gav240z

That may be true, the seat rail supports looked green in your photos but that may be normal (I'm not always 100% on the finer details of later S30z's, especially 2+2s). The rear tail light area was a burgundy red like colour and that was a factory 260z colour. If I was your financial planner I'd say you're nuts, as an S30z enthusiast it depends how you view that investment. As an investment in fun the S30z is possibly 1 of the best classic cars out there for the price. I'm biased of course. Restored 2+2s tend to struggle at higher prices to sell. However they are too becoming more and more rare and if you own the car for say 5-10 years it may not be a bad investment from a "get your money back perspective". However 25-30K will buy you an excellent restored car (2+2) and could be worth waiting out for. The majority of people though prefer the 2 seaters over the 2+2s which has always kept 2+2 values somewhat muted...

Only the 2+2 had 4 seats hence the math equation . The dog leg might be tricky to check because if it's bogged up it will look ok on the outside but once you strip it back you may find bog instead of welded in metal repairs. You can look at it from inside the rear wheel and look at the lower area there to see how solid it is, push it with your finger down around that area and see if it's solid or if it crumbles with rust. Also check underneath the car and feel behind it, give it a squeeze, the trained eye can usually tell if paint looks odd in certain areas but failing that a fridge magnet on the area that doesn't stick may indicate no metal behind the paint. Car detailers have paint depth gauges that can also reveal potential bog. Take as many photos as you can and come back to Sydney on your return flight and have a think about the car when your not over there and excited about it. I think at this stage you still don't know enough about the cars to make a really informed decision on the purchase but.. I realise I sound like a Debbie Downer also. $15k is quite a bit for a 2+2 that needs rust repair work. Possibly extensive...

Honestly your expectations and reality of what you'll likely find on a car like this if you tear it down for a full repaint seem to be quite far apart. I don't know what a "huge amount" is to you but you could easily spend $10-$20k on the body work of an S30z restoration alone. Depending on who does the work and how much you do yourself + how extensive the rust is. If I had known what I was up against when buying my S30z's in the beginning I may never have bought them, so I hesitate to be fully honest with what may lie ahead of you, sometimes ignorance is bliss. If you expect to find a lot more rust, you'll be pleased if you find less when you do go to make her immaculate but if you expect to find only rust in the areas you know about then you're going to be heart broken when you discover botched repairs here and there from previous owners. Current prices of 260z's lag behind 240z's and make them less viable for dumping large amounts of coin into restorations. You would do it for the love of the car, not return on capital outlay. It all comes down to what you pay for it, what you want to spend on it and if you want to spend the time and effort getting it right, vs buying an already restored example. Which is getting harder to find at prices below $30k these days.

What is the asking price of the car? Is it a 260z 2 seater or 2+2? It looks like it was originally green and not metallic red the current colour. So anything can be hiding under previous paint work (not to say it's bad, just that you don't know what prep work went into the current paint). Radiator support looks like it will be worse than anticipated, lower radiator support may be rotten inside judging by radiator photos and can be expensive to repair. Getting hard to find a good replacement for a 260z (240z and 260z radiator supports are different and can vary even by year!). Lower sill rust bubble could mean more trouble in lower dog legs and sills. The rubber bung above it is not standard so could be there due to previous rust preventative coatings being applied and squirted into the area? Photos of floors are hard to judge, usually a thick hardened sound deadener is lying on top of the floors and only when you lift it up do you find the true extent of the damage. The debris and crap in 1 of the floor photos suggests possible problems with rust holes in the floor, not sure if you got a look underneath? Depends on how bad it is as to weather or not you'll need to replace them entirely or be able to get away with patching only? Surface rust near tail lights isn't too bad but could be indicative of problems under the rear beaver panel. Although mostly looks like surface rust from the photo. You really need to remove battery from tray to see under it, feel under it in the wheel arch area and knock it with your hand to see if it's solid. You can't tell from the photo supplied... Quarter window rust isn't an issue, cheap to replace...But often when removing them you find rust in that area in the body itself... How was the rear slam panel in the hatch area? The tail gate did it have rust in the bottom of it? Look underneath? Doors? Dog legs are almost always gone...

Hey Mick, Do you still want this? Turns out that it is a TOPY steel wheel but it's not the S30z style. S30z style looks like this: The wheel I got off Alan is a 14Jx5 4 stud TOPY allow but has circular spokes in this style. (not photo of actual wheel - just an example). If you still want it as a spare wheel let me know? I don't want much for it..

I quite like the look of the KBS rust seal finish, do you hand brush it on? How is it applied?

This was EPIC.

Well I finally saw it in person .

Call Ashley at Moorabbin Auto Spares he had a couple of these laying around or at least the center part. He is still sorting through a lot of stuff so it's a bit hard to find stuff at the moment. I was down there recently.

PM sent re: Ashtray

I can second this point, some quotes from different companies DO NOT include all the fees at both ends. They will simply give you the shipping quote, then you're on your own once the car arrives at Port. This can make their quote look cheaper than others but in the end cost you significantly more! The good thing about Iron Chef is that they give you a break down of each cost and the total cost to get on the road here. So you know pretty much exactly what it will cost. I did a lot of research on this when I shipping my RX-7 from Ireland back to Australia and it was the transparency of Iron Chef that made me choose them (along with a lot of positive feedback from others). I would definitely use them again, and was going to when I looked at buying an S30z from the US of A a while back. That car however turned out to be different than described so I never imported it. Good luck.

