My Datsun 280Z "Rustoration"

[HaZmatt]

Hello, I wanted to post a build thread to document the process of my restoration. I have a 1975 280Z that I purchased off a local craigslist ad. Heres the ad.



Ive wanted one of these cars since I was in high school and was looking for one that was in decent shape without too much rust and that was running. I went and looked at this one and thought it was in pretty good shape. It had a little rust but I was thinking most of it was surface rust. I took it for a test drive and instantly fell in love. The motor was solid, brakes worked, and it cruised down the highway nice and straight. It felt like a great starting point for my project......so I thought.
Here she is the day I brought her home.





First thing I did was remove the front bumper



And the brackets

[djwarner]

Welcome to the club of Z ownership. Almost all of us have walked down the path you are now taking. Someone in the forum has encountered just about any problem you will encounter. Don't hesitate to ask for help.

As with any Z, job one will be a thorough inspection for rust. If you have a Colorado or California car, you will probably fair better than most. But be sure to pull the battery and inspect under the mounting tray.

Again Welcome.

[rossiz]

beautiful ride, congrats! the previous post is quite correct: there is a great wealth of information on this forum, coming from folks who take a genuine interest in helping out. i'm a few months ahead of you (picked up my z in november) and thanks to the great help from folks here, she's now a solid daily driver

looking forward to seeing what you do with your new project!

[mjr45]

Where abouts in CO? I live up west of Colo. Spgs. and am willing and able, not necessarily real real knowledgeable, to help out. This club has fantastic members with tons of info on anything you might encounter.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks for the comments! I couldnt agree more, this forum has awesome members with a lot of knowledge that has been priceless on this build. Im actually pretty far along on the build and im just in the process of gathering my photos so I will try and post more tonight.

[HaZmatt]

Where abouts in CO? I live up west of Colo. Spgs. and am willing and able, not necessarily real real knowledgeable, to help out. This club has fantastic members with tons of info on anything you might encounter.

I live in Castle Rock. Thanks for offer, I may have to take you up on that!

[mjr45]

Just let me know, I'm always up for a little road trip, as long as I don't have to drive in the Denver traffic.

[HaZmatt]

So once I got her home I had a chance to really look her over.

Spare tire area looked good so thats a good sign.



Some rust on the rear hatch.



Dash has the normal Z cracks.



Interior is rough but complete.



Also removed the rear bumper



Fenders need to be replaced



Drivers floor pan is pretty bad.





Some more rust



The drivers frame rail is rusted, both frame rails in the fender wells are rusted, the battery tray is pretty bad, and the rockers are rusted as well.

There are definitely cleaner, more rust free Z's out there but it could be worse. I decided to move forward with the project and began to do a complete tear down for a full restoration.

[HaZmatt]

Most of the interior is removed.



Now its time to get the motor out





Removed the wiring harnesses





Removed glass and front body panels.







Some rust porn for you weirdos

[HaZmatt]

I scraped as much of the undercoating off as I could. This was fun....



Removed the fuel/brake lines.



Now shes ready to go to the media blaster.





She looked pretty pathetic when I left her there so I took a quick pic.



So with the car gone for awhile I turned my attention to stripping down the motor. I will be shipping it out to Rebello for a high compression 3.0 stroker set up.









All parts were labeled and sorted with ziploc bags.

[HaZmatt]

I got the car back after a week. They did a really thorough job. It was nice to finally work on it without getting dirty and greasy.







Then I worked on removing the suspension.





Next I started working on the metal work. Now I haven't welded anything since shop class in high school but I was eager to learn so I went out and bought a welder and got to work!















Heres some welding shots

[HaZmatt]

More rust repair pics



All interior frame areas were covered with Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating for rust protection





























Heres the damaged frame rail.



I got a new piece fabricated by a local fab shop

[HaZmatt]

[dat260]

Hi and welcome.
Nice work! Did you spray Eastwood frame coating over the rust?

[siteunseen]

You've got that great trait, do it right the 1st time! I see you have a HUGE garage to keep the Z out of the weather but here's something to look at Grannyknot did and hopefully I'll get it done before paint. Post #12, http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...7-what-do.html

[Captain Obvious]

Nice work Matt, Couple questions.

