laffeaux

The car looks good, but the real price determined looking at the underside of a Z. Check the frame rails and floor pans for rust. A rust free car is worth a lot more than one with rust on the under carriage. My first Z had the front driver's side frame rail collapse due to rust, so look for it. Rust is more prevalant on early Zs than most cars. The strap tha tyou asked about is stock. The cut-outs for speaker in the doors decreases the car's value. The seat upholstery, shifter nob, and color (note the mismatched engine bay color) are not stock. You can use all of these points to talk the price down. Without seeing the frame rails, it's hard to establish a price. If they are clean $4K is not unreasonable. If they are rusty or if there is a lot of bondo that would be high.

Speaking of cleaning the engine out... A friend of mine recommended adding a quart of ATF and running it for a 10 minutes or so and them changing the oil. According to him the detergents in the ATF clean out a lot of the deposits. I've been reluctant to try it. Anybody else ever hear of this?

I think I like the new look better. Also, it seems a lot faster than it was. Are you running an an improved portal server, or get a faster connection?

Did you upgrade the rear to disk too? I thought about upgrading the fronts, but thought that I'd have to upgrade the rear at the same time and didn't have the cash.

Have you checked the junk yards? There's a '72 near me that still has both doors. Not sure the condition of the inner works though - I've not need anything from it.

I meant to address the title issues too. Datsun produced cars based on the calendar year - i.e. in 1970 they produced 1970 cars, in 1971 they produced 1971 cars. Unfortunately the US sells cars starting in September or so as the next next model year. So from August to December, Datsun was making a 1970 car, but US dealers were selling it as a 1971. Ofter the '71 model year Datsun switched hit production to mirror the US cycle, instead of the calendar year. Dealers could have registered the car as either a '70 or '71, and delaers did both. But the '70 early '71 are the same car.

My understanding is that the acutall switch from Series I ('70 and early '71) to Series II (late '71) happened around January of 1971. Cars after early January could have been either, depending on parts availability. At some point all of the Series I bodies made it though the assembly line, and only Series II cars were produced afterwards. Remember that car's don;t have to come off an assembly line in the order that they started. If something was wrong, parts were not available (just in time), or if there were panel alignment problems, a car can be pulled form the line. Therefore a Series I can might have started down the assembly line in December, but was pulled out and not completed until late January. Also, production is a fluid. Specs can change at any time. I have a '71, and some parts (i.e. hoses, etc) seem to be more '70ish, while otheres seem to be more '72ish. I think car's made in January of '71 may have varried from those made in July of '71. It makes Z cars fun.

Look at the frame rails and floor pans. If they are rusty the answer is no. If they are not rusty then maybe, but you should be able to get more for that price (depending on where you live).

My requirements were a high performance exaust that was quiet. I had a flowmaster a few years back on an old '67 Firebird - I decided that was too loud for my tastes. The exaust pipe that runs from the stock manifold just past the "y" sells for $60 from Nissan. I had to buy one of those too.

Ztherapy has a video called "Just SUs" and it's well worth watching. After seeing it, working on your carbs seems very easy. If you live in the SF bay area you can borrow mine. The mecahanic is way overpriced. $800 for a rebuild is crazy, when for $600 you can buy Ztherapy carbs and install them yourself in about an hour. If you have the ability to check your butterfly valve linkage (i.e. if your carbs are off the car) then you can see if a rebuilt kit will work. If your butterfly vale moves excessively (side to side), air can be sucked into the engine at the back of the carb (that's bad). Thereare bushings that will eventually wear out, Ztherapy replaces the bushings with bearings. If your bushings are shot, I'd order a new set of carbs form Ztherapy, but if they are not, a rebuild is all you need. The rebuild kits are $150 for two carbs, which seems high. What you really save at that price is leg work. You can find all of the parts for cheaper, but it might take a while to accumilate them all. The idea about getting the flexible fuel line at a motorcycle shop is a good one. A local shop here sells fuel line made of some material that I'd never heard of that is very thin walled and flexible. It would work fine. It's not standard fuel line like you'd find at a auto repair shop. It costs a bit more than standard hose.

What are you looking for? How much can you spend? Do you know how to do bodywork? If you want a beater that's fun to drive, and never plan on fixing, it it might be fine. If you want to turn that car into a nice $6000 car, be prepared to sink $12,000 or more into it. You'll find it's much cheaper to buy a completed car than a fixer-upper. However if you're looking for a winter project and you can do the body work yourself, maybe.

I had my entire brake system rebuilt to stock specs: new rotors, rebuilt wheel cylinders, new master cyclinder, new master vac hoses, and new flexible brake lines. It's pricey: $280 in parts, $50 to have everything turned down, plus labor (unless you do it yourself, which I was too lazy to do). But the ability to stop a car is more important than making it go fast.

You know how when you decide you're going to get a new muffler, and then somehow manage to end up with two mufflers that are both better than the one you went in for? Well, that's what happened. I went to a muffler shop for a Dynamax muffler. The guy in the shop said that for a Z, a Borla system would be better. He sent me to a local Z only repair shop to talk to them (where I listened to two cars with the system). I ended up going with a Borla muffler, and a Borla resonator (both are over $100 each), plus there was installation, and all new pipes. After you throw in 8.25% tax it adds up quickly. Nothing's cheap.

Joel, That's really hard to esimate. It depends on the condition of the car you start with, and depends on what your definition of "decent daily driver condition" is. The cheapest option is to find a car that is already in the condition that you think meets your acceptablity, and buy it. You'll not be able to do it cheaper (in most cases) by doing work yourself. Here's my latest project: 3,000 - '71 rust-free, good interior, poor runing 100 - tune up 200 - new weatherstripping 300 - all new switches (headlight, turn signal, ignition) 600 - stereo, speakers, new antenna 850 - new wheels 400 - new tires 620 - all new brakes (paid labor on this one) 300 - new radiator 250 - new hoses (radator, vaccum, heater, master vac) 30 - water pump 80 - new thermostat and housings 600 - new ZTherapy carbs 500 - exaust system After all that I have a great daily driver ($7800). I'd still like to replace some of the suspension bushings, but otherwise I'm happy. This does not include my time. I had hoped to buy a car for $6000 in the condition that I wanted but didn't find anything.

Motor Sports Auto - http://www.zcarparts.com/ - sells brand new switches. I just bought one for my '71. I think they run about $90, but they are brand new parts.