Available '73 240z,,,, was what the private message said.

[Darrel]

Here is what the rest of the private message went on to say.

Hi.
My name is Terry. I saw your post ‘my 73 240z from CO’ regarding your white Z. I thought you might need a new project (or parts) so here’s my story.
I have a 1973 Datsun 240Z that’s been garaged since 1985. I had hoped I could return it to its glory days. But alas, I realize now it’s not going to happen with me. I was the 2nd owner, purchased in 1974 with 12,000 miles. It now sits at 214,000 miles. I was planning on putting ads out to see if anyone would be interested in it, but when I saw your post I thought I’d contact you first (since you’re relatively local, I live in Boulder).
The car is pretty much as I bought it. The body is in pretty good shape, with minor rust at the bottom of one of the wheel wells. If you or someone you know has any interest, I’d be glad to give you more details. If you’re curious, I could e-mail you some pictures. My e-mail is :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P
I’m asking $600 for it. (Includes car cover)
Thanks…Terry



That's how it started back in June/July last year. I got the first pics around july 7th. I decided to check it out. Being between jobs at the moment didn't help. I went to his place. Talk about an unmolested '72 240z, except for the aftermarket radio and speakers cut into the tail light access panels, and slot mags, it is completely stock down to the flat top carbs. It started out in southern california and the last 20 in colorado.

Needless to say i was very curious after seeing the pics. Since I couldn't afford it, even when he offered to let me make payments, I decided to let others have a chance at it. So I had Terry take a lot of pics and he wanted some help in selling it. I gave him my honest opinion about prices to start with. $5k to start, take no less than $4k. Even with it sitting untouched since '85, it was well worth the prices I set.

2 weeks later, I interviewed for a job and got it. I called Terry and asked, knowing my opinion and he knowing he already offered me I could buy it for $600. I asked him what would he sell it to me for. He started chuckling and said, "Well, you said $4k, " Then he got serious and said, how about $1K? I asked him if he could wait till january or february, Then I would give him $1500 for it. We both knew even in it's current state, non op, it was well worth the $1500. He was happy, I was happy. Today it is in my hands and hope to get it running before Terry moves out of state. That was the reason he was looking to sell. He didn't want to move it again.

Terry really took care of this car. Original paint and it is still shiny, no accidents, needs driver seat cover and maybe foam and the hatch carpeting. The floor mats still use the clips that kept them fixed.

These were the first four pics he sent me.

[grannyknot]

Pretty sweet deal, the kind we all dream about, Congrats.
So what are your plans?

[siteunseen]

That's a great find that you weren't even looking for, wow!

[Darrel]

I have always wanted to put a v8 in a 240. ;-)

seriously, this is very original, I have the radio and antennae I can take out of my white one and put in this one.

This car needs quite a bit to get it road worthy, but not any more than my white one needed which I paid $500 for 12 yrs ago. With this one I have to deal with 28 yr old gas which was filled up just before being parked. I have a set of round tops to put on.

I will get dave irwins upgrades as well.

[Darrel]

High performance tires to be for sale soon!

[siteunseen]

Maypops! May pop today, may pop tomorrow.

[Darrel]

Some pics of when the 2nd owner bought it, and I may have located the original owner who had it for only a year.

[jonathanrussell]

This looks to be a great find Darrel and at an amazing price. Assuming the typical rust areas of these cars look good on your car, you should feel very fortunate. Congratulations.

[Darrel]

I thought I put the rust pics. One of them you can see.

Here's the other,


How's that for rust?

[jonathanrussell]

If that is the worst rust you have, then you are in great shape. How do these areas look?

Floors (both sides).
left and right corners of the hatch deck area that gets exposed when you open the hatch.
Battery area
Area below the master cylinder.
Open up the cowl cover and see what it looks like in the cowl area.

For me, if what you show above is the worst rust you have, I would do everything I could to save your original paint as long as you can. Refresh the brakes. Refresh the suspension (rubber, tie rods, ball joints, strut inserts). Replace the tires. Replace hoses, belts. Tune up the engine. Flush and replace clutch hydraulic fluid. Flush replace coolant. Assess fuel tank and fuel. After that, drive it and enjoy. If it proves too difficult to get running smoothly, replace your carbs with ztherapy round top carbs.

