DaleMX Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 This is a picture from the front to the rear of a 77 280Z I'm looking at for an LS1 conversion. Does this look typical or is this a rust bucket. I believe this is the only rust spot on the rails. Thanks for your help, Dale http://www.circuitflex.com/Framerail.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Dale, the pic is too small for me to see anything significant. Anyway of blowing it up a bit? Any other pics? Be careful about rusty frame rails... Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kc6wfs Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Hi Dale, Well that could be bad news. Looks like battery acid spillage. I my self would pass on that unless you don't mind doing some welding. How did the battery tray and fender look.??? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted April 13, 2004 Author Share Posted April 13, 2004 The battery tray looks ok, so does the other rail as far as I can tell. I have not seen the car in person, just pictures so I am a little concerned. I can post the other pictures he sent me tonight before I hit the hay. The car has been stored under a carport so it wasn't left out in the rain. I can weld ok. Thanks for your help so far, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 Here's a link to the other pictures he sent me. It is a word doc file with about 10 pictures in it (that's what he sent to me). If anyone that wants to see it cant open it, I will extract the pics and make them jpg's. http://www.circuitflex.com/Datsun280z.doc Thanks again, Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 From what I can see (small pics) it doesn't look too bad, I'd go look at it. Where in Atlanta are you? Mine was in an old open shed for years in the Roswell area, it looked just like that, and wasn't that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I guess being in Texas has spoiled me. I wouldn't touch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 For every inch of rust that CAN see, there's 3 inches that you can't. Unless you get a smoking deal and have the time and equipment to repair it, then I would pass too.......but it really depends on the availabilty of cars in your area.... Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Don't buy a rusty Z. The time, money and aggrevation it will cost you is more than it would have cost you for a rust free car. Being on the east coast there were no rust free cars that I saw and I looked for over a year before I bought mine. I must have looked at 20 -30 cars and I went all over to find one. I flew to Florida, drove to Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, West VA. I finally found one in New Jersey that had just come from California. A V8 in a Z puts alot of stress on the unibody. A rusty car will not handle it. Take your time and find a nice rust free car. You will be happier in the long run and you will have a car that will go up in value too. Even if you have to travel to get one it will be worth it. If you find one that is too far away you can probably find a list memeber in that area to go and look at it for you. I was interested in a car in California once and had a guy I know from one of the lists go and see it for me. Glad I did because it had lots of problems that didn't show up in the pictures and I would have had to spend lots of $$ to fix them. Best advice I can offer is BE PATIENT! Wait for the right car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 I'm in Cumming, Ga. around Hwy 9 and Campground road area. I'm going to go Sat and take a look at the car and make a decision. I want to get started on this project but if I have to pay extra to get a good car brought in for AZ or TX I will do it. Thanks all! Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I'm in Cumming' date=' Ga. around Hwy 9 and Campground road area. I'm going to go Sat and take a look at the car and make a decision. I want to get started on this project but if I have to pay extra to get a good car brought in for AZ or TX I will do it. Thanks all! Dale[/quote'] Dale, I was chomping at the bit to get started but I took the advice of the older, wiser members of the Z community and waited for the right car. I started looking for a Z in July of 2002 and finally bought mine in July of 2003. Then I finally decided on the LS1 in January and bought the motor in March. I wanted to sell the current L28 drivetrain while it was still in the car and I will get started on the swap next month. Best of luck finding a good clean rust free car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia Flash Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Dale I bought my blue 280 (pictured below) from a guy in Cumming. I think his last name was Conner. Anyway keep looking and you will find one. By the way my Z had no rust in the floor at all. The floor pans looked brand new when I pulled back the carpet so you can find good cars on the east coast if you try hard enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 Dale, I saw this Z car is in Georgia and thought you might be interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2474025365&category=6187 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 Thanks all, I'll check out the Duluth car. Not sure what that swap he was talking about is. I need to get started on something soon so I might go with one of these 2 cars. Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 The swap was for a Nissan RB25DET Motor from the Skyline in Japan. It is a inline 6 turbo setup. Quite a hot motor if you like turbo's. I'll take mine with a V8 please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love-my-V8-280Z Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I blew the pics up, I would bet you a dinner that car is in real bad shape. Blow up the pic of the underside and notice there is green paint everywhere. It also looks like a heavy undercoating. Considering it has been repainted and has pretty good rust showing I bet its bad news. If you could see it with little effort I would check it out, I would not travel 5 hrs to see it. you can find a clean car for under $2000. If you buy a rusty one for $500 you are going to spend 200 hours fixing it and they are never desireable if you try to resell it. Trust me I had a Z given to me, did not look bad at all. I found it had already been patched and a butt ton of run was found behind the tail lights and behind the fenders... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love-my-V8-280Z Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I looked some more, I have never seen the rear pig and mustache bar that rusted, ever!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted April 18, 2004 Author Share Posted April 18, 2004 I think your right. I went ahead and got the Texas brown 1978 280Z. It's a little rough but it's running. Here's a link. It will be recieving a LS1/T56 that is in my basement. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=6187&item=2473344151&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT I should have my hands on it in about 2 weeks. Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia Flash Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 You know it's funny how that little Z looks awesome in the video clips and not so awesome in the pics. Z's always look better in motion I think. Congrats on winning the Z, I will be going today to look at a red 83 ZX that I may be able to get for 500 dollars cash in Acworth, GA. Man I love Z cars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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