77Datz

Will I be able to weld on the frame rails though? I figure they'd be way too thin to be able to cut material out and weld a patch into it.

I would never send my Z to the boneyard. I'm seriously motivated to save this car, I'd love to learn how to weld myself and fix it in the driveway. I just don't know if I can patch this sort of thing, there's a lot of people telling me not to. I don't want to tweak the frame and screw everything up by cutting stuff out. but the rust has to come out someway or another. I just need to figure out what my first step is, and where to go from here.

It amazes me that completely rebuilding a car is cheaper than having my frame fixed, I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night if I had to send my Z to the junk yard. So for now I'm going to consider my options and think about what my next move will be. To completely rebuild a Z, the least thing I need is a garage big enough for two cars, and unfortunately that's something I simply don't have available to me. If anything I'd store the car for awhile, and wait until I have more time, money, and space. Either way, I'm heartbroken

It really kills me to have to use this car as a parts car, besides the frame the rest of the car is mint. But I guess if I got another 77 280Z with minimal rust I could use this one as my parts car. The car has a lot of meaning to me and I hate to have to get rid of it. What would something like this cost to have fixed of I got new front frame rails?

I stuck my phone under my car to get some pictures. Here's where the sway bar mount meets the frame. I was thinking I could just make a patch for this It's pretty much just hanging there From directly underneath Passenger side running rail, previous owner used bondo... I can't for the life of me figure out why. I'm going to put the front end of the car up on some jackstands to get a better look at the damage. What do you guys think of it?

I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get my Z on the road, I'd like to do all this myself to save some money and gain the experience of doing a project like this. It's my first project car, I've had it for a few months and already did a lot to it. I'm more of an engine guy than a body guy, I've never done any bodywork on any car but I'm not afraid to try. It's an intimidating thing when i see all the rusty stuff under the car, but most of it looks like surface rust that I can clean up and fix. The small rot areas have me worried, would it be possible to cut the rust out of the frame rails and patch them with new metal? That was going to be my first option, before I go and spend almost $800 on new frame rails. What type of welder is best for something like this?

My '77 280z has some frame rot, as do most other z's of course. I've been considering what to do about it for the past few weeks. I will be taking some pictures of the damage and posting them here in the morning so you guys can get a better look. But it's mostly localized in the front of the car, the front frame rails are rusty, and on the drivers side section where the sway bar mount is bolted on has a pretty sizable hole. The drivers side wheel well also has some rot, a hole about 2" in diameter. I work at Advance Auto, and have been speaking to my mechanic customers, and a few welders and have been asking them about my Z issues. Most of them say that it's unrepairable and its best to either sell, or scrap the car. A welder I was talking to tonight said that welding a new front frame rail set on the car would "cost thousands and require robotic welding" he also told me that new front frame rails, if welded in "when they weren't welded to begin with" would be a lot weaker then the stock rails. Now I don't know how many Datsun's this guy has delt with, but I really hope what he's saying isn't true. I want to get a new set of front frame rails, as well as running rails and fix the problems, but not if it's going to be a waste of time, money and hope. It'd kill me to have to sell the car, everything else is in great shape and the motor is great. The previous owner had it completely rebuilt and dumped over 11K into it. What are some of my options? What have you guys done to fix your frame rot problems? I'll post pictures here tomorrow. Thanks all!

Was able to get a better look underneath my 77 280z today, I wasn't sure of how much frame rot there was when i bought it a few weeks ago. I'm not happy. The rear of the car is in better shape than the front, my sway bar bushing is basically hanging from the frame where it rotted away, there's a few holes here and there and rust just falls off the car when you touch any part of the rusted areas. The floor boards are in great shape, no rust there, but the two rails that run along the floor boards are rusty, at the front end they both have holes and rot. The underside of the car looks like it was coated in a thick, black paint. If it's rust preventing paint, it hasn't really held up after all these years. I have no experience with welding, or any kind of frame or suspension work whatsoever, but I'd like to do whatever I can myself and learn how to do it. I've seen the D.I.Y patch jobs, but I don't have a garage, or a car lift, which seems to be a necessity with work like this. I'd take it to a body shop but don't feel like dropping thousands to get the frame repaired. I know that this sort of rusting is typical on z cars, and I'm on Long Island, where sea salt and humidity are always a factor no matter what time of year. I'm sure it's drivable in its current condition, I just want to take care of this rusting issue before it get's any worse. What are my options? How did you fix your swiss-cheese frames?

