JGW's 1983 280zx 2+2 n/a

Here is the passenger side:

Here is driver side interior

Passenger door

Dash is badly faded, badly cracked:

Here is the driver side rear seat area:

The front seats look pretty good, fronts and backs:

Other than the dash, the rear hatch area needs the most attention:

Here is how it looked underneath when I took it to my mechanic:

Car is currently with my mechanic who is replace struts, tie (sp?) rod ends, bushings, any hoses that look cracked or may need to be replaced in the next year or so, had to replace manifold (I knew a bolt was cracked, but apparently that let the manifold warp, and before I knew it could be milled and that was a recommended way to repair per several on this board, he had already ordered in the new one), something in the differential (gasket maybe?), tune up, etc. Hopefully, it will be ready for alignment by Monday evening / Tuesday, so I can start driving my new car!

So, what do you think? $200 good for the car? Next will be interior: I have to decide what all I do: stereo and speakers? dash cap or remove, restore and replace? and if so, what color? I like the beige interior and most is in very good condition. Not sure if I like the chocolate brown, but changing the color of the dash and various trim that is also chocolate brown might get expensive, tedious, or both. Other things to think about will be if I replace carpet, then adding sound / heat insulation under new carpet, doors, etc.; running wiring for speakers in rear; heated lumbar in the seats maybe?

Then, outside paint choices? I'm not going to remove the engine, etc. and try to paint the car to be a show winner. But, I do want a really nice paint job, so I will at least remove all the trim on the outside, likely the weather stripping, etc. If I stay chocolate / beige inside, what outside paint colors do you think? I do not want brown outside paint though. Just not my thing.

- What paint colors outside do you think would look good if I keep the chocolate brown / beige interior?
- would it be as difficult as I think it would be to replace / refinish over all the chocolate brown interior?

thoughts / ideas / opinions / suggestions all appreciated!

JGW006

Weekend 1: "The Tear Down"

I finally cleaned the garage sufficiently to push the car in and start removing the interior. On Saturday, with help from my sons and a buddy, we removed most of the interior: all except the steering wheel and dash. Sunday, we removed the tail light assemblies, hatch catch assembly, license plate assembly, head lights, water reservoir, hood "scoops", black trim located between hood and windshield.

I took many, many pictures throughout. Hopefully enough that I will be able to re-assemble!

Things I've learned so far:

1. The battery operated impact wrench is invaluable, much more so than just my 18 volt cordless drill. My buddy brought one to use. I have to get one of those!

2. When someone else is using the impact wrench, the cordless drill works much better when I can re-charge the battery. Where the heck is my re-charger when I need it!

3. A 27 year old car accumulates a LOT of dust and . . . who knows what else. I need to take allergy medicine before I start, not after inhaling almost 3 decades of dust, pollen, .........

4. A quick wash and vacuum of the car before pushing into the garage would have been good. Now, my garage floor has all the leaves on it that the car used to have.

5. You cannot have too many sandwich sized baggies. Buy several boxes before starting this next time.

6. You cannot have too many quart sized baggies. Buy several boxes before starting this next time.

7. If you run out of baggies, plastic packing tape works to "seal" up screws that go to specific parts, and is good to use sharpy marker on to label. Not as good as zip locks, but works in a pinch.

8. If you are married: ask permission before using all of the sandwich sized baggies. And if you don't ask, and you use them all, be careful how you answer the question on Monday morning (when the wife is making lunches for the four kids: "do you know what happened to all our sandwich bags?".

9. Have enough small, medium, and large size boxes for easy storage and labeling of car parts.

10. If others are helping remove trim and other parts, make sure they take off one piece at a time and immediately bag and label the screws.

11. If others are helping remove trim and other parts, check their labels. "Left side screws to tan piece" leaves a little to be desired.

12. Be careful removing the side "marker" lights. The wires are delicate after 27 years (anyone know how to fix / replace / repair the right front marker light if the wire to it has been broken?).

13. When vacuuming the car after removing the interior, use a small, portable vacuum, not the hose attachment on the large vacuum. It makes retrieving the odd screw / bolt gets sucked up much easier (how is it that a paper vacuum bag, when trying to open it, can literally explode?).

14. There are special tools used for the removal of steering wheels for a reason.

15. So far, the most important tools used were sockets (8mm, 10mm, 12mm), battery operated impact wrench (not necessary, but a big time saver), phillips head drivers / screw drivers. No wrenches used (we would have if not for the sockets).

16. Take lots of pictures (I did do that). If I had the weekend to do over again, I would have also logged the exact order of what we did, so I have a better road map on re-assembly. With several of us working at one time, this wasn't done, and I didn't think about it. Probably after this project has been done by someone a couple of times, that log is less important. Until then, it may come in handy to know exactly what was done first, second, third, etc.

All in all, a very good weekend. To Palladin, who tolerated my texts and phone calls throughout the weekend and gave great advice to make sure I wasn't screwing something up: Many thanks my friend!

Next: Steering wheel and dash (and I guess whatever else I find under the dash?); bumper covers; side trim; clean interior of car; clean and treat the very little bit of surface rust found on the hatch deck, next to the spare tire well; antenna removal; . . ..

I'll post some pictures soon.

This afternoon, I decided to clean and prepare for polish / paint all the under the hood bolts, brackets, parts, etc. that we took off yesterday. Thought I might even get around to painting the block. I figured I head a few hours. No problem.

[insert knowing laughter here]

2 1/2 hours, a gallon of paint thinner, a half gallon of lacquer thinner, 2 green scotch brite pads destroyed, a couple of copper brushes gone, and maybe 6 parts thoroughly cleaned? "Art" under the hood is hard work, very time consuming, and really bad on these hands.

I may shift my focus for the engine compartment from "art" to "good job, looks nice"! 2 hours, a gallon of paint thinner, a half gallon of lacquer thinner, 2 green scotch brite pads destroyed, a couple of copper brushes gone, and maybe 6 parts cleaned?

Lessons learned:

21. When cleaning parts, brackets and bolts with paint thinner, wear gloves.

22. When cleaning parts and brackets and bolts with lacquer thinner, WEAR GLOVES.

23. Custom / restoration shops charge a fortune for a reason: it takes a very, very long time to clean parts, brackets and bolts so that they can be polished or painted.