Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[inline6]

I got an itch to acquire another Z last year...  This car on Bring-a-Trailer got my attention and I couldn't let it go.  A project car, the previous owner acquired most of the important rubber parts, a NOS dash, a bunch of spares, etc. and did very little to it other than keep it stored in his garage in the Denver CO area for over 25 years.  Prior to that, it was in Arizona.  So, having restored one Z which had a fair amount of rust, I was super excited to think about restoring one with next to none.  I've been at it for a little over a year now, and so I have a pretty good amount of the work done.  My hope is that within the next 12 months, I can complete the restoration.  

I've got lots of pics of progress so far, so, I'm also hoping I can post updates pretty regularly.  Here are a few pics after it arrived in GA:

The previous owner said he never started it.  If true it hadn't run in over 25 years, but the engine turned over by hand.  Before taking it apart, I wanted to see if I could get it running and then do compression and/or leak down tests to learn of its condition.  I power washed the engine to get all of the dust and gunk off.  Then I took the carburetor domes off and cleaned the domes, pistons, needles, inside the carbs, float chambers, etc.  The "choke" was stuck in the on position (jet nozzles down) and carbon was caked on the inside of the carbs keeping the pistons from moving freely.  Here's the engine after cleaning:

Here is the clean engine after it dried.  The distributor shaft had a lot of play, so I snagged the one from my other Z.  Fuel lines were completely clogged, so I disconnected at the hard line coming into the engine bay.  Fuel pump was gummed up, so I grabbed a spare mechanical one (once was on my other Z), and ran the rubber line down into a gas can.  Oil in the engine seemed like oil, so I left it as is.

After a few tries of the starter, I got it fired up.  Still no coolant in the system, no radiator hoses, etc.  I just did a quick sync on the carbs and got it running well enough to know that nothing catastrophic had happened to it.  Here is a video after only a few minutes of tinkering with it.

Next, I put radiator hoses on, put water in and other misc. things so I could run it for a while.  I wanted to run it for a minimum of 30 minutes so I could do the compression check or leak down test.  Here's another video.  The exhaust is original Nissan parts (verified part numbers of center section and muffler), by the way... and very quiet.  

Garrett

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by inline6
remove extra picture

[grannyknot]

I thought about bidding on your car too but the shipping costs killed it for me, you got a good deal I think especially if you are going to do the work yourself.  So bone stock or modded ? Looking forward to your pics.

[Patcon]

So was the car originally silver? What color will you go with?

[inline6]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:53 AM, grannyknot said:

I thought about bidding on your car too but the shipping costs killed it for me, you got a good deal I think especially if you are going to do the work yourself.  So bone stock or modded ? Looking forward to your pics.

Shipping the car by itself from CO to GA ended up costing $850.  All of the extra parts, I knew, was going to be a pain.  I looked prior to auction close for rental availability and flights, but long story short, flying out, renting a pick up truck and loading it up, and getting all of the parts back to GA cost $1,654.18 and took 2 days (and into early morning of the third).  Total with 5% for BAT was $9240, so delivered total of car and parts was $11,744.88.  I am keeping track of costs very precisely and will be sharing with everyone as well as time spent (not nearly as precisely). 

Regarding the direction of the resto, I plan to do a high quality restoration back to stock, except for the following: 

• The engine had pitting on cylinder 6 that was bad enough to require a re-bore.  Pistons are ITM - .030 over.
• Stage I Isky cam which has a higher lift than stock but the same factory duration (won't be able to tell it has a cam from listening to it)
• Some bigger valves to allow better breathing
• Zstory stainless header and exhaust
• Mild porting to make the valves, cam and exhaust work well together
• 16" x 7" wheels and performance tires

The goal I have in mind is to have the car be like "new" back in 1971, but with "upgrades" for exhaust and wheels.  Both of those mods will be fully reversible, if at some point I want to sell the car, and a future owner wants to go 100% stock.

On 11/3/2019 at 8:17 AM, Patcon said:

So was the car originally silver? What color will you go with?

The car was originally silver, and I am nearly certain I will put it back to that color.  I like the factory orange a lot, but I want to keep it the original color.  Silver looks nice on 240z's too. ?

Edited November 15, 2019 by inline6

[Patcon]

I like the plan!

[inline6]

Thanks!  I kind of have this picture in my head of a 240z from the past... one that was modded by the original owner.  Back in like 1972, when the car was a hot item, the mods: a bump in engine power, a nice sounding exhaust, and meaty tires, would have been rare on a 240z.  And to complete the vision, the recently removed air pump, and exhaust manifold, etc. is sitting in a box tucked in the corner of the garage along with the original wheels and tires in a stack on the garage floor.  ?

Edited November 3, 2019 by inline6

[inline6]

After I had let the engine run several times, I did both a leak down and a compression check.  The leak down tests showed about 9% across the board:

1, 2, 3:

4, 5, 6:

The compression tests showed more variability, with cylinders 3 and 4 and 6 generating lower numbers:

1, 2, 3:

4, 5, 6:

With those tests complete, it was time to remove the engine:

 

[LeonV]

Nice project! Gotta love starting with a solid base.

[inline6]

Love it every time I look at parts that usually rust out.  Here are some pics as I went around the car when I first could examine it well:

Right rear wheel well at bottom corner of rocker:

Inside bottom edge of passenger side rocker:

Outside bottom corner of passenger fender (fenders are original to the car) - note rust pitting, and inside frame double panel at tension rod mount location: 

Passenger front inner wheel house area:

Driver side wheelhouse and rocker lower corner:

Inside driver side rear wheel house looking at bottom, front corner, and from center of car looking at inside of same rocker corner: 

 

I didn't take pictures of the floor as delivered, but here are some of them in their sand blasted state:

What little rust there was is gone now

 

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by inline6

[grannyknot]

Where I live that's called pristine, very nice.

[inline6]

Thanks Grannyknot.  Virginia (my original home) was bad enough for rusting out Datsuns.  I can't imagine one surviving up in Toronto unless it was stored most of the time away from the snow and rain, driven only when roads were dry and salt free.  I've noticed that my modern cars used clips which are water proof for securing emblems and trim items. The Z, on the other hand, has holes in the sheet metal with just metal "barbed" clips. They are not water proof, and let water into the rear quarter panel and the rear hatch. My BMW, as an example, has solid plastic plugs with little gaskets around the flange which seat against the sheet metal.  They snap into holes in the sheet metal to secure the trim to the car.  I've been thinking about doing the same with this car.  Whatever solution I come up with, it would have to be 100% invisible.  Silicone rubber is always an option.

[inline6]

Here are some more areas of the uni-body showing condition before I sand blasted them:

  

  

  

  

   

   

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by inline6