Jeff G 78

Unfortunately, yes, it sounds about right. I would guess that over 75% of the people on this board do their own mechanical work for that very reason. Your Z car is worth about $5000 whether these parts are replaced or not. Most people on this board would rather spend $1000 buying the PARTS to replace the springs, shocks, swaybars and all the bushings on their Z than pay someone $1000 to replace $25 worth of parts. They would then sweat, swear, and donate blood to the knuckle gods so that they could afford to upgrade their precious cars. Not only do we save a lot of money, but we learn every little nuance about our cars. I have more money in my Z than I could ever get out and I've done 100% of the work myself. If I had to pay others to do the work, I'd have been better off buying a finished car. If you have any mechanical ability, some basic tools and a place to work, you could save lots of money and find a whole new appreciation for your car. To me, you're never really attached to a car unless you have scars from working on it. In your case, even if you choose to start working on your own car right now, this probably isn't the best project to start with. Replacing the rear control arm bushings is the final exam of Z cars 101... Not the place to learn. :stupid:

Please post pics of your car. We don't care if it's a 300 point car or if you just drug it out of a junkyard. We like pictures!

I upgraded my '78 to a '85 Maxima 100amp. It looks and fits like the stock one and other than having the alternator shop change the pulley and give me a wiring connector, it was very simple. Even with paying for the pulley swap, connector, and the core charge, I think it came to $120 (it was several years ago). I had to cut off my connector and solder on the Maxima connector. Other than that, it was plug and play. The key was going to an alternator shop, not an auto parts store. I looked in the yellow pages and found a place that rebuilds starters and alternators in house. The guy looked in his cross reference book and had what he needed to swap the pulley to the right one and then he grabbed a matching connector from a box under the counter. He drew me a schematic so I'd know which wires to splice together and I was on my way. He tested it before I left and it showed about 110amps. The whole process took about 1/2 hour at the store and another 1/2 hour to solder the connector and install it. You would have to convert to an internal regulator just like for a ZX alternator. I like that it is all Nissan and looks completely stock.

I always wanted an old 911, but I'd probably have a BMW E36 M3.

I had a blast meeting all of you and connecting the names with the faces. Unfortunately, I had to work, so I could only make it a one day trip. I would have loved to have seen a roster posted on the Cleveland Rockz website that showed each owner next to their car with their real name as well as their online name for whatever site(s) they frequent. I 'm sure there are people I talk to online that were there that I missed or never got their real name. Going back to judging for a moment (sorry Tom), I don't know the owner's name, but did the Black Pearl in the center isle win anything in the stock class? I'm no judge, but I thought that car stood out from the rest as a stocker.

I have had to replace the front mount on nearly every Z I've had. The new mount eliminated the clunk on all but one which had a torn mount and worn half shafts. It took both repairs to eliminate the noise.

This is a lousy picture, but it's all I could find in a hurry. The mount has an inner and outer steel "U" with rubber bonded between the two. The rubber and/or bond rips and the diff moves too far up and clunks. http://www.courtesyparts.com/rear-differential-mount-1970-1978-s30-p-568987.html?cPath=7724_7758& To test it, take a large screwdriver and try to pry the two halves apart. Look for gaps in the bond.

Please post pictures of the car. We want to see what you have to work with!

Very nice Z Goose!

Here is my longwinded Z tale... I am 43 and have been a Z fan ever since I was a kid. I saw my first 240Z in '71 or '72 and instantly fell in love with it. Over the next few years I got excited everytime I'd see one on the road. I was around 8 years old or so when my mom decided to redecorate my bedroom. She drug me down to the wallpaper store to pick out a new design to replace the flowers that my sister used to have in the room. As I looked through stupid wallpaper samples, I hit the jackpot. I found wallpaper with cars on it. In the foreground, there were color pictures of antique cars and in the background were black and white modern sports cars. Well, one of them was a 240Z! There was no doubt what wallpaper I was getting! I got to look at my favorite car every day in my room. Fast forward to 1984 when I turned 18. I just had to have a Z car. I found a guy with a 1972 and a 1976 in a field. He wanted $600 for the pair of Z cars. I rented a tow bar and drug them home with grand visions of building the '76 280Z out of the two cars. Well, they were rusted beyond repair, but I learned a TON from those two cars. I stripped both cars to their shells and sold off what I could. I got enough in parts to pay for the two cars and I had a lot of parts left over. At that point, I knew I had to get a rust-free Z, so I went to Atlanta (from Ohio) in 1986 in search of a clean Z. I found a very clean '76 280Z automatic. I still had the manual trans and pedal box from the 240Z parts car, so I bought the Atlanta 280Z, drove it home and converted it to a 4 speed. I kept that car for three years and had a ball with it. Over the next few years I bought and sold several more Z cars along with many other cars. In 1990, I decided it was time to go south again and find another clean Z. I found my current car, a 1978 280Z. It had been sitting for about five years, it didn't run, and it had a bit of front end damage. The hood had some bondo and the bumper was a bit bent, but otherwise looked straight. The interior was also shot, but it was either this car or go home empty handed. I bought the rust-free, but non-running Z for $700 and drug it back to Ohio on a tow dolly. Well, after removing the bumper and front fenders, I found that the car had been hit pretty hard and that the whole left front structure was crumpled and had been pulled back out. Rather than scrap the otherwise clean Z, I bought a friends rusty Z and had a buddy do some surgery. He replaced the whole left front of the Z with parts he cut off the parts car. It came out great and looked like it had never been hit. I rebuilt a spare engine and dropped it in. Unfortunately, something was wrong in the engine and I had to tear it back down. I didn't check the work of the machine shop that did the head and four valves were now bent. They had milled a head that was warped and the #1 and #6 pistons hit the valves. At this point, I was recently out of college and didn't have the time to work on this Z. I did have a different Z I was driving though. The '78 was tucked away in my dad's garage when I got a job in a Michigan. I also got married shortly after that. After living in an apartment for a few years, We finally bought a house and I was able to retrieve the Z after many years of storage. I *thought* I'd have time to work on it, but homeownership and a new bride kept me very busy. The Z got less attention than it needed and it took another long nap before I finally forced myself to get it on the road. Fast forward to 2006 when I finally got to drive the Z that I bought in 1990! Including the time it sat before I bought it, it had been parked for 21 years. I started over with a different engine and went through the suspension, brakes, and interior. I have since gotten many little things finished on it, but it does still need a paintjob. I have been able to put about 7000 miles on it since I got it on the road. Not bad considering the short driving season and few sunny days we have here in Michigan. In the last 25 years, I've had nine S30s, a Z31, an S13, a Sentra SER, a BMW, a few Hondas, a Supra and many Toyota 4x4 daily drivers. I don't think I'll ever be be without a Z car again and I promise that I WILL finish my Z someday. :stupid:

