Z Club of NZ Forum

Got the water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing and water pump outlet installed today, took a lot longer than it should have. Got the engine bolted in properly as well.

Removed the clutch hard line from the 2+2 as well, need to swap the pedal box over before I can install the new clutch master, lines and new slave.

James brought back the axles the other day, only tried one today but it fit, their both the same length, I'm not sure if that's correct for an R180. One has a split other boot so I need to sort that out before I can put it in.

Got some bits today, the clutch fork boot and speedo drive gear. They didn't have any more of the drive sleeves so hopefully I've got one that will work.

On the weekend I didn't get too much done, got the clutch fork boot and slave cylinder installed. Disassembled the driveshaft with the torn CV boot, I took the joint down to Repco but forgot the old boot and they weren't really willing to try boots on the joint for me so I'll have to sort that next weekend. Ordered a new rear trans seal as well as the original looked pretty average.

I found a sleeve that already had a purple gear in it (it actually looked white though), I pulled it out and put the new gear in but I think it's actually the wrong sleeve, need to put a slot in it 180 degrees from where the original slot is then it should fit in the gearbox.

Pulled one of the plugs out of a spare R200 rear cover that I had around for the fill bung on the R180, the original went missing somewhere along the line.

Slowly getting closer.

Milling the slot into the speedo drive tonight, bit of a silly use of the mill but it worked.

Didn't manage to get a lot done this weekend, got the new trans seal from Repco, asked them about a new CV boot for the 2nd time and it got too painful so I pulled one off one of my spare big spline axles today and put it on the other shaft. Didn't really want to use a 2nd hand one but it should be okay.

I might have to make a tool to try and reshape the tail shaft where the seal sits as it's a bit out of shape, I don't think I did it but there's a chance that I did, will just put a taper on a bit of steel and whack it in there.

I've been mucking around with the mechanical fuel pump covers, I'll probably put this one on the car but I might make another and engrave it.




Also made some titanium gear stick bushes out of some scrap.




Got the manual pedal box and steering column back in, new clutch master cylinder on too. One step closer.

Got the new rear sway bar bushes, shipping from Rockauto is fast. Put them in over the weekend, not a very fun job but I got there. Also did the fuel tank straps up and put the hose for the filler back on the tank.

The rear end is 99% done, I have to get a split pin for the hand brake and bleed the brakes.

There's actually not much more to do to it before I can start it, got a few little annoying things to sort out like the fittings for the heater hoses, the originals were rusty and yuck so I'll replace them with brass once I can track some down. Need to fit the throttle linkage, fit an alternator and finish off the wiring.

Got another Aerotech front bumper for this, when I got the parts car it came with a very rough one that I was planning on putting on this car but this one came up pretty cheap and looked pretty decent with only a minor patch job on it, it needs a little bit of smoothing out but it's way better so I'll pass the rough one on to James.

Haven't had a chance to do much else to this so far this holidays but the plan is to get this one running and driving and get rid of the parts car which I think is achievable. This one doesn't need too much else, need to tidy up a few little bits in the rear end/fuel system and finish the wiring and it should be ready to start.

That's what I have for the front of mine as well... I had the five vents filled and the mouth cross bar removed.
The two light ports will supply air to the front brakes.
Picture below is not sitting correctly...

I put the front kit on roughly the other day, it looks like it's been drilled to fit Fairlady Z front bumper mounts so I had to take the bumper shocks off and put my spare pair of them on.

Got it started today, only ran it for a couple of minutes, it's got no exhaust and no cooling system.

I had to finish putting the fuel system together, I hadn't put the fuel sender unit back in the tank, I ended up taking the one out of the parts 2+2 as the original was a bit rusty from sitting in the tank full of fuel for so many years. Also put the lines back on from the hard lines to the engine.

The key is stuck in the ignition so I had to take the switch off the back and turn it with a screwdriver, I thought I had the right wire going to the starter but it turns out it was the wrong one, so once I got that sorted it turned over and started within a couple of cranks.

I started it in gear and there wasn't any noise from the diff or gearbox.

So, got a couple of things to do that should take maybe another day, then I should be able to take it for a test drive.

Yes I got the cooling system all together, got James around to help bleed the clutch and managed to drive it out of where it's been for ages. Gave it a quick wash.

Spent today doing a bit of cleaning and putting little bits and pieces back together. It's getting closer.

Spent all week at work getting the Diablo ready for the Skope then working on the 488 Challenge. Haven't had much time to do any of my own stuff.






Today in between it spitting I thought I'd try and get the front kit mounted more permanently, one thing I did manage to get done during the week was slotting the bumper brackets on the mill so I could get the alignment front to back correct. On the back car it had speed nuts for the bumper originally which I hated as they move and are pain so I put 6mm rivnuts in on this one.

Still need to do the exhaust and put the wing on, I think I am going to paint the bumper and wing, just a quick spray to white.

Nice to see a 280 getting back on its feet.
Glad you removed the edging strip along the length of the car, looks much better without it.
...Nice Lambo!

Grunzter wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:38 pm Nice to see a 280 getting back on its feet.
Glad you removed the edging strip along the length of the car, looks much better without it.
...Nice Lambo!

Yeah they were one of the 80s things that people thought looked good back in the day. It's got pin striping on it too but I think I'm going to leave that alone.

The Diablo is an SV-R, one of 32 made, it runs straight pipes and is quite loud. Quite nice to worn on mechanically, the electrical guy isn't having fun though.

Got one of the few parts remaining on this, some genuine Nissan rubber radius rod bushes. The bush kit that I bought came with some but they were basically solid plastic and I didn't want to use them, these should last another 10 or 20 years.