HLS30-01222 Project

[ksbeta]

Hey Good Afternoon,

I started a thread similar to this over at HybridZ, but the more I’ve gotten into the project, I realize that ClassicZCar is probably where this belongs. Both are great sites though, vast amounts of information out there. It’s a long write-up, but thanks for bearing with me.

I bought HLS30-01222 this past spring. Local seller (Herndon, VA) was moving and reluctantly was parting ways with the car, which had been sitting for two years in his garage. He said it had previously been his daily driver, but the birth of his first-born required a more reliable car (what, no car-seat under the hatch?). First time we went to see the car, it wasn’t running. Paint was rough, tires were flat, interior was incomplete, but otherwise in decent shape. Second time we went to see the car, he was able to get it running with a new battery and some fresh gas. That being said, it was (we would later find out) a miracle it was running at all, and it had plenty of issues.

Two people have been instrumental in making this project happen: Fred (zpizzaman20), who’s wealth of Z-Car information and treasure trove of parts have been instrumental in making this thing work properly. Second, a good friend of mine, Jason, who was wounded over in Afghanistan in August, such that they sent him back here to Walter Reed. Jason is part-mechanic, part-miracle worker. He’s kept 7 cars of mine (nothing fancy) on the road at this point, and the work he’s done with the 240z is staggering. He’s about to head back to Germany to rejoin his unit, so as his work comes to a close, I figured a write-up was about due. I’m going to use “We” a lot, but Jason is the bigger part of that term.

The goal was to rebuild the 240z as a reliable, nearly-original, car. The budget was slim, so building a Concours d’Elegance grade example was out of the question. Every step of the way, we analyzed how much the parts would cost and what benefits to reliability, accuracy, (and performance!) would be gained. For example, one of our biggest challenges was the engine bogging out under load. The deeper we dug, the more we found that needed to be fixed. We ordered the Z-Therapy SU Carb rebuild kit in leiu of switching to Webbers or another type of carb, but when it came to replace the distributor, we went ahead and did the 280zx swap. We’ve also put an electronic fuel pump in the rear. No, it’s not accurate, but after the first time Jason ran out of gas and had to suck it from the tank (consequently vomiting in the parking lot), he decided that wasn’t going to happen again.

So I could type for awhile, but I figure I’ll post some photos from when we got the car, and then post newer photos from there. We still have a to-do list, but considering Jason just drove the car from Chantilly, VA to Shawsville, VA, and back without a hitch (8-10 hrs round trip. Measured 27mpg), I think we can finally declare we’ve accomplished the mission. Thanks, and I’ll update in due-time.

Bill

I'll start with some pre-purchase photos. Some of you might recognize the car, as this is how it looked in the Craigslist ad. Will continue to post more later on.

[ksbeta]

With the car came a folder of documentation. Some service history, along with the original Datsun Warranty Book and the original Invoice were included. I'm the third owner. I think. Second owner went down to NC/GA to pick it up. This was the story I was told from the seller, but intentionally or not, a lot of the information he provided pre-sale was just plain wrong. So, we take it with a grain of salt and move on. Regardless, these are some neat documents. Haven't been able to track down a Charles Thomas Medlin yet (figure he'd have to be in his 60s or older), but there's plenty of questions I'd like to ask him if I do.

[Diseazd]

Bill......Don't use all of ZPIZZAMAN's parts.......save some for me!! Fred's a pretty good source. Good job on restoring a low number Z......Keep us updated. Guy

[ksbeta]

Here’s the state of the car after we hauled it home via trailer. The front spook and the headlight lens covers were the start of a pseudo-BRE conversion by the prior owner. A low-speed front end collision by one of the previous owners ever-so-slightly bent the front bumper (which was missing the vertical over riders anyway), cracked the driver’s side headlight bevel, and (still under review) may have bent the grill. The paint is tired and faded, in desperate need of being redone. The owner had smeared it with a wax to prevent any further damage from occurring while being stored, but much to my dismay, once I removed the wax, there wasn’t really much worth protecting.

Some of the badges had allegedly been stolen, and much to my more recent chagrin, many of the Series 1 specific parts were long gone. Radio, fusebox/cigarette lighter panel, cigarette lighter, Choke cable/ defroster switch shroud, defroster switch itself, rear hatch vent assemblies, and more. Glovebox was MIA. I’ll discuss wiring later on, but I’ll say now that we pulled multiple sets of wiring out of the thing (not connected to anything either). Wipers & jets were there, but none of the hardware for wiper fluid. Fuel gauge & clock didn’t work; the lighting for the gauges was terrible as well. Headlights too, were questionable at best. Aftermarket fog-lights connected to a switch housed in the Fairlady’s cigarette lighter dash-opening. Horns didn’t work, and a Grantt wheel was installed.

Most importantly though, the car didn’t show a lot of rust. This was my first Z-Car, and having done my research, I felt pretty confident I’d found a good one. Floor pans were pretty solid, although they look to have been replaced at some point. Battery-tray area was fine, as was the rear hatch deck. I’m not saying its perfect: I think the rear quarter panels may have been replaced, as well as that rear hatch deck as well. Fred later confirmed that we did a good job finding a very rust-free car, especially for it being A) a 1970, and an East Coast car. Oh, and the dash is straight too.

A low-end “Cannonball” ignition system had been installed, and while the distributor had been upgraded to remove the points, it was still the stock ballast system distributor. Valve cover was original, but painted. Engine & Transmission match the car, which was great to find out. Original carbs were in place, and through some research we found out that the seats had long ago been reupholstered. They still have a pretty good vintage look to them though, and I’ve grown fairly fond of them.

