stevef1972z

Going to load them soon, been out driving it today!

I had the interior of the car out while doing all the floorpans and supports along with a T/C mount rebuild. After putting the car back together I ended up with a new problem. All lights work, turn signals, headlights, brakes, and dash lights, until I turn on the headlights and I loose the rear running lights, and license plate light, additionally the dash lights go out. Checking the FSM, I can see the license plate light and rear lights connected to the same problem, but not the dash lights. Am I missing a common point between these problems or am I facing two different issues? The reason I think they are related, is when I have dash lights I also have the lights on the rear of the car. It only is a problem with the headlights on, parking lights I have everything. I am a bit confused.

Good for you hope it is a solid car and the beginning of a lot of fun for the family.

Floor pans and frame rails are super important, if you cant do the work yourself, and it is huge job, the shop is going to run as much as the car. Poke on it hard before buying, or be ready to do lots and lots of work. I have a midwest rust belt car, and lots has been done to it. It takes a lot of time, or a bunch of money! Good luck, I can say it is worth it!

Thank you both. One propane canister, two scrappers, two four inch grinding wheels, three 4 inch abrasive wheels for the grinder, two abrasive wheels for the drill, three drill grinding stones conical (for those hard to reach places), 10 cut off wheels for air cut off tool, one hammer for the air nibbler (great tool), 3 cans brake clean, 30 inch sheet metal press, 8 sheet metal screws to hold in place (removed and hole welded), one 4x4ft sheet of 18ga, 1 and 1/3 spool of welding wire, assorted hand tools, two bottles of advil and a lot of sweat. Add in the time and you see why the shops charge so much for this job. I think if you total it all up I came out lower than having it all done, minus the time part, as I fabbed up everything myself versus buying replacements or farming the work out. If I had it to do over, I would have stripped the car down to a shell and worked it over, it was a lot of overhead work on my back on a creeper in a one car garage. This is a lot more work than hanging quarter panels or rockers. I am proud of the work, but at the same time I am really glad the major work is now done. I know a lot more about how these cars are made now! I am no joking about the help from the board without it I would have had a real mess on my hands!!!

Just thought I would update everyone that I finally finished getting my 72 back together. If you remember, floor, framerails, frame up to the T/C Mount, inner and outer inside fender were rusted into nothing. I bent and replaced everything, minus one Bad Dog Frame Rail that I used as a template. All told I guess there is around 80 hours including stripping the undercoat, cutting out all the bad metal, bending up and fabbing all the new and then getting it all into place. I used a full 4x4ft sheet of 18ga to build it all. I have not primed and undercoated yet. I am going to put a few miles in it and make sure every weld holds and there is no buckling or any other issues. The first few miles were wonderful, even without the sound deadener and the carpet et al. I figure about ten more hours to 100% complete, but for now it runs and was on the road for Fathers Day. I would like to thank everyone for the advice and ideas, without those who helped and provided photos this Z would have been crushed. I am glad I did it, but I dont think I would do another one!!! Thanks agin everyone!!!

Been very busy with other things, the Z has a layer of dust on it from sitting neglected. I got a 4x4 ft piece of 18ga sheet metal and bent the needed pieces today. I am not real happy with what I have come up with for replacing the section missing between the TC mount and the Bad Dog frame rail. With everything missing from the rust it is making it tough. I placed everything today and secured it with sheetmetal screws to pull it tight. I had some more trimming and hammering to fit contours, but not bad. I have to go back down in the morning and get the metal reground to start the welding of the floorboards and the frame rail. So far it is going well, should be on the road this time next week if it all works out. I really hope so it has been a long time since I have driven it.

I would be interested in the fan switch and knob.

I understand your situation and have a similar problem myself and recieved the same advice that you are getting. Living here in the heart of the Rust Belt, anything older than 15 years has rust. Replacing floors and framerails is standard work here for any Rustang or Camaro, and definitely on a 240z. Out West they part them out. The advice is solid, depending on skills and use of the car. I went down and removed all of the undercoating in the area. Then I went through a very complete and brutal evaluation of the area. I cut out all of the rust, heartlessly. After that I knew what was looking at. I then bought several sheets of poster board and made patterns of the area that was to be replace. I bought a 4x4ft sheet of 18 guage to make the parts. I will bend them this weekend and start getting them welded into place. (if you dont have a sheet metal bender, you can rent one, or farm that work out with the patterns that you made) I will add a piece like the Bad Dog upgrade for the suspension mounts. It can be done, to make the car safe and fun to drive. It depends on how much work you want to do. My car will not look factory, but lets face it, if it is a high number car with milage on it, its really not worth that much on the market. Parting out is time consuming as is selling all the stuff if there are not many Z cars in the area. It depends on what you want to do with the car, your skill level, and how much sweat you want to put into it. For me, working on cars is half the fun, if I wanted to just drive something I would have bought a Miata. Good luck on whatever choice you make.

Wow well done!

