280z1975

Tack this one up into the category of "lost in translation" category. Having worked with and lived with people who don't speak English as their first language I can tell you some things just don't translate. Hell, even when I lived in South Africa where they speak English I had to tone down my "Texas Twang" cause people couldn't understand me. In fact, my English is now so neutral that most people don't believe me when I tell them I am originally from Texas. Those certainly are an interesting set of wheels none the less.

Saw this green 76 280z on Ebay with white interior - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-CLASSIC-1976-280Z-4-SPD-W-2-8-FI-1-OWNER-NO-RESERVE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6187QQitemZ300090165415QQrdZ1#ebayphotohosting

My 2 cents ... Dark Blue ...

Since you don't have the FSM go here: http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm You an download your cars electrical diagram in PDF. It's a useful file to have. Just print it out enlarged, like 8 pages big I think is good, then go back to your kindergarten roots and do some cutting and pasting together. Makes following all those wires A LOT easier when you can follow things.

I am looking at replacing my vacuum hoses in the near future and I ran across these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DATSUN-280Z-280ZX-HiPer-Silicone-Vacuum-Hose-Kit-SILVER_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33553QQitemZ230098580264QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW I searched and the only thing I have been able to read is that these are not very resistant to gasoline. Any other ideas, opinions, rants? Thanks for the help.

When I restored my 75, 280z I made sure the car was running and all the "mechanical' things were taken care of, then started. Once I finished 4 months later I put it all back together and it didn't want to start, had no spark. In the end it turned out to be the wires which lead to the coil and the ignition module. They had conductivity, but were not good enough to carry a proper current. The only way the mechanic could tell was with a scope hooked up to the wires. I also had the 12+V wire for the original stereo only able to carry 6V-7V of the needed 12V. These are old wires you are dealing with and they can go bad. One reason a complete engine bay re-wire and then later the dash are on my list of things to do in the future. Aren't these cars so much fun to deal with :stupid: at times!

He hasn't resolved the problem 'yet' ... but I wish him luck. Was there an electrical problem before hand? There are many threads out there about how bad the original alternators are in these cars. It could also be a bad connection in your key ignition. Mine was acting up a bit and I added a little silicon lube in there to help loosen things and make it turn a little smoother. It helped and so far things seem to be working out better. Still have a few electrical gremlins, but that will all be sorted out soon enough.

I saw your Z up for auction a couple of weeks ago. It's done up really well and I love how the car has been shaved of all the extras. Makes for one really nice clean car with some sweet lines. In fact, when I get around to re-spraying my Z I am going to shave the gas tank like one your car, but my handles and locks will stay. Be sure to post some nice photos of the car in the gallery. Enjoy the car.

This is an interesting discussion here. I downloaded and read the rules and found that my Z wouldn't qualify for the daily driver category. It only has 56,000 miles on the clock, but was in fact always used in the fashion of a daily driver and continues to be. I drive it whenever I get the chance and always will. Still, I doubt I will ever attend a ZCCA event with the car coming to Belgium, but I thought this was a little weird. For me I don't think I will ever enter the car into a show to be judged. I judge it by how much enjoyment i get out of it, which happens to be about 292 out of 300. I deducted 8 points for the occasional pain in the arse thing it decides to do (like have the locks stop working when the temp goes below freezing).

Since this seems to be a big issue which affects your ability to drive the car I would like to suggest some action you can take to find the issue. First off, Strip the passenger side area of just about everything you can take out (Carpet, firewall insulation, heater motor, etc.) take the passenger side fender off along with the windshield cowl panel. This should have you to a point where you can really see what is going on with your Z and where there might be points of entry of water. The process for elimination of areas which might be a problem: 1) Look for area's of rust which could have lead to water coming inside the car. 2) Use a powerful light (halogen laps work well) to flood the inside of the passenger area toward the car with light and look where you can see any light penetrating. Water can find more routes than light, but this still helps. 3) Use selective reasoning to decide where to pour water from a small jug on key areas. Do each area and test where the water is going. Use paper towels to test areas where you think it is coming in. Personally I think it's leaking in from your windshield gasket (even if it's new) as the water can go from the top off the roof, hit the windshield gasket at the top, run all the way down, find it's way to the inner lip of the area (I know it can cause I had light rust there when I tore my Z apart) and then into one of the holes in the area. My Z leaked at the corner where water can pool due to the nature of the curves of the windshield. It wasn't a big leak, but in a good rain it would flood the drivers side. I've included some photos of my z stripped down to help you reference some of the areas you might need to deal with. Hope this helps and others feel free to comment with ideas or suggestions.

