Jeff G 78

Only the '77-'78 A pillar trim attaches with screws. The earlier S30 trim tucks under the windshield seal.

Looking good Guy.

I agree with Carl. You likely won't find a tank that doesn't need some work. Drop the tank, remove the sending unit and insert a few 2-foot lengths of medium-sized chain to help break up the crud. It really helps if you can do the cleaning on a gravel driveway because it takes a lot of water and makes a mess. Hose it out several DOZEN times with water or until the debris stop coming out. A second person REALLY makes the job easier on your back. Put a person at each end of the tank to slosh it up and down, roll it side to side, and shake it Next, buy two gallons of muriatic acid from Home Depot and mix 1/2 gallon at a time in with a few gallons of water. Be sure to wear a canister style respirator while using the acid. You WILL need it! Also wear heavy rubber gloves. Using several layers of plastic from a margarine container, make a cover that is the same size as the sending unit and attach them with the rubber O Ring and locking ring. Seal the vent, supply, return, and filler neck openings with heavy duty rubber gloves held on with duct tape and rubber bands and vigorously slosh the solution around and let it sit for a few minutes. Keep using the lengths of chain. Drain the acid solution and rinse again with water. Repeat as needed until every surface inside the tank looks spotless. Use a flashlight and small mirror to see inside the tank. Try to see in the corners too. Do not stop rinsing until the tank is clean! Once done with the acid, rinse over and over with water. Doesn't this sound like fun? You are now ready to START the POR-15 process. This process takes 2-3 days and should be done in the summer when it is nice and warm outside. The tank will never dry otherwise. Follow the POR-15 directions EXACTLY. Do not take any shortcuts and don't rush it. Get a cheap heat gun to aid the drying after the cleaning process. The tank MUST be 100% dry inside or you will waste a lot of time and money and you'll be further behind than when you started. The hardest part of doing a Z tank is the supply and return lines. They can and will be caked with crud and you cannot see them inside the tank due to the baffle. Use compressed air to blow them out. I didn't do a very good job and wound up with a clogged supply filter even though my tank looks like new inside. Make sure the lines are clear after you seal with the POR-15 as well. The sealer with clog them solid. If done right, POR-15 works great, but it is a LOT of hard work. It took me a full week to do the job right on my 260 tank, but my tank was NASTY as seen in the pics. My 280 tank wasn't nearly as bad, so I finished in about 4 days total. Here was my 260Z tank when I bought the car. It had been sitting for 15+ years This was what came out after a few water-only rinses Inside after hundreds of water and acid solution cleanings Inside after POR-15 cleaner and Marine Clean Finished product after POR-15 sealer. As you can see, getting the sealer to cover the baffle is a real job. No matter how hard you try, you cannot get it to cover the baffle due to the tank design. The important thing is to cover the bottom and the seams and to not allow any puddles to form. Here are the before and after pics when I did my 280 tank: This tank sat for about 8 years After water-only rinse Final result after POR-15 cleaner, Marine Clean and POR-15 sealer If this doesn't look like something you want to handle, let a pro do it. If you have any questions, let me know.

Welcome 5150! I STRONGLY recommend dropping the gas tank and cleaning it out. You will forever struggle with the gunk that is left behind after much of the old fuel dried in the tank. It should be an easy process since it's rust free.

Useless as a donor vehicle, but it would make a good LeMons/ChumpCar candidate. Like Bruce said, Z31s are not worth much. That engine looks like a normal VG30ET to me. It's NOT an RB.

Once you follow the wires to the trans, you will likely find that one or both wires have broken off the reverse switch. There is a rubber boot covering the wires and switch, so you'll have to slide it back to see them. They can simply be soldered back onto the switch. Once you disconnect the bullet connectors, the switch can be unscrewed from the trans for soldering. Some oil might dribble out depending on the oil level and angle the car is at. It won't leak much as long as the trans wasn't overfilled.

Sounds to me like you need to bleed the master. Install a 6" hose on the bleed port and put the other end in the reservoir below the fluid level. Open the bleeder just enough to get flow and slowly pump the pedal up and down until no bubbles appear. Tighten the bleeder and repeat for the other port. After that is done, try bleeding the corners in the order Mr. Blakeney described above. If the LR won't bleed, the cylinder is likely shot and needs a rebuild. If the bore looks good, buy a $5 rebuild kit. If not, get the whole wheel cylinder. Luckily, you have a '76 and they are cheap. The older ones are getting expensive and hard to find.

New (rebuilt) MCs are know to fail due to poor quality. Check for leaks, but it sounds like there was a rough spot in the bore and the seal got knicked.

