Car54280ZX

I "will" absolutely drive it this time around! What a huge mistake. I will store it in my attached garage this time, better humidity control. I'm thinking about buying a "CarCoon" from the UK. These CarCoons have a circulation system included. I would just have to install a 220 volt hook up in my garage, which should be a breeze.

Check out this photo. My Mom (longtime deceased) found this in an ad in a 1981 volume of National Geographic. Exact color, exact everything. I have it on one of my three display boards that I created.

Thanks, Zup ! It's been a long time restoration. Roberts Automotive Antique Car Restoration division did a great job. And really great people to work with. We really worked together on this - I did lots of the research. Then bought lots of items that I decided not to use - too cheap looking. Like carpet. I stayed with the original carpet and just had it cleaned by a fire restoration company. If a fire restoration company can't get stink out of things, no one can! One thing I messed up on is the valve cover. after months of frustration trying to learn how to restore the finish, I finally powder coated it. I learned at the 50th Anniversary International ZCon last month in Branson that I cannot enter into the pure stock category. Only purists (like all of us Z owners) would know the difference. Items that I would have been penalized on include: 1. Powder coated valve cover. 2. Powder coated intake manifold. 3. Powder coated transmission bell housing. 4. Dealer installed pin striping. 5. Dealer installed side moulding (installed with rivets). If I pull off the pin striping and the side moulding, I would see a paint color difference, requiring a complete re-paint. I have original paint, still. As far as the powder coating, tons more work to redo the intake manifold and bell housing. That's down the road a bit, now. I hope to enter it into a slightly lower "stock" category at next year's Branson ZCon and Nashville.

Thank you Patcon ! I will check into Circuit Board Medics for sure. It's the only thing that's not working.

My restoration is finally finished. Now sitting in the show room at Robert's Automotive in Springfield, Illinois. 1981 280ZX Grand Luxury Edition, Manufactured September 1980. I drove it off the car lot on January 12, 1981. Features: Engine rebuild, original paint, original carpet and seats, re-upolstered interior and headliner, re-plated cadmium engine parts and restored wheels. I haven't driven it for almost 24 years. Original miles 25,536 and I have all documentation to back that up. I paid the ultimate price for NOT driving it - an entire engine rebuild. Everything works except the status display in the center of the instrument cluster. (See photo) Need to figure how to trouble shoot the status display. Needless to say I'm excited. I will be able to take it home before the end of next week. Still needs to have the air conditioning system re-charged.

My 1981 280 ZX sat in a farm house garage for 24 years (no climate control). Tires were flat but I filled them with air and they stayed full of air for 20 months during restoration until I put new tires on it earlier this month of July 2019. I never had my Z in rain or snow. Despite this, the under carriage looked terrible and my original exhaust system looked really rough. Impossible to read any stamped information on my original muffler. I have 25,530 miles in mine and I have all mileage documentation. I pulled my L28 and had it all redone. I find it hard to believe that there are only 350 miles on your Z. Hard to believe that the owner would change oil before 350 miles and put on a Fram filter. Original filters are baby blue. Pull the valve cover and the head (which you will have to do anyway) to see what the engine has been through. Check the anti-freeze in the radiator for more evidence. Pull the oil plug; drain the oil and check it. Check the air filter to see what’s there. Air filter should not be very dirty with 350 miles in the odometer. Check the struts for wear and leakage. Any mice infestation under the hood? In passenger cabin? Dust: My Z sat for 24 years and had lots more dust than what I’m seeing, and I kept my Z paint job in meticulous condition before I got too busy and let it go for 24 years. Has your Z been stored in a climate controlled space all this time?

Best to go with a Scarab V8 which will get you to at least 250 hp.

Currently having the same issue with my 1981 280ZX. And still working on it. I'm working under the dash, driver side. I had mice in my engine bay but they didn't eat up wires since wire sheathing is not made from vegetable matter. This is a current issue so I hope to share with you my findings.

Not sure but I have the same chrome trim on my 1981 280ZX. I would think the chrome trim would fit but not sure.

Can someone help me identify these marks? The marks, hand made in blue-green paint, says "KLK." It has been there since the day I purchased the (S130) 280ZX, brand new in January 1981. Manufacture date is September 1980. I have no clue what it means or who put it there. But, I believe it was painted in the factory. I say that because there is one other short paint "line" of the same color and brush width on the end of the valve cover at the firewall (see photo). And, another painted circle of the same color and brush width on the top front of the valve cover (see photo). And another attached photo shows just the KLK paint marks (delineated by the white arrows). Does anyone have any thoughts on the history of placing paint marks like this? Is there a value to keeping the paint mark? Does any original owner have a paint mark like this under the hood? I'm very curious. Please help! Thank you!

