inmocean

I bought a half cover from them 8 years ago, with no issues. Z people can spot it, but everyone else comments on the incredible condition of my dash... That being said everyone sells the same cover, I can't remember the brand but I have visited their site and I believe it is cheaper to buy direct, or to go through Motorsport with the discount...

It was a nice day for a drive to Oregon, a little over three hours each way to Canby from Seattle, and the first real Hard Highway Test on the engine...(now at 2500 miles) Car ran perfectly, the show had a great turn-out, found some treasures at the swap meet, and met some cool folks. Thank You Z Community for a fun day. Also realized I'm lusting after a 1600/2000 roadster...whew, they are sharp...

a couple weeks back the wife and i saw your new car with a for sale sign so we stopped to check it out...the two 78's on highway 525 got a lot of looks. looking through the driver-side hood vent i could see a disconnected vacuum hose, FYI... best of luck, hope it treats you well. sorry for the thread-jacking folks, to make up for it, my slant on car security: I leave my doors unlocked. I would much rather replace a stereo than a stereo and a window...

did you buy this car from whidbey island?

I'll try the hood pop trick, and see if that improves things. Pretty lame that those ugly louvers datsun cut into the 280's hoods aren't doing their job...has anyone dabbled with installing a 280zx manifold cooling fan on their 77-78 z's? My valve cover and block both have extra bosses and tapped holes, which might work for installing the fan and duct, with a little modification...I'm thinking of using a thermostat switch, so it will run for a little while after the engine is shut down...any thoughts on this?

my 78 z has also picked up this habit of starting rough after sitting for 15-20 minutes...i can fast idle for a minute or so and it goes away, but if not it's pretty rough... the cold start injector and the thermotine switch are the only FI components i'v never changed, I've been tempted to swap them out to see if it goes away...(they test ok according to the FSM.) everything else is new under the hood...why stop now...

I'm going to jinx my road-trip next weekend to the coast by saying that I've fixed my Z's dying issue...got a computer on ebay for $25, installed it a month ago, and haven't had any issues since...i plan to send my original computer to MSA for a rebuild, and that will be that...I hope... I've also noticed a significant increase in gas mileage after changing the vacuum hoses, back up to 20 or so in town and 25-28 on the highway...(from 15 and 20 or so) I also had my first flat tire in 8 years a week ago. At one time I carried a plug kit and electric air compressor, but these disappeared some time ago...I wound up inflating the spare with a bike pump, but now acquiring a new spare of some kind has moved up the priority list...relying on the thirty-year-old collapsible is dangerous... Thanks to all who've read and responded...

I can't walk by without pausing to take it in...

From any angle, the first generation of Z's is the prettiest car out there.

My 78 also only had one negative cable, to the starter/bell-housing. Can't confirm that it was original though. I recently added a cable from battery negative to the firewall, and a cable from the engine to the chassis. Slightly overkill, but I know the car has good grounds now.:bulb:

after being rudely interupted by my heater core valve i was able to change out all my high pressure hose and vacuum lines. msa's fuel hose fit perfectly, of course, and had no leaks. also changed the fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, injector mounting blocks and seals while i had everything apart. also cleaned the fuel rail and hard to reach spots on the manifold. now the engine looks like a rebuilt engine on the outside too. the vacuum kit arrived quickly, and was super easy to install, especially with my fuel wiring out of the way. the kit didn't come with a good size to for the air regulator, 3 pcs, 2' total, which the company is sending out to me and i would suggest clarifying that it would be included in any one else's order...i had 16' left over of the smallest diameter, which is cool for future projects. all the other pieces came down to the inch. i went with black, for a stock look, but i'll bet the color options they have would look cool with colored valve covers, spark plug wires, etc... the kit was a little pricy, for a bag of hose, but way more conveniant than hunting around town for the right sizes...(i had already tried that with the smallest diameter stuff, and was meant with blank stares...)

