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birdmayne
birdmayne GRM+ Memberand New Reader
7/21/21 12:30 a.m.

I am a lucky man. 

I moved to my current home in 2019, and soon thereafter stumbled upon what appeared to be a mostly rust free 240Z parked on the side of the road in a rather "unfortunate" part of town. Having owned and regrettably sold a 260Z in my past, I was enamored immediately. I found myself often taking the long way home just to drive by and see if the car was still there. 

Fast forward to May 2021, the car hasn't moved in the time that I've lived here. I made the impulsive decision to leave a note under the windshield wiper that read "I'd like to discuss purchasing your Z, please contact me at (phone number) if interested". 

My phone rang the next morning with a guy offering to sell the Z to a fellow Z enthusiast only, if I happened to be one. His asking price was roughly half of what I had anticipated, and too low to ignore. After a series of texts about the car, I went over and combed through it, expecting a disaster. 

I left so very disappointed. The frame rails are solid. The floor pans are clean. Under the battery tray I found rust, but nothing a wire brush and some Rust Mort won't cure.  The engine is complete, minus a battery. The interior is trash, but everywhere else I looked, I found a much better car than I had hoped / anticipated. 

I suppose I should clarify that my disappointment stemmed from the fact that although the price was lower than I had hoped, and the car better than I had dreamed, I could in no way justify purchasing another vehicle. 

Anyway, I kind of forced myself to forget about it. The prospect of owning my dream car was nothing more than that, a prospect. Until two weeks ago, that is. I had mentioned the car in passing to my FIL, and we had a nice BS session about cars. 

Two weeks ago, he asked me to come over and help him with a yard project. When I got there, he handed me an envelope full of cash, instructed me to go grab his tilt deck and fetch myself the Z car. I was baffled. Speechless. 

I am now in the middle of rebuilding the SU roundtop carbs, then will do some tuning. I have to go buy a timing light, flow meter and color tune, but hope to have this thing running smoothly this coming weekend. 

This will be a longterm project, a slow build and probably my obsession for the next few years. I will post more pictures and updates soon. The car has an IG if anyone uses that platform. 240z_venture

Thanks for reading

TLDR: my FIL is rad and bought a 240Z for me to fix up. 

 

I'd apologize for the fact that I use a LOT of words when I post, but I'd be lying. I've been called a story teller a few times. 

Wow...this is awesome! Nice score; I'll have to follow along.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltimaDork
7/21/21 7:13 a.m.

Congratulations!

hybridmomentspass
hybridmomentspass Reader
7/21/21 7:32 a.m.

Wow, what a cool story, exceptional FIL!

Placemotorsports
Placemotorsports GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/21/21 7:39 a.m.

Congrats!

docwyte
docwyte PowerDork
7/21/21 8:19 a.m.

Sweet, congrats!

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/21/21 8:24 a.m.

Your FIL is a good guy.

Probably smart also as he now knows what you will be doing with all your spare time and $$$! Same reason Mrs NOHOME bought me a shop.

iansane
iansane GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/21/21 10:02 a.m.

Wow. Nice FIL and beautiful project!

Lof8 - Andy
Lof8 - Andy GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
7/21/21 10:16 a.m.

Very cool!  I'm in to watch the progress!

TheWraith
TheWraith New Reader
7/21/21 10:17 a.m.

Great find and an awesome FIL. I've missed out on two clean ones over the years and still looking myself.

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
7/21/21 11:45 a.m.

Last time I accidentally bought a car, it was one I didn't really want. This is much better. 

birdmayne
birdmayne GRM+ Memberand New Reader
7/21/21 12:57 p.m.

Thank you guys! 

At the time of purchase, the car had no keys, so I removed the passenger door lock and ignition cylinder. Our local shop was able to cut two keys and retumble the ignition for about $100 total. I picked up a NAPA battery to toss in there and started tinkering. The radiator looked kind of crusty, but was full of coolant. The oil was slightly overfilled, but fairly clean. No gas or coolant detected in the oil.

I had the car running in short order. The fuel tank was empty when I bought it, so I dumped a can of Berryman B12 in the tank and 5 gallons of 91 octane. I cranked the engine to get the lines primed and the B12 in to the carbs. The next morning I sent a squirt of carb cleaner in to each carb and turned the key. 

The damn thing fired right up! After a couple of hours of adjusting the carbs, I still couldn't get a decent idle out of it so I ordered carb rebuild kits. My intention for the coming weekend is to get the carbs rebuilt, brakes bled, coolant changed, oil changed, ignition checked and hopefully take the first drive around the block. 

