My 1973 240Z

[nthiogen]

On Tuesday last week, I picked up my first Z-car. She's a 1973 4spd with a dished N42 2.8 on the open-chamber E88 head. The headlights and speedometer don't work, and the rear end makes a loud clunk when you engage/disengage the clutch. I suspect (and have been almost universally told) that it's the diff mount.

The car came with an R200 and a mustache bar to mount it. I've already replaced the factory water temp and oil pressure senders -- oil pressure is high and then engine runs very smoothly. It was missing the air cleaner, so I'm watching a bid on eBay to take care of that. I also ordered an R200 diff mount insulator today from West Covina Nissan for $56 shipped.

 

I'm being guided through the process of refreshing and modifying this Z by Dave Premo, my dad's best friend and a damn good mechanic. He's got a 67.5 2000 he built from the ground up. Search "Premo datsun roadster" in google images and you'll see it

 

My plans are basically to sort out the existing issues, swap the 3.90 R200 and plop in a 5speed. Then discs on all corners; springs (although I suspect it has already been lowered), struts, strut braces, camber plates, urethane bushings; stiffen the chassis, put in a roll bar with harnesses -- and then start on the engine. I'll probably end up taking care of the exhaust somewhere between the beginning and middle of the project, as the current exhaust is absurdly restrictive. I'm trying to keep it competition legal even though racing the car is a secondary interest at this point in time.

 

She needs new tires and rims, and the headlight covers are off for now because they were double-side taped on. I'd rather just drill em in.

 

Calling the paint an Earl Scheib job is a slight understatement. It's cheap, but the body is pristine. It doesn't appear to have rusted anywhere. Dave was under the car, tapping all of the panels, none collapsed or showed signs of corrosion. The rear hatch area is without rust as are the floorboards -- which are original. I haven't checked the doglegs, but I'm hoping they're clean too.

All in all, I overpaid a little for it ($6500) because the body is rust-free and straight as an arrow. It does have some nice doohickeys like the JVC radio and MSA speaker box, and that nifty cupholder/armrest addon.

 

I can now say that I'm a proud owner of a Z-car!

[Pharaohabq]

Well I wouldn't say you overpaid. If the car really is in very good shape it could easilly be worth 6500 bucks. Be sure you insure it as an antique or modified, through hagarty or other collectible insurance, or if something happens you won't get the real value. I would like to see more picts of the car of course. but so far it's not sounding too bad. The paint is unfortunate, if the car really is in such great shape, it's sad they wouldn't spend the extra cash for a decent paint job. in anycase, Take care of it and hope to see you around.

 

oh, The headlights, check the fusable links, that can certainly make them not function. the Speedo I bet is just the cable either not connected or busted, easy fix, though you might just wait till you swap the 5 speed in since you'll be muckin about in there anyway.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Pharaohabq

[nthiogen]

Thanks Pharaohbq. I will absolutely be shooting some more pics this weekend when I return to Concord to start working on it.

 

Yeah, this car's body is just unbelievable. My 2003 Infiniti I35 (which I sold to buy this) had more dents and scratches on it than this car does, haha!

 

It's currently insured with Mercury Insurance. They're going to request photos at some point, and they do have a system which will allow it to be appraised for an agreed upon value. She's not a numbers-matching original or restored car in any way, so the value isn't super high. It will be my daily driver, so collectible insurance isn't viable. This car is going to be driven, there will be no yearly mileage limits in my life. Not with this car.

 

Will do. Dave keeps tearing into her and, being an electrician, I've no doubt that he'll get the car into shape on the electrical side of things before I can even have all the parts necessary to make her road ready. Speaking of which, I desperately need an early SU air cleaner. I pm'd a guy here on the forums but I haven't gotten a response. It's been less than 3 hours but I'm getting itchy... I want to start driving this thing already! It's such a tease having the car of your dreams sit dormant 30 miles away :'(

[310z]

The car looks great in its stock form. Starting with a good body saves you in the long run. Your friend Dave's car looks great and he looks familiar from the Roadster shows that I attend specifically Shasta. I do not remember seeing his car, though I have many photos from the same event. Don't be in any rush to drill the head light buckets, Riv-nut work great there. Steve Pettersen is a great Z source at Perrersen Motorworks Chico, CA 530-895-3606. He will have the parts you are looking for. Steve receives a lot of work from the Bay Area. Good luck with the car. You should bring it to The Shasta Roadster Show if the Z is up to it.

[nthiogen]

The car looks great in its stock form. Starting with a good body saves you in the long run. Your friend Dave's car looks great and he looks familiar from the Roadster shows that I attend specifically Shasta. I do not remember seeing his car, though I have many photos from the same event. Don't be in any rush to drill the head light buckets, Riv-nut work great there. Steve Pettersen is a great Z source at Perrersen Motorworks Chico, CA 530-895-3606. He will have the parts you are looking for. Steve receives a lot of work from the Bay Area. Good luck with the car. You should bring it to The Shasta Roadster Show if the Z is up to it.