The story of Christine/ Eleanor…A 78 Datsun 280Z. Jan 2002 til present. The search for an early Z started as a teenager, when either driving my MGB or dad’s 280ZX, and I would see a pristine brown 240 racing about. This was southern Indiana, mind you, and rust had eaten its share of these cars, making my search very difficult. Fast forward some years, to 2002, Jan 3rd, to be exact. I was in Eugene, Oregon, visiting my father, heading back from the airport as my flight home to Indiana had been postponed for a day. We passed a St Vincent De Paul thrift store, which sold donated cars. In the front row was a brown Z. “Turn around,” I said. Walking up to it I knew. I ran my hand along the underside of the rockers, no rust. 96,000 on the odometer, and the perfect interior told me it hadn’t rolled over…I sat in it, clutch pedal went right to the floor. Tried the key, nothing. Dead battery. After a jump the car started right up and ran smooth. Stopped there…they were asking $1000, we got them down a bit, and added $40 for a tow to the home-stead. The car had been on the lot for 4 days. I flew home as scheduled, my dad took delivery of the car and sent me a simple message…”you stole this car.” He put a clutch slave and a battery in it and drove it everyday, reporting to me back in Indiana what I would need to do to get it ready for a cross-country trip. Tires and shocks were it…the car had been well-treated. I ordered the parts and he threw them in, what a great dad…and he continued driving it everyday, with no issues. He installed a set of lowering springs for me as well. June 2nd my roommate and I flew out to pick up the car. After a few days of visiting we headed east. The plan was to zig-zag across the west…seeing everything we could. The plan changed about two hours south on I-5, as the Z died, rolled to the shoulder, and refused to restart. 70 mph, no overheating, no weirdness, then, nothing, like the key had been shut off. We lifted the hood and checked everything we could think of…nothing amiss…and then, a couple hours into it, the z restarted…and we were off…east, now…the trip had become shorter by a few zags already…no stopping til Colorado, we’d spend some time there instead. The z ran perfectly for 400 miles…and I mean perfectly. We began to forget the issue, and then Christine earned her name…rolling through Nevada and we pulled into a rest stop, and the Z refused to restart. For 8 hours. We were starting to realize why the car had been donated. Let me say we were just two 21 year-olds with mechanical inclinations, and not much experience, but we went through the car very thoroughly, out of necessity. We found nothing. The wiring in Christine had never been molested. The engine and manifold were clean, nothing awry…good spark(ow!) fuel pressure…and the car just looked perfect…not like something that belonged on the side of the road…we were stumped. We made our way to Golden Colorado, where a friend loaned me his garage for a couple of days. We changed plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter…and when Christine started right up we thought, sure…lets try Kansas… We eventually made it, but Christine would randomly die, or refuse to start, with no pattern. She just had a mind of her own. I changed a few things out over the next few months, fuel pressure regulator, electronic ignition control module, and cleaned every connection I could. Christine would run flawlessly for a awhile, and just when I’d forgotten, she’d act up. And then I moved to Colorado, everything I owned in the z, and the car ran nearly perfect. Once a month or so the car would die, or refuse to start, but wouldn’t stay that way for more than 5-10 minutes at the most. Whatever her issue, it was getting better…it seemed like a loose or dirty connection somewhere…but where? For the next year I put 12,000 miles on the car without a single issue…Drove her to work everyday, road-tripped to Utah, Albuquerque, grand canyon, and all over Colorado. She ran like a champ. The big blizzard hit golden, 4 feet of snow in 36 hours, and I was driving the z…had to be pulled up lookout mtn once… And then the next curse appeared. The boss’s son ran over the rear-end with his suburban. I had been saving my pennies, hoping to have the car painted anyway, as there were a couple small dents here and there. The boss paid the whole exterior restoration bill, and I spent the summer working off the debt of my share. God she looked good…perfect body, with fresh 301 brown metallic… The day after I wrote the last $100 check, my neighbor ran into Christine, crumpling the headlight bucket and front fender. And he had no insurance. Wound up collecting a few hundred bucks, and I obtained a lightly dented fender from a Nissan dealer, and a headlight bucket from a z guy. Painted them black and tried