mdbrandy

Yup, and Yup. The parts car will be a shelf for a little while longer while I figure out where to put the stuff once I cut it up!

Now there's an idea!

I think we all know that most Z's look pretty good from the rockers up. This one has no floorboards, no frame on the left, only part of a frame on the right, no rockers, big holes in the inner front fender wells, no rear hatch shelf, and numerous other small rust holes. In addition, it has no exhaust to speak of, a rusted out rear bumper, no rear brakes, and numerous other mechanical issues. I WAS actually thinking about getting it running again, until I found the beauty in the foreground. Since the 2 280's were built in the same month, are only 4000 VIN numbers apart, and have the same color interior, the rustbucket is a good doaner for a spare parts stash!

I wish! We live on a little 0.2 acre postage stamp of a lot, and I already have the biggest shed I can put on it, filled with gardening stuff to get it out of the garage to make room for the Z's! I looked into a storage place, and for a reasonable size, it's $50 a month, which I would rather invest in more Z parts. You ought to see my basement shop right now - wall to wall Z parts there!

Here's something I didn't think I'd ever see. My garage...filled with Z's! New 280Z in the foreground, Parts car under disassembly in the middle, and 240 shell in the background. The wife's minivan usually sits in the foreground spot, but she let me dry it out in the garage due to the hatch leak. What a lady!

Sounds like glass to hatch is a potential problem. It looked like it might be leaking around the glass around half-way up the right side. It is supposed to rain like crazy here Sunday again. Maybe I'll have to go sit in the car and watch what happens. Don't want to have to dry it out again, though. Thanks.

You have to take off the arm rest too. Two screws on the 240, I believe.

In my younger days, I drove both my '71 240Z and my '75 280Z here in the Illinois snow for a number of years. For a small sportscar, it was a hoot in the snow. I never got stuck, even with 6+ inches on the ground, and (mild) drift-busting was easy on the streets. Now, both of those cars died from the rust demon, but hey, I was young...once.

OK, "hatch leak" and "water leak" don't come up with anything interesting, so I'll ask a new question. I have a hatch leak in the new 280Z. Sat out in the rain for 4 days (3 inches of rain), and today when I went out to drive it, the rear carpet was very wet. Not enough to get anything into the spare tire well, but quite soggy back near the right quarter and rear panel. When I opened the hatch, a few drops of water dripped down from about half-way down the window on the right side. I also noticed that the outer seal on the car body lifts off for a couple inches. So, anyone that has had hatch leaks: do you have any likely cuplrits? Is it likely that the actual window seal is leaking (because that's what it actually looks like)? Would that outer body seal actually cause water to get into the car if there were no other failures? I'd think it would just run down the channel beside the window and out the bottom. If it is the window seal, am I going to need a new one, or would a try with sealer be a reasonable first course? I've had a fan in it all day in the garage, and it's pretty dry now (wife isn't too happy that I have all three garage bays taken up with Z's right now!), but more rain is expected on Sunday, and I won't have the parts car stripped yet. Help! Thanks.

You can get the bushings and rubber seals from Chloe at MidwestZ. I have two sets coming - one for my new 280 (the shifter is quite loose and sloppy), and one for the 5 speed coming out of my 280 parts car that will go in my 240. Note that when I took the shifter out of the parts car, there were no bushings! Chloe says that the trannys "eat them". I suspect that's what I'll find in the new 280 as well.

I don't know when they went to having that summer/winter flap, but the earliest ones do not have it. Mine doesn't.

I'm tearing apart a 280Z parts car right now, and I found these mats in it. I bought the car in 1994, and the drivers mat is obviously worn, so they were probably purchased in the 80's sometime, or maybe came with the car. The car is a '78. There are no manufacturer markings on them. Were mats like these available from Datsun for later Z's? They are a nice heavy rubber, and are actually in really good shape except for the wear. Anybody know where these would have come from?

Ah, I missed the one line that says: One Bid = One "Pair" of Racing Seats and "Free Universal Sliders" That does make it a somewhat better deal. :classic: .

If you want original stuff, talk to Chloe at MidwestZ. She got me essentially all the seals, felts, rubber, etc. for both doors for good prices.

It looks very much like one in MSA's catalog. With $80 in shipping for this e-bay auction, you might want to compare their pricing.