I was amazed when it started up and didn't die right away like it had been doing for the past two weeks. I haven't heard about anyone else doing this kind of troubleshooting and repairing, especially when it comes to an ECU. The 280z ECU is complicated, but yet still simple enough to repair with some basic electronic know-how. Now the fun can start, next up on my to-do list is fluid changes, some extensive cleaning, new tires and a little bit of body work and I can get her on the road.

Good news everyone! I replaced the resistor this morning and she started right up! Shes running a little rough, timing needs to be adjusted and I have to drain the old gas and put some new in, she needs an oil and coolant change as well but for now, I finally got it running!

Thanks for all the tips, captain obvious. (<--no joke, but awesome pun) I'll have to test more components in the computer too, I tested most if the diodes and they were fine. I should be getting the new resistor tomorrow and I'll solder a new one in and try to repair the board as best as I can and I'll see if it'll start. I know a lot about small electronics like this, because my Dad taught me how to solder when I was 6 and I've always been around it as he worked as a lead technician at a company that makes computer chips. I just didn't think I'd be doing this type of thing to a car. If it doesn't start, I'll be totally stuck. I just can't seem to figure out exactly why it wont start and stay running, I thought it was a fuel issue, I never thought it to be electrical.

I dont know if radio shack would have the exact one i'm looking for, I found it on ebay so I'll probably order from there, I'll let you guys know how it works out, i'll repair my computer first and see if it changes anything, then i'll try the new one thats coming soon too. I'd like to have a working spare in case anything ever happens to it again.

I measured it while it was still in the board and it read nothing, so just to make sure i un soldered it and checked it again off the board, it's toasted. I have a new computer on the way, but im going to get another resistor and try and fix this computer too.

After two weeks of digging around in my 77' 280Z, I think I may have finally found the cause of my problem. I brought the car home knowing it had issues, I dropped 2k on this beautiful 280z that refused to start. The owner before me told me he ran it out of gas and let it sit for two years. I wouldn't have bought the car if he didn't show me the receipts for the work he had done on the engine. He spent over 11k getting the engine rebuilt in 2004, the car had 5k miles on the rebuild. I figured it was something simple, like it needed a new fuel filter and some other minimal work to get it started. Over the past two week I put new fuel hoses in, new fuel filter, cleaned the injectors, checked fuel pressure and compression, cleaned the fuel pump terminals and either cleaned or replaced as many electrical connections i could find in the engine compartment. I also replaced the battery terminals, and the black fusible link, the starter as well. I narrowed the problem down to the injectors not firing, they weren't getting a pulse from the ECU, which lead me to believe that my computer was bad.Today I went through the EFI 'bible' and checked the 35-pin connector, and everything checked out fine. I also found an aftermarket alarm box under the dash which had a burned out capacitor, which melted both the board and the case. I removed that whole mess and repaired the harness, still no start. I took the computer back off and opened it up to check the components inside and this is what I found: A fried power transistor, just to prove that it was this little bastard, i manually shorted the injectors by sticking a wire in the 35-pin connector at the injector ground pins and shorted the other end to vehicle ground, and they all clicked and sprayed gas. So, I ordered a new ECU off ebay for $75, and i might get another power transistor to try and fix my original computer. I'm hoping that this is whats preventing my 280z from starting up. Once I fix the computer I'll update with status.

Well, I think I found the issue, I took apart my computer to see what the components on the inside look like, and this is what I found, a fried power resistor. I have a new computer on order but I may try replacing the resistor and keeping the original computer.