JLPurcell

I may have one, do you have any idea what it would cost to ship one from Richmond, Indiana to your location? That may be prohibitive. Jerry

I believe the listing is a scam. I have reported it to ebay, I would not be surprised to see it pulled in the next 24 hours. We will just have to wait and see.

I think the best thing to do at this time is to report the ad to ebay's safe harbor and let them take a look at it. That should clear up all questions.

Mulholland shocks, shaved TA’s, the course is mine! Well, at least I am consistently finishing second to Moriarty (lime green Z) now, no more thirds for me. Mulholland strut inserts $200, Shaved TA’s $250, one tenth of a second, PRICELESS! Ah yes, the high price of speed and agility. I decided to install a rear sway bar and a larger front sway bar and, at my pride's expense…attend driving school. No, not like the earlier Court ordered driving school with the gory pictures. I went into the winter that year with better skills and a very tight 72 Z. I still had not been able to beat Moriarty. He not only had that mysterious spring sag, he was admittedly good…yes I said it, good. Ahh… but I had a plan, MORE MODIFICATIONS!. That’s right, more money to be spent and work to be done over the winter. First I acquired Bill Fishers & Bob Waar’s "How to Modify DATSUN 510 610 240Z Engines & Chassis" (fresh off the press 7-73 Nissan part #99996-M8010). To be continued….

I have attached a spreadsheet of most of the parts. Enjoy! 240z parts.xls

I won’t bore everyone with a spreadsheet of the new parts, let just say that I put the new factory floor in it years ago (not on the road since). On the interior go from there to the melt in floor insulation, felt pad, carpet, dash, seat covers, door panels, to the plastic trim and plastic rivets, map lights, door handle clips and washers, even the vent control knobs everything in the interior of the car. Now for the engine area engine was rebuilt with factory parts years ago 10 over, (not ran since just maintained), all new hoses, wire clamps, screws, etc… Exterior, all emblems, bumpers, over riders, bumper rubber, seals, rear quarter panels, rear inner finders, rocker panels, front valance, front cowl panel, screws, bolts, even a set of the original 240 Z side stripes in white (due to age of the vinyl, I had some exact reproductions made from the originals for my car) etc… like I said tons of parts… Thank goodness, at today’s prices! I just hope after all these years the restoration is up to my expectations. I’m sure that Classic Datsun Motorsports is the right choice for the job. Can’t wait to meet Les.

I just crated up my new dash for the trip to California. After watching one go for $1700 on ebay last week I decided to make a wood box for transport of my NOS dash. I also boxed all of the new parts. I would list them all but it would just make you cry. I purchased and put away tons of new parts in the late 70's just waiting for this day. Back to the story: On the weekends I started going to autocross meets. I would follow George, who would trailer his fully prepared spitfire to the events. I immediately did well. Seconds, thirds and even a first now and again. The first place finishes would come only when one lime green Z didn’t show up for the event. That’s right, we all have our Moriarty, and mine, from the start, was a lime green Z. When Moriarty (the lime green Z) showed up, he would always win our class. George and his prepared spitfire would always, yes always, win his class and take FTD (fast time of the day). George went on to win the Nationals but that is another story… Now mind you although I competed in the stock class, Moriarty always set a little lower than all the other Z cars; "age and spring sag" the owner explained, and never would you see under Moriarty’s hood, the hood release must have been broken. Ahhh… but I had a plan, MODIFICATIONS! My fellow competitors were quick to explain that the winner was the one who could best interpret the rules. Fist came the Mulholland strut inserts. I would have Moriarty next weekend, well, almost had him. Just one more improvement and I’ll own the course. BF Goodrich Radial TA’s and pay just a little extra to have 50% of the tread shaved off. That’s right, pay out the nose for these highly prized tires and then shave half of the life off. I have him now! To be continued…..

Welcome to Z cars R us Spike!

