SacCyclone
Club Member
So I thought I would start a post of the resurrection of this 1975 280Z in 110 Red with black interior that has been stored in a garage in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1987.
The owner told me that he purchased the car and drove it for a few months before parking it in his mother's garage while he made a temporary move to Hawaii. That move became permanent and the car sat until the beginning of 2020 when his mom passed and the house went on the market to be sold.
I hauled my trailer to San Fran and made the sale with the owner. The car had several layers of dirt deposits and four flat disintegrated tires but I was still able to winch it onto the trailer, luckily the brakes were not frozen which was a first for me.
Having several other projects to attend to and the arrival of the Covid, this car stayed on the back burner until last week when I was able to find a hole for it at the shop.
The car had 71,000 miles indicated so I was hopeful that it would run again with some encouragement. The aftermarket ugly hubcaps and a cassette player were added but otherwise it looked pretty much original except for a blow-over in the original 110 red. A very small patch of bubbling was about the only rust I could see upon the first inspection. A new set of tires were the first order of business so I could get a look under the car and maybe roll it off the trailer at some point.
At the shop, I removed the spark plugs and inspected the fuel tank with a bore scope. The fuel tank had a thick layer of goo at the bottom and of course the bad gas smell was horrendous. Removed the old battery and replaced with a fresh one. Oil was dirty but full up. Brake and clutch pedals went to the floor. Fuel tank removed and off to the radiator shop for a hot tank and flush.
Began to get some power to the electric fuel pump with some tinkering of the relays however it was not pumping fuel from the auxiliary tank up to the engine box via freshly blown out lines. Removed the fuel pump from the rear of the car and decided to bench test after a good clean up and disassembly of the impeller. A few hours of this led to the final verdict of decent electric motor performance but no impeller pumping going on. A new aftermarket electric fuel pump was ordered for $100 and installed as a factory fuel pump was not available locally and was almost $300 with exchange from the Z store.
With the engine turning over we were able to get fuel pressure up to the injectors but the engine would not fire even with spark confirmed from the distributor. That led us to believe that the injectors were not firing and confirmed when we got the engine to run off starting fluid directly into the manifold. Well at least we know it runs now.
By the way, I forgot to mention that with pressure from the fuel pump to the injectors confirmed, I located the """"7 Sacred Falls from Maui Hawaii"""""flowing from every rubber fuel hose under the hood. Time to remove the fuel rail and replace the fuel hose and injectors and fuel filter. Once we reassembled all that and tried for a restart, still no fuel from the injectors into the head. Upon further inspection of the Air Flow Meter and air filter housing we found a home had been assembled by Mickey and friends over the years. Another disassembly and cleaning was in order and we found that without the air vane inside the air flow meter functioning properly, the injectors would not fire. Well, it finally happened. After the AFM was cleaned and functioning properly, the engine came to life. It sounded nice and quiet with no unusual noises and revved happily through the rpm range. We added water to the radiator and brought the engine up to operating temperature.
All was great until another viewing of the "7 Sacred Falls" was observed coming from the cooling system this time.
It has been a productive few hours and time to complete an oil change and tune up of the 2.8L engine which was highly deserved after all we had put to her.
Next up, tackle the cooling system and radiator as well as the brake and clutch system. May be able to take her out on the road next week for a quick spin.
Stay tuned,
Mike
The owner told me that he purchased the car and drove it for a few months before parking it in his mother's garage while he made a temporary move to Hawaii. That move became permanent and the car sat until the beginning of 2020 when his mom passed and the house went on the market to be sold.
I hauled my trailer to San Fran and made the sale with the owner. The car had several layers of dirt deposits and four flat disintegrated tires but I was still able to winch it onto the trailer, luckily the brakes were not frozen which was a first for me.
Having several other projects to attend to and the arrival of the Covid, this car stayed on the back burner until last week when I was able to find a hole for it at the shop.
The car had 71,000 miles indicated so I was hopeful that it would run again with some encouragement. The aftermarket ugly hubcaps and a cassette player were added but otherwise it looked pretty much original except for a blow-over in the original 110 red. A very small patch of bubbling was about the only rust I could see upon the first inspection. A new set of tires were the first order of business so I could get a look under the car and maybe roll it off the trailer at some point.
At the shop, I removed the spark plugs and inspected the fuel tank with a bore scope. The fuel tank had a thick layer of goo at the bottom and of course the bad gas smell was horrendous. Removed the old battery and replaced with a fresh one. Oil was dirty but full up. Brake and clutch pedals went to the floor. Fuel tank removed and off to the radiator shop for a hot tank and flush.
Began to get some power to the electric fuel pump with some tinkering of the relays however it was not pumping fuel from the auxiliary tank up to the engine box via freshly blown out lines. Removed the fuel pump from the rear of the car and decided to bench test after a good clean up and disassembly of the impeller. A few hours of this led to the final verdict of decent electric motor performance but no impeller pumping going on. A new aftermarket electric fuel pump was ordered for $100 and installed as a factory fuel pump was not available locally and was almost $300 with exchange from the Z store.
With the engine turning over we were able to get fuel pressure up to the injectors but the engine would not fire even with spark confirmed from the distributor. That led us to believe that the injectors were not firing and confirmed when we got the engine to run off starting fluid directly into the manifold. Well at least we know it runs now.
By the way, I forgot to mention that with pressure from the fuel pump to the injectors confirmed, I located the """"7 Sacred Falls from Maui Hawaii"""""flowing from every rubber fuel hose under the hood. Time to remove the fuel rail and replace the fuel hose and injectors and fuel filter. Once we reassembled all that and tried for a restart, still no fuel from the injectors into the head. Upon further inspection of the Air Flow Meter and air filter housing we found a home had been assembled by Mickey and friends over the years. Another disassembly and cleaning was in order and we found that without the air vane inside the air flow meter functioning properly, the injectors would not fire. Well, it finally happened. After the AFM was cleaned and functioning properly, the engine came to life. It sounded nice and quiet with no unusual noises and revved happily through the rpm range. We added water to the radiator and brought the engine up to operating temperature.
All was great until another viewing of the "7 Sacred Falls" was observed coming from the cooling system this time.
It has been a productive few hours and time to complete an oil change and tune up of the 2.8L engine which was highly deserved after all we had put to her.
Next up, tackle the cooling system and radiator as well as the brake and clutch system. May be able to take her out on the road next week for a quick spin.
Stay tuned,
Mike
