jas280z

If I am recalling correctly the grinding would occur after I put the car into gear, as I was releasing the clutch. Don't know if this helps, and I may be mistaken, it all happened very quickly. And the grinding at first only happened for about a second immediately following a shift, had me thinking syncro's possibly too (didn't think to double clutch, kinda wish I hand tried that), it wasn't until I shifted to 5th that the grinding stayed constant. Would a bad bearing start grinding off only when being shifted and the progressively get worse (obiously it is only going to get worse, but I am guessing maybe the increased load after being re-engaged after a shift might cause a bearing on the brink to grind then)?

After doing a bit more research on clutches at How Stuff Works, I think that the throwout bearing collar may not be my problem. The one I used, the original, was the longer of the two. My symptoms tell me that the clutch may not be being fully actuated. Using too long of a throwout bearing would cause the clutch to not come all the way back from actuation, using a collar that is too short would cause the clutch not to disengage the flywheel and cause grinding. So using the longer of the two would not cause this, it might cause slipping if too long, but not grinding. my symptoms seem to indicate that the slave cylinder is not going through its full range of motion. I am in the middle of replacing it, and will also adjust my clutch pedal travel to ensure full actuation. Do these conclusions make sense to you guys?

Yup, redline, has maybe 400 miles on it.

Finishing a restoration on my '78 280z with a 3.9 R200 out of a 280zx and a stock 5 speed. Took it for the first drive today and experienced some trouble. After about a quarter mile I experienced a very slight grind upshifting into 2nd, which I attributed to poor clutch control on my part. Taking it out of the neighborhood onto a faster road I experienced a noticeable grind up shifting into 3rd, shifted slowly into 4th and got no grinding, and shifted normally into 5th when the **** hit the fan. MAJOR grinding, I instantly jumped on the clutch and threw it in neutral, kept grinding until the car slowed to about 20 mph, even with the tranny in neutral and the clutch fully depressed. For the record the tranny grinded slightly occasionally when shifting into rev, but never at any other time, 80k on it. Strange thing was the grinding sounded like it was coming from the diff. The car was driven after the diff was swapped, and it wasn't touched during the restoration, so I don't think it was causing the problem. Also the fact that the grinding only came after a shift leads me to believe it isn't the diff, as if I correct, the differential spins at the same speed when you are travelling at X mph, no matter what gear you are in. The thought I have on how the diff would act up after a shift it from the increased load put on it when shifting from one gear to another. But for now I believe it was not the differential, and that the fact that the car has no interior minus seats and seatbelts causes the whole thing to be an echo chamber and it is quite hard to pinpoint where any specific sound is originating. In my research of the problem I came across a few threads that said the throwout bearing could cause this problem. When I had the engine out I replaced the clutch and pressure plate, as well as had the flywheel resurfaced. The clutch I ordered was an OE style replacement. I replaced the pilot bushing, but the throwout bearing that came with the kit was a bit shorter than the one that was on the car, which I am fairly certain was the original. I put the one that was on the car back on, as I knew it worked with the old clutch. Could my throwout bearing be causing this problem? Or could it be something as simple as the clutch travel needing to be adjusted? The fact that the grinding continued when the clutch pedal was fully depressed has me thinking it has to do with the clutch not engaging properly; either it is not being fully actuated, or the throwout bearing is not doing its job. Do my conclusions make sense, or is there something else I may be missing? EDIT: I should add that limping home I was able to get going with minimal grinding, but by the time I traveled the mile or so back to my house the grinding was pretty bad in all gears at anything above idle.

Just reinstalled my engine and have been breaking it in/trouble shooting. I was experiencing unadjustable low idle ( 600 rpm) when it warmed up and diagnosed the problem as a vacuum leak. Vacuum gauge showed that I was getting 7 lb of Hg at idle. I started poking around and could actually hear the leak coming from the front of the intake manifold. Some squirts of carb cleaner and I found that the could start valve was leaking. Pulled it off, changed the gasket, a very light coat of RTV and fixed the leak. Vaccum gauge now shows a steady 11.5 lb of Hg. and I have full adjustablility of the idle. Vacuum is still a little low, but I think my bigger cam (schneider Stage I) may explain that.

