ehren

this is killer

wow man. yeah I suggest waiting for a cooler day. pulling the intake off wasn't too bad. .. but the bolts and nuts on mine were in decent shape. None of them were frozen or rounded off. It took me about 3 hours to take the intake off but I was working slowly and I dismantled many of the fuel lines and vacuum hoses so I could get to the bolts holding the intake on. There are 4 bolts on the top and 6 more underneath. the 6 underneath also help to clamp down on the exhaust manifold. They weren't too hard to get to. Just used a really long extension. Look for them with a flahslight. They are nuts with big washers underneath. Now that the intake is off, i could probably take the exhaust header off in about 5 minutes. I'm now debating if I should buy an MSA header. It needs a new exhaust anyway...

Pulled the efi intake off today. 4 barell intake is on order. Man it was hot as blazes today. Gotta start reading up on the things i can ditch and what I can keep related to fuel and ignition...

Finally some better pics.

I dont have that kind of budget at the moment. I 'd like to just get the l28 running for under 500$. Cruise it for a while and save my pennies for the v8.

Thanks for the info. That seems like a really good deal. I'll bet if I wanted something like that done in Jersey it would 2x that much. I'll ask around. Anyone on here bought one of the refurbished tanks from zcarsource.com ? I see you can get the fuel tank and a sending unit as a package deal. . . In the meantime I've gotta figure out what else I need to get this engine running. I know it needs a new AFM. Much of the rubber in the EFI system is dryrotted. Honestly I'm not sure if I even wanna mess with it. For the price a new AFM I could pick up a 4 barrel intake and throw a Holley on it. I admit it's attractive to me because I picked up a lot of experience tuning the carb on my hot rod. Thoughts?

I may have to go that route anyway. I just found a pinhole rust spot in it. bummer. Mind me asking how much it cost you to fix yours??

Pulled the bumper off and took the fuel tank out. Not too much hassle. I continue to be impressed with the condition of this car. It appears the whole things was gone through very thoroughly at least once. I think it was originally white and it's been repainted a dark green. I've been amazed that I have not run up on a single frozen bolt yet. Also popped the valve cover off and visually inspected the valve train. Looks decent. Oil doesn't look gummed up. Wear on the cam looks minimal. I have to clean the fuel tank out. Quite a bit of varnish and rust on the inside of the tank. Plan is to use acetone to get rid of the varnish and then I'd like to try cider vinegar to eat the rust. Anyone used cider vinegar for this before? I'd like to avoid muratic acid if possible that stuff is really nasty. Last step would be to rinse thoroughly with a power washer and baking soda... I'm gonna pull the old steering wheel off now. It looks like the heat really got to it and it bubbled up like popcorn. Weird.

Finally was able to get started on the project. I was gonna drop the gas tank out but I couldn't stand looking at those bumpers for another second. I pulled the front bumper off. I'll be doing the rear next. Gonna put some 240 bumpers on it. I was also having a really hard time pushing the thing around so I pulled the front brake pads off and sure enough its a heck of a lot easier to roll around now. Im hoping I'll get to the gas tank sometime this weekend. I'm planning to the GC coilover setup soon. I was gonna throw fender flares on it too but as Ive really started to examine the car, I think its too nice to hack it up. I'll just get some 16x8 wheels to fill out the wells and leave it at that. Hoping to have this thing on the road for next summer!

I'll start with this pic. It was my final view of my 1930 Ford coupe. Real Henry Ford steel body, 400" Pontiac mill. Went 12.6 with a open 2.79 rear on 235 all season radials. I started building it when I was 21. I finished it when was 31. I turned every nut and bolt on the whole car. Did all my own fabricating and welding and built the engine. Drove it and raced it for the last 3 years. Had the time of my life in that car. But time changes all. My dad is getting up in years and I've decided that I'd like to help him build another hot rod. A real father son project. So I unloaded the old coupe for decent coin. (it went to Germany btw!) Most of the money from the hot rod, I'll be sinking into the project with my dad. But... I needed to fill that empty gaping hole in the garage... enter the 280z. I've loved these cars for a long time. The short deck and long nose is just so sexy. But I'm preaching to the choir here. Anyway, I got this car for dirt cheap. It was owned by an older gent who more or less abandoned it at his local mechanics shop. He signed the title and told the mechanic to get rid of it. I jumped on it. I've never owned one of these cars but I have a decent automotive history that has included 2 1968 Mustangs, a Grand National, 3 turbo 240sx's, a Lancer Evo, the hot rod and and currently a 350z. I never have a ton of money so I wrench on my own cars. I'm looking forward to getting in to this thing. First thing on the list - drop the gas tank and clean it out. It doesn't run and it's been sitting for about 5 years. The older gent that owned it was an ambassador or some such thing. He took this car with him when he traveled. Apparently it's been in Japan, South Africa and the Philippines... still has consulate stickers on the windshield. Even cooler, if the stories are to be believed; his wife apparently road raced it. So I'm looking forward to starting a new chapter in this little car's life. Aside from getting it running and reliable I have no definite plans. Curious to hear your thoughts.