Zetsaz

Not much work done on the fuel tank. Camaro tank is too much of an uncertainty and would require a little to much tampering for my interests right now. I think I'm gonna head to a junkyard nearby where I know there's a Z and rip the old spare wheel well, tank, and straps, then weld the wheel well back into my own car and bring it back to stock. Realistically I could go with a fuel cell, but the inconvenience and amount of custom fab work is something I'd rather put into patching up the body. Gutted the interior. The floors were actually mostly in tact until I started tearing out the factory sound proofing. I found a few extra rusty bits and cut them to delay any future problems, then ghetto patched them with some sheet metal and rivets in the style of Crazyoctopus If you look closely in the picture, at the front by the gas pedal you'll what looks like wet metal. I'm pretty sure that's fluid leaking out of my clutch master cylinder. I tried to bleed it with... meh results. That'll be one of the first things that gets replaced once I get an original tank back in. That's all the updates for now, until I head back to the junkyard to strip the 280 there for the tank, straps, spare wheel well, headlight buckets and maybe a few random other bits.

I removed some of the interior panels so I could work on the fuel lines in the back easier and figure how I'll hook up the filler hose properly later. Removed all the emblems and saved them for after I get to doing some body work. Tried bleeding the clutch, but it still won't fully disengage, I'll have to figure some more out tomorrow. Removed the rusty old cutoff bumper mounts. Pretty easy to get to since my tank is already dropped. Mandatory shot next to my daily driver. A 91 Toyota Celica ST with 276k miles. Put the back end on jack stands to work more comfortably around the fuel tank area. This also gives you a better view of the body. Most of the car is surface rust (especially the roof where all the paint is gone). Driver side rocker panel will be replaced in due time, along with the passenger side dogleg, and both of the lower rear fenders. Fortunately the wheel wells are all in tact. Finished cutting up the spare wheel area. (Pic of me excitedly jumping in the back with a grinding tool because I don't have any more fun shots. That's about it for now. I was going to properly bleed the clutch, but I was tired of having to jump the car so I took the battery to autozone. Might be bad. It's on a trickle charger until the morning. When I start the engine the car won't go into reverse, the gears just grind, and if I let go of the clutch entirely the rear wheels will still spin a bit. I'll adjust the clutch when I get my battery back and figure out what the deal is, bleeding, or something in the cabin.

Some of you might have seen my post about wanting to buy this car. I've been a huge fan of Z cars since I was about 12 years old. I finally had the opportunity to buy a 280z at a ridiculously low price and I went for it. It has a clean title and an engine that'll start and that was about it. For those reading, the intent of this car is not to build a show quality car, or a performance monster; just me trying to apply all the things I've learned and been reading about for the last 7 years of trolling around online and staring at build threads and S30 pictures. It's also a learning experience for me, since I bought it dirt cheap and it has some rust issues and all that jazz I'm not afraid to tear into stuff. Pulled it home with my dad's tiny little Toyota pickup he uses as a daily to get to work about 3 minutes from home. This is the first problem I have to address with the car. And probably the only reason I got the car for $300 (Some people lack both patience to do things right, and the resources to pay someone else to do it right) The spare wheel well was cut out (very poorly) and a different tank was installed off some unknown car from a local junkyard. They didn't even bother to get one with a feeder line on the side, just went with what they got and left the fuel inlet hanging to the side. On the bright side, they did wire a nice Walbro fuel pump to it. Unfortunately that was jimmy-rigged too. The cables were attached after the fact and went straight to the battery and a switch in the cabin. The setup works for running the engine, but it's totally unusable. I'm not too bummed though, I'll probably be picking and buying the fuel tank from my brother-in-law's F-body Camaro. I removed the fuel pump switch and wired it to the stock connections. Worked perfectly and engine ran smooth. No idea why they didn't just do that the first time. Much easier. I removed all the old breather hoses from the mystery tank to clean things up, cut some of the excessively long fuel lines and started properly cutting the spare wheel area (on the bottom right of the pic you can see how much metal was left hanging down) so I could rig up the tank as it is while I work out other things in the engine until I get my hands on the Camaro tank and do a proper job. Pardon the long post that was catch-up/initial thoughts on the car. More to come from today's work in the next post.

I'm beyond excited to get working. $300 bucks isn't bad at all haha. Ghetto build thread will be coming up as soon as I get it home.

Purchased the car half an hour ago. Should be borrowing a trailer to get it back to my place in the next couple days. Super excited.

Update: I was waiting on a month's worth of pay to come in from my job on campus. I didn't buy the car because if I did I wouldn't have enough to pay for everything I needed before my two paychecks came in on Friday. They guy was scrapping it by Tuesday because our scrapyard in town offered him more for the earth day promotions they have every year. I was bummed. BUT... the seller messaged me today saying he had gotten too busy to take the car down and he still has it. He's taking $300. I'll probably be buying it later tonight if I can work out a way to pick it up with my dad. Updates to come.

