Bojanglez280

Alright, I am finally ready to give you an update.....I have went through all the continuity checks. All tested correct. I have tested the fuel pump for 12V while cranking with small starter wire unplugged, and it tested out fine as well. However, the fuel pump does not buzz, vibrate, or pump fuel. The car still doesn't start. Am I looking at getting a new fuel pump as the next step? Jamie

Alright, that is done... I am working with my cousin (Ex-Mechanic), and he saw oil movement. We then checked for fuel flow at the fuel filter Hard Line....nothing. Fuel pump?

Alright, I know several of you have kept up with my progress in the New Member threads....well the day has come that I am ready to turn the key over on the car. For a quick history, I bought a '78 280 that had been sitting for a year or two. Since last October I have followed great advice and steps on refreshing a sitting engine. Just minutes ago we turned the key with the coil not plugged up to see if we registered any oil pressure, and we did not. I know it could be simply that the gauge does not work, but could also be something much worse. I am wandering what some troubleshooting steps may be, or where to go to next. Thanks in advance for any help. Jamie

Alright, well I know I am putting a ton of pictures on here but I had a somewhat productive day and thought you may want to see. I managed to get the front end of the car off. This was kind of a "why am I doing this?" type of job. And the answer I gave myself was "Why not?". In the end, I really wanted to see the condition of the "body" underneath the panels. I didn't know if I had a rust bucket or something safely salvageable. I was very pleased with what I found, aside from the remnants of a birds nest inside the cowl and rust chips from inside the fenders falling off. I vacuumed it all up and liked the end result. I will be replacing every bolt, screw, and washer whenever I put things back together. I probably had 40% of the heads of bolts snap off in the process, but nonetheless it is off. Enjoy, Jamie

I appreciate it. I have used MSA mainly for parts so far. For a few routine things, I just use O'Reily Auto. I did not realize the Z Barn was in Maryville. That's only a few hours from me. I know you can get prefab panels. I had planned on using some in certain areas of need. I would love to do some of the body work myself. We will just see how things go along the journey. First things first, get the car running and road worthy (safe). Jamie

I will be honest to say...I don't know yet. I am not even sure how far I want to go with it. I am kind of taking it literally one part at a time. I don't like the thought of saying, I am going to drop 10+ grand and make this thing as nice as it was brand new, but I love the cars to much to constantly look at rust holes etc. Since I am a school teacher / baseball and football coach I am not blessed with a ton of free time. When I do have free time, I don't always get to work on the car. I am not a mechanic, I have never been trained by a mechanic, I don't know how to do body work....but I want to learn how to do everything. My father-in-law is a mechanic by trade and a very good one. He knows how to do body work, but in reality he does not want to "do my car for me". He is more than willing to help me and answer questions and teach me how to do this and that, but most of what I know has come from my years of driving and just taking stuff apart, and putting it back together. I've had (in this order) an '88 BMW 735i, '97 Nissan Hardbody pickup, '94 Civic with a GSR motor swap, '92 Prelude Si, and now my '03 4Runner. Each of which I have worked on myself. The only thing I have not serviced myself, was my Prelude that needed engine rebuild work done. Had that sent off. To wrap up this long beat around the bush answer...I don't know what I am going to do yet. I want the car to be trustworthy mechanically, safe to jump in and ride with no worries. Once it gets to that point, I will see what all I want to do with the body. I would like to do some of the work myself, but realize my own limits. At the end of the day I paid $600 for what is going to be years worth of fun times, learning, and a lifetime of memories. My wife graduates next month with a doctorate in physical therapy, so I safely assume our financial situation won't be as tight as it is now in the future. If we make more.....eh.....maybe the old Z will be nicer than I currently anticipate. Thanks for checking in, Jamie

Sorry the pictures are taken at night. It has been anywhere from 106-113 degrees this week and I simply haven't worked on it during the day. Heck, I took these tonight at 10 or so, and it was 97. What in the world is going on in Tennessee?!?!

