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My restoration is finally finished. Now sitting in the show room at Robert's Automotive in Springfield, Illinois. 1981 280ZX Grand Luxury Edition, Manufactured September 1980. I drove it off the car lot on January 12, 1981. Features: Engine rebuild, original paint, original carpet and seats, re-upolstered interior and headliner, re-plated cadmium engine parts and restored wheels. I haven't driven it for almost 24 years. Original miles 25,536 and I have all documentation to back that up. I paid the ultimate price for NOT driving it - an entire engine rebuild. Everything works except the status display in the center of the instrument cluster. (See photo) Need to figure how to trouble shoot the status display. Needless to say I'm excited. I will be able to take it home before the end of next week. Still needs to have the air conditioning system re-charged.

Beautiful car, extremely well done. Congrats - now, drive the damn thing and get some long past due enjoyment out of it.

What a great shot. I've never forgotten the first time I walked through a full size bamboo grove in Japan. That noise in the wind. Extraordinary! I like your 'Kari' plate too.

A very unusual problem but you found it. Good work and it should help others who rebuild their carbs. For heat issues in hot regions, I read that some people took thermos bottles of cold water to pour on the fuel pump back in the 1970's

I'm also working on car #503 right now. This car is in absolutely amazing condition. It's is the most original rust-free car I've seen and I've worked on hundreds of them. Unfortunately, it had a repaint many years ago that is not holding up so I'm getting the car ready to go to paint. This car is in such original condition, except for some hoses and hose clamps, I thought I would post it in case someone was restoring one and needs to see any original details. I'd be glad to post any pictures. This car even has the original water pump.

Yes, it's an amazing car. Here's a couple of photos of the jack that you asked for.

I thought this was impressive. The 'Main Street America' car show sponsored by the Corvette Owners Club of San Diego was held last weekend at Sea Port Village. Probably close to 300 cars there. Taking first place in the 60-70's modified class was this 240Z. Yes, he was in the same group as the Vette's, Camaro's and Mustangs. Incredible. I had my roadster at this show about 5 years ago and it was pretty much ignored as it is primarily an American car show. Nice to see the Z's getting some attention. Pics below are from cars final build at Miguel's shop, paint by Miguel of course.

Found some time to strip the cowl down. Couple layers of paint but otherwise beautiful condition. A little surface rust to deal with on the bottom side.

Yes they do sound like a wounded seal, even the new ones.That's the best description yet.

I presume you are working on a 240? if so then you can refurb the oe AC and it will work, but not very well (the 260-280 was much better). IF you want a good working AC in a 240 then the vintage air is prob a better option, Lots of fabrication, lots to figure out on ducting, NO venting to out side air, NOT orig which may hurt the value of the car to some collectors.

I reached out on their website and sent an inquiry. I tried to sign-up as a user but they have to approve you. It's Sunday, so I will wait to hear back from them. Thanks for the tip!!

I "will" absolutely drive it this time around! What a huge mistake. I will store it in my attached garage this time, better humidity control. I'm thinking about buying a "CarCoon" from the UK. These CarCoons have a circulation system included. I would just have to install a 220 volt hook up in my garage, which should be a breeze.

Check out this photo. My Mom (longtime deceased) found this in an ad in a 1981 volume of National Geographic. Exact color, exact everything. I have it on one of my three display boards that I created.

Yes, understandable. The chrome buttons are fairly worthless, but the question is begged; how does the way you drive involve a coat hook??

Thanks siteunseen , that is a smart idea ! Simple and reliable. Looks like I need to bend the metal contact lip of the float upward little bit when I use that valve . Kats

Grose Jet fuel valves. No wires.

Thanks Blue , I was so nervous because if the rust in the gas tank caused this problem , I was going to have a big trouble. By the way , I managed to return home with only three cylinders of operation, that was so wonderful. And a cold water poured method is cool ! Summer in Japan is now as hot as Las Vegas , NV . And as steamy as Philippine . Kats

I love that colour combo. Beautiful car. Congrats !

That is a fantastic job.

Clearly the internal return spring on that middle carb isn't doing its job. Either the spring is weak or the throttle shaft or plates are binding. If you disconnect the internal spring, you'll be able to feel whether there's any binding. Even without fixing the problems on the individual carbs, the linkage with a strong spring should be able to pull all throttles closed. If it can't, and it's not a throttle stop on the linkage limiting it, then I would think the carbs aren't balanced perfectly and one of the other carbs has reached its stop earlier and is preventing further movement of the linkage.

Thanks pictures, now we see your car has a jack which was made on O (1969), K ( November) , A ( 1st ) . It is corresponding your car , some cars have earlier date than the cars were made . Nice !! Kats

Mike B. is correct, #503's water pump was used as the model. Water pumps are coming along good. Should be done soon.

I'm not sure what that is. I couldn't see any damage behind it. As to the rear panel black around the upper license plate mounting points I would imagine that was done during the first repaint but have no way of knowing for sure. I am going to leave the dealer installed A/C in the car because I refurbished another system for this owner and he was very satisfied with the results.

Yes, the actual plastic hooks are 71 ish through 78. Go in the same place as the round chrome buttons. Not sure of the change over date, but no later than Jan 71 point. I suspect you can actually put a coat or hanger on the hooks and have them stay there, where as the buttons, well, not the way I drive....

I don't know that we have enough traffic for auctions to reach reasonable levels. Would an auction increase the "troll" traffic?

Looks like I got lucky. After cleaning many electrical connections, along with fiddling with vacuum hose line connections, i have got the car running pretty good. over the last three days, ive put a few hours of driving around the neighborhood and cant get it to die. Still experiencing a slight skip under heavy heavy acceleration, but i am glad it is much better than it was. Now its time to pack up and head to college, returning to the project over winter break. thank you all for the help

Only 77-78 windows work. The entire window, regulator and guide tracks are different for these years than earlier ones. I have a couple of spares if worst comes to worst if you can't find any closer.

Here's a few more photos of the car it's going to the body shop tomorrow.

Some more photos of it when it was listed on ebay last fall. Odd mirrors on the fenders. Did it come with the original seats or the later style shown in the ad photos? Was the exterior side molding trim just stuck on with adhesive or did it it leave holes in the sheetmetal?

More photos of every thing at every angle please. btw here is 504:

I was taught at the Datsun factory service schools I attended in the 70s to refer to Datsun products by the production date found on the door jamb ID plate. The series 1, series 2 stuff thrown around today is an invention of the internet, NOT Datsun. However, speaking in general terms the model year for Datsuns changed in the 9th month of production. The exception is the 73 240. That model year started in the 7th month of 72. However, as my customers have pointed out to me over the years, there are anomalies (I love them, they help make the Z car hobby so interesting) that occurred mostly in 6/72. Some 72 parts/some 73 parts. Cheers