Reinier

Okay so I am a moron. I had forgotten two giant connectors just behind the firewall.

Bedankt (thanks) I will give that a try.

Hi guys, I did some work on the interior of my 77 280Z and removed the dash, center console, steering column + switches, heater core and I also disconnected the fusebox and relays and and ziptied those to the side to get work space. Yesterday I wanted to get the car running again because I am moving to a new house in a few weeks and need to move it. So I reinstalled the dash, the steering column + switches, the center console and connected the fusebox en relais. But I left the heater core and the heater controls out so a few plugs are not connected.. Now I don't have any power to any of the systems. None of the lights work and the ignition switch does nothing. I have tested the ignition switch which is ok. If I supply power to the ignition switch power pin I hear the ignition relais clicking but nothing happens so the ignition relais has also no power. If I supply power at the hazard light switch which is part of the ignition switch circuit de car starts cranking. Are the heater core and/or the heater controls essential parts of the electric system? Or is there something else wrong here? Thanks! Reinier

@moelk Great thanks for the info 🙂

Thanks Mart 🙂

@moelk I was actually just looking at Cobra seats at sportseats4u 🙂 Your GT3's look really nice! How do they fit in the car? Do you think you will have to do a lot of modification to the transmission tunnel? And how do they fit you? I am 183cm 85kg. Thank you!

Hi Mart 🙂 Good to see you here and thanks for the info. You might be right about keeping the original seats. I guess it all depends on how much I can get for them. Did the Scheel seat fit easily in your 240Z? Or did you have to make modifications to make it fit? Best, Reinier

Hi guys, I am thinking of selling my original 280Z seats that are in very good condition and getting a pair of classic style bucket seats. Because I love the way it looks and also to give me extra support in the corners. Right now I have these preferences: The style I like (see pictures). Must have an headrest for safety Budget of 200-400 dollar (euro) per seat From a reputable brand It seems there are a lot of brands with seats that I like: Corbeau, Sandtler, Cobra, OMP so my preferences are definitely realistic. Has anyone done this who can give me some tips, tricks and pointers? Things I should consider. Issues I can expect. Thank you! Reinier

Yeah I don't want a spare so I think I will just put a plate over the spare space and that will be my floor. What have you done to tidy up the inside of the tail lights? Does the interior trim panel from earlier cars fit?

Thanks for the great info Captain Obvious. Drilling out those spot welds is a great idea.

Hi guys, One thing that has been bugging from the moment I bought my 1977 280Z, is the double floor design of the trunk. I absolutely hate it. So I am going to remove it by cutting away to extra lip behind the seats making it as high as in the 240Z and drilling out the spot welds on all the brackets. All the stuff encircled in green on the picture. Cutting the lip will also give me space to use an hamer and dolly to fix the secrets compartments which were butchered for a speaker install grrrrrrr. The 280Z also has two raised rails or beam like thingies. Does anyone know what's underneath and if they are structural or just for supporting the wooden floor and spreading the weight? I have encircled them in orange. I can either remove them as well or maybe use some high density foam to fill up some of the space around them and end up with a carpet that has 2 bumps which is no big deal I think. What do you guys think? Am I making a mistake by modifying the trunk floor? Best, Reinier

Thank you. That is great to hear! I had not seen the black paint/coating anywhere before so that is what made me wonder. My car had a salvage title in California (it's now in The Netherlands) and I cannot figure out why. It has some body work repairs done to the doors and rear quarter panels but the frame rails in the front and the trunk floor are straight as an arrow. I have not even found any ripples in the front from a low speed collision. So I thought maybe the roof was severely damaged at some point and replaced including the a pillars.

Hi guys, I have taken out the interior of my 1977 280Z to work on some stuff and I noticed that the lower a-pillar area looks a bit weird on both sides with a black coating and a lot of seam sealer/filler. Is this original or has my car had a roof transplant at some point? I have searched for similar pictures of other Z cars and could only find blurry ones but I did see black paint in the same location on other cars as well. Also do you think the gold the original color of my car? Thanks! Reinier

@wadelester In the end I got another set of half shafts and rebuild those. They slid together very easy so there was definitely something wrong with the first set.

