gav240z

When you say rough are the skins or the shell rough? Skins can be replaced, shells are harder to repair.

Not sure if similar? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DATSUN-240Z-CONSOLE-SWITCH-/201316777945

Have you tried phoning this guy? http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mulgrave/cars-vans-utes/1971-datsun-240z-coupe/1073735893

You and every tom dick and harry, have you seen prices on early genuine rotary coupe's these days? 20K buys you a rust bucket R100. I'm afraid the days of finding a 2 seater project that cheap are becoming somewhat limited, but not impossible. You need to rely on other methods than just browsing the internet to find such bargains. Follow up on leads, word of mouth, phone around etc.. Find a car that isn't quite for sale but has been sitting a while and wave some cash under the owners nose etc.. Be creative. Agreed, any S30z is going to need work, it's just different degrees of work. You can find plenty to do on a decent 20K 240z. You're always always always better off buying the best car you can afford. You quickly spend a lot of money on a basket case with very little to show for it. At this stage the only basket cases (really rusty cars) worth pouring money into are very early 240z's, that might change later (give it another 5-10 years) with 260z's etc.. but you can't go wrong investing in an early S30z. That's a project for a highly skilled individual, even if his father is a mechanical engineer. +1 - Although just today I saw a relatively decent 2 seater 260z in quite original shape around 7.5k - Which wasn't a total basket case, so they are still out there. But this car isn't advertised on the "Internets". Where they disappear after 2 hours. Save 10-15k for a car that isn't a total basket case. You may find something suitable on a lower budget or you might need to stretch to get something a little bit better than that. Porsche's of the same era are mega money now, in my opinion these cars were far more interesting and exciting but I would say that wouldn't I? 16 years of S30z ownership and a irrational passion for them I can't seem to ignore. God knows my wallet would be better for it too! At least I'm not an alcoholic or gambler I keep telling myself, although I sometimes think that might be cheaper. FOMO right? (Fear of missing out), that's kinda driving the Real Estate market at the moment, I know the feeling house prices in Sydney are crazy and I'm just sitting back watching it in disbelief, but it's this global currency war of race to the bottom interest rates it's pushing assets (inc. classic cars) to stratosphere levels. Don't worry though there will always be someone who's given up on a project no matter how worthwhile it is to do. Don't rush in and buy something because you're scared of missing out. You'll know a good deal when it presents itself and be able to make the right decision. A good rule of thumb is that a great deal always shows up just after you've bought a car already, it ALWAYS happens. No matter how good a deal you get. I'm starting to see 2+2 prices going up, rightly so as they are underrated. Same car for very little money just a slightly funny roof line. . Most don't notice until after they bought it though...hehe.

All panels on a 2+2 from the windscreen back are not compatible with a 2 seater. That includes interior panels.

I believe there is an additional glove placement on the JDM cars that is used for the parkers. I don't think they are fitted to our cars, it has a block off plate. Would need a photo of the rear light housing to show you what I mean. *Edit look here: On the right hand side in between the 2 bulb holders is a smaller circular block off tab. That's where the parker switch is usually connected to a globe I believe. If you look at the way USDM S30z rear lights work you'll see they don't look like they light up fully.

Gotta be quick around here. The seagulls are aggressive.

Is this what happens in Adelaide? Must move there. Some nice old school jtin love the early rotors. Disappointed not more of Safari Gold . Good to see an early Silvia.

Nice work on the will rust repairs. I lime the welding blankets also. . I'd have thought you would need to use bracing before removing the sills or is it ok if the rest of the stru tire is there to hold it in place?

That's mostly surface rust, the A-pillar (dashboard) photo is unfortunately likely to be rusty on the other side (which you can't access) and probably worse than what you see there. The floor and sill areas look pretty mild, if you rip up the sound deadening and then properly POR-15 it or equivalent product that should take care of it. You may find some pin hole rust, but a MIG welder even in the hands of an amateur would zap that up pretty easily. None of those areas are seen by anyone but you, invest the money in a manual conversion and enjoy the car. Don't worry about that stuff unless you really want it perfect but I'd save some cash and once you've sorted out other areas of the car and you're ready to pull it off the road do full restoration then. I'm sure most owners are looking at that rust and thinking that's nothing...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Datsun-120y-fastback-coupe-AMAZING-jap-for-nissan-1200-240z-enthusiasts-/161638050266 Current bid:AU $4,550.00 5 hours to go. Reserve not met.

Hey Benny, I agree and I'm currently looking at solutions that involve dipping the hatch in a rust converting, neutralizing bath etc.. I don't know a whole lot about this process yet! But I just read this. http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&title=Dip-and-Strip&A=111165 and found this - which I'll read later. http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/paint-body/hrdp-0901-rust-removal-guide/ The good thing about dipping is getting into areas you wouldn't usually be able to access without cutting / removing more bits of metal etc.. For example inside the frame is another bracket (where the lock mechanism / latch part bolts to) and I can't easily treat under this in a conventional way. Dipping and then dipping in a rust proofing type material will hopefully take care of those areas. I'll be sure to update this thread on what I find and how it goes. I generally don't see S30z hatches rusting at the top (Unless you own HS30 00019 sorry George can't help myself) and it's been sat in a field for many years. It's usually the lower areas where moisture and water gets trapped that rot out. I agree though last thing I want is for rust to re-appear anytime soon. I'll also be restoring the bonnet next which I've already separated frame from skin but there are bits of the frame spot welded together that I can't get in between easily without separating them and so this process will be handy for many other areas on the S30z I'd imagine.

George replied whilst I was still typing, but my red 72 240z fits into the 'original' car with some degree of rust and still on the road and being enjoyed. As much as I'm tempted to make it perfect I'm glad I can drive it and enjoy it as is for now. I've got another car for the long term project. So the solution is to buy another 240z .