Many thanks for the heads-up on this. I gave up and had the original thick sound deadener at the firewall cleaned and deodorized at a fire restoration company. Then I re-installed it. I just saw the other day that Eastwood is selling it in sheets. Just in the past 5 days or so. Unfortunately it's too late for my car.

Lots and lots of shelves and table space. Take lots of photos. See the shelving and tables for my parts. Includes photos mounted on foam core to help putting things back together.

I just found the receipt. SEM No. 62223 EZ Coat Olive Green.

I will have to check the can. It's at the shop. I will photo the can for you. I can't get in there until Monday. There is no plastic coating on my brake lines.

With today's gasoline, should I revise the timing curve for my S130 1981 280ZX? If so, can someone provide appropriate information? My plan is to use 91 Octane fuel without additives. I can get it here locally. Engine is designed for "Unleaded Fuel Only" as labeled outside of the fuel filler.

I had my L28 engine on my 81 280ZX freshly rebuilt. I am reaching out to the community to see if it is good to use 0W40 or 10W40 full synthetic oil on a fresh rebuild?

I found a can of spray paint that exactly matches the exact color of the existing lines. I obtained it from a local specialty paint store. Made by SEM.

Greatly appreciate the comments. I have located a LOCAL source that will match paint color and put it in a spray can for me. So I'm working on that now, before the engine is re-installed. Lot of parts yet to be re-installed on the engine.

OMG! We can't loose your Z !! Just glad you saved it! Hope you have good antique car insurance. I'm also looking for a dash cam. Hopefully others can contribute for the benefit of many others. Time to put it into the garage for the winter?

Wow. Your parts look like they have been coated with the yellow cadmium, having a slight iridescent tint to them! That makes sense since a lot of my parts have the yellow cadmium / yellow chromate coating with an iridescent tint. The green on my brake line parts might be part of the remaining yellow cadmium coating. I will check around further with a Nissan parts store to see what they might have. As far as a cocoon, yes that's definitely on my list before the car comes back to my garage. I could kick myself a thousand times for not doing it 15 years ago when it still smelled new inside. If I would have used a cocoon 15 years ago, I wouldn't be spending all this money with the complete tear-down, cleaning and polishing parts! So far I have $20,000 USD invested and it's now going back together. This was always my second car and I never drove it like I should. Very hard lesson learned. Are you happy with your cocoon? Who makes it? And would you recommend it. I'm thinking I will definitely need humidity control even in the cold weather. My house is 89 years old and is one of the few 1929 era houses with an unheated attached 2 car garage. And yes, it's all brick masonry and the central Illinois humidity is high almost all year long. So, I plan to get a cocoon and put it in the garage with constant humidity and temperature control. Here are some other photos taken on Friday.

Thank you for sharing the photos! I believe (now) that I'm looking at an olive green tint. Yes, there is a lot of road salt in Illinois. I only drove my car twice in snow and ice, once from the dealership in January 1981 and once in February 1981 and never again in rain, snow or ice. But, It did sit in a damp farm house garage for 15 years. That's what caused the spotting on the brake lines and fuel lines. Do you have any idea of the color specifications? Thanks again!

I'm steadfastly trying to restore everything on my 280zx to original stock condition as much as possible. And, the restoration crew is putting things back together now. I have attached two photos of the brake line that's under the engine compartment and I'm trying to determine the original color of the brake lines. Can any one help with identifying the original color of the brake lines? It looks like the brake lines have a green-ish color. The white spots are probably from dampness and corrosion. Engine an drive train are out. Yes, they already scratched the new engine compartment paint job. But, do you have any idea what the original color of the brake lines are? And is it paint or is it a baked-on finish?

I finally gave up looking for new firewall material. I just scrubbed the rubber surface to get it super clean and set the insulation side out in the sun. After installing the sound material, the original one went back in. I just hope the faint musty smell doesn't come back.

That's really nice stuff. I'm going to pick up at least on roll of the ULTIMATE material.

Hot diggity dog. There we go! Where did you get this material from? Looks much easier to install. Looks like it could be used on the floors, too. I found a company in California that might be able to get similar genuine firewall material in roll stock. Its a store that sells restoration parts for Pontiacs. I found an ad on their site showing a firewall for "1974 1978 Datsun 280Z Firewall Pad with Ultra High Definition Rubber" and I am in the process of seeing if this material is available in ROLL STOCK. Crazy thing was this posting was on a California Pontiac Restoration site on EBAY that I can't specifically remember the name but I will let you know! Copy what I have in quotes and do a search on eBay. See the post that I found.