Kevin McSweeney

Yeah, i don’t know the entire history of it, but I know it was garages in Reno for quite a few years! And of course I may find more rust as I strip, but so far so good.

Currently home in Ireland for a few days, I’m planning on taking the fenders and hood off next week as I have a bit of work to do on them. I’ll definitely look at the front of the rockers. The back portion, and actually the back of the car in general looks largely rust free which is nice!

Bit of an update: Drivers side floor pan and frame rail (along with some additional work to the front rail and firewall) is almost done. Just need to grind smooth and tidy up. Working on the passenger side now as you can see from the last photograph. There have been bad repairs done to this previously, including what looks like some aluminum and fiberglass work on the floors. Hopefully I've got the worst of the rust! Not sure whether I was sent the wrong year floor pans or whether it's just the way they are, but they needed a lot of work to fit and I still needed to do additional metal fabrication.

Yes, I am planning to install the ZG flares, MSA urethane front air dam, ducktail rear spoiler, and do some shaving on the bumpers, etc. Interesting because I was almost planning to do that work last, after all the mechanicals were done. The order you have listed makes more sense though now that I've done some reading and some time thinking logically about it. Thank you! Making good progress on the floor pans and frame rails - will post pictures soon - appreciate all of the comments and thread links, I've been doing a lot of reading in the last couple of days!

Fair enough - I know it is pretty annoying to have to keep repeating oneself!

Thanks for the replies. Ok, so does this make sense as a rough plan moving forward: - Once floor pan and frame rail work is done, undercoat using POR-15 (A specialist is doing this, not me, so I believe POR-15 is a good way to go). - I'll clean up the interior and get it ready for primer. Dynamat Xtreme on top of primer. - Take care of some bodywork such as shaving and filling, fix any dents, etc. - Pull motor and transmission and send body for media blasting. - This would be a good time to do brake and suspension work. - Paint exterior and engine bay. - Assembly. Couple of questions: 1. grannyknot - what epoxy primer do you recommend for interior application? 2. grannyknot - Beautiful car, is that an original color? If so what's the code/name? 3. After media blasting, am I right in saying I need to get the car to primer straight away? (In my experience after sandblasting, steel rusts extremely fast as it is so exposed) 4. Is the interior typically installed over primer, or is there a finish coat applied on the interior aswell? I normally see cars being painted with the interior taped and covered so only the exterior and engine bay receive color? Again apologies if some of these questions are pretty obvious to some, as I said, it's my first restoration and I'm keen to learn the process.

So I'm getting started of the restoration work of my 1978 280z. The chassis repair and rust removal (replacement of floor pans and frame rails) and undercoating should be complete in a week or so. I am wondering what my best option is for the interior (top side) of the new floor pans. I am not planning on painting for a few months and I do not want to risk the floors rusting again. Should I apply undercoat (POR-15) to the interior as well? Also, I have access to a lot of Dynamat Xtreme and Superlite. Should I consider applying this to the interior while it is stripped? Basically I am a little confused as to the sequence of work on the interior now that the rust issue has (for the most part) been taken care of. This is my first real restoration. When I do come to paint the car, I guess it would be wise to paint the interior as it is already stripped? Also – looking for suggestions for color. The car was originally silver but has been badly repainted blue at some point (engine bay and interior are still silver). I’m thinking of a gunmetal gray with bronze wheels and all trim powder coated black. Any thoughts? At the moment I do not have the time or space for a frame up restoration (I am very aware that it would be a better way to do it but it’s not an option at this point so I don’t see the point in talking about it). So the order in which I am planning to do things is: · Frame/Rust removal · Brakes · Suspension · Exhaust · Bodywork · Paint · Engine (L28 is running well but at some point I may consider a rebuild) Apologies, this post is very messy, I tried my best to organize my questions but I want to do things in a logical order and avoid repeating or missing steps in the restoration. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks gents, and Rob, once I get this chassis work done and new clutch hydraulics installed, I'll definitely need some help getting this to pass a smog inspection.

Decision is made! Frame rails and floor pans are ordered! Looking forward to your thread and again thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised. All that was needed to get it running (since the previous photo which you were absolutely right about the disconnected relays) was to clean up a few of the relays and injectors. Gonna cost a lot of time and money to restore but will be worth it in the end hopefully.

Yeah that’s what I was wondering. Only the 3rd time the car has been started in about 3 years and it was cold.

Decided I'm going to keep this car so thread can be deleted. Fyi, here is the video of it running. White smoke makes me wonder if it needs a rebuild but doesn't worry me too much. Appreciate the comments. https://www.dropbox.com/s/tqntgzxjvaoqq84/Video Jan 19%2C 1 58 48 PM.mov?dl=0

It does not have a catalytic converter.

That photograph is from before I got it running - good observation. The battery and relays have been cleaned up and it now runs well. I will add a video in the next day or two when I have time.

1978 Datsun 280z for sale. The good: Original L28 2.8l straight-six motor. Starts and runs. Good compression. Sounds great. 5-speed manual transmission. Fuel system recently overhauled - Fuel tank sandblasted, relined and sealed, and undercoated. New fuel pump and filter. New oil, filter, NGK spark plugs and fuel injection and pump relays. Odometer shows 37,xxx miles. Has more than likely rolled over. 4 new tires 225/65/15 Sunroof model. Clean title. Car is partially registered - fees all paid. Just needs smog to get tags. It is a federal/non-California car (Originally from Nevada) so will be a little easier to smog. Complete car. The bad: Floor panels and frame rails have some rust and will likely need to be replaced. Clutch hydraulics (master cylinder and slave cylinder) need to be replaced. Clutch still has some life in it. Windscreen needs to be replaced due to large crack. Unfortunately I do not have the time or space to restore the car at the moment. Excellent candidate for restoration project. Car will need to be towed. Not interest in trades. Looking to sell ASAP. $2,500 obo Car is located in San Francisco, CA Call (415) 597-6459 Email kevinwmcsweeney@gmail.com

If I had a dollar for every time I shouldn't have gotten angry but did but it was more that I was in a rush at the time really.

gwri8, please do.

Hello,I'm new on here, having just bought a '78 280z less than 2 weeks ago. I'll do a proper introduction elsewhere with a thread on the build, but for now I have a question:When we were trying to get the car running last week - by draining out the old gas and filling up with fresh - we discovered that the previous owner did not have the key for the locked filler cap. We ended up having to drill out the cap which in turn fell into the tank along with the drill bit. I'm not too concerned about this right now as I'm dropping the tank this week anyway to clean it out, however when drilling it out we cause some damage to the threads for the cap (See images attached).I've since found a filler cap with lock and key (images also attached) and I'm wondering what can be done to get this problem fixed. Short of cutting this section out and welding in a new section from a donor/parts car, does anyone have any ideas on this? Suggestions and advice would be appreciated.Best,Kevin