Hardway

I second DJ's comments. I had a '98 Honda Accord that started and ran just fine until one day it would not. The battery was putting out 12.6V and the car would start with the charger on it but would not without it. Battery was 3 years old and had lived through 2 very hot TX summer's. It was a good battery with a good warranty so I got $50 back to put towards a new one. Car started fine until the day I sold it. AMPS are the muscle of a battery and electrical current in general.

Hey Smigel, welcome to the Z disease. I see you are in TX, where are you located? In regards to answering your question, a ZX is a more refined car, can be had for cheaper, and offer a lot of the "spirit" that the classic Z cars have. Will the vehicle in question be your daily driver? If so I assume air conditioning is a must. A good solid ready to enjoy ZX will probably run you around $4K - $6K depending on mileage, condition, and options like turbo or NA, t-tops, etc. A classic Z that has working AC and you can reliably drive as a daily driver will run you closer to $7K - $12K and beyond. Not that you could not drive a car while you fix it but in reality it makes life really tough as you will always be doing something to it. In all honesty, your daily driver needs to be 100% reliable, safe, and comfortable. If the Z or ZX is going to be a project or second car then you really have tons of options. However for your daily driver, take your $4K - $6K and buy a used Honda Accord or something. If you went the ZX route you will be dealing with a car that is already 30 years old and even the best specimen will need things on a some what regular basis. I am sure others will chime in but I speak from experience as many others will too.

Looks like great times KS, minus the ticket of course. I am sure your wallet is a little drained after the engine project but the cure for your sagging seats is new foam and covers. Believe me, you will not be sorry! Give Les at Classic Datsun a call and order up a set of his seat foams and covers. A few hours of your time will go a long way and make driving your Z even more enjoyable. I recently recovered my passenger seat to match the driver seat I did a year ago. Now both seats match, both are super firm and comfy, and really help give the interior of my rough '72 some new life. Check out my threads below for some tips. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/interior-s30/47221-diy-how-recover-your-z-seats-lots-pictures.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/open-zcar-discussion/47863-lime-green-machine-restoration-thread-1972-240z-6.html

Reading the various reviews and threads I think the Zedd Findings pans are the way to go. C2C also sells pans on Ebay and based on the pictures they are not notched on the sides like the ZF pans are. When you factor in the support rails the ZF pans are a better deal. C2C pans are $134 each. $134 X 2 = $268 Add $80 for the rails (that you would have to get through ZF) and you are at $348. ZF pans and rails are $319 and you know exactly what you are getting. Plus, considering you are going to spend the same amount of effort cutting and welding the new ones in, it is in your best interest to install the best product that you can.

You can get the tail light gaskets through Nissan. Even vendors like Motorsports Auto (MSA) send you Nissan parts. Courtesy Nissan in Richardson TX is one of the best known places to get parts and they are one of the dealerships I have ever seen that allow you to buy parts online. Check out Courtesyparts.com Other great vendors include Classic Datsun, Banzai Motorworks, and Black Dragon Auto to name a few. There are also vendors on Ebay and you can even get some parts on Amazon. There are also part specific vendors like Z Therapy for carb work and parts. In regards to the vent lines, check out the sites below. No one as far as I know sells them as a kit but MSA carries the individual lines when they have them in stock. Be prepared for some sticker shock as the one line that is almost impossible to replicate is over $100. One item to note on the site, the 1/2" 4ft hose, buy 6ft of it. I bought 5ft of it online thinking I would have more than enough and I needed an extra foot. http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/tankvents/tankvents.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/engine-drivetrain-s30/46611-fyi-fuel-tank-vent-hose-info.html When I did mine I was able to get most of the hoses through my local auto parts store but had to order the larger diameter stuff on Ebay. Some people have said marine/boat shops carry the larger diameter fuel safe hose so that may be an option too. Unless you are going for a 100% factory correct look I would skip the factory style lines. It will save you 60+% on what all the lines cost.

Found the Ebay auction for your car as I had been watching it to see what it goes for. Given the condition and amount of work that was put in to it by the previous owners I think the final bid price is very fair. Again, great looking car! Datsun : Z-Series Z series in Datsun | eBay Motors

Welcome SBK! That is a great looking 240z you got. You will find the community here is top notch with tons of info and advice. In regards to the fuel smell, check your fuel tank vent lines and the seals around your tail lights. These are common "need to replace" items if they have not already been done so. The vent lines run in to a vent tank on the passenger side behind the plastic cover in the hatch area. We look forward to seeing more of your car and hearing about your progress.

I agree with BP. You really have to decide what looks good for the amount of effort it will take to achieve it. I have known guys that have restored cars and powdered coated the frame, suspension, brackets, etc. When the car was finished, 90% of it was hidden and would never be seen. Given the amount of time it took to do that and the money it costs, most regretted it. A wire brush or sand blaster and some quality spray can paint will make anything look 10x or 100x better than it was. You can take it a step further and shoot professional level paint with a gun but that alone may be overkill too.