UPDATE: Still waiting for my dad to check it out sometime this week and get the okay from him to have it in the backyard. In the meantime, I was talking with my older brother about what exactly I'd do with it, if I go and buy it in the next week. We decided the rust was probably too much of a time/money investment to really consider a full restoration, but it's still okay to have some fun. So that plan would be to: -Buy it. -Make it drivable -Clean out the interior -Do some really cheap patch work on any of the rust holes to clean it up a bit -Sand all the faded and chipped paint, then do a cheap rattle-can flat black paint job Any serious investments beyond that will be things that are fully transferable to a different rust free shell in a few years when I'm working in a real career field and have more serious income. Transfer all the good parts to the better shell then scrap the old body or sell it and be at only $50-$100 lost for the fun of having something to play around with now. More car experience gained, more fun had, without any huge investments trying to make major restorations and biting off more than I can chew.

Yeah, Utah roads spell death for things like this. Even my 91 Celica has some rust issues near one of the wheel wells from the salt (granted the thing is ridiculously well taken care of and runs beautifully despite it's 276k miles). It wouldn't take much to get it road worthy, it would just be a fair bit of work replacing the doglegs and rocker panels to make me comfortable with the rust damage. The rest of the car is actually pretty good despite a bit of chipping paint.

Hahahaha, you may just have me convinced. And I appreciate the humor. I'll keep you guys updated. Currently in college and living at home, so I have to get the okay from the pop to get it home. Not that I couldn't buy it anyway... but I'd rather have his approval since it'll be sitting in his backyard or garage for the next year or two if I buy it. Plus he knows how to weld far better than I do... I'd rather be on his good side.

That's what I was thinking... It needs new paint obviously, but on a project I would repaint no matter what. Literally, the only thing concerning me right now is the rockers and doglegs having to be replaced. I know I can find panels, but I'm not sure how difficult the work would be for me and my dad, and I have no clue how much it would cost to do it in a shop.

Been a while since I posted. I'm currently looking at buying a '75 280z as a project car. I was curious about whether or not you guys think it's worth buying. Guy offered it to me for $400, before he decides to scrap it for $350. Here's the details The good: -Running engine -Clutch replaced a few years ago (needs to be bled properly, no pressure right now) -Exhaust is almost new, was in a shop being worked on to pass inspections for a while before they decided to stop throwing money at it. -No rust on the wheel wells -No holes in the floor panels -Interior is complete -Glass is in excellent shape -83k miles -Dashboard is slightly faded but has no chips or cracks. Near perfect condition -All lights etc... operational. The bad: -Rockers and doglegs will need to be replaced, they're pretty rusted, few holes -Floor panels have some rust, but it seems to be surface and mostly on the underside -Two pinholes in driver side door -Carpet and seats are torn up a bit -Missing stereo -Dented passenger side headlight bezel -No bumpers (fine by, I would shave rear and get a 240z style bumper up front anyway. -Might need new batter

Ah yeah... smog checks. I hadn't thought about how that would affect the price. I'll keep looking around here, just because I know a few good deals pop up every now and then, but I'll definitely be looking in CA and AZ. Now that I remember, a couple summers ago I worked with the Utah Conservation Corps and I have a few connections to wildlife and fire jobs. I may be able to get a job in Cali for the summer doing firefighting. Not a bad time to look around I guess.

Nah, I think that's actually completely accurate. I was looking through some of the other pics I got. When I was on the phone with the guy I had the impression that the suspension had had some work done and the interior was in good shape (aside from the carpet being torn out, which wasn't ignored of course). That and I was kind of expecting the body to be a little more complete at that price. Passenger fender will either need to have some welding done, or be replaced. I have absolutely no problem working with interior. In fact I enjoy it. If I replaced the carpet myself, even without a kit, I would have fun. Sound proofing, POR15 on floor boards, you name it. But patch work isn't exactly something I can do well. When the guy said there was no rust and the body was in solid shape, I was expecting better than the follow up emails I got. My brother and I will work on an engine or some interior/audio stuff and painting all day long, but any body work that takes more than a couple days terrifies us. Guess it's back to waiting for the right one to show up. I'll be in Vegas for a few days next month, so I might keep an eye out in the Arizona area. I'm also probably visiting my dad's uncle in El Paso, TX over the summer, so I'll probably start taking a look there as well. I've actually seen a couple Z's in good shape there.

That's kinda what I was thinking. The guy is incredibly helpful too. He says he'd rather sell it to me than some other people that have seen it since he knows I can appreciate it more. I'm gonna try offering $600 (Father's approval since he's helping with the project... though he still doesn't like the project idea).

