Carl Beck

I agree with John - it sounds like a parts car. Might be worth something to someone that needs a 69 production date Z - to qualify for some Historic/Vintage racing clubs/series. Carl B.

Hi Ernest: That is a beautiful Z and I'm sure your friend will enjoy it greatly. Be sure to send him here, if he isn't already. Z or no Z - do keep in touch. Let us know what your replacing the Z with.. Kind regards, Carl

NO WAY - !! You started on that car Sept. 2013 - - and you have it put back together with the paint and body work done - the engine rebuilt and installed by the 23rd of Oct 2014??? That is a real accomplishment. I love the color - and you've got a good looking helper there too . Great Job.. Carl B.

What does the lid look like? Carl

Several people said stay away from a Salvage Title - I agree - - but didn't see anyone explain how to do that. If the insurance company wants to clam a Total Loss - they offer you an amount and they take the car. To avoid a Salvage Title, you have to agree to settle the claim for less than the value of the car they offered. Usually that has to be around 20% less. The reason is the insurance companies guess that they can get 12-15% of the value they paid you - back when they sell the car to junk yards or recyclers. So you have to agree with the insurance company to take less than the Total amount - and they have to agree to let you fix the car yourself. {in other words you don't want a body shop listed on the payment check}. You don't just want to keep the car - you want to keep it without it being declared a Total Loss by the insurance company. Good luck, Carl

Dale - was your Z insured with Hagerty - or some other Classic Car Insurance Co.??. Secondly did you have any physical damage to yourself or any medical bills that needed to be paid? Usually, if you don't have a physical injury, and you don't have a Classic Car Policy with an Agreed value - - and you are driving "an old car" - and insurance adjustors want to use their definition of ACV as the basis for adjusting the claim. Usually on a 240Z that is somewhere around $3K here in Florida. Most insurance adjustors pull the State Sales Tax records to get the price of used cars sold in the past five years. Just wondered how you got lucky enough to get a reasonable settlement - without going to court. Makes perfect sense if the car was insured on a Classic Car Policy - they don't want to get in a law suite with another insurance company. {florida is a no fault State}. Carl

Yes, thanks Charles. That gives me a better understanding of what's going on in the current market.

Hi Charles: Good point - I just want to be sure to understand what you are saying.1. Wrecked 240Z's are selling for more than $4K at auctions.2. Wrecked 240Z's with Salvage Titles are selling at auction for $4K. … you later mentioned that the car your working on would get a Salvage Title if later wrecked. Also - yes today - I wouldn't be surprised if Salvage Titled 240Z's might be bringing a bit more than the previous examples we've seen on this forum. The value of even good used 240Z parts has gone up significantly over the past few years. In #1 you aren't dealing with a Salvage Title car, in case #2 you are. I would agree that a damaged car without a Salvage Title is worth quite a bit more than a damaged car without a Salvage Title. I think in the past the Salvage Titled cars sold to the public - will bring 10 to 20% more than the junk yards will pay. Most likely a lot of 240Z's have been damaged and repaired. Usually the one's that were repaired fall into one of two categories. Private owners that simply pay for the repair themselves, rather than settling for a low ball figure from the insurance company, or 240Z's that were covered by an Agreed Value Classic Car Policy. Usually - not always - but usually the owners or the insurance companies themselves - do over-see the work being done - and exert some quality control over the process. Likewise if you are buying damaged Z's with good titles - you can afford to put more money and thus higher quality into the repair - because with a good title you have a good chance of making a profit on the effort. The normal course of events however over the past 30 years or so - has been that the damage cost more to repair than the insurance company felt the car's ACV would justify. They declare the car totaled and thus the salvage title. The largest problem with Salvage Titled cars has been created over the past 50 years or so, by cars taken out of the junk yards getting slip shod and very questionable repairs - cleverly hidden. In effect they are flipped to made as much profit as possible. Which unsuspecting buyers only later find. So in that case the Salvage Title is a Red Flag {justified or not}. So when it comes to Salvage Titles - why buy a potential problem down the road when you don't need to? Unless a super low price sways you. FWIW,Carl B.