 

Long term plans include fender flares, front air dam (possibly widebody), interior refresh, hidden Bluetooth stereo in dash, coilovers, bracing and chassis stiffeners. I imagine I'll build the stock L24 for a while, until I get bored and swap it for something else. Maybe VQ swap? 2J? J series Honda? RB? LS swaps are played out IMO. Hard to argue the power / weight though. 

A medium turbo L28ET would be fun, something like 15 psi? 

 

preach (fs)
preach (fs) GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/21/21 4:06 p.m.

Very cool story. Please do not LS swap the car...

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy MegaDork
7/21/21 4:12 p.m.

You have a cool F-I-Law

birdmayne
birdmayne GRM+ Memberand New Reader
7/21/21 5:51 p.m.
preach (fs) said:

Very cool story. Please do not LS swap the car...

Deal. No intention of a V8 swap at this time.

If anything, I'd consider a 1UZ (SC400) or a VK56 (M56s)

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy MegaDork
7/21/21 6:27 p.m.

There's only one approved swap not counting the Rebello boys.  

Gotta have goals.  
 

 

yupididit
yupididit PowerDork
7/22/21 12:54 a.m.

Damn your FIL is a smart man! 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter)
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
7/23/21 5:25 a.m.

I'm so jealous, I cant even type right now man.  Congratulations!!!!

OHSCrifle
OHSCrifle GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/23/21 5:43 a.m.

Great story. Nice score. Are you keeping it at FIL place or home?

XenaFordPrincess
XenaFordPrincess New Reader
7/23/21 7:26 a.m.

BMW V12 swap!

iansane
iansane GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/23/21 9:54 a.m.
birdmayne said:
preach (fs) said:

Very cool story. Please do not LS swap the car...

Deal. No intention of a V8 swap at this time.

If anything, I'd consider a 1UZ (SC400) or a VK56 (M56s)

I never understood the draw to the 1uz. It's so anemic.

crankwalk (Forum Supporter)
crankwalk (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
7/23/21 12:33 p.m.

Nice car. They have a way of draining your wallet so get ready! Any plans to swap in a manual? 

birdmayne
birdmayne GRM+ Memberand New Reader
7/23/21 6:41 p.m.
crankwalk (Forum Supporter) said:

Nice car. They have a way of draining your wallet so get ready! Any plans to swap in a manual? 

100% manual swap, trans depends on engine selection. I imagine I'll end up over $20k by the time I'm done with this thing. I have a history of getting carried away 

Ive always enjoyed the 1UZ.  Had a Celsior with one and wanted to keep it. 

Carbs have been rebuilt and reinstalled. I can't find my unisyn, and I don't have a colortune, so going by sound and feel. Got it idling okay at 1,000 rpm, no backfires with throttle. Gotta bleed rear brakes again tomorrow, then hopefully drive it for the first time. 

Also, whoever rebuilt these Carbs in the past is not my favorite person... broken alignment studs, both floats put in wrong, screws halfway stripped. Just shoddy work

TED_fiestaHP
TED_fiestaHP HalfDork
7/23/21 7:01 p.m.

  I had one of these, great car, but had a slight vapor lock problem.  You could sometimes actually hear the fuel boil in the carbs, crazy...    The fuel line, was metal running along side the right side of the engine, to the fuel pump mounted on the engine, then it went around the front of the engine, so it would be warm before getting to the carbs that were to close to the exhaust.  

   Way back then I didn't know much, now I think it could have been fixed, with a electric pump and routing the fuel line differently.

        One possible upgrade, 3 webers instead of the OEM carbs, not sure how much better that would be, but it has been done many times, so someone should be able to give you  some info.

    One of two cars I miss;  240Z and Porsche 928.

    You will have great fun with this car.

birdmayne
birdmayne GRM+ Memberand New Reader
7/23/21 7:57 p.m.
TED_fiestaHP said:

  I had one of these, great car, but had a slight vapor lock problem.  You could sometimes actually hear the fuel boil in the carbs, crazy...    The fuel line, was metal running along side the right side of the engine, to the fuel pump mounted on the engine, then it went around the front of the engine, so it would be warm before getting to the carbs that were to close to the exhaust.  

   Way back then I didn't know much, now I think it could have been fixed, with a electric pump and routing the fuel line differently.

        One possible upgrade, 3 webers instead of the OEM carbs, not sure how much better that would be, but it has been done many times, so someone should be able to give you  some info.

    One of two cars I miss;  240Z and Porsche 928.

    You will have great fun with this car.

I once had a 260Z, which was my baptism into Z fanhood. I learned how to tune these carbs, how to fab a heat shield to protect the carbs from heat soak, and how much fun they are. 

Triple Webers, a bigger cam, 6-1 header, and heat shields is a fantastic baseline for fun. I am dreaming of a VQ37VHR swap though, 330hp V6 with a smooth 6 spd... yum.

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