Finally have my S130 running

[Captainnapalm]

Hello hello. I've been a reader of the forums here, and I posted like, 3 times. But now I have an actual car to speak of.

 

In September of '07 I purchased a 1980 280ZX 2+2 for 2,950 from a rather shady used car dealership. I admit, I was probably drawn by its paint colors at first, (blue with orange flames) but after looking the car over, I decided that I had to have it. It's my first Z-car.

 

Shortly after, around December, problems started to manifest. BIG problems. The dealership was shadier than I thought. It turns out the car's owner was the lot owner's father, and it was a very sick S130. So it was placed on this lot and there it sat for two years.

 

And so I parked the car in January, with a blown head gasket, and started to tear into it. I pulled the engine completely apart, and learned a LOT about how the Japanese do things, and a lot about the L28. And was very pleased to see how little wear the engine seemed to have after 179,000 miles.

 

In total, I have replaced the fuse panel; it had originally been completely routed out of the wiring by the previous owner, replaced every gasket in the engine, completely de-sludged the engine, sprung for a new radiator since the old one had several holes, and had been patched with stop-leak.. As I got into the electrical, I discovered that the center gauge cluster had caught fire; the previous owner had applied patch upon patch in the poor abused electrical system, and nearly burned the car to the ground.

 

And to my surprise while working on it, I found I was the owner of a California car. Which is good; it has very little rust, which I felt was odd for such an abused car.

 

I plan to update this thread with pictures for the curious. I didn't get to document the build, since I didn't have a camera, but it'll be a work in progress, as far as "refreshing" the car, as I have no interest in a restoration; she's my daily driver.

[woldson]

Welcome:)! Sounds like you have given a lot of love to that ZX.

The L28 is a very tough engine, it will serve you well!

[Captainnapalm]

So I was able to get oput after work today with my camera, and take a few pictures of my Zee. I took her to a local sports park to photograph. She needs a bath badly, but I need to reseal the windshield before I can do that. Anyways...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cockerstar]

I think it would look awesome if you polished your wheels. It's a tedious task, but worth it

I love those wheels on an s130

[Captainnapalm]

I plan on polishing them, or doing a paint and polish, since I've seen the iron cross wheels with paint in strategic areas and they look really good. I'm also not too sure about the paint job. It's got a couple of little rust bubbles and a few scratches, and it'd be really hard to match those paint colors. I've been thinking of a two-tone paint job, with the body one color, and the hood another. But paint is a finishing touch. I still have some body work and interior work to do on her.

 

Ignition switch crapped out on me, lol. It had been going, but it finally just went. Managed to hotwire it (wow, Z's ARE easy to hotwire!) to get home, and I'm laying out a pushbutton start. I'll get pics of that tomorrow. I plan to use the key as the ignition switch does operate to turn power on and off. And because a pure pushbutton would be easier to steal than a stock Z.

[mylilpwny]

Well that would have brought me into the driver seat too! ha looks good!

[(goldfish)]

A good start, engines and wiring can be replaced, Bodies suck to fix.

[Captainnapalm]

Well, it's down again, this time stuck in the parking lot at work. The ignition went out. I got a new module and pick up coil, as the module tested bad, but the magnet under the stator is broken into a dozen or so pieces, and the car run like its timing is retarded to the maximum. SO, yeah. Not running anymore.