I had several places tell me that they would charge $300 or more to recore my original 2-row. I could have bought an aluminum one off ebay for around $200 - $250, but after asking here, I decided against the aluminum due to the extra mounting hassles and the chance of cracking due to flex.

Ahh, so it is simply a loop cooler inside the tank. Gotcha.

I might be wrong, but doesn't that take part of the capacity away from the engine coolant? The trans cooler is a separate part of the core with ATF in it, no? Is it like 10%, 15%, or ???% of the radiator core volume?

FYI, I just received my 280Z MSA radiator and it is indeed a CSF radiator. I was bummed when I took it out of the box and saw that it is for an automatic, so I called MSA to ask if that's all they sell now. When I ordered it, there were different auto and manual part numbers, but he confirmed that they recently changed suppliers and that's all they sell now. I'm not sure who used to make them, but they are CSF now. He made it sound like the supplier change was within the last month or two. The website still lists two part numbers. The CSF part number for the 280 is listed on the box as 111 for future reference.

Or do what I did and buy 16" wheels so your tire choices go way up. I wanted 15" wheels, but I could see the 15" supply dropping just like the 14's, So far, the supply of 16" tires is great. You could always use the Wats for everyday use and buy 16" track wheels.

The approved rim widths for a 185/70R14 tire are 4.5" - 6" Those are really narrow for a 7.5" rim!

That's a great idea. I don't think I've ever seen a car trailer designed like that. Like you said, it works for semi trailers, so why not light weight car trailers. Some simple aluminum bowes would work as support. The semi trailers use drop-in sides with aluminum bowes and canvas above them. The same system would work on a smaller scale.

Interesting idea, but it doesn't look very long and I don't think I'd want to use it in the rust belt. I'd also want to check all the joints before every use. I could see it working well for some people, but it isn't for everybody.

Interesting. Please keep us updated as to what the final answer turns out to be. Hopefully replacing the plates will straighten it up. New bushings are in order either way if they are original.

I have searched on different sites and have been unable to get a straight answer, so I will ask here. My 30+ year old radiator needs to be replaced and I am trying to decide between the MSA 3-row copper/brass radiator and having a custom aluminum radiator built. The MSA radiators are on sale right now for $180 + about $30 shipping. A local radiator shop will build me a radiator that fits like OEM for between $225 and $300. Once they see it, they will know better, but I did give them the size. My question is this: Which is better for cooling? I have heard some people say AL is better and others say copper/brass is better. Assuming the AL price is on the low end of the estimate, it comes down to which would be the better radiator. If they say it's closer to $300 then I would likely go with the MSA one. I see AL ones on ebay all the time for $200 + shipping, but they are all made with trans coolers and I'd rather not waste that cooling volume since I don't need it. Also, I have no way of knowing if they are going to fit or cool. The local shop came highly recommended and I know the MSA radiator is a quality part that will fit. So, which would you buy? Is there any weight savings with the AL over the brass?

That is one clean Z! I would be afraid to get the underbody dirty.

They should be easy to find at a JY. You might try Danny's Datsuns in Oregon also. I'm not sure what he has left since he downsized his Z parts business, but it's worth a try. He is a sponser at zcars.com, so you can find his banner there. You could also buy fancy billet ones from arizonazcar.com. His are PURDY! http://www.arizonazcar.com/diffmount.html

What exactly did he tell you it needs? If the rear toe is off, he could offer anything from control arm replacement to eccentric delrin bushings, to "bend it back straight". Why is the toe off? Unless the car was hit in the rear, toe doesn't go out of whack on its own. We need more info before we can guess what it might cost.

There's just something special about 8-spoke wheels on a Z. Generally, even numbers of spokes don't look as good as odd numbers on most cars, but the ZX 6-spoke wheels as well as all the various 8-spoke designs look great IMHO. Since you asked...

In this thread, you will find my solution to mounting the Optima Red Top. Even though it's only an inch, I'd rather have the heavy battery mounted as low as possible for better CG. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29889