Bojanglez280

Has been TOO long since I've posted. However, in some sort I use this as a timeline of my cars journey. I ran into a guy at a local restaurant a couple months ago wearing a Datsun hat. I made the comment "only Z guys wear Datsun hats..." to my friend. This guy turns around and says, "it's in the parking lot. Let's go." In the end, he is the top guy in our local Z car club. One thing lead to another and he hooked me up with someone in the club who could help me out. Had my carpet kit installed, new wiring harness installed, front and rear bumpers mounted, and a few other miscellaneous things. I am happy about where this car is at. Still some things I would like to do, but I guess that never stops. Thanks for checking in, Jamie

With the time delay between my post and yours, I had already come to the decision. I will be getting 15x7 Rota RB wheels in silver. I am simply awaiting a time when me can purchase them comfortably. I am awaiting the birth of my first child, December 21. I since have blown the head gasket due to a coolant flow issue. I will be digging into getting that fixed this Wednesday. Then, if all goes well. I should be on the road. Looking forward to it. Jamie

Figured everyone may want to see the results. I am very pleased. I need new wheels and tires. Still have a few things to address, but the largest job is complete. And when you can say that about a car restoration less than 3 months before becoming a father....that makes for a happy Z owner! Hope you all enjoy! Jamie

UPDATE: I noticed I have not been on here in a few weeks...It is football season so time gets away from me. I decided to go ahead and do the whole car. Now, I do not mean I am doing a $30k restoration, but we have agreed on a number to remove all rust and replace it, floor pans, rockers, battery tray area...etc. I am also having the body repaired and having a color change done. I decided to go with the 2012 Nissan KAD Gunmetal Grey color. Here comes my request. I will be putting the Rota RB wheels on the car. I was wandering if anyone out there either has pictures or can photoshop up a picture of this car color with a couple of rim colors. I can not decide between hyberblack, gunmetal, or silver. The progress is coming along great. I stopped by the shop today and couldn't be more excited/anxious. I need to buy wheels soon though so we can see the stance of the car on the ground to know how to approach the suspension and eliminating the hated gap between top of the tires and fenders. Thanks, Jamie

The day has finally come....I received the phone call today. The body shop is ready to take in my Z!! Saturday morning, I will be driving it about 3 miles to put it in the shop. At a minimum, we will be replacing the floors. Looking forward to it.

Found my shop. Will be using Tennessee Classic Automotive in Smyrna, TN. Owner is a Z enthusiast himself. Owns 2 280's and a 95 300zx TT. He has restored several Z's over the years, and they are a full bore restoration shop. They have access to do everything. They have a paint booth on site as well. Looking forward to getting it started. I am awaiting him to have an opening. He is full right now.

UPDATE: I got the front end done last night/this morning. I have new inner/outer bearings, seals, grease, rotors, calipers, and will bleed the system tomorrow after I put on the new shoes and drums. Thanks for all your help. This is becoming a joy/addiction. You will see I started another thread. I am looking for a good metal shop. Will be doing floor pans/fram rails (Zedd) soon. Need reference to a good place. This is something I do not have any desire to do on my own. Thanks, Jamie

I am going to be purchasing a Zedd Findings set of rails and pans in the coming week or so. I am hoping someone on here has had a great experience with a local to middle TN company, that I can be referred to. I know the importance of this job being done well. I have had no experience with any shops around here. I have done everything "mechanically" speaking so far myself, but this is something I do not have the equipment to or faith to attack myself. I want this done right. Hopefully someone will be able to lead me to a good place. I am in Smyrna, TN. There is a shop around the corner called Tennessee Classic Automotive (tcacars.net). I do not know anything about them, other than I drive by it most everyday and they appear to work on tons of American muscle. I plan to call them and go and meet with them. Thanks again everyone! Jamie

Thanks for all the help. Today I got the hub and rotor separated. I got the inner bearing and seal out. I now need to drive the old races out. Tomorrow I get my inner seals and new cotter pins in. I already have everything else. One day at a time...

