Mike B

I couple of months ago I was on zhome.com and noticed that the person that owned #331 only lives about 10 miles away from me. I contacted him and found out that #331 was for sale along with two early parts cars, #882 (a 1/70) and 10,xxx (a 7/70) along with a lot of parts, including a crack-free series one dash. I went and took a look at everything, thinking I might be able to make a deal for the dash, and just some of the parts. #331 was accurately described as being very rough, and I thought I might even buy it and part it out, since it had some 1969 parts that I need for #237. So last weekend I made an offer for all three of the cars and the parts including the dash, and with that I became the owner (at least temporarily) of 5 240zs - 3 of them being sub 1,000 vin cars. #337 has issues, including a big rust hole where the battery tray once was, but it does have the numbers matching block (although the e31 head had been replaced with an e-88). The car is rebuildable, but will need a full restoration, and I wasn't sure that I was up for that given that I have just gotten #237 up and running well. Seeing #331 made me realize what good shape #237 is in, although it is certainly not perfect, at least it is a decent driver at this point. #331 hasn't been operable for over 10 years, but between it, the parts cars, parts and repair panels that came with it, it has most of the pieces needed to refurbish it. #882 was purchased in Oklahoma several years ago. The car's engine was being rebuilt at an engine shop and the exterior was in the process of being sodablasted. The engine shop was closed by the IRS and the owner was not able to get his engine back, so after a while he gave up and sold the shell to the guy I bought it from. It has been setting in a barn with bare metal for the past 5 years and the exterior is now a combination of rust and swiss cheese. The interior was fairly intact and has many salvagable parts, including most of the plastic panels, door panels, and vinyl. The second parts car (the 7/70) was bought from a storage unit when the prior owner never paid the bill and didn't claim the car. It is also has no engine, but is a nice shell that has had quite a bit of paint prep work done and is mostly primered. The interior has already been stripped and that is where some of the parts, including the dash came from. Anyway, after getting the cars home I am now considering trying to restore #331, since it is a 11/69 car and still has the matching block. If I do this though I will most likely need to sell my low mileage red 1972, since I don't have permanent space for three Z cars. I have been slowly removing parts from #882 for the past week and will probably have it another week or two to get the remaining decent parts from it. After that I will start parting out the 7/70 and stripping #331 over the winter. Here are some pictures of the two early cars.

Randy, Nice car, but I think you have rear bumper guards on the front bumper and they are also upside down. Compare the picture of your car taken from the front side view (the one without your in the picture) to the photos of the white cars. -Mike

It is also interesting that Tutor103 then painted the trim on the 1972 faceplate with silver paint and added it to a radio he has for sale on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/datsun-240z-am-fm-radio-oem-excellent-71-73_W0QQitemZ110168993205QQihZ001QQcategoryZ80741QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I also have two other jack related items that I have not seen on 240z's before, so I'm not sure if they belong on a different model z car or another model Datsun. The first is a black plastic jack cover. It fits only on one of the jacks that I have, which is slightly smaller than the others. I also have a slightly different rubber strap. The strap that I think is used to hold down the yellow chocks on series 1 240z's is in the bottom of the picture and the mystery strap is on the top. I think this may be from another Datsun and not a 240z. Has anyone else seen these before?

Kats, I think this is the jack that came with #237. Notice the different jack point on the top compared to the other jacks in my previous post. Also I think the early jacks may have only come with a sticker on the right side (showing the jack points) instead of two stickers that I think later jacks had (a second sticker on the left side with "Cautions For Changing Wheels" in english and japanese)

Kats, I think I may have the jack handle you are referencing, but I thought this might be from a later Z car, at least in the US. I dug out my various jacks and took some pictures. There are slight variations in each, which I could point out if you are interested. The jack that I think the handle came from has a different sticker than the others and it actually shows the handle being used on it.

Thanks Fred. Hopefully this will work out and I can get good quality reproductions made. -Mike

Apparently #237 has a riveted tab on the passenger side, but no tab on the drivers side. The drivers side looks to be original to the car. I may also have found a place that can reproduce the plastic inspection lid clips. The problem is that the ones on my car are broken, so I need to find 1 or 2 unbroken ones to rent/borrow/buy so they can make a mold. If anyone is interested let me know. -Mike

The only problem is the status on the website is usually wrong. I've tried to order numerous things from them that they show as "ships in 4-10 days" that is actually no longer available.

The seller also sells a smaller version of this badge. I recently bought one of the small ones and took an old damaged shift knob and expanded the hole in the top slightly to fit it. I haven't permanently mounted it yet, so it is just sitting in the hole in the attached photos. -Mike

That car was restored by a member here, troubledz http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23878&highlight=ebay+toronto

Hi Ron, Thanks for posting the TSB. That is very interesting. I never knew there were so many of these separate little manuals. Yes, the Supplement Chassis Manual I have (and scanned and sent to Will for the DVD) does have the folding wiring diagram attached in the back and it is in excellent shape. I didn't include that in the scan though because it is so large I didn't think it would fit, even on my scanner at my office. I could scan it in sections, but it looks to be the same as the one in the FSM, only blown up so it is easier to read. If there is interest in including this in the DVD I could give it a shot. I still need to scan the heater manual I have and send that to Will also. -Mike

Here is another one for you Will.

This guy couldn't either, so he went with all three. http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/car/395556475.html And it is a bargin at only $27,000 (8k less than his $35k investment)