How much was the media blasting? And what would have happened if you had delivered the car to them WITHOUT removing the undercoating first? Would the blasting taken care of that, or would the blasting have been ineffective where the tar remained? Was the rest of the car still painted when you dropped it off? I can't tell of it's stripped or silver paint.

This pic of the front rad support... Is that a common rusty area on the Z's? I know some areas are common issues (like floors and doglegs), but I've not seen many pics of that front support.

[rossiz]

nice work haz - thanks for the pics as well. i'm considering building a motor and doing a swap, so seeing your engine bay and supports provides great info.

there are some slick mods that have been done/posted over the years to help out typical problem areas - while you're at it w/the welder, getting mounts set up for a bumper swap to 240 style and shaping your rear valence for your exhaust setup are something to think about. i've seen a couple examples of the rear hatch release welded over and the mechanism either actuated with a solenoid or reversed for a bottom-up system - cleans up the hatch and eliminates another point of entry for water. also a good time to roll the fender edges if you want to use wider tires. i've also seen the antenna and side marker lights closed over - really tidy look there too.

keep posting - LOVE the progress!

[HuD 91gt]

Wow! Your doing the body work yourself! Great effort, gives me some hope after all!

[HaZmatt]

Wow thanks for all the comments and support!

Hi and welcome.
Nice work! Did you spray Eastwood frame coating over the rust?

Thanks, yeah the Internal frame coating is a rust encapsulater so its made to go right over rust. Good stuff.

[HaZmatt]

You've got that great trait, do it right the 1st time! I see you have a HUGE garage to keep the Z out of the weather but here's something to look at Grannyknot did and hopefully I'll get it done before paint. Post #12, http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...7-what-do.html

Yea im a strong believer in doing it right the 1st time! Thats an interesting mod he did i'll have to look into that, thanks.

[HaZmatt]

Nice work Matt, Couple questions.

How much was the media blasting? And what would have happened if you had delivered the car to them WITHOUT removing the undercoating first? Would the blasting taken care of that, or would the blasting have been ineffective where the tar remained? Was the rest of the car still painted when you dropped it off? I can't tell of it's stripped or silver paint.

This pic of the front rad support... Is that a common rusty area on the Z's? I know some areas are common issues (like floors and doglegs), but I've not seen many pics of that front support.

Hi Captain, the car was actually brown but very faded. The media blaster I went charged by the minute so the more he has to blast off the more expensive. It cost me around $900 for everything. He did tell me that he could get most of the undercoating off but it takes a little more.

Im not sure about the radiator support, I actually havent seen anyone else need to repair it. Mine may have had a radiator leak or something.

[HaZmatt]

nice work haz - thanks for the pics as well. i'm considering building a motor and doing a swap, so seeing your engine bay and supports provides great info.

there are some slick mods that have been done/posted over the years to help out typical problem areas - while you're at it w/the welder, getting mounts set up for a bumper swap to 240 style and shaping your rear valence for your exhaust setup are something to think about. i've seen a couple examples of the rear hatch release welded over and the mechanism either actuated with a solenoid or reversed for a bottom-up system - cleans up the hatch and eliminates another point of entry for water. also a good time to roll the fender edges if you want to use wider tires. i've also seen the antenna and side marker lights closed over - really tidy look there too.

keep posting - LOVE the progress!

Thanks rossiz! I debated shaving my rain guards and antenna but decided against it. I will be putting on the 240 bumpers so I shaved the rear bumper bracket holes. Ill post more pics tonight!

[HaZmatt]

Wow! Your doing the body work yourself! Great effort, gives me some hope after all!

Yeah its not as hard as I thought it would be. I was pretty intimidated at first but I watched a few youtube videos and practiced on some scrap metal first. The most important thing is getting your settings dialed in correctly so you're getting good penetration. The rest is just a lot of grinding.

[rcb280z]

Wow HaZmatt! What great progress. I sure wish I had the time to do what you are doing. Keep the pics coming man.

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks for the additional info Matt.

I think I'd pay $900 for someone to strip my 280. In the off season.

Good luck with the project!!