Thanks for the info guys. Maybe I will give your WD40 a try later on Jonathan but right now I'm working with a new set of half shafts I got for 50 euros ? I've already taken them apart (went smooth), cleaned them and painted them yesterday so I will put them together tonight or tomorrow. I did notice one thing when taking this second set apart. When you try to pull them apart with the x-shaped bearing locking ring at the end of the shaft in place the ball bearings will bind at the top. Probably because they are pushed outwards as the locking ring at the end is picking up grease. With the first set I just used brute force to pull them out this way anyway. Maybe I damaged them myself that way although it is hard to imagen that I'm strong enough to damage these heave duty steel parts. When you remove the locking ring from the other side the shaft slides out smooth. Maybe another mistake I made was sliding the shaft back in with the x-shapes bearing locking plate in place...

Gave it a try last night but with minimal grease and without grease and the same thing happens. They bind and they get stuck. I'm 100% certain something is not right. Taking them apart also took extreme force now that I think about it. I pressed out the u-joints and put two breakers bars through the holes, put my feet on one breaker bar and pushed/pulled them like 10 times as hard as I could to get them to separate. It's also not a vacuum issue because I opened both ends of the rube with the grooves. I'm going to find a new used pair. Put new u-joints in them, paint them, put them on the car and never look back at this epic fail hehe.

Haha! Okay thanks for your tips. I will give them a try when I get home from work.

I will clean everything and try it again with minimal grease. I think I will also put a lot of tape on the shaft so they can't slide up when I press the shaft down. But still I have a feeling something is wrong. It should not be this difficult.

Thanks but I don't read anything about the problem I'm having.

Hi wheee! I'm doing the same thing as you but I can't for the life of me slide the two halfs back together with all the ball bearing and spacers present. It will always bind and get stuck. Like some bearings are to big or some tolerances are not quite right. It also took a LOT of force to pull them apart because the bearings with get stuck. Did yours slide in and out easily? Because I'm starting to think something is not right with mine.. Thnx Reinier

Hi guys, I'm rebuilding my whole suspension and replacing all bushings, ball joints and u-joints. So while I was working on my half shafts I figured I would take them apart and clean and re-grease everything. Boy do I regret that decision because I've spent hours trying trying to slide them back together with all the ball bearings and plastic spacers in place. Whatever I do they always get stuck and they won't slide in further like some ball bearings are a bit oversized or tolerances are a bit off. I've tried everything. Slow, fast, adding the bearings afterwards from the other side. Nothing works ;( The closest I came was when I tried holding the bearings in place with one hand and with the other pushed it in as hard as I could. That way only half of the last spacers would stick out too much but I could not press them in that last half inch... Is there a trick or am I doing something wrong? Please help ? Thnx! Reinier Instagram @jdmreinier DatsunPartZ.com - Little project of mine. A price comparison website for Datsun parts.

Thanks for the excellent info grannyknot. That clears up a lot for me. I will look for the old rebuild topics. Can you tell me where I can order the bearing and grease seal? I can't find them on my regular Z-shops like RockAuto, ZCarDepot, MSA and ZCarSource. Thanks.

Hi guys, I'm rebuilding/cleaning the steering rack of my 1977 280Z and I have two questions I hope you guys can answer. 1. My pinion shaft and bearing are stuck. Is there a way to get them out without destroying the bearing? The bearing seems in good condition and I don't know if I can find a good replacement. 2. After sandblasting the housing I noticed a white/transparant plastic peg or nipple or something next to the pinion shaft in the sport where the rack bushing goes. Does anyone know what it is and what it does? I kinda looked like it had a pin hole in it. You can see it in the picture in the middle of the bushing location after a coat on POR-15. Thanks! Reinier

Worn u-joints also cause clunking. You could have a look at those...

Thanks guys!