Sounds like a typical PA car that has rotted and been patched up to look good. Keep looking, there are plenty of good Z cars for sale around the country. Don't limit your search to a local car. It's FAR cheaper to travel and get a rust free car from AZ than it is to fix a rusty local car and in the end, the rust-free Z will always be worth more than a repaired car.

The pics are small, so I cannot tell you one way or another if the car is worth $500 or $5000, but at first glance it looks OK. You REALLY need to crawl under the car and inspect the underbody. Look for any signs of structural repairs or rust. Since the car has been sitting, it *could* have a fuel tank rust issue like many, many other Z cars have. Before I'd lay down any offer, I'd ask to remove the fuel filter near the tank and see if any debris comes out of it. Tanks can be cleaned, but you'll spend time and money to do it. How do the suspension bushings look? Are they old and cracked, newish rubber, or poly? If they are old and cracked, you will likely want to replace them all. This costs money and time and you'd have to perform the mother of all Z repairs - spindle pin removal. Are the shocks worn out? Bounce the car and see if it gets hard to move after a few bounces, or if it keeps bouncing. You need to add up all the things that aren't quite right and start deducting from the asking price. If the car has any underbody rot, it's worth far less than the asking price. If the paint is good, the body is clean and the underbody is rust-free, everything else is easy. If all else checks out and it runs and drives well, $5000 is very reasonable. It's easy to find a $2000 "driver", but a clean car is worth much more.

The car is 37 years old and you are worried that it doesn't have original paint? You need to take a weak flexible refrigerator magnet and touch it to every square inch of the body. Anywhere it doesn't stick, means there is filler under the paint. Also 300,000 miles over 37 years is about right if it has always been driven. I'd MUCH rather have a high mileage Z that has been driven rather than a 100,000 mile Z that sat for a few decades. Z mechanicals can easily be fixed or replaced. Just make sure the body is solid and check the usual rust spots under the car. The TC mounts, battery box, and floorboards/rails.

The tank is likely fine, but the hoses that go to it could be very rotten. Pull the plastic interior panel and inspect the hoses. I'm betting they are the cause.

You didn't say which year 240, so I'll just assume it's a '70-'72. I'd rebuild the L24 since you don't know for sure what is in the "fresh" L28. It could be a junk engine for all you know. If your hypothetical 240 is a '73 with original carbs, then I'd call Bruce and get some round top carbs to replace the boat anchors it has now. Sell the SBC and use the cash for the rebuild.

Dammit, I hate it when I'm in a hurry and don't check the OP's date. I wish we could color code threads that are more than xx old.

You can swap pretty much ANY engine into an early Z, but IMHO, the Z31's VG30 is one of the worst choices. Stick with the stock engine and rebuild it or find a good used one.

Thanks Guy, I was tired of looking at my 280Z. BTW, why don't you have a garage? You of all people need one to show off your awesome collection of Z cars.

It looks better than I thought it would. You are off to a good start.

And then replace the cap.

That's an awesome price Guy. Nice find Stephen.

Yes, they just slip over the strut rod with the big end up. It doesn't matter where they sit as they will slide up and down freely on the rod. The originals fit up in the upper seat, but the aftermarket ones just float from what I remember. Keep in mind that the springs will have to be compressed and removed from the strut before you can install the bump stops. As for the ball joints, did they come with grease fittings? If so, you will have to hit them with a grease gun. If not, they are sealed. I think I recall the Moog parts coming with fittings.

The quick answer is that it doesn't matter. Buy the S30 with the best body you can find and be happy with your purchase. Body condition means far more than model within the S30s. Look at SRBigButt's post about Jalopnik. He has a 280 with 240 bumpers. It has the features of a 280 with the look of a 240. I've owned close to every year S30 and they each have their good and bad points. The early cars are lighter and simpler, but provide almost no crash protection even at low speed. The later cars have nicer interiors and will at least survive a parking lot bump, but they are heavy and more complex. The 260 is a nice mix, but finding the correct parts can get very frustrating. There is an early 260 and a late 260 which have some common parts and some that are non-interchangeable. You have to know Z cars pretty well before a 260 should be considered IMHO.

To me, that was a total no-brainer. Knowing what I have in my '78 and what I still need to put into it, $7k is a bargain for your car. NP

Latest photo of mine.

Guy, I got mine from www.tooltopia.com for much less than anywhere else. Check them out. Hmmm, I just looked and they are out of stock and the price shown is way higher than what I paid. :stupid:

Like Ron said, I have his dizzies. I had to mix and match the parts, but I have no idea which years any of the parts are from. Hopefully somebody will have the exact info for the combination of parts needed because I need to give Ron his parts back and buy a ZX dizzy setup of my own. My 260 distributor actually works fine, but I'd much rather stick with a newer ZX unit with the built-in ignition module.