SmoothZ

So I did the install the other night, and wow what a difference new shocks make to the Z! After we figured out the first side, the second side was so easy. The car rides so much better now.

Awesome, thanks for the steps. Can't wait to do the install and see how it feels.

Some eye candy for you all.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'm slowly getting to know this car and enjoying every day with it. I have it stored at my MIL's house right now due to massive construction on my street which is causing a lot of dust and crap flying around. Don't need that near the Z. As soon as I get a clean and new street, I'll tackle the Z's airbox and hoses. I also need to install those new lug bolts for the rear and the new shocks. I haven't driven the car in 2 weeks, so I'm missing it. LOL

Good to know about that little suggestion (or not so little). Thanks! Did you take pics of the process?

Hello, HybridZ family! Been a long time since I posted or visited the site. Years ago, I had a 260Z that I was hoping to fix up and customize. That didn't work out so well. Kids grew up, and now I have 2 teenage boys at home. The youngest (I have 3 boys but the oldest is in the Navy) is my autogeek. I've been looking for a car for him (and secretly for me and my wife lol) and came across something last weekend that I couldn't pass up. We were at a car meet and an acquaintance learned that we were looking for a Z to buy. He mentions that he has a friend who has a 280ZX that he doesn't drive and wants to sell. I look at some photos and arrange to meet the owner (an older gentleman in his 80s). When I arrived at his garage condo, I couldn't believe how "mint" the car was and that the owner never drives it. A few days later, I gave him a check and became the 3rd owner of this awesome 1983 ZX. I never thought I would have an S130. I started with a Z32 2+2, then a Z33, then the S30, and now this. I guess I'm hooked. Anyway, the car seems to run well, it looks 99% stock/OEM, and supposedly has been maintained really well by the original owner. I recently bought new tires, a new air filter, and a PCV valve. The air filter looks horrible. It's drenched in oil, and the air filter assembly is 50% covered with old oil. I did a quick search and believe it's the PCV valve. Please correct me if I'm on the wrong path. I'm a noob when it comes to this engine. I have done some searches over the past few days and was more focused on getting new tires and a fresh air filter. Is there any other reason why the air filter is so oily? I plan on taking apart the entire airbox and cleaning the heck out of it. I'm sure the first thing you all want to see are pics, so let me see if attaching them will work here. This car is really growing on me.

I'm glad I found this thread. Just purchased a pristine 83 Base and the rear shocks definitely need to be replaced. So Amazon and Rockauto. Check! Can't believe I am doing this and getting the S130. This will be my 4th Z car in my lifetime.

Alright, after a few weeks off due to shoulder surgery and what not, I'm back in to the old girl. I was watching SpeedTV this morning and couldn't stand to watch the hot rod shows where they talk about rebuilding a car from the ground up. I decided it was time to get out to the garage, spend some quality time with my oldest son, and enjoy the nice weather we were having. What did we do? Took out the alternator (tested it - failed), took out a bunch of hoses to try and get some more engine room, tried to take off the oil filter (damn thing is stubborn), took out the spark plugs and wiring, and took off those little hood thingy's (sorry, I don't know what it's called). On with the pics!

I believe that part is the fuel pump filter, which would completely explain why your car isn't working. I know that when I had problems with the car running on an old Buick, I would make sure that I didn't have a dirty fuel filter.

Best pics I have at the moment. My car doesn't want to run for too long. I think it's the alternator.

haha! lol @ tombstone

subscribed.... Thinking of doing something similar with my car as far as prepping it for paint. Need to strip it down to bare metal just to be sure I get all imperfections out of it.

I'm glad I found this thread. It makes for great reading, even if I'm at the beginning stages of modifying my 260. I've been researching and asking lots of questions lately, and I know that I will no longer entertain the idea of the VG30 engine swap. Someone talked me into considering the KA24 engine or the RB25. I'm still thinking about it, but threads like these are very helpful. Thanks for posting pics and stories. I especially liked post #83 and the cost factor. Woohoo!

Great thread. I'm going to subscribe to this one. Some of your pics look like what I'm doing to my Z. At least I feel like I'm on the right track. Comparing photos is a huge help to me. Keep up the good work!

So a friend of mine suggested the car go in for an acid bath. Have you ever thought about that or spoke with someone who's had experience with that? Just wondering if it's worth it. I think if I cut out the floor pans, that might be all I need to do.

I forgot to mention that I found some treasure. I think this is cool. One of them is for the shift knob. Don't know what the other one is for. Cleaned them up with Nevr-Dull. I need to figure out how to get all that rust and crud off.

My 2nd week of putsing around with the 260Z, and it just gets more fun and I'm still sane. I started yesterday by taking out some really easy carpeting that was rotted, plus I looked it over to plan my next day. So I wake up today and know that I'm going to be washing the car. It's spray painted black, but I can't stand dirty cars anyway, so I had to get all the dirt and grime and dust off that I could. It's raining, which is cool because I want the rain to wash all the gunk away as I clean the car. Eventually, I'm done washing it and let it drip dry. No point in wasting MF towels or waffle weave on this sad beast. Now on with the pics. I had the help of another Z enthusiast. It's nice to have handy people who like working on cars. Before: After: Driver's side (pretty bad with rust that just doesn't stop: Center console is out and now I know why the stick is so loose...it needs washers! Taking out the dash was a biyatch! But we got it done. I was a little bit enthusiastic about this and didn't really mark the nuts, bolts, wires, etc. Oh, well. I'll figure it out. Just some pics of the underside. We also suspected that something had been living in the air ducts of the car. We were right. I think we took out at least 125 lbs of interior parts, trash, rust, dirt, carpet, etc. To be continued....

Sorry for the noob question, but what did you use to clean those parts? I have the same problem. I just picked up my 260 and have to jump start it each time. One of the fusible links is fried, so I'm sure that's a problem. I'm looking at upgrading that anyway. For now, I'd like to clean up the connections and what not. Thanks.

I saw your picasa album. Looks good enough for me. I think I have less rust than yours, but I haven't really taken the guts out of the car yet. I know my floor pans are really bad, but the rest of the car seems pretty decent. One question: That electric hand tool you're using to sand down the paint to the metal is called what? Is that what I need to do the same to my Z to get all the paint off and look for rust and other trouble spots?

I just finished reading your thread. I'm going to admit that I will be saving this and following it as a guide to rebuilding my 260, which I just acquired. I'm basically going to do the same thing as far as stripping the car down and getting rid of as much rust as possible. I want to do as much of the work as possible before I have it painted. Thanks for the great thread with all the pics.

There's a little bit of rust, but it's the usual areas. I'm going to put new floor pans in, there's no rust in the rear, and there's a few spots along the door sills. I think the frame is good, but I won't know that until later when I strip it down. The interior isn't as nice as it looks. The dash is horrible, carpeting is getting thrown out, and I'm actually thinking of just chucking it all. I still haven't researched the viability of putting a VG engine in the Datsun. I've heard that Greg Dupree has a 240 with a VG30DETT engine. I believe he's from SpecialtyZ. I'm going to have to contact him or the company.

Yes, it needs work but that's what I wanted. This is my 3rd Z. Hopefully, I can actually learn something about rebuilding it and customizing the car. My plan is to put a VG30DETT in it, do suspension and brakes, and sport a kickass paint job.

Nothing wrong with creamy. I have the pearl white 350, and before that I had a pearl white 300ZX. I was just saying that there's nothing wrong with it.

Blasphemy! I have one of those pearl white Z's! And it's not creamy. New paint code is QAB. You're welcome.