I hadn't really had the chance to drive my Z anywhere famous while it was in the states, but once it arrives here (sometime in mid-April) I plan to drive it on some nice short trips to Paris, Amsterdam, the Ardennes (southern) region of Belgium, Germany at least once and eventually make it down to do a southern France, Spanish Pyrenees trip. I've driven all over the US (but for work, not pleasure) and there are some great places to drive. Colorado, the Blue Ridge Mountains, parts of Northern New York and England. I also enjoyed the driving in Mexico to Monterrey and Saultio for a trip, but I ended up on the truck service road and not the toll way which wasn't fun. Plus Monterrey was like driving in a damn pin ball game. :stupid: San Francisco was one of the few cities I have yet to visit in the US, but I plan to one day. Also, if money was no object I would fly my Z down to South Africa and drive from Johannesburg to Durban then do the whole length of the coast of South Africa to Cape Town. The perfect trip to take during the 'winter' months of the norther hemisphere.

There is actually someone paying $41.00 for this radio (with 15 hours to go). I hope they know what they are getting....

Every once in a while being stupid does actually hurt someone, since this guy actually posted the eBay questions you have sent him. He didn't have to, you can opt out of doing so, but he did for some reason. I'd really like to know what person at Motor Sport told this guy it's worth 300 bucks (if it even did happen) ... Ebay's great, but it's also a great place to flog off crap that people will pay money for as someone has bid on the radio. I remember a while back a Brussels Sprout went for something like 1,600 Sterling Pounds (over 2,300 USD) after it got publicity on several websites and tv shows. I'm still waiting for the day when someone is working on the Z car and the metal warps just right that you can see a impression/vision of the Mother Mary. You've got yourself a guaranteed winner right there :lick: Nothing good has sold in the last month, but I did find a really expensive candle: http://cgi.ebay.com/Miracle-candle-of-the-Blessed-Virgin-Mary_W0QQitemZ300083219050QQihZ020QQcategoryZ35826QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Gotta love eBay, at least for entertainment value alone ...

Depends on how they did the work ... but for small holes like the mirror I would say it's filler and there is no backing .... on my shaved antenna hole I have a mess backing of fiberglass stuff from Por-15 that built up a solid base for my filler to cover and fill the hold. I also used stuff for their floor pan repair, strong stuff with a fiberglass mess built into the filler. Lead and soldering are an art which unfortunately a lot of us around here don't have the time, money or equipment to use the method, but if I had a choice I would have used it.

Make the shop do it for filling in the holes ... at least that is my first response. If you didn't want them to do that, then they should remedy the problem. From the other posts it seems like a stand up place with quality work. You can also try to find the holes from the backside of the door, but you will have to take everything off to do this. If you do drill use a small pilot hole and use slightly larger bits till you reach the right size. I will say I never did this on my car, but only drilled new holes for an after market model which didn't line up with the original ones. I am sure others will have some better advice to help out.

One day I made the mistake (looking back it was) of making a Excel Spread Sheet of ALL the receipts I had for my Z (everything from parts, to labor, to pizza and beer to pay for friends help) ... let's just say it was in the 5k+ range ... I couldn't believe it ... you start to add up the little things and it makes it go way up! Of course I never skimped on my Z and put all nice parts and effort into it and have a car I love, so all worth it in the end.

I am looking (after searching) for somewhat reliable guidelines as far as what European models work with their European equivalent. I have a 1975 280z (if my handle didn't give it away ) and will be in Europe for the very long foreseeable future. So if something goes wrong I wonder how available or a replacement part can be had. Thanks for the help.

The price I quoted came from a line he had in his Ebay auction. Personally i think the car is worth more than 5K for the car. The uncracked dash is worth at the VERY least 600 USD. Add the Struts, Springs, Wheels, parts ... you get the idea. I just hope it finds a nice home of someone who will appreciate it. I forwarded the e-mail to a friend back in Canada who is very keen on finding a Z car. This would be a good car for him.

