I inherited a 1972 Datsun 240Z from my father who passed away a few months ago. It was in his possession from...I´m not sure, at least  15 years or so and most of that time it has remained in the same spot (in a sort of garage/shed sitting next to a couple of other older cars) Due to the covid19 situation I have remained at home and haven´t been able to go to my father´s house and do a more complete inspection of the car now that I´ve decided to start working on it. I took some pictures but a need to take it out of where it´s now to clean and inspect it more thoroughly. I can´t tell how many miles it has but in general is in a very good shape, very complete (original engine, matching numbers, etc) and with very little rust from what I could see. I think it´ll make a nice project. I just have to make some decisions and I´d like to share its progress here where I see so many knowledgeable and helpful people sharing the love for such a beautiful piece of car art/technology.

Welcome,  you've come to the right place.

Yes, welcome to this forum. We look forward to seeing the car as well as helping you with anything we can. Deep well of knowledgeable members here.

If it's been sitting for 15 years don't try and crank it if you haven't already. That's a lot easier said than done.

This is good to read over. It's a little heavy handed for me but still great information.

Added edit: change the oil, charge the battery and bypass the dirty fuel tank by running the inlet hose to the fuel filter into a clean 2 gallon gas can with fresh gas. Before that though pull off the valve cover and pour oil over the valve train. Make sure oil is flowing through the oil bar that runs parallel with the cam. You can pull the coil wire to do this so it won't try to start while you spin the engine, oil pump.

Edited May 22, 20204 yr by siteunseen

1 hour ago, siteunseen said:

If it's been sitting for 15 years don't try and crank it if you haven't already. That's a lot easier said than done.

This is good to read over. It's a little heavy handed for me but still great information.

 

Thank you! great info, and yes I´ll be very careful when I pull it out. Right now its almost in"barn find" condition, tons of dust! here are a few pictures. As for its history; I don´t really know much, it was originally sold in Texas, at some point it was imported into Mexico and was registered in a State in the center of the country, the weather is rather dry and hot there and then brought to Mexico City where as I said it has spent most of its latest years stored where you see it here. Like I said before, I don´t think its too rusty, the interior is quite complete (only lacking the rear inner trim, the piece that covers the back of the tail lights), the seats, vinyl  and carpet look Ok. It´s got an automatic transmission but apparently no AC (strange for a Texas car I think) Obvioulsy that´s not the original body color, it was probably white? anyway I think I´ll do something about it (or the interior color) since I´m not very much into that red on red combination. You may also notice the wrong rear end. Well it turns out that one of the original tail lights had a broken lens and since 240Z are VERY scarce here in Mexico, the closest my father could find in a junk yard was the rear panels and tail lights from a 260/280 and grafted it figuring it didn´t make much of a difference. Fortunately he kept the old (original) panel pieces and tail lights and refitting them is among my plans in a short term.

As for the engine, I believe it was working right but at some point my dad read that webers were a big thing among 240Z enthusiasts and got himself a kit with triple ones. Of course he didn´t have any experince with that particular swap (he ´d been a car collector for many years and came to had a very reasonable little collection of old and special interest cars, a well appointed garage and tools but certainly it was way over his head here) he told me that it actually started but just couldn´t get to properly tune the carbs and at some point the car started to smoke a lot, he realized that modification didn´t really suited him (since he was never into racing or high power tunning anyway), then sold the weber kit ,reinstalled the original SUs and left the car where it sits now, he probably never fired it up again.

 

Edited May 22, 20204 yr by julitoMX_1964

That looks great! A real barn find too. Knowing it was your Dads is even better. My Dad passed on in January and I'm trying to get an old El Camino running he left me. The nice newer one he left to my brother in law! WTF?

I guess he knew the best mechanic when he made that decision. 

Anxious to see yours out and cleaned up. The interior looks good.

That looks like a '73's bumpers. Look at the manufacturer date plate on the drivers side door jam. If 9/72 they consider it a '73. The '73s have a slightly beefier bumper mount. The are a little farther out from the body and have heavier duty mounts. Still, a fantastic car. Slightly different from a '72 though so keep that in mind when ordering parts. Cheers!

 

Edited May 23, 20204 yr by siteunseen

Could have been silver originally? Those look good like the old Porsches. Look for the color code on the radiator support.

Then look it up here...

http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/index.html

Sorry to hear about your Dad Cliff, January was not too long ago.  Seems like forever with the 'rona going on.  Mine just turned 90.

What year is that El Camino?  The old ones are better than the new anyway.  Post a picture.  Probably has a 350 in it?  Those small blocks are known to flatten cam lobes.  Lots of popping back through the intake when you give it gas.

17 hours ago, siteunseen said:

Could have been silver originally? Those look good like the old Porsches. Look for the color code on the radiator support.

Then look it up here...

http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/index.html

I´ll take a look next time I go to my parent´s home, again thanks for the tips. Sorry about yor dad, I wish I had more money to keep mine´s legacy going but he left several (almost too many) other cars so I´ll just focus on the Datsun (which apart from the sentimental value is a great car!) I think I´ll be there within the next couple of weeks. The only way to get into the car is trough the rear hatch until I make space to move it (it´snot only boxed in like you can see in the photos but also has a pile of old parts in front of it from years of collecting/hoarding pieces and sparts here and there. We´ll be selling most of the cars but it´s hard to even decide where to start (most of them are unfinished projects and with many parts laying all over the place) I haven´t decided a 100% about the Datsun but I don´t think it´ll be a full restoration to its original shape, what I do know is that I don´t want it to be an all out custom car either, probably more of a daily driver/restomod. I think I ´ll star by cleaning it up as much aas I can, then proceed to check the electrical system to see what works and what doesn´t, then gast tank/lines, brakes/brake lines, etc... I´ll leave the engine for later since I´m not really sure at this moment if I´ll use the original one or I´ll swap it (if I do the later, it´ll be on a basis of reliability, ease/cost of servicing and parts, etc rather than power or speed, I´m 56 Y.O. and never was much of a racer)

Welcome,  as long as the engine is in fairly good condition then you shouldn't have any problem making it reliable, it's a simple engine, easy to work on and tough as nails. All parts for the engine are available as well as quite a few upgrades to coax a little more power out of it.

I'm excited to see what is under all that dust.

Holy moly. That's some project you have there. Good luck ! Nice to read your story.

Roll it out first and pressure wash it, get ALL the dirt of first, also the underside of the car and engine bay.

A few basic steps ( to start it and see how it runs ) to do are:

wheel bearing ( inspect them and grease them or replace them ).

BRAKES

new batteru=y

Replace the rubber fuel lines, and flush the lines and TANK, replace fuel filter.

Check mechanical fuel pump for operation and leaks.

take carbs of and clean them

check state of ignition and put some new plugs.

put clean NON ethanol gas

she should start up if valve clearances are good * you could always check them with the engine tune up

Welcome and my condolences as well. 

Interior looks like a 72, has the early bat handled hazard switch.

But I’d like to know the story about how it acquired 260/280 tail lights. That bumper and the spacer between the body and bumper on the rear is an early 260 thing. 73’s didn’t have a rear spacer, just on the front. 

So the question might be, where does the 240 end and the 260 begin?

Edited August 1, 20204 yr by zKars