v12horse

That sounds good to me. What does the rest of the guys think? What is the Z zone? Ben

Did most of the undercarriage parts have identifications on them such as the one you restored Kats? If so, what could these markings tell us? Thanks in advance, Ben

Well, it is your car. Don't let someone tell you that you can't do what you want to do to it. You can still modify it and be able to put it back to oem later on if that is your choice. It would be cool if cosmetically it would be dead stock BP, and there was a turbo under the hood, but if you change out the engine, keep the old block for if you want to make it oem when you do get the money later on. Any restoration is going to be expensive, and if you are going to go with an L28et, I think it would be more than restoring the stock L28. Good luck, and no matter what people say, no matter how you mod it, your car IS a Black Pearl. -Ben

I was also thinking of a nice drive. Marc has recommending the beach, so maybe a drive on hghway 1 would be nice. I have this Bay Area Backroads Deck, so here are some suggestions from it: 1. www.safariwest.com This would be cool. It is supposed to be like a Safari; lions, zebras, and giraffes. This is probably 1.5-2 hours away from the east bay. 2. Pescadero; it is along Highway 1 and has a cool light house. This would be a nice drive. It would probably be about 1.5-2hrs away as well. 3. Mt. Hamilton- This would be a nice technical drive and we may get some nice hiking in too. It is only 20min east of San Jose. 4. Monterey is always nice. 5. The 17 mile drive( I think it is 17?)- This is a beautiful drive near Monterey as well. From where most of us are at, it is probably 2-3 hours away. 6. The Santa Cruz mystery spot.- I have never been there, but I have always wanted to go. This is Craigs area, so maybe he could tell us about it. I hope that some of these seem interesting. If not, say so and we can decide on a place that we will all like. We need more people!!! J/k, three people is fine, but more is better. Hehehehe. -Ben

Welcome to the forum and congradulations on becoming a Z owner. Everyone is very helpful here and their combined knowledge has gigs upon Gigabytes of info on Z's and Z parts, so you are in the right spot. Some of us Bay Area people are having a northern cali meet sometime in the near future, so if you are interested that would be great. -Ben

According to Zhome.com there were only 1200-1500 made. So, it is pretty rare. Be proud and restore it to oem specs. If you install the factory alloy wheels that Stephen has on his car, it would give the car an awesome oem/enthusiast look. Look at the auction of the black pearl that I posted in the other thread to see exactly what it would look like. Congrats to you on having a "Black Pearl." Ben

Errr, I can't do anything next weekend. It is Mother's Day. The weekend after that would be good though.

Are the spokes painted or are they the natural metal? I would assume that they are painted silver. Hmm, I wouldn't use the nevr dull on them. I would just try a scrub brush and some soap and water. If that doesn't do the trick, try and use a cleaner that will not remove paint.

Your wheels looked awesome before, now they have been taken to a new level. The polishing takes a while, but it is worth it. You did a great job Marc. Now all you need are those Panasport stickers for the edge of the rim.

I know that this show is not for a while, but is there any northern Californians planning to go to the Z Convention on June 19th? I am pretty sure that I am going to go, but I still have to make all my reservations. If there is anyone from northern cali going we should caravan down. p.s. This is in regards to everyone, not just the northern Cali people. Who is planning to go to the show? Here is the website for the Z Convention: http://www.groupz.com/zcca2004/index.html Take care, Ben

Hi everyone, Marc (280z) and I have been talking and we want to have another meet. Last time there was 5 of us old school Z's and hopefully there will be a better turn out for this upcoming meet. When: The time to meet would be on a weekend obviously, but what weekend I am not sure. Lets have a meet no sooner than 2 weekends from now. Saturday or Sunday is fine with me. Where: I don't know, throw out some ideas. Marc and I are in the Bay area so, somewhere in that vicinity. Okay, who ever would be interested in having a meet post here. Post when you are availible and what would be cool for a meet. The last meet that we had was a drive up Mt. Diablo. I was thinking of another drive like that and lunch, but throw out some suggestions. -Ben:classic:

I am not sure, but yours is most likely a black pearl then. Post some pictures. I am sure someone could tell you how to distinguish if it was a black pearl. Check the paint code plate. That will tell you since the black pearl was the first to be black. If you have the black paint code on that plate, chances are that it is a black pearl. I hope that is helpful. Maybe someone with some more knowledge could speak on this topic. Take care, Ben

Just og to www.zhome.com and scroll down and it has information on the 1978 black pearl edition 280z. Here is a really nice example that did not sell on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2474975093&category=6187&sspagename=WDVW

Here you are: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11710 Ben

The only place that I really see watanabe's for sale is on ebay motors. 16'' would be harder to find for a Z, but they are out there. I totally agree with you on keeping the car JDM because a set of Wats would look great on your car. Talk to 26th-Z because I think he knows a guy that sells watanabe wheels. Ben

Oh no guys, stop with the physics. I have a physics final next week and I come here to talk Z's and now it is physics. Ahhhhhh!!!! You guys take care. You know you are all a bunch of nerds. And I am not going to get out my physics and chem books to varify this stuff and jump in on the nerd bandwagon. It's okay, nerds are cool. I am leaving now. Ben*snorting*:classic:

This was all I could find. I personally think you would be better off taking apart an old datsun knob. http://www.flameball.com/Accessories/ACC-Spline.htm

That sounds awesome. Hmmm, there are a lot of junky shift knobs on ebay, maybe you could just take the metal peice with the treads in it and fit it onto the knob that you are making. I think that is awesome that you are going to make your own knobs. In high school, I took woodshop and I loved it. Keep us posted and post pics of your progress.

You are right on the dot on this one Carl. I have seen the 16 by 7 Panasports from msa with 225 wide tires and they fit well. What is the offset of those Panasports that they offer? I am thinking it was +11mm, but I am not positive. Signal, for the tires to clear the strut towers, there must be no more than 4 inches of tire back there(Sorry for the jargon. The lack of it).

Welcome to the forum! I am not an expert on this, but I have seen 225 wide tires on a zed and they seemed to fit well. That was with the stock suspension. That is awesome that you own a Fairlady Z:). You should post some pics of your car. -Ben

Hey Victor, I thought you were joking. Now I remember seeing pictures that you posted of the event. I would love to go to this too if it was late this summer/early fall. I am still not sure if I am going to attend the Z nationionals in long beach. I really want to, but I am taking a class during that time. I am sure it wouldn't affect my studies since I would only go for the Saturday show. Errr. How many of you LAer's going to the nationals? Convince me to go. Ben