Suspension was shot all around. Car ran like hell with a tendency to stall out. Rear hatch slits were filled with bike-inner tubes to prevent water from coming in. Typical monkey-shifter had tons of play in it. Shifter boot was missing (previous owner joked about it being his ashtray to the highway), which let in a wonderful amount of exhaust gas. Passenger side fresh air vent in the bay was missing. Wiring was a disaster; aftermarket radioshack antenna was installed, no carpeting on the floors, and all the weather stripping was shot.

Here’s the shots from the day I got it home. I’ll apologize now for my roommate seemingly grabbing himself, and as for the expression of my Fiancé’s face, well, it’s been 6 months. She still feels the same way about the car.

[ksbeta]

Don't worry Guy - as we rummage through his garage he'll say "Oh, so-and-so was just asking about that. Gotta' hold onto that for them..." He's not letting it all go! Fred has really helped us out more than we thought possible. He gave us a spin in that 280z of his too. That's one helluva machine.

[Gary in NJ]

and as for the expression of my Fiancé’s face, well, it’s been 6 months. She still feels the same way about the car.

I'm married 25 years. You'll get use to, or at least learn to ignore that look.

[JohnnyO]

Yeah, my wife had that look for almost 2 years. It went away the first time I took her out on a date in the freshly painted, clean, nearly complete Z. I haven't seen that look since September.

Good luck on the project.

[mgmoreau]

Dude, if she has that look now and you are not even married yet, you're screwed!

I know since I have been getting that look for 26 years! Gary's right, you have to learn to ignore that look.

Edited November 4, 2010 by mgmoreau

[ksbeta]

3 posts about the car... 3 comments about my fiancée. Thanks guys... haha.

[Duffman]

Nice opportunity to resurrect a great car! Looks like the rear glass was replaced from a later model, as it has the vertical defrost lines in it. Mine (#1399) has the original clear glass, but not in the best shape. Still holding on to it for sentimental reasons!

[ksbeta]

These aren’t too revealing, but attached are some shots of the floor panels and the undercarriage. We tore the “Supertrapp” off the exhaust and the exhaust note sounds immensely better. Previous Owner (PO) had said there were two Supertrapps at one point, but after an abrupt downshift there was a loud bang, and now somewhere along America’s great interstate system lives a lone Supertrapp. The other one is now in a box in the garage.

I should note that the PO was a good guy. He (or someone else) did some wacky things with the car, but in terms of preservation, he absolutely did some smart things that made this a feasible project. Despite all my references, I’m not trying to badmouth him.

We rebuilt the suspension & steering. In fact, the steering rack’s housing cracked, and with a replacement rack sourced from Fred, Jason was able to rebuild it get the car back on the road the same day. I called BlackDragon asking about the cost of a steering rack and the guy on the other end of the line just laughed. Not a good sign. Thanks Fred. So, Urethane bushings up front, including the steering coupler. We resurfaced the brake components, new shocks, shock mount insulators, new pads & rotors, and various other odds and ends. The old shocks were so bad, you could (with ease) compress the shocks by hand. What a difference new suspension makes. We sourced Monroe shocks from Advance Auto; no fancy Tokicos. Obtained front & rear strut tower braces, and Jason also installed a radiator coolant overflow to mitigate the small issue of the radiator spitting out nearly a gallon of coolant. The overflow seems to be working, as the radiator pulls the coolant back in just fine.

As mentioned, the bumper was bent slightly, but we found some hardware and managed to get it mounted, which also required finding the 240z mounting brackets. It’s ugly (needs the rust taken off), but for the time being, we’re glad to have it back on. Headlight covers were removed, but we decided to leave the front spook on.

- We’re missing the rear license plate light. The PO wired up some cheap light (see photos) but that’s since been removed.

- Still trying to find a ’70-’73 radio. Will then have to replace the speakers, for sure, and decide whether to find an OEM antenna or use the Radioshack version we have installed presently.

- Obtained the fresh-air vents for the rear hatch, in addition to the horizontal (external) panels. However, the tubing that connects the vents to the bottom of the hatch are MIA, so we’ll most likely have to fabricate something to solve that issue. You can see in the pictures the white epoxy the PO used to help seal the holes.

More to come later. Jason is still down in hills of Virginia with the car. Rumor has it that one of the neighbors (rear rural part of Shawsville, VA) has two 240z’s that he’s trying to sell. I don’t know any of the details, but I’d sure like to know more.

[ksbeta]

Remainder of the photos.

On a side note, I ran across a '73 240z on the Kansas City Craigslist yesterday (I went to Kanasas State Univ., so in moments of boredom I'll occasionally scan CL out there). The owner had it listed as a Parts-Car for $850. Looked fairly complete in the photos (I'm not going to post them; don't want to confuse things. But I have them if you're curious). I talked to him later that night, and it sounded like he was in a hard spot. His story was that he bought the car from PersonX, but when he got home he noticed the title listed PersonY. He called the State Police, who ran the VIN# and told him he was ok: it wasn't stolen. However, he can't title/register it since he doesn't have the actual owner's signature (I didn't pry too much, but he says further research has revealed PersonX is an ex-con). He's in the process of trying to request contact information from PersonY, but figured he'd just sell it as a parts car since he can't drive it. Anyone know Kansas law really well? He said the car's floor wells were shot, and that there was some rust on the bottoms of the doors and a little in the fenders, but otherwise it was straight. I feel for the guy - I hope he can get that title. He's since removed the CL ad; I think he's going to try and sort out the Titling issue, or Part it out himself. He can probably do better than $850 with a little effort. Cheers, Bill.