[HaZmatt]

Some more misc. metal work pics































Rear bumper bracket holes were filled in

[EuroDat]

Thats a really nice job you are doing HaZmatt. Its going to a great looking Zed when you're finished.

Here is a thread on the 240Z bumper conversion. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...ences-280z.htm
I made mine reversable for now, but will probably go the way Tamo did in post #8 & #11. The photo's in those two posts show whats needed to fit the bumpers correctly.
You wont be able to use the 240Z valance panels because the crossmember drops down to low in the 280Z for the larger radiator. The easiest way to correct this is to fit a Xeon Airdam or retain the original valance with 280Z grill/indicators and modify the lower grill to fill the gap under the bumper.

Looking forward to watching your progress.
Chas

[HaZmatt]

Thats a really nice job you are doing HaZmatt. Its going to a great looking Zed when you're finished.

Here is a thread on the 240Z bumper conversion. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...ences-280z.htm
I made mine reversable for now, but will probably go the way Tamo did in post #8 & #11. The photo's in those two posts show whats needed to fit the bumpers correctly.
You wont be able to use the 240Z valance panels because the crossmember drops down to low in the 280Z for the larger radiator. The easiest way to correct this is to fit a Xeon Airdam or retain the original valance with 280Z grill/indicators and modify the lower grill to fill the gap under the bumper.

Looking forward to watching your progress.
Chas

Thanks Eurodat!

I think im going to go the Xenon airdam route. I just need to source a grill and turn signal lights.

[HaZmatt]

Started disassembling the suspension to send out to get powder coated.





Also sent these parts out to be yellow zinc plated

[mjr45]

Excellent work Haz, I used a lot of Eastwood stuff when I redid my Z, their rust inhibitor products are really very good. I also used their sound deadening material and it made a world of difference. Can't wait to see the finished product. If you need it, I have a Zedd findings frame rail you can have, but maybe a little to late for this.

[Jeff G 78]

Wow, great job HaZmatt! I love seeing lots of before and after pics. You are going to have a beautiful and rust-free Z when you are done.

[Jeff G 78]

Here is a thread on the 240Z bumper conversion. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...ences-280z.htm

Hey Chas, your link doesn't work for me. It just takes me to the forum home page. I plan on doing the 240 bumper mod on my '78 so I'd like to see the best methods.

[HaZmatt]

Excellent work Haz, I used a lot of Eastwood stuff when I redid my Z, their rust inhibitor products are really very good. I also used their sound deadening material and it made a world of difference. Can't wait to see the finished product. If you need it, I have a Zedd findings frame rail you can have, but maybe a little to late for this.

Hey thanks, I really like their stuff too. I'll have to try out their sound deadening material.

Wow, great job HaZmatt! I love seeing lots of before and after pics. You are going to have a beautiful and rust-free Z when you are done.

Thanks Jeff! I appreciate the support.

[HaZmatt]

My dash was in need of some love so I followed the dash repair techniques on this forum and I think it came out really good. Not perfect but 100X better than it was. I ended up spending about $100 on materials and a good week or 2 of working on it here and there.

Heres the materials I used. Plus I used Great Stuff expanding foam and Duplicolor Truck bed coating for the final coat.



Used the Great stuff expanding foam to fill in the cracks that were split open.





Then I used the bondo bumper repair to fill in the holes





Coat #2



Then applied the SEM glaze putty. This required 4-5 coats of applying then sanding.







Then primed with SEM flexible primer





I used the SEM texture coating to get a decent texture



Then sprayed with 2 coats of Duplicolor truck bed coating.





I thought it turned out pretty good. I cleaned up my dash support.



Then installed my new Fairlady emblem









What do you guys think?

[hr369]

What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]

a tad more gloss i think would look better. more paint on it would smooth that texture out a little more too. excellent progress. i really like that fairlady emblem

[Oiluj]

Great work! Really wish I could weld like that. I wouldn't trust my welds to hold a banana...

The dash repair looks good as well.

[EuroDat]

Hey Chas, your link doesn't work for me. It just takes me to the forum home page. I plan on doing the 240 bumper mod on my '78 so I'd like to see the best methods.

Hi Jeff,
I somehow missed the l in html on the end. It should work now.
http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/b...nces-280z.html

Haz, Excellent work on the dash. Looks good.

