Three 240Zs Sell at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale for Big Money

[Zed Head]

I didn't see a picture of a 620 in that link.  

Here's what I was looking at below.  The tail shaft opening on the 71C's is dramatically bigger.  The metal ring is pressed on.  The 71C's are early 80's VG30 engines and on I believe.  I think he had to have done a front case swap.

Anyway, it's a done deal.  $27,000 for somebody's 240Z hobby that they messed around with.

From zhome - http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/240SX5spd/transmission.htm

 

[7tooZ]

Yah sorry I should have said that I didn’t have any direct knowledge about the car or the trans.
I noticed the shifter location early in the auction and asked the question. The seller took days to even response and apparently doesn’t know or understand what was done. Hope the buyer isn’t surprised when they figure out what they got for The $.
I am still curious why you would even think to do that to that car.


72 body and block, everything else 71, Tokico springs, Illumina, R180 CLSD, 83 close ratio, 3.90 gears, Ztherapy SUs, BRE 15X7 Libre wheels and BRE front spoiler.

[Zed Head]

35 minutes ago, 7tooZ said:

I am still curious why you would even think to do that to that car.

Overdrive.

 

[7tooZ]

[emoji445][emoji854]


72 body and block, everything else 71, Tokico springs, Illumina, R180 CLSD, 83 close ratio, 3.90 gears, Ztherapy SUs, BRE 15X7 Libre wheels and BRE front spoiler.

[jayhawk]

On 1/21/2019 at 2:57 PM, lonetreesteve said:

Agreed on the carbs - the seller should have made note of the round tops, which is actually a positive and not a negative. 

 

Except that the round tops are truly a negative for this car from both an originality standpoint and a performance standpoint.  Our do you still subscribe to the erroneous belief that the flat top carbs, with their advanced features like the separate idle circuit and other features of the SU HIF design are inferior?  I'm putting the flat tops BACK onto my '73 because they worked great for 110,000 miles before I fell for the pitch of the mechanics who claimed all kinds of advantages for the round tops.  $500 later NONE of those claims came true.  Seems like a lot of shops found it easier to pitch expensive replacements than learn how to properly tune or repair flat tops. 

I hope the buyer of that '73 corrects the error in the car.

Edited January 24, 2019 by jayhawk

[lonetreesteve]

Jayhawk,

My first 240Z I bought when I was in college. It was a '72  with a build date of 12/71. At some point, one of the prior owners installed an L26 engine with flat tops. It was actually a pretty quick car, but it had some vapor lock issues during the summer months. I had the car for about 3 years before I sold it. The other 240Zs that I've owned since then all had round tops and I only experienced a couple of summer vapor locking incidents. My past personal experience plus all the discussion in the Z community and on this website ( member since 2004) has led me to believe that flat tops are inferior to the round tops. 

Edited January 24, 2019 by lonetreesteve

[jayhawk]

I know that the round top “superiority” is a common belief in the Z community, but that doesn’t make it true.  I never had the vapor lock issue with my 73 even though I was making almost daily sales call with it in inland Los Angeles county in the late 70s.  It is my belief that the extra heat under the hood of the 73 and 74 models is the real culprit. (I do recall cracking the hood open during some of those sales calls on really hot days) And you as you pointed out, even round top cars have had some vapor lock issues.  Frankly I do not know why I did not have vapor lock issue. My car was a very early build ‘73 (10/72) and maybe it had some 72 elements causing less heat? (exhaust manifold? Fuel rail mounting brackets? ??) 

It is my belief that Z mechanics (and Ztherapy) likely looked at the market size of flat tops vs round tops and decided there was more money in replacing the flat tops than in learning how to tune and repair the flat tops.  I personally paid over $500 in 1980 to replace my flat tops with round tops (at over 100,000 miles on the car) with no improvement in performance or driveability.  Now motorman7 is restoring my car and “Bringing back the Flat Tops” and I’m eager to get back on the road again in my “flat top” Z.  

[Zed Head]

 

21 hours ago, jayhawk said:

 I never had the vapor lock issue with my 73...........(I do recall cracking the hood open during some of those sales calls on really hot days)  

Our do you still subscribe to the erroneous belief that the flat top carbs, with their advanced features like the separate idle circuit and other features of the SU HIF design are inferior? 

Edit - never mind, just having fun.  "Or".

If you "never" had a problem with "vapor lock", why did you crack your hood open at times?  Doesn't follow.

Y'all are both confusing vapor lock with percolation.

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Zed Head

[jayhawk]

No harm, no foul.  We flat top owners have to have a thick skin!

And yes, I thought I might get some comments on that claim, and it was 40 years ago when I was using the car that way, so my memory might be fading. ? But I really do not recall ever having a problem starting the car after those sales calls.  Maybe inland LA county (Whittier, City of Industry, Azusa) didn't get all that hot then. it was, of course, before Global Warming ? .   Or maybe my lack of success made the calls too short....

I did have a terrible starting problem one time in 1974, but that was a cold starting problem after a cold night at a lodge high in the Canadian Rockies west of Banff while driving across Canada.  Possibly I forgot to crack the hood? ?   

I certainly was aware of the what was then called vapor lock (and we now know was percolation issues).  That was the reason for the V3 kit the dealer added to my car shortly after I bought it. (and maybe they did a better job of that installation)  And hearing the stories in the  club meetings/ etc. did make me cautious about stopping in hot weather.  

Actually, this does lead to a discussion of what was the root cause of the extra heat in the flat top cars.  But that discussion should be for another thread.

When my car gets back from Motorman7 with the flat tops back on, I will be interested to see if I have a percolation problem, although without air conditioning now, I'm not sure how much driving I'll be doing in hot weather.   I'm eagerly looking forward to experimenting with it!

Edited January 26, 2019 by jayhawk

[lonetreesteve]

Here's a '73 custom 240Z that sold for $48,400.00 (includes buyer commission) in late September 2018 at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction:

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1973-DATSUN-240Z-CUSTOM-COUPE-222608