What Bill said. And if you haven't backed off the shoes by using the adjusting wheel (see other posts), you're wasting your time....

Don't know about the plate number yet. IL seems to be in the dark ages still, and they can't just look up numbers and tell you if they are available. I had to choose three, and if none of them are available, then I'm just hosed. I don't know about the wheels, but they were purchased in Cincinnati, OH in 1999 according to the receipt the PO gave me. No other info though, since he bought them through a shop. The receipt says "American Racing 205 Wheels". You go to the American Racing site, and search for "205", and nothing like these wheels comes up. They don't list any wheels for the Z car, either in the application section. So, I guess they aren't available, but I'm still not sure.

Sounds good! I know that the PO of #215, Erich Scheeler, used to come up to some Windy City Z club events. I'll have to pay attention to dates on the web site. I looked it over a few months ago. If you make your way downstate, I'd love to meet you! Mark

You know, I haven't been paying enough attention - that makes three of us here in IL; are there any others? I'm the only down-stater, though. Got Rick Hanson down in St. Louis. I wish there was a z-club down here. There is a sports-car club that now maybe I'll join, since I have a running car!

Nope. Wife couldn't care less. She used to drive my '75 280Z back when I was still in Grad School, and while I guess she didn't mind too much, she'd much rather have the power steering, seats, windows, etc. that the (almost) new minivan has. So she won't be competing for time in it, but in about 6 months, when my oldest son gets his license, I suspect I'll have some begging to contend with! As to those bumper bars, I have heard them called overriders, but I thought that those were the vertical little bits on either side of the bumpers. I gather the original ones for the 240's were aftermarket from a company called "AMCO" or something. 26th-Z seems to know what they are, since I believe he's looking for some for his car. I personnally don't care for them all that much, but I don't care, so they weren't a problem with my car. Mark

Very nice! At least they won't call you a root beer float! Chocolate Sunday maybe? I hadn't gotten to drive a Z for any distance since 1989 when I sold my college 280Z. Feels good to get behind the Z wheel again! In a few years, I can compare what the 240 feels like compared to the 280. Enjoy.

Thanks. "American Racing" wheels. I like 'em too. I called the Champaign Police, and they are of the opinion that you need a valid registration to drive the car and that the title and bill of sale are not sufficient. However, your other suggestion was golden - there is a "license and title" service about 5 miles from me that did the title and reg work AND let me request a plate number without an extra fee (for the plate number). The DMV wanted an extra $14 for requesting a specific plate number. Anyway, I can drive it now! Thanks!

There appear to be 5 or 6 of the Chicagoland DMV's open on Mondays, but most of those don't do new registration/Title work, so they wouldn't do me any good anyway. There was one downtown, but I'm not driving 3 hours each way to do it. So I guess I wait until Wednesday. Sigh. I checked all the Central Illinois ones, and they are all closed on Mondays. DMV has a nice website for checking all the local offices for times, services, etc.

Are the DMV offices normally open on Monday's up there? They aren't down here. Unfortunately, my kids are off school tomorrow, and since I can work from home and my wife can't, I can't drive to Chicago tomorrow :disappoin . Maybe I'll call around in the morning and see if any other local DMV's are open around here tomorrow. Thanks for all the nice comments :classic: . Didn't understand the Root Beer one at first, Victor - I assume you are aluding to the color? And I leave the ice cream buying to my wife...

Well, you might have noticed that I've been looking around for another Z that I could use as a daily driver for the couple years it is likely to take me to get #215 back on the road. I even considered buying a ZX a couple times. But persistence paid off in the end, although it isn't a 240. I found a '78 280Z in Cincinnati that was beautiful! California car that was transplanted to the midwest 10 years ago, but only driven 2000 miles since then, and supposedly never in the snow, and always garaged. Looks like it too. I can't say it has no rust, but from the Z's I have owned and every one I've looked at back here, it might as well have none. No rust through anywhere I could find, and only a tiny bit of surface rust on a frame rail that look easily removable. 118,000 miles. Drove beautifully the 250 miles to get it home. Everything I have tried on the car works - even the clock! Seems to have a very slight miss, but started from cold in about 0.5 seconds :classic: . The only bad thing is the stupid motor vehicle department isn't open until Wednesday for me to register it here :disappoin . So, ain't she purty ? And three cheers for my beautiful wife who drove 500 miles round trip with me today to go pick it up!