Hi All,

So I started a post in the Engine & Drivetrain section on priming the oil system on my L24 for a mechanical re-commissioning... fancy word for getting the car drivable again after sitting for 12 years or so in the garage.

From a 50,000 ft level the following car systems are going to need to be worked or replaced in some fashion... Engine Lubrication, Engine cooling, and Fuel System

Long store short, summer 2014 drove the car around for the summer, end of summer rolls around, park the car in the garage, threw the cover over the car, and figure I would start the car up every couple of weeks. That last part never happened, and 12yrs later I gotta figure out how to get the car running again.

My automotive knowledge is sort of limited... give the car a tune-up, no problem, change the oil still not a problem, change out the radiator, heater hoses, pretty much any parts swapping not a problem...

Where my problems begin are the intimate details involved with the mechanics of a car engine. Timing, valve lash setting. And then there's my age and body factor... I'm not able to bend over the engine bay, or contort my body to get under the dash as I once use to...

I live in the PNW and as things are bigger in Texas, things are more expensive in the PNW.. I'm thinking about sending the car out to a garage to do the work needed to get the car running and drivable again, in the most basic function.. start, stop, drive.. I'm allocating a budget of about $10k to to do this, once up and running and driving, than I'll look at upgrading / replacing parts... Do you guy's think a $10k budget can accomplish this?

It's been so long since I've done any automotive service shopping / comparison I'm not exactly sure what to budget.

Probably difficult to find a garage that knows Datsuns. And if you tell them you have $10,000 to spend they'll probably find a way to spend it.

PNW covers a large area. WA, OR, ID, maybe B.C. Can you be more specific? There are some WA and OR members active that might take on a challenge or know of a shop. I don't have the garage space myself.

Maybe change your title to "Looking for PNW shop to restart my car after 14 years" to catch more eyes. Good luck.

I did that with an original Oregon sold 240Z that sat in storage from the early 1980s to 2020. The engine had seized but eventually came good, I drained all the old oil and filled with automatic transmission fluid. Once I got it running I drained that and filled with regular 20W50 oil. I ran the carbs through an ultrasonic cleaner and flushed out the fuel tank and lines. I rebuilt the brakes with new seals in the calipers and drum pistons. The car runs like a rocket now.

I'm in the Seattle area, I found two shops that maybe able to do the work from a post on a Datsun 311 site, Crown Hill Automotive, and Fisher Auto Service..

"if you tell them you have $10,000 to spend they'll probably find a way to spend it." I hear you on this... I was just planning on visiting both shops, with my to-do list, and ask them to give me a general ballpark quote. I was going to break-up the work into Phases, The gas tank drop and boil, fuel lines being the first thing to be done.

I should also add, I wouldn't be against shipping the car off to a garage / shop to have the work done, as long the shop was well know, and within general vicinity of mu location... within Washington.. sure, Oregon... Probably, Cal.. needs to be pretty well know

Edited February 7Feb 7 by peng155

I'm down in the Gorge on the Oregon side. If you were closer I'd give you a hand to get it going again. The cars are very straight forward and easy to work on, try and find an old school mechanic local to you that understands cars from the 1970s. As they say it's not rocket science. You could probably get by with just draining the tank and flushing it a few times with new fuel. Then disconnect the hose in the engine bay and pressurise the gas tank with an air hose to flush out the line. Fit a new filter and you should be good. The car may not need as much work as you think.

Edited February 7Feb 7 by SpeedRoo

Thanks for the offer, I'd would love to work on the car myself, just to get the experience, but trying to do some of the work alone can get to be real challenging and frustrating...

"try and find an old school mechanic local " This is the biggest problem I'm having, most of the old timers I once knew or used to use have retired, and all of the shops work mostly on the newer computerized car, or they say sure not a problem, bring it in... only to find the car has been butchered up, or the job done wrong...

2 minutes ago, SpeedRoo said:

I'm down in the Gorge on the Oregon side. If you were closer I'd give you a hand to get it going again. The cars are very straight forward and easy to work on, try and find an old school mechanic local to you that understands cars from the 1970s. As they say it's not rocket science.

Did the engine need work when you parked it twelve years ago? The oil system doesn't become "un-primed"... You basically have the option of having the engine pulled and "rebuilt" before it's ever turned over again or change the oil (add a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil when you do) and roll it over. Sitting for 12 years doesn't necessarily mean engine gone bad (realize I'm speaking as a (dry as a bone) Arizonan and not a Pacific Northwesterner). The L Series internals are stout. Your concern should probably be more focused on carbs, fuel delivery, cooling.

