TheNeedForZ

Hello, all I just got a clean 260Z body shell, it has been sitting in someone's garage for a while since it was repaired. It still has some spotty surface rust here and there, usually covering large areas but never deep. My plan is to use this shell and transplant my 280Z parts into it. Here's what I am trying to find out : Body & Engine bay : What to do with the surface rust? Bottom : What kind of undercoat for the bottom? Can undercoat be sprayed right over slight surface rust at the bottom? Or do I have to remove rust before applying undercoat as well? Anything else? Thanks in advance

Greetings, all I have a rusty 280Z(76) that I was restoring. Most of the car is in pretty good condition. However, all the rust spots are very, very bad. Basically there are regions on the car that are almost "minty", yet inches away, there will be areas where you can put a fist through. So as I am taking it apart, it always got me frustrated if I stare at the rust holes for too long. Because I know it will take a lot of time, a lot of money, while in reality, college work will only make me busier and busier in years to come. But there might be a chance! I just found a guy who is selling a restored 260Z. I went to his house and looked at the car. The body shell was restored by professionals, painted in white and it is about 97% rust free. He got the car in a divorce settlement, his ex-wife(car belonged to her) lost interest in the car, so restoration stopped before the car can be assembled. The current situation is that the clean 260Z shell is stored in his garage, with parts from the car loosely stuffed into whatever storage spaces nearby(also inside garage) I am quite interested in buying the shell, but wonders : ---Will there be difficulty transplanting all my 280Z parts into a 260Z shell? ---Is there any 260Z parts that I absolutely need? Because I was thinking to use the shell only. Mounting brackets and so on can be taken from 280Z? Thanks in advance Keng-Pei Chiang

mdbrandy, You were right on. After seeing your reply, I went down to the garage. I pulled the dash as far out as possible, then lay down on the floor panel to see what's going on. I poked at every one another connection to see which one is under tension. There's one stiff cable that goes into the back of a circular instrument with a taper fluted nut at the end. The design of the nut looked like it was meant to be turned loose with just fingers. I gave it a twist and quickly it parted with the speedo. Once the speedo cable was detached, the entire dash got a lot more freedom to allow for easy working on further disconnection. I disconnected(and labeled) every relevant connections, working from right to the left. The dash came off of the car 80 minutes ago before I type in this response. Also I didn't remove any additional bolts or screws, so the entire "Remove screws securing side ventilator control bracket in place." thing is just a phantom problem. Thanks for the quick, effective help. Looks like you have one of the very first and one of the very last S30Zs, Nice!

Hello, all I am in the last stage of dash removal(76 280Z). On the factory service manual there's one instruction that I am not very clear of : 9.Remove Screws securing side ventilator control bracket in place. I don't know what it is referring to? or where it is. My current situation is : I haven't disconnect things behind the dash, but most related nuts(if not all?) are removed. Dash is free to move on the passenger side, but something on the driver side keeps it from coming out, it will only come out 1 or 2 inches. As I pull, it feels like something is stuck, but not electrical connections nor steering shaft. Please advise. Thanks

Less than a month ago, I took off the nuts on my Datsun 280Z bumpers. Those bumper nuts are abso-friggin-lutely rusted solid. There's so much rust, some of the threads on the bolt actually disappeared. Most of the corners on the nuts disappeared into rust as well. I didn't know there are products such as Blaster, so I didn't try them. What I used were nut extractors from MasterCraft(you know, the kind that looks like a nut, but with 6 spiral cutting edges instead of threads) I used a steel brush to clean up the threads as much as possible, then spray lubricant on the joints. Put the extractor on, sometimes tap it in gently to make it fit over rusted nuts. Take out your biggest crescent wrench, turn the extractor while applying pressure on the extractor, forcing it to bite into the nut. Slowly add torque as you turn to prevent slipping. It had worked very well for me, but I use it as one of the last resorts. The very last resort is an angle grinder.

I decided to destroy the plastic chimney thing on passenger side just to see what's really going on. I cracked it open with a rubber mallet. Here's what I discovered : By design, the plastic chimney can be lifted away in only one direction after the two small screws are removed. There are clearance on the chimney wall so that it prevents the plastic chimney from being torqued down between steel plates---IF clearance area is positioned right. On my assembly, part of the plastic chimney wall got into the torque down area and is torqued down along with the steel parts. That made it stuck. The solution for this kind of problem is to keep wiggling(and pull) the chimney until it comes out, even if it takes a long time. That's the only way if you don't want to destroy it. Thanks for the help.

I don't know man....Is "vinyl" the soft leather-like padding that is attached to the walls? On my car they are attached using studs. I didn't find any bolt after I peel off the padding . I am pretty sure the bolt is inside the plastic "chimney" cuz I can see it by shining light into the slot. This is how things look like if you are on passenger side facing forward. ...........d ..........|.| ..........|.| ........./.c|== .a..b./....| ||-|------ "a" is a big bolt going thru the floor "b" are two tiny screws holding the plastic chimney "d" is where seat belt comes out. "c" is another bolt that is 3" inside the chimney, this is where my problem is : can't get to it. Man I wonder how they put that thing in there in the first place.....

Hi, all. I am currently trying to remove my seat belt assemblies. I've looked up Factory Service Manual, Haynes book, and "How to restore your Datsun Z-car", but none of them shows exactly how to remove the assembly that bolts on the floor. The factory service manual shows how to remove the part on the strut tower and the belt lock near the console, but said nothing about removing the part that's on the floor. I've got the two small screws on the plastic cover off, and the big bolt(thru floor) off, but looks like there is still a bolt deep in the plastic cover that is out of reach. The car is a 1976 Datsun 280Z. Thanks in advance