Car54280ZX

Thanks very much for the comments. Not sure how many points I would lose. Forgot to mention that I had the manifold powder coated too. Only the judges would see that. Underside is all sandblasted and clean too. Including springs. Looks like new except for a few blemishes on the original paint system.

Haha. That’s not the first thing that goes. 🤐

Yep. That’s mine. Now with three awards. If the judges take points for a soiled gas cap, I’m sure they will notice the battery! They even take away points if my valve cover is powder coated instead of natural aluminum! These judges are tough. I can’t enter mine as original since I made the mistake of powder coating the valve cover. I have to enter it as “modified” despite everything else being absolutely original! 🤬 Very tough judges.

Hello everyone. I’m taking my 1981 280ZX to the International Show in July 2022 in Alabama. Every time I search on line I get tons of non Nissan battery brands. Does a genuine NISMO Nissan 12 volt battery even exist? I want it to be the premium NISSAN battery, with logos, since the judges take note of these things. I want to get the Primo Primo Nissan 12 volt battery with the logo on the battery. Can anyone provide any help? Thank you! I won 1st place in the Peoples Choice in the 2021 Brandon Missouri ZFest and took 2nd place twice in the Route 66 Car Show in Springfied Illinois. So, I have a contender but I need an exclusive Nissan battery!!

Hello everyone. I’m taking my 1981 280ZX to the International Show in July 2022 in Alabama. Every time I search on line I get tons of non Nissan battery brands. Does a genuine NISMO Nissan 12 volt battery even exist? I want it to be the premium NISSAN battery, with logos, since the judges take note of these things. I want to get the Primo Primo Nissan 12 volt battery with the logo on the battery. Can anyone provide any help? Thank you! I won 1st place in the Peoples Choice in the 2021 Brandon Missouri ZFest and took 2nd place twice in the Route 66 Car Show in Springfied Illinois. So, I have a contender but I need an exclusive Nissan battery!!

This is exactly the way it should work! It’s still acting up. I think there is some circuitry behind the glove compartment. Are you going to Zcon 2022 in Alabama this year? I’m signed up

From my extensive research on plating, I also believe that your explanation of the process is right-on! I went to the Caswell Store to see if I could do it myself. But after extensive reading about do it yourself blunders, I decided to have it done professionally. Home / garage doers need to perform this process in warm weather temperatures and with lots of ventilation. But, I’m not sure how they can polish the fuel rail. Hard to do on the fuel rail. In my case I think they dipped it in another chemical after the zinc plating, but before dipping it into the yellow chromate solution. In addition to the fuel rail, I had them apply the yellow chromate to several other miscellaneous parts like the hose clamps, small bolts, nuts and washers, and other pieces from the engine bay that had the yellow chromate originally. I believe they put these small parts in a basket for immersion. I can say that they did a great job and all of the parts carry that irradiance color. Beware. If you clear coat the intake manifold, it’s considered as a modification and you will lose points in a serious car show. Take it from me. I powder coated the intake manifold, the valve cover and transmission bell housing. Only to discover that I lose points for these minor upgrades. I hope I don’t get hammered by the web master when I explain that the firm who did the work was RELIABLE PLATING, located in Chicago, in a good neighborhood! Cost me $150 for the entire inventory of fuel rail parts including hose clamps, washers and nuts clamp bars, etc. This company did an excellent job, with a two week turnaround time. This company is a sizable outfit, but they do this plating all the time for small time automotive enthusiasts!

Cost north of $60K? More than that. Yep. I’m embarrassed with the final numbers, but it sure looks like showroom again, even the underside is awesome. Approved by my wife!

Cost of my restoration was north of $60k USD. No body work except for the air dam which took many scratches on those higher concrete parking lot stops. Damn those concrete parking lot stops. Almost All mechanical and some interior like headliner and hatch back interior back. Since I have 25,600 miles on it and I have fuel-up records of every time I purchased fuel, I’m not inclined to roll the odometer back. I think there is more value to the car with the fueling records. No kidding. I have all the fuel up records with dates and mileage. I used to keep it in a book. But the book got full, so I used the back of used postal envelopes to write it all down. And I have all of those too. Like writing on a bar room napkin. ??? I have no desire to roll back the odometer. I have all the records.

I see the "can" type capacitor that is shadowed behind the the black taped wires, and the other "can" type capacitor near the bottom of the circuit board. Are these the ones you are referring-to in the first photo? These two might not be too hard to replace.Are these are power capacitors? The ones that look fried when they are bad?

From the photo I posted earlier, see how sharp the engine looks? I had the fuel rail and numerous other parts re-dipped in cadmium. Not painted with the cadmium paint kit. It's the real thing. I had it done in Chicago. Please let me know if you want to know the name of the company. I highly recommend this company. They do a lot of industrial plating. The only thing is you have to clean the items first. Yes, you need to sandblast all of it, and then plug the ends of the fuel rail. But it comes back absolutely golden.

Wowee Zowiee! I think that Piper might go a little faster than a ZCar but . . . I would recommend to take the plunge. What's important about doing your own restoration, you know what you have when you are done. You know what has been replaced and when; you know more about the engine and drive train; you know more about every little detail. And it's worth while. That's my opinion. Just my down-to-earth opinion.

Hello @hansmeister, I spent a boat load of USD's to get this back to original stock condition. North of $50,000. But my lovely wife encouraged me to get it restored, and so I did it with "my" money. Like others have posted, you can probably get an already restored one somewhere at a much lower price. But I can tell you that there's no better feeling in the world than to see YOUR ZCar back to show-room condition!! Hard work pays off. But my 280ZX is second love to my wife. I did what I had to do. I also restored the UNDERSIDE of the car. Sandblasted all of the parts and repainting. And replacing everything I could replace. I worked with the guy that did the restoration and I did a lot of research on my own. And I did not establish a budget going into it, because it will ALWAYS change. Time and Material. If i had to do it all over again, I would still do time and material. Go with the flow. And stay in continuous contact with the guys working on your ride!

Yeah!! I've been having the same expreience. I ordered four wheel center hubs from someone in Bahrain. When I got them, they were too small. Now I'm stuck with four very nice shiny center hubs that don't fit. And I can't send them back.

This "glow" is what I think I am getting. I visited the website you recommended and it's been very helpful!!