SSuspect

In my case, I am going to do the paint work myself. It has been 12 years since I painted a car, but I went to school (WyoTech) for it back in the 80's. I am going to use the Z as a "refresher"... Since the engine is coming out anyway (currently, only the block and crank are in the car), I can't find a reason NOT to do it. However, if I were not going to do this myself, it would remain the stock color also! However, I think that I am going to go with a black basecoat and either an emerald green pearl or blue pearl topcoat. That should be pretty sweet! I will probably want to open an artery by the time I am done, but it should be nice once I finally finish it! :stupid: wight92 - I am not sure what you are "willing" to do or how far you are willing to go with this, but PLEASE do not settle for a MAACO or Earl Schieb paint job. I am not "assuming" that you will do this, but I have seen a lot of people "settle" for this route and were very disappointed in the long run. Do yourself a favor and save up some extra money and do it correctly. Even if you stay with the stock color, it will be beautiful when it is done! Tim

No Joke! And a bunch of scary stuff under the front seats! I will be digging out my elbow length gloves once I decide to pull the seats out!

SWEET! Thanks Arne! The jack and tools are there. Looks like the wheel chocks have never even been used! There are no lug nuts, but there are 4 plastic tubes (about 3" long x 3/4" diameter). 3 black and one red. No clue what these would have been for (hold the lug nuts maybe). Tim

Mr.EScanlon - THANK YOU! Once my neighbor got done laughing at me (all 6'1" & 250 lbs of me crammed into the rear hatch area) and making jokes about 10lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag, I finally got it open! Popped the lock out, blasted some WD40 in there and it finally came open with a little work. The PO had the latch mechanism cocked at a funky angle and it was not releasing cleanly. A couple of simple adjustments and now it is working perfectly! He also has a bunch of bogus weatherstripping in there. That will be gone soon enough. I do need a new shock absorber, but that is easy enough too. The bonus - ABSOLUTELY ZERO RUST in the entire rear area! The spare tire well looks like brand new! The more I dig into this car looking for rust, the happier I get that I am not finding much. One question - Did these cars originally come with a scissor jack or a bottle jack? There are one of each in the storage compartments. It has all of the original tire tools and the original pouch too! Thanks again for the info!!! I think I am gonna REALLY like playing with this car! Here are a couple of pics of the hatch area.

Thanks E! I will mess with it again over the next few days and see what happens. It can't be "too" tough... :classic: I'll reply once I get it done. Thanks again! Tim

I hope I am posting this in the right section. I did a search, but could not find any info on this specific issue. I am starting to tear into the 240 and need a little bit of help. The latch for the rear hatch is not releasing when depressed. I even pulled the interior panels and manually depressed the latch mechanism - nothing! I can feel the "jaws" of the latch moving, but nothing seems to be "releasing". I can feel 2 small screw heads holding the mechanism in place, should I remove these (should be fun - not much room to work). Will that release the hatch? I can also feel the clip that holds the lock button in place. I can pull that easily enough if needed. I can even pull the entire tail assy off if needed - I will do it eventually anyway. Any help IS appreciated! Thanks! Tim

Thanks for the feedback! Every time I look at the car, I get a big ol' smile on my face! I just need to free up some more space in my garage! I hear ya' there! That is the main reason that I got this car. I have been driving a Suburban as my daily driver for the last few years and I needed something more "sensible". I thought to myself - what would be cool and fun? Tada!!! Found the 240 on Craigslist and brought it home. Now that I know this is an original car (numbers match, etc...), my V8 plans are definitely in question. IF I were to do the LT1, it is an injected '96 motor and I easily get 20-22mpg on the freeway (sounds crazy, but it is 100% true). It would do really well in the Z, be EXTREMELY reliable and would be wickedly quick. I have a LOT of thinking to do! :stupid: Either way, I am going to get it running with the original engine, do the interior and DRIVE IT! It would be AT LEAST a year before I was ready to do an engine swap of any sort. I plan on having it running by June with the original engine. Thanks Jon - Lot's of work is a GOOD THING! I've been a car freak forever and have built many cars. My Impala was totaled 3+ years ago (by an idiot doing 30mph in a parking lot! :mad: ) and I have rebuilt it from front to back. Compared to this monster, the Z is looking easy and should be fun! Thanks again for the input! I do appreciate it!

