1976 280 Z from Ohio to Dubai

[BAS_DXB 92]

Hi Guys,

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and the very best health !

I am new here but can already appreciate the overall dynamic and supportive mindset of the neighborhood !

End of May 2020, insomnia hitting, I somehow ended up on BaT at 2am and got my hands on a beautiful 280 Z from April 1976 with its original matching number engine + 1981 280zx 5-speed gearbox (the original 4-speed also came in a box).

The car is originally from Nebraska I believe, but transferred to Ohio in 2016.

Obviously with COVID-19 and loads of excuses from the transporter (CFR Rinkens - DO NOT recommend), the car reached Dubai (UAE) mid September 2020.

From the previous owner in Ohio:

To Dubai, fresh out of the container, 4 months later.

The plan from the beginning was very simple, as the car had already been through some body work and was repainted at least once in 1998 from its original Pacific blue (DAT 307), I wanted to give it backs it's factory glory and color, but with a personal restomod touch under the name Zinta Heritage (Zinta meaning: From early in life, you have asserted your individuality, learning through your own experiences, relying upon your ingenuity and practical creativity to accomplish your objectives with independence and determination).

I decided to have it fully dismantled and sandblasted (we can see the dated Pacific Blue remains in the engine bay).

This is when surprises knock on the door, a lot of body "repair" badly done, plenty of patches, poor quality welding and so on, especially on both front ends and the floor. Some rust holes showed up as well, but can we blame a 44 yo car from Northern states ? Nop...

Then, following my original vision to make her "as new" the work started, removing patches, cutting, hammering, welding...

As of now, the body work is 70% completed, the floor kit arrived from Zedd Findings (Big up to Charlie Osborne for his support) and will be replacing the old one. Some other area to be finalized in the next few weeks, cleaning the engine bay from the "useless" pieces, deleting the side markers (front/rear), deleting the unused rear bumper holes, closing the ugly speaker holes made in the toolkit hatch and some overall rear panels hammering for perfect alignment with doors (as they were probably replaced in 1998 as well).

I also managed to get some parts in prevision of the rebuilding process:

- Jenvey ITBs kit with 480cc injectors, MS3 Pro Evo ECU, DG508 ignition coils, OneSixIndustries CAS, complete engine seals/gaskets kit, timing chain kit, water pump, T3 front/rear strut brace, T3 weld-on coilovedr kit (car came with unmounted KYB Excel G), Prothane bushing kit, full weatherstrip kit.

In the meantime I was also keeping myself busy restoring the dashboard and gauges (obviously cracked and hidden under a plastic cover).

It will be eventually wrapped in dark black alcantara, but I didn't want to wrap a piece of garbage...

Regarding the gauges, I got my hands on some LED rings and bulbs in order to get some decent lighting, and decided to redesign the speedometer (originally imperial and I need metric) and tachometer and have them screen printed), as well as giving a neon orange touch to the needles.

The painting should be happening within 2 or 3 weeks, and then the reassembling process will start.

Happy New Year to you all !

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13 by BAS_DXB

[grannyknot 1,968]

I love the fact that your restoring your dash on the 60th floor of an office tower,  the shell looks to be in great shape. Looking forward to the next set pics.

Would you mind posting where you found those LED rings for your gauges?

I sold my 77/280z to a dealer in Dubai last year, I think they still have it on the floor, https://www.tominiclassics.com/featcar/datsun-280z/

 

[BAS_DXB 92]

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

I love the fact that your restoring your dash on the 60th floor of an office tower,  the shell looks to be in great shape. Looking forward to the next set pics.

Would you mind posting where you found those LED rings for your gauges?

I sold my 77/280z to a dealer in Dubai last year, I think they still have it on the floor, https://www.tominiclassics.com/featcar/datsun-280z/

 

Thanks ! The air is a bit cooler up here, so might as well enjoy !

The shell was not too bad indeed, beside all the previous welding/patches.

I got the LED rings from amazon, links below:

60mm for the Water Temp and Oil Pressure: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W6ZXQOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (can't fit it in the Volt/Fuel one, so replaced original bulbs with LED ones https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E8MYSOY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

110mm for Speedo and Tacho: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W6ZXROS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They catching the power from the original bulbs, either through the connector pins for the small gauges, or splicing directly on the cables for the bigger ones.

I have seen your car at Tomini, did they ship it from Canada to Dubai directly ?

