Padam07's Project 1972 240Z

[padam07]

I bought this car 2 weeks ago in Sutton, MA from a craigslist ad stating it was a California car that has been sitting in his garage for the last ten years. Well upon arrival and a few minutes of investigating that claim was bull$hit. It was originally a Cali car 20 years ago but 20 years of New England changes that easily.

 

 

The good news about this car is that is complete and a matching numbers car.

 

My buddy and I went to the garage last night to do a little work on the Z. I changed the oil and filter. We were able to remove the AC compressor pulley from the front of the crank with the socket that John (my buddy) machined down at work. Once the pulley was off we could see if the engine was seized. The engine turned over with ease!!!! I decided to get the front of the car in the air so we could inspect the years of hacking and boy did we find a lot of ♥♥♥♥ I never expected.

 

What I saw was a piece of nifty angle iron bolted with 10 3/8” nuts and bolts along the rail. This occurs on both sides. I have no clue why they are there but for some reason I failed to see them when I bought the car. You can also see in this picture the severely rotted and poorly fixed floor pan. This is the one of the areas that is bad that I did know ahead of time. This will be replaced with a new floor pan. Now to the most disappointing thing that I didn’t know was wrong because I was blinded with excitement from owning a 240z (that I have wanted for sometime) .

 

 

 

 

You can see here someone tried to do some sort of disgusting repair to this support. All my hopes of driving this car around this summer went immediately out the window when I realized how much work is going to be involved. I still believe that I paid too much for this car. If I left my excitement at the door I am sure that I could have walked away with this car for $500 if I called the PO's bluff. I didn’t because I wanted the car so bad.

 

 

Our Plan

1. Get engine running. Figure if it is still good.

2. If the motor is still good, pull engine and put it on a stand and clean and paint. If the motor is bad then use is it as an anchor and track down a SBF 302.

3. Pull the nose off, doors, hatch, and cowl.

4. Remove the interior.

5. Start body work including floor pan, front structural supports, both dog legs and rear quarter lips. Sand the entire car.

6. Clean engine bay and paint.

7. Paint car with 2003 350Z Lemons Sunset. (paint it ourselves)

8. TBD……

 

 

 

I will keep this updated with pics to show you my progress.

[theghosttanker]

It's not so bad! Build yourself a rotisserie and have at it. I saw that ad in Craig's list too. If your engine or tranny are bad I have a complete running one here that you can have, all you need is to pull it outta the car. You can even use my heated garage, engine hoist, and tools. It does need to be dug out of the snowbank behind my shed though. I also have a new set of floorpans and frame rails for sale, and extra fenders and doors, plus lotsa other stuff. I currently have a shell on a rotisserie in my garage and am fixing it up; the car behind my shed will be donating its interior and battery tray area to it, and I'll be getting rid of the rest of it.

[rturbo 930]

I bought this car 2 weeks ago in Sutton, MA from a craigslist ad stating it was a California car that has been sitting in his garage for the last ten years. Well upon arrival and a few minutes of investigating that claim was bull$hit. It was originally a Cali car 20 years ago but 20 years of New England changes that easily.

 

Now to the most disappointing thing that I didn’t know was wrong because I was blinded with excitement from owning a 240z (that I have wanted for sometime) .

 

You can see here someone tried to do some sort of disgusting repair to this support. All my hopes of driving this car around this summer went immediately out the window when I realized how much work is going to be involved. I still believe that I paid too much for this car. If I left my excitement at the door I am sure that I could have walked away with this car for $500 if I called the PO's bluff. I didn’t because I wanted the car so bad.

I think you just described my 240z purchase to a T. From the paying too much, to once being a CA car, down to all the rust problems that come with being in the NE for 25 years (in my case), as well as buying it anyway because of the excitement of being a 240z owner, and even the bad repairs, although mine had different repairs.

 

Be thankful that your car is actually salvageable. Mine is in MUCH worse condition, and I (stupidly) paid $300 more. Granted, I didn't know what I was going to find, even with what I could see in the guy's garage, which wasn't doing the car any favors.

