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Today, I accomplished another special modification I have had in mind for a long time. With my first Z, I discovered that the rear hatch outer panel is not well supported originally from the factory in the 240z. Pushing on the lock button to open the hatch can (if a little too hard) can cause the outer panel to "oil can" inwards. I have wanted to reinforce the hatch on my first Z for many years, however I was able to take care of it on the Z I am restoring for now, and will do the same on my first Z someday. Making a cardboard template: Transferred the template to sheet metal: I didn't show all here: I welded the box on the one corner, and then used panel adhesive to affix it into place. So, the outer panel will be well supported and have a much nicer feel when unlatching the hatch in real world use.

Chas, very nice and I almost went that route. After talking to Sean at Zstory he really seemed to be someone you can trust and if you have issues he’s going to help resolve it. I’ll hang everything tomorrow and then take exact measurements from the dual down pipe to his V-band connector. He threw in two extra V-band connectors and clamps for me. I’ll buy a dual 2” to 2.5” merge pipe and have it bent right and weld the v-band to the 2.5” side and hopefully it will work. I didn’t want to spend the money initially for his header before I saw if I could make my header work and I think I can. I like challenges....I make me better at solving problems. This car is one challenge after another, I should be a genius by now [emoji23]. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got 4 coats of high build layed down. It's always amazing how bad it looks after you shoot a mono color shiny coat on it. All of a sudden there's flaws everywhere! I will use a little spot glaze on the bigger flaws, and then I will start guide coating. It will probably need another round of high build after blocking it down.

Hi @280zxSpectrum Don't be too offended by the comments on this forum. It's just some members having a little fun. It's known as "posting to a zoombie thread". I made the same misstake on another forum and the admin, name starting wit T and ending with D gave me a trashing. Anyway, welcome to the club. Once you get use to us, some of us can be a little like the two old guys in the muppets, you will be fine. I see on your profile you are a brewer. Hobby, boutique of commercial brewer? Just being curious, I work for, dare I say, Heineken.

Yes, that lift is in my garage. It was the only way I was going to be able to keep the Z. The exhaust is from ZStory. Super nice quality, stainless steel with beautiful welds and turns. Sean at ZStory is great. This was less than getting a standard crap exhaust installed locally. I have a few challenges to overcome. I plan to install this back to front tomorrow. He’s the issue. My header collectors terminate into two 2” pipes. My headers came with a 2” Y pipe that would go to a 2” exhaust line. These Zstory pipes are 2.5” and have a V-band connector at the resonator. So I need to Y pipe with 2” inlets to a 2.5” v-band outlet. See all the below pics. If anyone has a solution let me know. I think I just to buy a Y pipe with 2” inlets and 2.5” outlet and have someone weld the extra v-band fitting Sean gave me to 2.5” outlet on the Y pipe. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That looks like one of the washers for the tension/compression arm. There should be two per side.

Yeah, That is the thread alright. I remember first reading it about ten years ago and made a copy for my own use, just can't seem to find it I have not found anything serious dating before this thread. It looks like this might be the first seriously thought out explanation. @siteunseen Thanks for posting the link.

That's old school, they are Meth Heads now.

Find some carbs and you're good with a cut cam on these old cars. An aluminum flywheel and port match performance exhaust is the easiest thing to do for the money. I have a 10lb flywheel on mine and it's like riding a motorcycle without all the hospital, funeral bills.

But at least you're at the point of shooting primer. Congrats.

Really sorry to hear about your engine, but there are a bunch of Z guys here in Phoenix and maybe we can help. [mention]Randalla [/mention] [mention]cgsheen [/mention] [mention]duffman [/mention] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Well... I have referred a lot of local work to them - pretty much every resto in this area. 😉

That is a nice system you have John. I don't think there is any true bolt in system. They all need tweeking somewhere. I have an abart system and it will need some mods to connect to the down pipe.

They may make an exception for you Jim. Just because you're you 😉

Like this: Center bottom of picture.

Let us know when you get it to the house.

I hate to say thats s parts cut, but that might be a parts car. At least its reasonably Priced. There looks to be a $1000 worth of parts there

I'm so sorry to hear this result. If you're definitely going to part ways with it, maybe @borini63could help you find a new home for it, provided you're in the Phoenix area. Heck, Borini might even help you with finding an engine if you can keep it.

You might want to try sending an email to VintageDashes@gmail.com

Wow. I can hear the value of my 280 going up as I type!!

Well I'm not completely comfortable without a smoking gun, but regardless... Glad you got your brakes working and you're back on the road!

I seem to recall that you might have a 75 280Z. If so, the diff bolt pattern will be your problem. But, you might try a parts wanted ad on the site. There are forum members with part hoards that might have one. Tell people what you're trying do and they might have suggestions. Your posts seem to be a series of random questions.

That hood will straighten right out

I agree on the 182,000. If I was serious, I would have located someone in the area to have a look at it, and snap some pictures. Perhaps that is what one or more of the high bidders have done. Hazard switch is odd in this car. Anyone know if that is original? Also, I am a bit confused about the hood. I thought early cars didn't have the corner reinforcements at the back. If Zhome.com site registry is a reasonable thing to go by, it seems that green on tan and blue on blue are rarer combinations than others for 70 and 71. Not going to spend more time looking. Gotta get it out of my head.

