este

A lot of stuff has been gpoing on, and unfortunately the Z had to take a back seat Ive been gone from here for a bout a year and in that time ive had a baby, bought a home, got a better job, etc... now its come time again to mess with the rust infested Z I am trying to get it out of the climate controlled storage its been in for about a year but the back braked seem to have got stuck once again and I cannot remember what ?i did last time to loosen them. If anyone has a better, more technical idea as to how to get these back brakes unstuck please do post it here. Thanks! -este

hell mine is in storage right now...waiting for the spring sumer to kick in so that I can start doing someof the work on it.

27 as of last month. 1st time owner too, always liked the cars but never got around to buy one. until last month my car is in progress and will not be seeing the street/or track for a loong time. rust is not good

he he went o the local nissan dealer and the parts gave this deer in the headlights look ha ha. Looks like Ill be hitting up a lot of used book sotres around town before I go ahead and buy the manuals online.

hm... My Z has an alpine Deck which sounds kind of nice except for the crappy wiring job they did... it seems that they used one of those niftyb radio install kit, but overall it looks like a crappy hack job.

edited because I dont know the policies on posting any business info and I dont want to get in trouble. Carl: I'll sent you an email.

Can i still get a factory service manual from Nissan? and what about the prices? I dont want a ghetto copy, i have had many for several of my hondas and the text sucks! manily because hey are photocopied versions and what not.

Ding sing sing its the booster. I forgot to mention that my idle is affected everytime the brakes are pressed. Well im hoping it doenst rain today since Im stripping the intrior trying to find the rust...

oh yeah... Hoouston, Texas. the car was in someone's backyard in Bellville Texas between Austin and Houston. The fog lights are huge but they are pointed up because of the flat bed that got the car home. ::

Thanks for the input. there is a guy here in town that has about 20-30 70-73 Z's in his back yard. he offered to get me a rust free shell for 600.00 so I may just take him up on it. only time will tell. thanks for the answers and sorry to be pestering with questons!

how hard is that learning to weld? This has crossed my mind

thanks for the hint

storage facility I have not a arage but a storage place where lots of people keep/work on their cars. Tools Im just now gathering them, I have the basics. experience: not much but I have lots of time (3-4 days a week free) I tried getting to meet people in my area but most groups pf people are clubs, and im not into all that, and what other few groups of people are there are all abnout the newer cars which are not to my liking.

I have a 73 240Z and Im trying to see how certain parts get taken out, especially the fenders and things like that. I bought a haynes manual but it doesnt show any diagrams blow out(exploded) panels with the diagrams and what not that can tell me how to take certain things off. Can some one point me in the right direction? thanks

I have posted a few questions so far and I like the place as far as getting true and reliable information!! much better than otehr forums I have been to... anyway. I am needing to know what would be the best place to estart the restoration on my car! it is a 1973Z here is a pic: nice eh?...well its starting to not sound so nice ha ha If you search on my other threads there are some serious rust issues! my sway bar is completely loose on the passenger side as it as rotted off bracket from the frame rail.. (frame rail kit here I go) As it stands the car will need heavy restoration, that much I know, I can only be glad this will not be mny daily driver! Im wanting to know whewre should i start my project!! For one the rust seems like it should be my priority the engine runs good once it starts in the morning it fires up right away everytime so far. The brakes need some work, I replacedthe master cylinder but the booster may also need to be replaced. Plus the interior is kinda bad Im waiting for a squirrely to pop out on my everytime I get in the car (it wouldnt surprise me) so my question is where do I start!! I have worked with hondas but never on anything that needed to be restored, so any help would be appreciated! BTW: here are my picture thread in case you need to see the pics! http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16006 thanks in advance! Esteban

thanks for the words of sncouragement! I keep seeing otehr pics and Im afraid to even think how long it will take to restore teh car... but in time thngs will get done. Right now the funds I get to use on this are from my freelance work as a web developer so the funds while there are depending on how busy I am. but it seems that I will have enough funds its time that is not good for me I just have to learn to be patient. I have seen under the front passenger fender and boom thee is some heavy arse rust in there!! will the frame rail kit and floor pan cover these? or is this one of those things that will have to end up being fabriceated? can I get a replacement part from anoterh Z? I know a parts guy who has a few Z's sitting around. so parts should be some what easy to find. oh and check your pm's

yeh... from what i have read on here the parts are not the best! this is simply what I found on the net and since Im a Z newbie please disregard BTW: Im also having a bad rust problem any idea what I can do to stop the problem before it gets worse? thanks! Esteban

thanks! I have found a local Z shop that has quoted me the price listed above, however they only say the pics I posted, not the entire car. Thursday or Friday I will be combing all over this car to get a better iodea of where the rust is at (everywhere Im sure). Would this be something that could get fixed over time? I have time and funds available just not the knowledge. I have always loved these cars and Im starting to feel like I sort of jumped the gun on it! I think the rust if mainly from it sitting in the backyard out in the texas country, I was being a bit optimisitic about the rust but your post has sort of bummed me out... but its all good! time and money should fix the car, I just hope its not more money than time. Will the car make it to the shop about about 50-70 miles from my place? I'm hopefully taking it to the metal shop come mid February, so I want to do as much of the prep work before taking it in there. Any hints on that (prep work) ? I have seen tons of posts but almost all of them are a bit different. Im guessing I will need to get rid of as much rust as possible but what tools do I need? I'm taking the carpet and seats out tomorrow (thursday or Friday) to get a better idea of the rust problem on the floor pans. Would I be better off simply getting another shell? the engine runs good, and fires up right away but im not whiz at all the electrical wotk needed to do this and the amount of money they want for a swap is rather a joke. I have wanted one of these cars for a while and I dont think I'll be giving up quite yet, I'm just worried that this car is already a lost cause. (???) thanks again for the information.

