Leaderboard

It's usually the last part you need in any given assembly...

if the body is shot, you're not up to doing the resto, but you want a z - then Zed is right: salvage every single bit that's in good shape, clean 'em up and you will be extremely happy you have them when you find another one. best case (if you have the space) is just keep it parked and use as a parts car for your project. i was surprised by two things when i cleaned up my 280: how inexpensive/easy to find some parts are, and how ridiculously expensive and rare other ones are - and it's not intuitive either, so don't toss out anything.

And just when I started to reinstall the front axle I found a little rust bubble in the drivers side wheel well where the engine crossmember attaches. So I decided to scrub both front wheel wells back to bare metal and cure them. 2 small rust spots on the drivers side and another one on the passenger side were welded. (Thanks Pentti) Then I applied some rust converter on the complete area, primered and painted it with Brantho Korrux, applied some transparent undercoating and sprayed some waxoil in the cavities of the front frame. Front and rear axle parts are now back on the car. Still have so many little things to do before the car will be off from the jackstands. This week I'll finish the interior. Passenger bucket seat, Radio block off plate,... and I'll change the brake fluid, coolant, oil&filters,... Next week I'll hopefully get my wheels back from painting so I'll be able to get the car on the lift and do a basic geometry

I said I have a collection of springs, and I found one that would keep the door from locking when it's not supposed to lock.

Thats true, I will be able to fix/replace anything on the car other than inside the motor. Thats where I leave it to the pros. Even though I will probably never be able to sell it for what I have in it, I'm still very happy and lucky I got the opportunity to go through the entire build process.

Yes, true….but that is why we love them. My interior was shot, bad paint, missing passenger floor pan and rail, rust holes in all the usual places, no front bumper and evidence of questionable attempts at various failed repairs. Some folks would have called it a POS, I saw it as fertilizer for my soul.

Umm, I stopped counting after 30k. I even got a good deal on paint and body work, did the rust repair and pretty much everything else myself. I did spend a good chunk of change on the motor though...

Dave's (and MSA's) harness does not deal with the under dash combo switch harness at all. It "splices in" to the harness up front at the two head light connectors in front of the rad. This makes it possible to work with all the various 240 switch types, It "could" work just fine with the 280's as well, but the problem is with the new round, 4 pin (only three are used) weather proof connectors on the 280's. No one (including Dave) has found the plugs to build the head light harness to connect in at that spot. This is why I have seen discussion about putting the relays into the harness at the combo switch. But as you mention, there are differences in the plugs across the years at the switches. Anyway, I'm working on a solution that everyone will like. Simple, cheap(ish), high quality and retains ALL of the advantages of the original harness design.

Continued WT Wheel and Tire.pdf RA Rear Axle and Suspension.pdf SE Body Service Equipment.pdf SE Service Equipment.pdf ST Steering System.pdf TM Transmission.pdf