Looking at a 1972 240Z, what do you guys think?

[boardkid280z]

A friend from the OKC Nissan/Datsun/Z club is selling this 240Z. It seems like a good project. If I bought it, I would fix every rust problem, paint it, and build it as if I would drive it for the rest of my life, probably transferring a lot of parts from my current car. My 280Z has quite a few rust problems and issues that I don't think it's worth doing all that work to. So, this is kind of what I've been thinking about. Anybody have any advice/comments?

 

[stravi757]

I would make a small trip out to california and buy A 240z or 280z out here. you could pick up a pretty decent car complete for around 1k-1,800 

[Tony D]

Cheap Flights on Southwest from OKC-LAX, SNA, ONT, Burbank...etc

[morbias]

How bad is your 280z if you are considering getting this instead

[Gollum]

That car is save-able. But.... that's a butt ton of work. That's right up there with the "rust-free" car that mull got himself into. LOTS of work needed. And like morbias I gotta ask... this is an upgrade???

 

I'd look for a clean shell somewhere else, and fly to it if need be. Hell, if you think about it, the money you'll spend getting a clean running Z home is FAR less than just a FRACTION of what time you're going to have to put into a shell like that.

 

Example: Say I pay myself $5 an hour, which is probably less than the minimum wage just about anywhere in the USA and is probably even less than what the illegals make around my neck of the woods. It'll only take about 200 hours to have paid myself $1,000. So lets do a basic estimate of hours.

 

Get shell home, in the garage, and parked where it's going to live for the next millennium: 5

Strip interior and put worthwhile pieces in bags, bins, etc: 10

Gut doors: 10

Remove bumpers, hood, airdam, hatch, etc: 10

Pull Engine: 10

Put car on jacks and remove easy suspension parts: 10

Tear down suspension into pieces: 10+ (spindle pin...)

Remove Dash: 5

Label Chassis wiring: 5

Gut chassis wiring: 5

Remove glass without breaking: 20

Remove fuel tank, fuel lines, brake lines, etc: 10

Remove other odds and ends, ebrake cable, master cylinder, etc: 15

 

Total: 125 hours

 

You might just about have a clean chassis ready to be stripped now. Each of those 10 hour chunks are good weekend projects, so realistically you're looking at half a year to tear down a chassis if you're doing it casually on the weekends. The guys that do it faster are spending every evening they can on it. 

 

You're going to then have to have the chassis blasted (unless you want to go the slow way, by HAND) to make sure you've found the extent of all the rust.

 

Then you still need to do all the rust repair! Hours of cutting, grinding, measuring  cutting new pieces, trimming new pieces, welding new pieces, grinding welds, filling in weld seam, sanding, filling, sanding, painting.

 

Once all that's done you get to reinstall! And remember, this part will go MUCH slower than the removal. You're going to be much more careful and pay attention to all the details. I'd say 200 hours is a "middle of the road" estimate for an average "no major mods" re-assembly of a car from the chassis-up.

 

But.... you could just find a car that is in good enough shape to not even worry about tearing down. Or find one that someone has already done all that. There's also always a clean shell somewhere that has either just been sandblasted, ready to be sandblasted, or has even had it's rust repaired after being sandblasted. And they sell for a SONG!!! Last one I saw was around $1.5k and it was a clean chassis that had just been blasted and suspension put on just to roll it around. If you look at the work involved, that's a DEAL and I bet the owner just wants the project gone, which means for that price he'd probably throw in parts, or lower the price if you pushed him.

 

End of the day, I just don't see the point in buying a car you plan to go through all that unless you are retired and can spend the 60 hours a week on it, and have it done in a few months.

 

Otherwise, be wise with your time (which IS money, worth every penny to your family. Learn to spend it with them, or spend it on things for them.) and just save time in the long run by spending more money now. Money isn't terribly hard to come by (says the man who's signature says saving up for MS for the last 2 years....), it's how we choose to spend it that makes it more or less available. If you buy this car, you'll be throwing pennies at it constantly from start to finish. Or you can spend the money now and not run into so many "gotcha's" as you go along.