Just talked to the guy. Aside from a paint job and interior work, all it needs to be up and running is the engine and tranny, clutch and driveshaft. Knowing that, do you think this would be worth ~$750? If not, how much would you offer?

I've been looking through it quite a bit. It's pretty sick. (Though to be honest I would have been perfectly content with what you started with too. haha) Definitely one of my favorites. Eventually I'd like to do something like that, but since I'm incredibly inexperienced I plan on starting with an L28ET.

Never would have guessed. But I guess the 240z is in higher demand, so I assume it's for more than just the lighter weight and bumpers haha. Still have no idea what to offer the guy. I was fairly stoked about it at first until I saw the pictures. Honestly, I would still be excited anyway since I think doing some carpet and interior work would be loads of fun. Especially getting the audio done right now. The only concern I'm having, is I have no idea what's missing mechanically. I know the driver door won't open from the outside (an easy fix that I've done on tons of cars), dash will need a cap obviously, new seats, new shift boot and possibly a new console. (Can't tell if it's just dusty or completely faded to gray, can you just paint them? haha) Aside from that, I really don't know what's there. I would be replacing the engine and transmission anyway, but I don't know how much else I'll have to be buying. No clutch transmission or drive shaft. That's why I come here to ask. EDIT: The 260z seems to have sold anyway.

No kidding, but the 260z needed some "body work" on the rocker and some other things and the guy wouldn't send me pictures. I don't know if there's a ton of rust, or it needed to be replaced or if it just had a dent in it. No idea what condition the floor boards were like and the guy never got me the pictures he said he would. Not that it couldn't be a better choice, but from a business perspective the guy isn't being very helpful. I could get the interior and paint done for $500 + the $700 the guy wants. That's $1200, how much is a decent L28ET swap? $700? $800? That's $2k right there with a better engine and basically the same body. (Aside from the body kit) I would take the 260z if I had the money right (if the guy would help me out by showing me what kind of condition the rest of the car is rust-wise. I have 2 pics to go off). But this is just another alternative. Rust free body for super cheap, then dump my own engine into. Just another starting point for me to consider if the price is right.

Not sure what to think of it... Headlights would need replacing, haven't seen the rear lights. Made a list of what would be needed to get the body in the shape that I would like. Carpet (done by myself): $30-$50 depending on the type of carpet I buy. (Not planning on buying a kit... way too much) Front lights: $50 Seats: ??? Seat covers: $40 POR15: $40 $180, plus the eventual dash cap of $150 = $330 Knowing that, is the chassis worth buying? If so how much would you offer?

I take it all back. Found a '75 280z. Paint is pretty much gone from sitting in the sun, same with carpet. But the whole interior is in tact and there's almost no rust on the car aside from some on the floor pans. (Obviously) Included is a Chevy 350 engine, not tranny or anything though. Dropped the price to 1k for me since he would rather it go to someone who's interested in the car. Roughly $700-$800 for just the chassis, but he's sending me pics later so I can decide and then make an offer. I'll be posting pics to see what you guys think.

Good Lord. O.O That's expensive. There's no way that can't be had for less with a little searching. That just seems like so much. I'd just go for the RB25 at that point. I still haven't decided. I may go the 1JZ route. 1JZ-GTE (Buy it now, 2.3k USD. Everything included) Edit: or even this one.

FRONT SUMP WITH MANUAL W58 RWD TRANSMISSION, WIRING HARNESS, & AUTOMATIC ECU Front sump... but I was thinking it would be closer to this. I don't plan on using the GReddy transmission or the R154.

Oh, definitely. I get excited thinking about what I would do while working on the engine and the interior, and I haven't even found a car that I'm buying for sure. haha Do you happen to know about how much the JZ engine swaps cost? Not for anything extra, just to get the stock turbo engine/transmission/ecu in the car and running.

Actually it's slowly becoming that since I don't think I'll be buying this particular car, but I'm glad you asked. I actually just started a thread on that here. But, I'll sum up what I want to do. The car itself would just be a project car, and eventually maybe a daily driver. As time goes by it'll probably end up as a weekend car. Engine-wise, I'm not looking to do anything extremely fancy since I'm mostly just gonna be using it in town. I want to do some sort of a L6 conversion. The L28 isn't a bad option or a rebuilt L28ET, but since my dad is helping with part of the funding and work, I'll more likely be going with a Toyota 1JZ or 2JZ conversion. He's seems much more willing to help me out with that because he's had a good experience with Toyota engines and he likes how reliable they are. That and I've heard good things about those engines here. Interior, I'll probably due some sound deadening and custom audio stuff. (A am going to be a music teacher after all... what good would my car be if I didn't have good sound? ) Not too concerned about seats, but I know there are tons of possible swaps out there.

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