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comment_63847

Hi,

Noticed ur from BC and looking for a zcar. I'm in White Rock/South Surrey and recently bought a 71 240z in Portland in November. As a first time z car owner this is what I've learned in the past 2 months. Hopefully it will help you in a search for yours.

The car I bought was listed as minimal rust with good mechanicals with a firm price of $1700US. The owner was fighting in Iraq so his wife had me talk to a Datsun shop mechanic in Portland who had worked on the car and who said it was a good car but needed a complete brake job.

All seemed a go so I went down to Portland and looked at the car and decided to buy it after looking around at the rust situation (more on that in a moment).

The Datsun shop owner ended up doing the brakes as he said it would be too risky to drive it home. He did the brakes and front bearings and lightened my wallet to the tune of $1400 CDN. Turns out that I could have gotten the car home without having the brakes done and Ian's auto ( a z car shop in Coquitlam) would have done it for half the price. BTW...Ian is a great Lower Mainland resource on z cars if you have questions or need help in restoring.

Got the car home and started realy poking rather than just looking and tapping for rust and that's when the nightmare began. It's one thing to tap the metal but it's completely another to take a screw driver and really poke.

The inner fender under the battery and the firewall next to it had thinned metal and holes.

The floor pans were completely shot as was the passenger side frame support.

The inside of the passenger side frame rail was rusted as well.

The aft part of the rocker panels were rusted as was the bottom front of the rear wheel well.

The rear deck lid was rusted through in two places.

The fact of the matter was that all of this rust was very well covered when I looked at the car. I had done my homework on "where" to look, but had no experience or insight on "how" to look on these 30 yr old cars.

After completely stripping the inside of the car it's apparent that the car has rust for two reasons. First, the old weather stripping leaked and allowed water into the car. Second, condensation wreaked havoc on this car over time. Anywhere water could enter, get trapped or pool, it did. All other parts of the car were fine. The car had a rebuilt motor (the quality of the rebuild is unknown) so at least that was a plus. The seats and carpets need to be replaced in time as well.

I'm doing all of the metal/welding myself (which I have no experience at) along with the body work as a prep for painting that I'll be getting done at Maaco (that's all I can afford).

I had hoped to get a car that would be a daily driver and only require some minor TLC so I could spend the remainder of my car budget on upgrading the suspension/tires and replacing the seat covers and carpet. As it turns out I'll have no cash left for any upgrades but the car will be solid, painted and all mechanicals complete when I'm done. My hope is that my treatment of the rust will be good enough to stop it in its track for many years to come.

My advice to you would be this if I could do it all over again. Find a car with a good body over anything else even if it costs you an extra one or two grand CDN. Go see it in person before you buy and spend all the time you need POKING in all of the rust danger zones.

There's a 73 240z for sale in San Diego (on this site and zcar.com) that has a 2.8L engine in it and claims it has NO rust asking $3500 - $3700 obo. If it's true that it has absolutely NO rust, work him down to a better price and grab it. With the 2.8L it would be an absolute blast to drive.

Best of luck,

yvrz

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comment_64020

if you want to restore a Z buy it in AZ or CA... the interior's and the rubber pieces will need to be replaced but the metal is usually straight and clean. Or spend a little more and find and buy one owner Z cars like I do. My 76 came from Ohio with 50k on it and I spent $6000 for it initially and have owned it over 10 years now. The car has had some rust issues but not the ones that some have had due to being aware of the problem areas and being able to do prevenative maintenence to stop big problems in the future. My restoration costs were minimal due to my car was taken care of by the original owner and me. Check my car out in my gallery. I also suggest using Sound and Speed in Macomb, IL to assist with painting of your Z. They weren't happy with their last body guy so they hired a master hotrod painter to do their work and he's re-doing my car due to the other guy's work wasn't to the quality of the true House of Colors paint....which has a lifetime warranty.

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comment_64068
Originally posted by Kozby1976

if you want to restore a Z buy it in AZ or CA... Or spend a little more and find and buy one owner Z cars like I do. My 76 came from Ohio with 50k on it and I spent $6000 for it initially and have owned it over 10 years now.

I also suggest using Sound and Speed in Macomb, IL to assist with painting of your Z.

Sure is easier to buy one in good shape. The '78 280Z I bought a couple months ago is a CA car, one owner, that I also bought in Ohio! He brought it from CA and then almost never drove it in OH, so it has no rust to speak of. Now it is up to me to try to keep it that way! It's in nice shape, drives well, and I don't have to weld on it! Could probably use shocks and bushings soon, though.

That's a long way from the '70 240Z I bought locally (Champaign, IL) that has more rust that I want to admit. It'll be a long, expensive road to bring it back, and if it wasn't a very low VIN, it would probably be a parts car now.

Kozby, what kind of lead time does the place in Macomb have? They're actually only about 2.5 hours from me, so they might be useful...always looking for places that are known to do a good job!

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comment_64087

Call and ask for Evan...a fellow Z-Nut...his number at Sound and Speed is 309-836-6299. Unlike any shop you've seen or been to. They have a competition sound shop with the best sound guy in the area(Jake). The have a full time mechanic, a full time paint and body dude(Stan) who has painted cars all his life and is the best I've seen in a long time...and Evan is a Hybrid Z fanatic and the owner of the shop. His personal Z is a work in progress and its my job to make sure they stay active with Z's. THIS IS THE SPOT FOR YOUR Z AND OTHER TYPES OF CARS AS WELL!!! Call them and they will make time for your car....

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