What should I do with a crispy 240Z?

My Dad was taking to some of his buddies he hasn’t seen in a while over this past weekend. Somehow in conversation he mentioned how I had a few Datsun Z cars which lead to one of his friends saying that he knows a guy who knows a guy who has a Z tucked away in a barn somewhere. My dad tells me about this “barn car” and ends up getting the guys phone number. I call him to find out more info and he says the car is in rough shape. He mentioned something about a barn fire, lots of spare parts, and turbos. At this point I’m still curious and want to check it out just to see what’s going and get more back story.

So I arrive at the address giving to me and it’s a cranberry bog. At the back of the bog I see a big garage with machinery and other junk around it so I drive back there and meet the guy. He tells me the car is stashed in a smaller barn out back. At first sight things look promising.

Then I walked around to the front.

Story is he picked up the 1972 240Z from Georgia and was working on it with his son. They started swapping in the drivetrain from a wrecked 280zx turbo along with a 280Z rear diff and 5 speed. Guess they also did poly bushings, springs, shocks, new rack, new radiator and started to do flares. The car was in the basement of another barn that use to be on the bog which caught fire back in 2009. While the Z didn’t exactly catch fire it was very close. By the time the fire was put out the Z was in bad shape. They then put the Z in another barn not knowing what else to do with it. The paint is blistered and has melted plastic and other crap that dripped from the floor above. Interior is also a mess and kind of melted. It's too bad because the car has less rot then my other two Z's

More parts in the hatch but look at the melted vinyl neat the headliner.

In his other garage he has 3 turbos, engine harness, intercooler, external wastegate, bumpers, and a bunch of other parts. I know the car is a mess but he said $500 for everything. That's worth it to me for the parts alone but what should I do with a crispy 240Z shell?

The Rusty Slammington treatment - basically put the burned shell over a separate spaceframe chassis underneath.

You suck if that doesn't show up at the Challenge. Easy to zero out with all the spares.

If the body panels aren't warped from the heat, the interior panels are replaceable. The dash looks like it's not cracked so there's almost $1k in value... Worse case, you send the shell to the crusher...

Rotsun 2.0

You should get it all home ASAP, then worry about the details!

Body panels didn't look too bad. There was some blisters and ash burned into the paint but nothing down to bare metal. It looks like the car was repainted once and the outer layer of paint didn't like the heat as mush as the OEM paint. You can see where it started to flake on the rear quarters.

Dash has 2 cracks and the clear gauge faces are melting out of it. Its also a lot smoother now from the heat. I might be able to toss on a dash cap and spare gauges. Big question is how did the dash wiring hold up?

For 500 bucks (for a manual! 240Z) I'd drag it home and see what the damage is.

an'den...

At this point the plastics are already toast and if there's rot/damage to sheet metal who cares? Plus manual 240s are starting to appreciate pretty quickly and parts are semi easy to get for them.

Get it, finish the turbo swap, do burnouts, smile.

For $500 if you don't want it i bet someone here does

ggarrard wrote: The dash looks like it's not cracked so there's almost $1k in value...

What you talkin' bout Willis?

You're telling me my NOS dash with instruments in it is worth $1,000?

My best friend has been hunting a rust free 240z shell.

You have a buyer depending upon what you want to do.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I wouldn't call it rust free. There were some rot holes above the tail lights but not in the typical spots. I tried to look under the car at the rails but it was too low to the ground and dark. I can only assume they are rotted out too. Since I'm from New England we have a different definition of clean

The worst part about the shell is the hacked up rear quarters. The inner quarter has been completely removed and the outer was cut very high to the point where bolt on flares won't cover the opening. Not a deal breaker but I'd have to get creative.

Forget you ever saw it.

For $500 you might be able to sell stuff and make a few $$$ but I think it will involve more work than you think.

As to making something that you will drive eventually, I don't see an economical road to that.

If you want to spend $20k plus and 5 years of free time to drag a car out of the grave and restore it just so you can say you did, then go ahead. Lord knows I would!

I mainly want it for the drive train so I can swap it into my lemons car. I definitely wouldn't restore this one but the shell could make into a challenge car or autocross toy with all the spare parts I have. Worse case it gets parted out. I made decent money off my other 240Z.

You actually want the drivetrain? I can't understand that, they are boat anchors when you calculate weight/power. There are so many other better candidates out there.

$2017 Challenge.

carguy123 wrote: You actually want the drivetrain? I can't understand that, they are boat anchors when you calculate weight/power. There are so many other better candidates out there.

That's exactly why it's a great choice for lemons. Sure there are better options with more potential but this swap won't raise a huge red flags with the judges but still give us a 50hp gain over the stock engine. I can also slap the turbo bits on another spare Datsun inline 6 if this one explodes and continue racing.

In reply to PseudoSport:

The turbo engines can make good power pretty easily. Im aiming for 300whp with mine and I shouldn't need a whole lot to get there.

That would be the kinda car I'd jump all over for LeMons, Chumpcar, etc. Fire damage doesn't look too bad to me.

In reply to ncjay:

Says the guy with an avatar of a racecar on fire....

Pretty certain I know that car. A few years ago the owner stopped by my place and asked me if I would do the bodywork and paint the car for him. He said he drove by and saw me painting a BMW once, so he thought I did bodywork on the side. I went to look at the car as a curtesy for the guy and pretty much asked the guy if he was crazy. Its only about 4 miles from here, so if you get it and need help transporting it, give me a shout. I can get a couple of the local GRMers to help out.

It certainly has potential.

Someone was mentioning $500 5.3 LS donors earlier this week. That into said shell, leave the charred patina, challenge and enjoy.