forchunet Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 So since laying my eyes on a Z for the very first time 8 months ago I am now a new owner of one. The search was extensive and took me into 5 states up and down the East Coast. With a budget of under 2K and living on the East Coast, the dozen or so cars I looked at were literally rusted through and through and not running. So yesterday as I was driving back the 4 hours to Virginia from North Carolina on a Uhaul after I turned down a particular Z at the very last minute (still cost me 150+ for the Uhaul mind you), I get a call from a guy selling his Z who was located in a neighboring city. Disappointed about the one Z from North Carolina (The description said "little rust, runs and drives great!" but it was neither one of those) I figured I might as well check out this guys Z. Well when I got there I was surprised to see pretty intact floorpans and a Z that ran great! Those two are what really sold the car to me. I know she's probably a rust bucket to some of yalls standards but shes the best I've seen in 6 months and for the price I had to. But no more talking and heres the pics. Came with both late and early model Z front and rear bumpers. Just not installed All the doglegs and rocker panels need fixing... First time I haven't seen the road in a Z. Still needs a lot of work though. They do feel very solid, however. Hmm a lot of original stuff. I wonder if these things are worth anything... Interior's shot... Are these doors salvagable? Drivers side floor pan.. Well there she is. She drives better than she looks. Has the Differential clunk but I have a bracket on the way. Bringing her down to my dads friend tomorrow. He's a Nissan mechanic and owned a couple of these throughout the years. Im sure he'll be happy to see one pulling into his driveway tomorrow. Any guesses on how much I paid for her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFMarc Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Free? lol that's what I got mine for. I'd say $1000, looks like you got yourself a nice project and some rust to be patching Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 You sure have some work cut out for you, but nothing that will be impossible How does the hatch area look? From the little I can see it doesn't look like it should be an issue, and you should be thankful for that It's a major pain to repair that area and have it look right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboboost Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Not too bad at all. Nice find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s30guy Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 first of all this is my first post on hybridz, and i look forward to being engaged in conversations with my fellow zers.i decided to post on here first because im in the same boat as u right now. about 2 weeks ago i became a member of the z family and i love it so far. my car runs but has so much rust,its kinda depressing at times but oh well it can be fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borini63 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Not that bad most of it is a surface rust...good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forchunet Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Thanks for the encouragement guys! Well I paid $1500 for her. Got two good condition bumper sets, reconditioned headlight scoops, a pioneer CD player, a really good condition hood, and a bad hatch (may be able to sell the glass but thats about it). The car itself was $1200 and the added parts brought it up. s30guy, did you happen to find your car off of Craigslist? I went and saw a couple of cars in NC so I'm just wondering if you bought one that I saw in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 OUCH! $1500? That hurts, but I guess if it's all you could find, then she's priceless to you. How do the frame rails look? The area behind the front tires? It's got decent rims on it. and I've definitely seen more rust on a project. I paid $300 for my 78' with barely any rust (behind rear wheels). but I live in the SW, and took my time finding one. So, before you go buying a lot of parts. you need to get a good idea of what you want the end product to be. Are you going to stick with the L28 stock engine? What are you going to use it for, a daily driver? A show Queen? Are you going to stick with stock paint. There are tons of mods you can do. all it takes is time and money. Read and search all kinda of threads on here to get ideas. Once you have an idea what you want, then you're on your way, with the least amount of waste. Some people will say it's not, but I found Ebay to be a great source for parts, it just takes searching. Some other commercial sources for S30 parts and most other Z parts, are MSA.com, BlackDragon.com, and Datsunrestore.com. Those and various forums should get you about anything you need. Hybridz and Nico are about the best Z tech sites I've found. Lastly, you might look into you local Z or other car clubs in your area, they can hook you up with other people who are into Z's... Good luck, and welcome to the show... Phar Edit: oh and Awesome on the Pioneer Stereo, I love em.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forchunet Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Wow! I wish I lived in the SW. But yeah I looked at about a dozen other cars and this particular 78 was definitely on the low end in terms of rust plus it runs very well. As for plans I want to turn the car into a nice daily driver, maybe 200-250 HP. Im gonna keep the L28 and try to get her running smooth. Probably an engine rebuild later on down the road... stroker maybe? But thats years down the road when I graduate college and have more money and hopefully time. As for now my main goal is to kill all the rust, weld on a few body panels, and paint her a nice factory silver. Firstly, however, I need to fix the differential as it has that "clunk" thats so famous. Thanks a lot for the encouragement and tips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forchunet Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Oh and as for the front fenders... The drivers side is great. The passenger side still has a battery tray at least but you can see through behind the tire in a few spots. Will need a lot of work. The frame rails are good, not great but good. Planning to buy some baddog rails and welding them up there for added support, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s30guy Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks for the encouragement guys! Well I paid $1500 for her. Got two good condition bumper sets, reconditioned headlight s s30guy, did you happen to find your car off of Craigslist? I went and saw a couple of cars in NC so I'm just wondering if you bought one that I saw in person. re:no i got my car right around the corner from my school.i only paid 500 for it and love it .this took place in fayetteville nc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Oh and as for the front fenders... The drivers side is great. The passenger side still has a battery tray at least but you can see through behind the tire in a few spots. Will need a lot of work. The frame rails are good, not great but good. Planning to buy some baddog rails and welding them up there for added support, however. That's good, maybe the rust is more cosmetic. you might take a hammer and do some tapping though... As for the L28, if you can get it going then great, if you have trouble, you might look into megasquirt'ing it since that's so much more modern a EFI system. I've wanted to try swapping GM efi onto one for the sequential EFI and the MAP to get rid of the AFM, but that's a lot of work. Curious how well it would run though. I'd be willing to help advise anyone who wanted to try the swap, I've done it on my jeep, n it was pretty easy... Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 That's good, maybe the rust is more cosmetic. you might take a hammer and do some tapping though... Phar Do a lot of poking around to make sure you don't waste your time or money. The last two cars I bought were $2500 and $1000 and they are no where near the condition of your new Z. It is always better to spend the money up front. I am not trying to kill your project but if time/money is a factot you may want to start with a cleaner body. Rust repair = big money and you always find more than you think. None of these cars are "rust free". Maybe other guys can chime in on where and how much rust you are going to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forchunet Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Thanks for the advice. Fortunately for me I have all the time and some money to make this project happen. I plan to look at this as a learning experience and as a reward for myself for when I graduate college. And as I've realized thus far, working on my car is a great stress reliever! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forchunet Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Rust wise... I have some tabco body panels on the way and some bad dog rails in the near future. That should take care of it for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenshinX Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 good find for this area I got lucky on my buy. My 260z came from Arizona. Your 280z looks to be and very fixable shape. If you need parts or help tuning check out Tidewater Z in poquson VA ask for Todd also try Barry at east coast Z in cheasapeake for parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmogSUX Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Ouch, goodluck on the project...I guess I'm blessed living on the west coast. There's plenty of running 280s within an hour of me that are under $1500. And even plenty of 240s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Just for those who think you can never find clean cars on the east coast $2500 240z from Boston....clean body, crack-free dash. Bought less than 6 months ago: $1000 240z from NY.....light rust. needs dog legs and crack-free dash. Glad you plan on keeping her and always triple your budget when it comes to rust and double your time. Keep us updated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almighty Wez Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I feel your pain, living on the east coast and trying to find rust free car 10 years or older is a tough task I had to resort to getting one from Cali and paying 900$ to have it shipped. Most of the ones I was looking at locally had more rust then my 67 Chevy truck did, and they still wanted a good amount for them. Good luck with the project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llegos Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 boy, you weren't kidding in the title, were you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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