Welcome to the club Dan! Looks like you have a great father son project there. As others have already said, evaluate the rust and what it will take to fix it before going too far. One question, on the passenger side door panel, there looks to be a metal plate, is that what it really is? Do you have any idea what its purpose is other than look cool? I have a '72 as well and currently going through a bumper to bumper rehab on it. Check out the various build threads around here. That will give you and your son some ideas on how to tackle things. I have one of my own but I have not gone too deep on rust repair yet. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/open-zcar-discussion/47863-lime-green-machine-restoration-thread-1972-240z.html Good luck and keep us posted!

Welcome back to the club Will. As you already know, finding a rust free Z in any part of the country these days presents a challenge. The best thing I can suggest is to keep an eye on the Datsun Classifieds site and troll your local and surrounding Craigslist sites on a regular basis. Ebay is always an option too. Be patient and I am sure the right one will come along. We look forward to your updates.

Thank you for the compliments EuroDat. The seat recover project is definitely a DIY job. Just takes a few simple tools and plenty of time, arm, and hand strength. Its a project that when done really helps to transform the car. Plus you back and butt benefit from the support. I don't know if I really solved my camber issue. I posted an update on my Chevette springs thread yesterday as well. Right now my plan is to get the front aligned and just drive it. It looks like the springs may finally be settling a little so I am going to leave them alone for now. With the Texas heat I don't see myself working on them again until the fall if I should decide to do so.

I took a new shot from the passenger side this weekend. I did not get around to working on the suspension but from this angle and compared to the pictures above it looks like it is sitting close to stock height. I think my short wall tires are making it look higher than it really is. It is odd, when it was parked in the drive way the positive camber looked like it was gone and even had a little negative camber. I am going to try and correct the toe on it using the string method and get my steering wheel centered. I think if I can get this correct and drive it more, the springs will settle a bit more and everything may correct itself. I don't think I will be able to dive in to springs anymore until it cools off in the fall.

This weekend I finally got around to a project I had been wanting to do for quite awhile. Ever since I recovered my driver side seat, the passenger seat not only looked worse but just really brought the car down. The cover and new foam has been sitting in my office closet for months so I decided to get to it. I am not going to go in to full detail like I did for my driver seat. Instead I will point out some lessons I learned when I recovered the front seat and carried them in to this rebuild. If you want to see all the details of the driver side seat recover project, check it out here -> http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/interior-s30/47221-diy-how-recover-your-z-seats-lots-pictures.html First, as you can see the seat was in sad shape and begging to be rebuilt. Once everything was apart it was nice to see that the back seat pan was in excellent shape so no welding or repair was needed. In order to make the top cover easier to install I decided I would glue the foam down this time. I started by cutting the headrest off and gluing it down using 3M spray adhesive. Once in place I let it sit with the dumbbell and clamp to ensure it dried correctly. Once the headrest was dried in place I covered it with a plastic shopping bag. The original was covered with plastic as well and I knew this would make it easier to get the cover on around the headrest. I slipped the top of the cover on and hog ringed it in to place. Once that was done I glued the lower back foam in to place and weighted it down accordingly. This is where having lots of weights comes in real handy! I really should be utilizing these more their intended purpose. One day, one day. Next, came the task of getting the rest of the top cover on. This part takes lots of patience and persuasion. Taking time to get the fit just right results in a great looking final product. Gluing the foam down made things easier as well so definitely lesson learned there. The bottom cushion was very straight forward and I installed the foam and cover in the same manner as I did the driver side. One tool to invest in if you do not have one is a pair of medium size needle nose vise grip pliers. This made the task of pulling the edge of the material over the spikes so much easier and faster. Also, since I had everything off I cleaned up all the hardware and painted it. I am missing the plastic lower hinge covers so I will be on the look out for a used set as new ones are too pricey right now. All in all the end result came out great. The seat is nice and firm and looks 100% with everything being new and detailed. Plus, it matches the driver side so all is good. As with doing anything the second time around this seat only took me about 4 hours of total labor time. No shot of it in the car yet as I plan to pull the carpet out and inspect the floor pan before putting it back in. Since I had some time and energy left I cleaned and re-oiled the K&N filters that came on the car and gave their housings a good clean and polish. I know the factory style air cleaner is technically better than these style air cleaners but this is all I have right now so why not make them look good.

You are more than welcome for all the help. That is what makes this community and its members so great, the knowledge and willing to help is second to none. Sorry to hear you have to sell your Z, especially after all the work you have done to it. I am sure it will go to a good home and hopefully to someone here on the site.

My made in July '72 says 2820 pounds on the door jamb tag. It indicates for the Front 1286 and the rear 1534. Does that help?

Kudos sir! That is a simple yet brilliant idea. I have 2 that are still in good shape and they will be one of the last items that ever go on the car.

I used Rustoleum satin black straight out of the can, no primer or anything. So far it is holding up great. All depends how far you want to go with the correct amount of sheen.

Thank you Blue! This definitely explains why I can barely push down on the front end as it is. If I cut another half coil off I will be looking at almost 300lbs of spring pressure. I would imagine the car would corner flat but the overall ride experience would be something reminiscent of an old heavy duty farm truck. I am thinking the Eibach's are looking better and better at this point.

