hall.nathan89

I totally agree with that! As a side note: 210,000 miles is nothing to worry about... The last '83 that I had (got totalled in an accident about a year ago) had 296,000 on it when we bought it and 308,000 by the time we rebuilt the engine. At the time of its death, it drove great and only needed a few relatively minor repairs (rear suspension bushings, rack and pinion, and a few other things).

Well, granted I'm no expert, and I live in the best-case-scenario state for these cars, but I'd personally say YES. It will be reliable once again. My newest '83 took me months of chasing problems, but now that I've done it all, It starts right up every time and drives like a champ. I can even let it sit for two weeks and come back to it, and I don't have any problems. That being said, the previous owner put a lot of new parts into it (including the engine and manifold out of an '81 automatic; which accounted for a great deal of my problems) But I also know that in the local clubs down here, there are several people that started with cars much like yours and built them up to be great looking and great driving cars! It's really a matter of your preference and what you can find; if you can sell that one for $3000 and buy somebody's fully restored job for $4000, then I'd say you may have saved yourself a lifetime supply of asprin. If you like doing the work, however, then it may be worth it to chase the problems and make your car your own, and something to be proud of. So to answer your question in a much shorter way: Can it ever be reliable again? Yes! Should you put the time, effort, and money into it? That's entirely up to your preference! Hope that helps

I appologize for the quality, but I only spent about 10 minutes on this, and in the pic, the decal is still on my machine. It should be a good representation of what's possible though, so let me know if you'd like me to persue it further. PM or email is probably the best way to get ahold of me. use hall.nathan89@gmail.com

If someone can take a good enough pic, I'll make them for you. I'll look around and see what I can find in the meantime.

I've recently started working on a '76 that's been parked for 10 years. After 10 years, there is a lot of work to be done, but the reason it was parked in the first place were the bad struts. The last time I did struts I think I was 10 years old helping my dad on an '81 280ZX. I'm planning on doing it this weekend, so I looked at the FSM and that made the whole process about as clear as mud . It makes it look like I have to remove the whole assembly, but I'm fairly certain that that isn't the case. Also, it doesn't talk about compressing the springs, which I'm pretty sure I'll want to do if I value my life. Am I just looking in the wrong place in the FSM? Any Pointers? Thanks!

Saving manual labor or not, I'm not sure I'll be trying that trick. I think I'd rather keep my tank in its original geometry I suppose if Red were going to solve the problem, he'd probably duct tape it to a spare tire, and duct tape that to the one on the car. Personally, I think I'll do it the hard way. After all, I am a man (but I can change... if I have to... I guess.) So what should I use to clean it if I don't need to seal it again. It's been sitting in a climate controlled garage all 10 years, so I suspect it's probably ok in terms of rust. Do I just use mineral spirits or something like it? Do I use more gasoline?

Yeah, I think that's what I'll have to do. Oh well. Where did you get the POR15 kit?

Well the '81 is in my woodshop; a pretty good place to do a project like that. The '76 is at my wife's uncle's house burried under boxes. So I figured if I could do that, I'd only have to transport a tank once. It's not a huge deal, just inconvenient. In retrospect, I suppose I didn't buy a 35 year old japanese car that's been parked for 10 years for the convenience of it all :-P

Ok thanks! I would just go look, but both neither car is at my residence, and they are both 5 miles from each other... Not ideal for comparison :-)

Well, it's finally time to start working on my '76 280Z. It's been sitting for 10 years, and I've recently confirmed that there was at least a gallon or two of fuel in it at the time that it was parked. The tank is the first thing that I'm going to go after, but I have a question about it. I have an '81 280ZX that I use for parts on my '83. Would that tank fit the '76? If so, it seems like it would be easier to pull that tank, clean it out, and then just do a clean swap. What do you guys think? This is my first try at an S30, and I'm super excited to get it running! Thanks!

