TheNewKid

Thanks for the positive feed back. I'm thinking of getting these http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=Radial+T%2FA&partnum=26SR4RADTARWL2V2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes tires for the rear and 205/60s for the front. Any reviews on them?

Alright guys I've got a huge update. So back in march of last year I wrecked because of loss of traction in the rain and the damage was pretty bad. The damage: After this I considered parting the car out because of the amount of damage and rust. Instead I decided to do what I could with the money I had. For around 400$ I turned it into what it is now. First thing I did was use a stud welder and jack to pull the wrecked panel. I spent about a solid week on this causing it to require a moderate amount of bondo to smooth out. The repair is far from perfect but I'm very proud of my work. All the bondo used only cost 12$ in this project. Bondo repair: After this I decided to buy new fenders and a door because of the amount of rust they both had and the fact that the door was crunched in. I found a parts car via craigslist and got the door and fenders for 100$ without any rust, Amazing deal but the guy was desperate to sell them and it was a 80 mile drive one way. Fenders and door install: I then removed all of the trim and filled the holes with a small amont of bondo after caving them in a small amount. After spending about a week applying and sanding bondo I primered it flat black with rustoleum rattle cans. The look was really good but to grungy for my taste. Primered car: I did not like the look of rattle canned rims so I go them powder coated gloss black for 100$ for all 4. The z caps were 50$ off of ebay. Rims after powder coating: I decide to do a rustoleum paint job simply because I want to spend my money elsewhere on the car (rust repair, engine, interior). The paint job should last me a few years while I build up the rest of the car but really looks awesome as of right now. I did 8 coats via harbor freight 20$ hplv of 60/40 rustoleum hunter green to thinner wet-sanding every other coat. The paint job looks awesome for what it is, a fun car not a show car. Touch up is freaking easy and for the 50$ spent on materials and 20$ for the gun I recommend. With this being said if I where to do it over I would have used automotive paint.My initial idea was to roll it on but this method would have literally taken 3x the work of hplv. Anyways heres the rusults after polishing & waxing: I plan to keep the 6cly because its my mothers car now (also the reason why its green haha). The engine/tranny will be redone for optimal fuel efficiency & reliability. Before that I will be redoing the interior by starting from the ground up in order to repair rust. Replacement frame rails & roll cage for saftey will be a part of the equation. New tires coming soon as well, whats the biggest tire I can fit in the rear? Im thinking 195/70/14 in the front and 235/60/14 in the back... its going to eventually be a straight line car.

Btw here's a video of my "dual" exhaust setup

Hey guys me and my friend were curious about what my 0-60 time is so we decided to do 10 test runs. My fastest time was 7.89 sec. I'm kind of curious how other peoples stockish 280z's do in the 0-60. I think that's pretty good and supposedly it's about what they ran stock.

Got single 2 1/4 exahust with single in dual out flowmaster super 44 installed on the z today. Sounds really mean, not quite like a v8 but not like a civic either. Really deep raspy sound. No video yet but I've got a few picks.

Hey guys sorry it was a busy week. Turned out that when I told my brother to fill it all the way up with water and then add antifreeze he just put a gallon of antifreeze in there and didn't bother with the water because he was sure that only antifreeze went in....Well hes not allowed to work on the z anymore...let alone any car. So now its running perfectly fine and cooler than ever with the new water-pump and thermostat.

Wednesday afternoon on the way home from practice my z suddenly had a huge leak. It was coming out of the front from the water pump. So I went to oreilly's and bought a new water pump thermostat and gaskets. After installing these the z dose not leak but overheats after 5 minutes. I left the fan shroud off but I highly doubt that's why. Im going to try reinstalling the old water pump but I dont have a clue why the new one would be faulty...

BTW I am now painting it dark gray with black racing stripes (Orange will get too many tickets)...Lots of questions about the rustoleum paint job. I've seen a-lot of roll on paint jobs done for like 100$! That sounds very good because I am a poor high school student with minimal money but a-lot of time and enthusiasm. I always have friends over helping me with all of this stuff too and they are more than willing to sand and roll . Yes I said roll... I know the disadvantages to this like the fact that it will probably only last 5 years but by then I will either have more money to do it right or be an even poorer collage student and do it again . Has anyone rolled rustoleum on this forum?? I can only find sprayed on jobs but I just dont think I have the resources or $ to spray it right.

