Nunavut

260Z 2+2, $400 on ebay! spent 5K without ever seeing it at AltZ in LA then flew with my wife and kid to LA and drove it back to Ottawa, I consider myself very lucky to have found this 2+2. I just love this car.

$400 on Ebay, cost me 4K to get it roadworthy from at a well known shop, 3K to fly my familly to LA and another 2K to drive it across US with gas and hotels. However I worked it into a vacation so its mostly all a tax writeoff!, lol. just kidding NOT.

Wont that make it hard to turn?

Hi Clifton, bare with me here as I am new with Zs. yes I already had a shop swap the 4 speed for a 5 speed because I wanted better mpg. Are you saying I should now change my diff? and that my diff is worth allot more then the one I need to put in? jay

OK Thanks guys, everything is timed and running fine like a 2+2 does when motor is stock. I think I will start with a cam, header and better exhaust. Is changing the carbs really necessary? I have seen 4 barrel intakes, could a turbo not be adapted to one of those? Jay

Hi, I have a clean 74, 260z 2+2 with stock motor, dual Webbers, 5 speed. She is ok at cruising speeds and passing but really all in all it’s gutless! What are my options to get some cheap bolt on power happening on a low budget? Can I bolt on a turbo to my Webbers? Or loose the carburetors all together and go FI somehow using used scrap yard parts from a 280FI block? my block is solid so I don’t mind taking a chance of loosing it as I do want to one day spend some serious coin on a SM chevy with 5 speed but thats not for a few years. I just want to bolt on something that will make a significant power increase without blowing my budget or my block! What are my options here? I am in the Montreal area so I have tons of scrap yards with all kinds of wrecked vehicles that I can get parts from for next to nothing. looking to get close to 200hp for now, Any advice appreciated. Thanks Jay

Ya I just took the picture because it made my car look so tiny beside it. I asked the guy how much he spent and he replied well over 100K !!!! Then he went on to brag that he gets 5 Mpg if he takes it easy. He later passed me on the hiway doing at least 80Mph as I was doing 55 and he flew by me, trying to make it to the next gas station I guess. I really feel good about my $400 find on eBay. Here’s a great deal I would buy if I had the cash, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-1975-Datsun-280Z-2-2-Good-condition-runs-great_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6187QQihZ019QQitemZ290155789207QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Z cars rule.

Has anyone built a dash from carbon fiber? would look great and be light weight too. There must be a company doing this?

lol, ok thanks, yes it certainly was a real adventure. My Inuit ( grew up in an outpost camp, eat raw meat first 20 years of her life, never left the north before 1999) wife had no clue what a Datsun Z was and except for the youtube clips I had shown her! she lator told me that she was scared as hell as the clips I showed her were loud cars doing burnouts and engine swaps! My buitiful 260Z I scored was original from owner with no mods like hot cam or hollywood muffler, it is totally calm a daily driver that my Inuit girl absulutly fell in love with. 1000 miles into the trip we had named the car Missy, Missy for Ms Zee and we had agreed on the trip that the 260 was a she, so we came up with the name Missy as the car had run so well after my wife had really thaght we were going to break down and have a nightmare experience. I absolutly know we would make it as I owned 5 of these cars when I was 16 to 20 years old before I moved to Nunavut whare you have to own a 4x4. heres a pic of my truck 2001 Tundra, Chevy 411 axles and a full glass tilt front nose clip I built myself. Jay

Sweet, whats your point?

Cant you put a small block chevy in it? seems to me a rebuild is going to cost more then fixing that v6 that will simply break again someday, to me personally, Z cars were built between 1970 and 1978 after that well, no comment, you might as well spend the money on a real 70s Z or on a real power plant chevy. But what do I know? I am just a newbie here.

Yes and a true one at that, all I left out was the 2 hour interrogation by the US border patrol on my way into Canada as they couldn’t believe I paid 400 bucks for a car that looked like I paid 10k for! Next time I buy a car in the US I will be trucking it back with a broker, and my next vacations will be in Europe.

