Arne

Welcome! And congrats on your purchase. My knowledge is primarily on 240Zs, not so much with 280Zs. But I can say for certain that the blue paint is NOT original, or even the original color. The car was originally that gold color you see on the inner fenders under the hood.

The blue 240Z belongs to Marty Rogan. He tipped us off about this article last month. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28278

Yeah, the brand new 3 row core radiator I put in my yellow '71 240Z has all of about 50 miles on it. I will probably be pulling it out of the car to sell in the next few weeks.

I like that idea too, but (as a bodywork ignoramus) wonder how hard it might be to match the contour properly. Plus hiding the seam on the inside, since the headliner is just a glue-on foam pad.

So Mitchell said 11 hours? That sounds reasonable to me. Yeah, I'll need to do some serious chat with various shops to find one who is a) willing, and able to do this job. I'd still be interested in talking to anyone who has personal experience with this.

Here's what I'm thinking. The original owner of my red 240Z had a glass, split-pane sunroof installed in it in the late '70s. The recent discovery that the rust in my yellow 240Z is far more severe and pervasive than I had thought has led me to decide (reluctantly) to part it out rather than repair it. The proceeds from parting the yellow car, plus not paying to have the car repaired and painted this winter as I had planned, has accelerated the timeline for having my red 240Z painted. Probably next Spring. I expect the yellow car to be a mostly bare shell by next Spring. A bare shell with a nice, un-dented roof. I don't have to draw a picture of the conclusion, do I? So here's the question - Anyone out here have any personal experience with having a roof replaced on an S30? Or know anyone who has this done? While it seems to me (in my total lack of skills in this area) that any shop that can handle major collision work should be able to pull this off successfully, I'm still a bit reluctant - it's the ROOF of the CAR, for crying out loud. Done right, I'd expect less creaks and such in the body, no possible leaks from deteriorating sunroof seals, possibly better resale value someday, and almost certainly wider acceptance of the car by knowledgeable Z enthusiasts which would likely make it easier to sell someday. The resale aspects are not the main goals here, as I have no plans to sell it in the foreseeable future. But the lack of leaks, and increased structural rigidity would be a big plus, not to mention the increased headroom. Any thoughts?

Last thought - replacing the cylinder head is not a trivial thought if you still have either a stock 2.4 or 2.6 liter block in it, as the later injection heads have larger valves and chambers. You may need to notch the block for valve clearance, and you will definitely have lower compression than now. Again, in my opinion the simplest, cheapest and least intrusive way to go here would be to go back to early SU carbs.

Both Bruce and Stephen have their points. A well-maintained factory system can be fairly reliable. Of course, most of the systems you'll be able to find these days are not well-maintained, and will have a fair number of worn and aged parts. Converting and refurbishing an old factory system to make it reliable will likely be fairly expensive. If it is in good shape, the factory injection should probably deliver similar power to a good set of SUs. But probably not more power.

Yes, it can be done. But speaking as someone who bought a '71 240Z with injection (from an '83 280ZX) added, I have reservations as to whether that is the best answer. First - regarding the bolt-on of the later factory injection - the cylinder heads used on Zs prior to 1975 lack the notch in the intake ports that are needed for the injectors them selves. So assuming you don't have a later head (or engine) in the car, you would need to modify the ports on the head to use the factory injection, or swap to a later injection head. Past that, the factory injection controller gets input from several sensors throughout the engine compartment. So in addition to the obvious injection parts, you need to look into either changing out the thermostat housing for the temperature sensor, and perhaps other sensors as well. In short, swapping to a later factory Nissan injection on a 240Z can be done, but doing it right will be an involved project. I know, as the job on my car was not done right. I went back to carbs to fix mine. If the goal is to correct the botched Weber install, I'd recommend swapping it back to '70-72 factory dual carbs instead. Finding a complete setup including manifolds, linkages, carbs and airbox is fairly easy, and far simpler to reinstall that setup than it will be to convert to the factory injection. If you really do want injection, I'd recommend looking into an aftermarket injection system instead of the factory system. This will be more expensive, but you may not need to change or modify the head, wiring and plumbing will be simpler, and the performance capabilities of an aftermarket system are greater than what the factory can deliver.

A comment, an opinion and a question from a self-admitted light fetishist: Comment: The blue backlight (aka city light or running light) would be illegal here in Oregon, and most other states as well. Opinion: Stephen's comment about the halos being "too modern" for a vintage car were no where near strong enough. I don't care for halos even on modern cars, not even on the BMWs that came with them from the factory. Just my opinion, though, it's not my car. Plus it could be easily un-done later, if desired. Question: Am I correct in surmising from the wiring diagram that your HIDs are low beam only? Not bi-xenon?

Exactly why I prefaced my comments the way I did. I really don't have a feel for the East Coast pricing. That really doesn't surprise me at all.

Austin Healey Sprite. Think "Bug-eye" here in the states, or "Frog-eye" in the UK.

