'72 240z Underbody pics

[Inf]

The car looked great when it got here, supposedly "rust free" and "dent free" and "running great," but this was not the case.

I'm a little short on time, so I cant give a full explanation of all the things I found wrong with it, but I will post more when I get home later tonight. One of the things that concerned me the most was the deformation of the drivers side frame rail, so I am attaching that picture right now. What do you guys think about it? I havent bought it yet, and after seeing the condition of certain areas and the engine putting out blue smoke under load, I am inclined to send it back to california. The owner, one "Ray Toms" or "Jerold C. Rule" (I can't tell who I am dealing with here, because the Ray Toms character claims to be the owner but said after the transaction had begun that the title was in the name of Jerold C. Rule)

Ray Toms (I think) has been giving me lots of garbage. The engine only had about 3 quarts of oil in it, extremely black when we took it out, and he claimed that he changed it less than 1000 miles back, he flat out lied about the condition of the car, basically making it out to be a near show quality car (it is FAR from it).

I bought this over ebay and had it shipped here, but I am using the securepay option, so I have the right to reject the merchandise by tommorow and then ship it back at my own expense. Given the discovery of rust in various places (camoflagued by black spray paint) I am going to send it back. I just want to post here to A) get an idea of what happened to this car, and make sure that NONE of you get suckered by this guy. He is a congenital liar, and I recommend that none of you do business with him when he makes an attempt to sell it again later.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Bambikiller240]

Someone has used the floorpan rail as jack-point withtheir hydraulic floorjack. Should have used the front cross-member as a jack point, but even with that, if you/he/anyone places their jackstands on these rails they will deform somewhat. I place my jackstands on the rails up forward near where the tension/compression rods are located. It appears to be a much stronger location.

If you don't mind, can you post a link to the auction page so we can see pictures of the entire car. What was the sellers eBay name?

[2ManyZs]

The floor looks pretty darn good to me. You will find the same type of damage on probably at least 85% of the Z's that have ever been into a garage for an oil change or had an owner that liked to do it themselves.

It's not critical unless there has been rust in the rail and the rail has collapsed, which this one obviously doesn't have that problem.

As far as the title goes, he probably bought the car and never changed the title over into his name. He might have only bought the car to re-sell for a profit. I've got a buddy who bought a car from me, and 6 years later the title was still in my name when he scrapped it.

Unless there is a lot of rust somewhere else, this car does look really good underneath unless you aren't showing the worst areas......

[Inf]

It suddenly occured to me while driving out to dinner (and passing a large car carrying semi like mine was delivered on) that the damage I had been so worried about was actually the result of the shipping company chaining it down improperly!

By the time I went to the parking lot to meet the truck, they had already released it from the restraints. I will attach pictures, I am not sure what I should do about this should I choose to keep it. I feel that it is a decent car in many ways, but has several flaws that the owner lied to me about. I have been thinking about it intensely all day, and am beginning to think "maybe I wont find one with such a clean body for a LONG while." I was a little too quick to judge I think, mainly because I expected a little bit too much out of a 31 year old car. This being my first classic car I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I will post some other pics as well.

The previous owner had a rather sloppy paint job (overspray onto gaskets, some fixtures, etc) applied to it 4 months before. I did a bondo check with a magnet and couldnt really find any spots that were not ferrous. The spare tire well area seemed to be in good condition, no real rust that I could detect. He basically told me that he had the "underbody washed" and then "sprayed it down with black spray paint" as opposed to doing any sort of real rust treatment and undercoating because he said he does not need it in california, but I am worried that he just did it to cover up a rust problem.

I am posting some attached images, and some of the larger high resolution ones to show certain areas of concern to a seperate webserver.

http://www.wildshot.net/DSC03280.JPG (2560x1920 2.1mb) Pic of cracking on one of the sparse patches of undercoating (subsequently sprayed over with spray paint) that is beginning to crack, and I believe there is rust underneath it, but to what extent I could not tell without just stripping it all off. This particular area is on the drivers side floor pan.

http://www.wildshot.net/DSC03266.JPG (2560x1920 2.1mb) Overall pic of the underside of the front section. You can see some of the damage to the right hole at the center of the brace that is southeast of the oil pain in the picture, as well as the appearance of reddish-brown from underneath the spray paint he applied. I did not observe it at the time, but the camera flash made it visible in the photos. The same is true of the photo of the floor pan area

Any advice you guys may have would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew

edit : fixed a typo

[Inf]

more attached pics

[Inf]

this is a closeup. the above attached damage pics were the result of the shipping company improperly restraining the vehicle.

[Inf]

I think I should also note that the current color and original color are both orange, so unless they applied the same paint to the underside of the car, I guess I should assume that the orange/reddish areas are rust?

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Inf

this is a closeup. the above attached damage pics were the result of the shipping company improperly restraining the vehicle.

If you decide to keep the car, I'd be filing a claim for damage in shipment with the carrier. That rear frame damage looks nasty, though it probably doesn't affect safety or strength of the unibody. It should not have happened and they should PAY for their mistake.

[2ManyZs]

I'd say you should have a talk with the shipping company and show them the damage. Looks like the dummy used an ordinary chain hook in the holes on the rails instead of the T hook that may or may not have prevented the damage.

With a little work with a hammer, you should be able to repair it to the point it will be almost invisble.

They ought to know better when chaining down a car that was built out of too thin metal and expecting it to hold up after all these years of rust and use....:stupid:

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Inf

I think I should also note that the current color and original color are both orange, so unless they applied the same paint to the underside of the car, I guess I should assume that the orange/reddish areas are rust?

Don't assume anything, INSPECT IT AGAIN, CAREFULLY!

[ZmeFly]

dont assume anything!! remember the saying assuming makes an arse out of u and me

look over the entire car carefully and inpect it with a fine tooth comb.

to me it looks like all the damage shown is from the shippers inept work with tieing the car down and i would make a claim and have them pay

[Phred]

Please do us all a favor and post the name of the transport Co. so nobody else gets burned.

Phred