Garage/Barn Finds Are REAL! Datsun Z Content Inside.

Gather 'round, it's story time!

If you've been here for a while, you may know member Pseudosport, aka Greg. He loves his Z cars, and was perusing FB Marketplace recently and found a disassembled 1978 280Z for sale. Clicking on the add, something didn't add up: It was in NH, and it was NOT rusty. Like, at all. Huh? 

Intrigued, he went to see the car. It was disassembled, but all of the parts were in the little garage where it sat. And upon closer examination, it was in fact NOT RUSTY. How does this happen, especially when these cars disintegrated near-instantly in New England? Even the paint was shiny. He agreed to buy the thing, messaged our friend group, and then asked if I'd go up to grab it with him to document the find.

So, we roll up to a back alley in a city in NH, where there are a bunch of small, rented garage bays. A guy meets us and opens the bay door. This is what I saw:



Yep, that's certainly a Z surrounded by its component parts. But what was the story here?

From what I understand, an older guy bought it new in Florida and drove it sparingly. His grandson took a liking to it in the late 90's and acquired the car after asking for it repeatedly. The grandfather relented, and the car was shipped north to NH where the grandson lived. He drove it for a very short period of time, and then claimed the car had a "cracked block" and pulled the engine. Then, he lost interest. The kid then stuck the grandfather with the car again, and he paid about $150/mo for the garage where it sat since about 2001. Fast forward to a few months back, when the grandfather stopped paying rent. He offered the car to the garage owner, who took ownership and immediately listed it for sale, trying to both recoup his backdated rent and clear it for another tenant. Enter Greg, who saw it and scooped it up immediately. 



Parts of the car were scattered about the small garage, albeit neatly. Also, this came with stacks and stacks of paperwork, some of which we have never seen before. 



Like this thing. It's an old computer punch card, and Google Translate indicates that it has something to do with confirming that the car can be shipped. Cool!



Clearly, the engine has been removed. But that gave us a good look at critical subframe structural points, all of which were rock solid. We are used to seeing holes and having to make our own patches. There was one little rust spot in a non-critical part, and that's it. ZERO body rust as well! 





This is one of those situations where you had to concentrate and take a step back to see all of the stuff in the garage. All of the bits and pieces were there, and fairly well organized. And yes, that's the original exhaust leaning against the wall. More on that in a minute. 



Also included with the car was this amazing OG Pioneer Super Tuner stereo! I have never seen one in person, and as a car audio enthusiast, this was a real treat. 



Tucked in the corner was the hood, engine block, and other parts. Since it's a 1978, it has the cool vented hood. Nice. 



The seats were strangely hanging in the rafters. 



We loaded the car onto our other buddy's sketchy trailer (Greg's was occupied with another Z car!) and the car saw the light of day... err... night for the first time in over 20 years. Check out that original, unused Space Saver spare! 



I told you we would get back to the exhaust. It was too long to fit in the car or our borrowed tow rig, so we had to break it down. Luckily, it just unbolted like it was a couple years old and totally not a nearly 46-year old Japanese car. Again, how???



We loaded it on the trailer and secured it by the tow hooks. Yes, it actually still has its factory tow hooks! Most Z's in New England self-deleted these early during Reagan's first term. 



20+ years of garage dust aside, the car was unbelievably clean. It wears a shade of metallic beige that on most cars would put you to sleep, but looks cool on this one. 



After bolting in the nearly new-looking OEM radiator, we bolted the hood on for transport. 



Side shot! The car has a few dents and scratches, but overall is in phenomenal shape. Those BFG Radial T/A's are smoked, but super early ones, which is cool to see. LOVE the wheel covers, too. 



Folks, they are still out there. We rescued this one from purgatory, and Greg's plan is to simply reassemble the car and enjoy it. I think that's a sound plan. It's way too clean to do heavy mods or cut up. I'll convince Greg to start a build thread if there's any interest. 

Man, I've been seeing lots ofpretty nice condition Zcars in NH recently.  I don't know what's going on, but I'm here for it, haha! 

I'm in for a build thread!

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Oh, totally.

Tony, if you ever want this thread moved into the build section, just let me know.

Way cool!

golfduke said:

Man, I've been seeing lots ofpretty nice condition Zcars in NH recently.  I don't know what's going on, but I'm here for it, haha! 

 

Almost 12 years ago to the day, we rescued this 1976 280Z in Maine. This was Greg's first Z. 


It was generally solid, but had some questionable crustiness. It did the BABE Rally to New Orleans and back, and then turned into the Nuthin' But A Z Thang Lemons Team race car. Back then, I took this shot of the car once we loaded it up:



So of course, I took another one of Z #5:



Funny that both cars started their lives in Florida and somehow ended up in New England so Greg could scoop them up. And yes, since it's Z #5 for him, we started calling it Johnny #5, especially because it was disassembled. 

My next-door neighbor is doing a total restoration of a 280Z. Finished except for some wiring. Should be complete next month. It's painted black. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished. 

