Faults:

I got this car when I was 15 as a first car for $850. My dad and I rebuilt it for the past 2.5 years into a fantastic show Z. But there have been a lot of things that have gone wrong. some my fault and some not.

The biggest thing was I blew the entire motor because of a fuel leak. the starter also cracked when this happened. so I have a brand new rebuilt engine and a new performance starter. all the carpet and vinyl has been replaced due to being worn so badly. the paint was completely done because it was almost all worn off. the brakes were rusted so I put on a complete disc brake conversion. I got 17" Cobra R rims for it, but they were too big so and the car was raised a few inches so I got some Eibach suspension to put it on the ground. the muffler had a hole in it so I decided to replace the whole thing with monza headers going into a 2.5" exhaust into a glass pack into a flowmaster. it sounds fantastic. There's a very small crack in the windshield, but I'm not worried about that. the dash already had a cap on it so I don't know what kind of shape that is in. new seats because the old ones were so worn. new fuel lines because the all leaked. new injectors because a few failed so I replaced them all. new distributor and wires. a new 5 speed transmission from a ZX for better fuel economy. all the rust was removed. fiberglass bumpers. the clutch was starting to fault so I got a Centerforce stage 2 clutch. all the chrome has been replaced because it was all worn off. and finally, a complete 5 speaker sound system with a 10" sub.

General Comments:

This car is FANTASTIC. There are no other words to describe it. this is my baby and I will die with this thing. if you have never owned a Datsun, I HIGHLY recommend it. you will never be disappointed. all the performance parts are very cheap and all replacement parts are very reasonable. almost everything can be found on Ebay or various other websites. eventually there will be a 351w in this baby, but until then, the 2.8 is fast enough. this thing handles on rails and can take off just as fast as a 350z, especially if you put a little time into the engine. it doesn't take much to make this thing a rocket with being only a shade over 2000 lbs.

Faults:

Alternator Quit.

Radiator Cracked, practically overheated the car.

There've been some other minor quirks (bad fan clutch, electrical things) but nothing that has severely hampered the car's driveability.

Numerous replaced hoses (vacuum hoses, heater hoses, radiator hoses)

The fuel injectors are leaking, and I think the fuel pressure regulator is about to go out too.

The cylinder head also probably needs a good rebuild, with leaking valve stem seals.

U-joints are going south too.

General Comments:

This car is strong.

I'm a young kid who picked a Datsun Z car as his first car, and so for one thing, I can tell you that there are occasions where I drive my car HARD, and the 280z can take it!

Time and time again I marvel at just how resilient the 2.8 L powerplant at the front of this car really is. For most cars of this vintage, approaching 100,000 miles is like a funeral march, but not with the Z!

Of the other Z owners I know, not one has a car below 120,000 (One, in fact, has over 350k on his!)

The absolute best part is, when something goes wrong, it's pretty simple to diagnose with the right informational tools (service manuals, online forums, etc.) and replacement parts are easily available from places like Checker/Kragen and Autozone... did I mention there are performance modifications available by the boatload?

Nissan also still has lots of replacement parts, if special order situations arise.

Anyway, I'm very pleased, and I don't plan on getting rid of this car EVER!