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This has always been one of my favorite threads to visit. Always good writeups, and pics are always nice.

Keep it up, Don.

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This post has been edited by Miles Edgeworth on Jul 14 2010, 12:11 AM

Thanks, Carver.

Today was both productive and not, mostly due to work interfering. The best thing that happened was I finally got the whole double-clutch rev-match downshift thing down pat. As I thought, it was just a matter of forcing myself to insert an extra step in my normal rev-match process. After a few tries coming to a stop I had it. It still feels weird, but hey, it keeps the gears from gnashing.

I got the car inspected at the DMV and it passed easily whatever verification process they had. I had no doubts that it would pass. After all, the lady came out and loved the hell out of it. My favorite comments from the inspection lady were as follows.

(She walks outside and starts to circle the car) "Is this a 280 or a 240? Wait, don't answer that, it's a 240." (She writes it in her book.)

(After I popped the hood for her) "Now that's a classic. This is when an engine was an engine!"

So with the DMV bit out of the way, the car is ready to be registered. Surrendering the plates and getting new ones would've meant standing in the ridiculous DMV line, so I put it off until tomorrow. I figure that since the license plate thing is the only bit left, AAA shouldn't have any issue with giving me a registration. They didn't want to touch it before since it was a salvage title, but it's not anymore so I should be able to just waltz in and finish the process. Otherwise, it's back to the DMV... sigh.

Afterward, I headed over to Motorsport Auto to pick up some parts I'd preordered back when I had a 280Z. They're kinda useless now but I already paid for them, so may as well pick them up and sell them off. While there I inquired as to the price and availability of some items I was interested. For one, they had a complete 240Z dash (well, just the dash--no gauges, wiring, accessories, glovebox... just...the dash). How much? $1600. JEEZ!!! I could buy a car for that! And that's just the dash!? I mean, 1600 for the whole thing including brand new gauges and lights and everything, sure, I could see that... but just the dash!? Screw that noise!

Next on my wish list was European/Japanese/Anywhere-but-here 240Z tail-light lenses. See, everywhere but the USA got proper amber turn-signal lenses in the tail-lights. Using these in an American car means rewiring the tail-lights, but I have a step-by-step instruction on how to do it properly so that wasn't a big deal for me. Sure enough, MSA has a set of reproduction tail-light assemblies on order from Japan. Price? $900. WTF?!! Now, that's a pair of tail-lights. Light housing (same as a US car), wiring (apparently same as a US car since the blurb says you still have to rewire a US car for it to work), bulbs, chrome trim and of course the lenses themselves. But $900? No way, no how.

As expected, they also didn't have any rheostats for the instrument panel lights. I kinda figured.

As a side note, I decided to head over to Yahoo! Auctions Japan to see if I could find any 240Z tail light lenses or assemblies for sale. I mean, it's Japan, and all Japanese 240Zs have those style tail-lights. Should be easy! Yeah, no. It's easy to find 240Z tails here in the USA, but even in Japan, those tail-lights are RARE. You can of course still easily find late-model (what was the 260Z and 280Z here, lovingly referred to as the S31 over there) tails, but those don't help me in the least. Hell, I can walk right into MSA and pick up a pair of those. Jeez.

There used to be a place nearby that made just the lenses, but apparently they stopped making them over half a decade ago because they 'weren't profitable'. Argh. I'll have to ask around some other places, see if I can source some. I really like the proper amber lens combination, especially with the plan I have for the car's restoration. In the mean time, at least I can rewire the tail-lights so that the top bulbs are running/brake lights and the bottom is just a turn signal. Why Nissan did anything else boggles me.

I was close to work, and close to work was a place advertising free alignment checks, so I headed over to Big O Tires (It's showtime!) and handed the car over to get its alignment adjusted. After waiting about 25 minutes, I was told that their newfangled alignment machine was incapable of doing alignments on any car older than 1980. They took the car to another local shop. About 15 minutes later, it came back without any changes, because that shop couldn't do it either. What the hell? I'm gonna try taking it back to Chapman Auto tomorrow, see if they can't do it. This is ridiculous.

Afterwards I had to go to work, which meant no more fun car stuff. Boo. After coming home from work, though, I decided to feel around behind the dashboard to see if I could find the wiring going to the dimmer rheostat. What I found instead was a loose trim panel that pulled right out from behind the dash. On the panel? A/C controls! Jesus, what is it with people and not being able to remove A/C systems properly!? Seriously, this is the second Z I've owned out of two that had incomplete and incorrect A/C removal performed where they just stuffed things away. Tomorrow I'll PROPERLY remove all that crap and see what got ruined in the process. It wouldn't surprise me if the improper removal of the A/C controls is why the blower fan doesn't work. Since the A/C controls are next to the rheostat, it also wouldn't surprise me if they ended up disconnecting it too. Morons.

