Newbie needs pre-purch advice

[Arne]

Greetings, folks. I've been subscribed to this forum for a while as I look for an early Z to restore, and now I need some advice. My wife and I would prefer to restore a 240, but I've come across a early (smaller bumper) 260 that seems like a viable candidate.

Some background - this will not be my first major restoration. One of my previous projects was a ground-up on a '67 MGB, so I'm quite familiar with rust and SUs. But I know my limits, I'm a much better mechanic and upholstery person than I am a body and paint man. So I have to pay others to do my body and paint work. This means that I generally try to buy projects that have bodies that are as solid and straight as possible. Mechanically they can be totally worn out, I can deal with that myself.

So here's what I found - a '74 260Z, root beer brown with an automatic (easily swapped to 4 or 5 speed, I know). Remarkably straight (the nose of the hood isn't even bent) other than the driver's door, which will likely need to be skinned or maybe replaced. Initial inspection shows it to have very minimal rust (not totally unusual around here, we don't use road salt). The flat-tops are gone, it has dual down draft Webers on it. Other than the Webers and slot mags, it's pretty much stock.

So it's a 260, not a 240. Is this a bad thing? Since it has the Webers already? (I'd rather have early round tops, but if it runs well when done I could live with the Webers.) I did all my book research on 240s, are there any hidden issues that I need to look for on a 260 that are different from a 240? We would prefer the 240 bumpers, as while these are still small and chrome, they do protrude a bit. But a trick that some of the old BMW owners used to do on 2002s and 320i's was to drain the oil out of the bumper shocks and collapse them permanently - anybody tried that on the 260 bumpers? Or will the early 240 bumpers fit the early 260s? (I've found surprisingly little hard info on the web about Z-car bumper swaps - is that because it can't easily be done?)

I'm certain that a lot of this has been beat to death on this forum in the past, if so I'm sorry to have to bring it up again just because I'm new. Feel free to reply to me directly via PM if you don't want to clutter the forum. Thanks for any info you can share on this.

[LanceM]

240/260's are about the same car except for the bumpers. I can't say for absolute sure but early 240 bumpers probably could be made to fit, I think people are swapping them on 280's. Collapsing the bumper shocks is also an option.

Major concern in any Z is rust, check the floor pans under the carpet and the frame rails. do a search on rust and there are bound to be pics showing what to watch for.

Nothing wrong with a 260, just sort of a bastard child between the 240 and the 280 being built for only one year. Besides the bumpers and the larger engine I'm not sure that there is any other differances that matter between it and a 73 240.

[DatsunZsRule]

One of the biggest and most important differences I can think of between an early 240Z and a 260Z is the carbs. 260Z's unfortunately had the diseased Emission carbs but as you mentioned, that problem has been taken care of by the previous owner by installing the webers so it sounds likea good find to me. Congrats

As far as the bigger bumpers go, thats kind of a personal opinion. I myself actually like both. I have a 280Z as you can see under my name with the original bumpers and I would never consider removing them. #1 I love to keep my Z ORIGINAL and secondly, Datsun put the bigger, thicker bumpers on the later 1st generation Z's for a reason. To protect there fragile noses But like I said, It's a personal opinion.

Best of luck and enjoy your new project Z Car

[Mr Camouflage]

Datsun put the bigger, thicker bumpers on the later 1st generation Z's for a reason. To protect there fragile noses

Nope. Completely wrong.

Datsun only fitted those ugly bumpers to meet US Law. The US government made them do it.

All other countrys got the nice bumpers.

Same with the RA28 celicas, even 80's lambo contaches, You dont actuallly think the italians designed them with such ugly square bumpers do you?

[hls30.com]

Welcome!

There are no dampers on the early (thin) bumpers, they are mounted with samped steel brackets, to bring the bumper closer to the body, use(and modify) 70-72 brackets(the brackets were elongated in '73).

Just remember any little nudge, parking indiscression, or doofus behind the wheel will impart paint and sheetmetal repair-not to mention bumper damage-the thin bumpers are light and beautiful, but they really don't offer any protection to speak of.

Will

[Arne]

Still waffling - I haven't bought it yet. Since I'm still paying for my son's college, my project budget is tight. Certainly not too tight to buy the car or start mechanical work, but tight enough that I wouldn't be able to take care of the body and paint any time soon. If the car was just a touch better in the paint department, I'd probably already have it in my driveway. I may pass on this one, hoping to find one with better body and paint even if I have to pay more up front.

Anyone know of a 240 or 260 in or near Oregon that is solid, acceptable paint, but totally worn out otherwise? That would be my ideal project!

[DatsunZsRule]

"Nope. Completely wrong.

Datsun only fitted those ugly bumpers to meet US Law. The US government made them do it."

Doesn't matter to me wheather Datsun was forced to or not. The point is they are on there for a reason and a damn good reason and I personally like the looks of them as much as the thinner, earlier ones. A neighbor of mine even made the comment to me when he was in my garage "They sure don't make quality bumpers on cars like this anymore. I laughed and said yeah, isn't that the truth

[Arne]

Just to update, I've pretty much decided to pass on the 260, it's just not in good enough condition for the asking price. The search goes on.

[echoracer]

In '73 Datsun bit off more than they could chew... too many new innovations on one model change.

Only a couple of months into '73 Datsun was getting so many 260's being returned to the dealers that Datsun decided to just tool up the 240 assembly line again and produce 240's marked as 260's... If you run the VIN you can find out if it's a "real" 260 or a "73 240"

My advice to collectors is: if full restoration for investment is your goal than a "true 260" is worth more to 'niche' collectors (kinda like the '64 & 1/2 Mustang) but only in full restoration condition, otherwise any 240 '70-'72 is where the real fun & performence is...

I hope this helps....

Evan