240Z, the Journey home

So this morning I got up and finished up what I could get done on the project car, a 1978 280Z 2+2, courtesy of our very own Lynn Wilson, Thanks Lynn!!!

I had planned to remove the diff from the car this morning, along with the door lock from the passenger door, ignition switches and such as well. I got the switches and locks, but had a hell of a time trying to get the diff out. I got everything disconnected except the axles, without any luck getting the axles removed I gave up, hastily slapped some bolts/nuts back on the diff to hold it in place and I took some wire to tie up the driveshaft to keep it from hanging down to the floor.

After clearing off the parts I knew I wanted I had to run down to SoloPerformance to drop off the Engine Hoist that I’ve had for, oh almost the past year. Dave needed it for a week or so, and all I’ve been doing with it is using it as a nice engine hanger lately. After that quick trip I grabbed Natalie, hopped in the Tahoe and headed up North. Went to the Elterman’s to pickup his trailer so I could haul cars to Egypt and back.

From there we headed back home, loaded up the parts car and took off to Speedway (junk yard) in Illinois. They were pretty lax about things, which was nice, I rolled the car off the trailer and headed over to the super secret storage facility. From there we filled up the flat spare tire and rolled it out of the shop and onto the trailer for the trip back home.

Both towing trips were uneventful, which was nice, though each car did shift around on the trailer a bit. The Tahoe towed fine, which is great! Though, I still want to see about getting a gooseneck trailer at somepoint to tow with the F350. On the way home from the super secret storage facility I decided to stop and double check the straps, just to make sure I wasn’t going to lose my baby. I stopped out in front of this great sign ;)

After getting home, Natalie and I unloaded the 240 from the trailer, though, not before I took the time to sweap the 5lbs of rust that the parts car had deposited on the floor of the garage.

After rolling her into the garage and test fitting a few of the interior pieces we headed back up north to drop James’ trailer off. They weren’t home, lucky for them. Had he been home he might have had a heart attack watching me back the trailer in, I ended up parking it about 6 inches from the front of the STi, that darn slopped trailer, makes it hard to judge distances. Lucky for me I stopped when I did, otherwise I would have felt like a complete ass for borrowing a trailer and then hitting the owners car when returning it.

More on the Project240z car later this week!

About the Author:

Chris Hammond
Chris Hammond has autocrossed for 24 years, racing in a variety of vehicles from a 1994 VW Golf to a 1999 Z-28, a 2003 350z, a 2004 ZO6 and a 2016 FRS. He is the founder of AutocrossBlog.com and created the ultimate autocross forum, SOLO2.ORG, years ago . Read more at ChrisHammond.com
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