I am in the process of putting my engine back into the car (transmission is still in the car). The tapped hole on the back of the block, lower left hand side looking at the back of the block, is mostly stripped and doesn't have enough threads left for the bolt to be tightly torqued. My plan was to put an M10x1.5 heli-coil in the hole and call it a day, but this is the hole which has the alignment dowel in it, and I think that in order to drill the hole out for the heli-coil I would have to remove the dowel. I am looking for suggestions on how to fix this problem. One thought I had was to drill all the way through the hole in the block (it already has a pinhole on the other side) and grind out a flat landing so I could just put the bolt through and use a nut. I am just a little unsure of whether or not this would be strong enough. I don't think there will be a lot of normal stress, but when the engine is putting out a lot of torque there may be considerable sheer stress, and I would hate to overly weaken that flange on the block by removing material. Any thoughts, even if they are just to call me a moron, are appreciated.

We pulled the rear and broke the front glass ourselves . We did have them reinstalled professionally though. Got the intake manifold and header on the engine tonight, and my dad got the front side indicators and headlights in. Hope to have the engine in by the end of the weekend!! Now I just need to do suspension, bushings, swaybars, interior, bumpers, valence, spook, hood vents... Basically plenty more updates to come.

Good luck!! I am currently going to the University at Buffalo for my BSME, should graduate after next year but I got accepted into the MBA program so I will be working towards both at the same time and graduating in 2 years as well. From what I hear though after making it through all the weed out classes and stress associated with engineering, the MBA is much easier. Where are you going to school?

Thanks for the compliments! As soon as I saw a 370Z in blue I instantly knew my car had to be that color. I plan on running 16 inch Konig Rewinds With a 225 wide tire in back, maybe a 215 or 205 in front and probably a 50 or 55 profile. The booth helped keep a lot of crap out of the paint. After cutting, welding, and sanding in the garage all winter in was easier to build the booth than it would have been to sterilize the garage. To ventilate it we put an intake (furnace filter) high up on one end, and an exit (furnace filter with box fan outside pulling) low on the other end. The only real problems were a few runs and a bug or two that got in the parts we couldn't fit in the booth. But all in all the booth definitely was worth it, and it kept the rest of the garage from getting covered in over spray.

I figured I would post some pictures of my progress so far, since this site has helped me quite a bit. I got the car in July of 2009 from Connecticut, drove it all summer, then tore her apart. It had more rust than I had originally thought, but that just gave me and excuse to learn how to weld . Along with fixing all the rust on the car I added ZG Flares, a carbon fiber BRE spoiler, Kaminari side skirts, and a BRE spook amongst other things. Painted 370z Monterey Blue. I have also put in a 3.9 rear end, flat top pistons, and have Tokico Shocks and Eibach springs waiting to be installed. Hope to have it done and on the road by the end of the month. Any questions, just ask! Before : Restoration:

I like the 101 Dalmatians comment, it is true in more than one way.

Apparently some company actually built these. Makes me want to vomit. http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ctd/1679020139.html

First this I thought when I saw that car was "Eleanor." I like it. Different, but could be done quite well.

I figured it was something like that, I was hoping he didn't cut into the flare.

Just curious, what did he do about the gas filler flap? Edit: Thanks 19752802+2, I wasn't sure how to edit that quote.

Upon further inspection of my flares I found that the driver side front flare is a good 2 inches longer than the passenger side. I held them back to back, expecting them to be mirror images of each other and the holes do not line up and they are noticeably different in size. I realize that fiberglass products can vary from one to the another, but the flares are so unacceptably different it is ridiculous. MSA is going to be getting a call tomorrow. Did anyone else run into anything like this with the flares?

Joined, and posted some picks of my 280z work in progress.

It kinda reminds me of a Maserati MC12, and the bid is over 13.5 grand now!

I would pick it up in a heartbeat for $2200!! Now 22,000 on the other hand is a bit much.

I am fairly certain the gas tank in the 78 is bigger. In 77 they switched to a larger gas tank and space saver spare. I am not sure if it will affect the 76 tank fitting in a 78, but it will be smaller and it something to think about.

I had the same problem. I know MSA stuff usually has to be forced to fit, but I was quite disappointed in my flares' fit and overall condition. I have yet to mount them, I am sure I'll get them to look good, it is just going to be more work than I had hoped.

You may want to invest in a GMAW welder (i.e. a MIG with gas shielding). A flux cored welder will work, but I understand that gas shielding leads to cleaner welds with less spatter. I have never used flux cored, but my experience with GMAW has been very good. A good place to look for welders is Tractor Supply Co.

I was just going through the same thing. I went to ace and got some black plastic body panel fasteners, as well as some clips. I am going to use the fasteners to hold the clips in the original holes, while using zip ties in the clips to hold the wires.

I found the bumper I was looking for, thanks Daniel!!

I am looking for a 240Z rear bumper to put on my '78 280. I would like a straight, bumper with good steel, but the condition of the chrome/rubber is not important as I want to paint or powder coat it black. I am located in Buffalo, NY. Thanks for any help.