scalveg

Well since I've already bashed a hole into the current radiator, plus I have serious doubts about the previous owner's ability to use good anti-corrosion coolant, I think I'll just replace it. I'll sleep better at night.

Yeah that's really different, without the weird bulges coming up on the ends and hitting my hood! It really looks like that would solve the problem. Thanks for the replies!

I am still working on my Z little by little. At the body shop today I was asking the guy about my hood latch, which often pops up (thank goodness Z cars have hoods which open the right way!) He instantly noticed something I had missed all this time: the hood is hitting on the top of my radiator! And it's wearing through the brass at a good clip. Now, this is a car that (now that I have owned it for a while) shows every sign of having been made from parts of about 3 other cars (one of them a Maxima!). So my questions are: 1) Is this the right radiator for my '78 280z? If not and I just get a new radiator, will the problem be magically fixed? 2) If it IS the right radiator, what is the least-painful way to fix this problem? Are any of Motorsport's radiators shorter? Should I drill some new holes in the mounts or fabricate new mounts to shift it down? The dimensions of the radiator seem to be about: 2 5/8 inches deep (thick) 20 3/4 inches tall 24 1/2 inches wide Thanks for any advice!

Mr. Camouflage! You're the one that's got my engine!

Y'all are right. Nothing has really changed. The rust still needs fixing. The interior still needs work. The engine bay still needs sorting. I can still put some suspension mods on and enjoy them. I was looking forward to all those projects, and I still can! And if/when I do want to replace the engine or do other mods, I don't have to listen to anyone complaining that I should keep it stock! I am liberated! All right then, back to the driving!

Well I've driven the car and I noticed problems with it, but I thought they would be fixable. I thought I had a solid basis that I could make better over time. But now it seems like I've got a car with a heart problem that may only be fixable with a transplant. It's an N47 head. So, hmm. What does that mean? That's the right head for my '78, right? But the bore of the L24 is different than the L28. Can you use an N47 head with a stock L24? Would it have had to have been bored out? I guess I'll just keep driving it for now. I have some time to think about it. Maybe I should ask for ideas over at HybridZ

Yeah a few weeks ago I posted a smug message about what a great deal I got on my 280Z. Today, I realize I'm the biggest sucker in the world. The heater inlet hose sprung a leak yesterday, so I stopped by my new favorite auto parts store this morning and found a replacement from their stock, and got a couple of new hose clamps to replace the rusty ones. While I was working at that corner of the engine, I thought I'd find the serial number and just see if it was a numbers-matching car. I was never planning on a concours restoration, so it wasn't a requirement. I cleared away the grease and no surprise, the numbers didn't match. However, there was a big surprise. I blinked, I looked again, I cleaned off the numbers again, I blinked again. L24. What. The. Heck. Really? Someone sold me a 280Z with some kind of L24-block franken-engine in it? Really!? I feel sick, I am so angry. My plan when I bought the car was to have a nice, normal driver. A fun classic sports car, with only light mods to update it and not affect its reliability. And now this. I'll of course contact the guy and try and get him to make things better, but who knows if I'll have any success. It's almost certainly not worth the time and trouble of taking him to small-claims court. I'm so bummed I have gone from loving the car to hating the car in the span of a day. What the heck do I do now?

Oh duh that's an idea. I should just pump it up and see if it looks less scary with air in it. Then I could just replace the can of air. I kind of don't want to carry an air compressor around because there are already too many rattles in my old Z!

My recently-purchased '78 280Z has the OEM spare, but I didn't see any way to inflate it, and it looks crusty and old. I'm planning on using the car as a daily driver and I'd like to have a spare. I don't suppose new ones are available? Should I just throw a can of fix-a-flat into the well and call it a day? Thanks for any advice!

The car had *one* when I bought it that looked the same as the MSA part, so I thought I would just get some and then I would have a matching pair. However when I got the MSA ones, they are like you mention; they stick out way too far. I'm going to cut them down and drill and tap the internal threads. Might as well have just made my own like Julio suggested.

PROGRESS! I sorted out my problem with the windshield wipers. Basically the problem was: bad auto parts store. I looked on yelp.com for a better store in my area, and found one down in the nearby town of Alameda. Lee Automotive Supply. Excellent service and inventory. I look forward to much future business with them. I also got the rear louvers open so I could wash the FILTHY rear window. Looks like I need one of the little fasteners that goes back there. Previous owner had bodged up a terrible combination of fasteners that really didn't work. But the big improvement was I got it over to my local alignment shop where they balanced the wheels (two of them were over 2oz off! No wonder freeway driving was so exhausting.) They also discovered and replaced a bad wheel bearing, and did an alignment. The results are AWESOME. Instead of driving a shaky rattly old car with lots of nagging problems, I was able to drive today a fun vintage sports car that some owner was probably amazingly happy with when he or she bought it off the lot. The 75-series tires would not be a popular choice today and still feel weird to me, but at least it's not the weird of the steering wheel trying to tear itself out of my hands and the rear louvers vibrating to all kinds of deafening harmonics. And of course there are still many things that need doing to improve the enjoyability of the driving experience. I also thoroughly inspected the car, took a ton of photos, and made a detailed list of all the things I want to get done. If anyone's curious I put it up for download on my web site at http://www231.pair.com/factotum/projects/280z_Priority.pdf but watch out, it's almost 40MB (26 pages with lots of hi-res photos). My plan is to keep a detailed record so that I can look back and remind myself how far I've come. But I didn't need a reminder today; a cruise around with a proper-handling Z was just amazing.

That photo of the rust under the door is great! Mine has a bit of rust there, and I have been considering doing the repair myself, but I was wondering what was underneath. Now I know!

Aw man, I'm going to be out of town that weekend for work. It would have been perfect to see some ideas of how to fix up my 280Z!

There's a pretty big crossover between the burning man "mutant vehicle" builders and the "art car" people, who think it's silly to just show off your work a couple of weeks a year.

Great, I went out and bought a classic sports car and now I can't even replace the windshield wipers! But seriously, I bought some nice wiper blades that the application book at the parts store said should work if I 'Re-use original pin'. Well, what I guess they mean by original pin seems to be riveted at one end to the old wiper, which is trashed. It seems like I recall buying wipers for another of my cars and there was a little plastic pin in the box. Is this is the part I need? What brand of wipers can I still find such a thing in? Or is there an OEM metal pin that some previous owner threw out? Thanks as always for the advice!