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HybridZ

1978 280Z Limited Edition


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Hello hybridZ members! I finally have the privelege and right to join this forum as I have now acquired my first S30 Z car. I've been a member on sr20forum for quite some time due to my love for the B13 Sentra chassis, but the Z has always been a dream car for me. Anywho I picked this up on October 9 of 2010 in good running condition so hopefully this will be the beginning of a fun and knowledgeable project. I hope to pick up a few pointers from here in the future along the way and make the car appealing like most of you Z owners with beautiful cars.

 

The car is a 5 speed with an L28. The clock reads 29,850 on the date of purchase (hopefully it's real miles) and has Limited Edition engraved on the door handles. Anyone can provide a link for removing the louvre?

 

On to the pics

 

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Congrats on the new car. I hate to burst your bubble, but the ODO reading is most likely rolled over at least once, if not several times. Does the engine match the ID tags? That's an easy way to see if it's even the original motor. These cars are old, and most all of them have a ton of history (good and bad). If you want to remove the louvers just start unscrewing things, they come off pretty easily. There should be a hinge at the top so you can unscrew from the bottom. They are glued on the glass with mounting plates, so you will have a lot of stuff to scrape off. By the way, what is a Wangan Midnight Project?

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By the way, what is a Wangan Midnight Project?

 

Wangan Midnight was some Anime show in japan that had a S30 in it that was called the Devil Z. Also I haven't ever heard of any door handles that said Limited Edition and your car doesn't look like it was a Black pearl Or ZZAP S30. Good luck with your project seems like a decent starter.

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Thanks for the tip on the louvre, I removed it and it was pretty easy. It needs a lot of TLC and cleaning. The oil is black and needs changing so that's next on the list. The old air filter was dried and crumpled up so that also needs some attention. I'm also in the process of changing burnt out bulbs in the rear.

 

Couple of issues

1. The volt meter is showing the red light and no voltage even though the car starts up just fine and most the electricals work.

2. The right turn signal switch doesn't blink, but just stays on illuminated in the rear. The front right turn signal doesn't even turn on.

3. The key the guy gave me starts the ignition and locks the door, but can't unlock them. So that means I can't lock the car with the windows up.

 

Did you just buy this off pf criagslist?

 

Actually I posted it up on craigslist bay area just to see how much people would offer me for the car. I really thought it was 29,800 something because the guy kept saying yeah he's only the second owner, but whatever. As long as she runs good I guess. I bought it for a decent price off some guy here in Ripon, CA

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little bit of progress since last time...

 

New muffler

 

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15x8 +0 offset Sportmaxx XXR 513s

 

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Removed front and rear bumpers

 

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Classic rear spoiler (drilled in hatch)

 

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MSA Type 1 air dam (just taped on at the moment)

 

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Trying out the 350Z billet grill

 

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If the louvers are any good, I hope you saved them. Living in Cali it does get a little warm and the sun likes to fade your interior. I wouldn't be without mine. I have the same front air dam on mine and it looks great. Just saving up for the rear. I already got the 3 piece rear spoiler. The wheels look good also. Nice start. As far as the electrical goes, just remember how old the car is. Things may just need a good old cleaning.

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Wow! I'll say that was fast progress on the paint n body work. Very nice. I've got those same wheels 16" Probably going with a 215-50(55)R16 tires. I didn't like the billet grill, I'm going to take stock 280 grills and weld them together to close the gap, and I've got a set of 240Z bumpers that'll be on my 280Z. I like the black though on your grill.

 

Phar

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Those wheels fit perfect! I've got a set of 513s in 16x8+0, with 225/55 all around and they stick out. I can't tell if it's just the tire or my offset is too low. What size tires are those? Looks like a smaller tire width will fix my problem from those pics.

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Those wheels fit perfect! I've got a set of 513s in 16x8+0, with 225/55 all around and they stick out. I can't tell if it's just the tire or my offset is too low. What size tires are those? Looks like a smaller tire width will fix my problem from those pics.

 

The tires I went with are 215/60/R15 Falken 912

 

Thanks for the comments guys! I had some money saved up from selling a couple of cars I used to have so the progress was pretty fast. Plus this website already had beautiful Zs as my blueprints so decisions had been pre-made and thought out about which parts to choose for the car. Thanks also to the services of MSA (Z store) with their fast shipping and to user Nelsonian for selling me the classic spoiler quickly and promptly. This forum doesn't really have trader ratings so I was hesitant to buy from another user being a new member, but I trusted him due to his few years as a forum member. Anyway, we all know projects are never officially "done" so expect more along the years to come. Also if anyone's from the area, I have another 280z owner (Ford 5.0 swap) who's interested in doing some kind of meet. Keep suggestions coming as this is my dedicated build thread.

Edited by b13pnoysentra
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There are Z clubs in Cali, just search about a bit... So yeah looking pretty good, You need to pull off the rear bumper shocks and bumper cowel back there, it'll clean it up a bit. Who'd you have do your paint?

 

Empire Z meets tonight at the Dennys Parking lot in Ontario Mills Mall 8PM to whenever

I10 and the Milliken off ramp.

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