So that's my update for today. My plans for tomorrow include getting new plates and finalizing the registration, hitting up Custom Colors by Carl to see what they think about restoring the body, stopping by MSA again to inquire about some wiring harnesses, inspecting the behind-dash wiring for faults (and hopefully fixing the non-functioning interior components!), and maybe even lurking a junkyard for some parts I need.

See you tomorrow!

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The way I think about it, it's that I'm actually half-decent with wiring and electronics, so the cars just kinda... seek me out? I look at them and can't leave them alone when they beg for love like that. Begging for someone to fix them properly, all that.

Thank god the rest of the car is decent enough to work from. Or rather, I guess I'll find out just how much money it's gonna take to fix it tomorrow. Sigh. I can see my paychecks for the whole rest of the year just fluttering away...

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hybrid Z seems to cover all Z's, however, the population there is mostly suited for s30 owners.

none the less, the write-ups and info there is good for all nissan owners, including me.
most of the members are no-nonsense and seem to know what theyre talking about

This post has been edited by Sensation! on Jul 14 2010, 01:30 AM

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This post has been edited by Miles Edgeworth on Jul 14 2010, 02:14 AM

Great! Now would you kindly remove your nonsense from my office? You have your own office, don't you? Skedaddle! This thread is for the progress on my Z project. Note:

-My Z
-Progress

Drifter:

If you get a S30 or S130, I will find time to come over your house (or you come to mine) and help you out with it.

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/1839315343.html

This post has been edited by Kiroshino on Jul 14 2010, 06:30 AM

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WOw... nostalgic old school cars + diesel engines and their sexy rumble = <3
Nice vid, Edgeworth, even though you need your own 'wishlist/progress' thread just like Nick said. ;3
More about the vid, though. I love the look of that old white Z, and the power to the engine when it took off, that sound made my heart race just a little... *dreamy sigh*


So happy for your progress, Wright! I can't wait to see once it's on the road and getting repairs.

This post has been edited by Maya Fey on Jul 14 2010, 03:10 PM

Aww, people spoiling my surprise! Well, that's okay--I did upload the video while I was out getting things done. For those who haven't seen it yet, here you go.

YOUTUBE ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dZI7EKsL4 )

And for those too lazy to watch, here's the reader's digest version.

SPOILER

-New Z is ballin' -Old Z's been recovered by LAPD, gonna go get it back today -Anyone in the market for a 1978 Datsun 280Z?

In other news, the 240Z is now officially in my name with legit plates and title and everything. Woo! Sadly because of the excitement I didn't get out until late, so I wasn't able to pick up parts or do the alignment or check out the restoration shop or hit the junkyard... but that's fine. If all goes well, I'll be back with another update on the 280Z.

Stay tuned! See you all in... five hours or so?

And for those too lazy to watch, here's the reader's digest version.

SPOILER

-New Z is ballin' -Old Z's been recovered by LAPD, gonna go get it back today -Anyone in the market for a 1978 Datsun 280Z?

In other news, the 240Z is now officially in my name with legit plates and title and everything. Woo! Sadly because of the excitement I didn't get out until late, so I wasn't able to pick up parts or do the alignment or check out the restoration shop or hit the junkyard... but that's fine. If all goes well, I'll be back with another update on the 280Z.

Stay tuned! See you all in... five hours or so?

Congratulations on the new Z. Glad to see you got one in such good condition and the police the recovered your 280.

Thanks.

Sadly, the place was closed by the time I was in the area, so it's been put off until tomorrow morning. I heard a rumor that there was a white 280Z with a 240Z front bumper driving around with 80's Corolla pizza-cutter rims and the recovery sheet says that all my tires are 'worn' even though the ones on my Z were Ziexes installed in January... I guess I'll find out tomorrow. The recovery sheet says that the car has seats (though of course it doesn't say if they're the minty-fresh ones, it just says there's seats), so... yeah. We'll see tomorrow if anything's changed on the car.

As far as I know, no dead bodies were recovered along with the car. Shocking?

Anyway, that's it for today. More tomorrow!

How much would you be selling it for and what would need to be done to it? I have somebody that might be interested.