Another thing I didn't mention: 



We think based on the overall condition of the car that it is a TRUE 27k mile car. Although there are some spots of wear, like on the seats and the infamous dash crack they all have, other parts of the dash, interior plastics, and the condition of other components are just way too clean for even a well-maintained 127k mile car. The seat wear is also likely from being stored in the rafters of the garage for over 20 years; there's a puncture hole in each one that could have been from rodents or the like. All we know is neither one of us has seen one this clean, even if it's disassembled. 

Greg will be along at some point to hop in and take over the thread. It's his car, after all! 

Great story , I love barn / storage / back yard finds , 

I have waited over 10 years to get a car that was "not for sale"  .....until it was for sale....

It helps to have the same phone number for decades :)

Wow, that's an amazing find!

Hi, it's been just over a year since I bought the car and I figured I'd give an update as well as some pictures I took when I first saw the car. 

When I saw the car listed, there was only one picture of the car from the front followed by about 10 more pictures of just parts everywhere. I didn't have much to go off of but the car didn't look rusty which is very strange for a Z. Over all it looked like a lot of money and a really bad idea but I couldn't stop thinking about the car so I asked the seller for a couple of pictures. He replied back saying there was not much room in the garage but he would see what he could do and sent me back these.

It looked like there was some paintwork done so who knows what is hidden under that but the hatch area was clean along with the hubcaps so figured it was worth checking out. I took the ride up to NH and met the seller who was a really nice guy. After getting the back story Tony mentioned above, We opened the garage and I was immediately greeted by the car's crankshaft sitting on top of the bench which is always a good start to a potential project. I then made my way around the car looking at all the trouble spots and took some more pictures. 

There was a small rust hole in the wheel well and a bunch of scratches and small dents but other than that, the shell looked oddly clean. Still the seller was asking $4800 for a non-running, disassembled car, with no title. The lowest he would go was $4400 but I liked the car and the seller and figured why not. We wrote up a bill of sale, I left a deposit and then made plans to pick up the car.

Fortunately, I was able to talk Tony into getting it with me later that week. The car was full of parts and I didn't really know what was in there other than the fenders. We started to pull everything out to load just to see what we had and found some extra stuff that went with the car like a full polyurethane suspension kit, new shocks, calipers, new emblem, plus some other stuff. We even found the paperwork for the car along with the key! 

Anyway, as you saw above we loaded it up and dropped it off in my driveway. As soon as I got home I placed the fenders on the car in the dark along with the other hubcaps before my wife could see it so it looked like a complete car. In the morning it actually looked pretty good out in the daylight. The only bad spot is the bottom of one of the fenders. 

Since the weather was still mild for late December, I took the opportunity to vacuum the interior and bolt in the seats. It needs a bunch of cleaning but it's starting to feel like a car. 

At this point I need to decide what to do with the car. I'm suspicious that it might have 27k original miles but can't prove it. Even if it has low miles does it even matter? I like driving my projects and like cleaning things up but I never want to be afraid of something being too nice. For now, I guess the plan is to put the car back together, get it on the road, then see what I have. 

The following month I went through all the parts and it looked like I had almost everything to put the engine back together This was tricky since the parts were scattered between dozens of boxes and coffee cans with nothing labeled. Supposedly the engine was cracked and was leaking coolant out the side which is why the previous owner took everything apart. So far my plan is to inspect everything and put it back together as cheaply as possible then see what happens.  

Now most of the important stuff like the block, head, and crank were left out in the open in the garage. They were covered in dirt and rust but looked usable if cleaned up. I started with the block first since if that was too far gone then the rest didn't matter as much. I borrowed an engine hone from AutoZone and tested it out on a cylinder. Surprisingly it cleaned right up with only a couple of passes. I cleaned and honed the rest of the cylinders then gave the block a coat of paint. The best I could do to match the original color is Pontiac blue.

Next up was the cylinder head. Not only was this thing gross, but it had random animal hair mixed in.

The 

Head was disassembled, cleaned, rust removed from cam, and valves lapped. Crank, pistons, and rods were cleaned up as well. Since things were looking promising, I ordered up some parts to put everything back together. Think I spend around $150 for a gasket set, rings, and bearings. 

ok, the short block is assembled. So far so good. Found the timing chain and oil pump in one of the bins and cleaned those up. Added some new timing chain guides and a tensioner for $20, then bolted the front cover back on. 

Now this is where I hit a snag. I went to clean up the intake manifold and found that the EGR tube was snapped off on the bottom and there was some corrosion damage. The channel along the bottom of the intake to the EGR had holes rotted through in different spots. Not sure what happened. Maybe is sat on the ground too long. Here is the only picture I have to give you an idea. On top of that, the exhaust manifold ended up having studs broken off in it and broken-off corner on the flange. 

