240ZBUILTBYME

Sooo.....did you want his details?

I thought the same thing when I saw it!

280zx 2+2 in excellent condition https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1982-nissan-280zx-auto/OAG-AD-20029432

Hey mate I know someone in perth with a pedal box, if you’re happy to pay for freight I’ll send you his details.

Welcome mate just don’t say “I’m chasing” or “I’m looking for” in the WTB section. It’s @C.A.F. Lachy’s favorite past time replying to them. Lol

I believe this is in bayswater Victoria? https://burnsandco.hibid.com/lot/96489179/1982-datsun-280zx-coupe looks pretty clean. Auction is Sunday 8th August Ryan

There were a few rust holes in the drivers side floor pan, these were repaired prior to me taking ownership. Which is great, one less thing for me to worry about.

No that’s my concern with it, I think it will smash holes in the pitted metal and make more work for me

Some shots of the underside

Cheers, me too! I am unfortunately covering them with some cheap seat covers to preserve the material. Kids and nice things don’t mix.... Easy enough to remove though if I feel like basking in all their glory.

Introducing the unloved z! Unloved by the purists but very much loved by the masses (still the most successful selling z to date). This is my new 1983 280zx 2+2. Opinions on the looks of the 280zx will be divided, particularly with the 2+2. In photos I agree the 2+2 looks slightly odd, but in person it is completely different, they just look good to me. Like a 80’s cyberpunk 240z.... I had been wanting to buy a new daily driver for a while. Now when I say daily drive I use the term loosely. I am fifo and away half the year, we have a family car which is the workhorse, I do max 6000km a year. My current daily is a Ford Fiesta ST. An extremely fun and capable car. It has a torquey 1.6L turbo engine and handles like cars 4 times its value. I highly recommend you drive one on a twisty road if the chance finds you. Despite loving the way it drives on the twistys, it’s never given me that special feeling. You know the one. That butterfly in the tummy feeling. It’s never felt special enough, I didn’t care where I parked it, didn’t care if it was dirty etc. Plus there’s the smirk when you tell someone you drive a fiesta... Let’s be honest it doesn’t look the best. Not terrible but very....meh....doesn’t make the gonads tingle. I narrowed my search with a few criteria. Must have: Rear wheel drive (I missed my NA Mx-5 and the rear wheel drive dynamics) Manual transmission 4 seats (have to carry my spawns occasionally) 25k budget Gives me that tingle in the gonads Believe it or not this is a difficult criterion to search for, hardest to fulfill was the “tingle feeling”. My special feeling was mainly aimed towards old Japanese sports cars. My search results and personal tastes brought me to these: 300zx Z32 NA 280zx S13 NA 86 GT Basically I was happy to buy whatever came first. Obviously the 86s were plentiful. But COVID had caused an unreasonable price rise in them and I wanted one with low Kms. But if I’m honest they have never really pushed my button, plus generally their drivers are of questionable taste... I test drove a 280zx, it was in great condition and going for cheap. The catch was that the owner had bought it sight unseen from nsw and could tell me no history of the car, plus it had been resprayed with no photos of the work, the job was good but who knows what nastys could be lurking beneath that fresh paint?! Also it needed to be registered in WA. I passed on the car... but I did learn that I liked how these drove. Very balanced handling much like the Mx-5 with its 50-50 weight distribution I test drove a reasonably well looked after S13. But they wanted too much for it. Excellent condition 300zx’s started to appreciate beyond my budget. Fetching 30-40k now Then this beauty happened to become available. It was in the hands of my z guy in perth, and after mentioning to him I was looking at 280zx’s he asked me if I was interested. I was.... Once I saw the car I was sold. My wife....not so much. There were many questions, eye rolls and sighs. But at the end of the day she begrudgingly gave her approval. The old couple who owned her bought it in 1984 for $22180? (Car came with the original purchase invoice!) I punched that number into the inflation calculator and it ended up being 70k in today’s money! They loved the car and drove it as their Sunday car, otherwise it was garaged. All maintenance receipts came with the car. They owned it from 1984 up until a few years ago when they sold it to my z guy. It’s completely bone stock and an extremely complete car. Very different to my 240z... There are a few dings and scratches in the paint but overall in very good condition, a couple panels have been resprayed as the color match is a bit off, a few surface rust spots have started coming up, but nothing too crazy. The interior is the highlight for me, it’s in amazing condition and I absolutely love the red. Red and white combo is si magnifique! The one drawback is the auto box, god it’s horrible. But the car came with a manual pedal box, and I have a W71B that was in my 240z which if I’m not mistaken was the original 5 speed installed in these. Just need to source a 3.9 diff and those are the big items sorted. Plans for the car: This will not be a tear down project. This will be a preservation and maintenance project. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any modifications planned. I am well aware that this car is most valuable if left alone. But I cannot help but want to improve it. The stock suspension is too squishy and the engine performance is choked. All modifications will be bolt on. All stock components will be stored away so that the car can go back to original if need be. Wheels and tyres Manual conversion with lightened flywheel and LSD diff Coilovers Cold air intake and headers and exhaust Strut braces front and back Sway bars Camshaft This should all bring the car up to a better level and the stock ecu/afm should be ok with it. I’m not in a huge rush to do these as I still have my 240z project to consider. And that is the story of the Unloved Z

Thanks for the advice Lachy. I found and ordered one of these already. It’s only $40 delivered off eBay and there were a few positive reviews saying it’s good for small jobs which is all I’m doing. If it’s shit I’ll invest in the tank style one. I have also ordered this off eBay for bending up some patch panels, hopefully it’s enough for what I will be doing.

