AlbatrossCafe

I will fill and use touch up paint. Not worth repainting the entire hatch. Maybe 10 years ago, my car had already been repainted with an "OK" paint job over the original silver. I am not a huge fan of the color and in an ideal world I would repaint the whole thing. For this reason, I am not too concerned about these things being perfect.

Finished a lot of work yesterday. Got my TTT control arms put in. Put the stock struts back in so I could measure original ride height. Then immediately took them back out! Dropped off my struts and coilover sleeves at the shop to get them cut/welded. I can't wait for this all to be over BTW I ordered new spindle pins before doing all of this in anticipation of the old ones being unusable. Little did I know that the TTT arms come with giant bolts to use instead... Also painted my MSA BRE-style rear spoiler. I think the silver paint I got is more "silvery" than my car which has a bit more gray to it. Oh well. At least I actually had patience with my paint prep and it all went on cleanly for once. Note: I am a little disappointed with the MSA spoiler. There were imperfections and large gouges on it the moment I opened it out of the box. I didn't expect to have to do bondo/fill (which I didn't) to make it look good before paint Jacking up front control arm to help get the front strut back on: Primed Spoiler: Side by side: Old parts I need to sell:

After spending no more than 20 minutes trying to break out the spindle pins, I said "forget it" and took it to a shop. They pressed em out in a big Hydraulic press. Said it took them about an hour. If I tried to break them out in my garage, I'm guessing that time would have been closer to 8 or 9. There is something nice about just ponying up and paying someone (in this case, I paid $120) to do something terrible for you. Next step is to loosely put the struts back on and get some measurements (I forgot to do this before disassembling everything) so I know where to cut for coilovers.

Seems a little random... but cool site nonetheless. Prices look decent, and based on the descriptions they seem to know what they are talking about. Here is an OEM steering wheel that looks solid: https://maseraticompound.com/products/datsun-240z-oem-steering-wheel They even have the red 280z 5-speed shift knob I've been looking for... hmm.... https://maseraticompound.com/products/datsun-280z-five-speed-shift-knob

Do you mean these?

FINALLY got my Stance coilovers from Sakura Garage in the mail. After an original ETA of 2-3 weeks, they showed after 3.5 months BUT turned out to have the wrong adapter sleeve (2" for the 240z as opposed to 2 1/8" for the 280z) so I have to send the sleeves back to get re-machined. This is a can o' worms that I don't really feel like typing out, but I'll shorten it up and say that it has been nothing but a huge hassle so far. At least the coilover quality looks very good. I can't wait to get them installed! Have to send these back to get machined out! >:( Side note - anyone know what these are? There were 4 in the box:

Welp... I wish I could edit my original post haha. I thought I would be able to. Oh well. After receiving word that my Stance coilovers were coming in the mail (after THREE AND A HALF MONTHS) I finally got started removing the old suspension to replace with TTT control arms and tension rods. Had a local guy offer up his generosity and help me remove the fronts Saturday and tackled the rear myself Sunday. A little dirty, but a pretty easy car to work with. Until you get to the spindle pins of course... Here are some pics: At this point, everything on the suspension had come out very easily, so I was hoping I wouldn't have trouble with these pins. After they didn't easily break loose with a BFH, I tried the ol' washer trick: On one side, I broke the end of the pin off (after probably cranking that tiny 14mm nut with 160lbs of torque): On the other side, I destroyed the threads: After that I said "f*** it" and decided I'll take it to a shop with a press to get them out. Not worth my time The guy that helped me had a 280z with full custom exhaust, intercooler, megasquirt, electronic boost controller, 225mm tires, etc. It was great to see a Z built up in person rather than just oggling over them on the internet. It was a good preview for some of the mods I want to do. Also, I test-fit my new wheels (tires still not here yet - going on 2.5 months) to see how they would look with my color. XXR 527s in black chrome:

I just installed these yesterday in the front as well. EuroDat nailed it. I was worried I was gonna break the endlinks cus the bushings felt very hard, but they end up flexing pretty well with the weight of the car on them.

