Zed Progress Report

It has been a long stretch since I posted on the '79 Datsun 280ZX ("Zed") in my garage. Today, is your basic update.

Slow Paint Prep
I'll start with the not so great. Our final efforts last Fall to get Zed in a position for some progress on the paint did not really make a difference. The outer shell is pretty much in the same state: virtually rust free, but still not paint-ready. Not really even close. We were able to remove the tail gate and passenger door, though.

doors and tail gate off

The tail gate is held on by 2 hinges where each hinge has 2 nuts-on-studs on the gate and 2 nuts-on-studs into the body of the car. We removed the nuts on the studs protruding from the car. We'll separate the hinge from the tail gate later. The gate is held up by 2 gas-filled struts. These are original, and still hold the gate up very well. These are held onto a little ball-protrusion by a small bail. I flicked the bail to the side, removed the strut and then put the bail right back on again. I suspect these would be very hard to find items if we lose them. Before you remove the struts and then hinges, the electrical plug for the rear defrogger needs to be unplugged from the harness (rear end of the inside of the roof) and then fed back through the hole in the body. So, its: unplug/feed, remove struts, then hinges. Our install will be the reverse (hinges, struts, feed/plug).

The passenger door is pretty much the same thing, except the hinges are stacked vertically rather than horizontally. It is similar otherwise. We set a floor jack under the far end of the door to hold it upright while we removed the nuts. C worked the wrenches while I held the door steady. Once the nuts were loose, he unplugged the electrical, fed it through and then removed the nuts. One quick tug on the door and it was off.

Think Time
We spent quite a bit of time going through parts and planning our approach. Since the weather was pretty meh most of the times C dropped by, he focused on getting the carpets and seats cleaned. But there was a lot of time available to think about the project. For example, we have 2 sets of door cards, one set with some grey and one set that's all black. The all-black look pretty good, but they do not have window switch holes, they have manual crank holes. Do we want electric windows? We have the wiring, winders, even the switches. Maybe we put them in the center console instead of in the doors? Fortunately, there is plenty of time to think since the car is not in paint yet. We did decide, however, that finishing the paint makes much more sense than assembling any parts of the interior first.

Carpets

cleaned carpet test fit

As part of the slowly-moving-things-forward effort by C, he spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the carpets from the DonorZ. These are a nice grey color, but there were rust stains, cigarette burns and filth rubbed into them. C used a combination of baking soda, vinegar and dish soap to scrub the carpets. Then, he left them for a few months. When he returned, he attacked them with the power washer. They turned out amazing. The elbow grease was important, but I think the power washer did the bulk of the work. And it was fast. After they were washed, we hung them over patio furniture under an overhang (out of the rain) to dry. When wet, they didn't look like much, but after they dried, they actually had a little sparkle to them. Now, cleaning can't fix burn holes, so we thought we should put them in the car so we could see where the holes show up. As luck would have it, they appear under the passenger feet, but C will have floor mats, so they won't be visible most of the time. If we couldn't solve for the burns, C was prepared to dye the carpets black. I'm glad he is sticking with the grey. I think it will help the black parts of the interior "pop" more, and the interior will be brighter during our long dark and gloomy months.

Seats

C crushing it

Speaking of the black interior, part of the DonorZ collection of parts were the seats. When the car arrived, these seats had grey aftermarket covers on them. They look okay, but after seeing what was possible with the carpet, C dug into the seats. Using carpet and upholstery cleanser, mixed with a small-area carpet cleaning machine, C was able to do a similar transformation on the seats as he did with the  carpets (see the picture to the right). We were able to determine why the seats had a cover, though: a black mark about the size of a disc-golf disc was on the seat where the driver's backside would go. After cleaning, though, it was only slightly larger than a deck of cards. And, it wasn't as dark. Perhaps, with a little more cleaning, that black mark could nearly disappear. Similar to the carpets, wherever he worked, they cleaned up very well. We may need to spend a few more cycles on them, but they already look way better than before, and they are 100% original Datsun 280ZX seats. This velour material isn't available anymore, so if we can retain it, the car will hold more value... and it will cost us less.

That's really all that's happened over the last 8 months. C has been working very hard on getting through, arguably, the hardest year in US high school: Junior year. So, that should be his focus. Hopefully, once school lets out for Summer, he will be able to get this project moving forward. I know he wants to drive it, and he definitely enjoys working on it. And, he has really only gotten to do the inglorious parts (paint stripping and cleaning). Finding the time, regardless of how old you are, seems to be a common challenge. Once the work shifts to paint and assembly, I have the feeling that time will suddenly be more abundant. It usually is for me, anyway.

Thanks, as always, for following along.