Bought it! '78 280Z

[bobs77]

Nice. I have found it pretty rare for the sight shield in the front to still be in place. By now most of these cars have tapped something in the front and people have not bothered to find a sight shield to replace the bent up one...

Rob--what's a sight shield?

[conedodger]

Nice. I have found it pretty rare for the sight shield in the front to still be in place. By now most of these cars have tapped something in the front and people have not bothered to find a sight shield to replace the bent up one...

Rob--what's a sight shield?

On the pic he has of the front of the car, just behind the bumper and on top of the bumper shocks - blocking your view of the bumper shocks is a body colored piece of sheet metal supposedly called a sight shield (I have never looked it up in a parts manual). I have one from a parts car and can take a picture of it. It serves a similar purpose to the part attached to the body in the rear of the 77-78 cars. It is just there to hide the bumper shock.

I have noticed at ZONC events over the years that this part is seldom there. I suspect because it gets crunched in any low speed fender bender and not replaced.

[scalveg]

I'm a car tinkerer but I figured I would get the Z checked out by my mechanic as well. He says it's in good shape. He confirmed that the voltage and oil pressure gauges were a bit off and that the actual voltage and oil pressure seem fine. Maybe I'll put some kind of little green stickers on the gauge to remind myself of the range that seems okay.

I had him check compression as well, and he said all six cylinders were within 155-160 PSI (wet)! Needless to say, I'm happy.

He also reported that the heater core appears to be hooked up fine, so we'll have to look harder to figure out why it's not blowing hot air. Oh well, there's plenty of warmth coming in through the shift boot at the moment.

Now if only my wife would decide what we're doing for the long weekend, so I will know if I will have all weekend to tinker with the car!

Next week I'll be getting the wheels balanced and an alignment. How the previous owner drove this thing with the steering wheel wobbling like crazy I will never know!

[Sailor Bob]

Great find Chris! I have one just like it and I love it.

Some of the stuff you are going through sound familiar. I had issues with the heater and A/C at the start - vacum hoses turned out to be the bulk of the problem. Right up the alley of a tinkerer.

Welcome aboard - should be able to find everthing you need on this site.

Good luck and enjoy your Z.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Sailor Bob

[conedodger]

I didn't notice you were in Oakland. The ZDoctor is down there somewhere. Richmond maybe?

[batou]

Off topic, but what is on the hood (trunk?) of that beetle?

[zbane]

Off topic, but what is on the hood (trunk?) of that beetle?

Looks like the Silver Surfer to me.

[scalveg]

You got it in one, David!

It's my friend Scott's art car: http://artcar.blogspot.com/2008/09/alien-bug-art-car.html

I have a bunch of friends with art cars, and they're already trying to get me to turn the Z into one, but I'm NOT going to be gluing stuff to this beauty.

I might consider an unusual paint job some day, though! If there's one that doesn't spoil the lines of the car, of course.

[70 Cam Guy]

Lots of art cars roaming around Oakland and Emeryville, especially around the Crucible! Do they do Burning Man?

[=Enigma=]

Santa Cruz being the capital of liberalism has its fair share of these kitsch mobiles as well. I recently saw one in a junk yard in San Jose and I thought it looked right at home...

[scalveg]

There's a pretty big crossover between the burning man "mutant vehicle" builders and the "art car" people, who think it's silly to just show off your work a couple of weeks a year.

[WingZr0]

Pretty sweat ride man !

Your vin anywhere close to 360104?

Edited July 8, 2009 by WingZr0