TeeJayHoward

I live in Colorado Springs, CO. I'd love nothing more than to do a complete and proper restoration of this Z, but let's face it - Without a garage, there's really only so much I can do. Everything I'm going to do to this Z will be done in my apartment's parking lot. Even if I knew how to weld, I'd have to run a 125ft. extension cord out to my car, and I'd probably blow the 10A fuse for that room anyway. How much would a body shop charge to repair the rust areas I've shown?

The first picture I have: The previous owner apparently had no sense of taste. I ripped off the louver and spoiler as soon as I got home. Ugh... Who uses screws on their car!? Another pic from the rear: The next day, I started work on the Z. Step one: Remove the ugly (and heavy!) front bumper: Wait a second... That's not a regular airdam... It's the rear bumper of another car, cut in two and screwed together! And that hood? Not quite as nice as it seems: The rust damage (Pardon my bondowork - Not dry yet, I'm smoothing out the lower door): Tires are crap, don't care if I paint them: When I bought the car, this was bubbling paint. A little concerned, I gave it a tap with a screwdriver. CLUNK! A piece of my car came off! Both the driver's and passenger's floorboards have been "repaired". The guy did a crappy but okay job on the driver's floorboard. I don't know what the hell he was thinking when it came to the passenger's one! The car is questionable in many ways: ***There's an electric fan up front. Good, right? Not really... It's from a junkyard ford, and is screwed into the radiator support. I trust it about as far as I can throw it (Temps average 200F on 5 minute drives!) ***There's quite a bit of rust (not as bad as some, but still...) and I've no experience with rust repair... Yet! ***Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in this car feels loose. The turn signal switch sags, the shifter has 5 inches of play in gear, the seats vibrate... I need to go through with a wrench and tighten down everything. ***The turn signals function great - But the indicator seems to be off. Left signal on = no light in dash. Right signal on = left arrow in dash. ***The A/C has been removed. No biggie, but I wish they'd of taken out all the lines, too! ***Neither window has a handle to crank it up or down. The car came with two channel-locks, one on each door. ***The sunroof is... Uhh... Missing. In its place is a piece of plywood that's warped from sun and rain. As a result, my interior gets a daily drenching. ***The paint is chipped and cracked and bubbling and hides about a full cm of bondo on just about every corner of the car. ***Chrome. Ugh, I hate chrome. Gotta find me some non-chrome replacements for the quarter windows, hatch, and windowframes. Any suggestions? ***The ignition switch is kinda... Broken. The previous owner apparently used a screwdriver for quite some time. Now I can't get the old one out, and I've got this weird switch dangling off my steering column to start the car. I've purchased a replacement, I'm just too daft to figure out how to actually replace it! ***When braking, the car pulls to the right, HARD. As in, a panic stop will pull the steering wheel out of your hands. I've got to fix this, and quick. ***The interior... What can I say - Every. Single. Piece. needs to be replaced. All of it. Headliner, seats, dash, carpet, everything. I'm actually kinda looking forward to this. I'm hoping for a leather-wrapped dash, Corbeau A4s, AutoMeter Ultra-Lite gauges... It'll be fun. ***My headlights don't work. While flicking them on and off trying to figure it out, my friend claimed one of them briefly came on, so I think I've got a short somewhere. ***The brake light in the speedo will randomly come on. What exactly does this mean, anyway? ***The driver's rear hub has one of the studs sheered off. I need to replace it. Found a '78 280Z in a pick-n-pull, but didn't have the right tools on me at the time. Okay... There. Phew! A list of all the bad stuffs. Now for the good! ***It only cost me $1000. ***It runs. ***It's NOT my only car, so I can fix it at my pace, instead of rushing. ***It's a frickin' Z! ***It came with two full-sized spares

Bondo-ing door (Not dry yet, no rust on door) Closeup of the rusted area: Driver's rear wheel: Passenger's rear wheel: Passenger floorboard:

My hole is pretty much centered. The glass I'm missing is 15x33 (Or close to it) Pics:

I can't get the old one out to put a new one in! The previous owner was using a screwdriver to turn on the car - NOT something I want to do. Anyway, I can't seem to pull out the old one. Is there a trick to it?

I'd be more than willing to do that, but every place I've called won't do it! "We only deal with factory sunroofs" "We only do electric sunroofs" "We don't do sunroofs" Ugh! Can anyone recommend a place within 150 miles of Colorado Springs, Colorado that'll install a sunroof for me?

I've heard bad things about welding to a datsun roof - Supposedly it's very thin metal. Also, I've never welded anything in my life. I plan on learning how with my passenger floorboard in a couple weeks here - I really don't wanna start with something as easy to screw up as my roof!

