S30ss Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 So this past summer (august 2015), I basically tripped across an 81 280zx t-top car about 10 minutes away from my house. Got to taking with the owner some and decided to pick it up because my 260z has been down for almost 2 years now and in storage at a buddy's shop back in my hometown; about 200 miles way. So on an impulse, I brought it home. Only cost me a dual dgv setup that was laying around and taking up space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Anyhow, the car had a siezed engine, was missing some parts, and had a seriously hacked up and heat damaged ecu harness. Initially, my plan was to drop in a 351w & t5, but with working 7 10's at my lame seasonal job didn't really allow the extra time to go parts hunting. Now thinking about things a little more, I realized that I've got an extra f54 l28 short block, 5speed, and several heads also laying around, and some SU carbs, so in the interest of getting my Z car jollies off, it makes a little more sense to humpty dumpty it back together with what I've got. If I end up absolutely loving the car, I can always revisit the swap ideas. Upon getting the car home, I also discovered that it had a thick mineral buildup on the exterior that I previously thought was just dust/dirt, so I set to work cleaning things up and assessing what I'd gotten myself into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 With so little time on my hands to make serious progress, I made it a point to clean a little bit or tinker with it every time I had an hour or so to spare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Turns out that underneath it all, the car is actually in pretty decent shape. All rust is superficial, except in the spare tire well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 And then one day I started pulling stuff out of the engine bay, because I got tired of scrubbing the body. (It was slow going with a soft scrub pad and a bucket of water.) Also removed the dealer installed trim strips that run down the body line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Slowly making more room, and then off came the head. Thrown rod on the number 2 cylinder would explain why the engine was siezed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 My 2 year old daughter came out to join in the fun for a while. I love that she's so curious about what I do with the car. She went running back to the house shouting "Daddy's car, racey-car!" My wife was less than amused. And then the trans came out! The u joint at the front of the drive shaft was sloppy as hell, almost makes me wonder if one of the previous owners was trying to see what would give up first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FricFrac Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Looking good. Have you thought about doing a turbo swap instead? The stock bottom end in the L28ET is good for 300rwhp and it's a fairly simple swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 It's not off the table as an option, but as of right now, the goal is simply to get it moving under its own power using as much of what I've got laying around taking up space. Admittedly, if I'm gonna do an l28et, it would likely end up in my 260z later, anyways. More on that later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 With the help of a couple buddies, the siezed short block came out. There's so much room for activities! Then I decided that the rattle bombed black hood should at least be a little closer to the right color, and shot a coat of primer on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30ss Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 With the engine out, I've just been focusing on little things that my car is missing. So far, I've gotten all of the lug nuts and center caps, a set of hood vents, a not trashed arm rest, and a shift boot. I was thinking that the trim around the old auto shifter was interchangeable between auto/5speed. But such is apparently not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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