I know I'm not the only one with a non-running car!

[AlwaysBroke]

Ok, so, I am now out of the Marines and entering that "broke college student" phase of my life, and now my poor Z car is parked behind the shed only half way through a mega-squirt conversion.

 

Roll call for whoever else that can't afford to finish their projects so I don't feel so bad!!

[garvice]

I pulled my car down to change a head gasket, found a welded harmonic balancer and a bunch of other issues from an incorrect engine rebuild. Bought a half cut, pulled engine and have now dropped a RB26 in. Then my son was born so the project is now on hold. I think by the time it is ready my son will be asking for the keys.

[CArFAn]

My car has been down for 3 months for a 500$ clutch i still cannot afford.

[Zachary Ard]

My 86 Turbo will likely remain in pieces for a while. The money I would normally use for that, I am using as start-up capital trying to get my business off the ground.

 

Maybe one day...

[softopz]

WE all been through it okay not all but most. There was a thing on HBZ called Jack Stand Racing and this group had lots of members. Mine took 4 years dont feel so bad.

[ZR8ED]

JSR. It had a large following. I was member for some time as well. I think they even made up some stickers! Look it up and revive the thread!

 

I came up with a solution to long projects. TWO Z cars. One left alone stock and reliable and one jackstand racer!

Edited November 24, 2010 by ZR8ED

[skib]

I was DDing my Z with a nice L28et swap and then pulled the motor to start an SCCA FP build....... then got laid off.

 

its been sitting on the side of my house for the last year.... slooowly collecting parts as money allows.

[z2go]

My Z has been down since 2001 for a motor swap and suspension work, and the project went on pause indefinitely, until last year when I was given the opportunity to work on it (was stationed by the AF close to home). Now I'm racing with time to have it at least running by the summer...

 

I did have another Z, but I sold it so I could help defray the costs of this project!

[BluDestiny]

my 280zx was literally on the street without a motor in it for about 2 years before I managed to get a motor rebuilt and dropped in. My neighbors hated it.

[hoov100]

Mine is down until I can replace the floor and firewall with tin an add some more cage..

 

 

(there is literally no measurable chassis flex in this car when you jack it up at any given point.)

[Michael]

There’s “can’t afford†because there is insufficient disposable cash on-hand, and then there’s “won’t afford†because priorities change or the project degenerates into a money pit into which one has no desire to “invest†more money. Some of you guys are used to projects finished within a year or two. A decade-long, or decades-long project seem fantastical and grotesque. But it happens. It may be literally true that you started a project back when your wife was still your girlfriend, and now you have a newborn… who will be a teenager before you finish that roll cage or engine rebuild. Sometimes it takes a year just to assemble a short-block. I was greatly heartened by a recent series of articles in Hot Rod Magazine, about their editor’s Dodge Super Bee… which he bought as a teenager, and still hasn’t finished, now that he’s in his 40s. This is a relatively conventional build (no cross-manufacturer hybrid, no race-oriented chassis mods) by a person with considerable skills and material resources, but limited time and volatile motivation. So it sits for years, then lurches forward, then gets reassembled as the goals and specs change. Meanwhile technology changes too. At one point roller cams and aluminum heads belonged only on race cars; now they’re ubiquitous in the aftermarket. Don’t be surprised if, while your car is on jackstands, the OEMs go through several generations of engines, so that what’s exotic when you began the build, eventually becomes junkyard fodder and then gets all rusted and picked over. Just look at what happened to the Chevy small block 350, from when the JTR book was first written, to the present day. Good luck finding a 350 with a 4-barrel and decent heads in the junkyard. And good luck keeping a Datsun V8 swap to “just a swapâ€â€¦ it’s first and foremost an engine rebuild.

 

So what is the solution? As noted by others already, get a fun and rewarding daily driver. I bought a 1996 BMW M3 for my “nice car†and a 1991 Miata for my “dailyâ€. The M3 is too heavy and the Miata is too anemic, but together they allow me to feel like a “car guy†without excessive remorse that I undertook an intractably ambitious Datsun project. And the more alternative cars you drive, the better you focus your ideas and tastes for what that project car really ought to be once “finishedâ€.

[SportBikeMike]

My 280Z is not non-running....but it is running like crap. It just spent 8 weeks in the shop getting an

I/C and various parts installed which cost major $$$$. They didn't even finish the job, and I had to get

some additional welding work done....and it still runs like crap. I can't figure out what the problem is,

and I'm trying to get my money back from the shop. I'm pretty frustrated....even thinking about selling the

car.

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

My car has been down for 2 years, and I am currently in the middle of my new build.

 

I only need a clutch and I will be rolling again in the spring.

[Inferno 08]

My Z has been since August of '09. I'm really hoping to get it from project status to drivable by this summer, but we shall see. Twin turbo V8 builds aren't cheap haha.

[bobbyc]

mines been down for about 5 years now...started out with some fender work that went extreme, and then into a new chassis as the old one i deemed unfit for the final product i was lookin for.

[GOTAZ]

Well, my 240Z was running just fine and I'd sort-of gotten used to climbing into the rear hatch to open the driver's door (outside latch is just a tease).

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I discovered wet spots under it on the driveway: Prestone and gasoline. nutz.

 

If I may go off topic...

 

I want to say "Thank You!" to AlwaysBroke for having served in the defense of the U.S.A.!

[Gollum]

Bought my 75' from a kid that thought it "needed too much work to get running", and I drove it to work for the next 6 months straight. Had a nasty exhaust leak that turned out to be a head gasket. Pulled the head and swapped on a new one, just to find I did a real bang up job with the timing cover and now I've got a water leak. So it's still down, waiting for $10 worth of gaskets and a full spare day of my time.

[Dudeboy]

WOW ! This topic is right on point for me !!! I was on a roll working on the car every weekend up until about a year ago. My wife got laid off about two years ago, so with a mortgage, two kids and other financial responsibilities, spending money on the Z would have been irresponsible. I am very LUCKY and BLESSED - I still have my job and my wife is working with a great company, I have my house and another toy to drive ( C5 Vette ) and my health. The one thing that has come out of me working on my Z so long, as stated as time goes on, the options and technology is getting better and the prices keep coming down on LS parts. Hopefully, late spring I will have a few extra dollars and I can get brakes, tires, fluids and fire it up and start saving again for bodywork and paint.

[AlwaysBroke]

Wow! old thread but I got busy with school and completely forgot I posted this! haha

but update, the Z is! ... still in the back yard. and with a tree growing through the engine compartment now lol. Every time I seem to get some spare change I get to replace something on my roadster. Its not easy daily driving a 1966 Datsun but it is most definitely worth it! And the thing is more reliable then most cars its age! less than $100 and an afternoons work to replace a head is a win in my book.

 

and thanks a lot GOTAZ, I really appreciate it!

[AKZX]

Well my DD is never running well and right now it's on stands because the headers got a hole big enough to stick my thumb in. I'm going back to stock exhaust because I'm completely broke, in high school and working when I can.

 

This thread actually made me feel better!