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My father bought his '78 280z brand new in February 1978 and the 5 speed was a $165 option in both 1977 and 1978. I currently have 2 1978 280z's with original 4 speed transmissions as delivered new from the factory. Here is one of them which had previously been on BaT: https://www.motorcarclassics.com/1978-datsun-280z-c-92.htm

My son has the perfect filming car . His Model 3 will out run me all day , but also quietly film me . Third gear pull.

Ewwwwwwww!!! That's got to be worth a quarter tank at least! Maybe a third! Woof! That's a perfect example of why I say... "If you have a couple moments of free time with nothing to do, clean some connectors on your old Z car."

Hi all, Well when in doubt go back to the basics. Air, do you have? Spark, do you have enough? Fuel, again, do you have the amount you need at the carbs? So, #1, check spark plugs. They were fouled with fuel. A quick clean job and ready to go. #2, checked the throttle linkage. Took them apart, all set so there is no binding anywhere and the linkage goes smoothly back together. Checked the throttle stop screws for proper opening, they were set where they need to be, 1/4 turn from .006 clearance at screws. #3, air, well no restrictions any where, no vacuum leaks. #4, I left the installed 50 F9 idle jets alone and went to an air corrector of 200. Engine back running lean abit in the high 15 to mid 16's. #5, increased idle jets back to the 55F9, air corrector remained the same at 200. Now the motor is a happy camper. Idle, cruse, drivability all back to a few days ago. That's a good thing. Just as we were getting back to the shop, A/F ratios went rich. Checked the spark plugs all sooted up. Now I know they were a bit used up as we had cleaned them several time, So new plugs installed, had to reset idle A/F mixture, test drive showed at cruse high 13's to low 14's. Idle excellent at 14.5. Idle always returning to base setting. Great throttle response. lesson remembered? Sometimes trying to save money by cleaning your sooted up spark plugs not worth it!! I knew we should install new plugs every time we sooted them up, but at that time we were sooting or over heating them up a lot. I decided to just clean them in the bead blaster. New plugs cured all of our issues. The car went to the customer and he was to drive it Friday. Ed

I know of no alternative for the factory rubber bushing. NOS replacement or poly are your only options, I believe.

I ALWAYS crazy glue the reaction disk to the piston when I take these things apart. No way I’m ever losing that thing again...

ToolBoy, You can see the vent passage in one of the pics you previously posted: I thought there was slot in the master cylinder or adapter as well. I looked for pics, but unfortunately don't have any that would help there.

That is a rusty beast!! 8k looks even better!

You really should check the engine for vacuum leaks. I found mine and it completely changed how the engine ran and only took 10 minutes to find/seal all the leaks. Here's how you're going to do it: - head to harbor freight and buy a hand "transfer" pump like this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/Multi-Use-Transfer-Pump-63144.html - get a rag and plug your air intake (otherwise the smoke will leak out here) - unplug your brake booster and plug the "out" side of the pump's hose in there - grab a pack of cigarettes from 711, light one and put its end into the "in" side of the pump and start pumping. After 2-3 cigarettes your engine should be full and you will see smoke start to sneak out. Cap/fix those leaks. NOTE: You must do this when your engine is cold and this is done with the engine off. I'd also check and make sure you are getting spark to all cylinders. Pull all the spark wires and stick a screwdriver (with a plastic or wood handle) into where the wire connects to the plug and then hold the metal of the screwdriver a centimeter or two above some body metal and crank the car. If you have spark to that plug you will see it arc to the car. The video sounds like the car possibly isnt running on all cylinders. If that is indeed the problem, don't stop there - seal your vacuum leaks too via the above method.

My next task is to remove the instrument panel/dash. I have a dash from a 12/70 parts car (pictured here) that I used to build a rack to safely store the uncracked dash from my car. I will be storing it on a newly installed shelf in my office, out of harms way.

see what i did here... EDIT, tres equis guy.

