hr369

More archeology on my car from the previous owner...... Wow! He sank a lot into a car that was otherwise perfect. Yes, this was my car, .... let me tell you a bit about it's tale. The original owner worked for the GM Nummi (Car making plant) in Fremont. He drove it regularly from 1978 thru ~1982 when he got a job as a Union Shop Steward, at which point, he parked it in his mom's garage in San Leandro, covered it up with ~50K miles on it, and left it until ~1998 when he decided to dump it. He had advertised it on a local Z Club newsletter, and I was the first person to find it. What a Gem for $2,800 (or so I thought). It was a time capsule. No kidding, paint perfect, chrome perfect, interior perfect, engine spotless. Cold Cold AC. I (Naively) thought... what could possible be wrong (Opp!). Unfortunately, the car had not been prepared for long term storage, and when I returned the following Saturday thinking a little starting fluid would do the trick, I found the tires had fused to the garage floor, requiring a floor jack to free the vehicle (my friends and I still joke about the popping sounds the tires made as they popped free from the floor). At that point, we realized all the brake cylinder seals had failed over the year, and all hydrolics (clutch & brake master cylinders, lines & brake calipers) required replacement. Fuel Delivery... YIKES! Try and Try as we might, we just couldn't get the damn thing to start, and we used something like half a can of starting fluid trying to get the damn thing to start, when it backfired setting all of us ablaze in a soft blue flame of Either... Very Exciting, trust me, you don't want to try this stunt at home, or with any friends watching (Yes, several folks had a good laugh at our expense). After brushing off our burned hairs, we found that the full tank of gas it was parked with evaporated over the years, leaving a thorough coat of varnish over the fuel injectors, the fuel pump, the gas tank & line that required the replacement of everything. ($X@#$!!!!) Tires and battery were replaced with (I don't remember), and at that point, I had a really really nice 1978 280Z. I changed out door & hatch seals, and I drove it around for about a year, but decided I was happier with a 240Z due to the power to weight ratio & the more spry performance of the 240Z, and went that route next (a copy my next Z is attached (I don't have any digital pictures of your car unfortunately). I am amazed the guy I sold it to sunk that much into it, as quite honestly, with the exception of one paint chip on the hood when I closed the hood on a screwdriver (Sorry), the car was otherwise perfect. No Rust, good paint, perfect dash and interior, no electrical issues, just a happy '78Z. In total, Purchase + Repairs, I was into it for ~$8K, an sold it or $6.5K, as that was pretty much what I could sell it for at that time. If he indeed sunk this much into it, you are likely the beneficiary of a very nice car. How many miles are on it now? and how is the condition now? I hope it is nice, as I did like the car. Unfortunately for me, it just wasn't the right fit. Well, now my current '73 240z is sporting a 3 liter Rebello Race engine with 5 speed, LSD, 4 wheel disks, and lots of other goodies. I suspect this will keep me in happy Z land for a while. P.S., I hope the car serves you well. As it has been in a dry climate in the SF Bay area, I find it unlikely you will have any rust issues for a while. Your climate will ultimately take it, but the base vehicle should be very robust by this point. Good luck to you. Hi Daniel, wow I thought it had some kind of engine trouble and he parked it. So thats the original engine then. When I got the car his wife had kicked it out of the garage and it was sitting in the driveway in that hot sun. Sorry to say the dash had 2 cracks. One of the dog legs had rust bubbles so I cut it out and welded in new metal. He had a new 5k$ paint job done in 2001. All glass taken out to paint it. I have one receipt for 4200 alone in misc engine work. Replaced radiator 4 row, new afm, injectors and on and on. He did not do any labor himself so the 20k is probably 3/4 labor. I picked it up for 4800. He said he needed money for his daughters college tuition. I asked him why did he put so much money into the car. He said "those were the go-go 90's and that was just a drop in the bucket for me. I was making tons of money then" I have since put 2k into it myself. Tokiko struts, various rotted suspension rubber and new door panels, console, rear carpet, full dash cap and a hitachi factory radio. He had made a mess of the wiring on the alarm system and door locks you had put in. Took a while to sort that out. My god what a money pit that thing has been. He was so paranoid that i'de part it out. Actually my initial plan was to take parts off it and put them on mine and sell it but i've decided it should stay a museum piece thats glued to the floor once again. Now it sits most of the time inside the garage. The climate here on the west side of the big island is very dry. I occasionally take it for a cruise down the kohala coast. A/c still works good btw. Kind of like phoenix with very little rain. It now has a little over 73,000 miles. Its almost a twin to my other 78z. Its from santa rosa and the vin's are very close. Very nice orange 240 there. When i lived in santa rosa i wanted to make it up to the mt shasta meet but never made it. Thanks for the history on the car and for bringing it back from the dead.

Easiest is to keep the windows rolled up and the fresh air vents on each side open. extend the tip of the muffler past the back of the bumper. replace the back hatch inner weatherstrip. replace the tail lite to body gaskets. check/replace the rubber body plugs near the muffler on the underside of the cars quarter panel. take the hatch upholstery panel off and tape/silicone a plastic over the opening. then replace the panel. lots of gasses come in thru the hatch lock. install a rear spoiler some people say it helps a little.

