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Gary's 1977 Cali 280Z


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Car:

1977 280z for $1800 bought it in 2008.

Original Color: Silver. Current: White Goal: Superwhite (toyota factory)

My dad nearly killed me when he found out i bought a rust bucket on accident

The overall estimate in body work repair $5000 (good thing my dad is a body repairman)

 

Mods:

Tokico Blues & springs (totally regret it. should of saved for coilovers)

American eagle wheels, dished in the back

8mm Taylor wires.

NA distributor from 81

6-1 Headers, 2.5 exahuast w/ magnaflow

New Head (N42) from Datsun Parts LLC

Electric Fan

 

Story:

So i bought this car during my senior year during high school. When i bought the car, it ran very smoothly until the block decided to give out on me. The rings busted, and the head cracked. So, i decided to "rebuild" the engine with my zero experience. My first attempt was a complete disaster, i put in NEW clevite bearings without any measurements whatsoever. The worse part was, i tried to do this rebuild with the engine still in the car. Eventually i decided to just buy a used block and slap on a completely fresh head on top. That went well, for about a week. It started leaking all over the place. I have learned ALOT from all of this.

Currently, The Car is in for Body work and should be primered before August 24th 2010. I bought a 280zxt motor from a nice gentleman up in San jose for #1100. The entire trip costed me $1430. This was an excruciating experience, but one that was well worth it. I took 1998 tacoma which barely made it back to Socal. The Trip included two breakdowns, and severe tanning. the car also did not have a/c....

 

280ZXT Swap:

Came with

Non-egr, shaved and powdercoated manifold

New HG replacement

240sx TB w/ spacer

intercooler + piping

JKS fuel rail

Entire Harness, Ecu, AFM, ETC

Brand New Clutch

entire exahust system.

 

 

Here are some pictures of me and my father working on the Z

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Right Quarter panel done. I used roll-on primer because my dad requested, more like demanded. Atleast it will pay off in the end. im going to have to block it out and then the second coat primer is going on. going to be really busy this week because it has to come home by this weekend.

 

goals needed to complete

 

Left Quarter Panel

rear end

Rivet/silicone the wheel wells back in.

Rocker panels

 

 

The hatch can wait, and the jams i can sand and self etch at home.

 

In picture:

The car does not have a 10 in wheel gap in the rear....its on stands

post-4870-087729800 1281976081_thumb.jpg

Edited by garyneedsz
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hey man whats the dealio with the roll on, just to ask for me and anyone else that might be interested. any advantages over spray on (other than not having to have a booth/gun) and what brand/type of primer, roller sizing, sanding procedure, etc....dont want to ruin the thread but would love to know. You could also make a thread in the body/paint if you dont want to answer here.

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nah man your not ruining the thread. the purpose of the roll-on primer is pretty much a filler, since all the work is all done by hand, the metal will never be 100% perfect. the flares are completely hand crafted with metal, no fiberglass. just an application of slight bondo, roll-on primer will make it perfect.

 

a few coats back and forth, and you will nice thick layer of primer to sand. after the sanding is done, the spray on primer will be applied.

 

i used a roller that is about the size of the width of my hand. the primer you can buy at any auto paint store. autozone does not count...

 

 

UPDATE: The car is back at home! taking it to the smog test only today, going to smog it with my original motor, and rip it out once i see that it passed.

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Hey where you posted at in SoCal? I got a 78 280z I just towed to my new house. I have completely 0 experience on how to overhaul a car, but currently attending UTI to learn all of this. I chose this car to do a project since I've grown up with my dad fixing up 3 280z. Thought it'd be nice for me to fix up the last one. One thing for sure, mine is a complete rust bucket, but I don't know how bad the rust is.

 

Other than that, good going with everything so far. :]

 

- RemieGino14 -

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im in fullerton. yeah man if your ever stumbled upon anything, im right in socal. were sooo lucky. MSA is about 15 mins from me :) haha

 

UPDATE: the engine is sitting loosely on the mounts, just need an engine hoist on tuesday to pull it.

 

goals this week : pull motor, remove booster, lines, and misc from engine bay, sand, paint flat black.

post-4870-049840200 1282527532_thumb.jpg

Edited by garyneedsz
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