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First off, welcome to the forum and good luck in your search for a Z car. In our "FAQ" section, you'll find hundreds of excellent discussions on common issues, modifications and repairs on the Datsun/Nissan Z cars. Without knowing the asking price, your mechanical abilities, and your ultimate plans for the car....here are a couple of things to look for: - Inspect the floor pans topside and underside, the frame rails, the rocker panels, and the inner fenders for rust/damage/shoddy repairs/fiberglass/bondo. These are some of the areas most often rotted out and/or poorly repaired. If the car really has "all new metal", it should be apparent via inspection. - Are you comfortable buying a built engine just based on listening to it run for a few minutes? If it smokes heavily, has significant clatter and/or rattle in the valvetrain; those are just a couple of signs that the internals are suffering. Visually inspect the oil, trans fluid, coolant, and brake fluid to ensure they all look clean, fresh, and uncontaminated. The car looks neat from those couple of photos; but unfortunately, people often buy someone else's unused "toy" only to find that it doesn't live up to their expectations for one reason or another. Do as much research on old Z cars as possible before buying anything, to ensure that you don't fall into this trap. Looking forward to you joining us as another proud and happy Z owner!

Can you fit vice grips on the nut? That may work. Otherwise, your idea of grinding/cutting the nut off with a cutting wheel should work as long as you have room to get it in there.

That's a great suggestion. Adam's very responsive; it seems like FB is his preferred medium -- here's his page: https://www.facebook.com/DatsunRescue

@GavinG, if you don't find one here; I would also check on ClassicZCars: https://www.classiczcars.com/

Agreed! It's looking great....can't wait to see what kind of wild bodywork you have planned for it.

Ah, that explains it. I was wondering if that was part of the reason....thanks for clarifying!

Apex's choice of carriage bolts is unusual....can't say I've ever seen really seen them used in custom suspension builds before. Do you think they were chosen for convenience, with the self-locking features in the mounting brackets? Great progress.....really enjoying your updates! Keep 'em coming!! 👍👍

Wow, cool stuff. That's a real bummer about the AE kit, considering the investment; but I guess this approach gives you the freedom to go wild and do whatever you want! I like your idea of an adjustable blade-style sway bar...this has been on my to-do list for a couple years, and just haven't gotten around to it. You may want to consider the NASCAR-style mounting, above the engine. Makes the adjustment linkages and hardware a lot easier to engineer and fabricate. Good luck with it!! 👍👍

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your new purchase. She looks like a beauty...the late-model 280 with a 5 speed is a desirable combination for a street car that gets driven often. While not as functional as the usual heavy 5mph bumpers, the thin bumpers are much nicer looking IMHO. I'd be interested to know what differential the car has (an R200 would be nice, but certainly not necessary). Unless you're planning to upgrade the front brakes and get a larger master cylinder (and track the car), rear disc brakes are really not necessary. The stock aluminum drum brakes on the rear are more than adequate for any street driving...and even the occasional auto-x or time trial event. There are several good discussions here on how to maximize performance from the stock rear drums. Lots of good forums and groups on social media for the S30; but another forum I like is ClassicZCars.com, especially for information on original restorations. Good luck with your planned mods & upgrades, and please keep the updates coming!! 👍

Looking good. Seems like that's always some of the most rewarding parts of any resto....getting all those hard-to-access areas cleaned up, rust repaired, straightened/strengthened/reinforced, and freshly painted. 👍

WOW!! That is slick!! The car's coming along nicely! 👍👍

It's been a long time since I've fiddled with OEM wiring; but the hazard switch circuitry is integral with the turn signal wiring....meaning if you change one, by definition you've changed the other. You didn't specify if you've completely replaced original wiring with a Painless harness; or only partially replaced. You also didn't specify which year and model car you've got; but IIRC these portions of the harnesses only changed wire color from year to year....the overall wiring concept did not. The attached linked schematic should help you either way; and you'll have to adjust accordingly based on your current wiring configuration. Hope this helps. If not, reply with additional details, and maybe even some photos if they would help illustrate your issue.

Welcome back, Carlton...and congrats on the major life changes/accomplishments! Following, as I'm super interested to hear how about the installation and how you like it. Thanks for documenting the process! 👍

Welcome to HybridZ, and thanks for your question. Please feel free to introduce yourself and your car on our "New Members Forum": https://forums.hybridz.org/forum/68-new-members-forum/ Are you looking for something like this? Note the exemption in the text "*Not for digital dash on 280ZX." -- don't know if that applies to your car. (I'm guessing not, since your current sensor is single wire.) https://zcardepot.com/products/coolant-temperature-sensor-one-piece-240z-260z-280z-280zx?variant=19278308016241&currency=USD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google%2Bshopping&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17820837536&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvajDBhCNARIsAEE29WoDT0QZie4ihN9KbIOfGu197wEIp5SP7gYahzfJ4Ta0qhc9CthVys4aArmBEALw_wcB#

One of these. There's a bunch of different styles and shapes to suit your specific needs/application. https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-6332796/connect-extendable-grip-mount.jsp?skuid=62689230&CID=shopping30&utm_campaign=IMPULSE&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=62689230&utm_campaignid=20502647405&CID=shopping30&utm_campaign=SSC&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_campaignid=20502647405&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20151170307&gclid=CjwKCAjwmenCBhA4EiwAtVjzmmGsgHEr2FxdndBlsr7nvJ-AyaHRjwm2Psbg3FGAyHRbKSoYI6ckFRoCuIEQAvD_BwE