nowak1981

got me some shiny new tools, looking forward to some warmer weather!

I worked in aviation for 12 years and I have never see that on any kind of aircraft lol, Now, safety wire. Thats on nearly ever nut and bolt. It comes in different thickness and has very high tensile strength https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/05-02687.php?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping&utm_term=05-02687&gQT=1

I went and got some ATF to pour down the cylinders then I’m gonna drain and remove the fuel tank and likely go get it cleaned. I’ll also unbolt the exhaust manifold to see what the runners look like and put it back on. Then I’ll pop the valve cover off and take a look. my plan is to remove as little as possible and then put it back together so I dont forget stuff and just creep my way through it. The cold snap is coming through so it’s gonna be a little bit before I can get back out there. I also need to put up some lighting and figure out how to clean/blow out any hard fuel lines. I can’t have an air compressor, hopefully real estate starts picking up and I can find house.

So I had a thought. Look at the picture with the block number. Is that an original paint color? See how it oversprayed onto the head? If it’s a factory color, I don’t think the head has been replaced. Even the rust bubble line up a bit.

hah, I'm excited and bummed at the same time. Since I don't know a lot about this car, I was hoping for a good original car to have as a baseline and then slowly work my way up as a learn more about what makes it tick, but I'm pretty decent at problem solving once I have a good working knowledge. All this chat has me really motivated to work on it more, and I really appreciate you guys with your conversation and information. Its been a long time since I have found a good forum to socialize. I'm looking forward to learning more and hopefully I can eventually contribute to the community.

was looking into the manual Siteunseen recommended. I bought that one and found an oem manual on ebay for 90$. Also have an offer out for a haynes manual for $10. That glass peice was on the spark plug wire I pulled from cylinder 2, its a spark indicator. They did mentioned an ignition issue and probably gave up and left it.

I went out and took a peek at a few things that had me curious. I went poking around for the casting number and found a couple more interesting things. To get a decent picture of the number I had to pull, Im guessing is the coolant temp sensors. but lucky me, they cut the end off. I also removed the spark plug wires to get them out of my way. Look what I found! It took me a bunch of attempts and I had to pry the hose back to get a good picture, but this is what I got so if my reading is correct, xenoncar engines, its entirely possible this could be from a 280zx, It seems those were all the same, the pistons may be different according to the chart. And I hear that the exhaust ports could be different as well? The spark plugs were completly trashed, number 5 was better. The spark indicator was on the 2nd cylinder

Ill edit the first post with some info about myself, I should have thought of that. When I bought the car the old battery was flopping around, part of the reason was that the battery terminals were backwards and the cables werent long enough, so I opted to order a hold down bracket. At some point I was going to need one anyway. While I was at it I ordered an aftermarket handle. Both from zcar depot. You are absolutely right about the fuel lines, What I might do is bypass the fuel lines altogether and put the put and can up front for the time being. but cleaning out the fuel rail is def a good idea.

wow, I had no idea. I glad you saw that, I wouldnt have known. Is it a direct swap? I guess I will have to look for some casting numbers. hopefully this wont be a bear to deal with.

Thanks! I will need it.

Thanks for having me! I did see those links. Im a paperback guy and Im highly debating on spending the dough on a manual. I didnt notice some odd things with the digital book. The wiring diagrams appear to have some funky text to them that was added digitally. I feel like maybe they were revisions, but their format seems wonky. Thank you for reminding me about the forum post though, I need to go through that. i'd like to do 4-wheel discs

Today, I spent some time with the car. Mostly cleaning out the garbage in the interior and looking more closely at the car. The interior is completely trashed. I knew this going in. I'm fine with it. The driver side exterior door handle is broke and missing. I got a new one on order as well as a battery hold down bracket. The car was sitting long enough that the fuel is bad, I figured as much anyway, So I jacked the car up and peaked under it to see what it was going to take to remove it and get it cleaned. Its not high on my list of things to do. The owner had a brand new fuel pump still in the box sitting on the seat when I got it. I plan on just running a hose to a fuel can until I get the car running. They cut the wires on the fuel pump. I feel like I would have just disconnected the terminals lol. The spare tire was still in the car, and I think its the original tire. The code on it is CXJ9 W6F075. I haven't found a website that can decode it. I didn't look all that hard though. Apparently tires have different codes prior to 2000 and the ones I found only explain the modern ones. I managed to poke some holes through the metal, but for the most part it seems solid. The undercarriage looks pretty rot free. I am able to peel the undercoating off with my finger and the paint underneath and nice and rust free. The struts still function and it rolls nicely. . I did find this hole in the door sill. My guess is that since all the of the rubber seals on this car are roasted, when it rained some of it got and sat. I think this may also be the cause of the floor rot. Ill pull the sill plates off and hope for the best. The door corners look really good though! I checked the fluids and the oil is full, The radiator is mostly full, Those seem to be good signs. I didnt look for transmission dipstick, Im guessing since its a manual, it doesnt have one. The brake fluid is empty, so there is a leak somewhere. I did buy a new battery and turned the key just to see what came on. The fuel and amp meters moved, the fuel level seems dead. About half the lights work. Turn signals work, but the indicator is really gunked up. The wipers dont appear to work, but I do hear the motor. I still a bit cold here and we have a cold snap coming through so it will probably be while before I play around with it. I think my next tasks will be to remove the sill plates and see whats up. I will probably drain the fuel tank and remove it and I will replace the fuel pump with the new one they gave me. Ill just run a hose to a fuel can for the time being. Ill pull the spark plugs and throw some oil down the cylinders, just simple stuff.

Hello! This will be the start of my build progress for a new to me 280z. This build will take a couple years. As of right now, I don't have a shop to really take it apart. About myself: I've been working on cars on and off my entire adult life. My best friend at the time car me started on one of my very first cars. An 81 Crown victoria. During the late 2000s I had a Ford escort that I did a lot of work too. Between me and my friend we had 7 lol. Later on I wanted to build a V8 miata. I had the miata completely stripped down, every nut and bolt. Refurbished and painted all the chassis parts and zinc coated all the hardware. I was getting ready to start putting it back together when I couldn't bring myself to spend 10k on a drivetrain. I wanted an ls3 which was a common swap and required little effort. I don't have a lot of fabrication experience and I didn't want to fight it at the time. So I ended up selling it and I've been kicking myself since. I paid 1k for it and it had zero rust. I was planning on buying another one, but I just didnt like the exteriors of those cars very much and I really wanted a coupe. So the z car fit the bill. I wanted something I could use to expand my skills on. Id like to learn how to weld, and I figured the floor pan and the tire pan would be an easy start since reproductions are available. I've never owned one of these cars and I have been looking for a project for a while. I found this car in New Mexico for 3500$. It does have a little bit of rust. So far I have found rot on the passenger side floor pan and under the spare tire. It appears that the under carriage was undercoated and the heat managed to bake a lot of it to the point that I could pull chips off with my finger. The original blue paint underneath was very clean. Otherwise, the outside of the car is scorched but straight. The car was apparently stored under a carport for a lot of years but was facing the sun and completely baked the interior. That didn't seem like a big deal to me. I feel like my biggest hurdle with this car is going to be the electrical system. I was told that the ignition system was likely the problem, but browsing around the car, I have found some loose wires and splices. All the fuse panels seem to have been removed from their mounting location. My current goal is to get it running. I don't know much about these cars so I need to get to know the car a bit better before I go to town on it. I'm not sure what I want the end result to be. Once I get my shop built and I've had time with the car. I will stripe it down and rebuild it. It will likely end up mostly stock with reasonable upgrades, like 4-wheel discs and some engine upgrades.