gwri8

I fear that if I pulled into my local dealership they would say "Hey, nice Porsche!", except for maybe one old guy in the back.....

posted in the wrong place ?

I think you're facing what most Z owners come to realize after they bring one home. The rust repair can be daunting, intimidating, expensive and time consuming. That being said, I've seen much worse that has been repaired, ie: mine. Like Charles said, most Body Shops around me wouldn't touch rust work like that because Insurance money is more Lucrative. However, you might be able to find someone local or on CL who does that kind of work in their spare time. It may take longer but it may be less expensive also. My 2 cents... Edit to say, the passenger side looks good but inspect it well along with the Battery tray and firewall area.

Yes, it has the E12-27. I knew something was different when I saw it, hence the query. I had a 06/77 parts car and it still had the E12-12A. The depth of Z knowledge in this forum is truly amazing. Anybody have any lotto ticket advice? ?

I just want to confirm that a 78' auto does not use a ballast resistor. My 77' has one but I don't see one in the 78' FSM and there isn't one in any of the boxes supplied to me. Am I correct?

I still carry an original spare, but just for nostalgia really. I also carry a 12volt compressor with a tire plug kit.

Things are progressing but delays are starting to appear with this car. With all the parts stored in boxes for 5 years one would think they are all still there. Well, I think mean ol' Mr. Time thinks different. They weren't. There are a couple that have gone missing and only enough it's when there are supposed to be two, there is only one. Hence I'm searching for a rear Bearing spacer with a "B" stamp that looks like these. I found these on Ebay but they have an "M" stamp on them and I'm looking for a lower dash panel bracket for the Driver side that looks like this one from the passenger side. I've gone through my stash, searched online and made a few calls but no luck so far. I'm trying my luck here that someone has a parts car with these obscure jewels. I appreciate any help (and PayPal).

Your work ethic and persistence to do the right things the right way is inspiring. I've thoroughly enjoy watching this build from the beginning. Keep it up!

Yes, I've been down that contortionist road before and I did give the water c oc k a once over and it looked ok. The hose's showed no cracks. Personally, I would replace them now but I think the owner is getting a little tired and hesitant about the usual old Z warnings I'm giving. I've mentioned the kaput fuel pump and a missing fuel neck but haven't gotten a response yet. I did get him to buy an RT mount, all new urethane bushings, weather strip, and rubber stuff though. All that stuff adds up quick and can be shocking to someone who hasn't seen it since it was stripped. I do clean and/or repair stuff as I go so the parts that I have are thoroughly checked out before they go back on. I've mentioned the kaput fuel pump and a missing fuel neck but haven't gotten a response yet. The engine bay is further along than this pic, but it's looking pretty good. One more question, since this is an automatic car, what goes in place of the clutch master cylinder hole next to the brake booster? Should I just plug the hole with a grommet or something?

Progress so far, Heater box, Evaporator and ECU are in with the vacuum hoses connected. The Blower is waiting while I chase down a wiring hack. Air vents, cowl drains, steering column and relays are done. Found two hacks on the ignition wiring and a few more on the hazard and defog switches on the console harness. As soon as the control arms to get back from having the old linings pressed out, this thing will be on the ground.

Welcome to my world! There were actually 3 different problems within a 10" section of harness at both sides of the firewall. (1) The Blue connector wiring pictured above in the cabin were all cut. I only showed the front of it earlier. (2) The automatic transmission wiring you identified on the engine side, and then (3) the Black connector wiring in the cabin, the third picture in post #12.. Notice the black connector with only 4 wires feeding into it ( should be 8 ) with the other 4 unattached. So neither of us is mistaken, we're just in different stages of confusion. My picture trail was not complete as I didn't show the back side of the Blue Connector which would have separated it more clearly from the other two visually. Like Leslie Neilsen once said, "I picked a bad time to quit sniffing glue" ?.

I think that's a good call CO. I was suspecting something to to with an automatic but I've never experienced an auto Z before. A new temporary wrinkle in my brain. Since I don't have the engine or transmission just yet, I'll bet/hope there are some cut wires dangling from it when it comes. Looking at the harness and hacks out of the car was mind boggling. The only way I could make sense of it was to mock it up in position for "hints". Luckily, that solved a lot of mysteries but there are still a few left, wiring wise. I was almost ready to attack the Blue connector with what you and ZH suggested but I left in the box instead, mainly because me and my graceful style would probably have done more damage to it. There was just enough wire left on the backside to solder them back together. Being on a rotisserie really made the job much more tolerable, Just flip it on the side and sit on the ground in an upright position. I discovered that the cut wires inside the cabin were selectively cut from the black connector, so that issue is resolved and repaired. I'm still trying to reason why that happened. Maybe there was beer and scissors involved during the teardown ?. Must have been good time for somebody..........