Next item on the agenda....I got the bolts loose. Kind of an odd way, but nonetheless they are off. Next, separating the hub from the rotor? So far, what I have seen, tools needed are a block of 2x4 and a hammer. I am not sure how I feel about that but, that is what I have seen. Thoughts? In the mean time I have taken off the dust shield, scuffed it, cleaned it, and put a coat of black paint on it. I have ordered all the bearings, seals, nuts, retainers...etc necessary to go ahead and replace everything up front. Thanks again, Jamie

Answered my own question. Out of curiosity, I removed the listed items above and the hub is now off. Thanks for the direction guys. If I need anything else, you already know I will ask.

If you can not access them with the dust shield still on, and you have to have the hub off to remove the four screws for the brake dust shield...then where do you start? The bearing dust cap, cotter pin, spindle lock??? Maybe I'm I'm over my head on this one.

I have searched for awhile using the search forum option, and have found some useful info....but, looking for as much detail as possible. For those of you who do not know, I am a school teacher that is learning this trade on the side. I have always been a Z enthusiast, and have loved learning things as I go. This is just the next step. I have purchased new rotors and calipers (loaded) for the front and new shoes/drums/hardware for the rear. I have the car on jackstands, the rear drums off, and have the front calipers off. The rotor is making me scratch my head. I have read to hit it with a rubber mallet and various other options to remove it. Currently it is soaking in PB Blaster. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Pictures, for my ignorance, are even better. Another question: While I am in there, should I go ahead and replace wheel bearings and seals? I have fully read the link by ZClub Tech tips http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/frontwheelbearings/index.html and if it is necessary, am willing to attack it. Thanks again everyone for the help! This car has been a joy. I know it is one that most would not try to redo, but it is not only fun for me but a cheap self teaching tool. It was an AWESOME feeling last week just to drive it around the block. Jamie

Sounds good....I think I am a ways away from being able to start any body work. 1) I've been working on the car off and on for about 2 years and simply wanted to be able to drive it. Now that is possible. 2) I still want to button up a few things, safety wise. 3) I've got my first little one on the way. Truly just wanting to enjoy driving it for a little while. As always, I need to post some pictures... Jamie

Update: I know it has been awhile. Football and baseball seasons sure take up a chunk of time. Last night I was able to drive the Z around the block a couple of times. It has been a fun journey, I have a long way to go, but it has been a blast. Next step is upgrading the brakes. They work, but are very soft. I have not upgraded them, only did the hard brake tube bridges and rubber hoses and bled the fluids. Clutch is no longer frozen. Car shifts smooth and runs well for having sat for 6 years. Glad to be back on here! Hope all is well. Jamie

To feel like we got something accomplished today....we mounted the gas tank back to the car and bled all brakes after installing new bridge tubes on the front. The rear passenger wheel cylinder blew while pumping the brakes, so I have ordered new wheel cylinders from Rock Auto. I am absolutely baffled by the clutch situation. I am starting to lean towards the one option I didn't want it to be, that the pushrod on the new Master is not as long as the original. I kept the original master cylinder for approximately 6 months, until last week when we had an appraisal on our house and I threw it away to help "clean up" the garage. You know those moments where you wish it were possible to give yourself a swift kick in the anus?? This would be one of those moments. That is at least, to the extent of my knowledge, what I think the problem is. Where can you go about getting an original pushrod? Unless anyone has better ideas, that is the next thing I am going to try. Zed Head....we checked the clevis assembly, and everything seems fine. I have not looked into the internal spring. I guess you could have something there. That is something I need to look into soon.

Is there a master cylinder with a longer piston that I need? My master cylinder is a 5/8 bore from O'Reilys....if I need a new one that is fine. If it has a longer piston, that seems to be the solution.

Next update....on another thread I found a mention of a guy getting a M8 bolt extension and a coupler to extend the pushrod. We did that...it worked...the slave movement went from 5/8 inch to now 7/8 inch movement. FSM recommends 1 1/3 inches of movement....How do you suppose I squeeze out the remaining necessary distance?