I have used a product called Water Wetter before, designed to do the same thing. I have used it in 1/4 mile V8 drag motors and in my 72Z. I prefer to use antifreeze in my mix to help control corrosion in the system. It did provide some additional cooling effect, perhaps a 5% lowering in temp, so not a lot of help. They are more effective in a straight water system. For my stock cooling system that warms up in the summer traffic and humidity of the St. Louis Metro area, I added an electronic cooling fan to aid in cooling when the stop and go causes the guage to get to warm.

Anyone going to the NHRA drags at Gateway International Raceway in Madison Illinois this weekend? I will be there with the fam watching the races. Thought if any members were going we might get together, have a beer and talk Datsun.

Not much happening. We were out for a while as we had a wedding in Ft. Lauderdale last weekend and one this weekend as well. I am working on the templates and hope to have them to the metal bender this weekend early Satuday before the wedding. The bent metal will be added to the Bad Dog rails and welded into place for the T/C support. I will try and be nice enough to take some photos. Didnt get to work on the templates tonight, Monster in Law came over and bought dinner, so I had to visit. Will finish the templates Thurs or Friday evening.

Whoa relax take a breath. Trust me we have all been fustrated at one time or another working on these cars and others, and one of the most fustrating problems to work on is wiring. Before going radical, it might be best to go simple. The car is not new, and has wear. The wiring has been sitting, rubbing and transfering energy since before you were born. There is a short in the system. It sounds like it is in the ignition switch. A bad connection, rubbed through insulation, gunk, or maybe even a bad switch. Grounds are very important on fuel injected cars, if they are not getting correct voltage they dont run properly. It is very hard to make a fuel injection system run if the wiring is not in a stock configuration. Get the manual and a test meter and go through the system. The tools and process will be good for any car you ever own and work on. Start simple and work to the bigger problems. Prove the part is broken before replacing it, that will save you time, money and fustration. There is nothing I have found personally or professionally as joyous and fustrating as working on an older car. I rant about it sometimes as well, check out my blog here to see my messes. In the end I will get the car back on the road, with time and patience you will as well.

You have that right. Our cars are noted in all the books as one of the greatest sport GT cars of the era, yet you wont see one the stage. I searched the BJ web page going through the list of all cars sold by BJ at the action in AZ, NV and FL and they have never sold a 240Z. Very interesting.

I have a love hate relationship with the BJ auctions. I love to see all of the cars, some rare that I wont ever see again, and the paint, neat customs and all. But sometimes I think it causes problems with the hobby because everyone with a basket case car thinks it worth umpty dollars "because I saw on sell on BJ for $100000." Then again, if I had one of those rare cars it drives the price up and makes my car worth more. What do you guys think?

I cant seem to find the post, I got it from a Triumph site and it was good, I will keep looking if you are interested.

I have mine at 36mm and have no problem. The dual DVG isnt a popular mod on this board. My car came with them too, and they run fine so I see no need to spend over a grand for remanufactured originals. Getting them tuned is a bit of black magic. If you have a vacum guage, you can adjust the idle circuit for the best (highest) vacum. This really helps. I have a tuning guide link around somewhere, I will forward it to you once I figure out what file I saved it in!

Very rarely on a 240 is there only a little floor rust. If it is rusted on the floor the odds are good that the floor supports are rusted as well. Rear quarters, front fenders, rockers, and the battery box are very common rust areas as well. Poke that thing a lot before buying. Like all cars of this era, rust is a huge part! Repairs in these areas can be expensive if farmed out and time consuming if done yourself. Photos will help the board in giving opinions, but be very attentive to rust, these cars rust inside out, and what looks good, turns out to be rotting away unseen.

Ron I agree, with the gap in the NOS part it was designed to rust with the ability to just hold water. Jim thanks for the offer, but I am bending metal this weekend, it will be a long weekend, and then some more time getting it all laid back up and remeasured. This is what I like about this board, knowledge and advice supported by photos of NOS to DIY a great blend for everyone!!! You guys rock!

I drove mine to work quiet a bit last summer before finding some problems I am working on. Drove it through some of the worst traffic in the area. Nearly caused a few wrecks with people checking the car out and trying to figure out what it is! Here in the St Louis metro area there arent too many, most of them are across the river, and apparently Zs are hydrophobic and get freaked with all the water in the Mississippi when crossing the bridge!!!

Ron, Thank you very helpful. On the last pic, it looks like there is a gap at the mount, with brackets inside that are spot welded. Is that the case? Mine are shot and the PO had been in the area and I cant really tell what is supposed to go there. These are extremely helpful!!

Mike I agree not a lot of Zs left here in Illinois, I see a few ZXs and lots of the 300s + but not many early cars, I think like mine a lot of them just rusted away.

Thanks those will help some!

As a lot of you know I have decided to go ahead and try and fix the rust on my 72. In the photos of everyone doing rust repair, the Bad Dog or rails from Charlie are always already welded in. My Bad Dog rails do not reach up to the T/C mount on the frame. I need a shot or two of that area so I can get an idea on what I need to rebuild from the T/C mount back to the area that the Bad Dog rail will reach. The driver side of my car is still there, and I dont want to cut the good to see how it is put together, the passenger side is gone. If you have a good shot of the area can you post or send to my email please. Something that shows the T/C box, or if you replaced it without doing the rest of the rail, what that looked like done. Thanks. Steve