Find someone who knows SU carburetors inside and out. If you can, the rest of the engine is a piece of cake for them more than likely.

Look at the CAM, if it's clean and lobes are shiny, chances are the bottom end will look nice too. This is just me, but if the engine was working fine, running great, no problems when I shut it down, I wouldn't tear it apart. I'd just make sure all the peripherals were working properly and get it running again. Get rid of the bad gas, rust in the fuel system, same with the coolant, check all the hoses and rubber (oh, wait, you're NOT in Arizona!).

(Speaking of which - here in Phoenix - a total L-Series engine rebuild (even if you had to get pistons and rings made), fuel tank cleaned, hoses replaced, radiator replaced, carbs rebuilt, alternator replaced, starter replaced, (what else am I missing...) WOULDN'T cost $10,000. And half that would be a rip - unless they repainted the engine block the correct Datsun Blue...

Z Specialties
16229 SR 9 SE
Snohomish, WA 98296

https://zspecialties.com/

He has been working on Z cars longer than most of us have been alive

On 2/8/2026 at 10:24 AM, cgsheen1 said:

Did the engine need work when you parked it twelve years ago? The oil system doesn't become "un-primed"... You basically have the option of having the engine pulled and "rebuilt" before it's ever turned over again or change the oil (add a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil when you do) and roll it over. Sitting for 12 years doesn't necessarily mean engine gone bad (realize I'm speaking as a (dry as a bone) Arizonan and not a Pacific Northwesterner). The L Series internals are stout. Your concern should probably be more focused on carbs, fuel delivery, cooling.

The car didn't really need any work per say, when I parked it.... or nothing that a 40+ yr old car at the time couldn't have used.... everything worked at the time, it drove good, didn't belch smoke when hitting the throttle, no rough idling.... could have drove it daily if I wanted to...

After thinking about it, I may be thinking about which system to prioritize in getting cleaned up and running first, was thinking engine, fuel, cooling, and hydraulics... now I think maybe doing the fuel system first, than followed by the engine, or cooling next. I have a set of Z-Therapy rebuilds on order, and should see those by mid to late summer....

Edited February 10Feb 10 by peng155

Start with the Marvel mystery oil. Remove the valve cover pour engine oil all around the cam shaft and chain. This of course after you remove the previous oil and filter. Put the remaining oil in the engine.

Your plan will probably be thrown out the window as soon as you start working on it. Just saying...

Not to worry. My 71 240Z sat for 14 years, covered and garaged (Utah is pretty low humidity). I did a stupid thing and bought a series 1 930 Porsche Turbo Carrera. Turned out it was just like a boat. The 2 happiest days of the Porsche were the day I bought it and the day I sold it, what a money pit to maintain! Once sold I decide it was time to wake up the Z. Like you, Ztherapy rebuilt carbs, drained and dropped the tank, flushed all the metal fuel lines replaced all the rubber fuel lines and sealed the tank. Converted to an electric fuel pump since these cars are wired for it from the factory. New Champion 3 row radiator with new hoses. ZX dizzy so no points to deal with. Found my rear brake cylinders were frozen so replaced with the newer 73 - 76 cylinders from MSA (no way I was going to spend $800+ for original early car cylinders) and a friend had the tools to rebend the lines to attach to the new cylinders. Slave clutch was toast so I did the master and slave. Changed tranny and dif oil. When I changed the engine oil I added a pint of TVT green to the Gibbs HR1 oil, cranked the engine some by hand just for fun. I also did the MSA 6to1 ceramic headers with 2.5 exhaust all the way out, used a Magnaflow 10426 for a resonator in the tunnel with a Magnaflow 13216 muffler at the end, nice note and not too load. When I did all this in 2017 there were 105K miles on the car and I've probably only put 15K on since then. I've never touched the carbs since I put them on the car. We do have ethanol free fuel available and I have never used anything else since this wakeup work was done, if it's available in your area, use it! Other than the exhaust install from the headers back and rebuilding the carbs I did about all of this by myself in my late 60's. It's a fair weather toy now, go to some cruise ins and shows for fun and some weekend cruising with friends. This is my 2nd Z, bought in '90, loved the first one and now this one! At the time I think I was pretty close to your $10K.