cajunz

No substitution for doing the right thing. Good on you!!!

Stacey is a pretty neat guy. I got to meet him a few years ago when he was still doing Trucks on Spike. Got to tour his shop and go to his house and see a few of his other projects. He also told me that he had an S30 back in the day. His enthusiasm is real.

The second video was actually pretty good. It even had kind of an 80's vibe to the music. Not a big 2+2 fan, but that was a nice clean ZX.

Blue and Zed Head, that is what I found. This is definitely not what I wanted to find. When I checked the turbo, the blades looked good but there was some play in the shaft. Guess I'll tear the turbo down and see what it looks like inside. How would the bearing get into the sump? I'm assuming it went down the oil return line. Thanks for the help, guys. Brent

I recently purchased an '81 L28et that seemed to be running pretty well. I plan to transplant it into my '78 280z. I started the teardown on the engine today to check a few things, and this is what I found in the oil pan. Looks like alot of metal shaving and a couple of circlips. I'm not sure what the broken brass part is. Any ideas? I popped a few of the rod and crank bearing caps and the bearing didn't look too bad. Any suggestions welcomed. Brent

Chas, thanks for the quick response. I'll try and get the boot loose and take a look inside.

Very good info in this thread. I have a quick question about the half shafts out of my '78. I noticed that on one of them, when you extent the inner shaft out to full extension, it doesn't retract itself like the other half shaft does. What would cause this and is this gonna be a problem? It doesn't make any noise and there isn't any play between the inner and out shafts. Thanks for any help.

Since it was 10 below zero this morning, I fired up the furnace in the garage and finished refinishing the clutch/brake pedal box and the fuel/vapor tank. Now they look like new. I guess the next project is refurb of the fuel tank. Happy New Years to everyone.

I'll vouch for the dash resto link listed above. If you follow the proceedure and take your time, it'll come out great at a small fraction of the cost of a new dash.

I've spent the last couple of weeks doing a total refurb on all the interior pieces of my '78. All the vinyl and plastic panels have been repaired, cleaned, and redyed black. I totally disassembled both seats plus the recliner and slider mechanisms and cleaned, relubed, and repainted. Then I dissassembled, cleaned, relubed, and repainted the steering column. Lastly, I repaired my badly cracked dash using the method shown here on the site and it turned out great. Now, if I can get the kids furniture out of my garage, I can finish up on the body work and maybe get the car in paint before I'm too old to drive.

EScanlon, thanks, those are some great suggestions. I had some of the pipe insulation from Lowe's but I don't think that would work so well. The handle bar tape is something that sounds promising. I think you could wrap the damaged area and then put a wrap or two around the rest of the steering wheel to cover the transition from the old foam and ther repair. I'll hit up the cycle shop tomorrow and see how it works. Thanks again.

Thanks for the offer but I'd like to try and keep the original wheel if I can get it fixed.

Thanks for the advice, hr369. I'll see what I can find.

I'm in the process of cleaning up my steering wheel. It had a worn out leather cover on it and when I removed the cover, I found out that the foam cushion on the wheel has an area about 5 inches long where the foam has peeled away, leaving the wheel about half the original diameter. Is there a way or has anyone used any product to replace this foam cushion. I'd like to do this myself and then recover with leather. Thanks for any suggestions.

Conedodger, I suppose it could be done in car but would be a pain and make a big mess. You would have to do a lot of masking to keep the spray on texture and paint from getting on everything. You'll also have alot of dust from the sanding. When I first tried this, I used the SEM bumper repair kit. Its pretty expensive for the amount of material that you have to use. The SEM Flexible Polyester Glaze worked better for me. The price is around $40 but I got it for half price because it had been on the shelf for awhile, plus it comes in a 24 oz tube. Not hard to do, just take you time and try not to put the putty on too thick. Also, use a sanding block for the flatter surfaces so you don't end up with groves that you'll be able to see. Around the instrument cluster, I sanded by hand but don't press too hard and just let the paper do the work. The results are definitely worth the time and expense.

Eurodat, go for it. Its not that hard. Just take you time and pay attention to the details. If I can do this, anyone can.

Well, I finally got around to trying the dash repair process and I couldn't be happier. I followed the proceedure outlined in the thread with the exception of using the SEM Flexible Polyester Glaze. I also substituted the SEM Texture Coating #39853 with SEM Heavy Duty Chip Guard #39793. It had a little better texture I thought. I turned out great.

I found a '76 280z at the p-n-p in Grand Junction, Co and scored some sweet parts. I got a near perfect hood and rear hatch with absolutely no rust or dents. I also was able to get all the interior plastic panels, all the interior vinyl, visors and rear view mirror. The interior parts have no cracks or scuff marks at all. I also snagged the tool hatch lids and found a complete tool kit with jack. I even was able to get the front inner fender liners. All this for $90!! The guy is going to hold onto the car until I can get back next week and get the 5speed and any other parts that are good. Made for a great weekend.

zKars, thanks for saving me the trouble. If anyone needs doors, there are a really nice set off a '76 280z at GJ Metal Movers in Grand Junction, CO. zKars, you're right about the oil patch. It's really booming in our area.

Hey guys, I just want to make sure before I spend the money, but will the doors off a '76 coupe fit correctly on my '78 coupe? I've got conflicting answers on my searches and want to be sure before I go to the pick and pull and strip all the good parts. Thanks for the help.

I hit a Ford LTD with my '79 280zx back when I was in college. I was running about 60 and an old man pulled out in front of me and I t-boned them. I wasn't wearing a seat belt and put a nice hole in the windshield with my head. I was lucky and walked away with just a few cuts and bruises but I've used a seatbelt every since that wreck. The old Z actually held up pretty good to the impact.

Great video and proof that proper safety equipment can save lives. The inane comments left by some of the viewers is another matter.

I recently dissassembled the L28 in my '78. Its a N42/N47. After cleaning up the pistons, I noticed that 4 have the number"23" stamped in the face and 2 have "34" markings. The rods and rod caps also don't have matching numbers. Some of the rods have the following markings "6-0 A87-1" , "4-0 A87-2", "6-0 A87-2. The caps are marked 92-0 2, 93-0 1, 96-0 1, 97-0 3, etc. Anyone tell me what these markings mean?

Good advice Z Greek. I'll have it accurately measured to see what I actually have. Hopefully I can find someone with the Sunnen machine. I was looking in the bores with a good light and can actually see some of the crosshatch markings are still there.

I measured the bore taper using a piston ring and measuring the gap with a feeler guage. Took a measurement just below the ridge and at the bottom of the bore. It was one option mentioned by Tom Monroe in How to Rebuild your Datsun/Nissan OHC Engine. He said that the max difference in the gap measurement for honing was at .006, which was what all my bores were at. Why would you think that the ridge is just carbon? The engine has approx 187k on the odometer. Here's a pic of one of the pistons. It's pretty representative of the six.