Click your username up top right side corner. drops down to account settings, click that... That will go to this page that shows "signature"... Click that and then go to another page, change your signature and click "SAVE". done

I bet if you looked at things like the brakes shoes and pads and rotors and wheel bearings and general grease buildup on the diff and axles you could feel better about a guess. The talk about rust and mileage is kind of overlooking the replacement cost of those interior parts. You could probably put a list together and price each part individually and $8,000 would seem like a good deal. I kept a list of my costs just to get an old 76 in decent shape and I was over $5,000 pretty quick. $50, $200 there....it adds up.

There are those exceptions that were driven on the highways most of the time. They generally don't show as much interior wear.

158k miles would mean nearly 20k miles a year for 8 years straight - I'd consider that unlikely, albeit not an impossibility.

Looking at the fine condition of the interior, there's no way the car has 158K miles on it.

I never collected owner's names and locations like Carl did. I just collected pictures. Carl's list on Zhome probably has the best answer to where they all reside. I did look through my collection of cars the other day and noted that three cars were unaccounted for. No pictures, no information on three recorded cars. I wonder if they were crashed? I missed most of the bantering, however I did post my objection to the VR name that everyone started using to describe the Vintage Z / Z Store / Dream Garage program from Nissan USA. To make that clear again; Vintage Zs were the result of a Nissan USA ad campaign and independent of any "factory" involvement. The proper (educated) description is Vintage Z, or VZ for short.

Then Get Banzai to do it. Cheaper than buying the correct dies

You're an 'Lstepp4re' fan club member then? ? It must be you that's sending him all the DMs about "significant Z movements", LOL. I didn't see any pond-crossing pissing match (what did I miss?) but I did witness Lstepp4re once again actively bidding up a car he had no intention of buying, attempting to control the narrative in the comments during the auction as well as threatening legal action against somebody (a fellow American) who simply disagreed with him. Bring-a-Trailer mods hit the delete button a few times and it was all swept neatly under the carpet. Maybe I'm in the minority in being allergic to superannuated, arriviste blowhards and their fanbois?

I did a bit of searching and found the thread on the mustache bars where I had downloaded the photos for the 280Z bushes a couple of years back. . The thread was about the bushes and possible alternatives. @kats posted a lot of photos of all the different variations he came accross on page 2. These is also a tool on page 3 made by a someone back in 2011 to flare the outer ring over the mustache bar

Doesn't seem particularly high to me. What am I missing? I got the impression a lot of the people tuning in to that auction were expecting much more. Covid effect? You'd have a hard time getting a professional restoration to the same standard on a donor car, and that's without all the VZ kudos/baggage (delete to your taste) which should lift it above a like-for-like otherwise non-VZ example. Looked well bought to me. Lovely honest example of a VZ car. Oh, and the self-certificating BAT "Collectors" are starting to look like they are outgrowing their pool. When 'LStepp4re' is being talked up as a "expert" (tee hee) you know its all getting a bit too incestuous...

This is all I know of, Banzi Motorworks. https://www.zzxdatsun.com/catDecals.php

If that were the case, then why did it stop at Katayama? Why not with, for example, Hajime Suitsu, Teiichi Hara or - going all the way "higher up" - Kawamata himself. I'll tell you why. It's because the people believing that Katayama was a 'Designer'/'Creator' had probably never heard of Suitsu, Hara or Kawamata, let alone the likes of Hitoshi Uemura. They appear to have simply pinned it on the face they knew. A little reminder: You revived a thread that had been dormant for a month to quote a post that I made on 20th January. On the contrary, I'll always be ready to discuss this kind of topic and I consider that a Vital Sign for a vibrant, scholarly, inquisitive and - more to the point - so far undead marque/model forum.

