Hello all, I had signed up for an account on here at some point in time and I decided I should finally put it to use.. I have owned quite a few cars mostly being Honda's. I currently own 3 cars, a 1993 Honda del Sol, a 1972 MG Midget, and my current obsession, a 1976 Datsun 280Z.

Just because I can't ignore the other 2 here are a few quick pictures of them.
The del Sol.



I've had that car since 08' now, and when I got it it was pretty trashed.

The Midget.




This is a project for later...for now it sits under a car cover.

And finally my 280Z, which is what I'm sure is what people here are a tiny bit more interested in.





It had been repainted black by someone. The paint wasn't in very good shape, despite appearing alright in pictures. Since I've gotten the car it has faded quite a lot. It had some odd OBX-R muffler welded onto the stock pipe. and came with a set of the zxtt wheels. The taillight surrounds had been poorly painted black which was chipping. It was missing plenty in the interior, the turn signals had been sprayed black with something, all in all realistically it needed a lot of work.

So that all being said here is the starting point for this car. I will update this thread with progress that is made to the car and in time hopefully it will become what my ideal image of a s30Z should be. Thanks and stick around!

VERY cool! Welcome aboard. I've seen that car somewhere before - was it up for sale not too long ago?

There's a few good, extensive build threads here that should give you some good info (and motivation)... I'll link them if you;re interested.

Glad to have you here, eager to see your Z brought back to glory!

AZhitman wrote:VERY cool! Welcome aboard. I've seen that car somewhere before - was it up for sale not too long ago?

There's a few good, extensive build threads here that should give you some good info (and motivation)... I'll link them if you;re interested.

Glad to have you here, eager to see your Z brought back to glory!

No this car actually used to belong to a friend of mine, and I purchased it from her about a 8 months ago, the last time this was for sale and listed for sale was probably...3-4 years ago.

I'll gladly take any good build threads I can find! I'd really appreciate the links!

Welcome to NICO
I love the build threads. I always pick up some new ways of doing things.
Gord

gmac708 wrote:Welcome to NICO
I love the build threads. I always pick up some new ways of doing things.
Gord

Thanks! I do the same, they're always useful to pick up stuff. I was actually looking at your 240 build thread last night as a matter of fact.

As for the start of this car I had to replace a lot of random misc parts that I don't have any pictures of BUT it was
-Spark Plugs
-Distributor Cap
-Distributor Rotor
-Thermostat
-1 Injector
-Brake Master Cylinder
-Front Brake Pads
-MAF Sensor
-Valve Cover Gasket
-Valve Lash Adjustment
-Rear Fuel Line
-Oil/Diff/Trans Fluid
-Shifter Bushings

Unfortunately as said there are no pictures of any of that. So instead here are a few more pics, I had removed most of the black paint around the chrome on the taillights, however the chrome was chipped off underneath as well in a few parts.





And the valve cover got painted, again unfortunately, now it is bubbling and cracking but it's fine I plan to have it powdercoated later on.

Welcome back!!!

I love it.

Something about the way that the quarter glass curves up just gives me a huge smile everytime I see one.

300ZXttZMAN wrote:Welcome back!!!

I love it.

Something about the way that the quarter glass curves up just gives me a huge smile everytime I see one.

Thanks! I do quite like the quarter glass myself actually, then again I love the whole car too!

A few more things....


I didn't have the fusible link covers and I wanted them...so I got them!

Before...no covers..and ugly.

After! With covers and nice!

Much better!

The wiper arms had been previously painted black, and I kinda like black wiper arms. So I repainted them!




A quick trip to the local junkyard netted me a new wiper switch since mine was apparently broken. Unfortunately it didn't fix my problem. I also found a good set of dash vents that weren't broken, and a mildly worn e-brake boot.

Finally found an ARC Shift Knob that would fit!


Also could a moderator potentially move this thread to the Classic Z General section? I noticed most of the build threads are posted there.. Thanks!

Alright it's been a little while, so here's a small update!

Project Kics R40 Neo Chronos


These will fit the new wheels that are coming nicely.

Very nice!!!

300ZXttZMAN wrote:Very nice!!!

Thanks!

Another random picture!

Wheel time...
Yes they are Rotas, I needed tires and wasn't particularly fond of the zx wheels so I decided to get a halfway decent temporary set up.

Fronts



Rears



Side


Issues

Rear Clearance about 3mm


Front Clearance about none


Final pic

Arizona Z Car Steering Knuckles

Just because I'm bored and I feel like posting more.

