rturbo 930 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Well, this is it. Saw it for sale, relatively rust free, certainly more so than my previous 240Z. Jumped on it immediately and got it for $500 as a roller. Doesn't have a dash, motor, tranny, radiator, and some other misc parts, but otherwise is pretty much all there. Came with a center console, but not the original. I'm assuming it came from a '73 since I found another VIN tag for the dash that was from a '73 240Z in the hatch. It has a little more rust than I was expecting (this is the east coast after all...) but it's overall pretty solid and certainly salvageable. Don't plan on doing much rust repair for a while, since I bought the car with one thing in mind: driving it. That said, the L28 with triple webers will be going in once I get the wiring figured out - it was rewired with a Painless kit. Following that, I'll try to get my '72 240z seats and dash in it, and hopefully get it on the road. It has MSA springs, KYB struts, ST sway bars. There's a lot of little details I've left out, but it would take forever to type them up. Alright, now onto the pics. These are from when I first got it - something I actually remembered to do this time. And this is... has me very puzzled. At first I was worried it was rust - nope not rust. So I thought it was bondo - nope, not bondo either (THANK GOD). So I took a file to it, and found the bumps went down rather quickly and revealed metal. Okay, so it's lead. According to the PO it's been like that the whole time he'd had it, and didn't change, so I'm not too worried about it, but I'm still curious as to WTF would cause that... And here's some rust I uncovered. It's the only rust I'm really concerned about. I poked at it a bit, and I think (hope) the pics make it look worse than it actually is. All the other rust is just some bits in the floors, a little in the front of the rocker, some small (dime sized or less) spots in various random places on the car, and the hatch is pretty much rusted out. Doglegs will need to be replaced eventually, but are still fairly solid as far as I can tell. There's a bit of near the top of the roll pan, bottom of drivers fender, and a few other misc plates. Battery tray is solid, frame rails looked solid as well, with just one spot at the rear of the drivers engine bay rail that always rusts out. Looks like it's not even all the way through. Anyway, that's all for now. Not a lot I can do at the moment, need to get the wiring sorted, and engine in. Following that, we'll see. I really want to get that rust on the A pillars fixed before I do any kind of hard driving in it. I'd also really like to get that mess on the B pillar investigated and fixed, since I have NO idea what would cause that. Oh, and pardon the blurry pics. Although I'm no photographer, I didn't realize they were that blurry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Looks like a pretty decent base to start out with I'd just take car of the little bit of rust while you still have easy access to all of it, and then drop the engine in. It really shouldn't be too bad, and you'll have peace of mind knowing you have a nice rust free Z on the easy coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stump Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Hey man, That sure looks like a great buy mate..well done. I'll tag along on this one, if you don't mind... Should be fun. cheers Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakt Out Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Great find! Can't really go wrong, there. Enjoy in good health! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Zowner Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 wow...nice project car!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 About to make attempt #1 at putting an engine in a Z. I've never put one in a Z, and I've never done it by myself. Should be an interesting experience. I also learned that the "bubbling" where the roof joins the quarter is actually rust underneath the lead. That's going to be fun to pay for/fix... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 About to make attempt #1 at putting an engine in a Z. I've never put one in a Z, and I've never done it by myself. Should be an interesting experience. I also learned that the "bubbling" where the roof joins the quarter is actually rust underneath the lead. That's going to be fun to pay for/fix... Exactly what I was going to say. not fun. That A pillar rust looks like it'll be fun to fix too, since it's pretty deep. Remeber rust travels under the paint a little ways, so you'll need to get in there and sand away the pillar to really see the extent, then you'll know what can be cut out and replaced. That's easiest with the fender and the door taken off. It looks like you've got a bit of a project. it's really a nice 240 for only $500 on the east coast. I'll send you a PM. Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 It's in. Still need to do everything else that doesn't include bolting the engine and tranny mounts though. And I want to replace the bolts that are holding it in. But, nonetheless, it is in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Good to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 Didn't get as much done today as I would have liked. Got my 280Z radiator out... doesn't fit. Great. Got out what I thought was the correct driveshaft that came with the car. I measured, and it would seem that it's 2" too long, and it was the shorter of the two I got with the car. It's a series 1 with what I believe is the stock rear end in the forward position, and it currently has an L28+5spd in it. Any ideas? I haven't tried putting it in yet, but I doubt I measured wrong. I'd like to avoid a custom drive shaft, or taking off the transmission. I do have two 4spds (from a 76 and 72) if absolutely necessary though. I did get the throttle linkage hooked up though, and the shifter is back in. Uh... that's about it. Hopefully I get more done tomorrow. Exactly what I was going to say. not fun. That A pillar rust looks like it'll be fun to fix too, since it's pretty deep. Remeber rust travels under the paint a little ways, so you'll need to get in there and sand away the pillar to really see the extent, then you'll know what can be cut out and replaced. That's easiest with the fender and the door taken off. Phar I later took a wire brush to the rust on the A pillar, and along the weather strip lip. It doesn't look as bad as I thought, but I haven't cut any out yet. I don't think I'm going to get the car on the road before summer ends though, so that may be a winter project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I kinda thought the driveshafts were mostly interchangable, you must have one lying around that will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apossiblehybrid Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 looks like a fun project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connorzster Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Sweet project car. Wish I could find same for 500 bucks. I'll be payin' attention on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I'm in on this one too, I want to see where it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Owen, Are you planning on swapping in an R200? Moving the diff back to the setback position will do the trick. Good find. Where did you find it? Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 Owen, Are you planning on swapping in an R200? Moving the diff back to the setback position will do the trick. Good find. Where did you find it? Joe It came with a few of the pieces for the conversion, but no I wasn't. I was planning on a Subaru LSD, and keeping it in the forward position, unless there is a good reason to move it back that I am not aware of. From what I've read, it was just to reduce noise. Granted, I haven't read much on it. Edit: Just got the drive shaft in. I measured wrong. I got it from Collectindust240Z, in CT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoov100 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 just to make sure, you know there is a wrinkle in the right rear corner right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 just to make sure, you know there is a wrinkle in the right rear corner right?Yep. I'm pretty critical, so I usually notice these things. The wrinkle is nothing a body shop can't handle. Not a huge deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Didn't do much today, gutted my '72 240Z dash for new wiring/gauges, and started to make a mount for the fuse block and whatnot for under the dash. Before I got the car, the PO told me he thought the car had been flared at one point. When I got it, I looked around for evidence of this, and saw nothing. No welds on the inside of the quarter as seen from inside the hatch, fender lip looked normal, etc. Well, I looked around a bit more underneath the car, and around the passenger side fender lip, is what looks like silicon, and the inner fender seems to have some modification. Another thing I noticed is that the fender lip, which is normally spot welded to the inner fender, is not. If I find that it was indeed flared at one point, which I'm thinking it is, I'll probably flare it again. We'll see. In the meantime, I need to... - Buy some new bolts/nuts for the clutch slave, tranny mount, engine mounts, drive shaft, and probably a few more things that I'll probably find as I make progress. Also need one single nut to finish bolting on the fan to the water pump. - Buy a new radiator for a 240z, because apparently, my 280z radiator doesn't fit, and it's in pretty good condition , so I don't want to trim it. - Wire the car. I have no idea what I'm doing here, so I'll get my dad and my friend to help. - Install the dash and gauges - Fix the brakes. Probably just needs to be bled. - Replace the mustache bar bushings. There's about a 1/2" of play, up and down. That may be more than just the bushings though. - Mount a fuel pump. That should be it to get the car running and driving, but not quite road worthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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