New 240Z owner!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Sometimes we do not want to hear what we already know. But the fact that you do not want to hear it, does not make it any less true.

 

Let me paint another picture for you. One less depressing.

 

The engine and steering wheel and carbs are worth more than what you paid.  You have well over 500 bucks of parts in that car alone. So chin up!

You made a good purchase! 

 

I just paid 50 bucks for a spare 240Z gas pedal for an upcoming project.  You have many many good parts on your hands that other 240Z owners will in fact need.

 

So take a deep breath.

 

This is my advice. I echo what others who are wiser than I am have said before. Start parting out the car.   You will be shocked at what you find. You will also learn how to disassemble the car and learn how it goes together.   This car will provide you with two of the MOST valuable things you could ever have.

 

Parts

and

Experience.

 

You ever wonder how all of us know a flat lined patient when we see it. It is because we have worked on cars our whole life.  You want a better 240Z. Work hard at what you do. Be it your job or your schooling.  Save some money and be a hawk about sticking to a budget.  Then buy the best Z you can afford.  Start seriously looking around 2500 bucks. You can save that.  Restoring a car is not cheap. But it is doable.

 

You have the perfect car to practice patch panels with. Practice welding. Practice wiring. Practice removing parts and learning how a Z is put together.

 

Do not get down.

 

Use what you have and fuel your dream.

[Stealth240Z]

I really appreciate your advice and encouragement! All I want to do is work on cars, tuning and rebuilding! I love it!! I will part out some extra pieces and see what kind of money I can get. Thank you all.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Sure, PM me or any of us if you need any other help or encouragement.  The Z community is like no other. 

You will not find a more down to earth bunch of people.

[siteunseen]

I think taking them apart helped more than anything for me. Bag and tag everything then go back and clean it all up. Take pictures and let us get first chance then craigslist.

The carbs and cylinder head will get your money back.

[Stealth240Z]

You guys are great! Ok, will do! I doubt I'll be selling the engine, it's actually quite nice!

[Stealth240Z]

I have a complete dash, with gauges and all, from the other 1971 parts car that I'd like to sell. I cannot find any good reference for a price, though! It does have some cracks on top, but how much might I be able to get for it?

[Travel'n Man]

Collin

Just jumping in here - first of all welcome.  There is a ton of info and knowledge so soak up what you can.  You have made a great investment on your dollar spent.  I just really don't that this car is going to see much road time due to the shape that it is in, but the parts will be the key for you.  If you can find a road worthy shell and transfer the parts you will be in great shape.  I would take you time taking the parts out and cleaning/refinishing them as you go (sell what you want to help fund your shell).

 

Keep us posted on your progress

• Personally -(if that dash is in good shape use the search engine on this site) there is a great tutorual on reconditioning that dash so it looks brand new.

[Stealth240Z]

Thank you for the advice!

My Papa took off the two front fenders yesterday and said that underneath actually looks pretty good. Let me ask you guys this, if I take everything apart, sandblast and find that the only terrible issue is the rocker panel dog leg area, CAN it be mended, even if just for practice? What do I need to really look for when I throughly check this area out? Also, how SHOULD it be repaired, and don't say 'junk it!' Haha!

[Hodgimus-maximus]

Honestly the only way I see making that body structurally sound is to weld up a tube frame chassis/roll cage that takes on the stresses between the front and the back of the car. Then go threw the middle of the care cut out all the rust and weld in new metal. But by the time you have done all of that you could have bought a 240z or a 280z in much better condition 2 or 3 times over. That is only considering parts and equipment you will need to accomplish the task, not the labor.

You can buy a 280z and make it look like a 240 much easier and cheaper.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wheee!]

Let's be clear.... anything can be repaired.... But at what cost/time/materials?

 

Your car has serious rust throughout the midsection, literally from dogleg across to dogleg. I have never seen one that bad personally. I have a friend nearby here in Canada who just disposed of a 240 with less than half of the damage yours is showing. Don't panic, he has two others to restore.

The point being that IF you have deep pockets to replace the doglegs, surrounding sheet metal, door sills, rocker panels, floor pans, frame rails, seat anchors, and probably numerous other areas of the unibody you MAY be able to restore the car. The biggest issue I see is that you have very little SOLID metal to weld onto! You literally will need to start welding metal from the roof down in order to have good steel to add the panels to!

Reread the comments, look at the car objectively, look at the other restoration threads and see what people are starting from in comparison.... THEN decide where you want to go. I believe your best option has already been suggested in parting this car out and saving the best pieces for a restoration of a better frame.

 

Best of luck!!

[siteunseen]

I've seen, on this forum, cars start off as pile of junk and turn out really nice.

You can fix it.

Editited part: but you'll like working on cars a lot more by getting a better starting point. That one would take too long and cost more than finding better.

[Stealth240Z]

I gotcha! I really wish I could understand the chasis and frame better. I just am not seeing the structure in my head and how the load is carried.