Sailor Bob - Take it from me for experience. If you want a nice driver for less than $10k, buy one that's already finished. Buying one to restore won't pencil out unless you can do the body and paint yourself. The originality thing is a HUGE deal - if everything else is right too. But it's a selling feature, not so much something that adds to the selling price. If your car and a less original car are priced in the same ballpark, any enthusiasts will go for the more original car, and even pay a bit more for it. But they won't pay a lot more. If a '72 or '73 240Z with similar rust issues is a $1500 to $2000 car in your part of the country, yours may be worth $2500 since it is earlier and very original. But it won't be worth double.

Yeah, it's a scam. The replied to both of my ads to. I figured it was bogus, so I asked for details on one of them. They wanted me to accept their "certified check", deduct my payment, and send the balance to them via Western Union. A classic scam involving counterfeit checks. I declined, and reported their yahoo address to Yahoo as fraud.

That's because there was extra formatting in the link tag to make the text bold. Try this instead:http://www.hemmings.com/subscribe/current_issue.html?publication=HSX

My 7/71 car has a pair of them, too.

Yeah, I like that car. Of course, I'd better. Because as soon as I paint mine, it will be much the same...

I actually think it just as well if I answer here, as my answer will not be definitive. I'm going to take a stab at the rust and guess that it may be a little less than my yellow Series 1. Assuming that to be the case, here on the West Coast it would probably be a $1500-2000 car. Perhaps as much as $2500 if you got rather lucky. I really have no feel for the going values back East. I suspect it may be worth more back there due to the scarcity of restorable cars, but how much more I have no idea. There are a few things to consider. If my rust assessment is correct, you can expect to pay a minimum of $4000 to have the body properly repaired and painted. Possibly as much as $7500, depending on the quality of job. (This is assuming the buyer is not able to do this work him/her self.) Add another $800-1000 in parts to restore the interior, and probably $600-800 to re-chrome the bumpers. Then figure what it will cost to refurbish all the mechanicals, brakes and electricals. The short version is that it will cost at least an additional $10,000 to refurbish this car to an adequate (weekend driver) level. Much more to truly restore it. Looked at in that light, your current asking price might be a bit high. Again, I can't say that with any certainty for your part of the country, however. And no, I'm not climbing on the low-VIN bandwagon either. My keeper isn't even a Series 1. And you know what? I don't care. I have mine to drive, not to show or collect. Nothing wrong with a clean Series 1 over VIN 10,000. Will make someone a really nice classic car. Last, there are those potential buyers who may be put off by a quick acceptance of their offer, with no haggling. They see you ask a price they may feel is a bit too high, so they make an initial offer. If you accept, they may begin to second-guess their assessment of the car. A quick acceptance of a significantly lower price makes them suspicious. "No counter-offer? I wonder what else is wrong with it?" You might have better luck starting at a lower asking price, coming up with a definite bottom price, and sticking with it. If someone low-balls you, counter back with your bottom price. They may feel better about it if you are a bit firmer.

I suspect that your car is priced in an inconvenient range. Not to say that it's not worth $3900, as being a Series 1 with numbers matching engine, all original and with fairly minimal rust makes it an ideal restoration candidate for the right buyer. But -- For nearly this same amount of money a buyer can find an Arizona or non-coastal California car with even less rust. Maybe more miles, but if you plan to completely disassemble it anyway, miles aren't the deciding actor. Add to the above the fact that the Z restorers and collectors seem to all be gravitating toward really early cars now - the low-VIN thing. Series 1 cars are still considered more collectible than the later cars, but the earlier and lower the VIN the better. Unfortunately, yours is neither. Or if a person wants a Z to build as a nice weekend or daily driver, why buy a Series 1 when you can buy a later 240Z in similar condition for half the price. Don't get me wrong. For the right person, your car appears to be worth your asking price, especially for the East coast. But it may take a while to find your buyer.

Looks like the floorpans have been rebuilt with fiberglass or something similar. From what I see, the only reasonable course to take now is to have the floors and framerails replaced. Of course, I'm not a body person, I'm much more comfortable with electrical and mechanical. So take my advise with a grain of salt.

Hmm. I have access to eMacs with 10.3.9 on them at work. I'll try to remember to test it.

Makes sense to me. If you aren't going to have the lower part work as a brake light (as our North American 240Zs do) you probably want both the uppers to light - just as the Series 1 cars do.

Actually, note that in the rest of the world, the bottom outside bulbs were turn signals only, not brake lamps. Note the amber lower lenses. I don't know how many of the upper lamps were brake lamps, or whether it varied with the model years like it did with the North American spec 240Z. But if it did vary, Dave's comment should read:"He's also got 3 bad brake lights or 1, depends on the year."

Carl, I've had no problem using my work Mac in either Safari or Firefox, both in 10.4 and now in 10.5. Do you have the Flash plugin installed?

Kurt, to the best of my knowledge, all of the cars (those sold in the US, at least) had fan clutches. I've never seen one without, and the parts CD shows the same metal fan and clutch numbers for all cars up through 7/71 production.