Talk to you local paint supplier. Unless something has changed you should use the seam sealer then the POR-15. The seam sealer is designed to have such material adhere to it. I have not painted a car for a few years so check with your supplier. Dupont puts out educational videos on use of their products. jlp

It is sometimes necessary to take a sidetrack in the telling of any story. These sidetracks can help one to understand the points at which an inanimate object such as a car becomes something more. I will have to take a few of these sidetracks to tell this story. This is one such sidetrack: Driving past one of the malls in Muncie my wife and I noticed a dark green early 240Z and decided to investigate. It had some slight differences from ours, a rear hatch with vents and vertical defroster. Out of curiosity we decided to wait outside and see who came out to claim the car. We hadn’t waited long when a young man came out to get into his Z, my wife and I introduced ourselves. He, Gary was just out of college, Ohio State, and working as a metallurgist for Warner Gear in Muncie and his fiancée, Rita was still in college. This meeting over a car has led to a 32 year friendship and Gary and Rita are godparents to our oldest son. Gary gave up on restoration of his 70 240Z years ago. He and his wife live in North Carolina, where he is manager of a new Warner Gear plant. Gary and Rita recently attended our oldest sons wedding. When the restoration is complete a trip to North Carolina is at the top of my list. I can’t wait to pull up at Gary and Rita’s house in the Z looking as it did when we met. To be continued.....

I have owned my 1972 Z for 33 years and my 1970 for 30 years. 1972 has just over 50K has not been driven for 29 years a (on way to Les Cannaday for restoration) my 1970 was last raced in 1986 and is in storage.

For the most part I am ready for the road trip, just a couple of loose ends to tie. Tentatively we are planning to leave on the evening of December 3rd, might move up the date but definitely no later than that. Now back to the story: I spent my evenings for the next few weeks attending reckless drives school with the best society had to offer, at least Muncie. They showed us gory pictures of wrecks in graphic detail. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anybody. When visiting my home town I notice a small new repair shop, Pro Auto Tune, setting outside was a way cool pearl white, slammed to the ground, plastic bubble for a windscreen, Triumph Spitfire. I stopped in to talk cars with the owner. He was in the process of retro-fitting a six cylinder Porsche engine in a Porsche 914, making it a 914/6. George the owner of the shop had just moved to Indiana from Washington state and was into SCCA roadracing and autocrossing. It was music to my ears. I had raced go karts for a few years prior to going off to college. Comet cart sales, in Greenfield Indiana and my older brother had sponsored me. The truth of it is my brother bought the Kart to race and it scared him so he got "Jerry to do it". It was the first of the sidewinder carts with a Komet K88, 125 engine fully finger ported and running alcohol. I started hanging out and bench racing at Pro Auto Tune with George when home. This led to joining the SCCA (Western Ohio Region or WOR) which of course led to my Z and I becoming weekend warriors. To be continued…

I don't know about the balance etc... I always used Mikunis on my street Z as well as my race Z. I believe that they are probably preferred due to the fact that they originate in Japan and that Datsun Comp sold the Mikunis. I have a set of 50's not for sale and a set of 44's on original Datsun Comp Intake for sale. JLP

I would love to have a set of steel wheels what do you want for them?

Just a note, this company no longer works on dashboards from out of the country. That was the reply I reveived when I requested an estimate. jlp

I have one with 75K miles but shipping would probably be very expensive. jlp

The Z is back together and the parts, new and old are almost all sorted and boxed for the trip to Les’s shop. A couple of brother firefighers have volunteered to help with the driving (ROAD TRIP)! Intense guys at the fire station and on scenes but I don’t know if I can survive 6 days in a vehicle with them. Of course one of them wants to see the Grand Canyon and the other wants to visit a girl he has met on line. It should make for an interesting trip, photos to follow. Back to the story, I was insanely upset at the intoxicated driver but what was done was done. I researched the body shops in the area and took the car to Jones body shop. The shop had a waiting list and a good reputation. It took almost a month to have the car repaired and I couldn’t wait to get back in the drives seat. It was late in the evening when I picked up the car and immediately took it out to the bypass (highway 3) around Muncie so I could blow the car out. I was doing over 100 mph when I came up over a bridge. I noticed a car parked on the side of the road just past the bridge. The car went to brake lights then past back up lights and I knew it had to be a police office preparing for the chase. I chalked down the Z and, much to the officers surprise, pulled in behind him. I thought I had it made when he started talking cars with me. Telling me about bringing his Corvette to the bypass to blow it out as well, then he followed up by saying “but you just got caught”. I was clocked at just over 100 mph which meant a large fine, had no money, or reckless driver’s school. I opted for the smaller fine and the school. To be continued…

