Mitchel0407

It is a cool image but what am I looking at exactly?

Looking good! Hope to admire your Z sometime in the future. I’ll be visiting Mart with my 280z this weekend to admire his ZX and rummage true his parts pile. And most importantly picking up a replacement 5 speed gearbox for the Z with the Z. The second gear syngro is busted and fifth gear is currently a neutral. 😅

I was having some trouble with the AFM on my ’77 280z a couple of months back and compiled some of my research int a post here on ClassicZcars. Maybe it’s an interesting read to help you along or have trouble again in the future. Baseline was that the car ran rich no matter what I did and along my journey I replaced every sensor before finding out the carbon tracks inside the AFM had breaks in it. I ended up replacing mine with a 7 pin AFM from a 90’s Ford probe / Mazda 626. That AFM is a bit bigger then the stock Datsun unit but the rubbers will fit over it and tightening the spring a couple teeth brought the AFR readings back into spec. the car still runs a little rich on idle but the emissions where pretty low for a late 70’s car and she drives perfect with good AFR readings while driving.

Now that is an interesting power steering option! Those Opel Corsa C’s are everywhere over here and you can get a complete power steering column with the computer from a junkyard for under €80. What modifications did you have to do to make the Corsa steering rack fit the Z or does it just bolt up? I imagine you replaced the Datsun steering shaft with the Opel/Holden/GM one or did you have to source one from a different car? Would you be willing to share some of the part numbers you yourself used? That might make a nice reference point for people in the future.

Look up M539 Restorations on YouTube, he restores and refurbishes BMW’s to absolute factory or better then factory spec. He uses a water blasting machine (I’m sure there is a better term for it) to clean all the parts and mainly aluminum engine parts. I’m not sure what exact product he uses afterwards but after basting he brushes on a protectant on the aluminum parts to keep them from corroding over time. Give it a look, I’m sure it would be a great product to help protect your carburetors.

After getting my 1977 280z past it’s last inspection ever and back on the road, for the first time since owning it, I took it to work to see how she drives. And man the engine feels great and incredibly healthy. Unfortunately the alignment was incredibly bad. I had her aligned during the inspection and the guy said het put everything to zero as a baseline but the car was all over the place and was very hard to turn to the right. I took it to a tire shop very close to work since I know they also do custom suspension and alignments for high performance racecars. And my god the previous guy messed up bad. The alignment wasn’t even close. Below I’ll add the alignment sheet with the terms translated to English, please note that a -0.67 degree toe means a toe out of 0.286 inches which is massive for the front wheels. The car drives a lot better now even though the rear is still off. The front office didn’t quite get what kind of car I was bringing in and just how custom the suspension (full Apex Engineered control arms and front crossmember) was and thus only scheduled a standard half hour alignment. I’ll be adjusting the rear trackwidth myself so I’ll unlock more rear toe adjustment and then pop back into the shop for a final alignment. After that I’ll be saving up to refurbish the shock absorbers as the rear once are totally gone. Eather that or a set of Intrax or KW coilovers. But the most important thing is that I can finally enjoy this beauty!

Yes, I’ll be in touch to come visit. I’m currently very busy with my garden as they will be laying the new tiles next week but I’ll come by at the end of this month or next month.

Small follow up. The “new” thermostat housing arrived last week and after a quick paint job I installed it with the sensor that broke my previous housing. This time nothing bad happened and my gauge finally worked!

Nope, she drove fine and even passed inspection! This means she is finally road legal again! Fun fact, as the car is form July 1977 she will be 50 years old next month and thus doesn’t need it’s mandatory yearly inspection anymore. This means this was the last mandatory inspection of her live!

I should get the replacement housing in somewhere in the coming days. When I do I can investigate properly what happened. I didn’t use too much force and the socket wasn’t pressed against any of the other sensors. It might actually be a casting fault from Datsun/Nissan or galvanic corrosion as the sensor looked original and probably was never replaced before. Also one of my local club members noticed a crack at the same place mine broke on one of the 280z housings he had lying around.

As my 1977 280z is all back together now and almost ready of inspection I decided to replace the temperature sensor for the gauge in the dashboard as it wasn’t reading anything. The old one came out pretty easily and was very corroded so no wonder the gauge didn’t work. While installing the new sensor I apparently torqued it a little too much and broke the housing. I didn’t even use much force so I was pretty surprised. I first thought that I might have stripped the threads but no, I took a chunk out of the entire housing! Have any of you seen anything like this? P.S. I already sourced a new housing through my local Z club which will be coming in this week.

Well the car is back together and I still haven’t found where this bracket belongs. 😅

I checked the screws on my seat mechanism cover and those too are ether M3,5 or something imperial. Bit strange as those screws are fairly rare even here in Europe.