I appologize for the delay here. I haven't been on in a few weeks. So far I've just been running it as-is and it seems to be fine. I do still have a problem with it running a little rough for the first minute or two, but after that it smooths out and purrs like a kitten. I also have a problem with my battery dying after 10hrs of the car not running, but I have yet to determine if that's related to the engine swap or not. As of right now, I'd say that the '81 guts are working great with the '83 brain

I got it! I figured out the problem! I have an '83 car with the engine/manifold from an '81. So my vacuum lines were still all wrong, even though I thought they were right. Are there any other problems I should watch out for with the difference in the engine? How will the ECU handle a different engine?

Thanks for the input! There is a new stereo in the car (previous owner installed), there's no alarm and really no other electronic devices that aren't original. I think they did a load test, but I'm not positive, so I'll ask. I'll admit that I'm guilty of the "They look clean" mentality; I'll clean them and check my cables tomorrow and see how it goes from there. SteveJ: What are your thoughts given the things I've just stated?

So I'm having a problem with my battery dying and I can't figure it out. As far as I can tell, nothing is on when the car is off (I've gone around listening/looking in a quiet place at night) but the battery is still draining and after 8-10hrs, the car won't start anymore. I had the battery and the alternator tested, and both tested good. I charged the battery all the way and it lasted 4 days. I know the real answer to this is a date with a multimeter, some long test leads, and an extra-large helping of patience. But is there a faster way to troubleshoot this? It wouldn't be a problem except that it's my daily driver and I think my coworkers are tired of letting me jump my car from theirs.

It probably will cook it, but I have access to lots of chemicals (through my work) that would melt the adhesive even in its cooked state. I like the idea of it being connected to the other side. Is it supposed to be that way originally? That would help solve the problem on both sides and prevent it from happening again.

I thought about doing velcro, but I know that area gets hot and I was concerned the the adhesive might melt. Have you had any problems with that?

Spray adhesive! What a great idea! I've even got a can of 3M 90 sitting right here... Thanks!

The previous owner of my '83 replaced the carpet, and it looks a little funny. The carpet itself looks nice enough, but it slides around and it now receding from the area where it should be tucked under the center console. I'm fixing my mirror switches today, so I'll have the center console torn apart anyways and my question is, what do I put under the carpet to get it to stay put?

Power steering isn't hard to do at all. Neither is the ignition switch. But in my personal opinion, digging into the door is going to SUCK... :-P As for the ignition switch, you might find it cheaper to pull it out and take it to a locksmith and have them clean and repin it. I was able to do that a few months ago and the guy only charged me $15 since it was already out of the car.

Not yet, I'm showing it to a few more people in the next few days. I'm still seeing interest, but I'll let you know when we start looking at other offers. I wan't to start going to some events in the area, it's just so far away right now... But I'll get out there one day

As for showing it to sell it, I already bought it (Cha-CHING!) As for showing it off, I guess I just didn't think about it. It's covered in boxes right now. I had to excavate just to get these photos. Are you DZA or Desert Datsuns or both? You can bet I'll be bringing it to some events once I get it running! It was great to meet you, by the way!

No, I haven't... I've been tempted too, though! I'll be over there tomorrow so I'll check. Man! That would throw off my "driving chi" having only 4 gears! If there isn't a 5 speed in there, you can bet there will be by the time it runs again...

That's good to know, and I'll bet that's what it is. Would the 5 speed be an easy mount from the 4? I didn't look too hard, but the engine seemed almost identical to what's in my ZXs

It's actually in amazingly good shape. It needs the struts replaced (thus the reason that it's on jackstands), and there's some interior stuff that needs to be done. Other than that, it's RTR (ready to restore :-) ) I noticed as I was taking photos the other day that it shows ~65,000mi, but then I noticed later that there are only 5 digits on the odometer. Is there a way to tell if it's at 65 or 165? Also, he says he's got a 6 speed transmission for it. I'd never heard of that for a Z. Is there a 6speed that would just replace the T5, or would that be a "Franken-Z" type project?

I apologize for my delay in getting pictures up! The car has been covered in boxes, so it's been a little difficult, but here's what I've got: http://s1154.photobucket.com/albums/p533/rocketmannate/1976%20Datsun%20280Z/ I'm going to work on getting that garage cleared out so that I can start working on the car. As soon as I do I'll put more photos up and update you all on my progress. Thanks for the comments! :-)