Sheesh. That makes no sense at all. Any predictions on the blue one I mentioned? It will sell tomorrow. It is at $15600 now. Transport to east coast states would likely be more than $1200. Incomplete info in the listing. No confirmation that it is numbers matching for the block. Valve cover is correct for the early engine. But, color of the paint on the block looks non-original. Engine may have been rebuilt or replaced. Blue on blue, while not my favorite looks to be rare. Probably not originally an automatic, given the manual shift lever laying there in the passenger compartment. Found myself thinking of this car a lot the last couple of days. Given my current 240z restoration is on year 4, and my 510 waiting for its turn in the garage, I don't want to buy another project. Best to finish my existing ones. I wonder if I will want to do another project after the 510...

Crack heads!!!!

I use WhiteHeadPerformance for fitment info. Read their notes on each size. https://whiteheadperformance.com/product/rota-rkr-15x8-wheel-kit-4x114-3-0mm-offset-datsun-240z-260z-280z-280zx-510/ Their menu is at the bottom of the page Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hopefully the final entry in this thread! Early this morning I went through the following steps. Disconnect and remove the left front brake caliper Confirmed brake fluid flow back through the lines to the warning switch by disconnecting each connection. On the bench, I removed the brake pads from the caliper, put a board between the pistons, and used compressed air to push the pistons out a bit and confirm the they could move freely. Reassembled and reinstalled the left front caliper and hooked up the lines Bled the master cylinder Bled the right front caliper Bled the left front caliper And now the brakes work! I'm guessing the compressed air on the caliper pistons was the likely thing that changed course since that's the only step I hadn't done in the past. I was able to do some driving this morning and now I need to work on the idle. The carbs were rebuilt by Z Therapy and I need to spend some time balancing, etc. Thanks to all for the suggestions and help.

I put Rewind 16x7s on my 280, no problems. But threw them on my 240 one day just to see what they'd look like and they rubbed up front. Turn the wheel sharp and they rub the bottom edge of the front end on the fender.

Think about 16 x 7 with 205 55 16 tires. Many more tire choices with the 16" dia wheels. Without going to coilovers and rolling fender lips, you will run into rubbing going wider on the front. You can do some research on HybridZ ro see whats involved to go go wider and staggered fitments.

I would not go to wide on the front wheels.. 6" i have and the steering is already a bit heavy.. I don't know if 8 or 9" will fit in the rear..

Here's a list at Northern Tool. They aren't in Canada, but you could see if someone near you carries one of these lines: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_automotive+automotive-lifts+scissor-lifts

Yea my neighbor came over and said what was all the noise over here. I pulled in the street and I left it running for about a min but was worried I’d get some complaints. But there is good news.....Santa came early this year. Found this at my front door after sitting through 5 hrs grueling hours of my daughters Nutcracker Dress Rehearsal last night. 5 hours and her parts are 15 mins max. [emoji848] These pipes are big!!! Maybe overkill. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I picked up this flood car a while back. It was originally covered in blackberries. This is after the seller had found it and cut the vines back. He had bought the property at a lien auction and found this there. A 73 that had an F54 280 block, N42 head, and early 4 screw carbs. wide wheels and a number of other savable parts. The price was much better back then = free!! No title as you might expect from this situation.

Typically if they are flood damaged, they say "water flood". Fresh water only worries me as far as the interior stinking or the motor full of water. Salt water is a whole other thing!

You have to wonder how many of these sorry looking cars are Katrina cars. Victims from one of the past hurricanes that may have sat for days or weeks in water before being salvaged.

I'm a forum princess and should be treated that way.

That was a pretty epic first post

Smaller project knocked out last night. My headlight/wiper combo switch wasn’t looking so great, and I had an intermittent headlight issue with the switch itself. So, decided to pull it completely apart, polish and restore the plastic bits, clean up contacts, and new terminals on the harness. Works great now.

Yeah, you definitely have the monkey on your back. I did this back about 20 years ago, but mixed in a few Beetles. But then a really nice 240z driver was $3000, and my 1.0 didnt have much tolerance for it, but 2.0 told me to go get the 1970. I think I'll keep her. I still keep and drive old VW's as well as the Zcars, but just Oval window mid 50s cars. The cool part is, after collecting parts for the last almost 30 years I can support restoring them without having to hunt down $100 gas caps and $900 deck lids. I knew there was a method to my madness (sickness).

Original Appliance 14 x 7 aluminum mags that were purchased in Orlando, Florida for $150 in early 1972. The original center caps succumbed to Florida rust cancer and were replaced with Eagle caps sometime this decade.

I think it was zed that suggested the starting fluid so I gave it a try and sure enough the engine fired. So I figured it was out of gas; since my gauges don't work, I figured it might need fuel. So I went and got 5 gallons. I can't figure how we drained the tank after the engine was rebuilt and 5 gallons overflowed the tank. Any ways, with plenty of fuel I pulled the choke full on and she started and ran for a couple of blocks. I was about to try to get her up to 40mph but it sounded like someone dropped a box of wrenches in the motor and she stalled and wouldn't run any more. So much for my engine rebuild. After 44 years I can't afford another rebuild. I'm 63 and I wanted to leave this car to my Grandson for it to be his first car as it was mine after I got out of the Navy. I'll do compression tests tomorrow but if it threw a rod I'm done. My wife has been begging me to get rid of this car for 40 years and my working on it has nearly ended in divorce multiple times. But, it's always been a love of mine. Oh well. fate will be what will be. I appreciate all the advice ya'll have given me. It always has given me hope. Unfortunately it appears this will be dust in the wind.

Here’s a wreck! Can’t believe he’s asking this much! https://columbia.craigslist.org/pts/d/seneca-1978-datsun-280z/7400729471.html Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk