280z1975

Stop that Ed, your making the rest of us jealous! I will be there. I hope to have my Z (or Zed as they say here in Her Majesties former colony) in good shape. Hope to see some other Classic Zcar Club members.

While it sounds like you have found the problem I ran into a similar problem with my air in my brakes. The first problem were bad rear master cylinders on the drums, but then later I just couldn't get the car to bleed all the air out of the system. I finally had to take it to a shop which used a machine to force brake fluid into the system while pushing the air out. It worked great and solved the problem. I might have been bleeding the system wrong, but I doubt it as I tried it at least 12 different times throughout the whole process. By the end I was a pro at it. I used all the methods to (hand vac pump, bottle with rubber hose, etc).

If you have driven the car, enjoyed it for a while then go ahead with the body work, but if you have only just started the work, drive the car and spend some time enjoying the driving of it, then work on the body work later in the year.

Actually, he might actully care enought about the car to go and drive it instead of leaving it in the garage for just the right day every two months to drive it. It's a car and it's meant to be driven. It may not be the best thing investment wise, but he may not care about keeping the value of the car. Of course I haven't seen the car and what state he is keeping it in, but if it's in well kept mechanical shape and the body is being looked after, why not drive it and enjoy it? I think it was Carl Beck who said it quite well in another post (I believe it was the one about what is a #1 or #2 car). "Once a car becomes a trailor queen it ceases to become a car and becomes a peice of art." I plan to drive my 75' as a second car (when the fiance takes the normal car to work) and drive it like a normal car around town.

Ok, for anyone out there who is looking for a good shell and doesn't want the time and hassel to remove the tar and strip a shell, 500 bucks is a deal! I really wish this was back in November when I got my 280z. I could have spent more of my time making this shell really nice than the hours and hours removing all that damn tar and crap. This would also be a nice canidate for a race shell if someone was so inclined. Actually I would like to make a rally / autocross Z car one day. But that time will come much later in life.

From over at HybridZ... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=104735 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103767 Basicly after reading these I just decided to keep my system stock since it is fine for normal driving (and in the opinion of some even Auto Cross). Hope these help....

I am sorry, but the PINKS guys did a bad job negotiating. If they did a better job they would have won. I will say they did a great job up till the last race, but they backed down in the end and got punked. You lost the race once you let the bottle in. If there was no bottle and 4 links, you would have had a race. I am sure you guys will be able to get the car done right next time. I thought you lost the car? Did you guys buy it back? What's the stroy?

Been there and delt with that! Your best bet it to try and de-attach the whole thing from underneath (it's best if the car is one a lift) You can read all about my experince and the way i got it off here: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21133

Get a staple gun and go nuts with it! That will insure that it doesn't fall down. Painting takes time and when it's the first time there will be some big learning curve. If I paint agian I will be renting a paint booth to do it. The quality will be better (I have a two misquitos in my clear!) and the cost won't be that much more.

Try this one: http://www.datsunstore.com/product_info.php/pName/105amp-high-output-alternator

The word from my friend who lives out in far west Texas where the deer are ALL over the place says they don't do anything. She (along with many of the other locals who live there) have never had any help with them. The only sure fire deer protector is the thick steel front cages you see farmers have attached to thier car fronts. It won't always work, but it can.

I have only seen PINKS once on TV and that was after hearing that the Hybrid Z car would be racing on the show. I was suprised by the format. They billed it as 'just like illegal pinks street races'. I really thought it was a 'run what ya brung' kinda show. I guess that they need to fill a full 30 minutes, but it would have been better to feature each car for 5 minutes (show tests, the build up, what it has, what it's dyno numbers are) then 5 minutes of the actual race. As my friend put it, "Your 96' Nissan Sentra could beat a Ferrari Enzo on that show, it's all about negotiation of car links". He was right. You are almost better off bringing a junk yard car there and racing it (if they would let you). I mean you would be out all of 500 bucks!, but could win one sweet ride. I guess in the end it is usually who gets suckered into giving up to many, or not taking enough links.

