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HybridZ

280Z Restomod Progress


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I'm gobsmacked by how lovely that car is.   It's nice to see someone giving one of these cars the top-notch treatment it deserves! :-)

Wow! Thanks RPMS. It's a real pleasure to put all the planning and work into one of these gems and have others appreciate it. It's going a little slow now but I should have more progress to post in 2 weeks or so.

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  • 4 weeks later...

After a long 4 weeks wait the project is moving along again. Had to play with the placement of the power window motors so there would be minimal torsion on the belt mechanism in order to get the best speed in the window movement. The pics show where we finally mounted the motors and that it's almost a straight line to the window crank. I was surprised by how quiet the motors are and the speed is similar to an OEM system. Switches went in the center console behind the shifter. 

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An update on the lengthened headlight bucket mod that we came up with in order to fit the longer LED bulbs and ballasts:

OEM buckets were cut transversely at the base and a 3 inch metal strip was tack welded between the parts. A "pocket"  was created to fit the ballast and tack welded as well:

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The modified buckets were then finished off with All Metal filler, sanded and given a couple of coats of zinc paint:

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and then 2 coats of black undercoating:

 

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Will update again with final assembly with LED bulbs and headlamps.

 

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We decided to coat the area underneath the windshield wiper cowl (that was half ass painted grey at the factory) with textured anti-corrosive black. Should give a nice background contrast once the cowl is installed again.

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PS: Sorry I can't seem to flip the upside down pic.

Edited by dmoralesbello
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  • 1 month later...

It's been very frustrating waiting for things to happen with my 280Z. The paint shop has been really busy and it seems like they're giving new projects preference over my "old Z". Anyway, the undercoating is finished so the build should advance further this week. I will keep posting.

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The material used for the undercoating was :                                                                                                                                                                 3M Body Schutz Rubberized Coating Black 08864 and 3M™ Scotchgard™ Autobody Coating,7277.

 

Here are the links for the products:

http://3mcollision.com/3m-body-schutz-rubberized-coating-black-8864.html

http://3mcollision.com/3m-scotchgard-autobody-coating-7277.html

Edited by dmoralesbello
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After buying 2 sets of mirrors (OEM black plastic and Vitaloni black plastic as well) I finally decided to mount these stainless steel bullet mirrors from the UK. I will also be swapping my original 280Z black windshield wipers for a nice set of earlier Z silver "wire" wipers. The idea is to eliminate all the black accents of the later Z for the more vintage silver/chrome look.

 

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Here's an update on the headlight bucket extension mod that we started a while back but are only now in the process of installing.

A 3"extension was welded in and a "pocket" for the LED  ballast was incorporated into the back of the bucket.

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After finishing off with black anticorrosive paint a 0.5" hole was drilled on the engine side of each bucket, fitted with a rubber grommet, the OEM wires were fed through and the LED ballast placed in its pocket and held with 3M double stick trim tape.

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The Autopal headliamp with the LED light installed has the cooling fins protruding from the back plus the ballast but fits nicely into the modified extended bucket.

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The remaining installation is SOP.post-49397-0-51142200-1449666349_thumb.jpgpost-49397-0-56544800-1449666364_thumb.jpg

 

The intensity, quality and focus of the light emanating from the LED bulbs is excellent and the final look is very close to stock.

Edited by dmoralesbello
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