Contrary to the looks of it, no the mower is not being used to hold up the hood What a mess... To be installed between (future tank) and pump. May put between pump and engine bay filter for now. Will probably be trying to start the car out of a 2 gallon gas tank or something of that sort until I get a new tank. This is what fell onto the ground upon loosening the 12mm bolts that attach the front fender. All this was trapped up in there!! New Fuel Filter and Hose previously mentioned. New Distributor Cap and Rotor. Also new NGK Spark Plug Wires Thanks for looking. Hope this entertains those who asked. Jamie

New Clutch Master Cylinder-Put this on this spring. New Slave, Clutch Fork Boot, and Clutch Hose-Waiting on getting my new hard line installed so I can install these. Passenger Floor Pan

I live in Smyrna. Thanks for the kind words. I am working on getting it going. Today I went and purchased a new fuel filter and fuel hose to replace the old set up, but will not be putting them on until next weekend. My cousin currently has my air compressor and he is coming over next weekend (with my compressor). I want to disconnect the fuel lines and blow them out before reconnecting everything. Also, I have to go get new clamps for miscellaneous things that have been removed and I want to replace 35 year old clamps, screws, bolts....etc. I started the process of trying to remove the front end (fenders, front grille, hood, etc.) Didn't really look into instructions in the FSM until after I hit a ??? moment. But, when I came inside the air conditioning felt nice and my wife was back home from being gone all day, so I am stopping for the night. I may go back out tomorrow and see if I can manage to get the rest of the front end off. Next weekend, my cousin and I will be making a strong push to attempting to "turn it over" for the first time. Not sure if that will be possible, but that is our goal. I can see the light at the end (or beginning) of the tunnel. Just need to continue to be patient and realistic, which I feel I have been so far. Thanks for reading. Wish me luck! Jamie

Well, it has been some time since I last posted, but the spring season of a HS baseball coach is a busy time. I have started to get back into some Z work this summer. Nothing major has been done yet, but I continue to knock items off the "to-do" list. I have gotten and installed two new heater hoses than run from the block, to the firewall, and back to the clock. I have bought new Air Filter to AFM and AFM to Throttle Body boots and need to run to the parts store to buy clamps to put those on. I have refilled the transmission fluid with Redline MT-90. I was scared to death of tackling this as I read nothing but bad things about getting the fill plug out. Maybe I am one of the few lucky ones, but I got my fill plug off with a 10" crescent wrench and a bare minimum of elbow grease. It was easier than breaking the oil drain plug on my 4Runner. Anyways, that was a great surprise. I also got a new valve cover breather hose and am awaiting new clamps to put it on as well. New distributor rotor and cap have been installed, and spark plug wires attached to it. I got a Fram G3 fuel filter to install in the rear of the car and need to go to parts store to get a new engine bay fuel filter. Progress is still being made, but I am very anxious to turn it over for the first time. Hopefully I can make that happen before school starts back up. Football season will also leave me very little free time. Thanks for keeping up, Jamie

I feel as I may be boring some of you on here, but if nothing else this serves as documentation for myself of how the project is going from start to whenever finsihed gets here. Update: I purchased the POR-15 fuel tank treatment kit yesterday and am waiting on it to arrive. Going to tackle that whenever it comes in. Plans: I need to solve my gas tank situation, replace the fuel hoses, blow out the hard gas lines with compressed air before installation, install a fuel filter between tank and pump, change the engine bay fuel filter, refill my transmission fluid, drain and refill oil, install the new hard clutch line, install the new clutch rubber hose and slave cylinder, bleed the hydraulic system, install spark plugs..............and see if she will start. Thanks to all who have advised along the way. Seems like a LONG list, but it shouldn't take too long. Jamie

I managed to get the hard clutch line out of the car tonight. Took a lot of fishing it this way and that way to wiggle it out. Which leads me to my next "Uh-Oh" moment. Figuring into how hard it was to finagle that line out of there, what are the odds that I can wiggle one back in, without kinking the lines, with the engine in the car. I am not opposed to the thought of pulling the motor, as that opens up much room to work and makes it much easier to clean things up, but I have no room to do that in my current situation. Jamie

Crushed my dreams....how sad. Well, I will get around to it at some point. I've enjoyed the comments. Jamie

Email'd you today, but I am interested in keeping in contact. I am trying to rebuild mine on a single income budget. Not concerned with everything I get being new. This is an awesome thread! Glad I stumbled across it. Jamie

