ryanonthevedder

I also found some very creative body work on the floors. Lots of self tapping screws and tar, although it was no piece of art. The most difficult part to reproduce is under the battery tray, hopefully yours is salvageable. Floors are not too bad of a job though. A piece of advice having done the job already is to grind off/out the spot welds where they attach under the doors. I drilled them out one one side and then had to plug weld and grind them flat after. It was way faster just to grind them flush and peel off what was left. Drilling out the seat bracket spot welds worked great because once the new floors are in you just have to fill in the holes while tying them into the new metal. just my 2 cents

For what its worth, I had a heated shop to work in when I refinished the tank. I recently serviced the elec fuel pump and found no evidence of failure after about 8 months of having gas in the tank. As I said before, I was amazed at how clean I was able to get the inside of the tank; it looked like new metal and only cost a gallon of muriatic acid. You can find it in many hardware stores as it is used to wash bricks and tiles. After all that I just followed the instructions in the POR15 kit.

I haven't heard too many bad reviews, but there is a lot of emphasis directed to the prep. I dried mine out with a heat gun and a tiger torch - the sooner it dries the less time rust has to form. Also the repeated muriatic acid washes definitely did the trick. Sorry to hear that yours didn't pan out; must have been a nightmare to clean up that mess!

Mine used to do the same thing until one day the car started starving for fuel. Then I serviced the fuel filter in the electric fuel pump. Presto lots of fuel and the clear filter is full full full.

Do it yourself w/ POR15 http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?45538-My-72-Z-is-acting-up&p=393597#post393597 The cleaning process works very well, mine came up like new; I mean BRAND new.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76440933@N08/sets/72157629637080227/ Montage of pics from my 2011 refresh on my '73

Make sure you check the filter on the elec fuel pump. If you main filter was plugged I can imagine what the pre-filter looks like. Check it out because it will leave you just as stranded and is much more work to replace (although the job is easy).

Vacuum hose is available pretty much everywhere. Although I am not an expert on Z AC systems. I have bought parts from all of these guys with success. Shipping is a lot more when it has to come across the boarder, so you may want to buy everything you need and go for a little trip down to N.Dakota. http://www.rockauto.com/ http://www.zcarsource.com/ http://www.thezstore.com/ http://www.blackdragonauto.com/ Good Luck

I am in the old school crowd. Keep it stock. If you want to mod one out get a '73. They are less desirable in stock condition and make a willing participant for updating and changes. Mine looks fairly stock under the hood except for round tops and a ZX distributor. Further inspection reveals an N42 head and non #'s block. Looks like the real thing and improvements increased value and drivability over stock. Plus I welded in a new floor and repaired the firewall - took a lot of work, but a good Z is hard to find! If yours is #s matching and in good condition keep it that way and enjoy it http://www.flickr.com/photos/76440933@N08/

Also regarding the fuel problem, change the filter in the elec. fuel pump. Yours is probably plugged, as mine was.

First step: Stop what you are doing! Second step: Install an E12-80 electronic ignition! I just did the swap with my '73 and it works awsomely!!! It is a direct bolt on and only requires a small jumper to utilize the stock wiring. You can find distributors used or new at rock auto and you can select the total advance depending on what year of 280ZX you choose. I am running an '81 w/ 55 degrees advance. It is 8 more than stock but I have a big cam an fully functioning EGR. Instructions for a later car but has all the important info. http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html Distributor advance chart http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?34192-280ZX-Distributor-Advance-Curve-Reference My points distributor had some kind of very mysterious problem that made me nuts so I got rid of it. My suggestion is to do the same!

I did a resto on my tank before I got my '73 on the road. I filled the tank with hot hater and Muriatic acid. I added a liter of acid per tank of water. I let it sit over night on the second rinse and then another good hour soak with very hot water. I also had a piece of heavy welding rod with a flat hammered on the end to help scape up the layer of varnish and rust. Then neutralize with baking soda and water *important step :-)* then Treat the tank with POR15 tank resto kit. Just make sure the fuel return line is not plugged with POR15 when you leave the tank to final dry. Its a bastard to clear when that stuff sets up. Now my tank, she is a beauty! Highly recommended job, just be careful with all those old tired vent hoses. PS, you will also have to do the filter on the electric fuel pump, they are available and cheap. Same as on early 80's datsun trucks

The heater core is a big job. I restored mine when I had the dash out. At that point it was an easy job and it worked out real nice. I also replaced the control valve because mine was stuck SOLID. The one that came wasn't quite right but I was able to swap the new parts onto my old bracket and presto, no leaks and works smooth. With that said you will have to contort your body to work under there. Good Luck! Control Valves http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SHC03

Well she's all good again. Starts well, idles smooth, and gets up and goes pretty well. I havn't taken it out for a good rip yet, but things seem promising. I was able to lean things out a bit too, and according to the exhaust gas analyzer on my face it is running a lot cleaner. I am a bit more confident that it might pass smog. I appreciate the flat top sentiment, but those round tops look pretty good all cleaned up in there. Thanks for all the comments, I will PM you if I ever figure out the actual culprit.

, not so quick there friend. I have not put the flat tops back on yet. I am inclined to think I won't ever put them back on. I fired the motor up on carb cleaner by spraying it into the open manifolds (carbs off). I then spent my energy blocking off hoses and getting my emissions stuff working better. As you know well, those flatties are a pain to re & re. With all that said, I got the round tops on this afternoon and got the car running OK. I still have to go through with a fine tooth comb to iron out the wrinkles, but it ran not bad; and more importantly it ran with 8 degrees of advance. All is well in the universe. I must apologize for not doing the job one item at a time, and it means that unless I probe deeper into the components I may never know the real cause of the problem. However the car runs again and that was my ultimate goal. Why might I ask did you go back to the flat tops in the end?