First of all - Thanks for the great forum! I have been reading and learning A LOT!!! Sorry for the huge post. But it is the "Open Discussion" section after all... Plus, I figured that I would document it for easy future reference and progress tracking. So... I've had a chance to dig into the car a little bit. I bought it for $800 with a BUNCH of spare parts. I feel like I got a VERY good deal What do you think??? My dilemma is that I will soon have a 70k mile LT1 from my Impala that needs a home (putting a 500hp 385 stroker small block in it). Was going to put it in the Z, but now that I know that the Z is all original, I am having second thoughts about molesting it like that... Initial plans - rebuild the L24 and the interior and DRIVE IT! Here is the rundown. Was his wife's car and was running a year ago, but PO tore it down due to smoke at idle and on acceleration (valve guides?). She refused to drive it that way and got a new car. 12 months later, the Z is still sitting and they can use the money for other things. You know the story. :bandit: The details... 1971 240Z The Numbers - Build date = 2/71 - VIN# = HLS30-21505 - Engine # = L24-027986 (Block #'s match ID Plate #'s) The Engine - Block and crank are in car. - All engine pieces were individually bagged and labeled on removal. - Flat top pistons - #6 has a little bit of pitting. Others are perfect. - Came with an E31 head and an E88. (Not sure which was the original head). E31 was in it last. - Minimal (if any) cylinder wear. I can't feel a ridge at all. The Body - Owner was a “shade tree body man”. He painted it in the garage. It looks good from 20 feet. The "semi" good thing is that he took the body down to the metal and only threw 2 coats of color and no clear. Will be easy to strip. - Body work is “fair”. Obvious areas with light body filler – were not blocked/worked enough during paint prep. - No "big" cancer sections. Battery area and frame rails are very clean. - Still need to dig into rocker areas, but no rust is visible. - 1 4"x4" patch panel on driver's floorboard. Not a bad job, but really need to check the area under the carpet. - Minor cancer is visible on both rear wheel wells. Owner said that he patched some small cancer holes with fiberglass. I am sure that I will be doing new wheel opening steel when I tear into if. - Tail area is clean - Taillights need some cleaning and polishing, but look OK. - Grill area is clean - Front and rear bumpers are new (ends are in boxes) The Interior - Driver’s seat is TOAST. Frame is good, but foam and cover are done! - Passenger's is split on bottom. - The dash has several cracks. - Both window regulators need a good amount of attention attention. The rest... - The seller gave me a LOT of extra parts for this thing. Came with 6 into 2 Header & Gasket, Performance Cam + 2 others, New Flex Brake lines, Crane Electronic Ignition, extra gauges, extra master brake cylinder (new), extra set of SU carbs, original owners manual & warranty booklet + several boxes of parts (20 years of collecting). - Front end is very tight. Recently rebuilt. - Tires and brakes have less than 5k miles on them. - Front end was rebuilt 2 years ago and is very tight. - Already converted to a crane electronic ignition. - Rear hatch release/button does not work. Tried to manually release it from the inside, but the mechanism depresses, but does not release. - Has the old "D" Hubcaps. Need restoration, but can be nice! I went to Wyo Tech (20+ years ago!!!) and took the body/refinishing course. But I still dabble in it and this will be a great project! I am stoked! Thanks! Tim Here are a couple of pics. Others are over in the "Introduce Yourself" section. On her own little patch of asphalt... At least there are no spiders and it smells OK! The wheelwell cancer - just how bad will it be underneath??? Some of the engine parts...

WooHoo! Just scanning through the various topics and saw this one. Just saw the "How to Restore Your Datsun 240Z" note and said "Hey - I need that!". Ordered that one and the ""How to Rebuilt Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine: Covers L-Series Engines 4-Cylinder 1968-1978, 6-Cylinder 1970-1984" book by Tom Monroe from Amazon for $30 total! I am "almost" done putting money into the Impala for a while. Beginning in about one month, the Z is going to start receiving my FULL attention! Thanks! Tim Hey bippu - I grew up in Livermore! My dad and brothers are still there. Great area - I love going "home"! Have fun with the Z - the drive through Patterson Pass road would be FUN!

!!! Yep - I definitely have more air cleaners than I can use. Actually - he did have one extra set of carbs. It is buried on one of the boxes somewhere. I was going to possibly send them as an ectra core for the Z-Therapy build. Not sure what they are worth outright though. Tim

Thank you! I am sure that I will be interested in selling some parts a little later, but for now I am still trying to get my arms around what all I have vs. what I have to work on. Once I get it running, I'll go from there and see what I have left. Thanks for the heads up! Again, I have not looked very close at the caps, but I do know that they are in "pretty good" shape. I am not much of a "hubcap guy" and am sure that I will be changing the wheels and tires at some point after I get it running. However, I may look at moving them to help offset the $630 that I need for the Z-Therapy folks... :nervous: Did some checking and it actually looks really good. The only rust is on a small part (about 2" long) of the battery tray itself. No "obvious" rust (or apparent acid damage) on the firewall, fenders or frame rails. Still need to pull the rocker panel trim (nothing visible with them in place) and check under and through the entire car. Colorado is VERY dry and rust problems are somewhat reduced compared to a LOT of other places. Thanks again for the words of encouragement! Tim