Today the best thing to do with an old gas tank - is buy or rent a good inspection camera and look inside - then decide what you need to do. There are lots of different processes to be considered - depending on what you can see. I think the hose that is the more difficult to deal with - is the one that come off the top of the tank - and required a tight 180 degree bend. Various ways of accomplishing that.. several documented here on the forum. Personally - on the 240Z's I drive fairly often - I just eliminated the vapor recovery lines all together. But even so you still have to deal with proper venting of the tank, so it can be filled. Which means you still have that long line with the 180 degree bend to deal with. good luck, Carl B.

Not quite like that. That takes some work. You can buy a wrecked / totaled out 240Z - from the resellers that buy them from the insurance companies or junk yards - with a Salvage Title. The few examples we have seen on this forum seemed to be around $1000.00 to $1500.00 or so. Then if you can find enough used parts cheap enough - you might get one put back together for another couple thousand dollars. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Steve - Given the usual negative replies about the "price of Z's" - - - I said; "we would call it a $3500.00 car" - a somewhat sarcastic remark - did not really mean to put an actual value on it. On the other hand - how much would you pay for a Salvage Titled 240Z? Would it make any sense to pour much money into it - knowing that most people won't want it.? About the only reason to buy a Salvage Titled Z - would be an extremely low price, and knowing that is what you would hope to get back out of it when you try to resell it. Still way to many Z's with good titles out there… that don't have a shinny new paint job hiding who only knows what. FWIW, Carl B.

Bid to $11,500.00 - no sale. The car was a rat with a salvage title. when the spray painted under the hood, they painted over everything.. including the accelerator linkage. What a mess… we would call it a $3.500.00 car. amazing Carl

At one point - someone sold "adaptors" that were used to mount the shorter Sandan/Sanyo? compressors - to the stock L26/L28 Mount. I don't know if they would work with the specific Model you mention. I wound up buying the OEM compressor - it was Hatachi if I remember correctly. Cost more - but solved the mounting problem. If you compare the compressor you have to the stock mount - might be a simple matter of using some flat stock and a couple of spacers. The trick is to get the compressor pulley lined up correctly with the drive pulley FWIW, Carl B.

Most people in the Enthusiast Community are used to seeing/finding really nice drivers for $16K or less. Many of us have done full restorations and the truth is, most of the time we don't keep track of what we have actually spent. So when some seemingly high numbers show up - no one believes it. I think we are all going to have to get used to it. It always happens when very desirable cars from 40 years ago - finally see their numbers all but exhausted. What is left are Beaters and Parts Cars or Concours Winning Museum pieces. That or cars that are simply not for sale at any price approaching reasonable. That has already happened to all the Muscle Cars of the 60's, all but completely happened to the 67/69 Camaros and desirable 65 to 69 Mustangs - and there were Millions of them!. Want a really nice 64 Pontiac GTO? Yes, we may not see 240Z's bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars like some Muscle Cars, or Shelby Mustangs.. but on the other hand I think we are seeing the final phase of the typical market segmentation, that takes place with all Classic, Collectable and Special Interest Cars. Sooner than we want - if you want a Datsun 240Z you will only find fully restored or very highly refreshed examples or Beaters and Parts Cars. The low end for a really nice weekend driver - but not Museum Quality example, will be $20K to $25K and the higher end #1 cars will all be over $60k. $25K to $35K will get you a really nice #3 example or a really nice Street Mod.. Cars that just a few years earlier were selling for $18K ... Increasing demand with dwindling supply. Greatly increasing cost of need restoration parts. The need to do a far better job of metal work / body work and paint - to preserve the value of the car.. Fewer and fewer people will be half-assing refreshes.. It always goes that way if you have been around long enough to witness it.. I'm sounding very old here I know. I also agree with Jeff - a deal well be made off-line - and we won't know what was actually paid - unless it winds up in Jeff's garage. FWIW, Carl B.

In essence - a de-stroked L28. I think a couple members have done that. Carl B.

The entire article is complete nonsense. Most likely a good thing they don't take comments.. Carl B.