So at this point and for a while even my clutch had felt pretty odd. I adjusted the pedal, and all was good, maybe a week later it was out again, so I readjusted it, 3 days later it was bad again. Every time this would happen it would feel as though the clutch wouldn't come off the flywheel enough and it would make shifting very difficult. Then one day while driving to work after another clutch adjustment I could feel it getting worse as I drove. Heading to the local z specialist I left the car there so he could deal with it. Come to find out my clutch fork had a hole in the center of it, and from that hole it had cracked in 4 different directions. That would explain a lot. At the same time we realized my transmission mount was split in half. Naturally a new clutch fork and trans mount found its way in the car, but I also replaced the rear main seal, and the input / output shaft seals. The day after I got the car back from all that bit of fun I went to take it for a drive, and realized my charge light was on and my battery was slowly draining. One quick U-turn later it was stuck back at home and not drive able again. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the clutch fork/ mount but I did get pictures of the old alternator that came out. It looks as though it had been in use for well.....35 some odd years haha.

Old and dead..


I headed down to a friends shop and picked up a shiny new alternator.

Finally the wheels got back to me since I had sent them out for a bit of work.
The lips weren't PERFECTLY matched but it was fine they're just Rotas for now anyways.



So, I took them outside for another test fit with the correct color.

Meat is always nice.

I picked up a used steering rack from a friend, and had it rebuilt, then I picked up new tie rod ends and ball joints.

She is looking real good. Amazing! It seems you are having a bit of bad luck with the clutch and stuff like that but you are sorting everything out. Keep up the good work and the updates.
Gord

gmac708 wrote:She is looking real good. Amazing! It seems you are having a bit of bad luck with the clutch and stuff like that but you are sorting everything out. Keep up the good work and the updates.
Gord

Funny I just finished reading your build thread today at work and then you reply here

All the clutch issues are currently fixed and it's been working fine since, I wish it were a 5 speed but that's later on..

Otherwise though I also picked up new extended wheel studs, and 10mm spacers to solve my clearance issues.

Very nice I am loving the updates I am going to move this to the Classic Z general section so that its not in the Intro thread for 2 reasons.

1. So that more people will see it.
2. It won't clog up the Intro sub forum. So that we will know when a new member joins by seeing a new screen name that we have never seen before

gmac708 wrote:Welcome to NICO
I love the build threads. I always pick up some new ways of doing things.
Gord

+1 I love build threads.

300ZXttZMAN wrote:Very nice I am loving the updates I am going to move this to the Classic Z general section so that its not in the Intro thread for 2 reasons.

1. So that more people will see it.
2. It won't clog up the Intro sub forum. So that we will know when a new member joins by seeing a new screen name that we have never seen before

That's fine by me I was actually hoping it could be moved here anyways!

So at this point I had finally collected everything I needed to put my wheels on the car
Seen here!

The list of it all was this
- 16x8 +10 Rota RB-R's (Front)
- 17x8.5 +4 Rota RB-R's (Rear)
- Project Kics 10MM Spacers (Making front offset 0, and rear -4)
- Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sports 225/50/16 Front, 245/40/17 Rear
- Ichiba 50MM S13 Extended Wheel Studs
- Arizona Z Car Bumpsteer Spacers/Short Steering Knuckles
- Replacement Ball Joints
- Replacement Tie Rod Ends
- Rebuilt 280Z Steering Rack
- Energy Suspension Polyurethane Steering Rack Bushings

welcome to classic Z

you are really pushing the limit with that wheel/tire combo, I assume coil overs are in your future? otherwise I don't see these fitting under the stock bodywork

evildky wrote:welcome to classic Z

you are really pushing the limit with that wheel/tire combo, I assume coil overs are in your future? otherwise I don't see these fitting under the stock bodywork

Thanks for the welcome!

And yes coilovers and fender flares are in store for the car. However when I was test fitting the set up I was initially worried, because it looked like the rear was going to stick out about a good inch-ish seen here.



But who knows how it'll look when it actually is on

well if you run ZG flared it'll cover that

are they clearing the stock suspension?

evildky wrote:well if you run ZG flared it'll cover that

are they clearing the stock suspension?

I will eventually run flares but that's a later thing, and in that picture the car was still in the air, and not even bolted on so it stuck out more than it should.

As per the stock suspension I had to get the aforementioned 10mm spacers so they would fit, so they do now!

Getting work done with all those parts!



Whoops...oem hardline broke

And they fit just fine! Which I'm very happy about I thought it was going to stick out quite a lot like in the above picture

I finally went out and replaced that silly OBX-R muffler that was welded to the stock pipe, which was terrible looking.
MSA was having their christmas sale on twice pipes, and it's much better than that useless overly large muffler.

More pics.. Dirty car..