aj280z

Forum User
Hi all, it's taken me a while to start a thread on my car - but better late than never, right?

Lets take it back to the start... Ever since Petrolicious dropped the 240z "Dare to be Different" film, I knew my dream car was a Datsun Z. The body lines, the noise (oh god, the noise!), the simplicity - it just had to be. At that time, I wasn't able to buy one for lack of money and still living at home so the idea was forgotten about for now. Fast forward a few years to 2020 - the funds are building and moving in to my own place is on the horizon. I patiently stalked the classifieds and came across Huggys Speed Shop. There's a couple of 280z's waiting to arrive in the UK from California, but again I'm not quite ready to buy so the thought goes to the back of my mind - but I'll remember the shop for future. A couple months go by, I now have my house and I'm toying with Datsun ownership again - I ping Huggys an email to see if either of the 280s are available and one of them is! I really thought there was no chance. I drove up with a couple of mates and knew as soon as I saw the car, I would pull the trigger. So, on September 16th 2020, I became a Datsun 280z owner.

Here's my journey of ups and downs, capturing what I find, what work I carry out, and what my plans are along the way. I'm a complete novice so the project is going to be a steep learning curve.

What I want to end up with is a car with similar styling and dynamics to the 240z in the Petrolicious video that inspired this project. Low, air dam, duck tail spoiler, RS Watanabe style wheels, triple carbs, and a symphony out the exhaust. Also, I wanted a late 280z for the L28 engine, larger fuel tank, and likelihood of a 5 speed gearbox.

I'll add some photos and descriptions of what I've done over the past 2 years when I get a moment, but for now, enjoy the original "pre-import" photos.

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Robotsan

Club Member
Hi all, it's taken me a while to start a thread on my car - but better late than never, right?

Lets take it back to the start... Ever since Petrolicious dropped the 240z "Dare to be Different" film, I knew my dream car was a Datsun Z. The body lines, the noise (oh god, the noise!), the simplicity - it just had to be. At that time, I wasn't able to buy one for lack of money and still living at home so the idea was forgotten about for now. Fast forward a few years to 2020 - the funds are building and moving in to my own place is on the horizon. I patiently stalked the classifieds and came across Huggys Speed Shop. There's a couple of 280z's waiting to arrive in the UK from California, but again I'm not quite ready to buy so the thought goes to the back of my mind - but I'll remember the shop for future. A couple months go by, I now have my house and I'm toying with Datsun ownership again - I ping Huggys an email to see if either of the 280s are available and one of them is! I really thought there was no chance. I drove up with a couple of mates and knew as soon as I saw the car, I would pull the trigger. So, on September 16th 2020, I became a Datsun 280z owner.

Here's my journey of ups and downs, capturing what I find, what work I carry out, and what my plans are along the way. I'm a complete novice so the project is going to be a steep learning curve.

What I want to end up with is a car with similar styling and dynamics to the 240z in the Petrolicious video that inspired this project. Low, air dam, duck tail spoiler, RS Watanabe style wheels, triple carbs, and a symphony out the exhaust. Also, I wanted a late 280z for the L28 engine, larger fuel tank, and likelihood of a 5 speed gearbox.

I'll add some photos and descriptions of what I've done over the past 2 years when I get a moment, but for now, enjoy the original "pre-import" photos.

View attachment 54098
View attachment 54095
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View attachment 54096

Hey man, good to see you on here - we were chatting on instagram about our cars! Your 280 has already come on a long long way already considering these photos :)
 

aj280z

Forum User
Hey man, good to see you on here - we were chatting on instagram about our cars! Your 280 has already come on a long long way already considering these photos :)
I saw your thread and thought I best document what I’m doing. You’ve been pretty busy yourself by the looks of it - good work!
 

candy red

Club Member
Hi all, it's taken me a while to start a thread on my car - but better late than never, right?