BTW, very cool that you were able to obtain early photos of your car. Wish I had that for mine.

[Darrel]

Believe me, I am way ahead of you on my plan of attack. It's nothing I haven't already had to do with my white '73. I just have to deal with what's left of a full tank of 28 year old gas.

I bet if you had a time machine and had the cars side by side from 20 feet away you wouldn't be able to tell them apart except for the wheels. They were shinier in the earlier pics, Only a little bit of polishing will bring them back to match. Obviously there are minor door dings, but like Terry said in his private message to me, it is much like he bought it when it was a year old. I am not exaggerating.

All the plastic(turn signals, taillights, markers) are still real bright and no pitting or sun damage at all.

I did have Terry take pics from when I told him I would help him sell it. The gussets in the front wheels wells are perfect.

[siteunseen]

Don't try and crank it yet, there's things to be done 1st.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/i...ing-beast.html
Post #8

[Darrel]

That's why I haven't bought a battery for it yet. I'm taking it slow. While MMO does it work on the cylinders I will be working on other things like fuel system, brake system, all rubber hoses, etc. The last thing I do will be to buy a battery. The last thing I will want to do is open up the engine needlessly. The most I should have to do would be valve stem seals if all goes right. Terry put on 200K miles in the 13 years before he parked it and kept very good care of it.

[Marty Rogan]

Nice score Darrel!! That looks really clean. If the interior is as good of shape, it should be an easy restore.

Some guys have all the luck!

Enjoy waking the beast.

Marty

[Darrel]

needs hatch carpeting, driver seat cover and possibly foam. It even still uses the clip to keep the floor mats in place.

[Marty Rogan]

The interior is easily fixed. The door panels look good in the pictures. Does it have the usual dash cracks?

[Darrel]

The interior is easily fixed. The door panels look good in the pictures. Does it have the usual dash cracks?

standard equipment cracks. But I have an uncracked dash to put in.

[hr369]

Love those old LA photos. Looking at the smoggy grey skies brings back memories. At first glance I thought it was another california barn find car that had surfaced a few years back.
Plates and color are different though.

[Darrel]

This pic is typical of the rest of the underneath.



Typical leaking battery, all surface rust. Looks like they tried using some paint to cover exposed metal. The engine bay will need serious cleaning. Nothing unexpected.

[Marty Rogan]

standard equipment cracks. But I have an uncracked dash to put in.

Nice!! You are way ahead of the curve with this one. I am envious!

[Darrel]

Just did some preliminary work on the car. Took off the valve cover, there was still a slight film of oil on the cam and lifters. I put some white lithium grease on all contact points anyway.

I tried to siphon what was left of the 28 yr old gas, but all I got was a spotty syrup coating on the rubber hose. I will still drop the tank since it probably needs cleaned and all the hoses changed out.

I still need to squirt some oil in each of the cylinders just as a precaution against stuck rings to pistons. The crank does turn, I just pushed the car in gear just enough to see the fan move.

[Rich 71 240Z]

Great find Darrel, wish I would have seen it before you

[Darrel]

Unless you read my private messages on another datsun forum you wouldn't have. ;-)

[DAVID(GEN)]

You lucky lucky guy you. Was it ever posted on Denver Craigslist? It looks like one that may have been and if that it true and I would have had the chance to pay $1500 for it I would have been all over it. I am very jealous of you sir. I hope this summer I can find and buy my first Z.

[Darrel]

You lucky lucky guy you. Was it ever posted on Denver Craigslist? It looks like one that may have been and if that it true and I would have had the chance to pay $1500 for it I would have been all over it. I am very jealous of you sir. I hope this summer I can find and buy my first Z.

Never posted on cl. He contacted me through a private message on another forum.

[Darrel]

well, it's confirmed, this car I bought is a rust bucket. I put it up on jack stands, dropped the tank and took off the rear brake cylinders for a rebuild. That's when I noticed it. It was in the pics all the time, one I don't think I posted here.

You can see it on the left side of this pic in front of the smaller drain plug.



ok, I guess I did post the pic before.

[Darrel]

Here are some close ups of the two more spots of rust.

In this pic, the larger of the two, you can barely make out the other area. look closely at two white spots in the back ground on the other side of the plug.


