Nate SERE

I will be driving this on the street 95% of the time and once in a while will autocross it. My budget is $5k or so for the motor and suspension. I am into the car $5k, will be upgrading the stereo ($1k) and it needs paint and a little body work ($2k) I would like to keep the entire build under $15k. I found a rb26dett motor and trans for $800 on cl but can't get in touch with the guy now. I want to go turbo with this. I would like to end up around 350 hp. The next thing that I will upgrade will be the suspension. It is almost not streetable right now. It bottoms out on every bump and rubs in every turn. I have looked at the T3 setup but is it really worth $2k? I want a simple plug and play suspension without having to weld anything. Could I just get new springs and shocks? I know nothing about my ignition. I am assuming its all stock. There seems to be a little bit of hesitation at low RPM's and it stumbles a little bit. Was thinking that a hotter spark might help.

I ended up buying a 280z today! I drove it 300 miles back from Seattle to Spokane and it never missed a beat. It was a blast! It has a rebuilt L28 with dual round top su carbs. f54 block so flat top pistons w/ p79 head and cam was reground to a stage 3 equivalent less than 4,000 miles. new oil pump and water pump new alternator lightened flywheel .New clutch also. It also has Msa header going to true msa twice pipes. The bumpers and supports have been removed. It still has the stock wiring harness in it in case I want to go back to FI. I figure that it weighs around 2600 pounds now.&n The owner had cut the springs 2 inches in the front and 1 1/4 in the back and it rides terrible now. I am going to look into getting a Ground Control Coilover kit. I need to read a lot more! Is it possible to do without sectioning the struts and welding? I am looking for a fairly simple kit that will make it streetable, a little lowered, and have a better ride quality. Would tokico be a better option? I also want to start doing some simple bolt on performance parts. The car is a solid running car, but isn't scary fast. I was thinking that I could start working on the ignition and going with a z31 coil or msd blaster. Msd 6AL ignition? Mallory Unilite? Would these ignition upgrades help me to get more power out of the motor?

Here is what it looks like now......

My father passed away and left me a white 72 240z. This thread is a great resource for my future build!

I am 2k miles away from the car and am not really sure what the issues are with it. I think its more than just some gauges not working. I thought he had said something about it melting some wires and had something to do the headlights? I know he talked about doing some kind of a modern 12v conversion? Once again, I am working with limited information here....

My father had a 72 240z. I do not know very much about the car. He had always talked about the 2 of us rebuilding it and teaching my 3 sons to race in it when they were old enough. My father lived in Bland Missouri and I lived in Spokane Washington. We were not as close as we should have been, and we were making strides to fix that. He sold his home in Missouri and moved up to Spokane in January of this year. My sons were very excited to get to start to spend time with their Papa V. My oldest son Cody, recently turned 16 and was very excited for the day when we got the Z up here, fixed it and were able to take it to the track. My dad and I were starting to look for a suitable garage to store the car where we could also work on it, as we both live in apts right now. Last week I found my father dead in his apartment. Needless to say, my life has not been the same since. Here is what I know about the Z. Its a 72, the transmission has been swapped to a 5 or 6 speed out of a later model Z car. 280 maybe? It has a light weight flywheel and driveline components? Weber sidedraft carbs? No major rust or dents. Butterscotch interior in like new condition. No cracks in the dash. Very fast and strong motor. Not sure about any mods that may have been made to the engine. He was constantly having electrical issues with the car. Apparently it is a common issue? I believe that he has the dash torn out of the car right now and the wiring harness is out as well. I have no idea. I really don't want to sell the car, but I have very limited funds right now as there wasn't much left besides the car. (long story..) I have toyed with the idea of selling it, and then buying one up here, but that just wouldnt be the same. Here are my questions. How much is the car worth in its condition? How much work am I looking at to get it running and any ideas on how much $$$ I am looking at to get it up and running again. I know these are very vague questions, but I literally know nothing about this car, and what I'm getting into. Here are some pics of it from a few years ago when he drove it across country, so it looks to me like its probably not too major of a project to get it back?????