hm.. Well that was one of my problems, I dont necessaily have anyone to help me, my schedule seriously contradicts everyone of my firends so I may just need to find a way to do this myself. I will def. look into the power bleeders as it seems it may work best for me. KMACK: Whenever I first tried to bleed the brakes the was a "gurgling sound coming from what I thought was the master cylinder, I basically thought the seals in the master cylinder had dry-rotted is this the issue youre talking about? Also when I pulled the master cylinder the rod was pushed all the way in! isnt the cilinder supposed to be depressed? Im sure the booster hasnt been replaced before it looks pretty old so how much should this set me back? and how hard is it to replace it? thanks! Esteban

Hello, Im a new Z (1973Z ) owner While driving it home I had the rear brake line snap, soI decided to have it towed home + the front brakes were a bit sketchy for freeway traffic, Im guessig this is because the car was stagnant for a bit over a year I was told (feels more like 2) and had not been started in at lest 6 months-1 year. Well I got home home and the tried to bleed to brakes to see if the system worked. there was almost no fluid coming out of the purge valve and the brakes had no resistance whatsoever. I fugured it had to be the master cylinder was shot so I got lucky and found a OEM replacement (rebuilt) I installed it, and attempted to bleed the system again, after a while and lots of pedal pumping the amount of fluid pumped out looks/feels right. I also bled the maste cylinder as the instructions required it so. Still im not getting much breaking, the car brakes but not too good I think. Should I bleed the rear brakes? can I bleed the rear drum brakes? the instructions recomend bleeding the rear brakes but I couldnt find the purge valve? or should I just re-bleed the master cylinder and call it a day and take the car to a shop? I want to learn to do most of the work myself, not to save $$ but to use it as a learning experience. thanks Esteban

First of all hello everyone! I recently got my hands on a 1973 240Z, I knew from the get go that this car would be a hanfull of opwrk simply because the car had not been started for a bit over a year, and it was sitting in someone's backyard in Bellville Texas (between Austin and Houston) Well, I got the car for $500.00 and drove out to the country to pick it up, after a day's worth of trouble shooting (draining and cleaning the gas tank, checking the lines, fuel filter, pump, and messing with those funny hitachi carbs We got it running, nothing has been replaced yet only the gas. checked for oil, fluids but decided top wait until the holiday to drive it home (less traffic) Well the car made it half the way home before the brakes went out so I ende up having it towed. finally hte car made it home on 12/24/2004 and upon further inspection I found the brakes were shot, then decided to get under it and found some rust... but I dont know how much is too much? (see pics below) Ok so I fixed the brakes (replaced master cylinder) now I need to replace the rear brake lines as the one in the passenger side snapped. (another thread) but I havea few pics of the car, I hosted them on my website but they may be a bit too biog to post here so I'll link them: Outside pics: http://www.estebones.com/240z/images/pictures/z001.jpg http://www.estebones.com/240z/images/pictures/z002.jpg Horror pics: Notice the front sway bar is completely loose on one side (i forget which) http://www.estebones.com/240z/images/pictures/z004.jpg Under side shots of the rust... http://www.estebones.com/240z/images/pictures/z005.jpg A more clear shot... notice the floor panel rust :tapemouth http://www.estebones.com/240z/images/pictures/z006.jpg I have gotten quotes thatgo from $300 to $900 depending on the amount it takes the guy to do the repairs. My questions are: How bad is this (rust)? I see lots of surface rust in the underbody pics but Im no expert and I want to know if im really screwed! also this is my first restoration project and I knew the car would need it I just want to know if it is as bad as it seems. Will the Zedd findings floor pan and frame reails be a necessity? I cannot see a price for the rails and the pictures dont really look the part I think Im needing! This car is not my daily driver so im in no hurry to getit fixed but I do want to stop the rust. I checked the underside of the hatch and other places that are common rust spots and there isnt any but Im sure the floor is gone as well as one of the doors as it looks like the paint is bubbling which I have read here is a sign of rust eating through I still need to gut the car but im afraid to see what I'll find under there, or whatv I will not find under there :'( thanks in advance Esteban

I bought a 1973 wiht a pristine looking body... i thought, now im stuck with a car that has a lot of rust... especially in the frame rails. still the 500 price left me some cash to begin the restoring fund. and yes you will have a hard time finding a Z without rust, the metal used in early Z cars was not the best quality. good luck!

wow... im new here and new to these cars but the rust in the passenger side is fairly bad, if you need to reinforce your rails there is a guy that makes covers and reinforcements for the frame rails. www.maddogparts.com They are fairly inexpensive and if you know how to weld then it should be a really easy install. Check them out, I have some bad rust spots myself and my frame rails will need to be replaced too.