to forget the image of the perfect z I had once owned… Drove her to Oregon(no issues with dying) and spent the winter with my dad. That winter Christine received a heater core, hoses, new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, tires(I had been hard on them) weather-stripping, battery cables, and we painted the fender to more nearly match the correct color. In the spring I went back to Colorado, and stayed there for several years. I drove the z all over the damn place, and the issue of dying randomly all but disappeared, now it was just a little glitch I didn’t even notice anymore. I rebuilt the front end, ball joints, tie-rods, calipers, rotors… It was then that Christine was renamed…an old friend flew out and her first reaction to seeing the Z was “Eleanor.” Given that the Shelby was also a little cantankerous, it fit and I rolled with it. We drove 800 miles that weekend, all over Colorado. I’v now forgotten the girl’s name, but I remember the z climbing up to the Eisenhower tunnel in a white-out, passing 4x4’s…and the car ran so well for the next few years that I forgot the name of Christine, and the Z was Eleanor… Then, for whatever reason, I dropped it all and moved to Whidbey island, Washington, once again with everything I owned in the Z. I got a job at a shipyard, bought a boat, restored it, and moved aboard. Sadly, Eleanor became a storage container for things that didn’t belong on board. These were dark times for the z, she sat, neglected, in a marina parking lot. My plan (of sorts) had been to buy a boat, sail around the world alone, and then eventually find some island girl to marry… I wound up dating the girl at the fuel dock, and day sailing about Penn cove with her. She also called the Z Eleanor. We eventually got married. Wound up selling the boat, packing everything into my trusty z, and moving to Seattle. Around this time I was given a jeep Cherokee, with a blown engine. Something about not adding any anti-freeze…I rebuilt the engine and then parked the z. time for the ultimate tune-up. She had 180800 on the odometer, but honestly for all I knew it could have been 280…anyway, a rough list of a six-month project: New oil pump New gasket set New head bolts New timing kit New rings New main and rod bearings New water pump New seat kit New clutch kit New clutch hose New slave cyl New master cyl New shifter pin New boots New flywheel Head reconditioned, surfaced, new valve guides New wheel cylinders New steering rack boots New mustache bar bushing Rebuilt halfshafts, new u joints New spark plug wires, plugs, cap, rotor, thermostat New heater hoses New radiator hoses New radiator New tranny and engine mounts New fi seals New emblems New msa twice pipe exhaust New belt New brake shoes New konig rewind 15x7’s New Goodyear 205 60’s New optima battery Eleanor was given a new lease on life. I was up to 1000 miles on the rebuild when that second curse returned…rear-ended in Seattle… The insurance adjustor turned out to be a z fan, and was easy to work with. Since the accident and the related bodywork there I’ve also undertaken: New Fiberglass rear skirt New fiberglass front bumper New tailgate weatherstripping New steering coupler, New steering rack boots New brake caliper paint kit(silver) New carpet New door panels New shift,brake boots New temp sensor New air regulator New fuel injection connectors New heater core, and hoses New wheel lugs New wiper boots Used wiper linkage and arms New fuel injector seals and mounting blocks New fi hose New fuel filter New fuel pressure regulator New vacuum hose all around. After all this, with 1500 on the rebuild, Eleanor still likes to randomly die. 8 years of this…the other day I went out with the intention of making the car die. Enough is enough, I said. I found that when the car hiccups if I tap the computer with my foot the car will immediately restart. Then I tempted fate by tapping the computer while the car was running. Immediate death. And then another tap and the car would restart. So I’m going to track down a spare ecu, try that, and definitely have mine rebuilt…I mean, hey, I’ve changed everything else… Aside from her attitude, the z has been a great car. The second curse has contributed a few door dings from parking lots, and being Seattle these dents have led to bubbling paint. Once summer arrives…(any day now…) I’ll start knocking the paint away and treating the rust before it gets serious…the car is still rust-free in the usual problem areas, after all these years…and then, who knows, maybe a fresh coat of 301 brown metallic…try to get that perfect z back that I remember…I’ve got that first curse on the run, maybe #2 will go as well… Some photos of the process… http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6871&id=1772871283&l=4d9f9a1028 thanks for reading jeremiah

