I just got a Datsun 280Z for FREE!

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Well, my old roommate calle dme today and said, it's yours, come pick it up. She just doesnt have time to mess with it. All it needs is a lave cylinder for the clutch and she's good to go.

Looks like I might be building a track car!

Life is good

[Hugh R]

Jared, nice score. BTW, if your up in Oregon or Washington, or where ever you moved, I'm not loaning you my engine hoist again.

[RickM]

One word.....Scarab. Awesome car I love the 240s and 280s.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
Well, my old roommate calle dme today and said, it's yours, come pick it up. She just doesnt have time to mess with it. All it needs is a lave cylinder for the clutch and she's good to go.

Looks like I might be building a track car!

Life is good

That's the last of the great ones. Now, if you can just find a '72 with no rust and transfer the 2.8 liter fuelie engine and 5 speed into it, you'll really have a hot rod. Then you slip a small block V8 into the heavier '78 and you've got two hot rods.

Perfection.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by Hugh R
Jared, nice score. BTW, if your up in Oregon or Washington, or where ever you moved, I'm not loaning you my engine hoist again.

Thank you again for letting me borrow the hoist. I actually scored one a few months back. Like I said before, I owe you a favor. Still in Cali for the moment, gotta figure out how to get the car up there when i move.

[Rodeo]

Nice car! I'd think about something other than a track car, though. Maybe bring it original.

[dd74]

Nice, Jared. 280Zs are nice. Make sure the seals are good in the injection - they tend to leak. If modifying, I agree with the Scarab suggestion - or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Pat: I think 280Zs only came in 4spd. At least ours did. IIRC the 280ZX had five speeds.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by dd74
Nice, Jared. 280Zs are nice. Make sure the seals are good in the injection - they tend to leak. If modifying, I agree with the Scarab suggestion - or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Pat: I think 280Zs only came in 4spd. At least ours did. IIRC the 280ZX had five speeds.

It's a 5-speed. she really doesnt need all that much work, actually, just new vacuum lines and a slave cylinder. I may just fix it up and sell it to make a few bucks. Maybe throw a cheap Maaco paint job on it as well. I hate brown.

[dd74]

I honestly didn't know the 280Zs were five speeds. Ours was a '75. Well, all the better.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That almost looks in too good of condition to make a track car out of. . .

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Im kind of thinking that Im just going to fix it up as best I can and sell it to an enthusiast.

Slave cylinder is only $25! Score! Anyone know if parts are readily available for these cars? Seems to me that there arent very many of them left, so I'm thinking of maybe asking $3500-4000

Another good thing, NO rust. Happy CA car.

She does pass smog and runs decently. I'm going to have to replace all the vacuum hoses though. The A/C compressor is siezed, but it did blow cold about a year ago. Worth fixing or not?

David, are you talking about the injector O-rings?

[fastpat]

Originally posted by dd74
I honestly didn't know the 280Zs were five speeds. Ours was a '75. Well, all the better.

'77's and '78's were five speeds. I had a '72, bought new, and wanted a five speed and a rear ratio change to match. The OEM ratio in '72 was a tallish 3.36:1. Datsun/Nissan sold new diffs with a variety of gear ratios, and sold a larger heavier duty diff too, the OEM diff was the middle sized one that 510 drivers all lusted after since the 510 came with the small light duty diff. All NLA.

I sold the 240Z in August '79 and bought a '79 5.0 Mustang notchback.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by fastpat


I sold the 240Z in August '79 and bought a '79 5.0 Mustang notchback.

And you are proud of that?

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by fastpat
'77's and '78's were five speeds. I had a '72, bought new, and wanted a five speed and a rear ratio change to match. The OEM ratio in '72 was a tallish 3.36:1. Datsun/Nissan sold new diffs with a variety of gear ratios, and sold a larger heavier duty diff too, the OEM diff was the middle sized one that 510 drivers all lusted after since the 510 came with the small light duty diff. All NLA.

I sold the 240Z in August '79 and bought a '79 5.0 Mustang notchback.

My grandpa had a 510 before he bought his 914. Those are sweet little cars. I especially like the old 2000 Roadsters.

Going over this Z, I'm really impressed. It's a real sports car. The rear suspension in particular is interesting, Lotus influenced?

[RickM]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
Im kind of thinking that Im just going to fix it up as best I can and sell it to an enthusiast.

How many miles are on it?

[bigchillcar]

cool! but, huh..i thought '78 was the first year of the zx..i guess it was '79. my dad bought my mother a brand new gold '76 2+2..wish we still had it in the family. i had a '79 280zx for a year in high school in the early 80's. the p.o. put one of those horn boxes in it back then that played 'dixie' and stuff like that..lol
ryan

[rammstein]

Keep the brown- it will grow on you. It fits perfectly. Beautiful.

[RickM]

Friends of the family have the last year 240Z with 10K original miles. Ocassionally driven and very well kept/preserved. Last I saw it was many years ago in CT. Now it lives in Fondulac, Wisconsin. The bad boy is Silver/Black.

[Sarc]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
Anyone know if parts are readily available for these cars?

Nice score! I remember when you were trying to sell it way back when. Z's are great cars, and parts a readily available. A good source is motorsport auto:

http://www.zcarparts.com

Try to restrain your wallet, many (affordable) goodies in their catalog.

[Rob Channell]

Victoria British has a Z and ZX catalog, I bought some stuff from them several years ago back when I still had my 79 280ZX.

http://www.victoriabritish.com/Z_zx_cat_page.htm