Thanks for the feedback guys I think whatever converter I use I will wash off and weld on clean metal, don’t want to risk contamination in the weld. yes I’m going to invest in one of those magnetic clamps that holds a piece copper onto the panel. I will give filling a try just to experience how it is, but I will be patching most of it as it’s badly pitted. I thought of a needle scaler but I feel a spot blaster will be less harsh. I will try to find one and test it.

I bought mine for 5k 12 years ago. And it was a very poorly kept car, full of rust. not meaning to be rude but If you can’t afford a 30k car, you can’t afford a restoration which a 30k car will need anyway. look at the 280zx. You can still find clean ones for affordable prices. 15-20k lots of aftermarket parts available nowadays. Plus gerson at KF vintage jdm said he plans to start making rust replacement panels for them which currently there aren’t many available.

Hey mate great work so far. You should start a build thread in members projects. sorry to hear about your boy. Nothing worse than seeing your kids sick. Hope he’s on the mend. I know how hard it is to make car time with young kids around.

Morning all I came across these photos on Instagram of some chassis bracing that has been installed on a very rusted out car in Europe, the outfit is dcw classics and they look like they do good work. I have been pondering how I was going to brace my car before it goes on the rotisserie for a while and hadn’t settled on anything. My car is not as rusty as this but is still compromised. IMO I think this is an excellent method that others in the future may find useful so wanted to share. Has anyone used a different method for bracing their car?

So far I’ve brought in orders of 2k from KF vintage, 1.2k from MSA, $500 from the UK, 1k from zcarsource, 1k from bumper automobile..... these all came direct from the suppliers, no freight forwarders. maybe WA customs are a bit lax?

I don’t think so. I’ve only paid the amount for parts and shipping, no taxes were added. Any taxes were local US taxes included in the price. Aussie GST is supposed to be collected upon receival at customs. But it’s just never happened... that’s what I thought too. But as I say it hasn’t happened yet... I assume it’s only a matter of time before i have to pay tax on something

As I said I’ve brought in multiple orders over the 1k mark and not been taxed on anything. maybe it’s luck?

Thank god for this rusty car. It’s rusty in all the same spots as mine! So I get to see how it needs to be done! Well done Lachy without a U

I’ve just accepted I’ll be paying a shitload in shipping over the build. Can’t escape it so just have to embrace the no lube reaming we get for being so far away. I have an excel parts list and the supplier I want to purchase from, then when I decide to buy something from them I make sure I buy all the parts on my list from them so I can consolidate on the shipping

I’ve yet to see someone not charge me for internal shipping! Which suppliers are these!? ive used shipito before. They offer consolidation but I believe you have to pay extra for that premium service. The standard free shipito account only holds your items for a short amount of time. I think a week or two? So you have to take into account lead times from the various vendors and if they have stock etc. Yes that’s how it works. I believe it’s by item? But don’t quote me. I’ve had lots of orders over 1k and not been charged any import tax/duties or gst. I’ve brought in over 5k worth (separate orders and suppliers) of repair panels and not been charged anything. Maybe WA customs are slack?

Also update on my bashed up headers. Les sent me another set of secondaries as they were the ones that were badly dented. just be advised if you purchase headers from him that you will need to specify that you want them undinged. He does not treat these as a cosmetic part and he states that the dents happen during manufacturing and do not affect the function of the header. Make of that what you will... I also got the laser level out and checked the level of the bumper bolts and surrounding structure. All looked good from a level perspective.

Didn’t get a great deal of time this break, only managed a few precious hours with Sheena. I’ve lost a tonne of sleep lately, tossing and turning in bed scheming and stressing about how I’m going to do this job! Anyone else do that? I’m sure I’m not the only one... I ground down all the proud spot welds and gave the front face and what I could reach a good wire wheeling. I bolted the repair pane in, marked the cut line and made the finaL cut. All the while shitting myself... cut was good with more room for access I went to work cleaning the box section as best I could. Came up ok and revealed many new holes where rust had eaten through. Question. Can I just fill any small holes with the mig? Given I use a rust converter and ensure the welding surface is free of any rust? I was keen to get a coating on the box section but with the rust that needs repairing I figured I would save it for once those were done. I was thinking of trying a spot blaster to further tidy up the unreachable areas in the box section. Has anyone used something like these? I know they’re generally crap but are they good enough to do some small areas? next time I plan to: - repair rusted through areas on the box section (I think I’ll be lucky to get through this as will be my first time welding in patch panels....wish me luck....) - hopefully get some kbs rustseal in there