lonetreesteve

The picture below was taken from Dreamscape. Is this the 280Z you were referring to?

I went to see "Cars 2" in 3D with my wife and 3 of our 4 kids last night and saw several 240Zs or perhaps they were Fairladys (since they were in Japan during this part of the movie), it was tough to tell especially wearing the 3D glasses!

John, I've always spray-painted the backsides of my bumpers after re-chroming with Rust-Oleum "Painter's Touch" Metallic Aluminum spray paint. Using the Scotch blue painter's tape (or Duck "Clean Release" blue painter's tape) it protects the chrome from over-spray. Even if you do get a little on the chrome, it buffs out very easily with the Grade #0000 Superfine steel wool. I have posted a few pics of a rear bumper that I had Denver Bumper fill the holes and re-chrome about a year and a half ago. Some of the pictures show the backsides of the bumper pieces after I painted them and assembled the 2 outer pieces to the main centerpiece. On your stock bumpers, it's best to paint the backsides first before you assemble and install the rubber pieces on the bumpers and on the bumper guards.

John, Your bumpers came out great! I've been using Denver Bumper for many years to re-chrome the bumpers on my 240Z projects and have never been disappointed. If I have ever had a flaw on a bumper piece, they have always re-chromed it without any hesitation.

Michael, I think it's great that you have found so many Zs in the California junkyards near you and have been getting the serial numbers. I agree with you on the '70; if the junkyard has the title, it would be worth saving. Perhaps the next time you go by the junkyard you could take some more pics of the '70 and also find out if it has a title, because I 'm sure someone here would be interested in the car. As far as your 2400 valve cover question is concerned, it's my understanding that only the first 5,000 240Zs or so were equipped with them and they stopped making the covers about the same time as the optional automatic transmission was first offered. My son and I have a 2400 valve cover in my garage that I think we will hold onto for a while!

The orange car is in Las Vegas and the owner is asking $3,500.00 for it; here's the link: http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/2357053436.html If you are looking for parts and your brother lives in or near Colorado, there are some yards here that have 240Zs with some good parts.

Here are some Out to Pasture & a few Junkyard Zs:

Esprist, Thank you for the good information. Actually, I purchased my blue door skins with the chrome strips from Les at Classic Datsun and they look great! That's why I've been so picky trying to find solid door panel boards to mount the new skins on. Sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth to modify 280Z door panels. I think I will continue my search for a pair of solid 240Z door panel boards. Thanks again for the help guys.

Thanks for the good info, guys, I appreciate it. The guy who has the 280Z panels up for sale isn't sure what year 280Z they came from. As I mentioned, my plan is to remove the vinyl on the 280Z panels and only use the boards for my new 240Z door skins. I have attached some pics of the door panels and as Steve and Jeff indicated, if these are 77/78 panels, they will not work. Please let me know if these are the 75/76 or the 77/78 panels.

I have a set of new blue door skins for my '71 240Z and have been looking for a solid pair of 240Z door panel boards to mount the door skins on, but have had no luck. There was a solid pair on Ebay with pristine mounting holes a couple months back, but I got outbid at the last second. I was wondering if a set of 280Z panel boards would fit on a 240Z. I realize that they have different arm rest holes in different places, etc but I thought that possibly the 280Z door panels could be modified.

The unibody shell on the 1/71 240Z looks pretty solid. My understanding is that 1/71 cars are Series I 240Zs. Someone should try to buy the shell and restore the car.

Below is a link to a previous discussion on 918 Orange. PPG is not the only choice when it comes to closely matching the 918 color- Dupont Chromo-based paint using a 2-stage process (base then a clear coat) is another alternative. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39978

Better to buy directly from the manufacturer and save some money since MSA buys from Tabco & Zedd Findings: http://www.tabcobodyparts.com/html/table_of_contents.htm http://www.datsunzparts.com/NewParts/summary.htm

There are a numbers of contributing factors in this discussion and supply and demand are certainly a big part of it. Carl's analogy of beach houses made me think of something- I was once told a good number of years ago that if a house (or a car for that matter) sells too quickly, it's probably because the asking price was too low. Believe me, I have seen some very nice 240Zs over the years that have sold way under market either on Ebay as a buy-it-now or on Craigslist. Trust me, this uninformed behavior affects 240Z values, just as it does with houses.

It's in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Here's the link: http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/2187148646.html

I never knew that Roadsters in this condition were worth this kind of money! Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150552881587

Hi Darrel, I tend to agree with you, I think the asking price is a little high, particularly since the shell needs so much body work. However, the low VIN and the original matching engine make it a desirable car if someone is willing to spend a good amount of time & money to restore it. And......... oh yes, you're right, it's not my car.

Up for auction on Ebay. Includes original matching engine and some new parts: Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-240Z-RARE-1969-240Z-194-Project-Car-/230578340701?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item35af8a435d

Welcome! When you get a chance, please post some pics of your 260z.

Nice work on the brackets! Looks like the bumper fits very well. Be sure to post some pics after you get the bumper back from re-chroming and remounted on the car.

Hi Kenny, Your bumpers came out great! I love Denver Bumper, they are a great company and provide good, old-fashioned customer service. Yes, the backs are raw metal and they absolutely need to be painted before mounting them on the car. I use Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch "Metallic Aluminum" on my bumpers (see below pics). Denver Bumper not only re-chrome bumpers, but they will also restore the old slotted mags. They dip the wheels then buff them out and remove any curb rash for a very reasonable price (see pic below). Mine are now mounted along with new tires on my latest '71 project. Denver Bumper has been discussed before in other threads: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36005

This reminds me of when I was a senior in high school and I bought a '66 Pontiac GTO with a '67 400 GTO engine that was a little beat up for $200.00. My '67 GTO's engine was burning oil and needed a different engine. A friend of my brother's was pretty mechanically-inclined and volunteered to help me pull the the bad engine out of my '67 and install the good engine from the '66. I offered him the '66 GTO for his help. I also sold the bad engine out of my '67 for about a $100 to $125.00 or so if I remember correctly. The kid got kind of excited and said that he was going to make the '66 GTO his "Saturday night hot rod". I found this a little strange since he was a die hard Ford guy with a '64 and a half Mustang and pretty much hated GM cars. Well as it turned out, he later ended up cutting the '66 GTO into pieces with a cutting torch and hauling it off to a scrap yard. My brother told me that the only things that were left of the car were its 2 bucket seats that were in his parent's garage. One day when he came over to our house to visit my brother, he complained to me that I "short-changed" him on the deal. My response was that he agreed to the deal and that he should have tried to sell the car if he didn't want it rather than cutting it up into pieces. This all took place in the spring of 1977 about 10 years before muscle cars started going up in value.

Thanks, Zedyone Kenobi. I will send mine in.

Only the '70 and early '71 cars (Series I) had the rear hatch vents, later '71s (Series II) had the same rear hatches as '72s and '73s.

The pics that Omez attached in his original post, showed the vertical defrost lines, which were common on the early '72s; however, the pic showing the passenger side with the locking gas door was not shown. The locking gas doors as far as I know, were only on the '70 and '71 240Zs.