Like other have said before, check the bulbs and other things. You can test your turn signal unit using the procedure in the attached scan of a page in the following post: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22127&highlight=turn+signals You should also test your hazard and turn signal flasher units and possiably replace them. It's a cheap fix for something that can fail and be a pain in the rear. Also check your fuses, if the horn fuse goes NOTHING will work on your turn signal/ headlight combo switches. An auto multimeter is something that can be VERY helpful to determine if things are not working correct on your car and to track down problems.

My Z was also "Free" from an Uncle who didn't have time to restore it, but didn't want to sell it as it was in his since 1976. But I will say it wasn't "Free" as I have put in about 3,000 in parts and a boat load of time, but I will say the car is looking REALLY NICE now and running very well. So in the end, it wasn't that free.

If you can see the rust coming up from under the paint, there is a GOOD chance there is a lot more to be found. 1,200 for a 240 isn't a bad price (even and automatic), but just be prepared for the worst. My car was garaged in Texas and it still had plenty of rust to be found. Standing water inside the body will do as much damage as salt in the winter given just a little more time. Welcome to the site and feel free to add any more questions to the peanut gallery... PS: the search function on the site has TONS of cool info. I spent a whole weekend using it when I first started work on my Z.

I still haven't sorted out the issue, but I have done a lot of conductiviy tests to see if the wires are getting any signal. So I sat down and figured out how the signal unit inspection works and found everything to be in working order less the LO/HI beam button. That one isn't working right. Everything else passes the test. So this leads me to believe the problem (no turn signals and no lights) lays in the wires. I grounded one probe on my multimeter and then started to test all the wires. I found the following: #14 - no conductivity #11 - conductivity when key is off / no conductivity when the key is on :stupid: #10 - conductivity #15 - Conductivity #18 - No Conductivity #15 - No Conductivity #2 - Conductivity W - No Conductivity #3 - No Conductivity #4 - No Conductivity H - Conductivity #1 - No Conductivity #5 - No Conductivity L - Conductivity B - Conductivity So as of now I have power to my side markers, no turn signals, no headlights but my brake lights are working. The wipers work also along with the wiper pump. The no headlights. Well that might be a different story. I have the Headlight-Relay upgrade and I checked the conductivity to the harness point which gives the relay the signal and it's good. I will check my grounds to make sure they are well grounded (they should be as I ground down the area near them with a dremel). I have a feeling the #14 wire has something to do with this. It's white and is responsiable for both of the turn signals. I don't get a conductivity signal from it.

Ok, so here is the situation (and yes I did do some searches, but I couldn't find anything of help)... This is the last major problem before I will have my Z road worthy and it's been a LONG road to here and I just want to fix this problem and be able to take my Z out for a nice spin and enjoy it finally! Ok, so the other day I went to work on my headlights (the high beams weren't working) and then I noticed the turn signals stopped. This was disheartining because they were working just a week ago. They do not flash in the tack at all. I don't think it's the flasher unit, because even if they are bad I think they will still show them as flashing in the tach, right? Then a few days later the headlights stopped working!!! :tapemouth I used them that morning to drive the car home from the mechanic and then that night they just wouldn't turn on! I swear this car has some serious electrical deamons! As of now all the side markers and brake lights work. I can flip the headlight switch on and it will lilluminate the sidemarkers, but that is it. I can also get the windshield wipers to light up. I have checked all the connections, cleaned them and added conductivity gel, but nada! I took thed turn signal wiper apart and cleaned it, but nothing! So I consulted the FSM and it gave me this chart (see attached page) for testing the signal unit. I don't really understand the diagram and exactly how to test it. Do I have to ground to a common ground or the ground for the actual circut? What setting should I have my multimeter on? 12v, 6v, or just testing for conductivity? I have also attached the circut diagram for the turn signal system to help with the problem solving. Thanks for the help.

If you do a search for screen names and why you chose them there is a post by Carl about how he 'accidently' came into his name via one spoked dear. Can't remeber the whole post, but I do know the car made out bad.

