Pharaohabq

Yeah, I think it would look pretty good without the flares. Your 73 has no flares either, but those rims are 16x8's all around right? I'm not sure they'll make a difference at 16x9 depending on your offset. It might be easiest for tire rotations to just keep all the rims the same size unless you're thinking you want to go wider than 225's. 307 Blue is a nice choice. Are you keeping the Series I distinctions intact?

I hear ya there Chris, I anguished over my color choice for a long time on my 280, but on my early 240, I'm sticking with the bright white color. Though it's going to be fun. Like you I'll be sending it for blasting, and if I could do Dry Ice it would be amazing, but the car is staying in NM, so it's looking like soda or plastic media blasting for me. Mines been painted at least 3 times. Silver, Red, then white. As far as the rubber kit, did you try also Datsun restore, or black dragon? MSA seems to be having trouble lately not answering phones, taking a long time to answer emails, hopefully they aren't going under, that would be sad. Here's mine as it sat when I bought it. #5837

Never any problem going into anything but Reverse?? Maybe it's the clutch fork adjustment, if the fork is too low it may not be disengaging enough, though I'd expect grinding in other gears. Might be internal to the tranny. May be cheaper to replace than to troubleshoot. Find an 82-83 ZX tranny, they're supposed to be geared better. Phar

Interesting on the Pads there... Where'd you buy them? With the 225-50-15's have you had any issue with rubbing on a 0 offset wheel? Did You have any with the 16" wheels? I thought you would have had to roll the fenders or go with flares to run 225's especially on a lowered Z.

Putting in a nicer engine, yes will improve the value of the car, but in many cases the cost of upgrades is almost never recovered in the resale of the car. Datsuns aren't particularly well known for their resale value, so you might find it hard to recoup the whole cost of the upgrades you've done to the car, (unless you've cut a lot of corners, which wouldn't be exactly ethical) It looks like you're doing a good job fixing up the car already, outwardly the paint and all looks amazing, and an RB25 or rb26 would either be a nice addition, how much value would they add over the cost of installing them, would be hard to say, especially in leu of replacing a running clean L24, or built L28. It's not always the cost of parts too, it's the sweat you put into the car too that you'll never get paid for. Now if you were restoring cars like mustangs or classic corvettes, where there is a much larger collector base, then you might warrant the cost and time involved in such a job. Who knows though, you might get lucky and find a buyer who will love the finished product. Z's just don't really command the high price that they should for the advanced engineering they were when they were new. Best thing I can say is Good luck, and it looks nice!

You might think about those seats. They'll look nice in a S30. Personally I want the new Eclipse seats.

I dunno if it would work, but how about turning down or rolling the stock caps to fit closer? Probably turning a set of custom caps might be easier. Though even then I don't know if they'd clear.

Very Nice Texis30O, That's an early #... I'm not going to do any concours deals with my Early 240, so at the minimum I'll be putting in the camber plates. Chris, Tell me a little about the 300ZX brake swap... I didn't think they fit the S30 w/o a lot of mods. I was going to go the toyota pre 84 brake route, and eventually the ZX rear disks. I need to tear out all the interior and engine on my 240 before it goes to be blasted. I was really looking around here for that dry ice blasting, and so far as I've found nobody does that here. If I didn't have a job, I might be thinking that would be a good business to be in. it looks very cool.

Well a lot depends on the price. Even with 39K miles I would be hesitant to pay more that a few $K. It's the actual condition you need to look at. How is the Dash? How much rust is there? For 39K miles you could still have a ton of rust, since you don't know most of the cars 35 year history. Usually low low miles like that, there's a reason for it for this kind of age. look for accident evidence, or especially if the car has been repainted. The rust bubbling is concerning since you know the rust is way under the paint and likely rusted through the panel. Pinholes like that aren't too hard to fix, but the metal would be very thin. that is assuming they're just pinholes. Anyway, Think about what you want to use the car for and go from there. Don't expect perfection, it is 35+ years old. Talking the guy down is always warrented. good luck and Keep em' running!@ Oh PICTS PICTS PICTS!!@!

TIme for another update... I haven't got a lot done since I pulled the engine again.. I've welded on steel to wrap the frame rails in the engine compartment. (picts later) I did get a new toy for it though... A 350Z R200 short nose. 3.53 gears. I opened it up to check for damage. It acts like a limited slip but I'm not real familiar with the guts. when I turn one side, both sides turn. I looked for identifying marks per the manual but couldn't tell. Closer look at the carrier Assy in the center. Huge Spdergears. Mainly I got this because it was cheap, and that it has the sensors and rings for the Speedo.

Pretty nifty on the Dry ice blasting, and look it even works on Z's !!!! 240Z Dry Ice Blasted! I don't think it's availible here in ABQ, but it's awesome!

Ooh interresting idea, I'll have to look up dry ice blasting.. I can't imagine it would be cheaper, but no heat issues, and nothing to cleanup aside from paint dust. hmm...

Yes LED's take less power, which as I said before could lead to issues, particularly with the Flasher units for the blinkers. I guess this could be fixed by upgrading the flasher module to a newer type, but still, if they're not at least as good as stock, then why use them? Got any picts of how sucky they were Nash?