 

Anyway, good luck with your project! The car actually doesn't look too bad.

 

Edit: Actually, now that I look at it, it's really not in bad

[Pharaohabq]

Hey that doesn't look so bad. yeah it's going to be some work. but really it looks like a lot of that rust is just surface rust. though the floorpans look really iffy. The Engine turning over is good, you might just get lucky. I've heard you could just spray a bunch of WD40 in the cylinders let it sit over night, change the oil and try to give it a start. who knows though, there could be gunk in the oil passages.

 

What year does the tag say on that Cali plate, it'll tell you a bit about the car.

 

you car has the 240Z air cleaner, which are getting really hard to find, alone with the good SU-type carbs so that's really good. your dash doesn't look too bad either.

 

I think he's got the right idea up there, have you pull the engine, drop the suspension and build a rotisserie for it. You can rent a sand Blaster that will take care of a lot of the rust pretty quick, not to mention clean up the undercarriage for possibly new rails or at least a good coating of por-15 and maybe even rhino-lining. I don't know how good the rubber is, but you might want to pull the windshield before you do any blasting.. You'll find working on a Rotisserie is much easier than working under the car. w/o engine, tranny, doors and suspension, the car weighs about 800-900 lbs. so it's pretty easy to move about... relatively speaking. I did this w/ my old Fiat spyder, n it was super easy. I am really thinking of doing it w/ my 78' this summer.

 

it's really good you're making a list. a couple things I would add to it, since you'll be in there. somewhere between 3. and step 5. you might put Clean, and inspect suspension, add Energy Polyurethane bushings. and also Check brakes, springs and shocks(struts) these will affect drivability and thus safety by a big factor. I know... it's more work... you won't regret it though. (cept maybe when fighting the rusty bolts, Liquid wrench is your friend.)

 

There's also a method for cleaning parts w/ water, soda, and electrolysis that and take most of the rust off your parts. Have to search for that tho.

 

Anyway, Good luck, this is going to be an awesome project, n don't worry, we've seen MUCH worse.

 

Phar

[Oddmanout84]

+1 to EVERYTHING people have replied with on this thread.

 

It could be much, much worse. Check my thread out in this section (*New* Z Project). My car was (I believe) in California and the southwestern states for its whole life before I bought it. Nothing but a tiny bit of surface rust in the usual areas. Once I took it here to CT, it sat cocooned in several layers of waterproof tarp top to bottom over bottom to top with several moisture evaporators that were changed out every year. Water still managed to pool underneath. Over the course of almost 4 years like that in New England's environment, my car degraded to about what yours looks like right now. NOT EVEN FOUR YEARS!!! These cars rust fast, and I'm willing to bet that car is relatively fresh from Cali, or has been sitting in a very dry storage area for 10 years. Just take a look at the majority of the Z cars you see from around here (whatever few you may find still in existence). You're still sitting on a gem, regardless that there's a lot of work ahead of you. A Z car in New England, even one in that condition, is worth more than $500.

 

My work has been slowly progressing on my Z since August/September when I unwrapped her, and I'm sure I could have gotten much farther if I didn't take a couple month-long breaks and really put my nose to the grindstone. I'm willing to bet you can have it running by summer if you really try. Just set your priorities.

 

Kill the rust. This can obviously be done while you take things apart. A rotisserie would be awesome, but its not absolutely needed if you don't mind getting dirty crawling under the car. I don't have one, I'm doing just fine (although I really wish I could). If you search some of my posts, like in the budget ideas thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=128858

I've posted some interesting and cheap ways to remove rust.

 

Suspension and bushings, while you kill the rust. You might as well, it'll make the car handle a lot better, and your shocks/springs/bushings are likely mush by now. I'd also add that you might as well buy some new spindlepins and lockbolts for your rear transverse links. Those things are a hooker to remove, and likely will get destroyed in the process unless you buy a spindle pin removal tool (and even that might not work).