And here are the two white spots up close(spider egg sacks)



Both of these are under the passenger seat.

I will post pics of the fuel tank tomorrow when I take pics of the inside.

Here is a pic of the electric fuel pump installed by previous owner(terry) with the help from his mechanic friends. Note, they did not use the factory harness which included wiring for an electric fuel pump. This car had a manufacturer date of 9/72.

[siteunseen]

Rust bucket? Looks more like a rust shot glass to me.

[EhlersRS]

Darrel,

It's disappointing to find more rust damage on a car you just purchased, but from your descriptions and photos this car has minimal rust as far as Z's are concerned. Your car would be considered a very nice example in the Midwest! If the floors can't be patched, you may need to get a new floor pan kit (Zedd Findings or MSA) to repair the rust properly. I enjoyed seeing the old school photos from the second owner and look forward to seeing your progress on the car!

Robert S.

[Darrel]

I guess I should use more smilies when I post. My humor doesn't show up well in type. ;-)

Even if I noticed these spots before it wouldn't have changed my opinion about the car. Rust is very minimal. But between the two, my white one and this one, my white one has less rust in the floor board, this just looks a whole lot nicer overall. ;-)

[Darrel]

ARTIFACT FOUND!

Over 30 not eligible.

What is it?

[Darrel]

And now on to the gas tank pics.

What is left of 28 yr old gas.



After a trip to the car wash.


I must say the difference between the tanks that was nearly empty when parked(my white '73) and this one which may have been full, my white one was in much better shape. It looked like what the bottom looks like on this one all over inside.

[Bonzi Lon]

I have used that 'artifact' many times as a teenager.

The fuel looks just like what I had in my 73 tank, but is was a 26 year old vintage. Sure glad the pic didn't come with smell-a-vision. That an be some nasty smelling stuff.

Bonzi Lon

[brownclee]

Sorry you have more rust than you originally thought. But, from the looks of it, these are very typical of the rust issues most of us classic Z owners have faced. From the pics, it looks like your floor pan rust is from the inside out. Which means that moistrue got into the floor pan and stayed there long enough to find the smallest area of exposed metal and started its destruction. I would suggest that you remove the front seats and carpet to get a better look. And you will most likely find the need to remove most or all of the sound deadening mat as rust loves to hide under it. You may find that water has leaked into the foot wells from the cowl area. This will be hard to confirm unless you remove the dash or at the very least, stand on you head and look up under the dash. Many Zs have this same issue as it seems the cowl area seam sealer was not applied thoroughly at the factory in the cowl area (especially around the wiper motor mount and fresh air intake duct). If the cowl drains clog up, water will build up in the cowl and leak through the seam and directly into the foot wells...the passenger side is most often the worst. But consider yourself lucky, not only did I have this issue, I had rust throuh on the fresh air duct also and the firewall had a hole big enough to stick my fist through as a result of a severe battery area rust issue. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your progress.

[Pharaohabq]

Wow, That car doesn't look too bad at all, Though I'll second that you'll need to pull the seats and see if this is a patch job or a replacement job. Either way once it's fixed, don't forget to recoat the underbody. It really looks like a patch job to me, but you'll need to tap on the pans and see what else you're looking at. A good welder could likely cut and replace most of those bad spots in an afternoon if that's all there is.

That battery holder area will need some work. it looks like it's all surface, but the real trick is to neutralize the rust before it gets bad. it's already in the metal, so use some thing to pull the rust our of the metal. Using White Vinegar with a scrubber pad has worked well for me and allowed the rust to stop interacting inside the metal. You'll be surprised how much rust Vinegar pulls out. Put it on, let it sit, scrub it off over and over. When done, Dry it off, Let it sit a little while longer, then wipe again and seal with a rust neutralizing paint. (por-50 works amazing) Then sand lightly and topcoat with body color paint.

What he was saying about the cowel area is definitely great advice. I've seen so many Z's that've leaked there and trashed the floorpans, it's not even funny. The sealer Datsun used was just not up to the task of keeping it sealed for this many years.

Wow, Nice Artifact. I haven't seen one of those in ages. I'm over 30 so I won't give it away. It'd be awesome to hang on the wall.

