gav240z

Just another reason to restore what you got! http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=16057.0

Thanks mate, yeah I want to document this so others can give it a go also. I'm starting here because I have the rare spares slam panel and this is a good way to dip my toes in the water before tackling the floors and other areas like the rear 1/4's. The firewall has a bit of rust also which is a little tricky but the good thing about the slam panel is that it's relatively hidden from view once repaired. Although I'm going to try and make the repair as seamless as possible. Photos are always helpful with these things also.

If I bought a car with these installed it would be the first thing I remove.

Further study for you. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=6077.0 http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,2630.msg169196.html#msg169196 http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=5958.0 http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,2630.msg169150.html#msg169150 http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=5515.0 http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,2630.msg44448.html#msg44448

Nothing girly about a 4 banger. Provided it's the appropriate weight, much rather a lighter chassis and smaller engine (with turbo charging option or similar) in a car with dead sexy good looks that is relatively accessible to the masses than the current 370z. The whole point of the original car was that it was value for money, Nissan has lost that over the years in my opinion. Time to start over. Although I think a straight 6 would be more 'appropriate', but at the same time with current technology probably not necessary.

Isaac the woodchipper is infamous around here. Those listings are all old. I don't think his cars are as good as photos often suggest I'm afraid.

Couple of tips, you put this in the classified wanted section. Probably not a wanted ad. In terms of SEM products, yep I couldn't find them locally either. So you'll have to try a similar product locally there is some good tips in this thread. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/14326-dash-reskin-diy/ May also want to look here. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/3291-centre-console-renovation-diy/ With regard to paying ridiculous prices for products to be shipped here. Welcome to the Banana Republic we call Australia.

So I started on my rear hatch slam panel repair tonight, thought I'd document what I'm doing since I wasn't 100% sure before I started where I needed to unpick this piece. To begin with you'll need to remove the rear tail lights and garnish pieces, should be relatively straight forward to do. Next you'll need to remove the rear hatch rubber seal. Under the seal you'll see some dimples which are the spot welds from factory. The spot weld cutter I use requires a pilot hole drilled first, so I did that on each of the dimples, then switched to the spot weld cutter. Some spot weld cutters are designed to not require a pilot hole be drilled so it will depend on the type you buy. You can see I punched through on a couple of occasions, I wouldn't worry too much about this, underneath my slam panel is actually quite a bit of rust which I wasn't really expecting to find but there you go! Keep going along, you can just see the spot weld cutter I'm using... There is quite a few 'hidden' spot welds near the corners of this panel, best way to find them is actually try lifting the piece. You'll find that the places it won't move after using a chisel and hammer to try and separate them are likely spots where you need to remove the spot welds. A couple of other 'hidden' ones are on the edges right near the 1/4 panel join. Right side Left side after nipping it with the grinder. Using a cutting disc on a grinder I nibbled these spots. The next spot to find, is under the slam panel where the license plate goes. You can see a couple of brackets (3 in total) which are holding it down. This photo shows the spot weld marks, you'll need to un-drill those also. This shot shows all 3. Unfortunately I wasn't able to remove my slam panel yet because my spot weld cutter broke and now I need a new 1, still a couple of spot welds to remove. Underneath is quite rusty I'm afraid so it will be interesting to see how I'll fabricate that lower section. The good news, it appears although my rear hatch was bent and slam panel to some extent, the rest of the rear panel looks untouched, meaning it must have been quite a low impact at the rear and didn't disturb anything further. The lower beaver panel though is quite gone...(but that's another thread).

In Europe and in particular Ireland the tax on cars is based on emissions and engine size. The 350z was mega expensive to insure because of displacement. The rotary was counted as 1.7ltr (who knows how they came to that size) but was before 2008 so wasn't based on emissions. So it was cheap to tax. Skylines, Supra's, 350z, 370z, all had engines over 2.5litres and would therefore be much more expensive to tax. It meant that they became incredibly cheap the older they got. That along with high insurance costs meant that most people didn't want them...

I agree back to basics but not sure why it says 240z is a trendy car not really a sports car? Maybe it was a misprint and he meant 370z?

Yep.

Not exactly a barn find, more like a ZShop find. Got these off Zshop's facebook page a while ago. Mmmm dust... I can tell it's HS30 00150 because of the sunroof, rear view mirror etc.. I do wonder if that's #151 next to it?

