1976 Datsun 280Z from North America - Comments

17th Sep 2007, 19:47

"No other car like it.."

What things have gone wrong with the car?

I got this car when I was 15 as a first car for $850. My dad and I rebuilt it for the past 2.5 years into a fantastic show Z. But there have been a lot of things that have gone wrong. some my fault and some not.

The biggest thing was I blew the entire motor because of a fuel leak. the starter also cracked when this happened. so I have a brand new rebuilt engine and a new performance starter. all the carpet and vinyl has been replaced due to being worn so badly. the paint was completely done because it was almost all worn off. the brakes were rusted so I put on a complete disc brake conversion. I got 17" Cobra R rims for it, but they were too big so and the car was raised a few inches so I got some Eibach suspension to put it on the ground. the muffler had a hole in it so I decided to replace the whole thing with monza headers going into a 2.5" exhaust into a glass pack into a flowmaster. it sounds fantastic. There's a very small crack in the windshield, but I'm not worried about that. the dash already had a cap on it so I don't know what kind of shape that is in. new seats because the old ones were so worn. new fuel lines because the all leaked. new injectors because a few failed so I replaced them all. new distributor and wires. a new 5 speed transmission from a ZX for better fuel economy. all the rust was removed. fiberglass bumpers. the clutch was starting to fault so I got a Centerforce stage 2 clutch. all the chrome has been replaced because it was all worn off. and finally, a complete 5 speaker sound system with a 10" sub.

General comments?

This car is FANTASTIC. There are no other words to describe it. this is my baby and I will die with this thing. if you have never owned a Datsun, I HIGHLY recommend it. you will never be disappointed. all the performance parts are very cheap and all replacement parts are very reasonable. almost everything can be found on Ebay or various other websites. eventually there will be a 351w in this baby, but until then, the 2.8 is fast enough. this thing handles on rails and can take off just as fast as a 350z, especially if you put a little time into the engine. it doesn't take much to make this thing a rocket with being only a shade over 2000 lbs.


4th Feb 2008, 01:31

Umm...you're a bit wrong on the weight there, buddy, but having owned a Z I agree with the comment on Datsun.

Never had a car like it, probably never will again, so reliable and easy to work on. (The few problems I DID have with my 35 year old car were easy to fix... I actually lent the one I had to people who had newer cars taht broke down constantly)

The '70 240z weighed in at around 2300lb, but by 1976 they were just under 3000lb, not 2000lb.

You're thinking of the Datsun 210. (they were puddle jumpers)

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