My 1976 Datsun 280Z Build

We all like finished photos first, right? Well I figured after the interest in my initial post, I would share with you my vehicle build. Lots of photos, apologies in advance!

When I first bought it in 2013, I came across it in Chicago in the barn of an old man's house. The owner had it gifted to him when his dad passed. Unfortunately, the car reminded him of his dad and wanted to get rid of it. When I purchased it, it barely ran. The motor was "in" but was not in any way capable of handling the road.

Booty

Some aftermarket gauges that didn't work properly.

It had a 350 Small Block Chevy with a weird 2 1/2 to 2 to 1 3/4 exhaust setup. That was going to go.

Interior was pretty trashed. Age and sun had its way with the leather.

Cleaned up! Kinda. It had boost and shift light setup for drag racing, but there was no way it was capable of doing anything besides breaking.

For sitting a long time, it was actually extremely clean underneath.

Another interior shot.

This was the worst part. There were lines, hoses, and electrical wires all over the place that made no sense. It would spit oil, leak like crazy, and idle terribly.

It didn't take long until some serious work on the engine bay was needed. During the winter, and with the help of friends, we tore down the block and replaced every gasket under the sun. Added in rollers, cam, and a few other modifications for a bit of extra power.

15x10's all around for helping with the traction issues from the stock 15x7's. Neat neochrome lugs for the hell of it.

Re-upholstered seats.

I thought I was done. HA. HAHAHAHA

How it looked in 2014

Changed to switch system and eliminated a lot of the electrical mess. I wish I knew that I was going to tear it all back out in 2017.

Derpy looking thing, isn't it?

It underwent some surgery over the winter of 2014 to 2015. That included: dual side exhaust, custom intake hood, timing changes, increased boost, aftermarket brakes, and more.

Starting to look somewhat cleaner.

In June of 2015, I tried something new: Plastidip. The car had its fair share of scratches, spider-cracks, bumps, and other imperfections. At the time, I couldn't afford a full paint job so we fixed the body imperfections and dipped over it!

Plasti-dip is a rubber material that lays in coats on objects. After enough coats it will become thick enough for you to eventually peel off. The reason many people use it for temporary paint applications, or for looks.

This plasti-dip was caramel mocha and was fun to apply, but terrible to look at.

It wasn't bad but it didn't take long for me to come to the realization it was terribly boring.

I had a local artist come in and have some fun with the car. He came up with this design for the rear quarter panel.

Another shot of the drawing.

2015 - November. It's last burnout before season ended in Wisconsin.

You can't plasti-dip things that get hot so the engine bay was still blue. Awkward, I know.

The winter of 2015 I decided enough was enough. We were going to make this thing right.

Shaving the rear end.

Cleaning 40+ years of junk.

Fixing all the imperfections and molding side skirt.

Fixing the cracking.

#ugly

After removing everything from the car, we took it to a business partner's shop for the paint work.

Hurdur.

In progress

So bare.

Interior received POR-15 throughout to prevent any rust and underside was recoated as well. 0% rust on this thing!

Engine bay after primer.

Shaved bumper after primer!

another shot before paint.

First spray!

No clearcoat yet but I loved the decision to go with white.

Clear sprayed and dried.

Hood scoop has to match the rest of the black!

Underside of the hood is black while the top is white. Creates a pretty cool contrast when the hood is open.

On the ground!

Painted in lovely white. Right after I got it back from the shop.

How it looks as of October 2016.

1 MPG LOL

Interior shot after intalling the T56 6-Speed transmission out of a Dodge Viper.

Dirty, i'm sorry.
Forged Internals
6lbs of boost
Refinished engine block
bored to 355
T56 6-Speed Transmission
Few other goodies. :)

Booty.

Fiance and I after a short cruise.

It wasn't long until I wanted something more unique. I hit up Brinkworth in Canada and they made a set of Brinkworth flares for my 280Z. A shop in Appleton Wisconsin known as Fitment Inc. (Offsets Garage) was happy to take on the project.

Read the note.

Prepping for the overfenders.

PHONE PIC

I told their team I didn't want photos of them cutting into it. So what did they do? They took photos and sent it to me.

Test fit with the new wheels.

Getting there.

New wheels > old wheels

Coming home after two months.

Finished product!

Finished product x2

I really love the back end of it.

Sunset during a weekend show in Wisconsin called Automotion.

One more butt photo.

If you're bored, I actually have a Youtube channel where I share my automotive adventures and garage times; it's called Automotive Millennial. I'm no professional, but hey it's fun for me. :)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/automotivemillennial
FB: https://www.facebook.com/AutomotiveMillennial/

Cat Tax (Her name is Liara, like from Mass Effect.)

If you have any questions about your Z or looking to get into tinkering with one, feel free to shoot me a message and i'll try to help you out!

Thanks for reading, I hope it wasn't too terrible.