 

Thanks for the tip 310z! Might I add that I've saved nearly all the pics you posted in your build thread? That thing is pure beastery, no two ways about it. I especially liked the nifty kick-panel speaker boxes -- very nice touch! Being an audiophile, you're liable to see me steal that design idea from ya

 

Yeah, Premo's roadster is one clean machine. He regularly attends Solvang. He went there last week, actually. He attends a bunch of Roadster shows, and it's likely he's been to Shasta a few times. He used to own a dime back in the day too.

 

Riv-nut? What's that? A type of double-sided tape/adhesive? As much as I'd like to keep the buckets clean, they're cheap parts and I don't want to risk losing something more expensive for not wanting to damage something less expensive. But I guess with paint the buckets would amount to more.

And I'll make sure to place a call with Pettersen if some HybridZers can't help me out. I'll have to ship the stuff since Chico is a pretty long drive unless I'm picking up enough parts at once for it to be worth it.

 

When's the Shasta Roadster show? I'm returning to LA for the summer around May 20th, but I'll be back up here to locate a house in July. The zed will have to be up for a trip to Shasta if it's gonna take me to LA in a few weeks.

[310z]

Thanks for the tip 310z! Might I add that I've saved nearly all the pics you posted in your build thread? That thing is pure beastery, no two ways about it. I especially liked the nifty kick-panel speaker boxes -- very nice touch! Being an audiophile, you're liable to see me steal that design idea from ya

 

Yeah, Premo's roadster is one clean machine. He regularly attends Solvang. He went there last week, actually. He attends a bunch of Roadster shows, and it's likely he's been to Shasta a few times. He used to own a dime back in the day too.

 

Riv-nut? What's that? A type of double-sided tape/adhesive? As much as I'd like to keep the buckets clean, they're cheap parts and I don't want to risk losing something more expensive for not wanting to damage something less expensive. But I guess with paint the buckets would amount to more.

And I'll make sure to place a call with Pettersen if some HybridZers can't help me out. I'll have to ship the stuff since Chico is a pretty long drive unless I'm picking up enough parts at once for it to be worth it.

 

When's the Shasta Roadster show? I'm returning to LA for the summer around May 20th, but I'll be back up here to locate a house in July. The zed will have to be up for a trip to Shasta if it's gonna take me to LA in a few weeks.

 

Thanks for the complements. Keith at Custom Works 530-864-5846 built the kick panels and the install. You can check out some of his work at http://www.customworksproducts.com/ He drives one Baddd gen 2 Camero street/track car but he has a Z race car.

 

The day my car was finished at 3:30 in the after noon it was put on a trailer and drove to the Solvang show the next morning and the Z Nationals the day after Solvang. The car new Odometer only had 0.7 miles on it at the Z Nationals. It was the kind of story that they make TV shows about.

 

Riv-Nut are a kind of rubber mounted Pop-Viv-it that is threaded on the inside so you always have threads to screw into.

 

I think the Shasta show is always the second weekend in June or July I need to look it up.

[nthiogen]

Wow! 0.7 miles!! Haha, that's impressive.

 

Cool, I'll look into those.

 

Ok, if I can make it I most definitely will.

[nthiogen]

Ok, so I have an update.

I spent last weekend in Concord working on the car with Dave Premo. Turns out the previous owner was an idiot, and did a lot of things wrong. Even his "SCCA Champion" cousin who apparently rebuilt the head f***ed things up.

 

The valves were adjusted backwards (exhaust lash adjusted to intake specs and vice versa), the interior was thrown together haphazardly, Stevie Wonder could have wired it better, the gas filler neck leaks, it came with 3 different locks, the air cleaner was totally absent, the rear driveshaft U-joint was toast, and some "trick adjustable camber control arm bushings" turned out to be the cause of my rear end clunk -- they didn't fit right at all. Rear sway bar is off because it wouldn't fit with the lowered suspension, which, judging by the driver rear corner, is KYB struts on Suspension Technique springs. However, considering all the other stuff that's been done wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a mix n match.

 

I replaced the rear control arm bushings with my Energy poly units, swapped the rear U-joint with a Precision unit at the local auto parts store, did a valve job, got the air cleaner back on, and got a new right rear tire. Here are some pics taken before I got the new tire. If you look closely, you can see absurd amounts of camber wear on the driver side rear tire.

 

Poly butchings

 

"Trick camber butchings"

 

Adjustin the valves:

 

Left side -- straight as an arrow:

 

Other pics:

Fresh interior!

Stupid Grant wheel and stupid shift knob for sale ;D

Unforgivably restrictive 1 5/8" exhaust with dual "Nikamari" or whatever exhausts. Sounds terrible.

 

Lookin sexy on the 5 just north of Visalia:

 

In spite of all of this, the car got me safely from Concord to Calabasas. She's rough around the edges, but doesn't seem like she'll fail on me anytime soon. Works for me!

If anyone wants a video, I can take one with my phone. It's got the HD videeya capabilities!

Edited May 27, 2011 by nthiogen