BLS357 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hey guys, I've been here a while now. Reading mostly. Usually I can find it by searching, so I don't say much. I bought this 73 240Z after I took out a loan to buy a Volkswagen Corrado and totalled it on the test drive. Crazy, I know. I found this Z on Craigslist and later found a for sale thread for it here on HybridZ. http://forums.hybrid...__1#entry672177 I drove 650 miles to find a car that was not as advertised; to put it nicely. I paid him accordingly and made the purchase. I started home only to have it die on the freeway in Chicago for 10 min (in rush hour), lose 5th gear 100 miles in, and the wiper arm fly off the side of the windshield in downpour. That's leaving out a dozen other things. It was a bad trip. The car, although running poorly, was fast! Photos from the day I got it home. I started digging around and found the a lot of questionable work. (Again putting it nicely). Here is a pic of the fuel pump that was clanging around. Held only by it's hoses and a zip tie. Or the condition of the coil and plug wire I found a dude in Omaha that had two 5 speeds in his garage. Said they had been there for 15 years but worked good when they were pulled. I took the gamble and the 20 miles I drove my car with it installed; it shifted great. Got the car home and started to try to diagnose all the driveability issues and found all sorts of fun stuff. I think a 5th grader wired this car. Random things unplugged, bare wires, 13 individual power wires going to positive batt terminal..... It's ugly. I've had quite the learning curve as I've been a Jeep tech my whole life and we use speed density not MAF/AFM. So thanks for all the great info everyone! After realizing my car was rusting more and more everyday and must have been put together in 45 minutes. I decided to strip it down and restore the body and fix all the half done things. This car needs to reassembled properly anyhow. What i have already found is scary at times. I have two different friends that own body shops so I'll get a bit of assistance from them. One even owns a mint '72 Z. I bought the "How to restore" book by Wick Humble and it gave me a good guideline to follow. I started to strip away. I plan to build a rotisserie to do the underside and floor pans which will need attention. There is rust in almost all of the common places. My goal is to eliminate all the rust/fix body, paint the car, and get the engine running properly. Eventually go Megasquirt, but, one step at a time. Pics of floor There are already patch jobs on both sides. They are riveted in though. Even put the g/f to work on scraping the sound deadener stuff....she likes to help. Spare tire area looks pretty good. Next I removed engine wiring harness and pulled the motor/trans. Went pretty smooth, had a friends help. Not much to it. Separated the motor/trans took clutch/PP/Flywheel off. Put on engine stand. Even with the hood, cowl, interior all inside my house I am running out of room. Z all lifted Took turbo intake off to look for problems and stripped the N42 bare. Will go with the N42, It will look good clean. Then....SOME BAD NEWS!! The boot between the turbo and J-pipe looked worn and I figured it'd be a good idea to peek into inlet of the turbo while I was so close and it was ugly. This is not what I wanted to see....Any suggestions on what to do about this? Replace, I assume. Boot was torn too That's what I got right now. It's been wicked cold here in Iowa lately and I haven't been getting in as much garage time as I'd like, but, it's coming along. Any comments/suggestions gladly taken. Thanks for reading my novel of a first post! Until next time, A.J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black240 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Wow!! im still new with this all, but i just wanted to wish you luck with your Z! that turbo looks pretty bad...i would replace for sure! oh bigphil has alot of stuf on his turbo z. just search youtube for bigphil or turbo280z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clutchdust Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Wow, partner. You sure have your work cut out for you. I wish you all the luck. I'm still new at this steel body japanese car thing, but your rust issues make mine look like a weekend wax job. Edited March 9, 2011 by clutchdust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Black240Z - Thanks for reading and commenting! I found a used turbo that I'll use for now. The damaged turbo is water cooled but the stock replacement is oil cooled only; so I'm going to look into getting it fixed and rebuilt. I'm deffinately hip to Big Phil's vids too, they are awesome. Clutchdust - Glad to hear you were able to get a less rusty car. Rust sucks.....especially in Iowa. I don't know a whole lot about body work but luckily I have 2 close friends that both own body shops! So, I'll be learning and watching. Thanks for reading! Minor Update: After years of harassment my neighbor sold me a complete turbo car he had collecting rust. It's an 82 and he said it ran