Hello everyone, I'm new here. A couple months ago I picked up a 76 280z. This is my first z build, I'm usually building s13 and s14 platforms. I found the car 3 hours south in southern Ohio. It was sitting in the previous owner's garage for 10 years and he had acquired from his friend who past away that was in the process of restoring the car and it also sat in his garage for 10 years.

When I got the car it had some Ford v6 bolted in it but no wiring hooked up, leading me to believe the swap never ran. My plan is to swap an rb25det into it after I've completed the body work.

And now the pictures and story of where it started and where I'm at now.



















What the car looked like when I got it home, along with a truck load full of parts from every area of the car. At first glance it looked really clean.

Awaiting teardown in it's new home



Not a spot of rust inside the car.

Clean floorpans!

Fenders removed, engine yanked and bay degreased.

I noticed the quarter panels had some bubbles and cracks and I could see a patch from inside the rear hatch area. I threw some paint stripper on to see what was underneath.





Not good :107:
















Passenger side was perfect except a few dents. The driver's side on the other hand is a mess. An old school patch was brazed in and the entire quarter was pounded in and then shaped with way to much filler. Time to replace the quarter!

I ordered a later model 280zx quarter hoping it would be a close fit, but it wasn't anywhere close. Since I couldn't find a new 280z quarter I figured I'd make this one work. Some trimming, pounding and welding later and it was beginning to look like a quarter panel again. It even had a body line!

Dropped the fuel tank and pulled the rear bumper shocks. Also cut out the spare tire well in prep for a fuel cell.

Now that all the welding was done getting the quarter in it was time to start roughing it in and getting the rest of the body prepped.

Time for some primer!

Guide coat and blocking!





I didn't like how this door gap was looking so I had to go back and fix it.






Much better

P.S. Ignore the funky stuff on the quarter, I didn't finish that area because I knew it would be getting cut out for flares.

Got some other goodies in. Auto to manual swap parts

Back to body work...







Got my flares in. The are ZG wide flares.














Side note before I show the pictures of the cut wheel wells. Is it normal for a 280z to sit so high? The wheel gap before I cut the wells is insane. It has 14 inch rims atm.

Hacking up the wheel wells and fitting the flares. I have better mounting hardware on order.











A quick photoshop if what it will look like lowered. Will have larger and wider rims of course.

The last of the body pieces are now in primer!




I still need to order a front bumper but after that I can get some paint on this thing! Stay tuned!

Got the dashboard removed and interior stripped down

Good work!
Welcome to NICO!