Some of you have asked that I post pictures to keep you up on my project, if you can call it that yet...Well here are some cell phone shots of its current condition. By the way, I am asking for a digital camera for Christmas. Wheels and Tires are off now Gas Tankless Finally got my air compressor from my parents house to my garage.....Tight Working Quarters!!! My prior post spoke of my cousin's tool chest, here it is. I like it New Master Cylinder is in Ways away, but I have chosen my wheels. Graphite 16" Rewinds with polished lip. Aw....dreaming of the final product. Jamie

Alright...some bad news, but not terrible news. The hard clutch line fitting that connects to the rubber hose above the slave cylinder has been stripped to the point it will not come off. I even went and bought my first set of flare nut wrenches, sprayed PB Blaster all over it, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, sprayed some more, and then tried to get it off and it stripped on me. Stupid 33 year old fitting... Here is my question, what in the world should I do? I am figuring I will either be replacing the entire hard line, or cutting off the fitting and installing a new one? I have no clue how hard this is, and do not know if I am capable. I hate the thought of towing the car somewhere just to have this done, as that would likely be a pain and also could be expensive. Look forward to comments and I appreciate them. I was feeling great about getting it on the road within a month or so until tonight. Jamie

What I did this weekend: First off, my cousin (who used to be a mechanic) called and asked if I could store his $1000 worth of MAC Tools and air tools in my garage as he was having trouble finding somewhere to store them....what a blessing. Of course I said yes! 1) Gas tank has been dropped. I need to take pictures and post them, but overall I would say it was not terrible. I have seen much much worse. I think I can save it for not too much $$. 2) Wheels/Tires have now been taken off and set to the side. We checked the brakes and there is still life on them. Obviously, I will be flushing and refilling/bleeding the system before I go out driving, but there is still padding. Also, I plan to replace hoses before running the car. Just for peace of mind of the missed dry rot crack etc.... 3) Clutch master cylinder has been removed and replaced. I still l haven't gotten around to getting the clutch hose above the slave cylinder off and replaced, so that is still on the to do list. Once that is done I can mount the slave, fill the fluids, and bleed the hydraulic system. 4) We cranked the block (by hand) for the first time. That was exciting..... 5) I have my new NGK Plugs and Wires in but don't see the need of putting them on until I am ready to turn her over. 6) Drained the transmission fluid (It was obvious this had never been done on the 33 yr old car before. I read some last night on how much the capacity for refill is and got multiple results. The one I am leaning towards as correct was just under 2 quarts. I have a '78-4spd manual. I planned on using Redline as I read some positive comments. Lastly, I got my first bottle of PB Blaster from my grandfather for free! That stuff is AMAZING! Update you soon....my goal of a running Z by Christmas remains possible. Jamie

Do you happen to have the Air Cleaner to AFM boot and the AFM to throttle body boot with side outlet? '78-280z? Thanks, Jamie

I need to drop my tank, clean it, and really good a good look (And take pics) to see what I am really dealing with. If it is just a 6x6 sheet metal patch and treat then that is probably my cheapest solution. Hopefully, I will be able to pull it this weekend.

I have not used them. I have simply used MSA and O'Reily Auto Parts so far for the few things I have needed. Since that is the price a new tank is going to be, I think I am going to attempt to fix mine and see what happens. Jamie

I apologize for my ignoramous wishful thinking. I saw the price at $440 and a core charge of $395. I thought the charge was $440 and then you would get reimbursed $395 for the core tank. I apologize for my misunderstanding. Jamie

That is a good deal with the core charge. Less than $50 on an exchange basis for a new tank. My biggest concern is if you read in their terms and conditions they are able to reject tanks and/or not give full exchange value if your tank is not "suitable" for repair. Since mine knowingly has a leak and patch, I am not sure if they would take it or not. I know there are much worse tanks out there, but I also would rather not spend $400+ on a tank if they do not accept mine. Jamie

Went with the MSA heater hose that runs the length of the block up to the firewall. The other hose, that is shorter I wil probably just get generic auto parts store hose for. It does not seem to have too much of a bend to it, so I figure I will go the generic route with it. It will cost like $1, so if it doesn't work out I won't be out too much. Slowly but surely getting parts in/on.... Jamie