gav240z

Parramatta Road Dealer. (as in tread carefully) https://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/Mazda-RX-3-1977/OAG-AD-14974144/ $95,000 1977 Mazda RX-3 SP S124A Manual I drove past this example the other day on Parramatta Road and it did look sweet.

Meanwhile in early rotary land.. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mazda-RX3-12A-Series-2-Coupe-1975-55-000-kms/152631934632 AU $122,100.00

I'm surprised it's still up for sale to be honest. It makes me wonder how bad the rust is? But if you don't care about matching no's it has a lot going for it. From what I can see (and photos can be deceptive). 1. Good roof (no sunroof) - Roof turret a real pita. Gotta remove windscreen, rear hatch, rear weld to 1/4 panels, lead fill in. Not hard if you have a replacement but pretty major re-working) 2. Good doors 3. Good rear 1/4 panels 4. Bonnet doesn't look like it's been bent before (at least not hard) may have some filler in there but the lines look right. 5. Mostly complete interior. 6. Hatch looks like it has surface rust but not serious rot. 7. It has at least 2 original S30Z steel wheels (not sure if they are original to the car or not though!) 8. It's a 71 so likely an early car (could be a sub-1000 chassis no. car) On the negative: 1. Battery tray could be rusty (have to see how bad) 2. The old iron lump - but it might be a bit of fun if it runs until you can swap back to L-series. 3. Interior looks a little trashed. 4. It's probably had at least 1 repaint, could have bog in places etc.. 5. At least 1 seat isn't original and they are getting harder to source locally. 6. Some accident damage to the fender but of all panels these are the cheapest and easiest to find as replacements. 7. As a 71 it should have round holes in the rear 1/4 panels where the 'Z' badge goes, looks like they were filled in for a smooth look 8. No matching no's, but any L-series will feel like the same car regardless of no. stamped on block 9. Small love tap in the rear (where bumper is) - may have caused some damage to rear valance section...(could be an issue since there is an adhesive between the rear valance area and the chassis and if this panels is bent there is a gap here where moisture can get in and rot it from the inside out, HS30 00150 has had this issue to some extent). If you want a 240z project I'd say it's reasonable, if you want a 2 seater the other 1 on CarSales recently for $25k is better buying probably.. but it's not an early car . That's all I can tell you from photos alone. Best to go see it and find out how bad it is.

Yes it's a lovely looking car. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/12039-pzr-432-r-ps30-sb-thread-discussion-and-reference-photos/

https://palmsprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/1970-datsun-240z-series-one/6254381003.html HLS30 00509

As last seen many years ago.. https://goo.gl/photos/5YXAH9aQGJmkD3DR9

Had a bit of a chuckle to myself when they started talking about date stamps on the steel wheels of this 904.

Ok going to let this thread build a while to make sure we can capture as much demand as possible. I don't want to speak too soon, but we may be able to get the next batch made using a slightly more durable resin so going to have to prototype it to see how it turns out.

Any photos of the glass? I'm guessing it was retrofitted at a later date? Perhaps from a 260z (which did get the defrost glass here) but early 240z's didn't. I believe it was an option, but I'm yet to see an optioned early S30Z in this country that was done via the dealer. Your defrost glass (if it's a 71) should be the vertical type. Not the horizontal type.

260z badges were all plastic, as far as I'm aware only early S30Z ones were made of metal.

It's a good website isn't it? I'm tempted to order a kit like that. Although I told myself I'm not going to rebuild my wiring loom (I said I'll pay someone) because it looks intimidating and very time consuming.. Also just found this which looks very helpful.

AU delivered cars didn't have these features. The center console on an early AU market S30Z had the blanking plates for the parker light toggle switches and the rear glass defrost switch, but we didn't get them as standard. You would need to look on eBay US for the defrost glass switch and in Japan for the parker switches. Fog lamp switches were located on the dashboard where the hazard switch goes. But fog lamps (and the corresponding switches) are extremely (as in rocking horse shit) rare. I would like to wire all these up however someday.

I'm guessing that's the ultimate goal, but word for word I was told.

Well said, I almost want 1 now.

So I got further feedback from customs, the wood box made to contain the panel was not heat treated! Hence the reason for quarantine cleaning costs... Which makes sense as I have heard this before about wooden pallets requiring special treatment. Will hop off the soap box for now..

Odinz - I had my FD RX-7 detailed top to bottom (steam cleaned) before I imported it and it still got held back... I think spending money cleaning on the other side is a waste of time effort and money unfortunately. It seems quarantine is just *random* and you'll get pinged no matter what. In particular higher value items I reckon catch their attention. In this case the 1/4 panel. As you can see it's hardly got anything on it, other than dust...

Small update. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/13751-my-73-240z-from-zimbabwe/?p=195015 I got pinged for quarantine on my pristine NOS panel...but I didn't get pinged for the steel wheels. Feedback I got about protesting this from the freight company was.. Basically lube up... So I'm not even sure getting someone to wash stuff down before sending will make any difference. As that was my main concern. Find out why it was flagged and avoid with future shipments. But no... just an exercise in greasing palms it seems.

I was guessing because of the fact it was N/A and had twin solex/mikuni carbs on it. Pretty sure the FJ24 was built for the 240RS only? But I'm not an expert. http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/10/silvia-240rs-made-for-rally/

No joke mine had been painted internally, but I'm guessing maybe my bonnet wasn't original to the car and perhaps bought as a spare from Nissan at a later stage and maybe they started priming them? Certainly would explain why so little rust.

Talking to a friend at work and he told me he used his Phone camera as a scanner to scan an object and print it. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1762299 He used a lego train track set up in his example, but referred me to this turn table you can use to get all angles of an object. I'm thinking it might be worth trying this out and see how durable the printed versions are.

Well not much to report, but was talking to another fellow at my tafe class who told me about this shrinking disc you can get. It seems like a better method of hot shrinking a panel. and a demo here: I might have to give it a try..

On the topic, and because I've been putting my bonnet back to together, how does the factory spot weld through the primer? I know you can get spot weld primer usually (copper based) but the factory stuff isn't like that. I can post pictures if it helps?

Do it...do it. I don't know of the car anymore than what the ad shows, but if you want me to go look at it I can try and help out?

Nick I just had my NOS 1/4 panel stopped for quarantine... I cannot for the life of me see why I am getting billed $150 for cleaning, here are photos before it was sent. Unless it suddenly took a mud bath on the way over I'm not sure if 'dust' is a threat.. https://goo.gl/photos/L4u3rC8JCNevTX9y8

Thanks for the clarification, but were 8-track's ever big in Australia? I feel like it was never a big format over here? Having not lived through the time though I'm not sure?