gilltech

Gav if you should come across a single, then I'd be interested if it's tidy, I have 3 OK-ish & a 4th that is poor.

Thanks dat2kman, have sent you a PM & will swing by whenever best suits you. Yes best to compare strut to strut, AFAIK there are just the two versions.

dat2kman, are we talking 50mm OD for your 240 struts? Sorry if I've misread the photo Z.

I presume by 'various gauges' you mean the console switches & lamps, $20 ea. I'd like a defogger switch please, looks like you have 3.

I'm betting it's 110 reddy/orange, same as mine. Have seen lots of '73s & '74s in this colour, my personal favourite. 918 is more orange.

Yes you need to post pictures but even then without seeing the car in the flesh & poking around it's hard to pin down a value as there are always lots of variables. At present it's a project car with a pile of uninstalled bits some usable some not & so the value is well down compared to a complete driveable car, & you're competing with other vehicles in the same situation of which there always seems to be a number of project 2+2s up for sale. It's a great pity that you find yourself forced to sell & aren't in a position to finish it. In situations like this very often the project owes the vendor a fair bit more than can be retrieved, it's an inconvenient truth & fact of life. So my advice is to assemble as much of it as you can before you advertise it as an unfinished project & then it will present a lot better & put fewer people - the ones who are not so handy with DIY, anyway - off. Am looking forward to seeing pictures, IMO they look good in white.

Looks great, yes far too good to race..... I like your choice of colour, whose blue is that, Nissan or other?

That's only true if one wishes to sell & quit out of Zed ownership entirely with the possibility of not being able to buy in again later. No I don't want Zed prices to keep climbing as it means I can't now afford a tidy second one as I had originally hoped as my earnings haven't kept up, plus prices for parts are getting pushed higher & higher too. The reason I compare 2016 to 2006 is because I reckon Zed prices increased about 50% from 2006 to 2011 then almost doubled in the next five years, the 2009-2012 GFC slump in classic car prices didn't seem to make much impact on Zed values IMO. But good luck with your search, & be prepared to move fast.

Exactly what people here are saying, you're not willing to pay that price based on previous experience some years ago, yet it sold quickly because someone else was prepared to jump in. And so the cycle of looking for a car or project at yesterday's value continues endlessly while prices steadily creep ever upwards due to the rules of supply and demand. It's 2016, not 2006.

Righto, well could I have 2nd option on your 240 fr struts then please Jason.

Hi Z, your front stubs are the later shorter/larger diameter 55mm? ones, usable except then I'd have to get different inserts & springs so I'd be better to wait for a set of the earlier ones, which IIRC are about 50mm. Cheers, John

dat2kman, I'd be interested in the inertia belts if Knight240Z isn't or, as I suspect will happen, will be required to install modern ADR compliant inertia belts.

Well query the seatbelt issue, all depends on what the VIC rules are with respect to cut-off dates for various safety components, but sometimes rules can be interpreted different ways by different inspectors so it would be worth double-checking. However, modern inertia seatbelts have got to be a big safety improvement on the old 3-piece belts. As an inspector pointed out to me one time, the old belts have a large amount of metal placed against one's hip & guts which wouldn't be a great idea in a crash. Also, I found with mine the sash buckle tended to come unclipped quite easily, which didn't inspire any confidence in them. If you must upgrade the belts then pack the old ones away for keeps don't lose them or get rid of them.

FFS, there's approx 150 cars - all Zeds? - sitting outside, let alone what's under cover & inside. A shrine indeed.

Hey Z, nice to hear from you! yes am interested in spares if they're the taller/skinnier version similar to 240, my 260 being an early '74.

AFAIK you'll have to either cannibalize some from another panel off some car or other, or make some.

I can concur with d3C0y's frustration. It was only a few weeks ago when someone with (IIRC) a 2K budget posted a wanted ad for a Zed project, but also said he didn't have the extra coin for a towie to collect it or something along those lines, so how he ever thought he could afford to restore a car to any on-the-road condition heaven only knows. I've twice spent 36-40K restoring a Mustang, between one & two decades ago, & that's doing most work myself with my own time worth zero. And it's much easier & somewhat cheaper obtaining Mustang parts than for our S30s. Today's costs? Probably add 50% to those figures today at a very rough guess. So the restoration cost numbers that forum members quote to try & help & forewarn these hopefuls are very realistic, so these hopefuls should take notice. I think the regular forum members on here are extraordinarily patient.

dat2kman, if the door glass sale falls through I'll take them both, & can collect. Is the windscreen an original, or replacement? The original had a slight bluish tint, local replacement generally clear. [bTW I think 240 rear hatch glass is thinner than 260 glass, slight weight saving there....]

No the earlier 260 frame is more like, or might be the same as, the 240. Later cars had the bottom member set lower, but I don't know when the change was made.

So is the car not under cover now? If it's now outside even with a top end car cover it's going to deteriorate far more & even faster. And even if you get the body shell repaired to a high standard now, with all the panels on, weatherstripping fitted & glass in, you can't leave it to sit outside or you'll find yourself having to re-do parts of it down the track. I agree with Brabham's advice above.

Just use generic foam strips, as Jason says though to make sure they really are a closed cell type. That's all the originals were, narrow foam strips & pads; typically they have long crumbled away with time. FWIW I used some - supposedly - closed cell foam weather strips that I bought from a major hardware outlet, to seal my garage door against rain intrusion. They're not completely closed cell though, a decent enough storm & they will take up water. So I'll be checking soon to see what Clarkes stock.

My '74 has a single ring earth bolted to the brake distribution block. Plus another to the back of the alternator. Nothing whatsoever at the coil end of the loom. Wiring loom is original, never been removed. Sounds like a PO add-on to me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've seen in NZ & IIRC Australia too, 240Zs & early 260Zs (including my own '74) without factory fitted A/C had single sheave pulleys. And I've noted two different diameters (& therefore weights) of single sheave pulleys on engines I've owned. These pulleys are heavy, would cost a small fortune to post one to Canada.

Having seen rusty/damaged front rails replaced on a couple of classic cars I would expect up to a day & a half's work for each side, for a meticulous removal of the old rusty rails, followed by some inevitable associated rust repairs & clean up of the apron panels & strut towers; then install new rails with inevitable trimming & fettling to get them to fit & tidy welding into place to closely replicate the factory finish. Then clean up of the area, priming & painting & making good. Taking measurements all along to ensure it all goes in square. So, if three days, at $100 / hr = $2,400, plus good quality consumables; for a professional repair shop to me 3 grand doesn't seem too far fetched. Sorry, but I can't see a grand doing it, quality work takes time. But, shop around.

These are getting hard to find in good condition. They are a push-on, but the plastic 'fingers' on the inside often eventually break rendering the cap useless as they just fall off. The later style ones from the 280ZX which have metal fingers & clip into the open end of the wheel's centre are a far better design. The 2nd pic you have there shows how most of these caps appear today - bare chrome plastic with white 'Z', whereas there is supposed to be an iridescent blue paint insert surrounding the embossed 'Z'; however, the blue seems to deteriorate & fall away over time.