Chas

[CG240Z]

You're moving fast! Great work. You mentioned your fenders needing replacing. My 2 cents on these is to save the hassle that I went through, order them from the dealer. I tried to save a $150 and got them through Black Dragon. Biggest POS fenders you could get. They weren't stamped correctly and were throwing all my lines off. I spent a week trying to get them to align before I ended up using them as patch panels to my original fenders.

[HaZmatt]

[/QUOTE]a tad more gloss i think would look better. more paint on it would smooth that texture out a little more too. excellent progress. i really like that fairlady emblem[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I was hesitant on doing a more glossy finish because I didnt want it to look too splotchy. We'll see how it looks in the car next to the seats and door panels, etc.

[HaZmatt]

You're moving fast! Great work. You mentioned your fenders needing replacing. My 2 cents on these is to save the hassle that I went through, order them from the dealer. I tried to save a $150 and got them through Black Dragon. Biggest POS fenders you could get. They weren't stamped correctly and were throwing all my lines off. I spent a week trying to get them to align before I ended up using them as patch panels to my original fenders.

Thanks CG! Yes I remember your thread on those fenders and it scared me away from them. I ended up getting a pair of rust free fenders from Arizona and they fit perfectly. Just had a few dings in them.

[HaZmatt]

With all the welding done I built a couple make shift carts so I would be able to roll thee chassis around.



My painter picking her up.


Some body work shots.



Up on the rotisserie.





Finally some paint! The car will be painted 904 Ivory base coat/clear coat. The undercarriage was primered and coated with a color matched 3M undercoating.









Base coat only





Clear coat. Nice and shiny





And thats about where I am at as of now. He was going to deliver the car today but we are getting a nasty storm here in Colorado so it might have to wait until next weekend. He is going to do some more wet sanding and polishing and it should be good to go. I cant wait to see it!

[Blue]

I want you to restore my Z's! Beautiful work.

[Jeff G 78]

I agree with Blue. You are doing a great job. I can't believe how fast you are moving!!!

[HaZmatt]

I want you to restore my Z's! Beautiful work.

Wow thank you.. Thats a great compliment

I agree with Blue. You are doing a great job. I can't believe how fast you are moving!!!

Thanks Jeff, This was all started back in September '13. Im just now getting some time to organize my pictures and get a build thread going.

[rossiz]

ohhhh... sept '13 - thank you for clarifying. you are still moving quickly for so much work, but i was kinda freaking out thinking it all happened in the last few weeks!
seems like everyone has trouble getting the paint/bodywork done quickly, yours looks like it was no problemo.

love it!

[Jeff G 78]

To me, starting last fall is super fast considering how much has been accomplished.

[mjr45]

Great job Haz, looks like you'll be riding shortly after this "Spring" storm blows thru. The dash looks great, wanna do mine?

[rcb280z]

.....and mine?

[Jeff G 78]

Mine first. It doesn't even have any rust! It would take you about a week to complete.

[HaZmatt]

ohhhh... sept '13 - thank you for clarifying. you are still moving quickly for so much work, but i was kinda freaking out thinking it all happened in the last few weeks!
seems like everyone has trouble getting the paint/bodywork done quickly, yours looks like it was no problemo.

love it!

To me, starting last fall is super fast considering how much has been accomplished.

Thanks, I got really lucky and found a guy that does great work at his home/shop. He's worked on it pretty much non stop for the last few weeks.

[HaZmatt]

Yea this is ridiculous. 5-10 inches in the middle of May? Gotta love Colorado.

[HaZmatt]

I'd love to do some dashes for you guys....but shipping them would most likely destroy them.

[mjr45]

I'll just bring you mine as soon as its warm enough for me to pull it out and take off the dash cap.

[HaZmatt]

Got the car back from paint and it looks amazing! He did an awesome job. No orange peel and it was wet sanded and polished to a beautiful shine. It feels really good to have it back, now i'm really excited to get this thing put back together.

[Jeff G 78]

Looks great! I can't wait to see it go together.

