ollie

I thought that was awesome...Neil would approve, I's sure!

I'm going the Vintage Rubber route with the restoration kit. The way I figure, all the seals in my car are still in decent shape after 38 years but if I'm going to be in deep for a strip and spray, the cost of the kit is a lot less than rust repair down the road because I used old seals in critical areas. I also found NOS rubber kits in the usual areas, one seemed like a great deal for $275 from jdm-car-parts but it is now sold out. I inquired and they said "it covers the whole car" but were not specific. The Vintage Rubber kit, in either form, seems like good insurance against water intrusion....although it is quite costly so I'm expecting a top quality product.

I'm in a similar spot as the OP...I recently purchased what was sold to me as a 24,000 original mile '73 out of Colorado. I finally pciked up the car last weekend and while it isn't exactly as offered, it is 100% solid from any structural issues, never hit, 90% original paint, etc. Little issues which could have been huge are things like a missing castle nut and cotter pin off a tie rod, what the heck! Any way it runs very well...but now that it is in the Pacific Northwest my number one goal is to drop the sub frames, pull the transmission and fuel tank then strip all the sound deadener. This car has never been undercoatted so that's a plus. While the suspension is out we will clean up and powder coat all these parts, replacing all the bushings and properly seal the under carriage with whatever the best solution the body shop can offer, if that is por - 15 or what, I don't know given there is no rust to start with, then reinstall the suspension and running gear. I figure this will run me around $5k once I'm through all the "while you are in there" items. I know a car is only original once so I'm trying to avoid my impulse to stip the body and go crazy with paint...there is some surface rust to deal with but it is very light and certainly not through any panels but it drives me crazy so I have to deal with that, at least. So to echo what others have stated, if you are not doing the "shot gun" approach with an open limit on your VISA card then you might want to go the direction I'm headed towards getting the car running right, strip the suspension, etc and go from there.

What he said but I prefer a slow flow of water so you can control where it goes, otherwise you can spray water in places you don't want soaked like AFM, etc. I also like to use 303 Aerospace Protector on all rubber surfaces, seals etc to protect after the wash. I use regular car wash soap strength, rinse, lather, rinse...do it a few times over and you should be good to go. You can also use a leaf blower to help the drying process so long as you have good control over it.

The reserve on the car your linked to was $16500, fyi. The second 72 orange car was sold early on, it was listed on the seller's website at $24,500...he is a dealer, the car linked above was private collector.

Ain't that the truth. I started with an $8 to $10K budget, then $12K now I am considering any cars up to $20 +. Even then, I've only found one car that really fits and it still has some "history" that needs sorting before I write that cheque but I think it will work out in the end, plus I think the value in a solid Z with a strong restoration is amazing compared with other cars of the same vintage. For kicks I started looking around at 911's and quickly determined that a nice solid early 911S will mean the kids are going to community college.

No but if you have a link or any more info I'd be very intersted. One is in Bozeman, MT....and I haven't had the time to even contact him yet so it could be gone. I would love to be able to find a car in the WA, Or, MT area. EDIT: the only one I could find in the Seattle area recently was in Tacoma and it was a nice looking car, but it had a full 280 turbo swap. Interesting to me, but would like to stay NA and closer to stock. A L28 with a 5 speed done right would be cool, too.

Thanks a lot, everyone! I have a line on 2 cars now, both are '72s so we'll see where this goes.

Hi all, After owning a '72 240Z as my first car at the end of high school, I am looking to get back into the Z scene after years of driving BMW's, primarily M cars. I'm now driving a '09 335i X drive sedan, M Sport, six speed and mildly modified as the kid hauler but I've never lost my deep fondness for a Z. So, if any one has any leads on mint, driver quality cars I would like to hear about it. There was one on ebay which completed today but I just wasn't comfortable about throwing down $10K on something I can't see before committing to. The site looks great and I hope to be able to contribute in the future. Thanks for reading!