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great build man..liked the orange paint..^^

Where does everyone get those authentic fender mirrors at?
I have two problems with my "California Style" door mirrors:
1. The body isn't designed for door mirrors.
2. I'm a borderline midget ( 5'3" )
I have to take my eyes completely off the road to check mirror. That's no bueno.

I bought mine from Japan.

I was really hoping you weren't going to say that.

I think the store was called Bprojects. It was a lucky find, they appear once in a blue moon on ebay.

if you can't find anything on ebay check out
http://www.zccjdm.com/
or datsunrestore.com
any more pics?

That and another couple stores sell them online, but usually at inflated prices. I got my mirrors for less than $250 WITH shipping, which is a bargain by most standards since they were also NIB. They also went from Japan to the east coast of the US in less than a week, which was f**king amazing.

Read all 22 pages. This should be stickied for anyone who ever has any issue (As you seem to have had them all) with their vehicle. Incredibly informative, and inspiring. All said and done (and not to pry) what did this end up costing you? Absolutely stunning build, considering what you started out with. Also, as one question: What gauges are those, and how much of a pain is it to install them?

This post has been edited by downhill280zx on Jun 4 2011, 03:17 PM

Thank you very much. It's been a journey, and it's not done yet. Still a lot more work to do. Painful and frustrating at times, but altogether worth it, I think.

In order to keep my sanity, I'm not counting. Much less than any professional resto by any of my estimates, but a lot more than the $1,400 I originally paid for the car itself.

Those are Revolution gauges from Speedhut. They're awesome, custom built to order and comparably priced to most other aftermarket gauges. Low profile, accurate, choice of font for the numbers and lighting colors. Great stuff. I had them made to look close to stock, except for the blue lettering and red pointers when the lights are switched on. It wasn't too hard installing them, just some wiring and some pieces of PVC piping from the local Home Depot to mount the speedo and tach. The three smaller gauges in the dash were mounted using the modified stock housings after I removed the OEM gauges' guts. All in all, it took one night and a dremel tool to do it.

They look absolutely stunning, I have to say. Also, I know what you mean about keeping your sanity. I'm already about 2,000$ in to my Z, and that's just fixing what's wrong! Upper and lower radiator hoses, coolant issues and so forth. Everything short of a new radiator so far. New brakes on all four corners, pads and calipers etc. After that, it'll be rims and suspension and tires. Then the engine work will begin, along with interior.

This post has been edited by downhill280zx on Jun 4 2011, 08:19 PM

It's been so long since this thing has been "grounded" that it barely feels like I'm working on a car anymore... Bodywork is the worst. I love welding, but I wish I didn't have to do so much of it on the car itself.


The oil pan I bought was almost more trouble than it was worth, with the amount of modifications I had to make just to get it to work. I ended up having to cut two holes in the back to clear the rear main ARP studs and weld two "bumps" back in to seal it. The windage tray I procured from the company that made the pan was for a later model so it didn't fit the pan, meaning I had to hack it up quite a bit. I had to pickup that would fit, so I took one of my 280z oil pickups and a junk KA24DE (240sx) pickup and sectioned both of them to give me one longer one. I clearanced the pickup about 200 times by packing a 1/8" thick pancake of clay into the pickup box and bolting the pan up to make sure it was sitting close to parallel and not crushing into the floor of the pan. With any luck, this will work well.






Welding has been an absolute pain, at least for the engine bay. I had to reconstruct the battery tray from several pieces of new metal. I originally had just one, perfectly cut and fit piece. However, once I started tacking it everything went to hell, and I had to cut some of the excess that wouldn't form to the original curve. Whether this is because I mis-measured or the welds stretched it, I don't know. I had to tack in another piece so it looks like a mess.

My new plumbing has so far been ridiculously easy to assemble, I don't know what all the fuss is about. We'll see if I start eating my words when the engine springs multiple leaks when I start breaking it in.






These are stock colors, right?

This post has been edited by Oddmanout84 on Jun 9 2011, 04:26 PM

looking good with the engine but what are those item in the last 2 pic?

the blue one looks like the brake master cylinder to me that is.

Heater/climate control unit.

re: those blasted fender mirrors:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Not the original Nissan part, but this'll do, nicely


[ Post merged on Jun 9 2011, 07:55 PM ]
In other news, Odd..... where did that lovely oil pan come from? I wants one.

Ah, the oil pan. Supposedly it's an "original" Datsun/Nissan competition pan... whatever that means. Usually wet comp oil sumps go for around $800. I bought it from a local Z club member for a couple hundred dollars. When he announced he put it on ebay I snatched it up before anyone else had a chance to look at it.

Supposedly there were two main versions of the pans, mine is made by Aviaid. When I talked to them over the phone to buy the windage tray for the pan, it sounded like they still had some in stock. Your other option is the Arizona Z car pan, which I don't like because it's cast (impacts are more likely to crack or punch a hole in it, rather than dent like sheet metal) and it adds maybe a quart of extra capacity. I believe it does this by hanging lower as well, also not something I'm fond of. The pan I have adds SEVERAL quarts, though how much I couldn't say, as I haven't tested it. It accomplishes this by bulging out on the sides and maintains original ground clearance. the only other options I can think of are to call Nismo about their pans (possibly Aviaids left in stock) or make your own.

