oldroaddog

This shows the fuel line with the in-line filter which takes the place of the internal fuel tank screen...

The fuel tank has been re-installed and I thought I would post some photos to update interested members. These two show the added service line beside the original which has been filled and capped...

Try Roger at The Z Barn 800-247-2793. I've tried to get a couple of parts from him for my '75 but haven't had any success. It may be worth a trip to his shop which is close to Knoxville from what I've been told.

That's the one of the good things about this situation - the radiator shop owner is only going to charge $68 to install the new fitting and plug the original.

So I found a raditor shop locally that had experience in and would clean/coat the tank. When I showed the tank to the owner of the shop this morning he said that it had already been coated and that cleaning it would cause the coating to melt and really screw things up. I mentioned that I had taken as good as look as possible at the screen and that it did appear to be partially blocked. He said this may be caused by the coating not having been appied properly. So I'm looking at him saying "So what can you do?". His solution is to plug the original fuel service fitting, drill a new hole and install a new fitting and draw pipe. This new pipe won't have a screen but he suggested I put an in-line filter between the tank and fuel pump. It sounds like a good fix to me. If there's still trash in the tank it will clog the filter and be easy to access and change. The only issue I can think off would be a restriction in flow caused by the in-line filter but wouldn't the internal screen have the same effect even if perfectly clean?

So I'm running with a suggestion that my '75 280Z is having engine problems because trash in the fuel tank is clogging the screen. A member of our local Z Club offered this up from his own experience. The symptoms I described were indentical to what was going on with is car - running well for some period of time and then suddenly loss of power, sputtering and finally stops running. Let the car sit a while and start it back up and all is well... sometimes. Over the weekend I drained the tank and yes there was some particles in the fuel which I strained into a gas can. Didn't really look like rust. So I dropped the tank and got a little surprise. On top of the tank there appears to have been some repair work done. There's a V shaped "scar" of unknown material. Otherwise the tank looks in really good shape. Externally there's no rust or dents. From what I can see internally there appears to be some reddish deposit on the bottom of the tank but that could be the factory coating. Now I've researched the do-it-yourself cleaner/coating kits and it looks like a really involved process. The POR-15 kit seems to be the most desireable but takes a week to complete. All the information says you've got to remove the screen which I haven't figured out how to do that on this tank. I'm not convinced I'm going to tackle this proceedure at this point. My other option is to have the tank boiled at a radiator shop but that would mean I'll have to find someone to coat it as the radiator guy is saying he doesn't do that. I've got a call into a local guy that has done coatings before and I'll see what he has to say about it when he returns my call. So my questions at this point... How do you get the screen out of the tank? If there's a patch will it come off when it's boiled? Does the POR-15 kit work and is it worth saving $50-$100 to do it yourself? Any input will be appreciated.

I've got a '75 280Z and I think the '75-'76 model Zs have some cool and interesting features. You'll find some parts that are specific to that year range. Check to see if the catalytic converter is in place. I don't know what emmission regulations in your area are but that's critical to passing. If you decide to buy - I'm sure your enjoy this ride!

Getting the light to work was easy. The PO had unpluged the connector in the console. But even with the tank full this indicator stays on but the fuel guage functions fairly well (low readings suspect). That would lead me to suspect a short at the switch. Thanks for the heads up on the fuel damper. You learn something new everyday! So, if the fuel damper is fine, I replace the fuel filter, I've already installed new injectors/fuel lines and I continue to have this intermittant sputtering - the next thing to look at would be the fuel sender. I also want to check the electrical leads and terminals on the sender for corrosion or frayed wires.

This is a timely thread. On the way to a body shop to have new frame rails welded on I experienced very much the same sputtering which came and went and finally completely stoped the engine. So I'm thinking it's clogged fuel filters and will replace both before trying to drive the '75 280Z home from the body shop. The large canister filter in the engine compartment was easy to find locally but no dice on the small filter by the tank. So I puchased just a generic in-line to get the car back to the house and order the real deal. While working on the console a few weeks back I was able to get the red fuel indicator light working. What does this indicate? Fuel level in the tank or fuel pressure? I noticed when the car was sputtering it looked like this light was pulseing faintly.

Yes, this article is in the Opel GT Gold Portfolio and was the main reason I picked the Z car as my next project after finishing my '72 Opel GT. The comparisons are detailed and very informative.

This is interesting because my '75 280Z came with what I thought was original overflow tank resting in the belly pan just behind the grill. Now the bottom of the bottle is slanted so it rests upright and doesn't seem to move around much. The overflow hose is routed under the hood rod which is a little tight. I did some restoration in this area and found some surface rust in the pan where the bottle sits and it very difficult to add coolent with the grill on. Does anyone else have this type of set-up?

From post #16... "I checked out ACC as well. They have a good carpet for about $254.00. Also checked out ClassicDatsun which, if I read him correct, can supply like stock carpets. He was surprised that I wanted loop because his impression was that cut pile was original carpet. He just had another customer ask for loop yesterday. I will be returning my MSA carpets." There was no response as far as what is OEM carpet ie. loop or cut pile. I like the durability of loop but I am a little concerned if that will score against my car in shows. Was it an OEM option?

Has anyone bought one of those automatic antennas on eBay with the Buy It Now price of $29.99? Seems like too good to be true. I removed the original last night and cracked it open. Totally toast! How can so much rust and gunk get in such a small device? I thought I might be able to rescue it until I found the little motor was completely frozen.

"Does anyone have the speaker bracket from Classic Datsun Motorsport? I emailed Mark about it so I should get some information soon." So that link on the Classic Datsun Motorsport is NFG. I spoke to someone there this evening and he said that they tried the repo speaker brackets and they weren't very good. So they aren't selling them. As far as speakers this person said "just go to Radio Shack", fine. I'm not sure our local Radio Shacks even sell speakers anymore! More profit in cell phones.

I'm in the middle of stereo and antenna restoration as well. Thanks for the link on the speakers and brackets. What's the story on the power leads to the antenna motor. Are both leads positive one for up and one for down? Or is one ground and the motor self-reversing after full extension?

At this moment the only know issues in the dash are the NF clock and the heater control cable seems to be stuck or it could be the valve. Everything else is fully functional. I'm getting an original clock and I'll have to get a new automatic antenna but the dash doesn't have to be off to deal with those issues. There's some great info in the tech forum for removal of the dash but I didn't see any discussion from someone who's removed a cap. So if there's anyone who's been there... let me know how it went.

My '75 280Z has a half dash cap that was installed before I purchased the car. It's a nice installation and the lower dash looks o.k. with no cracks showing and just slightly faded (cap a bit darker). But I'm looking at the full caps offered by MSA and thinking if that were properly installed it would be almost as good as a new dash. What problems would I encounter removing the half cap and then applying the full? I imagine that the adhesive used is pretty strong stuff and there could be some tearing of the original dash trying to pull the cap off. Is this a good idea or will it create more problems than it's worth?

Just thought I would post a photo of the part I'm looking for if anyone is mildly interested. This is the passenger side so I'm assuming the driver side would be mirror image.

Unfortunately that's not the correct part J Mark. This is a smaller part that would screw on just below those "upper liners". The part I'm looking for protects and covers the back side of the head lamp and the wiring harness. Thanks anyway.

So my 1975 280Z is missing a fender liner part on the front drivers side. This is the piece just behind the head lamp that attaches to the upper liner and a small bracket beside the back side of the side marker. It acts as a access door to the wiring harness. How unique to the different year models is this particular part? I've been searching eBay and some regional used parts dealers but no dice yet. Thanks for your help.