After weeks of agony with the car I contacted the dealer in my hometown of Richmond, Indiana and made arrangements for them to keep the car until it stopped, giving them the opportunity to find the problem. In a couple of days I receive the call I had been waiting for. Upon pulling the gas tank the mechanic found that someone had put "Creepy Crawlers" in the gas tank and after running for a while they would plug up the fuel pick up. For those of you born after the 70’s Creepy Crawlers were rubber spiders and bugs you made yourself. I believe it was a toy from Hasbro, you know they brought us the hula-hoop. At last, care free driving of my Datsun Z. Only having the car for a couple of weeks and having the problems I had not had a chance to show it off to my fellow employees at Value City Furniture, where I worked in the evenings after school. I made arrangements for my wife to bring the car to show my friends at work. We were standing outside the store waiting when she stopped at the traffic light out front. When the light changed the intoxicated driver in front of her took off, he was in reverse. He promptly parked his car on the hood of the Datsun. To be continued…

If the buyer doen't follow through let me know, maybe we can work something out I have quite a few spare racing parts laying around. Jerry

I didn't win but you can sure buy some tires for the $1700 the dash brought. I went to $1201. and it went up $500 dollars in the last 14 seconds. Good luck at Atlanta. jerry

Thanks for the info, I have sent an inquiry for restoration. Are there any such companies in the US? (shipping will be expensive) Thaks Jerry

I am bidding on it (jlpurcell), I was goning to email you at this point and price and ask you if it is in perfect condition. It is hard to photo a dash, I've tired. In the photos it looks to have a couple of issues but could be just the photo. I have a new one in the box in my garage but it does have one small problem area (a low spot) no one else would ever see it but I am a perfectionist. If yours if perfect I was thinking of purchasing it for my 72 restoration and selling mine. Let me know. JLP

I promised a story and a story you will get. First lets update the progress on the planned restoration. I have bolted the doors, fenders, hood and rear hatch back on the car. I also bolted the seats back in the car. I then sat in the driver’s seat for the first time in over 20 years and invited my 18 year old son to see what it felt like to set in a Datsun Z. His eyes lit up and I remembered the first time I sat in the car in 1973. I was just married and living off campus in Muncie, Indiana attending Ball State University. I saw the car with a for sale sign in the window on my way to campus. A wealthy family had purchased the car and had owned it just a couple of months and had it for sale. Being a car lover I stopped my 1968 Shelby GT 500 and sat in the Datsun, the rest is history. I called my dad, a fellow car lover and he helped me get the car. I parked the Shelby in my parents back yard and sold it for $1800 but that’s another story. I soon found out why the car was being sold. You could drive the car for a couple of hours with no problem then it would just stop. I repeatedly had it towed to the local dealership where it would start up without problem, making it impossible for them to find the problem. To be continued…

What is the condition of the seat belts? Doors? Side marke lights? Tail lights? and Jack? What do you want for each? Thanks Jerry Purcell

I have just pulled my 1972 240Z, of which I am the original owner, back in the garage to re-assemble for transport to Les Cannaday for it's rebirth (restoration). This has caused me to lament on the life of a car, an oddessey if you like. A car which has been part of some of the fondest of memories and some of the saddest of memories. I have decided to start a thread sharing the restoration and telling the story of the life of my 1972 Datsun 240Z. It will be a story of 4 years of the original fast and furious and 30 years of good intentions without results. Come along for the ride, if you wish, let me know what you think of the idea be it, in your opinion, trite or intriguing.