Well the fuel pump did not pass the test so a new one will be ordered. Now I've started to tackle the wiring harness. All of the running lights and headlights were cut off, sometimes just inches from the connectors.? Those are the easy ones. When I got to the engine harness, there had been a failed attempt at removing the blue female plug from the block to separate the engine harness from the cabin harness. The end result was, you guessed it, cut the wires. I can repair that but it would be easier if I could remove that plug. Is there a trick to get it out? I don't want to go Neanderthal one it like the last guy. Next would be the engine harness where it comes through the firewall. This is a late 78' automatic car and I've compared it to my spare manual 77' harness and there seem to be extra wires that have been chopped, both on the front side and back side of the firewall. Since me and Mr. Electricity are not the best of friends, any pointers as to what they may go to?

It does have the check valve, but it still bugs me a little. Believe it or not fuel pump actually looks better than when I found it in the box. I've done a lot of cleaning/refreshing of the visible parts because I hate to put dirty stuff back on to a car. The wiring harnesses have several amputations so Im not sure anything is going to work. And I Haven't even seen the engine yet. But as soon as I get a battery near it, I will check the pump. I'm told the car has sat like this for the last five or so years and I'm not sure as to what the owners final desire for it is, ie: sell or drive. The owner handed it off to one of his employees and told him to just get it done. I'm doing , repairing and replacing as I go.

Evap, Vapor, same thing , right?? I meant well but It's been a crazy day. Thanks for the correction CO. The owner would rather not replace even though it looks to be a pretty good ding. I think he's tired of throwing money. I thought about the smoosh but before I put the jaws on it and test my strength I was thinking about just cutting and replacing the damaged section with fuel line. Since it's vapor it shouldn't have much pressure.

Thanks, I already have that one.

I'm putting a 78' 280z back together for someone who completely disassembled it and put it in boxes some 5 years ago. I've never seen this car before but It's on a rotisserie and has been painted so really the hardest part is trying to find which part is in which box and figure out what is missing or needs replacement. The first problem I've run into is the fuel piping which was slightly deformed and bent from being off the car and moved around. When putting it on I noticed a "kink" in what I believe to be the Evaporation line near the fuel pump. I've used a compressor and air does blow through it but I'm wondering whether or not I should repair or replace it. Am I correct that it is an Evap line and Any suggestions as to repairing it?

I don't know how easy it is see the rear of your engine but are there any water trails on the block at the back of the head? Just throwing that out because that's where I had head gasket leak on my L28. Water would just disappear and the engine would start to get hot. I believe it would only leak with the engine at temp. Yours would probably be more obvious.

There just happens to be quite a few in your area, a whole club (gang) of them. The Northwest Arkansas Z Car Club. I've met them and all of them are Nice folks. I think they all have matching leather jackets and have Datsun tatoo's.......wait maybe that was something else.... Jim1 and Jim2 will probably chime in soon.

I just did the very same thing plus a new caliper from ORielly's. Just bend them carefully and they work perfect. I'm no longer embarrassed when someone admiring the car hears a squeal when I stop.

That's good that you easily found your culprits. I would suggest that since you've found corrosion in some of the connections there is a probability that there are more in other connections. When you get the chance I would suggest going through every electrical connection on the harnesses and check just for preventive measure. I recently did this and found some potential problems. I replaced quite a few with new connectors and cleaned up the rest with DeOxit. Glad I did.

Love the color!

Installed a new rebuilt front Caliper from O'Riley's. It was only $30. Now it doesn't pull right when I hit the brakes! The bonus was I got to bench bleed the Master Cylinder and flushed out the brake lines adding even more time to the job. Messy!

John Prine

This past year my son commandeered my old turntable along with my old Harmon Kardon cassette recorder and more that a few albums, and yes, I still had them. Apparently that's how I learned how to hoard Z parts. He even orders albums and cassettes from new Inde bands. Apparently that stuff is cool again.