Buy it and sell me the bumpers for $300. Then it will only cost you a much more affordable $16.2k

I am looking for a replacement shifter knob face (pendant?) or whatever it is called. Mine fell off and none of the numbers can be read on it anyway. I can't seem to find a replacement knob or face anywhere on the web. Anyone have one? It should look like this: Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Nissan-Datsun-280Z-Red-5-Speed-Shift-Knob-Quadrant-Pendant-Insert-only-/302491993969?rmvSB=true&nma=true&si=%2Fs8QomOaONdt1mTkk5bu%2BWKPp5E%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 I would consider buying the whole knob if you have that instead and don't want to tear it apart.

Sorry, I sold them on fleaBay about a month ago. Someone got a good deal at $55 shipped haha

I'm interested in buying it off you or borrowing (I'll pay shipping and a small fee or something) if you prefer. PM me about it if you want. I need to redo my OEM suspension and I can't see paying $90 for something I will use one time I feel like we could get away with having one tool be passed around to everyone that needs it via the mail

My Z became new again! (Missed it by 3 miles... DOH!) And yes... that is a Jack in the Box head on the antenna...

My Z became new again! (Missed it by 3 miles... DOH!) And yes... that is a Jack in the Box head on the antenna...

It is likely underbody coating. It's what kept this car mostly rust free but makes stuff like this a HUGE pain. I am reading about silicone and that sounds like what it is. That at least gives me a direction to start in. Thanks.

I am trying to remove front bumper and valance on my 1978 280z to make way for a new air dam. I am stuck removing the valance. I got all of the obvious bolts out, but there are 2 issues: The side fender and valance appear to be "fused" together? The last few bolts have some kind of gunk/material that is nearly hard as rock stuck on them and I can't get to the bolts. I thought the valance was 3 pieces. It looks like where the middle and side piece attach, there is a ton of gunk around the bolt that holds them together. WTF is this stuff? 2nd pic is zoomed in on area of first pic: Secondly, why do the fender and valance appear to be fused together at the seam? I didn't really want to take a screwdriver and hack at it... also, behind the valance in the 2nd pic below is another bolt that has a ton of gunk. No way I can get a socket or wrench around it. Any tips for getting these last few pieces out?

Thanks @motorman7, that gives me a lot more confidence. Glad I got Bulldog. Sounds like it is a must. I'm gonna give rattlecan paint a try first since it is cheap and simple. If it doesn't hold up, I'll likely always take the dam off and try again at Maaco

Cool. That is simple enough. How long you had it on there, and any cracking yet?

I've ordered exactly this so far. The question is, what did you put on top of it? Did you do a primer? Or did you just go straight some kind of "duplicolor" automotive paint?

I am painting my Urethane air dam soon to color match my silver Z. I have everything I need except the actual paint itself. I know you want to use a flexible paint or add a flex agent to your paint so that when the urethane flexes, the paint doesn't crack. I don't really have access to compressed air or a sprayer. I was hoping to do everything from spray cans. If I do that though, I can't mix a flex agent beforehand. My questions: Anyone know of a automotive-quality silver spray paint that is flexible? (I couldn't find in my searches) Do I have to pre-mix color match paint and flex agent before spraying? Or can I do something like "spray flex agent first" and then "spray color match on top of it"? I was hoping to get away with using a simple paint like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3UUJ7K/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IN3TLZYGFQ6T3&colid=1MCCHSQKI1JT9&psc=1 But I am worried it will crack during mounting/normal driving without a flex agent.

Those pics help, thanks. Where are you guys sourcing your metal? Did you just go to the hardware store and buy big square pieces?

I have seen that people put some kind of bracing behind their urethane air dams on their cars so that they don't flex at high speeds, often for pretty cheap. Anyone have any pics of what this looks like? I am not sure how to start or where to attach it to. I could figure it out from a pic of the setup.

I kinda like that look... haha. Make it 1 tire size bigger and take it off road.

Only 205mm width tires... wow! I thought they would have gone bigger than that.

Pls give me the model number and/or link. That is ideal. Not obvious from their website (do you have to order from Japan...?)