The Lime Green Machine Restoration Thread - 1972 240Z

[Hardway]

Seeing how much I have enjoyed reading other threads of this nature I have decided to start my own. I always document my work with lots of pictures and hopefully I can help other members who are tackling some of the same projects on their Z. It is going to take me a little while to get everything on here to reflect where I am truly at on the car so please bear with me. All comments and questions are welcome!

The Search and the Purchase

I have always been a fan of the Datsun Z cars. Having owned two 300ZX’s and two ’77 280Z’s I had always wanted a 240Z. I can remember the days of finding a clean rust free 240Z for between $4,000 and $7,000 was common place. However by 2010 prices were creeping up fast but I was never in a position to buy one when a good one would come along. Having just sold my second ’77 280Z in March 2012 I had been bitten hard by the Z bug and I just had to have a 240Z. So the search began and after seeing nothing pop up nearby I searched well outside of the Austin area. California was definitely the place to find a good Z at a good price but flying out to CA to buy a car was not going to fly with my wife. A look on the Deep East Texas section of Craigslist turned up a lime green ’72 240Z for $3,500 in Marshall Texas. A few phone calls and emails with the seller revealed the car had a 280z engine and the original transmission had been swapped for a 5-speed from a 280zx and an R200 differential, all common and desirable swaps. In addition the car had a complete A/C setup but was not blowing cold. The car had some rust in the floors, on the bottom of the doors, and the edge of the hatch lid but they had a set of rust free door shells and a hatch lid that went with the car. Knowing the car was 500 miles away I decided to take the big risk and buy it sight unseen and have it shipped to me. The seller and I agreed on $3,000 for the car and all the parts and he would work with me on having the car picked up. That night I jumped on Uship.com and posted up a want ad to have the car and parts transported to my house. My $500 offer was scooped up in less than 10 minutes. Daniel from Black Rock logistics contacted me and setup the dates.

Delivery

After a few days I had the title in hand along with the other associated paper work required by the state of Texas. On Sunday afternoon March 25th 2012 Daniel delivered my Z. Everything went just as planned. Daniel backed the Z off his trailer, I signed the paperwork for the delivery, and he was off. The Lime Green Machine was now mine! The car and the parts pretty much met my expectations. The rust on the floors was a little more severe than I had pictured in my mind and the seats were beyond usable in their current state. Also included with the car was a box of additional parts like an extra pair of SU carbs, a sync meter, a SU tuning book, and some other odds and ends.

[Hardway]

The First Day

When the Z was delivered it had almost no gas in it so I was eager to hop in and run to the gas station. A quick sprint down the street and 5 gallons later things were better but other things were not. Even though the Z had served as a daily driver for the previous owners daughter the brakes squealed pretty bad and it pulled hard to the right when stopping indication a stuck caliper. The clutch felt a bit spongy and as noted before the seats were completely shot as I was literally sitting on the springs. On top of this the familiar popping sound from under the hood revealed a failing exhaust manifold gasket. The to-do list in my mind was quickly growing. I took some quick pictures, parked it in the garage, and called it a day since my wife would be home soon from work.

[Hardway]

The Work Begins – Fuel Tank

As the first week went on with the Z I noticed the very strong smell of gas in the garage. An inspection under the car revealed the vent line going to the driver side of the tank was leaking very bad. I put the car on jack stands and drained the tank in to a large pan with a spout and poured the captured gas in to my SUV. To my pleasant surprise nothing came out with the gas, no rust particles or pieces, just some very minor debris. After some work and wrestling I freed the tank from the car and got a look at just how bad the damage was. Not only was the vent line leaking but there was a hole drilled in the top of the tank, probably from a speaker box being mounted in the trunk since there was a corresponding hole in the trunk floor. On the bright side the tank was super clean on the inside, further proof the car had been a daily driver and not given any time to set up.

At the same time I inspected and pulled out all the vent lines as all of them had reached the end of their service life long ago. Some had already been poorly repaired. Hard to believe the driver of this car had not passed out from all the fumes that would have been filling the interior, especially with the windows up on a cold day.

[Hardway]

As I rounded up parts for the fuel tank and vent system I pulled the carbs and manifold to see what I was dealing with. Luckily just about everything came off with out too much drama. Sure enough, the black soot around the front of the exhaust manifold confirmed where the exhaust leak was coming from. The manifold looked pretty sad so I ordered a ceramic coated 6 into 1 header along with their stud kit and gasket.

The header is definitely a quality piece. Seems to be very well made and look at the size of the flange! That baby should never warp.

[fuzze]

Hello hardway , you will love this header , I installed mine in late august with my son doing all the work , he is 18 and a excellent mechanic . I went with 2.5 inch stainless to a magnaflow universal muffler . It sounds awesome and the throttle response is wicked . The header fit perfectly and with some custom bending of the stainless we were able fit the exhaust system to the rear were I filled the stock cutout that you can see in my pic . My insurance is up in two more weeks and as long as the snow stays away I will be driving the crap out of her and then over the winter I will tackle the gas fume issues that you are currently dealing with .

have fun with the Z

Chris

[tlorber]

Hardaway, you may have a slight interference between that header and the 5 speed. If so, you'll need to shave the boss on the tranny. There is a writeup on this site with pictures.