Surprisingly I don't have any extra 280z intake or exhaust manifolds in my parts stash so I guess I'll have to source some. Figured I'd move on and try to install the thermostat housing in the head. As I was getting ready to bolt that on and noticed a weird bump on the inside. I scraped around it and the housing was actually cracked. From the outside it's barely noticeable at all. My guess is that someone installed a bolt with the wrong size washer which clamped down at an angle and cracked the housing. This would certainly cause a coolant leak in a spot that is not easily visible when everything is together. 

I'm pretty convinced the thermostat housing was the whole reason the engine was pulled but while searching for manifolds, I came across a complete 1983 280zx engine with 54k miles for $400. 

Well crap, It would be a whole lot easier to drop that whole thing in the car and see if it works so I bought it. It's now february but we haven't had any snow so I'm still able to work on the. As soon as I got home with the engine, I picked it up from the back of the truck, installed the used clutch and flywheel from one of the bins, and dropped it right in the car. 

The nice thing about dropping the engine in a 280Z is that I can get all the transmission bolts from the top of the car. Now to start hooking things up and see if it works. Worst case I can use the manifolds for the other engine. 

Looks great! Another Z guy - I'm in!

I ordered Eibach springs yesterday for my Z......

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Thanks, I'm slowly trying to get caught up on this whole project. I wasn't planning on a build thread but figured i'd post everything from the past year. 

It's now March. Still no snow so work on the Z continued. I knew there were some differences between the 280zx and 280z engine but didn't really know what they were until now. Ended up having to swap some stuff around (throttle body, BCDD valve, distributor, distributor base, coolant sensors) plus found that the 280zx exhaust manifold is shorter than a 280z. Manifold wasn't a big deal since I could worry about the exhaust later. Fuel tank I was a little worried about since the fuel has been sitting in that thing since Clinton was in office. I drained out what I could and topped it off with fresh fuel. Hooked up most of the important wires and tossed in a battery. Surprisingly everything worked like it was just parked the other day. Well everything but the fuel pump but no surprise there. Swapped in an unknown one that was sitting on a shelf plus a new fuel filter and that worked enough to build pressure. Added some fresh oil and a new filter then used the starter to rotate the engine a few times to build pressure. Guess it was time to try and start it.  

Stupid thing fired right up and idled. Guess it was time to hook up the cooling system and go through the brakes. I don't have any brake pictures but it needed a new master, brake booster, clutch master, and clutch slave. This took another couple weeks to source parts and replace everything. It's now March 31 and the car is ready for its first drive in over 23 years. Also at his point the car is already registered and insured. Forgot to mention I sorted out the paperwork and registered it back in Jeb. Yeah I got a little ahead of myself but it was motivation to keep working through the cold. Anyway I backed the car out of the driveway and made it down a side street next to my house and back. Nothing terrible happened so I decided to head towards Tony's house which was 17 miles away. Besides the random stuff blowing out the vents, the tires shaking, the clutch slipping, rusty brakes, and some random hesitation when giving it throttle, it made it.     

I took it very easy there and back but there was something up with the fuel system. Over the next few weeks, I was fighting random misfires, fluctuating fuel pressure, no start, idle but no rev, lean pops out the intake when revving, and so on. The used fuel pump was always loud but it started to make even more noise. After trying to flush the tank with new fuel a few more times I finally decided to remove it and see how bad it looked inside. Also by this point it's now late May and the car hasn't left the driveway since the first drive

Yup, that's not good. Time to go to the hardware store and pick up some muriatic acid. I dumped in 3 gallons of water and one gallon of acid and sloshed that around over the course of an hour. Drained that out and flushed the tank with a hose. 

Much better. Next, I added a new Bosch fuel pump, blew out the lines, and replaced the fuel filter again. I also bought new injectors since I figured the old ones were filled with junk. Fuel pressure was now consistent and the car ran much better. Well at least for a week or so. A new problem developed where the car didn't want to take any throttle. This time the fuel pressure was ok but it would lean pop out then intake and die completely. I checked fuel pressure a dozen time, when thought all the wiring, performed all the checks in the Datsun service manual and everything checked out. Long story short it turn out the AFM went bad which is odd since it checked out with a multi-meter. I swapped one from my Lemons 280Z and it ran great. I could finally drive the car around and give it full throttle. 

Now that the car was running decent, it was time to do something about the old BFG tires. No idea how those things were still holding air. I do like how the 14" hubcaps look but I've always wanted a set of 16 Konig Rewinds on a Z. Decided to spend the money on a set along with some 205/50R15 Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires. I was hoping they were going to be close enough to the stock height of the 14" wheels but I was wrong. Once I bolted them on the Z looked like a monster truck. 

I drove it for a couple of days hoping the suspension might settle but it did not. 

Ended up installing new shocks and Vogtland springs. 

Much better. It now rides great and nothing rubs even with stuff in the back. Now that I could rely on it I started driving it almost every day. Even picked up my dad and went for a small cruise down to the ocean and got lunch one day. The car has really come a long way in 5 months. 

I gotta admit the 4x4 look is hilarious!  

I bet you were like......WTF?

You know you're getting old when smog-era cars get people excited...