Trentomobol Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 So, I guess it's about time to post my own project.. at 4 AM I posted a while ago about my California Z Hawk Edition 280z, and got some answers (gotta get that poster!) I've been meaning to post it on here, but quite frankly I have been lazy. When I first saw her on craigslist, she had been sitting for 22 years. The last time she had been registered was the year I was born. 1990. I went by the place she was being held at and immediately fell in love. I HAD to have her, so I scrounged up as much money as I could and borrowed some money from some very helpful family members and picked her up for 1800. The scary thing is, when I went to the DMV, the lady behind the counter looked at me and said "You know the car hasn't been registered since 1990." I nodded and didn't realize what she meant. A car disappears for 22 years and then magically comes back on the system? Oh no, DMV ain't happy about that. $700+ in fees. Good god it broke my heart. I was extremely lucky though, I'm not entirely sure if I should be saying what happened in between, I don't want to get anybody in trouble... so I still ended up paying for em and got her towed home for free! After rummaging around the paperwork still in the car, I found out that since it was last registered, she had only moved 7 miles, my lucky number! Figures! If there's any reason to say this was meant to be.. well, you know. Probably 2 weeks after I got her, there was 1 missing spoke cylinder thingy missing so I took off the spokes (still have them) and just polished up the wheels. Still wasn't running properly yet (not good enough for smog at least) her backside and pantera hatch, after I got she barely passed smog and started running! Didn't take much at all, a tune-up and new injector connectors, and a cleaned out gas tank was pretty much all she needed. My girlfriend giving her a wash after her fuel pump gave out and sat for a few more weeks, and was replaced with a MSD2225 pump from SummitRacing after a while I got her some new wheels and tires, took off the bumpers (I hate them!) and started toying around with the idea of different color trim a friend of mine slipped a Decepticon emblem into my pocket and my girlfriend decided to throw it on, it's not too bad! (it's not staying though..) after a while I saved up some money for the fender flares and a little bit more waiting I got to put them on thanks to my girlfriend and her boss at the shop. She surprised me with some fender mirrors that I had been pining for, as a birthday present! Yay girlfriends Yes, the left headlight is being held in with tape.. While I was working I drove through some construction zones and the sudden jerks from un-level pavements made the headlight ring fall out (couldn't find it anywhere) Here she is as of right now as I switch focus from trying to make the car look better to fixing some of the bigger issues: Bad compression on cyl 4, bent struts, etc etc The white one is my girlfriend's.. she picked one up and sold her Scion so she could use the money left over to fund her '66 Karmann Ghia restoration. Not a bad choice imho We both DD our Zs and I deliver pizzas in mine, since it's my only properly running car that doesn't eat through all of my gas money.. until I get a better gas friendly Datsun ;o I've gotten quite a bit of flak for delivering pizzas in the Z, mostly "What are you doing to that car! You'll ruin it!" kind of deal. I've also gotten a lot of compliments, and some people who have pretended that the Z was theirs. Cue phone picture! Honestly, I don't really know 100% sure what I will end up doing with my lovely 280z, it's up in the air.. but right now I definitely want to rebuild her engine, possibly put in an F54 block, with some triple webers, forged internals.... maybe a 2jz swap in the future. I don't know. All I know is I love my 280z and for a name for the car? A friend of mine came up to me and said that he and his buddies named my car "Raven" and my girlfriend's "Dove" I think it's quite fitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NgoZ Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Nice History. Hope you enjoy it and for the car to love you back for being MIA for all those years hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehren Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 looks good. nice progress. Question for ya - that piece of sheet metal trim that goes over the rear bumper ... does it unbolt or did you have to drill out spot welds?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trentomobol Posted September 9, 2013 Author Share Posted September 9, 2013 Thanks guys! ehren, I used a hammer and chisel to get those out, after I got the majority of it off, I just wiggled it up and down and it popped off. There were a couple of spots that were weak and came off with them, but it's fixable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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