Whew! scary brake experience, - good to know there Tony, Glad it wasn't bad... No problems when you were making the swap on your 73'? I'm pretty sure my 240 is complete sans tranny, so likely I won't do the swap. Z31 stub axles are too big to fit in the S30 hubs right? Phar

Wow #2262, that's awesome, pretty early, please don't chop it up too bad.. Mine's the same age as I am, Nov 70'. Yeah Media blasting it the way to go, but definitely make sure they know your car is thin sheet metal. It shouldn't be a big deal, though since most of the media blasting material won't heat things up like sand does. Find out if they're going to primer it for you when they're done too. If so you might want to make sure whos ever going to paint it for you knows what kind of primer they're going to use since paint is best done as a system. Color is a toughie, My 280Z took a long time to decide on the right color. The 240 is going to go back to the original factory white/white. the interior might be hard to find in white, but It'll look awesome when it's done. Still waiting on your pictures!.. Need some before and after, and some more along the way. Can't wait to see them... Phar

Haven't seen any of those. Gotta becareful since a lot of parts like these may not be very well made. Not to mention The Z's Blinker system runs on an impedance basis, so having bulbs like these may affect the function or your lights, not to mention of the current draws are higher, you could start blowing fuses, or worse, burning wires. That being said, I would really like to see some pictures of how these look on your car.

CUT THAT LAWN!!!!! Heck yeah, free Z!!! No really, a little rust isn't a big deal, it's where you're seeing any holes rusted through that may take some work. It's worth it though, and if you don't think so, you coule sell it or part it likely for at least $500 bucks at the min. Got any picts?? Go a VIN? If it's been sitting for that long it's probably going to need some work to get it running again. but the good side is that most of the parts are relatively cheap... Grats on one of the highest paid lawnmowing jobs of the summer!

Quick google search says: Toyota Lexus Spectra Blue mika brand is PPG type is DBU paint code is 5473. You should certainly verify this information with your paint provider/painter before ordering.

Nice, Can't wait to see it. I'll be starting my 70' (#5837) 240Z project soon as I get the 280Z project to a moveable state.

Wow Robmurt90, Do ya got any pictures? I would really like to see how your car took the hit. in fact if ANYONE has any picts of their wreaked S30's I'd like to see them. They might help in seeing if there's any serious flaws in the safety design of the S30. Phar

Hmm I'm no expert on rollbars, but I'd say no diagonal crossbrace/padding. It is integrated into the frame up at the top.. I'm curious about the rules at that part, Integration into yout frame...

Yeah, I was just wondering if there was any advantage to swapping the suspension over. There's a lot of rusted out 280z's that I could basically have the suspension out of for free, so I was just wondering if there'd be any advantage. (Yes this qualifies as a hybrid project, it's 2 different models of car.) I wasn't saying I was going to do it, though I will be putting the R200 into my 240Z. If there was any advantage to moving over the rest of the suspension then I would consider it since it's not a lot of work, and newer parts. Of course everything would be torn apart cleaned etc before install. So far we've just established the the struts would be too long, so that's a - on that. as is weight a -. I know the stub axles would fit, but doesn't the 280Z axle housing have bigger bearings than the 240Z (not that I think I'll be heating them up much. ) I will likely go coilovers at some point. Is it better to do that on 240Z strut tubes or 280Z tubes? Either way the 280Z tubes would get cut down. Are there any design advantages that Datsun improved on the housings from early to later S30? Main reason I'm asking is I hate junking old parts.

Would there be any real advantage to installing the suspension out of a 78' 280Z into an early 240Z? (aside from the R200 diff of course) I know the 280 has thicker strut tubes, but what would the result be? I seem to remember reading that the 280Z also had a higher ride height. Reasoning I'm asking is with the R200 diff in the 280, has thicker spindles(axles) which may handle more torque, though the L28 engine likely would not break one. I'm sure someone must have done this as some point, but I didn't find it in the search. Phar

Hmm Well It doesn't look too bad. the price is okay, The rust does bother me though since you don't know the extent. I would definitely check the floorpans ans check the rear quarters for rust holes or bubbling paint. The rails can be fixed with Bad Dog rails. You should probably have it put on a lift so you can get a good look at the underside before buying it. 80K miles is low, but really milage doesn't mean much in a 40 year old (35ish in the case) car since the rubber starts to go bad in 10, (though in the picts the underbody rubber didn't look too bad steering boot looks torn tho, so I'd guess it's been a while since the suspension had new rubber put on.) I don't like how far forward that rollbar is. I think it would be dangerous even in a helmet. The interior seems worn, but most Z's are these days. What is your plan? Do you intend to restore the car, or just daily drive it. Setting it up for track you wouldn't really have to worry much about the rust. It looks like an okay deal depending on the rust. Rust is almost always worse than you initially can see, especially since it travels under paint.

This just makes me sad, especially now seeing the crap assed paint job thrown on it. It's pretty rusty in a lot of the commone places. at least the rims look nice. It's nowhere worth that price though. That's the trouble with extreme mods, you're never going to recoup your costs, especially if you don't do a quality job in the first place. Gotta stick to the common upgrade mods and do a quality job to preserve any value. The main value in our cars is how we enjoy them.