 

Worry about engine swaps last. Obviously this depends on your level of experience, but its a lot easier to learn about the car by fixing the stock parts (that you're going to keep) first and then adding new shinies. I'm by no means telling you what to do (and I'm relatively new to this myself), just suggesting. That L6 motor you have in there has some potential to it, and unless its already screwed up, they're near bulletproof. I kinda regret jumping the gun a while ago and getting an extra L28ET. It now sits in my garage doing a great job of keeping the house from blowing away. Hopefully I'll be rebuilding it soon, but I'm getting the rest of the previously mentioned items out of the way first. I probably could have held off on the purchase and better spent money elsewhere.

 

I wish you the best of luck in your project. Hopefully we may see each other down the road at a local Z meet (whichever ones exist... so far I only know of CTZCC) if we can get our cars back on the road.

[padam07]

It's not so bad! Build yourself a rotisserie and have at it. I saw that ad in Craig's list too. If your engine or tranny are bad I have a complete running one here that you can have, all you need is to pull it outta the car. You can even use my heated garage, engine hoist, and tools. It does need to be dug out of the snowbank behind my shed though. I also have a new set of floorpans and frame rails for sale, and extra fenders and doors, plus lotsa other stuff. I currently have a shell on a rotisserie in my garage and am fixing it up; the car behind my shed will be donating its interior and battery tray area to it, and I'll be getting rid of the rest of it.

 

I am relly interested in your floor pans and rails. PM me with a price please.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I just get a little overwhelmed with things like this. You should have seen me when I remodeled my kitch and bath last year while my wife was 6 months pregnant. (not fun) I know I have the capabilites to do this. The car is currently in a garage in Sutton where there are all the tools I need to get it done. I will be getting the motor running this weekend. Once it runs and has good compression I will be pulling the motor to get started on the rust repair.

 

My friend who has owned 2 240z/260z ahas two sets of NOS fenders soI will be getting a set from him. I know he has a 5 speed for me also. Sad thing is he started selling off his parts last year and he sold a series 1 dash with no cracks for $350. That would have been nice to replace my cracked dash. Oh well.

 

 

The car hss Cali tags that expired in 1988. I am assuming he car has been here since then but only in a garage for the last 10 years.

 

I already know that I have to replace ever last piece of rubber in the chassis and I will be repalcing the suspension with Tokico (maybe).

 

I will keep you updated with pictures when I get them.

[padam07]

by the way if anyone wants to do the build date on the tag is 12/71

[Pharaohabq]

before you do too much to it you might also find out what it's going to take to get it registered in your state. in mine it's easy, earlier than 76, = no emissions. (that is until I put in the new engine )

 

Well good, I don't know anything about a tokico bushing kit, but they make good springs. Should be just fine. shop around a bit tho.

 

As usual, just ask if you run into any issues, or aren't sure the best way to handle an issue. oh and keep posting the picts! we love picts

[padam07]

Well Friday night I was hoping to get the motor running so I can start the tear down but I found out I have a bad coil. I did copression test it and all the cylinder are running between 155-185 psi except cylinder #1 which is at 90 psi. I am hoping that it is justy a stuck valve after stting for 10 years that will free up after a little marvel mystery oil. I will be going down tonight to put in the new coil. I might even starttaking off the nosse or the interior. I will def. have pictures for you later.

[padam07]

I got a few good hours of dismantling in today...I was able to get the nose and fenders off. I cleaned out the interior of all the PO's junk out.

Here are the pics...

 

[padam07]

It has been a while since I made an update. I have been able to get some more time in the car and now I am reay to start tackling the body work.

 

A little more rust...

 

And a little anger management on a 3 series Bimmer we are stripping!!

[padam07]

Well guys I bought a better car that needs less work so i need to sells this car a soon as possible. I have another baby on the way and I just don't forseemy self getting this car done any time soon. Check out the for sale thread below

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=157797

 

I eneded up buying a 260z with a brande new 280z motor with jaguar su carbs. I will be posting up pics in the future. Good thing about this car is i can drive it while i tinker with it.