It didn't meet reserve at $30,100.00, surprised to see it back so soon. It isn't really as nice or well done at this one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Z-Series-orinignal-Datsun-240Z-Series-I-Totally-Restored-1970-Low-VIN-/231389268988?forcerrptr=true&hash=item35dfe00bfc&item=231389268988&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

I'm not finding an E1031…In the Nissan Motorsports Catalogs I see: 99996-E1032 L9 SALOM Camshaft 490 lift and 290 degrees - Reground on 109 degree lobe centers, requires 0.160" lash pads, retainers, competition valve springs and new rocker arms. 99996-E1036 L7 RALLY Camshaft. 475 lift and 270 degrees - eground on 109 degree lobe centers, requires 0.160" lash pads. I only checked four or five years for the Catalogs.. and there may have been very minor changes over the years. Nissan USA had local Cam Producers do the regrinds to Nissan's spec.'s - Thus the 99996 numbers. I've ran both the SALOM and RALLY regrinds in L24/L28's. For the street the RALLY cam gave a little more lower end power. you could feel it around 3000RPM. The SALOM cam didn't seem to wake up until you passed 4500RPM then came on more suddenly. Engines were running Nissan Flat Tops {euro spec with 2cc raised area} at about 9.5 to 9.8 compression. Triple Webers.. Ran with stock exhaust manifold and/or headers, didn't seem to matter. Oh - How Rare? Not really, several current cam producers can duplicate it, or sell you something better. FWIW, Carl B.

I wonder - could we find 2 or 3 Datsun 240Z's in equal condition today - that the owners are willing to sell for $20K to $25K ? I've had a couple guys looking for the past year - they haven't had any luck yet. They might be bidding on this car - I don't know. I know several guys that have these Z's - I don't know one willing to sell at that price. Granted, I wouldn't rate this Z as a #1 Condition example, but you might be able to bring it up to a low end #2 Condition example with a little more attention to detail and a little more work. The undercarriage would need significant work - big mistake to put that much into the car - and black out the undercarriage, and get black paint on everything. Fine for a driver, not so for a Museum Quality example. Still - if you started with a very solid and complete example - you'd be in that $12K today. Then duplicate the work done on this Z - and you would spend another $30K, if you did a lot of the work yourself. Send it to a professional Restoration shop - pay the $75.00 to $95.00 per hour for labor, plus the $125.00 per hour for mechanical work and you'd be writing a check for at least $70K in labor alone. Now add the current cost of all the NOS parts you'd need, plus body work and paint. Easy to get up to $90K SPENT... Someone in Europe or Japan might recognize a deal and be willing to buy ahead of the market.. I have no idea what the owner would take - but for anything under $45K today, I'd tell him to hold it another year. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike - thanks. That icon was so small I couldn't see what it was. Now that I know - I can use it. Code Mode works for me. You could? I guess I never tried that before. I was just taking this new S/W for a spin.. to learn how it was going to work - and provide feedback Great - thanks..

I agree - the VIN on the dash doesn't look right - Looks like it was made with a Label Machine - and it looks like someone put a 72 Dash and Center Console in the car. That or the VIN on the firewall doesn't match the dash? Wonder if it has the original Data Plate on the drivers door jam. The whole car looks pretty sketchy.. It certainly isn't a 1971 - has the 70 gas lid door.. FWIW, Carl B.

OK - see what I mean? I made a few edits to your original Post... I was able to increase the font size in the Reply Editor - I'll see if it shows up that way. FWIW, Carl B. Edit #1 cjb - - OK the font size of the quoted text was increased - - only it is still somewhat "grayed out"..

Here I tried to break the quoted text into blocks - like we used to be able to do. I'm afraid that inserting carriage returns doesn't stop the quoted text - - but allows you to edit it. Might not be a good thing.. Carl

Much Better font size and color. But will the quoted text be larger as well? In the Posts above it seems to still be very small and light. Carl B. First Edit: cub I guess my question was answered - in my own Post. Can you work on the quoted text size and color as well? Also I don't see the hypertext that used to lead and follow the quoted text. Is it possible to still break quoted text into two or more blocks; and comment on them individually? I'll try that next..

Hi Brian: What is the black spot/area on the hood? What are the two black spots on the front edge of the hood? Are these current pictures? or the ones from 7 years ago? Did you Post an Ad somewhere? thanks, Carl