No, early S30z's had the D Hub caps (black paint) and these are quite rare now. The later ones had a Z in the middle and were a grey colour like the rear tail light garnish piece and the grille at the front. HS30 0004 is a good example of early car hubcaps. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=13650.0 Later style were on eBay recently. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,3484.msg169202.html#msg169202 Sold for AU $1,020.00 (in NOS condition).

I've seen a few on Yahoo! Auctions, only problem is shipping is expensive. http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h202821469 Other issue is that these are dated around 1970, if you have a 73 you may want them dated around that period? If you're really fastidious that is. Sadly I fall into that category...

Good example of a Japanese market car. http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h202940386 Ouch... I rarely see something complete with minimal rust (that isn't a LHD import).

73 model AU delivered 240z's didn't have indicators in the guards. They had them below the bumper (inside of the overriders). So your car is normal for an AU market 240z.

Yeah it's hard enough buying a classic car when you can inspect in person. It's a whole other job when it's on the other side of the world and you're relying on photos and honest sellers. Hence the independent inspection. With the Safari Gold car I was ready to pull out based on the attitude of the seller, but the car looked so good I thought I'd get an independent inspection and maybe purchase via proxy. But then it became obvious he was hiding that front-end damage. I still think it would have been a good car, but not at the price he wanted. In terms of conversion you don't have to convert to RHD with a car of that vintage, so the way I see it you'd import a car and enjoy it and then maybe in a couple of years spring for the conversion. Collect the RHD bits you need etc.. My thinking is, it's better to buy a relatively rust free car and spend the money converting it than trying to restore a rust bucket. I wouldn't bother importing from the UK, they didn't get many to start with and they salt their roads in winter which destroys cars quickly. In fact they are importing LHD cars specifically for the reasons I've described above. UK cars are also more expensive given rarity. Japan is sort of the same, impossible to find an early S30z these days without spending big money, in fact the Japanese are paying higher prices than here or the US for their cars. Again they have been importing LHD cars because of a lack of good restoration candidates in Japan. Snow and Salt are an issue in parts of Japan also. You can get later S31's often back-dated to look more like early cars but same as buying a 260z 2 seater coupe here really...

Do you mind if the steering wheel is on the LH side? I've been actively looking for candidates to import but the last 71 I was looking at was looking really good until I had it independently inspected and found evidence of a front end smash. Here is photos I was sent. https://plus.google.com/photos/107400787026175995661/albums/6159842276061730017?authkey=CKeMn7OcmI_MQw The guy selling was a massive turkey and deliberately was hiding this info. Here is the indepedent report. The password to the page is: gavindoolan http://expertautoappraisals.com/1971-datsun-240z/ Here is another I was looking at (I think I was emotionally invested in this 1 being an early 240z and originally a 905 red 240z). https://goo.gl/photos/X3jTgANFS9WdbLXb6 This 1 was cheaper as it has some surface rust and probably a bit more in a few places but had been repaired to a "driver" standard. You can see before photos (before rust repair) in the gallery. This was significantly cheaper than the first car above. But more importantly didn't appear to have been in a massive stack at some point. I also felt it was a little more 'honest'. But the fresh repaint was a bit questionable. However the before photos shows it was mostly the dogleg in question. and this 1 I found yesterday on Craigslist http://saccyclone.imgur.com/ But it's already sold... http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5064856926.html Not surprised...

Thanks George, I may end up buying 2, but will wait to see if anyone wants to take the last set.

Hey Dave, What are you using on the dashboard to fill the cracks? Expanding foam? I guess you're using truck bed liner spray or that SEM textured finish for the top? I should experiment with this also.

mmmm rusty.. But at least not melted I guess...Would take a bit of work to make this good again.

I'm curious what it sold for...

Hey Lurcho's can you let me know what a change over would cost. If I was to supply 260z 2 seated box and 280zx 5 speed box. 260z box has dodgy 2nd gear syncro and 280zx box is just a bit sloppy. Mmmm sloppy. Feel free to PM details.

With regard to the plastic panel. You can undo the rear hatch strut bracket which will help you remove it without damage. Just go slowly and don't rush no matter how frustrating it is. It is not the easiest panel to get in and out of the car. Almost all of them are cracked or broken now also. So take your time.

Problem is shipping people hate sending outside of US Ayyyyy