[DatsunZGuy 137]

Welcome to the group! 

I salute you for taking on such an extensive restoration on a 280Z. 

It is a bit disheartening that so much was paid for a vehicle, to hadve it shipped across the ocean only to discover such shoddy collision and rust repair work was performed on it.  Hopefully the seller was totally upfront with you on the true condition of the vehicle during the sales transaction.  That said, the car is now in good hands, and will be given a better life.

Looking forward to seeing pictures of the rebirth 😊

 

Edited January 4 by DatsunZGuy

[heyitsrama 215]

The orange needle really makes the gauge pop, possible to get a photo of the lights on? 

[wheee! 1,884]

Very cool restoration of a sister car to mine! Love the attention to detail, and the custom touches. Yours started off in better condition than mine though!

I have the OneSix CAS as well in my 3.1 L stroker. Let me know if you have any questions, even thoughtTim Heilbloom at OneSix is awesome with tech support.

[wheee! 1,884]

Good luck with the floor pans.... they aren't a "drop in" kind of repair at all!

 

[grannyknot 1,968]

8 hours ago, BAS_DXB said:

I have seen your car at Tomini, did they ship it from Canada to Dubai directly ?

Yes, it was trucked to the Port of Montreal then loaded on a cargo ship to Dubai,  any Idea what they are asking for it? I'm sure it will be twice what they paid me.

[BAS_DXB 92]

12 hours ago, DatsunZGuy said:

Welcome to the group! 

I salute you for taking on such an extensive restoration on a 280Z. 

It is a bit disheartening that so much was paid for a vehicle, to hadve it shipped across the ocean only to discover such shoddy collision and rust repair work was performed on it.  Hopefully the seller was totally upfront with you on the true condition of the vehicle during the sales transaction.  That said, the car is now in good hands, and will be given a better life.

Looking forward to seeing pictures of the rebirth 😊

 

Found it ! The previous owner was cool and provided many pictures of the car as it was displayed on BaT. The body repair invoices from 1998/1999 were also provided but not so clear, and not done during his ownership and I guess he never stripped the car down to check what was done already. Anyway, I got lucky to not have much rust for a car staying 40+ years in Nebraska / Ohio, with matching number engine, all the original ID plates, lot of spare parts (extra gearbox, extra diff., 4 shocks, historic from 1998 onward, original airbox +1 extra etc...) and a cool story to tell !

I am still looking for the original owner from 1976 and already managed to get in touch with the one from 19998-2006, who kindly made a request to the DMV in Nebraska.

[BAS_DXB 92]

9 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

The orange needle really makes the gauge pop, possible to get a photo of the lights on? 

Thanks buddy, I'll take and share some pictures once installed back in the car.

[BAS_DXB 92]

6 hours ago, wheee! said:

Very cool restoration of a sister car to mine! Love the attention to detail, and the custom touches. Yours started off in better condition than mine though!

I have the OneSix CAS as well in my 3.1 L stroker. Let me know if you have any questions, even thought Tim Heilbloom at OneSix is awesome with tech support.

You got a great thread for your restoration, 135 pages will be inspiring and motivating to finish mine. I'll definitely reach out to you or him if I bump into issues, thank you !

[BAS_DXB 92]

4 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Yes, it was trucked to the Port of Montreal then loaded on a cargo ship to Dubai,  any Idea what they are asking for it? I'm sure it will be twice what they paid me.

It used to be listed for USD 50k in May, but it's shown as Not For Sale at the moment, they might be waiting for the value to increase, or they are doing some work on it.

[BAS_DXB 92]

Grateful to see your involvement and support, thank you all, that's fantastic !

Today I will be sharing the story of the seats I have for my project.

The original seats of the car were remade a couple of times from the original black, then white, then black and red (the version I got when purchase it), but needed to be fixed again, so I started a hunt for something a bit different.

To my mind, racing, comfort and vintage look means Recaro, and I decided to go directly to the source: Germany.

I knew I had to travel to Austria for work in September, and took the opportunity to check https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/ and I luckily found these 2 original pieces in the Black Forest region (close to the French/Swiss border). The "Made in W. Germany" molded on the recline adjustment side cover is just too good !

