Hugh Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 I went to the insurance company to have them estimate the damage to my car. I prefer to do it this way, as I will do every bit of work I can and source replacement parts myself instead of paying a repair shop to do the easy stuff for me. The problem I ran into is the 4 parts the the company quoted for replacement are the taillamp lenses (lense only) - not available from Nissan The left tail finish panel - not available from Nissan and the Rear Body Panel (the roll pan area under the bumper) which is also not available from Nissan. So four parts, none of them available. They gave me the dealer price on each part, which for the lenses was only $127 each, and if you look at the going rate for lights right now, that's LOW. What can I do at this point? I have to prove to the company that it will cost more to replace these parts... but I can't really walk in with a printout of an Ebay auction for some lights and stuff, right? Is there a regular source to get the lights from? At least if they had a consistent price, I could get a real quote. And advice you could give would be helpful. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z2NV Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 See if MSA will provide you with some sort of written "statement of fact" regarding the value of obsolete parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 What about aftermarket, like MSA, or Vic British? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 18, 2004 Author Share Posted December 18, 2004 Aftermarket will be fine, but the parts needed I haven't seen available... aside from the taillight panel which I am getting from Vince (the carbon fiber piece) However, I don't think I can substitute his carbon fiber piece for a legitimate estimate... they will probably stick me with the $47 they offered for that part from Nissan. The lights will be the big money parts... I don't want to get shafted with $127 each, when they will cost me three times that or more for a new set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 19, 2004 Author Share Posted December 19, 2004 Anyone else have anything to add to this... I need to resolve this problem quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COZY Z COLE Posted December 19, 2004 Share Posted December 19, 2004 On this link click electrical. then click lamps. Scroll down to RH and LH lens- $195.00 ea. Maybe this will help. OEM parts. http://www.zedshop.com/index.htm LARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 My insurance company took the marked up pages from both the MSA and VB catalogs, along with print-outs from Z parts vendors, like Eric's Zparts.com and others. I had major (total) damage. For the trim panels, I used a recent ebay sale. Good luck and don't rush into a final price with them just yet. They do year-end close-outs of all the appraisals soon and will settle for more next week than this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 21, 2004 Author Share Posted December 21, 2004 Thats good news... I've been searching all over the internet and cannot find anyone selling new or even good used taillights.... damn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 I know this doesn't help you right now, but it will in the near future. 3/4 down this page http://www.datsunrestore.com/photo4.html are these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 22, 2004 Author Share Posted December 22, 2004 Oh man! If only they would put a price on the site, I could use that page for my estimate. Anyone know what the price will be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COZY Z COLE Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 LH/RH 71 240Z taillights. http://stores.ebay.com/Datsun-of-the-beach_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm LARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 22, 2004 Author Share Posted December 22, 2004 Well, they're paying for new ones... thats why I'm trying to get an estimate on new ones. I've been building my LED taillights and they will eventually go on the car... but the insurance company owes me replacements. I've been to some shops today to see about fixing the damage, and I've been getting some really negative reactions. Basically, they want me to get the panels cut from another car and have them weld them on. And they're not interested in filling the holes from the bumpers for me. I'm thinking of doing fender flares in the rear, and possibly eliminating the need for replacing the corner of the 1/4 panel. Is there any place that makes a fiberglass piece for the lower panel (below the bumper, around the muffler) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolane Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 The lower rear valance (is that the right name?), I would love to find even a metal replacement skin for it. Mine is mangled from a "friend" moving my parked car with a front end loader... It was perfect before, horrible now. Anyone know where I can find this? I cut the back end off a 260 from the u-pull it, but I would rather start with the correct piece (mine is a 72 240). Sorry for the hijack... Joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 The only source I know that has rear valances is Zedd Finding (http://www.datsunzparts.com). The problem I have is that they are flat stock and need to be rolled (curved) to fit. You also need exact measurements so that your muffler, gas tank and other items in the rear fit correctly. A used one might be a btter way to go. I have seen no FG valances available and I looked last year during my restoration. But that doesn't mean someone doesn't have one. Some of the early race cars (70-78) had full rear qtrs w/rear clips in FG that Nissan dealers sold. You could even buy the molds to make more. I just sold a nearly complete FG 240 to a guy in Europe (fenders, doors w/hinges and lexan windows, hatch w/lexan, rear qtrs and deck, front valance and corners and headlight buckets). The doors w/ window frame and hinges weighed less than 9 lbs each and the hatch less then 7lbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 22, 2004 Author Share Posted December 22, 2004 Just curious, what did that car sound like from the inside while cruising down the street? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 This particular Z had been built as a dragster and the pieces were in storage for over 15 years before I bought them. The sad part is that guy tossed the molds away for making the parts 2 days before I found him. He got them from Bob Sharp in the mid to late 70s. But, if I had to guess it would be loud. The car in Europe is being made into a racer, so I assume interior sound quality is secondary to weight. I still have the fenders that came with this car. They are wide (no flares) and low. I doubt they would be useful on a road-course car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolane Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Thanks gnosez, I did look at Zedd Findings before going through the trouble of cutting the car apart (at the U-Pull yard). That was a fun exercise (with a cordless Sawzall mind you). I appreciate your input, Joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 22, 2004 Author Share Posted December 22, 2004 Zedd findings is showing new non-aftermarket rear valences on their site. I emailed them about it. Were the new one required to be rolled as well? Or only the aftermarket ones? Either way, a competent body shop will be able to do this for me. It would be nice to get the new part and have someone make it out of fiberglass for me, though... I'm sure it wouldn't save much in weight... but at least it would be easy to fill the bumper holes and modify it for whatever size muffler hole I need, etc... All of this can be done with the metal piece before it goes on the car, anyway. Thats my plan... have to shaved and ready to go on. (unless of course it needs to be rolled... wouldn't want to shave it and then roll it, everything would buckle out) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z2NV Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 MSA sells replacement rear valance pieces, and someone recently told me that they could be had via a "good" partsperson at Nissan (OE!!!). The FG kits were also sold through MSA; but, they are part of an "Aero" kit and don't resemble OE at all. Try ReactionResearch, as well....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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