whole thing of trying to take out only the parts I was working on when I first did my diff, prying and torqueing bits and pieces.  It was a pain.

If I recall correctly, I ended up later just removing the mustache bar end nuts and the front crossmember and dropping all three pieces down as an assembly.  The mustache bar makes a good handle for balancing and you can just drop everything straight down.  It works for assembly too.

[Av8ferg]

Hey!  39 / 11 = 3.54.  That's what all of the 280Z R200's are.
I went through the whole thing of trying to take out only the parts I was working on when I first did my diff, prying and torqueing bits and pieces.  It was a pain.
If I recall correctly, I ended up later just removing the mustache bar end nuts and the front crossmember and dropping all three pieces down as an assembly.  The mustache bar makes a good handle for balancing and you can just drop everything straight down.  It works for assembly too.

Thanks ZedHead, that make the decision pretty easy. Good information there. Seems like the ZX one is a bit more robust just liking at the ring gear size.


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[280Zrewind]

For me seeing that really nice looking interior was a good motivator.  My 78 Z project is making one car out of two. One’s rust free, but missing a lot because someone must have started to make it into a racer car or ?.  The other’s complete but a rust bucket. I’ve got a long way to go!

One investment I made that turned out to be much better than I expected was a home owner level 4 post car lift.  The access make a lot of tasks, something like handling that differential, a lot easier and that’s especially true now that I’m approaching 70.  It started out as a way to get a couple of cars stored in the same space, but I’ve used it for a lot of tasks including being a variable height welding table.  (Given my welding skills, I need all the help I can get!) My wife started out, let’s just say not very supportive of the purchase, but now is way on board.  She must have decided the odds of me being seriously injured were reduced.  

I guess the obvious is that you’ve got to have the vertical clearance in your workspace.  The one I picked was an Atlas because it was 120 volt so I didn’t need special wiring and there was a local dealer so I could borrow a trailer and pick it to avoid some pretty heavy shipping charges.  It would occasionally trip a 20 amp breaker on startup, but changing that circuit to a delayed trip 20 amp breaker that was designed for such loads solved the problem and was no big deal.