I understand what your going through ... it took a lot to convince myself to keep my Z and take it overseas, but I am glad I am going ahead with it .... Your z is great and I would be happy to pay 5,000 for it if I had the money! Good luck and I hope it finds a nice home ...

I would say anywhere from the roof down It may not be that bad, but you NEVER know till you get down to the metal and behind the nooks and crannies. :stupid:

I have a thought ... would it be possible to include a 'Frequently Asked Question Page in the DVD that would be easy to search and reference. An Example: "What type of motor oil should you use?" See threads: XXX XXX XXX "How do I switch from FI to SU's?" See Threads: XXX XXX XXX Something like this. It would be a useful reference point for a lot of people. Could be something everyone can vote on what threads they found the most helpful for certain things. I know I have a few threads which I bookmarked. Of course it could be something more suited to being on the website and not the Club DVD.

I to have also wondered how to add bicycles to the Z. In my 280 I can get a bike in there (with the wheels off) without much problem and still have room for a bag). As stated before, with a roof mounted system you *might* run into a problem of the rear hatch hitting the ends of the bike mounts. Also, if you are going this route you will want the roof rack VERY tight so you might either (1) Damage the roofs drip rail or (2) damage the paint or roof (as it is very thin). Still I believe either TULLE or YAKIMA do make a system that will work for you. If the roof rack is left on long term it will possibly make rust and the paint color will fade at a different rate under the paint (as I just found out after taking off my roof rack on my Sentra after 10 years. A better solution, in my opinion, is to use a hatch mounted system. They go on and off very quickly and are quite inexpensive compared to a roof mounted system. Try looking at http://www.performancebike.com/shop/sub_cat.cfm?subcategory_id=4412 to get an idea. How well they work on a Z I don't know yet. But I am sure that a good bike shop will be willing to help you. If they won't, it's not a good bike shop. At some point I plan to make a small weld under my bumper to allow a small metal piece to slide into it and then have a large bolt secure it similar to a hitch mounted system. This will allow me to make a custom bumper mounted bike rack for two bikes (done this in shop class back in high school, costs all of 15 bucks in material) This isn't advised if you have a 240/260 bumper or if your bumper is in really good shape (mine has a good size dent). Still I plan to make the addition on the bottom and as unnoticeable as possible. I hope this helps. Just remember with whatever system you use, secure the bikes and make sure they don't rub against eachother or the car. Those car trips can do all sorts of damage to either if the bikes aren't secured and padded right.

If you haven't done anything to the trans since you got the car (and the previous owner probably didn't do anything you think) it would be some good preventative maintenance to change the trans fluid and then you have eliminated one problem variable and helped prolong the life of your car.

The car is actually much more together than in the photo, but the last half of the year was so busy I just never got around to getting any good photos. Once the car is here and it's summer I will go to some cool cobbled roads I know around here and take some nice photos. I haven't got real feel for what people do here when buying cars from America, but I just know they are worth a lot more over here. I'm sure people here watch eBay but like we all know Ebay can be VERY much a pain in the arse. I would rather pay an extra 500 dollars for a car I KNEW the problems for (as we know with Arne's) than one that MIGHT be better. The price is a result of the lack of cars, the cost of the cars coming here and the desire for them. There are other things you have to do to the car to get it legal over here, but it not to much. I just know if I ever sold my car in the US/Canada I wouldn't get what I put into it, but by bringing it here I can sell it and actually get some extra on top of what I have into it. I don't plan to sell it (I plan to drive it till either it rusts away (which won't happen with the amount of por-15 on it!) or I die) and will do what ever I can to keep it ... but right now the exchange rate is killing me (thank god I am starting to earn euros). I'll let you know once it's all done! The car is still in Canada. Already went through the trouble of doing the temporary export of my Z to Canada. Let me tell you it's a lot of fun taking a Texas car to the Buffalo, NY border and explaining you are exporting this car to Belgium via Canada :stupid: ... the car's going into a container with all my household goods once our apartment sells. At the moment the car is under a cover and has snow piled all on it :surprised ... I'm luck enough to have another Z car guy in Holland who will help me convert the car so it conforms to the rules of the road here.

That's a great story ... I always saw my Uncles Z in the garage and knew it was something cool. Only took me 10 years after I first wanted it to get it from him ... best yet, for free (btw, it was the most expensive free thing I have ever got :stupid: )