[HaZmatt]

My rear spoiler



My Xenon front air dam



My suspension parts came back from getting powder coated semi gloss black



My new brake set up from Silvermine. Stage 3 front


My suspension setup. Eibach springs with Tokico HP shocks


All new factory rubber bushings



All new yellow zinc hardware from Fastenal

[Jeff G 78]

Looks like Christmas Matt.

You might want to search on reinforcing the Xenon airdam. They tend to droop in the center, but a simple brace will stiffen it up without losing the ability to flex if you hit a curb or something.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks Jeff, I'll look into that. I noticed the ripple in it I figured once I got it installed it would straighten out.

[Jeff G 78]

No problem. The dip will get worse with sun and air pressure while driving at higher speeds.

This will give you an idea of how it can be braced. I'm sure there are many different ways of doing it, but this was the first I found. Just make it weak enough so it will give if hit.
Reinforcing the Xenon Air Dam... Pictures - Fabrication / Welding - HybridZ

[LeonV]

Wow, fantastic job! I love the thoroughness and attention to detail.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks Leon!

[EuroDat]

Top quality workmanship and plenty of bling bling. Your Zed will look better than when it rolled out the factory.

[rossiz]

gorgeous (drool....)
i've got a set of sway bars, springs, struts & tc ball/socket kit waiting to go in - just need to carve out a few hours to do it. unfortunately, now the rest of my parts are starting to look mighty scruffy in comparison!! you're gonna need permanent rotisseries mounts to roll your car for spectators to see the underside

[HaZmatt]

Yea unfortunately things like this tend to snowball quickly. Once you replace one part you have to replace another to match etc.etc. When I bought this car I just planned to put on some new wheels and maybe a quick paint job.

[HaZmatt]

Rejuvenating my rubber!

Most of my rubber insulators and grommets were salvageable but some I had to toss and i'll replace. I dont really have any before pics but they were pretty nasty.

Here was my process;

1. Soak overnight in jar of degreaser
2. Remove and scrub with stiff bristle brush
3. Then soak in Dawn dish soap
4. Rinse with hot water
5. Soak in jar with rubber rejuvinater overnight
6. Wipe down and coat with rubber protectant.

I know this may seem a little much for just some rubber pieces but it beats the hell out of paying to replace all of them.

Degreased:



The rubber rejuvinater I used. Made to clean and soften rubber.



Good as new (almost)



My Fuel / brake line insulators

[CG240Z]

The insulators came out great. Mine were looking a little rough, with a little black spray paint they came out good enough for me to stick under the car and hopefully never see again.

[EuroDat]

That stuff certainly cleans up the insulators well. Impressive results. Love the neat yellow zinc

Mine were too far gone to do anything but replace. Since they are NLA, I ended up making them. With a little bit of trial an error the results look great.


First trail runs:


Chas

[Mikes Z car]

Chas,
What trash can did you throw your rejects in? Just kidding.
What did you make them out of?
Mike

[HaZmatt]

Chas, those look great! I was planning on buying a set from you if these didnt clean up.

[EhlersRS]

Matt,

I finally had time to catch up on your thread and your restoration looks great! Your car had a lot less rust than my "midwest" Z so I'll be replacing a lot of sheet metal, but seeing your progress gives me hope! Look forward to seeing your car come together!

Robert S.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks Robert. Funny, I'm actually from Cedar Rapids.

[AdreView]

I see you retained the original sound deadening around the transmission hump, are you planning to remove this or just keep it as its a rare rust area?

Did you have any rust issues or worn out wire harness ties that run above and along the engine bay frame rails? If so, how did you repair/replace these?

I know its not going to be seen or affect anything, but I see Silvermine sold you a pair of brake calipers with mismatching hardware, is this normal for them?


You've accomplished a great deal in a short time, keep the updates coming!

[HaZmatt]

Yea the sound deadening was still in good shape around the transmission hump so I decided to leave it. I will just replace the floor pan areas.

All of the interior harness ties were painted white to match, there were a few ties in the engine bay that had torn rubber but I think im going to remove all the rubber off of them and respray them with either plasti dip or black rubberized undercoating.

Good eye on the brake hardware I never even noticed that. One side is stainless bolts and the other is black allen head. Not sure if it bugs me enough to have it swapped out or not.

