After years of storage I finally found the time and resources to restore my Z. Unfortunately, years of storage nearly took her life as she is stricken with car cancer. The original owner was in a bad accident and destroyed the right side inner fender and frame. Whoever did the repairs was an amateur and never straightened or replaced the frame rail as it's still bent down and makes the Z list to the right. Had she not been a low VIN car I would of parted her out and sent her to the crusher.

http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/240z/

I have more pics that I need to upload tonight that show the frame damage.

Recognize the garage?

Steve aka Madkaw can attest to the damage as he is the one doing the repairs.

I just got a one owner 1977z,and i know that is rust on the dog

legs but im kind of afraid of start cutting the dog legs,because i

have never restore a z before even know that the previous owner

was a lawer.he did not know how to work on cars at all the car

comes from colorado so i imajine theres rust,but i believe your car

is worth saving it ,from what i know the floors,the dog legs are

kind of easy to fix as long it dosen't have nothing to do with the

frame ..

I just got a one owner 1977z,and i know that is rust on the dog

legs but im kind of afraid of start cutting the dog legs,because i

have never restore a z before even know that the previous owner

was a lawer.he did not know how to work on cars at all the car

comes from colorado so i imajine theres rust,but i believe your car

is worth saving it ,from what i know the floors,the dog legs are

kind of easy to fix as long it dosen't have nothing to do with the

frame, also my car has rust like yours near the gas tank door i

hope you post some more pictures of your car work ....

Its too much work for me to do! I dont have the experience or the time to learn the art of metal work.

some more pics:

yuk!

Edited May 5, 200915 yr by gregs240z

Well I just got off the phone with Greg giving him the low down on his car. I spent several hours looking over the car to give him my evaluation of the work that needed to be done. We knew that the car needed major work, but now it looks like it might be too much. greg and I decided to post some more pics to see what you guys think. Would you put the time and money into this car or junk it? When does sentimental value outway costs? I guess the only reason we are having this conversation is because of the very low vin#, which does have some bearing on this issue. Some of the things that need to be replaced:

Both frame rails forward of firewall-bent and rusted

Passenger inner fender-badly damaged

passenger firewall-patch replacement

Radiator support

Rear hatch panel

Both rear quarter panels

Both floor boards and frame rails

is that a subaru lagacy in the first post? ive noticed a lot of the datsun owners that ive meet so far are subaru owners too. anywho. i had to ask . look like you get more than one project going there. what are your plans once you got them both restored?

just read the last post seem like alot of work to me. expensive work since your not doing it yourself. and in the end its a low vin, but not low enough to make the car worth that much. it depends on what you plans are with the car and how cheap you got the car for. but if it was me i would let it go.

Nope no Scooby in my collection. Not a big fan of them to be honest.

I'm leaning towards letting someone else restore her.... in the end I would need to invest well over $10k to bring her back from the dead. Its not worth it IMO.

Is there a method to determine which motor came from what 240Z? I have 2 engines and transmissions sitting in my shed and I don't know which one is the original.

Give the post enought time for Carl Beck, Geezer, Kats or HLS30 to reply. I think they are very familiar with the early vin's and what numbers match.

I take it you don't have the ID plate that goes on the passenger's side of the engine bay? If not, there is no way to identify the exact engine that goes with the car, but it would probably be in the 2600-2800 range.

Both floor boards and frame rails

In the second shot it appears to be more than just the floor pans themselves but the inner rocker panel or whatever that's called on the inside of the door opening. It seems like cutting that out along with the floors would require a lot of stabilization to keep the whole shell from flexing as replacements are being welded in.

I take it you don't have the ID plate that goes on the passenger's side of the engine bay? If not, there is no way to identify the exact engine that goes with the car, but it would probably be in the 2600-2800 range.

I do in a box somewhere in my shed of parts. The engine number is on that plate? Same with transmission number? or it doesn't matter on the trans?