Now, the problems I had with my pan involved all the stupid modifications I had to do just to get it to fit. If you don't use ARP main studs, you won't have a problem with the back of it. Also, if you buy the pan direct from Aviaid, you'll get a windage tray and oil pickup that fits, rather than having to make them fit like I did. Who knows, they might have fixed the ARP clearance issue in their later model. Don't know what you'd be paying for the whole setup though, I didn't ask.

AVIAID

You'll have to call them about the pan, it's not listed on their website.

Its a cabin temperature turbo assembly, force inducts either hot or cold air straight to your face.

Sucks about your pan problem. Did you try using an L24 oil pickup before you cut and welded? They're different from the L28 pickups.

Yep, that's what I originally did. It was shorter than the L28 pickup!

oh dang, I forgot which is shorter. Now that you mention it I remember the L24 pan being a center sump pan. Been 6 years since I built an L24 XD

As soon as I make some verifiable progress on my car, I'm gonna have to put up a build thread of my own.

This thread always makes me jealous- I felt like I was finally getting rolling on my Z then I had to settle down to move to aussie land. I cant wait to get home and start getting mine rolling again- hopefully for more coherent posts to go with it. I think im going to be able to get erik messley to do my suspension which im extremely excited about. Ah well

As always keep us informed, i love reading your thread- youre the new big phil now that hes settled down on his. you should start posting weekly videos

Yes, you will.

This past weekend I went down with my girl back to CT to visit her parents and go to her friend's place for some boozing and swimming. I took a swing by my old buddies house (who sold me my turbo motor a while back) and helped him get his new AN fuel lines routed on his 260z. When I say new I mean they've been half connected for over a year, because he lost interest for cars when he took up kayak fishing. After discarding and replacing 3 3/8NPT adapters on the hemorrhaging FPR which he had torqued super monkey retard tight, the motor fired up without a hitch. We made a video from his iPhone, but the combination of a free flowing header/exhaust system and triple Webbers killed the mic halfway through the video. You can't even hear me yelling to quit revving the f**king motor so high because it's too cold, LOL. Unfortunately it's on facebook, so I don't think I can link it.

Almost makes me wish I had carbs instead of EFI.

Jealous?? I'm jealous of anyone who has a running, driving Z at this point!!! It's spent over a year as a hanger queen! And since when did you move to the land down under?

LOL. I hate to admit it, but phil has a lot more balls than I do. He takes junk motors and builds them in a few days and immediately jumps into beating the piss out of them and pushing large power numbers. I'm more apt to sloooowly take my time and be conservative. Sometimes I hate that part of myself. I could have been out having fun with one of my spare motors long ago if the opposite were the case. I appreciate the complement though, I took a lot of pointers from his videos when I started. I'd like to start making my own, but I'd need to get a video camera first. Using my phone just wouldn't do the car any justice.

This post has been edited by Oddmanout84 on Jun 12 2011, 08:25 PM

Moved here the beginning of april haha. Long story short, 6 year long distance relationship, we finally made the "next big step" after a few visits along the way and im here on a 12 month working holiday visa. My Z MIGHT get some work while im gone, a buddy is -supposed- to redo the body work and paint it, but hes flakey on that it seems- and if i can get the money while im here ill do the rims/suspension before I even get home. I miss LA/Vegas, such culture shock- But at least its nice where I am.

Ok, first of all.... Big Phil, for lack of a better word, is gangster.

Second... StraightAwayZ... nowhere will ever compare to Vegas. I'm originally from the neon paradise, myself. It's best to just think of Vegas as a different planet, altogether. That way you don't go nuts, sell all your crap, and move back.

I stay as far away as I can from both of those places when possible.

Haha im with you on that- Its like its own little world. Sadly that world is currently mostly unemployed and being run into the ground, but its own world none-the-less.

OMO, you might like vegas- Avoid the strip, but the car scene isnt bad at all- Weve got a brilliant circuit at the LVMSW, and a few more within a small hop. The one at spring mountain (about 40 minutes away) is by far one of the -best- courses I've been too. It was built to be an auto-club (with a very, VERY ridiculous buy-in to be a member, thank god for track days) from the ground up to test, train, and build driving skills. The track is nothing but the most difficult types of corners you can imagine (on purpose), woven tightly together in a way that will make the largest of men cry in fear. Off camber increasing/decreasing radius corners followed by chicanes that lead into sweeping straights with a SHARP "dip" mid curve (youd best be settled at the triple digit speeds you hit around it or you WILL go spinning) and blind corners over hills with braking zones that you cant see. Does it sound like torture? Probably. Do you feel like youre a man when you're able to nail a lap? It should- Because each one you do puts a little more hair on your chest. I cant wait to go back.

This post has been edited by StraightAwayZ on Jun 15 2011, 03:17 AM