Hey Guys, I told my whole story the other day on a new thread I started but here I go again for the 2+2 guys. I bought this 74 2+2 on eBay for $400 bucks about 6 months ago. Had a tow truck tow it to a shop I found by goggle called Alt Z. Basically every I did was by email and goggle! I had the shop work on it for the 6 months before planning a trip with my son and wife just 3 weeks ago. We flew from Iqaluit to Ottawa, Calgary, LA then a $120 taxi to Huntington Beach where AltZ is. Stayed a night a the local Best Western enjoying the beach that night and wine & dined. We then taxied to the shop to see the car for the first time after spending 5K over the 6 months. I had the whole interior done except the door panels as I haven’t been able to find a nice set in good shape. New carpet, eBay seats in great shape, a wooden 240 wheel that I now regret and will sell for what I paid, had a 5 speed swapped for the 4 speed so I would get better mileage for the long trip, a set of rims off eBay to replace the gross rims that were on it. Breaks were al fine, engine needed a rebuild on head but this it, Tony did an amazing job on the whole project considering I had a car that I had never seen in person dropped off at his shop and told him to fix it! He gave me daily reports by email and I bought just about all the part on eBay. The $400 eBay win ended up costing me close to 6K but I have a really reliable car now that fit my sons black leather Ricarro baby seat perfectly in the center on the hump. We had room for 3 suit cases, emergency water to cross the desert and a spare gas can that came in handy in the middle of Nevada after I had opened her up to $125 Mph for 20 minutes and eat up a ¼ tank. I also discovered that the tank is out of gas on these cars at 1/4 full! I actually know that from my early years of owning these cars but forgot up till we ran out. Thank god I had the smarts to buy that 2 gallon cheery can. We made it to the gas stating on fumes! The whole trip took 6 days including heavy rains on Ohio and gambling away 300 bucks in Vegas. The rest of the trip across US was just awesome, thank god the AC worked. I am so happy with my Z car now and I know it is solide bumper to bumper. A year from now it will be one of the nicest 2+2s in around and I will never sell it as I plan to give it to my son when he is 16.

Thanks Yellazed, I really like the old school skinny bumpers from the 240 and early 260s, does anyone sell new or rebuilt bumbers with all the rubber and proper struts? if not I think I will just go with this http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7AD1/50-1409 airdame, no side skirts as I find them ugly and usless and no rear skirt as that too is ugly, might as well just close up the bumper holes and trim the fat in the rear. I have a set of the real fender mounter mirrors from Japan and was thinking of adding fender flairs to get the classic look I am looking for. Also, whare can I get stainless fender flairs? thanks Jay

Here are some more pics I managed to reduce the size. Our US trip was great but wayyyyy to hot for this canuk, and my wife well she's an eskimo so you can only imagine how she felt, thank god the AC actualy worked in the 260.

Hey guys, this is a great forum and you all have some really nice Z cars. This is not my first Z, when I was a teenager I went through about 5 Zs, I am now 39 years old and wanted to feel young again so I bid on this 260 on eBay and ended up winning the auction for $400! I live in northern Canada Nunavut but am moving down to Ottawa in a couple months. I mention this because Nunavut is way up north whare the Inuit live and no sports cars exist. lol I wanted a 2+2 because I now have a son who is 3 years old, I planed a trip from LA to Ottawa with my wife and son, I know some think the 2+2s are ugly and so did I until I aged a bit and now I just love the lines on the 2+2. I had it towed to a shop in Huntington Beach, CA. Turned out that I found one of the best shops in the country to fix up my new toy, ALT Z. The guy who sold it to me was the original owner, he told me he was getting too old for a sports car. He had been told the block was cracked so he never bothered spending the money at the Nissan shop that he had always used to maintain it! This made me think maybe its not the block, sure enough it turned out to be just a blown head gasket, the shop had recomended I rebuild the motor but the original owner had ashured me that he didnt overheat the motor when the coolent leak had started so I had the shop put a rebuilt head on. The car runs perfect now and didnt cost me much to fix. I won some nice original seats, carpet and a few other parts on ebay and had them all sent to the shop to be installed. Six months later Tony had it all ready for the long trip across the US so we flew out to LA and drove across the country taking our time and enjoyed Vegas and many other cool places. The car made it the entire trip with absolutly no problems. Here are some pics of the trip, I am planning on doing the body this winter, I cant decide on keeping it stock or just going with plastic a airdame and loosing the bumpers all together? I will keep you all posted as I progress. I tried posting some cool pics but I have somehow make them smaller. Jay