ksechler

Do you have the rubber for the bumpers? Those can't be found anymore. If you do take good care of them. You should put this car back to original condition and either sell it for a tidy profit or hide it away and drive it infrequently. Nice find, you are very lucky!

When doing my own fuel system I did some research and found that hose clamps aren't recommended for braided line especially when using fuel injection. The line is too stiff and it doesn't compress well, I guess. Also there is a specific type of flare that is supposed to be used. I didn't have the tool to do the flare. I ended up using a compression fitting instead.

Not to be "that guy" but the connection of your braided fuel line below the regulator to the hard fuel line concerns me a little. I see you have it hose clamped. Braided fuel line doesn't clamp very well especially for higher pressure systems used with fuel injection. Please double check that so your sure of it.

Something to consider is buying a rotisserie instead of building it. After all, you're going to be working under the thing! I bought one from Eastwood for $1400 and sold it when I was done for $850 after using it for 3 years. Not a bad deal in my mind.

Make sure that you get all of the stripper out of seams on the car before you paint. There are a lot of those spot welded overlapping joints where the stripper can hide. This will screw up the finish later. I had a bad spot that I luckily discovered during priming. I couldn't figure out why the primer kept bubbling up after a day or two....

I guess it depends on what you want from the car. Very few Z-owners would consider the wide body kit and rectangular headlights as a plus. If it's in sound mechanical condition and not rusted out and you like the look then go for it. Personally I suspect there are many gremlins hiding in that car. Be careful.

Nice work on the Camry. I think you're ready to give the z a go. I can't wait to see the finished product. Nice job on the diffy cover too!

Thanks for the replies. That's what I thought. Just another ebay dreamer. Too bad. If that car was worth 47,500 mine would be worth 60,000! ?

Either this guy is insane and has grossly over valued his zcar or I missed something. I'm interested to see what others think. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Datsun-Z-Series-280Z/292601359629?hash=item4420666d0d:g:kB0AAOSwL4lbH9be&vxp=mtr

You're not still driving that are you? The first and second picture are concerning. It doesn't look like there is any structure left for the tension rod. I gotta be honest with you, I'd pass. I think you'd be better off trying to find a shell from California or Arizona and using the parts from your car to make something road worthy.

IMHO it's doubtful you could get that fixed for less than $10K. There's probably a mess on the other side too. Rust is like cockroaches. If you see one, there's a lot more you can't see. I'm sorry if that sounds discouraging. You should still get it checked out. Just keep your hopes realistic.

All: Thanks for your replies. I feel like I've got a much better handle on where to go next. To try to answer a couple of questions... Zed Head: I have the older transmission with two hangers. Eurodat: It jumps out with force. If I try to hold it in gear it grinds. I moved the lever around last night with the motor off and there is definitely a different feel between 1-4 and 5. Gears 1-4 go in positively and I can feel the teeth meshing. 5th goes in and the lever stays in place but without the feeling of the gears meshing. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks, it'll be option 3. It's staying where it is for now. I've already pulled it twice and I'm not ready to do it a third time. 4 gears is enough for now.

The original problem is that the transmission would not synchronize going from 1-2 and 2-3 leading to much gear grinding. Yes, I can easily shift from 5th to reverse with the motor off.

I'm not sure I follow you.

I believe he tightened and recrimped the nut on the countershaft which greatly improved shifting in gears 1-4. What it didn't do was allow my transmission to hold 5th. I'm still trying to ascertain whether or not it was done right. The only viable theories I have so far is that I have the wrong shift lever or the nut on the countershaft is loose. If it's the shift level I don't know why it used to work, but I doubt it is the nut because it was just tightened.

Why not? They sent me a "rebuilt" transmission that had never been rebuilt.

The countershaft nut is tight. I don't think quality of work is an issue. I'm pursuing the shift lever issue mentioned by siteunseen. details..... The car is a '76 280z. The transmission was a purchased from the shysters at Datsun LLC or California Datsun or whatever they are now. It is an early 5 speed and I am using the original shift lever from my 4 speed transmission. Before I had it rebuilt it held all 5 gears but the synchros weren't synchronizing very well. For that reason I'm a little skeptical about the problem being the shifter, but it's the easiest thing to try so I'm going to try it.

I have an early 5 speed transmission. I'm guessing it is from a '79. I had the transmission rebuilt recently. After the rebuild I didn't have 2nd and 5th gear. So I yanked it out and took it back to the mechanic. I put it back in Saturday and I still don't have 5th gear. It shifts flawlessly 1-4 and reverse seems ok, but when I put it in 5th it pops out when I let out the clutch. Before anyone goes there, the mechanic is used by many hear and considered to be reputable. I'm frankly pissed but I'm not going to call him out. My questions are: Does anyone have any ideas why 5th keeps popping out and if I leave it in for know and just use gears 1-4 am I going to mess something up? I'm loath to pull it out again right away because it's a lot of work, and I'm also loath to take it back to the mechanic because I have lost confidence (and it entails 3 hours of driving). Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

Sounds sensible. I probably would have powder coated too if I'd had a setup for it.

Yep, sounds familiar. Have you started doing zinc on all the various bits and pieces? That takes a while too. Nothing worse than setting your mind to putting some assembly back together only to find some rusty spring or washer that you missed. How are you planning on doing the zinc part? Do you have a small media blasting cabinet? I would blast the small parts, zinc them and them throw them in my tumbler with corn cob media for an hour or two. They'd come out nice and shiny.

Kev: Looking good. You might consider taking that front fender off. I think that you will find the front of the rocker is rusted out too. You can get new rockers from tabco. I cut the front off of these and used them for a replacement. It's a pretty common trouble spot.

I don't blame you. I guess you should check it out before you put it in. It would really suck to put it in and then have to take it back out!