1977 280z Project

[Nick J]

So I picked up this 1977 280z in February of this year. I bought it for 1000, from a complete idiot who told me it came with a bunch of parts, and that it just needed a fuel pump. Well it turned out to be a whole lot more than a fuel pump, and was missing some very hard to find pieces, which I am sure he kept and sold to someone else. I later found a thread on a forum that he had posted, asking for help with the wiring nightmare that the car was, and saying he couldn't get it to run at all.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

Here's the car the day I got it.

 

Here's the only rust I could find on the car:

 

I started on the interior first, since it was too cold do much else.

 

Now I came to find out that the engine had no compression on the #2 cylinder, so I pulled it out, and swapped in another motor from a running z. I put a new clutch and flywheel, aluminum radiator and e fan, new timing kit, water pump, distributor cap and rotor, new injectors, AFM, header, and cleaned up the intake manifold. Here's how it sits now.

 

Now I just finished up the body work and paint this past weekend. It turned out pretty well, but I got a few tiny bubbles on the roof for some reason. I added the rear spoiler, fender flares, and a few other dress up items.

 

I'm working on getting it running now, and finishing up the interior now that the paint is done. I put in some Autopal H4 headlights, got a reproduction center console and dash cap, and a nice retrosound stereo. I'll post more updates as I get more work done!

 

Nick

[neotech84]

Wow great job! You have come a long way. Keep us posted!

[Pharaohabq]

Hey good Job. Looks nice from the picts. What did you do for paint? Did you paint it there outdoors in the sun? It really looks like you've done well. Those Sportmaxx's look pretty good! Almost need wider tires to go on them though, especially since you've got the flares. What did you get 205's? 215's? You should be able to run 225's or even 235's but the price gets up there when you get that wide. Those looked like Falken tires, not sure, hard to see in the pict. Mine were great, but didn't last too long, my bridgestones now are awesome.