[AdreView]

Good eye on the brake hardware I never even noticed that. One side is stainless bolts and the other is black allen head. Not sure if it bugs me enough to have it swapped out or not.

Interesting, even on their website they post pics of the kit with mismatched hardware:

Front Big Brake Kit (stage 3) - Brake Upgrades - Datsun 240z - Datsun

[HaZmatt]

Had some time over the weekend to start putting her back together. Started with the fuel/brake lines.







Installed the E brake hardware



And then started on the front suspension



Painted the front hubs and prepped them for new bearings

[AdreView]

So clean!

What brand/type of black colored coating are you using on the lines, brake components, etc.?

[HaZmatt]

Thanks! I had the fuel/brake lines and suspension parts powder coated semi gloss black and I used an epoxy chassis paint from Eastwood for the hubs and misc. pieces

[mjr45]

Very nice Haz, she'll be beautiful when done.

[HaZmatt]

Thanks!

Received my "Wanna-not-be's"

16x7 0 offset

[HaZmatt]

Front suspension mostly complete

[mjr45]

Are you sure you want to drive that, might be better to just park it and admire her.

[HaZmatt]

I may do a little of both

[HaZmatt]

Plasti dipped my engine bay wire ties today. They were beat up from sandblasting and body work. I removed a couple of torn ones and sprayed then sprayed them with plastidip. Hopefully it holds up. It not perfect but its a lot better than it was. In hind sight I should've had them painted body color but oh well.

Heres a pic of what they looked like before. Sandblasted and overspray on them.







Much better!

[Blue]

Nice. There are brush on liquid tape products too. They may be good for touch ups or when you don't want to spray:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=liqui...GR14GwDw&gbv=2

3M even make one.

[rcb280z]

I bought a brush on electrical tape from Harbor Freight and it works well. Used it in the engine compartment a couple years ago and it still looks good.

[grannyknot]

You can also use electrical shrink tubing, heat it up and it shrinks right down to look original.

[HaZmatt]

I bought a brush on electrical tape from Harbor Freight and it works well. Used it in the engine compartment a couple years ago and it still looks good.

Nice. There are brush on liquid tape products too. They may be good for touch ups or when you don't want to spray:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=liqui...GR14GwDw&gbv=2

3M even make one.

Good to know. I will need some for a few touch ups.

[HaZmatt]

You can also use electrical shrink tubing, heat it up and it shrinks right down to look original.

Yea I tried using some that I had around the garage but it had white lettering on it that I didnt like.

[Blue]

Nice DATSUN welding shirt!

[HaZmatt]

Nice DATSUN welding shirt!

[HaZmatt]

Just waiting for my Tokico HP rear struts to get here. They're on backorder. From what I have read the rears (HZ3013) are the same strut as the fronts just with a spacer to place underneath. So could I order another set of fronts and make my own spacer?

[CG240Z]

Just waiting for my Tokico HP rear struts to get here. They're on backorder. From what I have read the rears (HZ3013) are the same strut as the fronts just with a spacer to place underneath. So could I order another set of fronts and make my own spacer?

That sounds correct. When I ordered my Tokico HP's only the rear where available. So I ordered 4 rears and knocked the spacers off for the 2 front.

[HaZmatt]

That sounds correct. When I ordered my Tokico HP's only the rear where available. So I ordered 4 rears and knocked the spacers off for the 2 front.

Cool, thanks. Do you remember what the spacer looked like? Is it just steel tubing?

[Blue]

It was just steel tube on my Ilumina's

[CG240Z]

Same here, just a steel tube.

[Blue]

[HaZmatt]

OK thanks guys. I think I will just make my own.

[HaZmatt]

Finally got around to looking through some random stuff that the previous owner gave me. I found some pretty cool stuff.

The original window sticker



The "Guarantee Booklet" and card





This is who the previous owner bought the car from.



And some random brochures



Plus all of the service records.

Anyways I thought it was cool that he kept all of this.

[HaZmatt]

I got most of the rear suspension in over the weekend.











I also had my wheels powder coated and my tires mounted. Dunlop Direzza 205/50 R16





Some random pics from my good camera

[Blue]

You can soak the differential air breather in a clear glass of peroxide on a sunny day to whiten it.