tymarbry

Didnt see a build log section or anything so I guess I will drop this here for now. hope no one minds. So I got my 77' 280z on March 3rd, 2001 and I am now a happy owner of a great datsun. Sadly I had to sell my 1986 Corolla GTS in favor of my new car. (9 years older, albiet) The car has good looks, still sporty and so far its reliable and doesnt leak oil. My Corolla had quite a bit of trouble and it was all unlucky stuff for me. The outside of the car is alittle rough on the paint, alittle worse than the Corolla was. There is of course some rust, after all its 30years old so thats expected. But its to a minimal. You can see the extent of it in the last photo above, in the rear fender arch. Suprisingly there arnt really any dings, just minor sratches and stuff. The body is damn straight, just how I like it! Car came from storage in Texas and looks nice for its age. The car was $2700. which is kinda expensive but it will be reliable and its simple to work on and I can actually find parts for it around here (The one thing Kansas is good for really). Here is the better part! The Interior Baby! Much better than the corolla by a longshot. The 280z still retains its youth and smells like a classic car even! imagine that! All black leather interior thats pretty clean still and has very little baggage from previous owners. Amazingly the dash is still fine after all the years of the sun beating down on it. I think the only downside is that crappy shift knob that came with the car. it lost its threading and wouldnt tighten up. So replaced it with a knob from an automatic Lexus ES300 or something. fits good. Im hopping to get some work in this week and see what my options are for a 5speed trans and maybe remove the bumpers. What do you think?

Oh yeah Im with ya. My AE86 was really easy to get to gauge lights and such. While I was replacing the dash on that car I mades ure to pick up some LEDs to fill the cluster with. It looked great with some orange lights in it. If I do have to take the dash apart Im going back to get some more LEDs. My 280z dash is plastic, is that how all the dashes are? ALSO! I did figure the problem with the headlamps and gauges, it was the switch as I thought. I did the rebuild as stated/posted by Mike. I really recomend it highly. Great write up!

I dont know anything about relays honestly. I hate electrical work alot. My fuse box cover has already seen some melting in the top right corner so Im sure something is loose ina connection somewhere. Today I will be pulling the Headlight switch off to rebuild it thanks to instructions from Mike here on the site. Also I will be searching for corrosion in some of the ground wires for the sidemarkers and rear lights. Thanks for all your guys help. Ill see what happens after I get this stuff sorted through.

Rebuilding the switch for the headlights probably needs to be done as the contacts in it are probably bad or something. Are there any common problems with the tails and side markers not comming on besides the unlikely event that all bulbs burnt out?

I did pull the fuseable links and touched them up with some 180 grit to give a better contact. Sorry for the double post I thought it would double my chances =P I have an update though. The lights do come on after flicking the switch up and down about 8 times then it may come on. The gauges still dont illuminate. And even though the headlights come on the tail lights dont. so what the fart??

If its the antenna switch, then its broke but I hear it doing something still and it has a point that it travels to and then stops for sure. If its an ejector seat, then its broke.

Im thinking of going with my spare AE86 boot. Its rubber so idk how it will look in the end. But I guess I wont know till I do it.

hmmm that kind of makes me worry a bit. When I toggled it I head a mechanical noise behind my seat that would go for a bit then stop then if you switch it the other direction it reverses it. whatever it does... idk Ill have to give it a check tomorrow. thanks

Its the toggle switch in between my defogger light and my fasten seatbelt light. What does that thing do???

My headlamps will not turn on as well as the gauge/instrument lights. Checked the fuses and all but the 2 Headlight fuses get power. The fuses appear to be great. I checked fusable links and stuff. I dont have a ohmeter or anything just a check light to probe stuff with:bulb: I also checked most of the connections and they appear to be good as well. So what could be the problem? my model is a 77 280z and I have a FSM but its hard to trace through the car for stuff when you just bought it

I got my 280Z today and I wanted to fix the shift boot and shifter. The shift knob that came with the car had lost its threading and wouldn't tighten up. So I placed in a Lexus (auto) shift knob with some minor drilling to increase the inside diameter of the knob. Fits like a charm now and looks better than the last one did, even though this knob itself is no "looker". I also had to fix the boot. The leather string was missing that tightens it up snuggly around the shifter. So I improvised a way to tighten it without making a run to walmart. I used a Zip-Tie that was long enough to thread through the lip of the boot. I actually had to get a larger one because this red zip-tie was not long enough. I found it to be easier to push it through if you bend the tip of the zip-tie. Force it on through and you may need either a hook or some pliers to pull it the rest of the way. Kind of a before and after

So I got my 77' Datsun 280z today and its strange. The car idles when I turn it on and dont press on the gas. but if I press on the gas it wants to die. also When Im driving it and I press in the clutch so that I can coast, it dies. So what sounds like the problem here to you more experienced members? Here are some pics of the car BTW!!

Woops, sorry my mind was in 86 mode.

HAHA I finaly found something thank you. But they are downloading like 1% every 2mins or so, my internet blows, very hard. Its just to bad that I couldnt have used that when I was singe... Anyways thank you ver much for you help, I hope to press the matter when I purchase the car and get some reciepts to show up to see whats what.

Downside: I dont own a manual of any type for this car. Is there anywhere you can get PDF versions? I probably even over looked this webiste for ones. The owner claims that the plugs have fouled out due to leaving it outside during shop hours and then starting it up just to pull it in overnight. Then repeating. I just dont understand how plugs and the oil smells from stuff like that. Also I was told that the car has a new fuel pump, plugs, wires and injectors. Thanks for your help

Im going to be purchasing a really nice 280z from a man who owns a car shop no less. The concerns I have are: I test drove it not to long ago when it was warm, maybe 50-60 Deg. and as I recall it ran fine, just had a Low idle of about 900 and I waited for it to warm up to see where it would settle at with not much of a change. I test drove it again recently in cold weather, 30-40 Deg. and it had some trouble starting at first and idled even worse maybe 500. Also smelled really bad like gas. Now I understand that cold starting causes gas that is in the engine to seep down into the pan with the oil and that the car isnt burnning completely due to the cold. But, the oil I looked at from the dip stick was VERY VERY Light colored, almost clear and of course had the smell of gas as the title says. The owner says that the injectors were replaced along with wires and stuff. Also mentioned that the plugs were becoming fouled by gas. So what could be some problems to look for and solve in this case? Thanks

I dont see why not. They all have the same front clip. Same model with same engine. I say yay.

I used to work at a tire shop and that was the size I used for my 86' Corolla those arnt hard to find really. maybe BS from the Shop? Also you could also go the stretched tire route if youd like.

I think Watanabe RS rims look great (Period Correct). Expensive though. Centerlines which are cheap and can have very nice offsets, Ansen Mesh also cheap and nice Hayashi rims (certain types) Racing Street Fins TRD Toscos are correct in year but not in Company as TRD is for toyota but they have the same Lug Pattern and they are sexy. A set of very rare Furukawa Mesh. Or if you want to, try this link to my old Forum for the AE86. Lots of old JDM rims and aftermarkets. http://forums.club4ag.com/zerothread?id=78542

I 2nd that they are Panasports.