Ok guys, lots of updates. First of all I decided not to go with bondo. I used a product called QuickSteel. The product adheres to the metal very well. Actually, a little to well because it takes FOREVER to sand even with 60 grit. I've gotten 20 out of 28 holes sanded down so far and its taken me literally 4-5 hrs. Also my old cowl had 2 giant bubbling rusty bondo mounds that the so called paint shops said would cost 500$ to repair, so I found an add on Craigslist for a straight cowl without rust for 50$. When I removed the old cowl the paint shops said it would probably have extensive rust damage...it was ABSOLUTELY rust free! BUT there was a giant pile on leaves and trash I vacuumed out . The zx rims have 2 coats of paint on them now and will probably get a 3rd just to be safe. The only other thing is that my defrost and heat stopped working one day so I popped the hood and I saw that one of my hoses was loose. I plugged it back in and my defrost and heat work again?! I also ordered a flowmaster super 44 muffler in an attempt to make my car get a deeper v8 sound...I know it will never truly sound like one but hopefully my friends at school wont know the difference...

(I will post progress daily until spring break when it will hopefully be ready for paint) 46 days until spring break: Alright I got some of work done today on the 280z. First I went to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and purchased some bondo. I bought the bondo to fill in the holes left over from removing the trim. I will also repair some heavily pitted surface rust with the stuff. After removing the trim I painted my rims black after laying down 2 coats of "filler" primer. I will probably do two coats of black rustolium gloss paint. I will then sand out the imperfections with 400 grit and buff them out. They will look nice and weigh 13lbs each too.

Ya I might switch oil, I want to run whatever is best. Anyways, I'm planning on buying the MSA type 1 or 2 Fiberglass Air Dam and removing the front park bench. Anyone have any positive feedback on this product? Will it replace my front valence? Mine is dented pretty bad so if it does that's a plus! Also I'm removing the rear bumper. And will promptly drop the gas tank to remove the shock absorber too. I removed all of the exterior trim today because I'm going for the smooth look. It looks way better IMHO but I will need to put some bondo over the rivet holes left over...After all of this I am planning to strip the interior, repair the rust (I'm just going to weld sheet-metal in), and have a roll cage welded in. After this I will try to make the interior at-least halfway nice with sound-deadening, racing seats, and carpet. Wish me luck because I'm hoping to get this all done by spring-break..

Went and got 3 estimates on a paintjob. 4K was the least

How much for those frame rails?

I will hopefully be finishing up wet-sanding the rims tomorrow and install them tomorrow.

Is this the sbc you got? http://www.tristarengines.com/catalog/355-dressed-lb-w-hp-aluminum-heads-dressed-longblock.html I am thinking about getting the 260hp goodwrench but this engine seems good, 2400$ isn't a bad price for 365hp!

I'll be removing my rear bumper soon too, your plans for the front?

In the past few days I've been making some progress on the 280z. The first goal of mine that I met was installing the passenger side headlight and cleaning up the chrome headlight ring. On Christmas Eve I replaced most of the vaccume tubes with red silicone tubing. I also did a oil change on the car after realizing the previous owner had pensoil in the engine (eek ), replacing it with royal purple and a k&n oil filter. These modifications really woke up the engine! I even beat a foxbody mustang yesterday (4 cly probably lol)! Tomorrow I am going to polish and install some zx 6 spokes I got for 100$. Supposidly these aluminum rims weigh in at 13lb and my stock steelies are around 20lb. So 24lb of rotating mass removed should enhance the performance of the car right? Correct me if I'm wrong...

Thank-you Emeraldlion, I will apply these intructions soon! Well it's now christmas break and I have a list of reachable goals. 1. Replace all Vaccume tubes 2. Replace passenger side headlight 3. Polish and Install 280zx 6 spoke aluminum rims ( I am thinking 195 in the front 225 in the rear ) 4. Paint and repair rear tailight assembly 5. Plan and begin to prepair undercarige rust repair/reinforcement.

Hey guys, I've done alot since the last time I updated so here we go. Last weekend I completed my job on the dash by using a 2 screws to hold the sides down because the glue didnt adhere very well at all. I then removed the old cold air intake and installed a new 3" cold air intake with a large cone filter from chromeintakes on ebay. I can feel the difference from 3000-5000 rpms, it seems to rev quicker too. After that I took the valve cover off and painted it with gloss black rustoleum engine paint, it turned out very nice. This weekend I purchased a fule filter after seeing that the old one was manufactured in 1991 and had black sluge around the fule line connections Anyways could someone please answer my question above (2 posts up). Now pics....

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Hey I have lots of updates on the z, but first I need to know, How do you remove the tailight assembly? Im Painting the plastic and cant find any how-to's . PLEASE HELP!!!

Update?

Update?