260z gauges have a different mounting mechanism to the dashboard, and the plug is different but otherwise probably very similar to late 240z gauges. Except for the km/h speedo, all 240z's had MPH in this country. Is the center console and ash tray + fuse box lid only for sale as a complete unit or willing to sell separate? How is the ashtray? Any cracks / damage to the lid or surround? I find these are often repaired / damaged in some small way.

Do want! http://www.fairladyz-collection.jp/ Note the Topy Steel Wheels lol...

I haven't removed the glass yet, once removed it's easier to break it. So I don't plan on removing for a while yet.

Hi, I highly recommend Iron Chef, give Kristian a call, rather than email. He will give you the run down. Although usually deals with importing to Australia from UK, US and Japan, I'm sure he will know how to do it from NZ. http://www.ironchefimports.com/ His contact phone is on this page. http://www.ironladyimports.com/contact-us/ Did you buy a blue 2 seater ZX that was on TradeMe.co.nz?

I've actually seen more than 1 thickness of rear glass... Not sure if thicker is earlier or later? I would assume earlier..

Yeah I was shocked and very upset to hear about this, I've been a big Bowie fan for quite a few years now. He is a major influence, I haven't been playing much guitar lately, but when I was I used to like playing a lot of his songs. Especially some of the more obscure stuff... For some reason this song is in my head. There was also a good cover that featured on the Starship Troopers film. (Zoe Poledouris - I have Not Been To Paradise) I suspect his music is far more influential than most realise, David Bowie songs are featured in so many places and he used to work closely with Brian Eno, who's music is in many places if you know where to look. I'm really sad, because he was such a creative soul and after seeing The Rolling Stones last year, I was really hoping I'd get a chance to see Bowie live. You just don't know when it won't be possible. Sadly it will never be possible for me to see him live now. I have quite a few DVDs of his concerts and probably my favorite is the raw footage from his last show as the Spiders from Mars. http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Bowie-Ziggy-Stardust-Spiders/dp/B00008AWUV I'm pretty sure it was at Hammersmith... If only I could have been there...My g/f says I've got an old soul because I like old things like old music, cars etc.. She's probably right. All the young dudes, carry the news.

I think if you have serious OCD with your cars, buying a vintage car is going to be tough! You're either going to spend a fortune or never be quite happy with it. It could however be a good thing for you, as you may start to appreciate a bit of patina and wear and tear. For me patina and wear is something I've slowly started to enjoy, it shows something is used and loved and has history. That's not to say I don't appreciate them fully restored etc.. but there is something nice about the wear and tear also. My 72 240z is not perfect, far from it. But I got it out when I was in Melbourne over Christmas and it doesn't matter if it's perfect or not. It managed to turn a lot of heads. I actually miss being able to drive it already. What I like most about these old cars is how simple they are to work on. Everything is within easy access and the satisfaction of fixing things is a big part of enjoying the ownership in my opinion.

Yeah when the plastic areas look rusty.... I'm generally of the opinion most stuff is worth saving at this point, but I would run a mile from this car... http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/1924-cars-for-sale-3rd-party-sites-ebay-carsales-etc/?p=166035 Generally I'm not looking at 1 particular area that would make me avoid the entire car, rather i'm looking at the vehicle overall for the overall feeling I get about how rusty it is, is there other areas that look like they could have heavy corrosion? Or is it isolated to 1 section, the more places I find rust or evidence of it, the more I'd be worried. However I'm far more wary of accident damage, especially severe accident damage. As that can take far more skill to correct. I think you should buy any S30z with rust like this as an indication that it could be the tip of the Iceberg. As we have seen many many times over on this forum, often what starts as a little rust turns into a mountain of Iron Ore dust once the car is stripped back. So prepare for worst case scenario when buying.

They pretty much rust everywhere, I'm always surprised that no 2 S30z's have rust in the same places. Every so often I find a Z has rust in a place I haven't yet seen them rust in, but again that's not a surprise. If a car has been kept in a moist, damp environment or left outdoors for a long time, that just causes even more headaches. Sandblasting such cars has been known to make many owners cry themselves to sleep.

So this appeared on Yahoo! Auctions and was subsequently removed just as quick as it appeared. I was watching it, it had 1 bid at 100,000 yen but was ended. After missing out on the replica I was kind of disappointed and thought the legit/original item would be a good score, especially with a bit of patina to it. http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e176815775 Attached photos for future reference.

These cars rust from the inside out, so I'd be more worried about the areas you can't see than the ones that stand out like this.

It looks like a relatively honest car, so should make a great restoration candidate. My first 73 240z was also 918 orange I just found the engine number the other day L24 175807, so it looks like my 73 was later than this car. If you find out what the Australian compliance date was, please let me know? Edit looking at the S30z register details. http://www.wazregister.com/index.php?title=View_ANZIS30_Register Warren's old 240z. (Sadly Warren is now deceased). HS30-102195 had L24-165894 (Jake's car, is that you D3C0y?) HS30-102599 had L24-178126 So it's likely my old 73 240z was complied in June/July 1973.

I'm sure there was a discussion about this previously in 1 of your threads, where do you vent it? Just read this myself. http://oppositelock.kinja.com/ditch-that-pcv-system-before-it-is-too-late-1634156554

Yahoo! Auction seller: Kp47Works http://user.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/show/aboutme?userID=kp47works Tends to have rare Nissan OEM stuff, more so for Skylines than S30z's but has some S30z parts also. http://sellinglist.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/user/kp47works *Edit, feedback on dealing with this seller can be read here. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/9068-z432-rims-on-yaj/?p=105761