Update, We have adjusted the master piston as far as possible to make for as much piston travel as possible from pedal pressing....We have bled the system probably 30-35 pumps. We have not seen an air bubble in 15-20 pumps. The clutch pedal is stiff, as in is does not feel spongy. Yet, upon full pedal to floor extension, the slave cylinder push rod is only moving approximately 3/4 inch. Based off of this information, is the problem as I expect that the O'Reily Auto Parts master cylinder replacement one "likely made in China" has too short of a push rod? If so, you mentioned a Rav4 master.....what year's Rav4 push rod would work? Or what other year/model/make could I try? Or, what else could I do and or look at with my current setup to try and make things work? I feel like it is so close, yet so far away. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

For any of you who have kept up with my progress, you probably already know I have gotten the car running. Today I got my gas tank back from Crawford Z Car Service in Nashville. I am near the point of having a "road-test" worthy ride. Here is where I am at....I have replaced the clutch master cylinder, the hard line that runs from it to the slave, the rubber hose at the slave, and the slave cylinder. I have bled the system and gotten clutch pedal pressure (there is tension in the pedal; compared to the "light as paper" feel it had beforehand). While the car is running (I have it on jack stands), I push in the clutch to the floor and attempt to put the car in gear....the rear wheels begin spinning before the car goes into gear. It will not go into any gear....it feels like the clutch never disengages through the swing of the pedal. The pedal is 8 3/4 in from the floor (measuring from the firewall to the top of the pedal cover), but there feels to be far too much free play at the top of the swing...maybe 2 inches or so compared to the 1/4 inch recommended. So my question I guess is 2 fold - 1) How do you shorten the free play? 2) What else should I be trying to do to right my wrongs? Reminder, I am a school teacher by day and a pick and learn as I go project car worker by nights and weekends. Just share that with you to help "dumb down" any advice you may have to offer. Thanks for your help in advance. As always, I am very grateful. Jamie

Update: I went with an MSD Fuel Pump. Got it, installed it, turned the key twice, and it started.....first time it has ran it years. Great feeling. This was about 2 months ago.....just realized how long I have been absent from the site due to football. Time flies

Well as our long pitiful football season comes to a close (0-10), one good thing comes from it.....I can pick back up on working on the Z. I was able to do a few things today. I put on the new Brake Master Cylinder, ran the new hard clutch line from clutch master to slave, put on all new brake hoses, and a new oil sending unit. For those of you who keep up with my progress, I had the car running today! Now, somewhere over the last year I have managed to lose/misplace the slave cylinder to bell housing bolts. Can anyone help me out by letting me know what size/type/thread length I need to go buy? Thanks in advance. It sure was a great Z day. '78 280z 4 Speed Manual Jamie

To update you all, I ordered a new fuel pump this weekend and am awaiting it to come in. If this is the solution to not receiving fuel, I am thinking I may have a running Z by the end of the week!! I am well aware that this will probably turn my eyes to the next necessary fix. I am thinking at the point that the oil pressure switch maybe leaking some oil. I have a small puddle under the car from the 10-15 times I have cranked the engine hoping I had fixed the fuel delivery issue. I had not. I will let you know when the next news develops. Jamie

I was laying under the car and had my wife sitting there turning the key while I took a reading with the multi-meter. Yes, it is in a quiet garage and no I heard nothing. So, I am thinking based on what you said....I need to try a new pump. Here goes some late night shopping. Luckily my wife graduates from doctorate school in two weeks and has already locked down a job. I said something to her tonight about getting a new pump in a few weeks, and she said some unbelievable words "Just go ahead and get it". I may just go with an aftermarket. We'll see.

Yeah yeah yeah....he simply told me how much he had in it. Between the tool box, bunch of wrenches and sockets in drawers, and then he has a air tool kit in there as well. Besides the point really.