leftover z, your pictures are dead on, a mechanical valve(no vacuum) with the copper capillary tube. i noticed that the posts about the valve ended with "not available," and there was never any follow-up on what actually happened next... thanks for the info and i'll keep you in mind for a replacement valve... i'm heading out now to finish removing it from the car, and we'll see.

the new carpet kit just got the new kicked out of it...:mad: heater control valve is toast, started dismantling car but it occurred to me this part might be hard to find...that's the common consensus of posts, anyway, and motorsport, schucks, napa, no go...even struck out on ebay...so, ideas? it's a 78 280z, without air conditioning. thanks.

the information on this site has saved me quite a bit of grief, money well spent. not to mention money saved through msa...wish i knew before i rebuilt my engine...when the wife gets through medical school i'll be able to up that donation...(after of course i build her a z of her own, as well as a volvo 1800...) thanks for all the good work and support.

hardest part by far for my 78 is the interior, passenger side, plastic windshield pillar trim in brown. purchased twice on ebay to have both pieces arrive broken...they were faded and chipped, anyway...still hunting.

puttering with the z today, with this thread in mind, went ahead and ordered the hose kit...(in black, for a stock look...) i'll post an update when it shows and i dig into the install.

i've been in the hunt myself to replace all the FI hoses, starting with the high pressure stuff first and then new vacuum lines all around, as mine are brittle and cracking. as far as the actual fuel injection hose is concerned, i went with good old msa... http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TZS&Product_Code=11-4001 and for the vacuum hose i found this company, and then their ebay ad, which for me works out to be cheaper on shipping. they've guaranteed me that they include enough hose to finish the entire engine bay. i haven't ordered yet, but would appreciate any input if any one else has... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380213120230&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT hope that helps. if you find better sources, let me know.

age 29. first car-76 mgb -restored with my dad 2 83 280zx-actually dad's car, but not when i was behind the wheel 3 89 toyota corolla-an amazing car-40,000 miles in a year 4 bought the mg back sold it after a year 5 83 jeep cj5 -fun but impractical for me at the time... 6 88 honda accord-never again.:sick: 7 78 280z-still driving it 8 86 300zxt-traded for #11 9 88 jeep cherokee-krum- sold to fix up #10 10 85 toyota 4x pickup -sold when i aquired #11 11 81 toyota 4x pickup -sold for # 12 12 88 jeep cherokee -sold when i moved- 13 87 jeep cherokee -free jeep, blown engine, rebuilt and wife has taken over

datsunrestore.com...very easy to work, with. i mistakenly ordered butterscotch door panels for my 280, they worked with me and got the correct color to me, the quality was great on both. i also had good luck with msa's seat cover kit and foams.

all that's left on my list are a new windshield and misc. bodywork(little bubbling paint spots from previous body work, and door dings from parking lots)...also added an optima battery. it's been a busy year so far.

any new details on this?

Welcome back to the fold. This is a great spot for info and advice.

i installed the twice pipes with stock manifold on my 78 280 last winter. the system is noticeably louder, in parking garages i suspect mine is setting off car alarms. i've also read the system is really meant to bolt onto 240's, i've never had the opportunity to look under a 240 for differences but on my 280 routing around the diff was a challenge, big bumps in the road still make the system hit the rear arms at times. (i also welded many of the seams, the clamps supplied would have only made the system that much lower.) after the first highway trip the system also made me realize all my rear hatch rubber had to go(fumes and noise), and since replacing that the interior noise isn't much higher than the old stock system. the chrome tips stuck out too far for me with a 240 bumper, but i installed a rear skirt and then painted the whole system high-temp satin black. looks pretty sharp now. as far as an improvement in power goes, i can't be sure, since i installed the system on a rebuilt engine, which supplies a lot more power than before... enough of that though, i personally like the sound, it has a great rumble, especially coasting as the exhaust is backing off. it is not an obnoxious loud on the street, the neighbors haven't complained, and i get a lot of compliments on it from folks looking at the car. just like every other modification to these cars, its up to you in the end, and whether or not it fits your goals with the car.