charliekwin

Curiosity got the better of me after all this transmission talk. I didn't see any markings to confirm, but looking around at pictures, I'm pretty sure it's the stock 71B. Shift lever looks like it's bent -- is it supposed to be shaped like that? Inner boot is in bad shape, transmission boot is missing, and that ZX boot was spray painted black. More stuff for my birthday list. Removing the console also revealed a mini knife, toothpicks and a flosser to go along with the rest of the general nastiness. I might have diseases now. Vacuuming made me feel better about it, but didn't really help. Interior restoration is rapidly moving up the to-do list.

Wow, good eye! Yes, it's a cruise control system. It's obviously aftermarket or maybe a retrofit, and I'll probably be getting rid of it once I get into the dash since I can't envision using it. I hadn't realized those floor temp indicators were limited to just CA cars, since all the Zs I've seen have had them. Learned something new today. I'm hoping that whomever hacked up the interior wasn't doing any work on the engine. In the time I've had it, it seems to be running pretty well -- hasn't stalled, idles and revs well, pulls well, no problems overheating, AC works great, etc. If there are gremlins in there, they are hiding well. Fingers crossed. Shift knob looks like it came from a Z32, though I'm not sure. The shift lever in there doesn't have the bend that the stock lever has, so the leverages are messed up and shifts are awkward and unnecessarily difficult to make. My guess is that it was a misguided attempt at a DIY short-throw shifter, but it managed to pull off the rare feat of being both nonfunctional AND ugly! It too is on my shortlist for replacement.

My fuel tank restoration is about finished, but before getting into that, some more photos and a little history. The engine bay, as requested, which is pretty unremarkable. I'm definitely jealous of you pre-smog guys and your spaghetti-free engines. And a quick shot of the interior, which should give a good idea of what I've got to work with. It's livable, but I suspect that just about every piece in there will end up restored or replaced eventually. I took off the dash cap to see how bad it is under there. It looks salvageable, but it's gonna be some work. Like everything else I've started to look at on the car, the dash cap came with a couple of what-was-he-thinking!? facepalms: It was held on by two sheet metal screws through the cap and into the dash. And a bead of what looks like bathroom caulk. I'm getting used to seeing this kind of stuff by now. The glove compartment yielded some treasures! The original owner's manual, looking like all of its 37 years. Some free socks, courtesy of Delta airlines. And a bunch of older insurance and registration paperwork. It turns out that the car has had 4 registered owners since 2010; 5 including me. Somehow they managed to owe a combined ~$1000 in back fees to the DMV. And my favorite, apparently it was stolen and recovered a few years ago! Quite a life. I wonder what happened in the 30 remaining years!

Great advice that, in my excitement, I didn't think about at the time. Hopefully it saves someone else some trouble. AFAIK, the car isn't tagged as a gross polluter until it fails the test with GP numbers two times, so I think I should be fine if I pass on the re-test. I'll be doing the pre-check for sure.

My plan at this point is to keep the interior and exterior fairly close to stock, though that might change once I start getting my hands dirty and spend some time driving it. The bumpers have already been removed and I'd like to replace with 240 ones, at least in the front. I'll probably put on some Rota wheels when it needs new tires and would like to drop it about an inch. When I finally take on the body work, the air dam will be replaced and the side molding will go. I haven't started to dig into the interior much yet, but I'll probably end up refreshing or replacing most of it and would like to put in an audio system (this, at least, is something I'm plenty experienced with). Maybe an L28ET way out in the future. Already taken care of some little things like spark plugs, air and fuel filters and cleaning off the 37 years of gunk from anything that I take off the car. Bushings and suspension are high on the to-do list. At the moment, I'm in the middle of restoring the fuel tank. There was no o-ring on the sending unit and a puncture on the top, so I'm hoping that fixes the EVAP leak, though I also replaced all the hoses just to be sure.

Thanks! I had the FSM already, but didn't know about the 1980 book, so I've grabbed that too. As for the car, it's decent from across a parking lot, but the body work is rough when you get up close. It looks like first-time DIY work with a MAACO-type spray job. I'll worry about that stuff much later. That it was as rust-free an example as I was able to find was the clincher for me.

I've been lurking here and some of the other Z boards for a while, and after wanting a project car for basically my entire life, I finally pulled the trigger a couple weeks back so I guess it's time to join; hope y'all have room for one more! So here it is, my new 1978 Z, as it looked when I brought it home: I scoured CL for a while and any reasonably-priced cars were getting snatched up in hours. I checked out a handful of cars in my desired price range and they were all projects well outside my budget or capabilities, so when I found this one I jumped on it. It looked pretty good, and I knew it would be some work, but have uncovered some unexpected surprises in the last couple weeks. The starter died when I brought the car to the shop so someone more qualified could take a look at it. It failed smog with an illegal cat, gross polluter numbers and an EVAP leak, and almost every nut and bolt I take off has revealed some bodgy-at-best repair work by previous owners. All part of the fun! I have a lot of plans and a whole lot of work to do, and I sure am grateful for all the helpful folks who have already walked this path before me.