As per my original post to that subject on this thread, I was responding to a poster on the Bring-a-Trailer auction comments section (for the car we have been discussing here) who made some strange claims about Katayama. Here's a reminder of what he wrote: " Mr. Yutaka Katayama (RIP) must be quite honored that his design has such a devoted fan base with so much knowledge. On another level, I can only surmise that first and foremost he designed this car with the driving experience in mind. I’d love to hear more stories from the experienced about the well thought out the driving position is, how smooth the sweet 6 is at revs, how compliant the suspension (IRS) is over poor roads, the fluid throw of the shifts, and so on. No doubt he dedicated countless hours designing these tactile elements into that pretty styling exercise. These are what make this car so very special. I’d love to read more about the experience." See? As you will know, in 1998 Yutaka Katayama was inducted into the 'Automotive Hall Of Fame'. His Automotive Hall Of Fame biography contains the following sentence: "Shunning conventional wisdom, he created and promoted cars and trucks designed for a new type of consumer". Do you believe that Katayama "created" - in any practical sense of the word - any of the products that NMC USA was selling? You appear to agree with me that he did not, but there are many people - apparently even in the Automotive Hall of Fame - who clearly believe that he did. There are many more examples of this 'out there' both in print and online. I'm wondering if you consider Katayama's input/feedback to be the reason for the North American market variant HLS30Us being equipped with Warner synchro 4-speed transmissions, 3.364:1 ratio diffs, soft springing and damping, slow steering ratios and less of the bells and whistles seen in other market variants? Was Katayama responsible for making the North American market Zs less sporty than others, or was that out of his control? If it was out of his control, is his much-vaunted influence being overstated? Genuine questions. Yes, Katayama was requesting more power (mostly via bigger displacement) but so were any number of others within Nissan, within their Japanese competition - Toyota and Honda for example - and within their customer base in Japan. It was inevitable, and it was coming whether Katayama had been calling for it or not. Again, Katayama being credited with something that already had its own impetus and trajectory. What were the "anemic tin boxes" you mention? Is this not a conflation of earlier stories regarding the likes of the 210-series Bluebird? You can see the same impetus with the 310 and 410-series cars pointing the way forward to the 510 and beyond, and the SP/SR roadsters being successful enough in their own right as Nissan's sports car to be superseded by a new coupe when international safety regulations threatened the death of open-top sports cars. Where exactly was Katayama's influence a KEY factor here? Throwaway Iines there. Look, if I point out that The Beatles didn't write 'Twist and Shout' or that the Rolling Stones didn't write 'Little Red Rooster', it doesn't mean I'm dissing the Beatles or the Stones. They were both great in their own right (and write...) but creative credit should go where it is due. Bert Berns and Willie Dixon respectively, right? I want to assure you that I think of Yutaka Katayama as a major figure in Nissan - and Japan's - history and, as I've pointed out up-thread, I am not attempting to take away any credit that he rightly deserved for achievements that he was rightly credited with. In setting up the NMC USA dealer network (following Volkswagen's model) along with Soichi Kawazoe and others, and very much being the 'face' of Nissan in the USA at such a crucial time, he deserves the plaudits. But he is often credited with the work of others, or with things that would be happening anyway, and that is wrong.

The VAST majority of the OK decals were scraped off by the guys in the wash rack before the Z was delivered to the happy new owner. Therefore just about every time I sell one of my reproductions my customer asks me where, exactly, it should go on the right quarter window. Before I give my recommendation I stress that the guys on the assembly line weren't to exact about location. Over the more than 40 years Banzai has been in business I've been very lucky to have a large # of original owner cars go through my shop. A couple of days ago another landed in my shop. It's a blue on blue mid 71 build correct down to the hubcaps. It does have dealer installed a/c. This picture of the factory installed OK decal is an example of what I'm talking about regarding placement! I've also included a picture of our latest offering, 240 tire info decal. Unlike the decal offered by our would be competitor in B.C, ours has the correct font.