I will check back home for you as I just took my 280z seats apart but I bet they are just standard metric M3 (3mm) screws. Even in the US they can’t be that hard to find I would think.

Language is a funny thing. I didn’t even notice it as I just read past it!

Well the interieur is back in, with the exception of the doors and seats, and I still have no clue what this bracket is used for. Guess I just have a spare part now?

I recently restored the dashboard on my 1977 280z and along my box of dashboard related parts was the following bracket. Can somebody help identify where this bracket is used?? I couldn’t find a use for it during the assembly process and I was stupid enough not to take any pictures beforehand. I also couldn’t find it in the service manual or parts diagrams.

Removing the dashboard is pretty easy, I just DIY restored mine on my 1977 280z. Even though I have a 280z I believe the 240z should be about the same. For me I just had to remove the steering wheel, disconnect the three plugs in the passenger side footwell, loosen six bolts up top (under the vent cover, two in the middle end two on each side) and four bolts on the bottom behind the center console. The last step is to disconnect the speedometer cable (might need players for that) and then just pull her out. Removing the dashboard is doable by yourself but a second person makes it a lot easier as the dashboard is pretty heavy. I used this video for a bit of guidance but as for anything on the S30 Z’s most things are pretty straight forward. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XQ_W2ZcqIE Here are also a couple pictures I have on hand that might help you a bit with locating bolt holes, electrical connectors or the speedometer cable.

I’m currently installing almost the same setup except I’m keeping the stock suspension for now. I did get the crossmember along side the control arms (and frame rails) as it somehow saved me $400 on shipping to the EU. If you are interested I’m keeping a build log with lots of pictures over on HybridZ (just started there before joining ClassicZcar). HybridZ1977 280z driving project from the NetherlandsHello everyone and welcome to my 1977 280z project! I will be using this thread to document my journey with this car and all the little thing that will be done to it to ultimately restore and modify i

I think spark and/or timing might be the issue. Recheck that you installed the distributor correctly and that all spark plug wires are in the correct position. When changing mine I accidently had them all installed one position clockwise. The car wouldn’t start and backfired like crazy. Also verify that you have spark and the timing is set correctly. Spark can be check by removing the plug and just holding it against the head but timing should really be checked with a timing gun.

If you want to take the engine apart and replace the pistons I would probably recommend also machining the block for slightly oversized pistons. This will probably result in a 2.9 or 3.0L engine. But then again what is your goal and budget with this engine. It sounds like you want a reliable and easy to maintain car to last you years while also bumping up the power. I that case I would inspect the valves and cylinders first before taking the engine apart. If they look good then some bolt-ons like headers, a cam and a cylinder head port match and polish will probably grand you more result for the money than flat top pistons. But I do agree with kickstand, get the engine running first before you touch anything. Even if it’s just briefly on starter fluid of brake cleaner.

Small update, got word from him back that he’s up and walking around!

Some of you may know a long time Z car enthusiasts from the Netherlands here on this forum by the username of dutchzcarguy. In one of the recent forum posts he revealed that he was attacked by some kid and got thrown with his head onto the asphalt. As a result he had fluid buildup between his brain and skull and that he was being admitted to the hospital. After this disturbing message from him I kept in touch with him true email. There he made clear that things weren’t looking good for him and that he knew that. Despite that he kept being positive and kept things light. The last message I got from him was yesterday at 3pm telling me that they were about to drill holes into his head (to relieve the pressure). Since then I haven’t heard from him. I try and keep my hopes up that he is oké but I can’t deny that I’m fearful of the worst. I keep checking my mail and the forums for a reply for him, even though I know that is far from the first thing he will think about once he has recovered from his surgery. He did tell me to tell you guys a funny story but unfortunately nothing comes to mind except for how I ruined the doors of my 280z because I tried to do a spot repair on my own. Unfortunately I’m not a body work guy and really screwed up the paint. Anyway I did feel kind of obligated to keep everybody here informed seeing as how involved, this 65 year old man with to much free time on his hands, was with this forum.

I have read quit a bit of your journey and I love the amount of work you have put in over the years. I’m in a bit of the same situation but I try not to fall into the full blown restoration fase…… I try to do all the work myself but found out that bodywork is just not for me. For now my goal is to fix her up a bit, pass inspection and make her a bit more representable. After that I will modify her bit by bit and eventually have the body be restored by a professional. As you are also located in Europe I would love to hear from your experience with all the different body shops. I know there are a few S30 specialists here in the Netherlands and I heard some good things about restauration shops in the Czech Republic from my neighbor who had his Beatle restored there.

So good news, if you disconnect the three connectors of the dashboard sub harnesses at the white panel on the passenger and then just remove the dashboard the car starts just fine. As seen in the pictures the dashboard is out and I can start and drive the car just fine!