Hey thats a good idea googling the vin#. I think i'm going to try that

Ok, I got a reply from the owner that bought it in 1999 and he confirms its the same car by the description he gives of the car. I'm very curious about the "slumber" he speaks about. From the documents the car slept from 1987-1999. I told him that the guy he sold it to dumped 20k into it. Its not that there is 20k worth of new parts but the labor he paid along with the new parts amounted to that sum. Some people should not own old cars and this guy was one of them. In all he probably was into it 30k with the purchase price of the car. "Hi Greg... could be, I resurrected a '78 some years ago from a long slumber. A nice car, but I ultimately wanted a '240z again, so I went back to that route. Might it be a Burgundy '78 with a 5 Speed & Louvers (when I parted company with the car)? Ping me back if it was. I hope it's still in as nice of condition as when I parted with it. All the best" Picture taken in 2010 right after it got off the boat from maui. It was crusted with salt spray from being on the barge that was tugged from maui to honolulu and back over to the big island where it is today.

Got an idea today to research previous owners of a 78z I bought about 3 years ago from a guy on Maui. He had worked at the lawrence livermore lab particle accelerator as as a technician. He shipped the car over here to hawaii and got a low tech job installing satellite dishes. He gave me a big bag of receipts and old registration cards. I went back as far as the early 80's and found what i think is the original owner now in his mid 60's on the internet. He probably doesn't want to be bothered. The car sat for 12 years and a guy by the name of Daniel Magliari's bought it. Anyone here know him? Anyways, I found him on facebook and sent him a message. He is friends with a guy named Dave Rebello. Yea the racing engines guy. I hope he replies to my message. I'de like to find out more history on the car. In the early 90's I had access to the dmv computer in calif and looked up an old 78 i had in the early 80's. It was last registered to a dismantler! I've always wondered if that front clip I had installed had come apart

Wow 15,000. Wouldn't it be less expensive just importing a nice rust free one from Los angeles?

patcon have you done any work on that auto trans yet? It's been a year. I too am interested in freshening up the auto trans since my reverse is slipping really bad. These are great automatics if you don't abuse them. I bought an extra trans in case i screw up. Im going to put the one i just bought into the car so i can take my time and drive the car while i try rebuilding the original trans. Im thinking about just replacing the clutch discs, band and seals and put it a transgo shift kit in and install it. For future reference to others searching, the transgo shift kit is T53165 TRANSGO Shift Kit, N4A-EL The n4a-el is the 3n718 that mazda used. Internally its the same trans inside.

i went from 185/14's to 225/16's on the rear and have noticed in the last week that the outside edge of one of my rear tires is wearing prematurely. I never had strange treadwear with skinny tires. It could also be that when you put on wider tires it puts more stress on the suspension and therefore more wear on the bushings. i used the ole how many fingers fit between the tire and the wheel arch at the front of the tire and found i was quite far off. i ordered some new inner control arm bushings and hope that the poly ones will not distort and wear out like the 35 y/o stock rubber bushings i have on there now.

In california i replaced my 78 stock muffler in 1999 after 120,000 miles

Hard to imagine that you don't need a/c in july/aug there with the hot sticky humid weather. when you get older you probably will appreciate it more. I get cranky when i have to sit in traffic inside a hot tin can. i say keep it. the older buyers would appreciate it and the younger buyers would just remove it. i dont think it would detract from the cars value by leaving it in. btw that rotary sanden compressor is much better than the huge old style compressors that came with the ara kits.

$20,104 so far. Only 7k miles but it has a new muffler? Datsun : Z-Series in Datsun | eBay Motors

got pictures of this dash? i cant imagine the whole dash broke apart just by bumping the steering column.

unreal rocket ship 12.3 second 1/4 mile

is it 50830-05525?

Yes they were brand new. He had the nissan factory packaging too. There were/are aftermarket ones made in japan for 800 on that jdm datsun website. Don't know if they're still available though. Outbid on a 2 knob rally clock w/oscillator last nite too. Damn those datsun guys over there have got some deep pockets. I stopped at 350. It sold for 370.

Kats, have you seen this video Japan's retro car kings on youtube? At 6:15 the owner of TA auto shows a picture of a unrestored fairlady with the 432 emblem. From the bad picture its difficult to see if its a true 432. I know you have been tracking vin numbers of the remaining 432's in Japan and might be interested in seeing this car in person.

i was bidding on a set on yahoo japan auctions. dropped out after 500. Price went to 900 but they were brand new.

I would not recommend shimming the door away from the pillar. The top of the door frame might not seal well and your door might stick out above the fender. First...remove the door striker. That takes the striker out of the alignment equation. take a black magic marker and trace the outline of the hinge alignment so that you can return to this alignment if everything you try is worse. Loosen the bottom hinge bolts on the pillar just a little bit. You don't want the door hinge so loose its sagging and you need to support the door to hold it up. Pull up on the bottom of the door. it moved a bit? tighten down the bolts. Now loosen the top hinge bolts and push down on the top of the door. did it move? Now check your fit. keep doing this until the door moves back enough to not bind

wow resurrecting a 2 year old thread. sure hope he didn't buy that thing. the front frame looks like it took a good hit. Thats some heavy metal and for it to be bent like that took alot of force. most likely the frame in front is out of square.

Yup, figured that. Don't do that with your 78. Its fuel injected. In the sun visor of my 78 was a card from datsun that said.....

I wonder how much of this "won't start" can be attributed to pumping the gas pedal?

Do you have a large gap between the door edge and the quarter panel? If you are too close up front why not adjust the door back towards the quarter panel, away from the pillar. The door pillars on zcars are not as solid as you think. I've noticed that when I jack up mine using the factory jack on the jacking point under the front fender, the door gap changes a little.

I'm curious why you put the tiger hair over your welds that will never be seen. I've never seen that done before. Are you trying to seal up potential pinholes and/or smooth out the weld and make it prettier? Nice metal work btw. I've dismantled west coast cars with alot less rust than what you're dealing with. Since you have had the car more than 15 yrs, you probably have sentimental attachment to it.