Hi , I am still feeling the driver’s seat looked different from the passenger’s seat . This picture makes me wonder if our seats would have changed its shape in 1970 , the BAT green car seems to have the seat just like this black seat in the driver’s seat maybe produced in later 1970 . The seat back has different shape than the earlier one especially around the shoulder area . Kats

I don't think 'Lstepp4re' should be too high on your list of Experten... You have world-class 'Z Store'/'Vintage Z Program' knowledge at your service right here on the classiczcars forum, and indeed already on this thread, in the form of our fellow member '26th-Z'. He compiled and privately published what most consider to be the definitive written work on the subject, and I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions you put to him. If he doesn't have the answer - and he usually will - then he will know who to ask.

interesting chat again. Its a bit of a 'bully' setup on there. People who really do not understand the cars and the wider model range, speaking about stuff like its correct and flaming others who normally are more factually correct.

I don't think the HKS Zero-R counts as a rare *Nissan* product, as it was produced by HKS based on a standard production model R32 GT-R. I'm thinking closer to home, and within the S30-series Z range. Top of the rarity pile for me - and qualifying as a truly special model in terms of spec and details - is the PS30-SB 'Fairlady Z432-R'. Quite, quite different from the PS30 'Fairlady Z432', and only a handful sold to the general public for road use. Certainly less than 20 examples.

Excellent. Keep coming to us with the easy issues. We like those. Don't forget to use copious amounts of anti-corrosion anti-seize on your new spindle pins when you slide them in for the final installation. And if you didn't already know.... The location of the notch for the lock pin is not in the center of the spindle pin. It's offset a little bit. (The pin is not symmetric). There is a correct front and back. Point is... If you haven't already done so, it's a lot easier to determine which is the correct installation direction when the parts are off the car and not all slathered with copious amounts of lube. Mark it with a sharpie or something now while everything is clean so you don't have to futz with it while it's all slippy.

You should be able to insert the spindle pin all the way and spin it 360 degrees with just two fingers. If you can't do that, then I suspect there's a burr inside that's causing an interference fit. There should be no tools required to get that pin properly into place.

Those clips are not very springy, unlike true C-clips. More like a stiff band that is just bent into place. Once you get them off, use pliers to bend them back into place in their slots. I actually replaced mine with a some common generic size of eternal c-clip. Now as to getting them off, put the arm in a vise, and use two smallish flat blade screw drivers to push the opposing tips of the clip apart. Or one flat blade of "just" the right width that you can use it as a wedge between the two tips.

I was scrounging parts off my parts car and decided to take the cowl panel and the wiper motor off before they get stolen. Thought I might clean up the wiper motor and assemblies to put on my recently painted stock restoration '72. Just a perfect October Texas day with nothing else to do, I took the wiper motor and hooked it up to my '73 driver to see If it was in working order. No such luck! Well, I had nothing else to do, so I grabbed some tools and went to work. I'm no genius, and not an electical wizz, but with a 7ml and 8ml hard wrenches, some dental floss, and some axle grease, I had that wiper motor working perfectly in an hour. This process is so simple, you have to try it. First, take the plastic cover off of the wiper motor assembly. Next, take a 7ml wrench and remove the band around the motor for the relay. Next, take an 8ml wrench and remove the two 8ml nuts that hold the motor to the gear drive. you can now remove the motor stator (?) from the housing. Take some 600 grit sand paper the clean the surface where the three brushes make contact. I also sanded the motor surfaces to remove rust. Clean the inside of the housing (magnet) with some thinner and remove all lose corrosion by hitting housing on flat surface and blowing out housing with air gun. I used dental floss to hold the three brushes back in order to reassemble the motor to the gear housing. Before tighting the two 8ml nuts, remove the dental floss, which I tied around the three motor mounts to keep the brushes from popping out. I greased the worm drive and both bearing surfaces too, before the reassembly, so don't forget this. finally, I took the motor over to my '73 driver, and it worked perfectly! you might also want to clean all the contacts for insurance. All this in an hour. Go for it!