I do believe the lower valence is not compatiable ( I am not 100%), but I lead to believe it so because when I talked on the forum before about doing the switch to 240z bumpers on my 280z they said I would have to do the lower valence switch. I think they will still work, but will take some small mods.

On bit of warning regarding PAYPAL, the buyer protection isn't great, in fact it sucks. A while back I bought a hard drive from a seller with 99% feedback, over 1000 feedbacks. I paid for USPS Priorty Insured mail. When it arrived it came in a regular flat envelope!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. Naturally the hard drive was DOA. So I e-mailed the guy back and he apologized and said to send it back and he would replace it. Said one of his workers must have sent it out wrong. So I sent it back (HERE IS THE IMPORTANT POINT) I didn't use tracking (it was a 25 dollar HD, so I wasn't trying to spend any more money than I needed to) when I sent it back. Well I waited for my hard drive to come back. An sent the guy an e-mail and then he said "it's on it's way". I waited ... finaly I decided to file a PAYPAL buyer protection report. When I filed the seller sent PAYPAL the tracking information about the original package. Since the hard drive arrived they said it was a done deal and that there was no PROTECTION. Ebay was of no help either. I filed a negative feedback and recieved one against myself (which i still have even though he is now kicked off Ebay). See the seller wouldn't give feedback till YOU gave feedback (I stay away from sellers who do this now). So don't look to PAYPAL for buyer protections when the person sends you something that isn't what is listed. I still use PAYPAL, but I don't buy now with that feeling they are going to stand by me and protect me if there is a bad seller. If they really stood by everyone who go screwed they would be out of business.

Damn this guy is crazy! I use to live just a couple of miles from the Hennesy (sp?) company and they are awesome cars, but new Vipers are only in the 60k range and after a Hennesy upgrade they are only 100kish (well the last time I dreamed of them). 200k for a 94' Viper, no unless it's got 100 pounds of gold in the trunk.

Can someone link me to this $$150k 280zx car? I am curious as to what something that demanding this sort of prices looks like. This guy must be on crack, because for 150k I would buy me a Hennessy edition Dodge Viper and two fully restored sub-500 VIN number 240z's.

For someone who wants a first generation Z this is *might* have been a good deal (it needs an in person look like hls30.com said). I mean 7,400 for something that appears much better than most on ebay and would be a pleasure to drive isn't that bad of a deal. Photos can be misleading, but this does look quite nice. This car is far from a canidate for a full up restoration, I mean, it's a 73'. The only Z cars, IMHO, that qualify for a full-up restoration (in terms of retaining value and more that are put into it) are low vin Z's from the first year. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to restore ANY car to orginal state I won't stop them, but some cars to be kept in thier orginal 100% state would be monetariay unsound. When I got my 75' I started out trying to keep it orignional, but then after looking at both the cost and the time I said forget it. I am keeping it orginal looking (no whale tales or custom fiberglass sub boxes with 4, 12" subs, as seen in other threads) but still a nice car that is and will always be a Z car.

Thanks for the help Arne ... I think the metal might have to be replaced, which sucks. :tapemouth :stupid: :tapemouth :stupid:

Hello all, So this is the last main problem with my Z before it is road worthy to be driven. I had a problem with the brakes being REALLY bad, so I bleed the brakes and it would feel good for about 5 pumps of the brakes and then go back to bad after that. I thought it was my Master Cylinder, but after replacing it (it needed to be done anyways) I learned that both of my rear wheel hydralic cylinders were leaking. So after a couple of pumps of the brakes and most of the fulid would leak out. Is it a common problem for a wheel cylinder to leak and fail? The car was sitting for four years when I got it? (see the first photo for referance) Does someone have a part number for this? Second, I am trying to remove the brake lines to this part. My FSM says to disconect in at the bottom near the bleeding valve, point #2, but that point doesn't want to budge. In fact I rounded the bolt a little and wanted to ask if I am removing the right bolt. I have included a photo for referance. The #1 lable is for behind the metal plate where the bolt attaches to the rubber brake line. Thanks for the help.