Assuming the car hasn't been molested and is still in the same condition as when I left it (huge assumption--we'll find out in roughly 8 hours), $2000. The car runs just fine--keep in mind I'd been using it as my daily driver since October. The speedometer is non-functional due to a problem with the speedometer pickup on the transmission, but again assuming that the stuff that was in the car is still in there, I have a brand new speedo pickup sleeve, pinion and gaskets ready. There is a wiring issue somewhere causing the illumination bulb on the Oil/Temp Gauge to blow prematurely. In the meantime, there's a whole set of new bulbs included.

The car ran rich, so for fuel economy's sake I'd recommend having the A/F adjusted by someone with a wideband. It's adjusted via a screw on the airflow meter. The seats are going to be the ones currently in my 240Z, so while you can certainly sit in them they'll need to be either repaired or replaced eventually. The outer door lock cylinders need to be replaced. You can certainly lock the car, but to unlock it one would have to unlock the hatch and crawl in to pull up the lock on the door. There's a tab on the lock cylinders which is broken, making it impossible to unlock the doors from the outside. The doors need new window cranks. I have a crank which I just keep in the center console and attach when necessary. The outer passenger door handle needs to be replaced.

That's it for 'issues'. For the state of the body, check out earlier pages of the thread. Again, I'm hoping that the body didn't get any new 'surprises' while it was out of my hands. I'll post up pictures when I get back from the storage place to confirm. I'll try to reassemble the interior when I get it back, too. The only reason I had it apart was for the engine swap, but since that's not happening there's no need to leave it stripped down.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. With the assumption that the 280Z is in the same shape as it was when it was lost, I'd like the car sold within two weeks. I really need the cash for the motor project.

And again, cross-state selling's out the window, right?

Why? I don't care who buys it, I'm just not gonna pay out of pocket to ship it or fly someone out here to get it. That's the buyer's perogative.

WHAT IF.....

someone put in a turbo motor in that Z and went bat outta hell with it haha
i have a hard time imagining your 280 wearing out brand new all season rubber in less than a week.

but dude, lets sure hope something like that happened! and that there actually is a turbo motor in there haha

Nice video and congrats on getting your 280z back.

Swapping the seats before selling?

Good chance they just took your car for a mad joyride up some twisty roads all night. Must say that sucks, and hope that the only damage is real minor. Family's 2nd Gen Camry with 240k+ Miles was stolen once, and when we got it back it had lots of crap in it, everything was a complete mess, stains and the whole lot.

Absolutely will be swapping the seats before selling.

PandaApex: Aside from everything that was in the car being all over the place and the car being a general mess all over, it was unchanged. As far as I can tell, nothing is missing. The seats are fine, the motor's fine, the wheels and tires are mine, the carpet in the trunk is still there, my headphones, knife, registration, gate opener... everything's there from what I can tell.

Which brings me to this shot. She's baaaaaaaaack...



I know it's hard to see; I got home really late with it and my phone's not that great at dark photography (though it's a hell of a lot better in low-light than my actual digicam). Anyway, the 280Z is back in my hands. I need to swap seats, clean up the 280Z, put the interior back in, then it's up for sale. I'd rather sell it to someone I know whether it's on the forums or elsewhere in reality, but if after a week there's no serious interest it'll be Craigslisted. I need the money something fierce, especially since it cost just over $500 to get it back from the police. Sidewaysstarion, I owe you big time for all the help today. I can't thank you enough.

However, retrieving the 280Z was not without its perils. I was forced to leave a car parked next to the police station as I had no way to drive two cars back to Orange. Unable to in good conscience leave my parents' car in Los Angeles, I left the 280Z instead. I drove the Touge Taxi back to Orange, took a nap, got ready for work, and left. Stopped to get myself lunch at Yoshinoya right across the street from Office Depot. Came back, went to start the car and it cranked a few times before dying. Thinking the A/C was too much for it, I turned all that off and tried again. Nothing. No matter how hard I tried. Later, Pikachu_Fragger came by and we tried jumping it. The battery was not the issue--it appears to be a fault with the fuel system, very likely the fuel pump.



This is now the second time the Touge Taxi has left me stranded someplace with no rhyme, reason or warning. I'm rather unhappy about that. At least AAA had it towed, but I'm not sure what we're gonna do about fixing it. I can't afford to do any serious repairs on it when I'm already taking care of two Zs, so I'll need to talk that over with my parents and see what they say.

In any case, it was an... adventurous day, to say the least. I hope tomorrow is a little cooler since I won't have the luxury of the Touge Taxi to rely on. 240Z it is!

Congrats! Yea I was wondering why they charge you $500 to get it back, when you were the victim of theft. Same thing happened over here, we lost nothing but everything was a complete utter mess. Damn'd joyriders, I'll hate them forever.

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