when he parked it a few years ago. Now I have a spare L28et and R200! It has cool wheels too! I got it for cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun723 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Minor Update: After years of harassment my neighbor sold me a complete turbo car he had collecting rust. It's an 82 and he said it ran when he parked it a few years ago. Now I have a spare L28et and R200! It has cool wheels too! I got it for cheap. Nice score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clutchdust Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Excellent score. One thing I was wondering though, how did the impeller blades get that torn up that far inside? I mean I can see the outside edges getting galled if they come in contact with the housing or even the curved portion if the bearing allows the shaft to slide in and out. But looks like something must have been sticking down inside the intake tube for the blades to be that chewed up. I'm no turbo expert so I'm just thinking out loud here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Thanks guys, I'm pretty excited about it! I was gonna drag it home today but it started raining then turned to snow.....Ugh, Iowa I've spent some time pondering this myself. It is on the air filter side. When I bought the car the kid was bragging about how they were running it with an "open MAF". He thought it was cool. My guess is something got into there, bounced around for a while and chewed them up. I am no expert either though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacob80 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Where are you at in Iowa? You should check out The Nebraska Z Club in Omaha. If you looks through my posts, I also have a 73 with a turbo motor. Maybe I could give you a hand with some things sometime. I've Been through the floor pan process myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 Jacob - I'm in Des Moines. I signed up over on the Nebraska Z car forum a while back. Everyone was way cool! My dad lives in Omaha too, so I was all about it. I was gearing up to start coming out but the deeper I dug the more problems I found with the car. I decided to disassemble it and fix all these issues and the rust as it was progressing crazy fast (In a garage). I'm going to build this thing up right. I have the majority of what I need now. As I take it apart I wonder how it even made the 650 mile trip home. Scary stuff. NO MORE OF THAT!! I'd love to still come out and pick your brain / hang with you guys sometime though, even if I can't drive the car. There is NO ONE around here that has any interest (or knowledge) in Datsuns. It'd be great to have a 2 sided conversation about this, Lol I think my girlfriend's head is going to explode if I keep talking to her about it I would have a lot of questions for a guy like you. Everything from rust repair to Megasquirt. I would be THRILLED to have some help with this project! Even if it's just knowledge! I'm gonna start perusing your posts. Thanks for droppin a line man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplyedmind Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Nice z ... and great find on the turbo z ... Got any pics of the turbo score Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Thanks man. I'm ready to get to work on the Z again. I've been busy and the weather got cold again....but It will be nice someday! The turbo car will be a great parts mule. It has a lot of goodies on it. I really like the wheels on it. I'm not 100% sure what they are. They look similar to epsilon mesh wheels. I snapped a few pics after I brought it home. Here ya go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplyedmind Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Those wheels are carol shelby wheels or they are enkei Apache I use to have a couple sets. Nice find and its a 2+2 rare to find a turbo 2+2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Looks like they are the Carol Shelby wheels. They have the same ccs marking that google images shows on carol shelby wheels. Thanks for leading me in the right direction. The wheels I got with my 240z seem to be impossible to find any information on also. I have gathered that they are ATS wheels from the 70's and that's about it. They are really light. Any info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplyedmind Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Any day kind sir. Yea those remind me of ATS also the 5 spoke wheels.But I am not sure exactly what they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS357 Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 I've been neglecting the Z....Letting it rot away in the garage. Im going to get busy with it this winter. I have a ridiculous amount of parts piled up to get this build on the road. Expect good things to come. Here is my newest addition to the lineup. It is also the reason I've barely even seen the Datsun in 4 months. Stupid Fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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