Lets take it back to the start... Ever since Petrolicious dropped the 240z "Dare to be Different" film, I knew my dream car was a Datsun Z. The body lines, the noise (oh god, the noise!), the simplicity - it just had to be. At that time, I wasn't able to buy one for lack of money and still living at home so the idea was forgotten about for now. Fast forward a few years to 2020 - the funds are building and moving in to my own place is on the horizon. I patiently stalked the classifieds and came across Huggys Speed Shop. There's a couple of 280z's waiting to arrive in the UK from California, but again I'm not quite ready to buy so the thought goes to the back of my mind - but I'll remember the shop for future. A couple months go by, I now have my house and I'm toying with Datsun ownership again - I ping Huggys an email to see if either of the 280s are available and one of them is! I really thought there was no chance. I drove up with a couple of mates and knew as soon as I saw the car, I would pull the trigger. So, on September 16th 2020, I became a Datsun 280z owner.

Here's my journey of ups and downs, capturing what I find, what work I carry out, and what my plans are along the way. I'm a complete novice so the project is going to be a steep learning curve.

What I want to end up with is a car with similar styling and dynamics to the 240z in the Petrolicious video that inspired this project. Low, air dam, duck tail spoiler, RS Watanabe style wheels, triple carbs, and a symphony out the exhaust. Also, I wanted a late 280z for the L28 engine, larger fuel tank, and likelihood of a 5 speed gearbox.

I'll add some photos and descriptions of what I've done over the past 2 years when I get a moment, but for now, enjoy the original "pre-import" photos.

View attachment 54098
View attachment 54095
View attachment 54097
View attachment 54096
Great introduction welcome 🤓
 

Robotsan

Club Member
I saw your thread and thought I best document what I’m doing. You’ve been pretty busy yourself by the looks of it - good work!

Haha yeah. I thought I'd make my build thread more like a diary so I can look back on everything I've done. But it turns out it's also a good place to ask for help on everything that I've needed to!
 

aj280z

Forum User
Here's some early photos:
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Above are from when I viewed it at Huggys Speed Shop (12/09/2020).

The delivery day (25/09/2020)
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On this evening, my mate an I spent a good couple of hours trying to fire the 280 up. After a lot of attempts and the car sounding lke it wanted to burst in to life, we had to give up. A little bit dissapointing, however at a later date I found out someone had installed a low pressure fuel pump. Of course it wont start - EFI needs high presure!

Tucked away until i figure out what on earth to do with it!
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aj280z

Forum User
After sitting with the car for a short while, here's the plan I came up with for the project. I wanted to experience the car in its ratty state before it gets painted, so there's a few things that needed to be done to make it roadworthy(ish):

- Make it run, drive, stop, change gears, change all oils and fluids
- Suspension refresh (springs, shocks, poly bushings, ball joints)
- Fix all the lighting, UK spec headlights with integrated side lights
- Remove big bumpers and install 240z style bumpers
- New wheels and tyres
- Front air dam
- Mirrors
- Number plates
- Rust repairs
- Remove surface rust on bodywork and epoxy prime

Here's some dodgy surface rust removal
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...and then here's where I realised I bought a flintstones car!
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New fuel pump and half a bracket that I made
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Finally, a video from the first proper start up. Sounds like a tractor as I had the back box off - so this is coming straight out of the cat. Also, the fuel tank had just been dropped and inspected (all good), and the rear bumper and rams removed. After the fuel pump was changed, the main issue I had with getting the car started and running was corroded electrical connections. I cleaned up every connection I could find and voila...
 

aj280z

Forum User
This is my first attampt at welding. It's not pretty but it'll work for the time being. I'll be going over everything again once the car is stripped for paint.

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The floor was then sprayed black. The underneath had the same treatment as well. Definitely function over form at this point!
 

aj280z

Forum User
Can we count this as the first drive?
New clutch slave cylinder and master cylinder, brake master cylinder, flexi lines. Getting closer to being on the road!
 

aj280z

Forum User
On to suspension - poly bishings all round apart from at the rear spindles and transmission, new springs, and new shocks. Not many photos but check the video of the shocks - I think they were slightly overdue. Also got my new wheels (Rota RKR 15x8, 225/50/15) and a ducktail spoiler.


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And here's the car running... the gauges were hunting and wouldn't settle - this was rectified by removing them and cleaning all their internal contacts. Simple!

 
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