In my opinion once the panels come off it's a slippery slope. If the car is garaged rust shouldn't progress much more over the next couple of years. My red 72 240z has a couple of bubbles mainly in the door skins and 1 near the fuel flap. That haven't got worse really since I've had the car (2002 ish?) and it's been garaged most of that time. Reason I haven't taken care of it are: a.) I was worried I'd mess it up - hence I bought another car to practice on lol.... b.) If I repaint the doors, the bonnet paint job is bad so I may as well paint that, then I may as well take care of the rust near the fuel flap, and I may as well take care of the paint chips in other places, what the heck let's just paint the whole thing again etc.. but should I sandblast it or just go over the existing paint...? The list goes on... Hence I just work on other aspects like interior, engine, etc.. and at some point when I'm happy with the mechanical side of it and the rest of the car I'll take care of the body work properly. You might also (depending on your interests etc..) want to consider enrolling in a local Tafe class to learn how to weld, do some body work etc.. You can even learn to paint your own car. All at your own pace etc.

How do you like the noise out of it?

Oh and 1 thing that wasn't obvious is that the inner frame had some weird damage to it. In that it was slightly bent on the underside. I don't have photos of this but on 1 side it was a concave sort of shape where as it should have been a smooth flat piece. The best photo where you can see this is here. Top left of the photo near the hole you can see the light refracts a bit funny, removing the top skin gave me access to the other side to hammer and dolly it back straight, which as you can imagine may have had some impact on the alignment of the rear hatch also, since it may 'pull' the skin inward (which in fairness someone might have whacked it here to try and align it on another car in the past?) either way it's back to how it should be... But as I say not something easy to photograph...

Minor update... So now that I've cut the original lower section of the hatch skin off (see photo below) it's time to do some treatment of the surface rust and rust holes in the frame. They are only small... But first 1 thing I need to replicate is a brace that sits on the underside of the skin. This is behind the keyhole about mid way down the hatch. There is 2 spot welds on the top where the rear window goes but the rest is glued in place. Getting the old glue off was a pain in the butt and you can see the tools I used to help with this. I expected to find lots of surface rust under here, but to my surprise there was bare metal underneath in relatively good shape, around the key hole moisture had got in and there was light surface rust. I guess the good news is that the glue keeps most of the moisture out and so most S30z's shoudn't rust here, the bad news is the factory never primed the metal underneath.. so you take your chances if you don't attend to this section. Once I removed the old piece, I then hammered it back into shape. Checked to see if it aligned with my keyhole scribe marks on the fabricated panel (it did) and then created a new 1, pretty simple to fabricate but no picture of it yet. I sandblasted inside the hatch frame and found a few holes, I managed to patch them up with the oxy welder (no pics yet) but need to tidy up the welds with a finger sander / linisher and then check for any pin holes etc.. It looks like the hatch had at least a couple of repair attempts in the past as there was evidence of a couple of welds on each side. A somewhat proper repair, where as the bog must have come later . Before re-attaching the new fabricated skin it's likely i'll get the rear hatch frame dipped and treated for surface rust and then apply rust proof paint and epoxy primer etc..

Lower section just as FYI: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/SBC1C02/30-7240

I've got a Cigweld 130AMP Mig (from memory) and it should be enough to weld it up I'd imagine, but you could always use an ARC welder if you really wanted to be 100% sure?

If it's not too much trouble I'm curious where all the spot welds on the roof are, so far I'm aware that under the windscreen (leading edge), along the sides in the rain gutters? But around the rear I'm not sure? I know you have to cut at the 1/4 panels where the lead join is, but what about elsewhere? With regard to the rear beaver panel, are you fabricating the lower section or that whole piece where the tail lights goes also? I imagine the tail light section would be quite a bit of work to get right. Where as the beaver panel should be relatively speaking provided you've got access a roller / english wheel? Just asking cause my beaver panel is shagged, but I think you can order that section from MSA.

You ripped that roof turret off quick, shame you didn't take more photos of the process and where all the spot welds are, that rear beaver panel area looks shagged. Do you have another piece or was it bent bad?

No no no my good sir you misunderstand these are not rust free S30z's, they are 240z's with free rust! It makes me wonder how many are really properly taken care of in terms of rust. For example here is my rear hatch that just tonight I separated the skin from the frame in the lower section. Now I don't know how long this hatch has been off the road, but imagine it was in use over the last 15 years and driven in the rain or.. it was sitting in a paddock for the last 20 years? There wouldn't be much left. It's actually not too bad considering, there is a few areas where it will require some welding up of pin-holes etc.. The bottom half was always going to be worse than the top part but as you can see there is light surface rust inside, other parts of the hatch are likely the same (inside). I'll probably get this hatch dipped before welding it all up and putting the new bottom section we fabricated up. If you don't do this though, there is a strong possiblity the rust will return and ruin your nice paint. My advice when buying a restored 240z/260z body wise it's good to know how long ago it was restored so you can gauge how well that restoration is holding up now. If it's been several years and it's still solid chances are it was done well, unless it was never driven and always hidden in a garage. If you're not sure how long you'll keep the car once it's complete then finding a good car to start with will make sense, if you plan to keep it for many years, perhaps forever. Do it right, do it properly and spend the money to get it correct first time around.

I want a perfect body... I want a perfect soul... At 1:31 There has been 1 or 2 rust free shells recently for around 5-8k but often not with other panels, doors, interior parts etc.. Basically a bare shell..

In most cases yes. The cost of tools is a big factor if you don't have access to this stuff already.

2 x 240z for sale at $6,500 http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mulgrave/cars-vans-utes/1971-datsun-240z-coupe/1073735893 No photos Be quick boys, this won't last.