This is a project I took on around April of 2000. I was originally looking for a 76-77 Vette. For months I diligentaly saved my pennies looking through the paper for that "diamond in the rough" that I could bring back to life. I looked at several in my price range, which wasnt much considering I was "Vette shopping! I did find a few possibilities, but nothing that really jumped out and said BUY ME!. The closer I got to my goal I did some serious thinking and reevaluated what I *really* wanted from this machine. I knew I wanted a "sports car", something fast, something older, with well defined sexy lines, and a V8 was an absolute must! I wanted something different, obnoxious, something that really screamed "Cody". That's when Jason found "IT" in the paper. A 1974 Datsun 260Z with a Chevy 283 V8 in it. I had a 76 280Z years ago with the original 170hp fuel injected straight six and remembered how much fun it was. This really fit my "new project" criteria so we went and looked at it.
I wes very familiar with the Z car so I knew what I was looking for, and at. Aside from some body work on the rear and behind the door, it was in pretty good shape, and it had a nice aftermarket 2" fiberglass "cowl induction" hood. The interior wasnt too bad off, all it realy needed was some carpet and have the door panels recovered, which also didn't really worry me, thats one of my favorite things to do anyway! Looking over the car it seemed to be pretty much in order, I liked it and was very seriously considering it. The guy handed me the keys and I slid into the familiar seat behind the wheel, what a perfect fit. I slid the key in, pumped the gas one time, made sure it was in park, turned the ignition. It started with no problem, goosing the throttle a couple times I could tell the "weight to horsepower" ratio was going to be way off. This was a definate plus, and it sounded AWESOME!
I was totally in love with the idea of a V8 in a little Z car, and decided a test drive was in order. Although It wasn't running all that great, and it was very stock looking it seemed tight and was very clean. It felt like it was built right and didn't make any crazy noises so I figured it just needed a major tune up, and to have the bugs worked out of it.
Jason and I got it home, it ran ok i guess, but didn't seem to like the hour drive home and smelled like something was definately not happy about this little journey. I backed it into the driveway and the work began.... |
