grretc

Thanks everyone. I had some ATF in the motor, turned it and it turned over by hand! Replaced the spark plugs and drained the oil. Just have to replace a few more things, and I'll do a test start with a fuel line directly into a small gas tank. I took it out for a real good rinsing to get the spider webs out from under the car. The paint has a great shine to it, and it hasn't even gotten a detail yet! Frame rails and floors looked great. Emptied out the gas tank, and the gas looked great! No real rust particles came out. Carl Beck suggested I take a look inside the tank still to make sure there was no gunk, so that's next on the list. For now some photos to enjoy...

This is insane! I'll be performing a tank flush this weekend and hopefully all goes well. If not I have a fresh tank on the side waiting for it. The photo kind of makes me wonder about my other cars though...

Posts have been fixed and photos are now available for your viewing pleasure.

Yeah I also noticed that they weren't loading for me. I will try to update later today. Thanks for noticing!

Thanks Carl, it means a lot! Hopefully all goes well. I don't have the name of the transporter on me right now but I will get it to you when I can. They were really easy going and definitely put in some work to get the car out of the dirt driveway to a place where they can tow it. I'll shoot you a pm last I checked it was something around 45k

Just wanted to update this really quickly. Poured some ATF through the spark plugs and giving it some time. Next I'm going to replace the fuel lines in the engine bay as well as empty the gas tank to see what's going on. Some teaser photos for now.

Thanks for all the positive replies! Hazmatt, it was a little hard for me to swallow as well. It's my first time buying a car unseen. I've looked through your build as well and it is going along very nicely. Here are some more pictures of the car being unloaded from the transport. It took four guys and a lot of muscle to get this thing off since one of the rear wheels was locked up, but that should be taken care of soon. Tomorrow I shall be following some of the steps in Awakening The Beast, while the gas tank straps are on order. While I wait for all those things to ship in, I'll clean and detail the car, of course, by hand. The car is kind of dusty, but will clean up well. I'll be sure to include photos of the floors and battery tray

This thread is mainly for me to document the process of refreshing this 1972 Datsun 240z that I was able to acquire with the help of Carl Beck. About a month back Carl posted a Facebook post on onto the Datsun groups, and I immediately inquired about the car. He gave me the owner's contact number, and after a month of jumping through hoops I was finally able to seal the deal and the car landed here on the west coast. It was last registered in 1988 and was a 1 owner car until I purchased it. Backstory is that the previous owner bought it in California enjoyed it here and drove it to Ohio. It sat in the back of his barn until now. Owner has passed away and left the car to his family who hired a liquidation company and...skip all the hoops.. it's mine now. Future plans for it are to follow Carl's advice here: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/21063-waking-the-sleeping-beast/ This thread is worthless without some photos! Hopefully some time later this week, I can post some photos of it unloading and of it after a quick rinse, but for now....

PM COMING YOUR WAY!!! I'M VERY VERY INTERESTED!!

Hey Travel'n Man, Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to take the radiator to get checked once the engine and transmission are out for cleaning. I need to get a lot of the small projects done before school starts. Anyone have recommendation on how I can clean my fuel lines? Replacing them is $$$ and if I can clean them to put the money somewhere else, I'll try that.

Quick update. I spent the last week or so in Orange and contemplated on buying things from MSA since I was there, but ended up purchasing nothing. I recently got back and started to work on the car. First things first! I had to get this thing running or else it was never going to move. I drained the oil out, and put in new oil along with a new filter. Put in some new spark plugs and ran gas directly to the pump. Man am I DUMB. I thought I had it all planned. I put in a new battery and got the terminals switched!! After I slapped it on I saw some smoke coming from the started and the alternator so I quickly pulled off the negative side and did some research. Nothing besides the smoke happened. I thought I was off the hook, but once I corrected my dumb mistake I tried to start the car. I saw a tiny bit of smoke come from the clamshell the engine turned but nothing. I tried and tried again, but it never started for me. After reading this thread ( http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/17266-real-dumb-arse.html ) about someone who made the same mistake, I started thinking of reasons as to why the car won't start and I've come up with this list: 1. Carbs are not getting gas. I noticed that the linkage was not going down as far as other su's I have toyed with. In fact they barely go down at all. The rod that goes through the firewall doesn't go deep at all either. 2. Fusible Linkage is fried and needs replacement 3. Voltage Regulator is fried and need replacement 4. Starter is fried and needs replacement 5. Alternator is fried and needs replacement, but I don't see why this would stop the car from starting. I currently have power to all my lights and the key was not in the ignition when the battery was put on incorrectly so I don't think any of the wires in the cabin got fried. Any idea on what I should look at first? Or any other ideas as to why the car isn't starting? Man this project just got really frustrating.

Wow... Look at all that goodness

Hey tamo3! I still have the Fairlady Z and depending on how things go, it will probably be restored within the next 20 years I have my 280z to tackle after this...

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. I think I'm going to take tlorber's advice and remove the smog equipment, but not off this motor. I have a spare l28 with an n42 head that came off a running Z I'll throw in this one. So that one will run on round top carbs while this motor remains untouched. If I ever wanted to go back to completely original, it will be there waiting for me. Hardway, I looked up what you were talking about and came to this link: http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/tankvents/tankvents.html If that's what you're talking about, I'll probably take care of it once I know the car and move and stop under it's own power. jonathanrussell is right. I don't want to dig myself too deep with this kind of thing. I know people who regret digging too deep into their z and have made it a 10 year project. My goal is to enjoy driving it, not enjoy working on it. His advice basically said get it up and going, which is what I plan to do. Then I'll tackle the suspension and cosmetics. One thing that is for sure..when it's time to paint, it will be 113 green

Hey hr369, Thanks for the kind words. I found it in the Santa Clara/San Jose area. It was on the border of the two cities. The carpet can't be lifted out without it cracking, so I think washing it is not an option for sure haha. The gas tank is on my list of to do. It's going to get cleaned out and powder coated when I take the suspension down for a powdercoat job. Your 280z is probably similar to my 280z as well. Practically no rust and was sitting in someone's garage. Got any photos? Dog legs and floor boards on the car are in absolutely pristine condition. I'll have to get a photo of those when I check on the milage.