I had an original flight from Vienna (Austria) to Paris (France) to see some friends while in Europe before returning to Dubai, but it got cancelled by the airline, so I decided to take the journey by train/car, with all the Covid lock down happening in Europe, that was a journey and a half. Took the train from Salzburg (Austria) to Munich (Germany) then a Bus to Zurich (Switzerland) another train to Basel (Switzerland), another one to Mulhouse (France) to finally rent a car and drive 1h deep into the Germany Black Forest to a beautiful town called Zell im Wiesental (https://goo.gl/maps/JyQkPe9DYV24LBXp9). Brought back the seats by car to Paris, and then flew them as my checked-in luggage to Dubai.

The restoration work has already started and I should get them finished by mid January.

Below is the selected fabric and leather - question: gold or black rivet ?

The inspiration for the seat is from Robert Downey Junior BMW E9:

 

Edited January 13 by BAS_DXB

[wheee! 1,884]

IMPORTANT!

You will need to remove the catalytic converter hump on the driver side floor pan in order to fit these seats. I left mine in and spent wayyyy too much time building that hump back into the floor only to realize I could no longer fit aftermarket seats in the drivers side....
Charlie’s floor pan does not have the hump built in for the catalytic converter.

[wheee! 1,884]

....and don’t forget about Carbon Signal, one of the best bespoke manufacturers of custom parts for Z cars right there in Dubai!

[BAS_DXB 92]

On 1/5/2021 at 8:03 PM, wheee! said:

IMPORTANT!

You will need to remove the catalytic converter hump on the driver side floor pan in order to fit these seats. I left mine in and spent wayyyy too much time building that hump back into the floor only to realize I could no longer fit aftermarket seats in the drivers side....
Charlie’s floor pan does not have the hump built in for the catalytic converter.

 

I guess I can remove the hump indeed... but I was thinking about reusing the original seat fixation brackets/sliders from the 280z, adapted under the Recaro, in order to allow the change if necessary.

Edited January 13 by BAS_DXB

[BAS_DXB 92]

31 minutes ago, wheee! said:

....and don’t forget about Carbon Signal, one of the best bespoke manufacturers of custom parts for Z cars right there in Dubai!

They are amazing, but their fame turned them quite thirsty I feel 😁 I checked them out for the seats, dashboard, console, door panels work and almost had to take a loan !

[wheee! 1,884]

 
I guess I can remove the hump indeed... but I was thinking about reusing the original seat fixation brackets/sliders from the 280z, adapted under the Recaro, in order to allow the change if necessary.

Mounting the seats on the rails is not the issue, it’s the side bolster clearance to the trans tunnel that won’t let the seats mount. I tried installing 370Z seats and the passenger side was awesome fitting but no go on the driver side without cutting out the hump I spent weeks building...

[wheee! 1,884]

My floors were much worse than yours. I would not even replace those!

[BAS_DXB 92]

11 hours ago, wheee! said:

My floors were much worse than yours. I would not even replace those!

It's difficult to see on the picture but the floor was already "fixed" with several patches and the same bad quality welding work (yellow highlight) on both side and the rails underneath are also in bad shape...

So the bump with the red arrows pointed should be leveled to the seat rails correct, to gain a bit of width ?

Thank you @wheee! for all these inputs, definitely helping a lot !

[wheee! 1,884]

Follow the angle of the replacement floor pan up the trans tunnel wall. Then you can make custom seat mounts for the driver side and fit any seat.

[BAS_DXB 92]

23 hours ago, wheee! said:

Follow the angle of the replacement floor pan up the trans tunnel wall. Then you can make custom seat mounts for the driver side and fit any seat.

Thanks for the lead !

[BAS_DXB 92]

Hey Guys,

Hope you are all having a nice and safe weekend.

Some update from the project, the original rear bumper openings are now deleted, as well as the muffler cutout, to get a very smooth rear end with the 240Z style bumper.

I had some corrosion in the spare tire well, which is now cleaned up, and I might add some drainage holes to prevent it from happening again.

The last strengthening piece on the left front end is now welded:

And finally a preview of the upholstery:

Seats to be completed by end of the week, getting impatient !

Edited January 13 by BAS_DXB

[grannyknot 1,968]

The 3rd pic down, I hope that welder has his #14 welding shade contact lenses in.

[BAS_DXB 92]

3 hours ago, grannyknot said:

The 3rd pic down, I hope that welder has his #14 welding shade contact lenses in.

He is already blind, it's all about the feels... I have been asking him to wear a welding helmet or goggles, but...