To anyone else interested: They're a design no longer made by Voxx called the MGR. Voxx's web site shows them in 5-bolt design, but (obviously) 4-bolts are available. The person I emailed responded that they're the right bolt pattern, but a FWD offset, and he had to use a 1.25" spacer to get them to work right. From Voxx's website (rehosted on Imageshack):

Somewhere around the year 2002: I'm good friends with a guy I met in a high school->college transition program (he was my dormmate). He's on the hunt for a new car. His folks, me, and him travel all over looking for a decent car - The closest we came was a subaru station wagon that'd definitely seen better days. We somehow or another end up at a mutual friend's house, whose father is selling a 280ZX. My friend's mother wanted one of those when she was our age. My friend takes it out for a test drive, and his mom is in the drivers seat when they return. They love the car. I've ridden shotgun in that vehicle more times than I can count. I love it when the boost kicks in... The pushed-back-in-the-seat feeling is like nothing I've experienced before. Fast forward to 2007: About a week ago, I found a 1976 280Z for sale on Craigslist. $1400OBO, needs some minor work. I spend all day at work browsing Z forums, noting possible problem areas, and collecting prices for various items that may need to be fixed. The next day, I head on out the 40-someodd miles to take a look at the car. It's what I'd describe as "ghetto". Ugly spoiler sheetrock-screwed on, sunroof missing the glass, 100% trashed interior, 1" thick fiberglass hood with the "muscle-car cowl" on it... To put it frankly, I was disappointed. And the louver? UGH! Who actually LIKES those things? But, I figured, I'd give it a shot. I just wasted $10 worth of gas, and I want to get my money's worth. I took it out for a test drive. It didn't have the punch that my friend's car did, but it ran pretty well. Many things felt... "Loose". Images of a future LS1 under the hood prompted me to run through my checklist, even though I was 90% sure I wasn't going to buy it. To my surprise, VERY few things on the checklist needed work. The body was mostly good, with some surface rust on one wheel well, and one floorpan needing work. I talied up what would need to be replaced, and, seeing that it could easily fit into my $250/month "resto fund", I offered them a grand for it. I was surprised when the lady accepted my offer. Apparently, her father (grandfather?) had a stroke, and they needed travel funds ASAP. I called up my friend, had him take the rest of the day off at work, and drive the 150 miles to my apartment. We met up, drove down, and bought the car. I've only owned the car for about a week, and it is my first Z, but I've already got big plans for it. It's going to get a parking lot restoration for the first few months, where I'll fix anything I can that doesn't require a garage. After that, I go into serious savings mode - Ramen for the masses. Several months down the line, I'll swap in either an LS series V8, RB series I6, or an L28ET. The decision hasn't really been made yet (I consider myself too uninformed still), but it's going to be one hell of a fun car. I've got myself a '97 3000GT for a daily driver, so the Z's going to be my "fun" car. My friend still has his 280ZX, and I'm looking forward to one day taking a couple pics of our cars together. I'm hoping to turn my car into something like Clifton's 240z, but with Mustang GT rims, different bumpers, and "only" 300RWHP. Aside from that, the man damned near has my dream car Now if I can only turn this Camaro-wannabe ratrod back into a proper Z...

I was on the hunt for some Mustang GT-like rims when I came across the following picture: What rims are on the left car? Are they using the S30 hubs?

When in gear, my shift knob can move approximately 4-5 inches from side to side. I'd much rather have the nice, solid, click/clunk feel of my 3000GT. Is there any way to achieve this? And while I'm at it, the shifter's this thin rod - Not exactly appealing. Is there a shorter, thicker rod, perhaps with a tapered end, available?

I've got a '76 280z with a piece of plywood bungie-corded to the roof. There's this nasty hole where the sunroof used to be... The previous owner had it fly off at speed. Anyway, I need a sunroof (and associated mounting hardware) for a 1976 280z, and I can't for the life of me find one. Were they not a factory option?

I just recently picked up a 1976 Datsun 280z, and I'm looking for ideas. I'd like to replace the rear drum brakes with rotors, but really don't feel like spending $900 to do it. Are any other options available? And while I'm at it, under hard braking, my car pulls to the right - HARD. Hard enough to pull the steering wheel out from under your hands. What could possibly be wrong, and how would I go about checking/fixing? I'm by no means new to mechanical work, but I'd rather not do anything involving welding - If any sort of "bolt-in disk kits" are available, could someone toss me a link? Oh yeah, almost forgot - A stud is sheared off on my rear tire's hub. Is the stock hub used in a disc brake conversion? Note to self: Read the goddamned stickies. Sorry!