Another 280 Project

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I recently found that my 280 daily driver had some rust in spots that I'm not yet comfortable at repairing.

 

I've done a lot to this car over the past few years. I've gone through the suspension, installing suspension techniques springs and sway bars, tokico hp strut cartridges, and polyurethane bushings. I installed a 4.11 r-180 diff and replaced all the brake hardware with stock replacement pieces. A 240z kaminari front spoiler was added with 240 front turn signals. And, a fiberglass 280 hood was also thrown on a while back. I replaced the tired motor with an n42 block/head motor with far fewer miles from a previous car I owned (also had a msa 6-1 header and 2.5" exhaust). The most recent addition was the sportmax wheels from when that group buy came up. Next, it was time to tackle the body.

 

Cue Daily Driver shot:

 

 

More pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nullproject/1978280Z

 

I knew it needed dog legs on both sides, with the passenger side really needing the full quarter replaced due to a wreck from a previous owner. I recently took the passenger-side seat out to transport an r-200. I lifted the carpet, and was horrified at the lack of floorboard found underneath. All that was there was undercoating, which I easily put my hand through. I've been under the car plenty of times, but had always seen what looked like floor and never bothered to actually see if it really was.

 

While I really want to learn to weld, I have no welder at the moment and am hesitant to learn welding on anything structural in my car. I will eventually, but know that will be a little further down the road. I mentioned my lack-of-floor finding to a friend of mine and said that I was thinking about looking for another body in better shape.

 

Not five days later, he calls saying he's found the body I need... and it's only a few miles away from where he lives. It had been in a neighbor's back yard and the guy had just pulled it to his front yard to sell. I drove down to look at it and decided to bring it home.

 

Cue new addition to the litter, a '76 280z:

 

 

The car has a blown motor and has been sitting under a tarp since 1994. Physically, it's in great shape. The roof looks damn good, the panels are pretty straight, and the floor boards also look good (definitely looked closer this time). The previous owner admitted to running over a few too many things, but that's ok. Opening the hood, it looked like some grunge-era raccoon made a home on the passenger side of the motor, but the frame rails were straight and the battery tray only has light surface rust. The PO had removed the battery when he decided to put his project on hold. There's some surface rust here and there, but nothing major. The spare tire well looks untouched and had only one spot of surface rust. Amazingly, the brakes actually worked and weren't locked up. That came in handy when getting it off my friend's slide back.

 

The plan is to strip it down, clean it up, install a spare n42 motor and zx 5 speed I have and get it running. Once running, I'll transfer all the good pieces from my '78 (complete suspension, wheels/tires, front spoiler and hood).

 

I'll be documenting the progress here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nullproject/1976Datsun280Z

 

I've taken the bumpers off and started taking out the interior to see if there are any surprises. So far, it's all pretty good.

 

Don't think the '78 is going to waste, though. My friend is going to adopt her and turn her into a drag car. He doesn't care about the floors, as he's a very experienced welder and can fix all that's wrong.

 

Anywho, just thought I'd share.

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Finally got back around to working on this 280. I haven't had time recently to work on this car, but the guy wanting my '78 has been asking about it. He's ready to get started on turning into a full drag car. And I'm ready to get rid of the '78.

 

I stripped the interior out of the car several months back, so the next thing on the list was swapping suspension goodies mentioned above between the '78 and the '76.

 

So, today my friend Paul came over and we knocked out most of the rear suspension swap. This worked out for him, too, as he needed the rear suspension from the '76 for his recently purchased 240z. He brought his rear 240 suspension for the suspension shuffle. The new owner doesnt car about suspension or brakes, since he's going to gut the '78. We just need to be able to move the car and get it on a trailer in a few weeks.

 

'76 in the air with rear suspension out. Still need to disconnect the driveshaft and pull the r200.

 

 

 

'78 donor car, with kaminari front spoiler and fiberglass hood already removed. Still need to pull the lights.

 

 

These are on the '76 now. I'm not doing any cleanup for now, just wanting to get the '76 back on wheels and the '78 to the new owner. The '76 will go for paint in a month or two and clear a spot for me to get the 260 in the garage.

 

 

That being said, they'll clean up quite easily. I had cleaned and repainted these before they went on the '78.

 

Front suspension swap will be next weekend... Motor removal will occur shortly after... Paint job pending afterwards.

 

Whole lotta shuffling...

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It's been too cold to do much since my last update, but I finally got the suspension swap completed and the brakes bled on the 76.

 

The 78 is waiting for me to pull the engine and transmission and to strip the rest of the parts I want.

 

 

Paul came over today and helped me finish bleeding the brakes on the 76 and to help turn it around in my driveway. I want the front end at my garage entrance for when I pull the motor in the next couple of weeks (hopefully).

 

So, here's how the car sits on the swapped suspension. It looks much better at this ride height. The turbo wheels are temporary.

 

I also took some things off the motor, but didn't get pictures on that.

 

 

 

Not the missing center cap... It didn't see eye-to-eye with my floor jack. Bummer.

 

 

 

 

I've decided on gunmetal gray for when I get the 76 repainted. It needs a lot of body work, but not really any more than my 260z that got painted several months back.

 

Still have a lot to do before body work starts.

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Last weekend, I got almost all the rest of the parts off the '78 280 that I want to keep. The only things left are the ECU, FI wiring harness, engine and transmission, which I'll remove tomorrow.

 

I'll also pull the engine and four speed out of the '76 car, but they'll go right into the '78 car.

 

This is the motor from the '78 car.

 

 

And a few shots of the stripped '78:

 

 

 

Some of the keepers:

 

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My friend Paul came over with his cherry-picker today and we got the engines swapped around.

 

We first pulled the motor and transmission from the '76:

 

 

 

 

Lots to clean up here. Before it goes to paint, I'll be removing brackets and whatnot that I won't need. I'm going to try to hide the wiring as much as possible when this thing goes back together.

 

'76 motor out set to the side:

 

Then we pulled the engine and transmission from the '78 and separated them:

 

Engine-less '78, but not for long:

 

Finally, we put the '76 motor in the '78:

 

 

'78 motor sitting on wooden blocks in the garage:

 

The motor on the stand is what will eventually go back into the '76 car. Both are n42 block/head, but the one on the stand only has less than 100k miles, with no rebuilds. The hood is now back on the '78 and it's ready to go down the road. Hopefully, it will be out of here next weekend. I'm sure my neighbors will be sad to see it gone, though.

 

Also in the above pic, my Canfield 195's are on top of an old filing cabinet, getting cleaned up for my 260z.

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Sent the '78 280 down the road a few months back. The new owner hasn't decided if it will be a drag car or a street car.

 

 

I still have a lot to do to get it ready for paint, but it will have to wait.

 

Sorry, ole blue, but you're going to have to hang out outside for a bit while I finish the 260z and start on Monguuz.