[Hardway]

Good to hear Fuzze. I have actually installed mine as well, just need to find the pics and type up the info. Mine went on with little fuss. I did have to trim one of the ears on the transmission but a few minutes with the grinder took care of it with ease. I posted some pics about it when the topic came up a few weeks ago.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Hardway

[fuzze]

Morning all , I remember you talking about maybe needing to shave a bit off one of the bosses . My car has as well a 5 speed that from all accounts of what everyone said, I was prepared to grind , although I had around 3\4 inch of clearance so there was no issue thankfully . I believe my tranny is out of a 280 from what people suggested to look for in terms of design .

c ya

Chris

[Hardway]

Since the header came in before my POR-15 kit did for the gas tank I tackled the header install first. After the head was clean I installed the MSA stud kit followed by the new gasket. As I went about trial fitting the header I quickly discovered it was hitting a small ear on the transmission. While I was under the car to get a closer look I discovered just how bad the oil pan gasket was leaking. Figuring it would be easier to swap the pan in and out without the header in the way I went about dropping the oil pan.

As I was cleaning up the oil pan I noticed broken pieces of plastic at the bottom of the pan which turned out to be from the timing chain guides so an order was placed to Rock Auto for some new ones along with a new chain and other parts. After looking at the new parts and what was left in the car I concluded all that had broken off was the front lip of the chain guide. Even more settling was the fact the new guide was made without the lip so I can only assume this was a common problem and the manufacturers do not see the need for the small front lip anymore. With this discovery I decided to leave well enough alone since the Z ran good and had no valve train noise.

After some wire wheeling on the pan and general cleanup of everything else I laid down a few coats of Chevy blue engine paint along with some engine silver on the pan retainers. I used a thin layer of gasket sealer to hold the gasket in place along with some liberal amounts at the 4 corners as indicated by the FSM. Getting the pan in place was a bit of a job but it finally saw things my way and went in to its rightful position on the bottom of the block.

[Hardway]

Now I could turn my attention back to the header install. I pulled out my grinder and shaved the ear off as seen in the pictures below. This provided more than adequate clearance for the header without sacrificing any strength of the transmission case. To connect the header to the existing exhaust I lucked out and found a 2.5” to 2.25” reducer at the local parts store that fit perfect. It is held together with clamps for now but will be welded in the near future.

Up top on the engine side I reinstalled the carbs, new rubber fuel lines, fuel filter, spark plugs, plug wires, cap, rotor, valve cover gasket, PVC valve, PVC crankcase block vent hose, oil filter, fresh oil, new MSD Blaster 2 coil, a Ford Motorsports coil bracket, and a new small diameter K&N breather filter. In addition I replaced some of the coil wiring since what was on the car was in sad shape. Still need to get it wrapped and nice looking.

[Hardway]

With things wrapped up at the nose of the car it was time to turn my attention back to the rear of the car. I had dropped the tank off at a local radiator shop to repair the hole that was drilled in the top and pressure test it. This turned out to be a wise $100 investment as they not only fixed what I saw but also fixed two cracked line connections as well that I did not see. Once I had the tank back, using a wire wheel and several days of time I cleaned everything off the tank to prep it for coating. I used the POR-15 system to prep and coat the outside of the tank as well as the tank straps. The can said semi-gloss finish but even with 2 coats the top of the tank came out very glossy but the bottom was pretty flat and the straps came out mixed. I made sure I stirred the paint mix very well but I could never make the bottom of the tank or straps match the glossiness of the top of the tank. I even tried shooting some light coats of clear on to the tank but it did very little to make it glossy. Oh well, no one will see the top once it is installed. Once everything was dry I installed a new Nissan sending unit, O-ring, and lock ring. The original still worked but after 40 years I figured why not since I had gone this far with the tank.

[Hardway]

As the POR-15 dried between coats on the gas tank I was busy routing and installing the new tank vent lines. At the same time I cleaned and painted the vent tank. Even though no one will see it I will know it is pretty and correct. All in all replacing the vent lines is a straight forward job however, getting the vent tank back in to place with all the lines going to it required a lot of effort. The hoses seem to fight you at every direction and required constant tugging and adjusting to allow the tank to go back in to place. I still need to install two grommets around the hoses where they pass through the body as well as seal the hoses where they pass through the floor.

With the tank ready for install I glued some sections of bicycle inner tube to the straps to act as insulators. Getting the tank back in is a test in patience as you must get the vent lines installed but make sure they are not too long so they do not get kinked. In addition you have to get the filler neck back on the tank with very little room to work. It took three attempts but the third time was a charm and I managed to get the tank in to place and buttoned up.

In addition to the tank I replaced all the rubber fuel lines in the back, installed a new electric fuel pump and filter, and just like the front replaced some of the wiring as the original had been hacked up pretty good.