Stealth-Z's Cool 280Z

[Stealth-Z]

This 75 280Z was to good to pass up. It was on the Sacramento craigslist described as a 1977 280Z in May of 2007. The bumpers were what caught my attention. They were not the 77-78 style. For some reason I figured why not go take a look. The Z was actually located in the town of Cool. Cool is south of Auburn California. Kind of a remote location. Upon getting to the location I discovered that it was infact a 1975.

Here in California 1975 and older cars do not have to submit for bi-annual emissions testing. No one in California seems to want the 76-78 S30 Z's because of the required emissions testing. Technicaly you are still required to keep all emission equipment functioning and intact. Potential to do other things with it made it to difficult to pass up.

This one was parked in 1992 for failing emissions. The previous owner never bothered with it again. 2006 rolls around and the neighbor of the Z's original owner shows some interest in getting it up and runing again. He has the fuel tank boiled out, replaces rubber hoses and installs a new fuel pump. In the engine compartment he replaces the fuel injectors and all rubber hoses. He managed to get it to start but it only ran for a few minutes. For all his time and effort on the Z the original owner gives it to him.

Durring 2006 the interior is partially removed. For years the Z sat in a covered enclosure. Unfortunetly the last 3 or 4 years it sat outside exposed to the elements. The original white interior was soon destroyed. All the plastic interior panels nearly disintigrated when pulled out. The tops of the door panels looked like they had been on fire. The carpet was completely dry rotted.

 

Once it got to my home, the wife guted the rest of the interior while I started on the mechanicals. There was suprisingly little rust to be found. If any it was surface rust everywhere. A little rust mort cleared it up. Nice thing about this area, rust is not a major issue if the car has been here all its life. New struts and springs were installed. This was necessary because of the rubber mountings for the original struts had rotted apart. It was amusing to jack it up and the rear wheels kept falling and falling.

The 280Z front ends have never been to appealing to me. So on this one I decided to change it to the 240Z style. A while back I saw a photo of one of the BRE track cars. The paint style looked neat so I decided to paint this 280Z in a simular style. I removed all the chrome, glass and other accessories from it before painting. For some reason I do not consider a full paint job to be taping around door handles and rubber seals. In any event, all the rubber seals needed replacement anyway. The windshield is laying in the sill.

 

August 2007. Reasembly is a bit slow. Changing to the 240Z front end requires some modifictations. It is not a bolt on setup. The front spoiler ads to the BRE like appearance. 280Z's have alot more metal in the front end than the 240Z's do.

 

September 2007. The new black MSA carpet kit is installed. It goes in quite well. It needs some cutting here and there but other than that it goes in smoothly. The newly repaired seats are in. The dash has a full cap cover installed along with a protector to cover it as well. The fabric dash piece was one that came with another parts car so why not protect the dash cap?

The tires on it were new when it was parked in 1992. They still had the new tire flashings. While there were no cracks on the sidewalls, there were cracks on the inside between the treads. No use taking chances. Might as well get new tires. The wheels are Caroll Shelby branded. Probably made by Western and sold under his name. Not sure and really do not care. They look good to me. As long as the wheels were off I went ahead and replaced the brake drums & shoes and the front rotors & calipers.

Upon lowering front end the jack slipped off the front cross member. Of course it went right into the front of the oil pan. It dented it enough that the rod made a nice thunk thunk sound when the motor was started. Oh well, might as well pull the motor to replace the pan. As long as I am there may as well do the clutch as well. Plus a 5-Speed would not hurt either.

As of September 29, 2007 this is how it looks now. At one time I was going to install a 240Z rear bumper. After remembering a guy bumping into my 78 280Z at a gas station I decided to put on the larger style. Of course many say it is ugly. I think the 77-78 style looks okay.

The red strips down the side are decals. Most likely they will be removed and painted on instead. The 240Z grill still needs to be installed along with proper brackets for the front bumper. There are other small details that need finishing but for the most part it is now presentable.

[Stealth-Z]

Seams I cannot stop with the modifications. G Nose Time. This is a 5 piece setup. The buckets, center piece and bumper are from a maker in Japan. The lower piece is from Show-Cars out of Canada. The upper piece from Show-Cars was useless. I cut it up in an atempt to fit it. This was an excercise in futility. The bottom piece required many hours of work to get it in the current condition. Paint will come soon.

 

[Stealth-Z]

Finally got around to painting the G Nose. Still have to paint the bumper piece.