Indey

Alright so after running into some troubles with it starting. That being some bad fusible links (corroded bad not blown bad) The Z is up and running again. I've also replaced the thermostat, and upper radiator hose. Also the heater core hose had a pin hole leak in it, so I removed both hoses and looped the heater core hoses so it bypasses it completely. The heater never worked anyways...and that's about it. I'll try and update this more frequently now since I have to use the car all the time..

Thanks again you've been a huge help man! I haven't had much time to spend on the z currently, other than attempting to tighten a loose hatch strut, without thinking maybe the PO didnt tighten it because it was stripping, to which it broke the bolt of course, oh well, time for a new hatch strut, in the meantime one is still holding up just fine so oh well

So I was cleaning out the passenger side of the car, and under the center console, and I ran across a few things that I'm unsure of.... First were these connectors that are under the passenger seat. They appear to go together but I'm unsure of just plugging things in. I also ran across this knob without a well...knob behind the console So I was wondering if anyone had any input on these things... thanks!

So its been a little while...I've mostly been driving the Z around when no ones around, since it's currently registered non-op, but I'll be registering it this week.. so I'll be able to drive it around normally...

Awesome thanks alot for the info! All I've done since my last bit is lubricate the throttle joints, they were a bit sticky and when it was cold the throttle would hold itself open and i'd have to pull it back to get it to close, now it's nice and smooth.. hopefully i'll be doing more soon but the del sol needs a few things before its biggest show of the year so i'll probably just be cleaning and removing useless things on the Z for now..

The last CA smog law that was posted was for any car from 1975 and older, it has not increased the year range since. Not only that but you do need to have all of the factory smog equipment still on the vehicle and functioning.

So I finished removing my AC today. No more silly condenser in the way of the radiator, more cooling, less weight, less strain on the motor, makes me happy!

So I spent a few minutes out in the garage taking a few useless things out of the car....the service light on the side of the engine bay has never worked, so I removed it for now. It may go back in...but I highly doubt it. Here's after that was removed... The AC is coming out as well...since I never have AC in any of my cars really. I would have loved to just take it out with out struggling but the lines are absurdly brittle and didn't want to let go of the freon canister. So I had to cut it out. Now for some questions.. 1. Will people buy the AC system from these cars? If it can benefit someone else that wants AC that would be great for them. 2. What is this odd little piece under my dash, it can't be twisted or pulled/pushed, and I have no idea what it is... And a picture with the other project

Well I'm finally the owner of this Z, this thread will follow the progress I make on it. With of course pictures and other various things, I'm sure I'll ask a ton of questions since, I'm apparently absolutely horrible at using the search function. Anyways here's the car.. It's going to be a work in progress so we'll see how it comes out..

I have a 76 280Z, and today when I went to move it into the garage, the brake pedal basically sunk to the floor, and only the very last bit of pedal space, would allow the brakes to be used....very slightly . I checked for leaks everywhere, and I have yet to find one. There is fluid in both reservoirs of the master cylinder, and it is a brand new master cylinder. I also tried pumping the brakes with the car off to see if the pedal would build pressure, and it did not, it would just continue to pump and never stiffen up. So does this sound like a bad brake booster?

I have a 76' 280Z, with the original L28Ein it, it recently failed smog, for running extremely rich. Not only that but it started giving me more problems once I got it back from the smog shop. On the way home from smog the oil pressure was very low, I want to say around 15 Psi, oil level is fine though. It was checked the next morning after it had been sitting all night long, and currently if I drive it around the Psi level is normal. The next thing though is it smokes a lot if you rev it at all, or under normal driving conditions. Around 2500+ RPM. The smoke is white in color. It will also shoot black "soot" which I can only assume is carbon build up from inside the motor, out of the exhaust. And finally some mornings when I start it, it will be misfiring and not hold an idle, I'm not sure of how many cylinders it's missing on. But it sounds like 2ish. If anyone has any insight on this, all help would be appreciated, thanks.

Alright I have a 76 280z stock motor in it, the whole car is stock. Now, sometimes the temperature will rise above normal a bit, but come right back down, and white smoke will be coming from the exhaust. The white smoke typically shows up more often on deceleration. Any ideas?

and today starts the work on the car! putting on a new valve cover gasket, because the one thats on there is bad. Changing the oil, Putting on a new fuel line, because the last owner put on a fuel line that wasn't meant for fuel injection so it leaks under pressure. Painting the valve cover, Painting the stock intake box, Checking the air filter, Changing the shifter bushings, Straightening out her shift knob blah blah blah etc etc etc =P pictures later!

as said the muffler SOUNDS good, it just looks horrible to us...that and it is an OBX-R product, and well...obx is terrible =P and as much as i do want to see fender flares and wide ass panasports on it cause im stupid and trendy and i think the 280 in wangan midnight is completely badass, it's her car she wants to restore it so cool...we'll do that, and just do a few other things to it, she might do a few other things to it, ie fairlady badges, POSSIBLY change the wheels later but really not all too much.

There you go =P

actually my gf's quite chill about such things =P

Nah it's cool, it's her car and shes free to do what she wants with it =P, i'll just help her with whatever she wants to do and hope she comes around to doing other things to it =] nah it's all good, don't get me wrong i love Z's and would love to own my own, but i also love my tiny little del sol =P ehhhh i dunno if she'd want me to post one =P if she dosent care i will in the morning haha

I completely agree with you, unfortunately it's not my car it's hers =P she just wants to put on some fender mounted mirrors and headlight covers, and possibly lower it just a little bit, while leaving everything else stock for the time being and just restoring it. Agreed, the muffler is terrible looking, but if it's any consolation it sounds decent. Regardless that will be replaced as well for something much nicer. and thanks for the compliments guys!

Alright well yesterday (Monday) we picked up a 1976 280Z and well here's some pictures! and...one with her car and my tiny tiny car =P

Thank you much sir, I actually got in contact with the old owner and yes it is a 4 speed manual, guess the shift knob was just lying to me =P. As soon as I get a chance to get the car over to my house I was going to pop it up in the air and just start checking things, so thanks for the tips on where to check, and the car came with a shop manual so I think I should be set to go =] Thanks again!

Alright guys, so my girlfriend picked up a 76 280z and I do have a few questions about it. First and foremost it feels like it has a 4 speed transmission. It is somewhat hard to shift, and the shifter is very loose, so might there be any fixes for that. As said it feels like a 4 speed, reason is, It will go into 1,2,3,4 and reverse, and then when i try to go to where 5th would be it dosent even feel like theres a notch for it to slide into 5th. SO cliffs for that first part =P - Did this particular year Z come in a 4 speed manual? - Shifting is very hard, possible synchros? - Shifter is very loose any possible fixes? Next off There is a rather large clunk sound coming from the right rear side of the car when going over the reflectors on the freeway so around 60-70 mph, are there any possible causes for this? and yes all the tires are inflated properly =P and that's about it... so any help is appreciated guys and here's a terrible cell phone pic of her car!

Hey guys, my gf might be picking up a 76 280Z very soon, and she loves fender mounted mirrors. Now the question is where can we pick up a set of oem ones? I'm sure they were only made for the japanese Z's, but I really don't know. Regardless Where can we get them =P