Jeff G 78

If the seals went bad along the way and allowed any grit to enter the hubs, then clean them completely. Otherwise, just scoop out the old grease and give it a wipe before installing the new bearings.

I completely agree with you on sellers' claims. Back in the old days before the internet, I drove all over the damn place looking at cars that were billed as rust-free or close to it. They must have been soaking in the ocean between the phone calls and my arrival at their houses because more often than not, the cars were complete crap that were nothing more than parts cars. Uggghhhh. At least these days we can request close-up photos before we go look at cars.

So, again, I searched CL. This time, the west coast and desert areas of the Southwest. Yikes! Even the San Diego, Vegas, and LA cars now have some rust on them! They are all asking big bucks too! I guess with 240's getting out of reach, the later S30's are now rising too. I did find a few pristine looking 280's in the sub-$10k range, but they were usually autos.

Sarah, After posting my estimate, I have spent some time searching various CL cities around the country and I was about to come back and edit my post to raise my estimate. For $4k - $5k as I suggested, I found lots of cars that were possibly less rusty than yours (based on the sellers' opinions of condition), but much rattier overall and certainly worse mechanically than your car. I think $6000+ would be a better estimate given your underbody and mechanicals. That said, the sellers are ASKING those prices. I don't know what they are actually getting for their Z's. I hope you get what you want and need for your car, believe me! I have a rust-free '78 with an all-new suspension, rebuilt engine, a nice interior, and beautiful Panasports. My car does need paint before I would consider it presentable, but I would have guessed my car to be in the $7500 range as-is. Maybe I'm underestimating the 280Z market... As for location, I gave up on rusty cars a long time ago and now I travel to whatever part of the country it takes to get a clean car. I find it cheaper to travel than to fix rust. :-)

Good to see you back, but I hate to see you sell your Z. Great job on the videos. They are honest and believable with no attempts at overselling the car. After seeing the rust issues and subsequent repair threads on several members' cars (Wheee! for example), your car is in very good shape and would be fairly easy to bring back to excellent condition. The buyer would be best off swapping the doors and then cutting out and replacing the rust on the hatch panel and quarter. The rest is easy. The underbody looks great which is by far the most important place to be clean. That said, the market for late S30's is still soft, so it's not going to be worth a lot of money at this point in time. That could change in the future, but not right now. My best guess for pricing based on the current condition and potential condition is probably in the $4000 - $5000 range. I'm sure the car runs great and looks good from 20 feet, but rust repair and paint aren't cheap. If it was a 240Z, the value would likely be double. Your Z is very presentable, so it could be purchased and driven as-is or restored to show quality. Many Z's with similar rust are ratty looking, so you certainly have that going for you. Mechanically, it is far better than most, but as we all know, it costs more to fix rust on Z cars than to fix mechanical issues. Good luck and I hope you either decide to keep it, or sell it now and rejoin the Z community someday.

Agreed Steve. My car spends very little time at part throttle. It is either idling or running at high RPM. I think I tied it without the vacuum advance and didn't have great results. I'd have to try it again to see what it does.

I run an '82 dizzy as-is vac advance and all on my race car with no issues. I use a F54 block with a P79 head shaved 0.050" and a mild cam. On 93 octane, it pulls strong to 7000 RPM.

Can somebody send me good dimensions of a gland nut? Are they all the same, or do they vary from brand to brand?

The easiest solution would be to CNC plasma cut a "stop sign" shaped hole into 1/4" thick steel and weld it to a 6" long 3/4" pipe with a 3/4" flange nut on top. The whole thing would take very little time to make and cost less than $10 in materials. Once set up, they could be made in bulk and sold for $20 or so. Is there really a market for them? If so, I can look into it. I have access to everything I need.

Sorry you don't like the look of the wheels. Selling wheels is always a losing proposition unless you can find a local buyer because of the shipping costs. I still think they look great on your car.

Cutting coils is not a great idea since it will change the spring rate. The front will become stiffer than designed which could then cause the car to become pitchy. Also, cutting coils on a progressive spring is a crapshoot. I run cut coils on my race car, but they are the same rate front and rear and I cut the same amount off both ends. It worked fine.

Check out this thread http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/29421-a-little-eibaching-help-please/. It appears the Eibachs are longer in the front and that many people say they end up with a car that sits high in front. My Tokico springs were longer in back (like your pic) and the car sits very flat.

Are you sure the front and rear are in the right positions? I've read a lot of stories of people installing them in the wrong positions. The longer springs go in the rear, but in some cases, the springs are mis-marked from Eibach.

That's too bad. I think they look awesome. I am willing to be your Panasports have a positive offset. Pretty much all other Z aftermarket wheels will be zero like the Rewinds. Sent from my iPhone using Classic Zcar Club mobile

I just wish I kept the "right" parts. Way back when, it was difficult to know what would become rare and difficult to find. I just thought I was saving parts that I would need short-term. Now decades later, I realized that I tossed future valuable parts and kept things that are now a dime a dozen.

I've been buying S30's and scrapping rotten S30's for the last 35 years. I still find uses for some of the first parts I ever removed back in the mid-80's. When I was young and started hording Z parts, I stored them in my dad's basement and garage. When I entered the workforce, I moved out of state and started a new collection of parts. A few years ago, my dad sold his house and moved to Phoenix, so it was time to gather my parts and bring them back to Michigan. It took a full 24 foot enclosed car trailer to get everything home. Needless to say, my garage is rather full now. My current plan is to sell cheap or give away parts I don't think I will ever need to local Z owners in need. If I can keep another Z on the road and reduce my clutter at the same time, I'm happy.

I paid $450 for my very minimal rust '74 in 2009. The floors are solid and the only rust was the battery tray and a small spot in the rear quarter where mice had built a nest. Mechanically, it was used-up, but with lots of used parts out of my stash, zero body work and a super quick paint job, it was ready for the track.

I miss the days of cheap Z's. Five years ago, that was a $2500 car.

It's easy enough to measure the offset. I can measure mine tonight. Where did you get your Panasports? Are you sure they are zero offset? MSA usually sells +6mm. My 16" Panasports are zero offset and they have the same look as your Rewinds.

FYI Chuck, Discount Tire Direct has 15x7 Rewinds on sale a few times per year. I bought two sets for my race car at $360/set delivered.

I love the new look! As much as I adore silver Panasports, the satin black wheels look better on your silver Z. Great choice!

Agree Steve. My tach worked by just hooking the blue wire to the negative coil terminal. I abandoned the OE wiring and ran a new +12V and -12V to the coil/ZX distributor.

The holes are not only larger, but they are not in the same place. When I made my emergency bar trackside, I welded the spacers on, followed by welding on the new crossbar. I then transfer punched the R180 holes onto the new crossbar and then offset them the correct amounts before cutting out the original bar section and drilling the new holes. I was amazed that the modified bar not only fit perfectly and lasted the remaining four hours of the race, but we actually left it in place and ran another 14 hour race with the fabricated mustache bar. We finally replaced it and kept it as a trophy for finishing our first 24 hour race.

Or change it to a ZX unit.

Is it an early 260Z? My late 260 distributor did not use points.