motorman7

I spent most of the day stripping my silver '71 in prep for paint. I am figuring it will take about two or three weeks to get it ready ( Unfortunately that usually means four to six REAL week). I should be able to finish the part strip tomorrow (Friday) and then begin sanding and rust repair. The one glitch I ran into was the front and rear glass removal. I was thinking I could get a glass company to come and remove them for me for about $40. Unfortunately, the first place I called wanted more than double that amount to remove the front and rear glass.:disappoin The second place said they don't work on old cars. So, I think I will read some of the treads here and try it myself. I think I can take the glass out, but will probably have to pay the price to have someone else install it when it's time to re-assemble. Since the car is a "mutt" there is no need to paint it an official Z color. I was leaning toward the an original Z green, but have decided to go with a bright yellow (I was out voted). I am looking at painting it a yellow similar to the current 350Z or the PPG base yellow. I want a color that is bright and grabs attention. It should work well with the Panasports. I am planning on doing the majority of the paint prep and then taking the Z to the paint shop. I am also planning on having Lance (jackboxxx) do the paint job up at the Maaco in Orange County. I am hoping to get a little input here on the paint prep. I haven't had a car painted for quite some time. I am not sure that I want to take the car down to the bare metal, but I would at least like to get to the original primer at the least. Currently the car is an oxidized silver. So, here are some pics of the teardown. i'll post more as the project progresses. Rich

Cool...thanks for posting. I should of took pics of my cowl area when I removed/cleaned it. I think there was half a bush growing in there. Needed a shop vac to clean out all the leaves.

Funny, I had a similar thing happen on my '73 and now am a bit afraid to drive it for fear I will get stranded. Aside from the voltage regulator, which I would like to replace, my guess was that the problem on my car was the battery hold down bracket. It seems a little too close to the terminals and I am thinking something may have shifted while going around a curve. I will monitor and keep posted.

I hope those aren't new cast iron-too brittle. Preferably stamped steel with zinc plating most likely. Much better properties

Just thought I'd post this in case any one was interested. http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/1633558881.html Car is HLS30-96591, Original Engine: L24-121846 , Original 4-speed transmission. All original smog equipment in place including smog pump belt. Car is original paint but has areas where bondo was used (obvious) and car spray paint used to cover. The frame rails are in very good condition with no rust; Driverside is near perfect, passenger side has some dents from lifting with jack, but not bad. Battery has hard rust underneath but the metal is still solid and not broken through. This seems to be the only bad rust area - not counting the bondo areas. Bad bondo job done on both front fenders (maybe ran out of sandpaper?) and minor bondo repair on both rear doglegs. Front of hood hits the upper bumper bar, paint scraped off in this area. Interior color is red and fairly original. Seats nicely re-done, small 4 inch crack in middle of dash. some rear panels on drivers side are cracked or missing chuncks. Carpet is original, has original radio and antenna. Also has original steering wheel. I don't understand the Grant steering wheel reference. Owner is second owner and has owned it for three years. Original owner did the bondo work- an older gentleman. Minor door dings along door and rear fender with auto spray paint to cover bare dings. Rusty rear bumper trim. Nice rims and Michelin Radial tires 195/70-14s. Engine started right up, no loud knocks or ticks. Odometer reads 51K...Most likely 151K. He said mechanic checked the compression and that it was good with all cylinders yielding about the same value. Not a bad car, but not worth what he is asking, $6995. I told him I thought it was worth more like $4000-$4500. He told me to make him an offer. So, sounded like he might take the ~$4K+ if I offered it. I got 3 right now with way too much to do on them so I am not buying. Just thought I'd post this for anyone interested since it was only about 2 miles from my house. Rich

Thanks for adding the July '09 copy to the spreadsheet. Looks much more organized now. I added my three.

5 cm????? That's like 2 inches! That can't be good. Perhaps you mean 5mm?

Yes, congrats! I love the color and it seems to have most of the items you were looking for. Very nice start!

here's the latest pics

I need one of these for my '71 to boost the power. Now looking on e-bay for the complementary Water Tank. http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/pts/1618850658.html AND, there's not a spec of rust on that baby.

The '73 is running pretty nice now. The carbs are tuned and have new brake pads installed. The '73 will now be my daily driver for the next couple months. I will post a pic in the next day or two. Now the focus is back to the '71 and getting it prepped for paint.