Looks great Grannyknot! A good cut and polish always does wonders for a paint job, new and old. All of your hard work has certainly paid off. Your bumpers appear to be originals but in excellent shape. Did you have them rechromed or were they that good to begin with? Again, wonderful job!

There was a "rental/borrowing" program going around for awhile but I am not sure what happened to it. You can build a puller for about $15 worth of pieces from the hardware store. Keep in mind' date=' getting a pin to come out with just a puller is a 50/50 proposition. Many times the pin is rusted in to place and must be pushed out with a press. Many of us have posted threads on the agony associated with getting these pins out. Mine is below if you care to check it out. The best thing you do is mix up a 50/50 mix of auto. trans. fluid and Acetone. Take your mix and apply it to each end of the pin and in the middle hole. You may have to use a spoon, eye dropper, or something of the sort. Do this several times over the course of a a day or two before even attempting to pull the pin out. All of us have had great success in using this mix as a penetrate to aid in getting the pin out. [url']http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/suspension-steering-s30/48583-spindle-pin-woes.html

As you are installing the dome and tightening it down keep pushing up on the piston. If you feel any kind of drag or interference, stop and start over. Before you take anything apart push up on your pistons a few times to verify they are in good shape to start with. Once everything is apart check for any signs of wear on the piston or the dome as the fit is meant to be near perfect. It took us a few tried to get each dome on correctly but patience and persistence paid off.

Due to starting a new job and getting side tracked with other projects I am just now getting around to posting a few pics of my carb rebuild and tuning. This was all made possible by Blue and Mike W, you can read the whole story here -> http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/open-zcar-discussion/49789-connecting-member-canada-thank-you-blue.html I knew I had some issues with the carbs as the car ran very rich all the time. Some of the items we addressed included, making sure the return springs for the choke and throttle worked smoothly, tearing each carb down, cleaning everything, and paying special attention to key items during reassembly. One thing we noticed was getting the domes centered on the pistons took several tries to get it just right, a point that is often over looked when putting these carbs back together. Also, making sure the fuel nozzles moved smoothly in their bores. We used the clear tube method to get the float adjusted right where we wanted them. We re-used everything except a few small parts from a parts store rebuild kit. I have put on new float bowl gaskets around a year ago. Since they had almost no miles on them they were re-usable. All in all we spent about 3 hours from start to finish and then did a round of tuning which took around an hour since we did several test drives and spark plug inspections. We also took about 20 minutes to adjust up the throttle linkage to take out all the slack. The car now has instant acceleration! I still need to put the air cleaners back on but the difference is night and day. She starts right up, pulls super strong through the power band, and best of all, does not smell rich or gassy anymore. Add to that the valve adjustment that we did and the motor is paying us back 10X for our time and effort.

As I cruise through the threads I noticed Grannyknot's thread regarding his suspension and the numbers he posted. He is running a set of illumina's along with new Eibach springs. He posted the following numbers. driver front - 26.125" driver rear - 26" passenger front - 26.250" passenger rear - 25.5" On the Eibach's I know a lot of guys cut one of the front coils to help level their car out so Grannyknot may need to do the same. However, below are my numbers taken from the same point, in the middle from the ground to the edge of wheel opening. Now I am really lost. Driver front - 25 3/4" Driver rear - 25 7/8" Passenger front - 25 2/8" Passenger rear - 25 1/4" As of right now I am sitting lower than what Eibach's would give me but in my opinion the car is still sitting high. I have considered taking the front springs out and cutting another coil out but this would result in the spring being very loose in the upper spring pocket when not under load and possibly coming out completely when the car is jacked up. I am beginning to think the coils are just too thick and spaced too far apart to get the end result I want. Right now on the rears I have cut down 1.5 coils and on the fronts I have cut down 2.5 coils. Any ideas besides ditching these springs and buying a set of Eibach's and cutton one coil off the fronts?

That looks GRRREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT Scaotty! Please tell us more of what you used and where you got it. I bought a half cap for mine but now I thinking the same as EuroDat and Z_K of pulling mine over the fall and repairing it like you did. If you have any more pics we would love to see them as well.

+1 Welcome to the club! I echo Z_K's comments, you have a great looking car and I too feel like I have seen it before. With the wheels and side exit exhaust it seems like the previous owner was going for a "muscle Z" Would love to see some pics of the interior when you have a chance. You mentioned a family member gave you the lead on the car, we would love to hear the rest of the story of how you acquired it. You have a good plan of checking it over bumper to bumper for rust and any prior damage to the body or frame. We can see a lot of time and money has been put in to the engine and body, how is the suspension? What needs to be addressed on it in the short term? Given how much work has been done to it hopefully you won't have to do too much and spend more time behind the wheel. In the short term my only suggestion would be to pull the tail light panel out and paint it black to help break up all the white in the rear. If the Webers run good and you are happy with them I would keep them. SU's are favored among a lot of Z owners but there are lots of them running the DGV Webers with no problems.