I just bought a 1973 240Z and just registered here. Its a restoration project car. Years ago I owned a 1971 Z and loved it. I swear I'm not having a mid-life crisis I know the 240Z's fairly well as I did a lot of work on my first 240Z. (including rebuilding the engine personally). I loved the way my old Z drove and have been waiting for a few years now until my financial situation improved to buy another one. In a few weeks I will begin the restoration process. I have been reading the forum threads here as others have posted their restoration experiences and I will do the same. I intend to keep this Z for a while so I will be puting some time, money, sweat and tears into it. I am hopefull this will be a rewarding experience, if not too much fun.

AggieZ

welcome to site hope u can find everything u need anyways hope u have years of fun with your z

Since I dont have a digital camera atm, I'm gonna link the sale site which has pics. The seller was honest about minimal rust (except for the floor boards which I expected anyway, and my first 240Z had worse floorboards back in the mid 80's) It ran rough but not terrible. The tach does not work. I drove it at 55 mph and it was straight as an arrow without any vibration. It has a 5speed which surprised me. I plan on striping this down to the metal inside and out and I will have to replace both front fenders and the cowl. I think the cancer is not too deep. The seller did throw in a new drivers side door, headers, an extra set of carbs, and a right side fender. All in all, it was a fair deal and im happy I have taken the plunge. :nervous: and :laugh:

http://houston.craigslist.org/car/489810471.html

The funny thing was... about the tach... I didnt need it. Driving this car was like ol' hat. Above 2200 rpm, the roughness smoothed out and could hear it starting (albiet roughly) starting to purr. The 5 speed was a little different and a little tighter than the original 4speed, which of course I liked. I didnt need the tach... I knew the rpm by listening. Just ol' memories comming back. I'm certain of it. I'm glad I bought this car.

Welcome aboard! You have certainly found the right place to be if you are looking at doing restoration work. There is a wealth of knowledge here to support you. Consider investing in a digital camera as a part of your restoration equipment. You'll really enjoy the before & after pictures, and the most valuable use will be taking pictures of things so that you will be reminded how they go back together. (We like pictures here, too!)

I think the best part will be the horror of uncovering the worst problems and fixing them. Does that make me twisted? I think that will be the best part.

I intend to push this metal to the very edge of its ability.

Ok maybe thats a bit over the top. maybe

Question:

Is there a dedicated sub-forum to restorations?

(if not, maybe there should be. if not, maybe time to start one?)

Seek and yee shall find. Lots of stuff here and also check Zhome.com or Ultimate Z car link page.

Yeah, you're twisted...most of us share in the madness though...

Welcome to the board...an almost infinite resource for your project...

Just to help out...here are your pics:

Since the restoration has not actually started yet, I'll just post my mini-updates here... if thats ok.

I changed the oil, replaced the spark plugs, distributor cap-rotor-condenser-wires (coil and ballast resistor on order), set the timing, set the fuel/air mixture and balanced the carbs. Now it starts on the 1st or second crank even if it is only 40 degrees farenheit outside... however..... it still has no power and it stalls under 1k rpm... and today I found out why....

There is no compression in the #2 pistion. OUCH. It aint the piston or rod.. I think I would have figured that one out. I was thinking rocker arm or spring. Uh... wrong.. I smelled the oil.. it stinks of gasoline. There is no oil in the radiator, and no radiator fluid in the oil. Do I have just a bad ring, or could I be in for a much more costly problem?

Found the problem (part of it or maybe all). I pulled the valve cover and the rocker arm on the #2 pistion intake valve had slipped off. There is not any noticable wear on the cam (aside from a little worn groove on the side of the cam lobe where the rocker arm rested against it) The guide slot on top of the valve (dunno what to call it) had some wear on it, but was not broke. This got me thinking... hypothetically.... the valve is probably bent but not very bad... it would stick hard sometimes enough to let the rocker arm slip off (probably when cranking cold) .... and he would remove the valve cover.... slip the rocker arm back into place... and run it again until the same problem re-occured. A bent intake valve would put gasoline into the cam chamber as the valve guide wore down.

The reason I think this is that when I took off the valve cover... the bolts slipped right out and the gasket didnt stick anywhere to the head.

Not a big deal to me, I planned on overhauling the engine anyway... disapointing I cant at least slap some body parts on it and drive it at night for that ol' time inspiration.

*sigh*

The last update:

I have the title back from the State of Texas. I now officially own this car. I am in the process of moving so I dont have the time to work on it.

Once I am settled, the process of restoration will begin... and then I will start a new thread. I intend to document this car from its slightly (hopefully) rusty deconstruction to its slick completion.

Regards,

AggieZ