The Valmont 280z

Valmont · August 19, 2008

The Story....

The old ride was a 93 Honda Prelude VTEC si, that was great when i got in in '01. She took 7 years of hits, and started breaking down all the time, so last year, i started repairs, and stripped it. This is how she sits today, running well, about to get painted, and ready for me to get rid of since I fell in love with the Z.

(that's my pontiac in the background too)

She'll be for sale, real soon by the way, for anyone interested....

So, I just started getting fed up with having a project car that was undriveable half the time, and I could see sinking as much money as i was into a 93 honda.

I needed something different, so I went looking...

I was a signature away from buying a 91 BMW 8 series...

...but then found out that it was 100,000 grand when new, and they still treat it that way in terms of parts... also, my engine heavy friends told me that welding together two IL6's and calling it a V12 was a bad idea. Al I heard was that every time I did a 200 dollar oil change cause it used some crazy syncmeshtastic oil made in diamond mines in africa, that i bought not one, but two oil filters. Two distributors??

then I started looking into Z's and found my baby here on craigslist:

(original ad)

http://valmontstudios.com/forum_hosting/html/1977 DATSUN 280Z new pictures added.mht

(slow to load, please be patient)

If you don't want to look at the ad, i took this pic when I got home with it:

(11/17/2007)

the craigslist ad had interior pics

I bought it in seattle, WA, from a guy that lives in belfair for $3500. My biggest criteria for the car was that it was running, and that the body was rust free, and passed a weak magnet test.

I'm not saying she doesn't have rust...

..but she's doing okay.

She looks like this today:

I "daily drive" it about 5 minutes..umm.. daily... I live and work on a military base out here, and only take this thing out on the town about once a month.

I haven't done anything to it other than flush the engine, and keep it maintained. The interior needs a lot of work, as you can see in the craigslist ad.

The engine has (i think) 105k on it, and runs well... without an O2 sensor, and with a battery held in by a bungie cord. I've got an extra oil gauge in the car (none of the stock ones work) that just kind of hangs by the hood pop...

(wtf)

Also on the list of stuff that doesn't work it speedo, tach, turn signals... accessories of any kind really...

umm..

Stuff that works:

headlights

windshield wipers

heater in defrost mode.

engine

tranny (4 spd)

i can't lock the doors or the hatch either...

She needs work, so for right now, it's fix/paint/sell he old rice burner, then I can really get to the plan.

thanks for reading.

PM me if you live in the area.

Valmont

Valmont · August 21, 2008

So, i got a couple PMs complaining that I didn't post where people could respond, so I have a "new member" post over here:

http://forums.hybridz.org/showpost.php?p=923885&postcount=1

If you want to call me a big dummy publicly for something I write on my project page, that's the place.

Or, you could PM me to call me a big dummy. Or tell me you need help turning wrenches, or meet up at the pick n' pull (i got my 280zx engine at one on 303... i just don't know what to do with it now..), or whatever.

thanks

Val