V-Fib

Between countless stretches of night shift and a new-born at home I get about two full days a month to spend with this project so it's moving along slowly. Glad I quit my on-call part time gig. I am a "noob" by all means of the word in the matter of car restoration so reading, learning, experimentation and friend/fellow enthusiast support is how I have progressed. Constructive criticism and advice is solicited and welcomed - I do my best to take it without any residual butt-hurt. Recommendations on a good engine builder and machine shop in Tacoma/Seattle are welcomed. This car sat in somebody's front yard for some time - and every time I would drive by I would think to myself: "I wish this guy would sell me his car... it's been sitting there for over a year". One day I was browsing CL and stumbled upon the advert for this exact car. I dialed the guy, who told me it was a 280z rolling chassis, no engine and no transmission. I instantly scheduled a time to see the car. After crawling underneath and looking at all the typical rust spots I only found a couple of significant areas and no major rust-out. After a bit of negotiation I towed it to it's new home. I got this car mid-December of 2013 as a "project" with the goal of doing a ground up resto-mod. I was not sure of where I was going to go with my engine build and bounced back and forth for a while trying to decide what I was going to do as I was stripping down the car. So far the engine build plan is to do an L28ET with forged internals, Borg-Warner S360 tubo, ported P90A with solid lifters and performance cam, ported intake, ported manifold, R33 Skyline GTR rear end, R33 Skyline GTR complete brake conversion and 3” exhaust. Horse power goal is between 300 to 500 at the wheels. The car will be used as my autocross and track play-toy. A guy can dream right? The car is in thousands of pieces… literally :l The R33 Skyline/GTR components – got them for cheap or so I’d like to think… whole lot for only $400. Once it's painted I will replace the rear with a T3 conversion kit + the below goodies. The front brakes will require custom fabricated brackets but that's further down the line. There is a few trouble spots with rust – the battery tray area, surrounding firewall, front firewall cowl, rear valance and bottom of the fenders. No major rust-out or rust through has been detected thus far. There is also some rust spots below the undercoating at the bottom of the car but nothing that a little phosphoric acid or spot welding can’t fix. The car has been painted 2 times in addition to the factory coat (silver), cherry red and finally black. Probably part of the reason it has been preserved better then Lenin at the mausoleum. As of June 2014 I’m still working on stripping and restoring the body so the engine build is still in the “parts accumulation” and “sometime in the future” phase. I have stripped away most of the exterior and interior along with the front suspension – everything is in little Zip-Loc baggies and boxes. This past weekend finally finished gutting most of the interior, dropped all of the front suspension, pulled the doors/hatch/fenders and started removing the rear components (gas tank, bumper mounts, etc.). Next step is to peel away the sound deadening inside the car and strip the weather sealant on the bottom then patch and kill rust. Hopefully in a couple of months it can go to the media blaster and then to the paint shop but for now more prep work.

Need both - my F54 core came without it. Please PM me with what you have. Sorry had a bit of a derp moment - forgot I needed both.

Already purchased one. Thanks!

Awesome thank you!

Missed the the live televised event because of work - tried to keep up via news feed but it's not the same. Anyone know where I can find a recording or replay somewhere. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you for the info and the links - I had no idea that I could get these new from a catalog.

Sorry... bump to the top. Need an answer on this so I can move forward.

Would a Nissan factory service manual have that information in the engine mechanical section? I know the 280z FSM has the L28 crankshaft specs.

Can anyone comment on the backwards compatability of an L24 oil pickup tube in an L28 (F54) motor? I can't seem to find a new or used one online anywhere but do have one kicking around from an L24.

Thank you for all the advice! I will start with a closer inspection, mark areas of concern and will definitely try the magnet trick. I think I will also sand down the areas around the paint flakes/blisters to see what is going on underneath. If I find an overwhelming amount of rust I will have to switch to media blasting. As I continue to strip my car I'm simply trying to plan ahead and get a good handle on what the next steps should be, what supplies to purchase and how much overtime I'll need to log to pay for it all.

I thought I had more photos than the one above but apparently not... will have to add more. I'm working in a confined space so I don't know how well the rotary brush idea will work for me. Also once it's media blasted do I coat it with a weldable primer or would epoxy primer work just as well since I can always sand down the section to be patched/repaired and then reprime the bare metal section afterwards?

Thank you for your reply, I greatly appreciate the info. Sorry I was using my smartphone to type the thread so the result is autocorrect jumps down my throat and guesses what I'm going to say next. I see how my question/statement is somewhat nebulous - based on my rookie assessment the floor pans have good structural integrity. I scraped the rust on both the bottom and the interior of the pans then tapped it with not denting, chipping or pitting. Same story with the frame rails. They are in fact the nicest I've see on the dozen or so Z cars I have looked at while shopping around. It is the top "painted" part that I'm concerned about - if that makes any sense... I'm simply hoping that the paint hasn't concealed rust allowing it to progress unseen. A picture is worth a thousand words so I'm attaching photos of my floor pans and sections of the undercarriage. I read in one if the restoration books that when the car has been painted multiple coats that it is preferred to chemically strip or blast the surface to prepare for painting, is this not true? If I sand down to the original primer and the body work looks sound - what would be the integrity/longevity of the new paint job? The media blasting outfit here in Tacoma is asking $800 for the shell - it's a reasonable price. If it opens up a can of worms I'm prepared to eat the cost - just need to have a quality/reasonably priced shop aligned for the work.

This is a question about order of operations and the process as I progress in my build. I've read up on the subject on here and from several restoration books but still require some "sage advice" as to how I should really do this. Bear in mind that this is my first restoration/build of this nature. Some background information: It is a 1977 280z (no motor or transmission) the factory red paint has been painted over with a semigloss black coat of paint several owners ago. The car has minimal surface rust in the wheel wells, undercarriage and floor pans but otherwise seems to be in good condition (no rust pitting or holes in the undercarriage or floor pans, tiny surface rust in the stripped interior). It has been sitting for a couple of years in its current state, prior to me taking it away. The issue: The topmost coat of paint is making it difficult to detect and therefore treat any prior surface rust (aside from the obvious blistering in two spots). I don't see any severe pitting (could be concealed by most recent paint coat) or any major rust outs (could be concealed by filler + paint) on the outer shell. My question: How should I go about taking care of the rust detection/elimination and paint removal process? (Note: I would like to eventually media blast the car for a full prime and repaint). Should I hit it with an orbital sander and remove the topmost coat to see what's hidden underneath, then treat and patch whatever is underneath? Should I spray the exposed sections or patch panels with a primer to prevent further corrosion? Then as a final step have it media blasted? Any guidance on the order if operations or just general suggestions would be fabulous... I'm a little out of my comfort zone and just need some help.