Soo close....
Thread Starter
Mr Z++ Wiki
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,195
From: Victoria, BC
Doh I forgot to take some pictures before I droped 'er off at the garage to get the vehicle inspection to import my 1983 280ZX TURBO.... finally!
She's a little on the rough side (gee what Datsun isn't now adays unless it's been restored...) but its weird. The rockers, rails, wheel wells front and back, front strut tower what I could see under the car are all solid. The rear hatch is rotten but the frame around the hatch is solid even where the water sits all the time. The spare wheel well had some rusty water in there but its solid too - even down inside the inner fenders below. I think it must have had a rear ender though because its pretty rotten under the tail lights which I haven't seen before on a car that isn't already rotten elsewhere. There is some rust at the bottom of the front fenders and surface on the very front of the hood. Over all a nice solid well running car. One of the last ZXT's made too. Has the BW T5 which seems pretty good - a little notchy as everyone says but really not that bad. Happy to find a five speed as well - icing on the cake.
Alas since I have a very cherry NA and I've started buidling the motor to do the turbo swap the ZXT will be my very own personal test mule! Now I've got a working turbo platform to test my bits and pieces, set up my Mega Squirt III, etc. I wanted to do a shaved rear end as well so since it's rotten around the tail lights I've given myself permision to mess around with it and I don't have to worry about wreaking a perfectly good car
I'll find out tomorow what it needs to pass inspection so I can finish the import process and register the vehicle.
Even though it's a test mule I am SOOOO tempted to do something to the stock supension. It kills me driving these cars with that mushy mushy rolly polly suspension. I'd rather drive my NA with the springs/struts than the more powerful turbo with the stock suspension.... sigh....
She's a little on the rough side (gee what Datsun isn't now adays unless it's been restored...) but its weird. The rockers, rails, wheel wells front and back, front strut tower what I could see under the car are all solid. The rear hatch is rotten but the frame around the hatch is solid even where the water sits all the time. The spare wheel well had some rusty water in there but its solid too - even down inside the inner fenders below. I think it must have had a rear ender though because its pretty rotten under the tail lights which I haven't seen before on a car that isn't already rotten elsewhere. There is some rust at the bottom of the front fenders and surface on the very front of the hood. Over all a nice solid well running car. One of the last ZXT's made too. Has the BW T5 which seems pretty good - a little notchy as everyone says but really not that bad. Happy to find a five speed as well - icing on the cake.
Alas since I have a very cherry NA and I've started buidling the motor to do the turbo swap the ZXT will be my very own personal test mule! Now I've got a working turbo platform to test my bits and pieces, set up my Mega Squirt III, etc. I wanted to do a shaved rear end as well so since it's rotten around the tail lights I've given myself permision to mess around with it and I don't have to worry about wreaking a perfectly good car
I'll find out tomorow what it needs to pass inspection so I can finish the import process and register the vehicle.
Even though it's a test mule I am SOOOO tempted to do something to the stock supension. It kills me driving these cars with that mushy mushy rolly polly suspension. I'd rather drive my NA with the springs/struts than the more powerful turbo with the stock suspension.... sigh....
Last edited by FricFrac; Mar 15, 2011 at 09:50 PM.
Thread Starter
Mr Z++ Wiki
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,195
From: Victoria, BC
So to finish my importing I've got to get the safety inspection completed which didn't turn out too bad. All she needs is:
Battery hold down
Steering rack boots (on order)
Wheel bearings - rear (on order)
Front brake lines (on order - Earls stainless steel)
TC Rod bushings (on order)
No defrost - I'll pull the dash and see what's up with that. I've got to strip the interior anyhow because the carpet stinks both figuratively and literally. Might jumper the relays so it only blows on the window. We'll see on that one.
Overall not too bad
Battery hold down
Steering rack boots (on order)
Wheel bearings - rear (on order)
Front brake lines (on order - Earls stainless steel)
TC Rod bushings (on order)
No defrost - I'll pull the dash and see what's up with that. I've got to strip the interior anyhow because the carpet stinks both figuratively and literally. Might jumper the relays so it only blows on the window. We'll see on that one.
Overall not too bad
The Good Twin
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,639
From: Wild Wild West, UTAH!
Wow... all those must be fixed to pass safety? Man... they are picky! 
Looks like your vent system is the ACC auto climate? Interesting that the defrost doesn't work... it should default to defrost if the system fails. Do any of the other positions work on the slider?
Looks like your vent system is the ACC auto climate? Interesting that the defrost doesn't work... it should default to defrost if the system fails. Do any of the other positions work on the slider?
Thread Starter
Mr Z++ Wiki
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,195
From: Victoria, BC
I think the safety thing is a good thing. There are way to many dangerous hunks of junk driving around out there. The TC bushings might be a little bit of overkill and torn boots on the steering rack is boarderline but they do need to be replaced in order to prevent premature damage.
Honestly I haven't played with it much at all. I did all the paper work to import the car. Drove down to pick it up. Dropped it off to be inspected. Picked it up the next day from the inspection facility and left for a course in Germany the next. I basically parked the car then ran inside to pack. Lol - I was more interested in tearing into the car than going to Germany for the first time
I do remember driving it back that the Economy worked in economy mode (eg the engine didn't rev up to use it) and the 1,2,3 worked appropriately but I didn't check to see where everything was venting too. We were dashing to the boarder to get there before they closed their offices at 3:30 PM. The temp lever also wouldn't slide all the way to the left either.
Honestly I haven't played with it much at all. I did all the paper work to import the car. Drove down to pick it up. Dropped it off to be inspected. Picked it up the next day from the inspection facility and left for a course in Germany the next. I basically parked the car then ran inside to pack. Lol - I was more interested in tearing into the car than going to Germany for the first time
I do remember driving it back that the Economy worked in economy mode (eg the engine didn't rev up to use it) and the 1,2,3 worked appropriately but I didn't check to see where everything was venting too. We were dashing to the boarder to get there before they closed their offices at 3:30 PM. The temp lever also wouldn't slide all the way to the left either.
Thread Starter
Mr Z++ Wiki
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,195
From: Victoria, BC
The Good Twin
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,639
From: Wild Wild West, UTAH!
Somewhat yes. The manual climate is still controlled by vacuum, but there are fewer lines to cause vacuum leaks, and the system will still activate the fan whenever you want because you physically have to turn it on.
Big Poppa
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,499
From: Mission, British Columbia
nice work fricfrac. all the good stuff is in washington for not bad prices either. looks like one of the accesory drive belts is torn apart and hanging on the ground. and yuck on the digital dash and auto climate.
Thread Starter
Mr Z++ Wiki
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,195
From: Victoria, BC
Trust me the Pacific North West is not the place to look for a clean Datsun of any sort..... I've been hunting BC, Washington and Oregon for one for the last two years and there just isn't much out there that isn't rotten.
Cali, Arizona, etc. That's the place to find a clean S130 but you need to get your interiors and rubber from the soggy places
Cali, Arizona, etc. That's the place to find a clean S130 but you need to get your interiors and rubber from the soggy places
