jdllaugh

PM Sent. Interested in the 2-seater. How long has it been sitting? Got Pictures? James

Still looking

So, how much and where in Texas? Sent you an e-mail. James

I might be interested. Where are you and how much? I'm in Tulsa. Be nice if you were in the SW corner of Missouri. Sent you an e-mail. Send pics. James

What are the size and approximate length of the rubber fuel lines under the hood of a 280z. I'm going to look at a 76 280 for sale in a nearby town this weekend and the owner said the only problem is one of the rubber fuel lines in the engine compartment is leaking. Thought I might replace them and take it for a drive. Nice to know in advance what size/length of hose I will need. I've worked on a 240z, but never a 280. I assume the only rubber fuel lines under the hood are those that feed the injector rail. Feed and return, right? James

Looks like a beautiful car, but Denver is a little far away. Hope to find one within reasonable driving distance of Tulsa, OK. James

Still looking.......:stupid:

Never mind. I found a car. James

Helpful to have more details and ballpark price. James

Well, I got my "new" '72 240z home just now. Whew, what a mess! The wheels were locked up and we had to drag it across a field with a tractor until the wheels finally broke loose enough to at least roll. Then, we used a come-along to drag it up onto the flatbed. When I looked at this car the first time, the owner, Bob, (who has to be in his 70s), said it had been sitting for "about 10 years" in a field behind his farm house. As we're messing with it I noticed a safety inspection sticker in the window. 1984! You can't drive a car in Oklahoma without a current inspection sticker. I asked Bob if it had been sitting since then, and he said "yea, that sounds about right." Turns out, he bought it from the original owner. It had a dented driver's side door and a dicey fuel pump. He drove it home, replaced the door, and hadn't touched it since. Looks like field mice have been living under the passenger seat, and there are mud dauber nests in the engine compartment. Everything on the outside is covered in grime, but the engine compartment is surprisingly clean. On quick inspection, I could find no signs that the car had ever had an oil leak. The odometer reads 73K miles, but that could easily be 173k since it doesn't register over 100. Bob said the previous owner was an older fellow who had since passed on. Maybe he only drove it to church on Sundays and it really is only 73k! Obviously I'm going to have to replace everything rubber in the car, all the hoses and belts and weather seals. The interior is toast, with everything falling apart with age, and the dash is cracked in a dozen places. But despite all that, I suspect I could change all the fluids and ignition components, put on a new fuel pump and fire that sucker up. We'll see. This will be a Project with a Capital P! I've taken a huge number of photos for reference, and may post some later on my web page. I'm still up in the air about hybrid or restore, but I can see it might be fun to have an original. Who knows, maybe I could go Vintage racing! By the way, the car's orange and has a vin of HLS30 95972. Is there an easy way to decipher that? A metal plate on the driver's side door post has a stamp that says 7/72. Is that the manufacture date? It also says GVWR is 2820, which I found surprising. I though 240s were lighter than that. I don't know enough about these cars. Time to learn!

I just found a '72 240z that has minimal rust for only $400. It doesn't run, bu everything's there. Looks pretty original throughout. The ONLY rust I could find is on the leading edge of the left rear quarter panel (that spot in front of the rear tire) and under the rear hatch at the back. Solid everywhere else, including the floors, under the battery tray and where the front frame rails meet the firewall. The owner said he parked it when the fuel pump went out 10 years ago! It's been sitting ever since, so it will be a major project. Now the question is do I restore it to original, fix it up with later model Z stuff or hybridize with non Z stuff? I want to end up with a fun sports car that I can autocross and drive on track days at the local road course. I plan to do most of the work myself over several months. I'm not thinking of V8 power, but I might go with a hot v6 (or straight six). I'm more interested in road racing than drag racing. I'm not a purist. Basically I want the most bang for the buck. Suggestions?

Thanks for the info. I've found a nice '72 240z with minimal rust and decided to buy it and forget the 260 shell deal for now. It would have worked!

Thanks for the info. The 240 is a '72. The owner of the 260 doesn't know what year it is. He bought it already partially stripped. It had been used as a V8 race car. There is literally nothing but a shell left now, but it's straight and rust free. Sounds like this is doable. And the price seem reasonable, about $500 total for both cars.

I know a guy with a completely stripped 260z body shell and another with a rusted out 240z. Question: can I strip all the parts off the 240 and put them on the 260? Are all the various parts interchangeable, like fenders, windows, doors, rearend, etc?