[Darrel]

Bonzi, keep the dates open, June 28th and September 28th. ZCCC has High Plains Raceway those two dates. I am sure your grandkids would love to see you too. ;-)

I can't say I am surprised to find more rust than what I first reported. I think a patch will work in the area.

[Darrel]

Nothing too much to report on and no pics. Picked up the tank from the rad shop yesterday. Bought new brake shoes for the rear and rebuilt the brake cylinders. I have the back brakes on using the old shoes to make sure the rebuild kits work, no use using new shoes if they fail right away. Ran out of brake cleaner, will get some tomorrow and go back to clean the brake master reservoirs and bleed brakes.

[Darrel]

Cleaned the brake and clutch reservoirs and cleaned out the nasty old brake fluid in them. Bled the rear brakes starting with the LR. It didn't seem to be working correctly. The lines were probably all dry from sitting when I took out the rear brake cylinders. After trying to bleed the LR and getting some progress, I went to the RR and bled it. Had no trouble bleeding it and got clean fluid flowing. Went back to the LR and didn't have any problems bleeding it. It was a little weird how it worked. The fronts bled nicely as well as the clutch master and slave.

Have a firm pedal for the brakes and clutch. No leaks detected when I finished for the day.

[Darrel]

Back to the brakes.
When i was bleeding the brakes today I was a little concerned. Starting with the LR first, I just didn't have the pedal feel I was expecting, it would get soft, then hard, let off of it then it would push all the way down. When sitting, it seemed like the reservoir would fill back up through the system. Got tired of that so i switched to the RR, bleeding it felt normal and pulled clean fluid through, then went back to the LR and it was normal brake bleeding procedure. It was really weird.

I was concerned with the rebuilt cylinders since I had never done those before. No leaks and the pedal is firm.

[Pop's Z]

Darrell, did you rebuild the rear cylinders or buy new ones. The reason I ask is I am going to re-do mine and the new ones are mucho dollars. The rebuild kits are cheap. I'm going to do a complete re-do of the f&r brakes.

Cheers, Mike
you can email me if you don't want to clutter up this thread.

[Darrel]

email sent.

I have a 7/8" hone if you need it.

If you rebuild the calipers, make sure the kit comes with two small o-rings. The pic shows it comes with two, but when you get it only one is in the package.

I would only mess with the cylinders and calipers if they are leaking. If they aren't just replace pads and or shoes.

[Darrel]

I forgot to post pics of when I first picked up the car.


An update. Yesterday I took off the flat top carbs, all rubber hoses for the fuel lines, a/c compressor and sprayed brake cleaner through all the hard fuel lines. No gunk came out and it was all clean. I ordered a new fuel sending unit which should get here next week then i will reinstall the tank. I may delete the expansion tank so there are less hoses to worry about.

[bpilati]

I forgot to post pics of when I first picked up the car.
An update. Yesterday I took off the flat top carbs, all rubber hoses for the fuel lines, a/c compressor and sprayed brake cleaner through all the hard fuel lines. No gunk came out and it was all clean. I ordered a new fuel sending unit which should get here next week then i will reinstall the tank. I may delete the expansion tank so there are less hoses to worry about.

Why remove the expansion tank?

[Darrel]

Less hoses to deal with. and as long as the remaining hoses are routed right there is no reason for the expansion tank. It's mainly for emissions and vapor recovery. Some 240z didn't even have the tank.

On another note, I got a hold of the first owner of the car. He lives in Oregon and still thinks about it occasionally. He only had it a year and traded it in for a couple of smaller cars for a growing family. I got his name from the warrantee booklet and the white pages showed he lived in the area in cali where it was bought.

[Darrel]

expansion tank delete.
http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/t...tion-tank.html

[Darrel]

I have the gas tank painted and about ready to go back in. I just need to solder the copper U for the top vent. I picked up fuel hoses for the tank and engine bay. Next thing to do is rebuild the 4 screw su's and an earlier balance tube. I have and do something with all the extra water hoses and pipes in the engine bay.

[Darrel]

About ready to install the gas tank. Straps painted and "new" insulators for the straps.(undercoated ratchet strap material.)

Now I have to deal with a broken bolt that hold on the balance tube and the #6 exhaust stud.