I thought this was cool... Changed the front break pads on my '73 and inspected the old ones. The old ones have 'Akebono' inscribed on them with the Nissan logo up in the right hand corner. I am guessing these are original. Was debating on whether to toss them or not.

It looks like it needs more brightener. I put the hole bottle of brightener in my 3 gallon tank. Seems like that comes pretty close. Your 'T' looks too dull. These are the nuts and bolts I made with the caswell kit

No Panasport option? That would be my preference.

The two tach wires are part of the start/ignition circuit. I removed my broken tach once to get it serviced and the car would not start, it just turns over. I had to jump the two wires in order to get it to start without the tach installed. I am thinking of tapping into this circuit with a hidden switch in the future to use as a hidden circuit break to make it harder for theives to steal the car.

I read somewhere that if you open up the hole on the back of the fuel rail return line that it solves alot of the problems. Guess I will have to see how it does. As for now, I am very happy with how they are running. If I didn't pop the hood, you would think there were SU's under there.

Sounds like a good idea. I'll have to give that a try.

OK, running lean was exactly the problem. I pulled the flat tops off and checked the piston and needle configuration. The collar of the needle was about .010 out of the piston base on both carbs. I loosened the set screws and made the collar flush with the base, then re-assembled. Car now runs very smooth at constant speed. We will see how these perform now over the next couple months.

I am pretty determined to keep my newly acquired '73 240Z original and run the flat tops (AKA boat anchors). Initially, the car idled real well but coughed all the way up the power band. With a little study on the threads here, it sounded like the issue was the small pump on the side of the carbs. Sure enough, took these both apart and cleaned out the 'jelly' in the forward carb and the operation was much improved. (The rear carb side pump looked to be in good shape). Float bowls were both at the proper levels. The car now idles beautifully, works well when accelerating hard, works well when choked; but seems to have an intermittent miss when running at constant freeway speed. It 'feels' like the car is running lean. So, I am thinking that I will adjust the needles 'up' about .010" and see if that solves the problem. Any thoghts on this from the flat top crowd? Any input, other than switching to SU (which I agree are better), is appreciated Thanks, Rich

Hi Bob, Yes, the first silver ('71 240Z) sounds like exactly what he is looking for. The guy was originally asking $4500, but took $3200. The only rust issue was a quarter sized rust hole in the passenger floor pan and two minor rust patches near the rear dog leg. I will be welding those up soon here (before paint), but no big deal. The frame rails were dented but no rust and in reasonable shape. The battery tray was clean. The engine is a 260Z motor with high compression pistons that had just 5K miles on it. Still had cross hatching on cylinders when I popped the head. It also has a 5 speed trans and LSD, suspension package, Konig Rewinds, racing seat and racing wheel. All in very descent shape. The interior also was very nice. The guy also tossed in some beautiful stock seats, steering wheel and other parts. The silver paint was faded, but I will be painting that here shortly. Now that I have the '73 (with flat tops!) running well, I will put the '71 in the garage and start stripping parts, removing motor and glass, welding holes and sanding smooth. Should take me about month. I will have Lance in OC do the paint for me. Anyway, I am very happy with the '71. It was a very good deal and better than a lot of what I am seeing out there now. As always, PATIENCE is the key. Rich

some more items. The paintjob is really lame. Very bad overspray as you noted. also, you can see the bondo or bad patch spots. This is not a $3000 dollar car. Maybe $1600. There are much better...

here are some good rails...boy, I need to clean the bottom of my car

Looks to me like the original was very rusted out so someone partially welded bar stock in there. For what it's worth, I consider it one of the most important parts of the car. It is a structural member or a box beam component. I will see If I can find a picture a what a good one should look like.

Is this a frame rail???? I think it is

Looks like a fun project car with a nice body and rims...My biggest concern would not be the drive train (those you can get cheap-donor cars are all over). I don't see glass, bumpers, interior carpet, dashboard and a host of other things. Those get pricey when you add them up. If they are there, what is their condition? I think the thing to do is look for what you want in a car. Some people want a complete car in great condition. Others, like myself, want a diamond in the rough they can work on for a year or more (keeps me out of trouble). Depends on what you really want to do and have the time and money for. I think you can get a drive train for $1000, but that may need some work as well (I usually pull the head just to see what condition things are in). Hope that helps, Rich