hemlock82

I know there must be a few people on the board here close to Jacksonville, FL. I'd really appreciate another set of local eyes / input on my attempt to resurrect a '77 280Z. I'm doing it as a favor for a friend, but if I can get it running and it still looks in decent mechanical order, I may end up picking it up from him. Let me know if you're local and available for a barrage of questions from a Z Car neophyte.

The car I was looking at doesnt have any rust in the floor pans or the door sills, but the spots in the wheel wells look very similar to what you have in your photos. Regarding the earlier question about how much I'm willing to pay...i dont really have a set budget in mind. I'm mainly looking for the challenge of learning something new while bringing a cool car back from the brink. A good deal that I *might* be able to break even with at the end is my main goal, keeping in mind that the vast majority of the work I can do myself, so its mainly just cost of parts and original purchase to consider. I have some decent skills/tools/access, and have frame-up (amateur) refurbishments of a variety of vehicles in my past ('46 Buick, '69 VW Bug, '92 MR2) just dont have a lot of knowledge about the Z-cars.

Difficult to describe without a photo, but I'll try... Left front wheel well has a hole about 4" in diameter, rusted through the centerline wall of the wheel well, near the bottom. Appears to be a void space behind it...possibly the top of the frame rails...? Right front wheel well has a hole approx. 3" in diameter, rusted through the rear wall of the wheel well, approx. 6" inset from the quarter panel, about 1 foot above the bottom of the well. Can't tell what is behind it, but could not see light through it while the hood was open. Thoughts as to how serious (structurally) these holes could be? The additional piece of the story that I forgot to add earlier is that if I dont buy it, he has offered to let me fix it as efficiently as possible to secure a decent resale (fixing it on his dime, just my work), then splitting the sale with me. With this option in mind, are these rust spots severe enough to doom the car or can we salvage something worthwhile out of it with a tuneup and some "rust rehab"?

Well, here's the story... Went to see the car today. As advertised, it is a 1977 280Z with just over 63k original miles. All original interior (including some hideous orange shag carpet). It is a coupe, not 2+2, and 4 speed manual tranny with factory A/C. I looked as best I could (since car wasnt on lifts or anything) for rust, and found the following: -Surface rust/peeling paint about the size of a pancake on drivers door under the mirror -one spot in each of the front wheel wells was rusted through. again, a hole about the size of a pancake. -the bottom 3-4 inches of the front quarter panels are rusted just in front of the doors -frame rails *felt* like mostly surface rust (couldnt see fully underneath) Other things of note: -outside trim pieces are off the car, but have been kept and are inside the vehicle in a bag -this is a one owner car - the guy that has it now bought it new in 1977. -car has not run/been cranked in approx. 6 years, and has not been registered to be on the road since 1999. -car has never been in an accident, and is still original orange color (i dont know the paint code) It seems that there is a lot of good here, given the originality of the car and the overall good conditions of the interior/body (with obvious exception being the handful of rust occurrences). So...whats the right price for something like this? He wants $5000, negotiable. How difficult is it to repair/combat the rusted panels in the front wheel well and bottom of the quarter panel? Sorry no pictures, didnt want to push my luck with him on the first visit. Any advice/input of feasibility restoring this thing would be most appreciated.

Thanks for the input. I'm definitely going to be looking for rust, as I understand that is a major issue with these cars. Was very helpful to have an idea of which places were most prone though, so thanks especially for that. Once I take a look at it, I'll get some pictures and post up here for more opinions. This is sort of a "private sale showing", so neither he nor I are in a rush to do a deal. I've got time to do my research on it.

Hi all, I'm new here (yes I've seen the posts saying that I'm not supposed to admit that), and am going next week to look at a 1977 280z for sale in the area. I'm new to late 70's Z-cars, but am coming from the early 1990's Toyota MR2 crowd, so am not totally unfamiliar with the general challenges of 20+ year old cars. I've lurked in the forums for a while, but can anyone tell me (or point me to a thread) for a general checklist of typical problem areas to look for in this car when I go see it? It currently belongs to the father of a friend, so I dont know much about it other than the fact that it is for sale and has been in his garage for 15+ years. Thanks in advance for any possible advice. I'll keep you guys (and gals) posted on what I find.