240z barnfind-ish

[JM216S14]

Anyone into old z?s?

I recently started passing this car on my way to pick my kid up at daycare yada yada yada, ended up getting an epic deal on it.

Just wonder if any of you ever did any z chassis repairs. Frame rails and such what would be considered too far gone in your opinions?

Car is a 1 owner 47k mile 72 240z. Lived in a garage since 1982, but at some point the roof caved in burying the car and that?s how it stayed for what I expect 20 years.

Frame rails are pretty rotten on the outside from mid engine bay to the curve, both quarters have holes in them but the floor is solid interior is mint minus the carpet and mold.

L24 is locked up haven’t investigated it too much yet.

[burnsauto]

awesome find! Structurally, the cars are super basic, so repairing them isn't that bad - spot welds and mild steel. I'm not sure what is available for them, but at least the Z community is pretty popular and full of guys who've been doing it for years.

I kind of look at it like every car is worth saving nowadays. Nissan's not making anymore of them, and new cars are terrible. Glad you picked it up!

[gabefromcali]

Awesome find! Not much help here as far as structural repairs go and what not but imo these are all worth saving. Like Burns said, they ain't making them. Especially if you got a deal on it, all the worth more saving it

[Corbic]

She's crispy. What's the plant? Original Resto? Resto mod? Devil Z?

[Whitey13]

Love it! I'm already googling parts for you.

Now's as good a time as any to lean to weld.

[Thursday7]

Is it just me or are there no photos of the underside posted?

Either way, an untouched orange S30 is always a treat to see. I'd save it if you have the space and resources.

[tuzzio]

Such a good looking car when done right. Always loved these.

[gixxerbob]

looks like trash.... want to sell it? i'll buy it.
deff a keeper if the rust isnt terrible.
is that an uncracked dash? wow

[silviaks2nr]

Rails, rockers, floor pans all easy to buy new metal and repair. Prices are climbing on these and that one looks pretty decent so...

[C. Anderson]

I picked a 71 up a few years ago and have been just collecting parts for the restoration. There are quite a few companies starting to make reproduction parts that haven't been available such as dash pads. Keep an eye on KF Vintage. Their background is in VW sheet metal repair panels and have somewhat recently dove into Z/classic JDM stuff. The parts they make are die stamped and have great reviews. The owner's son is into s-chassis and it appears he will be offering parts for them in the future as well.

[JDM240z]

+1 on KF vintage. They make the best Z resto panels on the market. You have a pretty clean Z here. Buy A few of the older Z restoration books online, find some of the guys on YouTube doing heavy restorations. That will give you an idea of what your in for. After owning 3 Z's I'd rather work on them over an S chassis.

[feito]

you lucky sob. You should post undercarriage pictures and start a build thread

[JM216S14]

Thanks dudes!

Ill snap some pics of the underside, surprisingly it isn't awful except the front frame frames

I was thinking of dropping a spare sr or ka in but keeping the rest original.

[EFITTZY]

In for a build thread on this old girl!

[AKADriver]

Amazing find! Yes it's saveable. Nice thing about these Zs is they've been deemed 'collectible' for many years so there's possibly better parts support for them than for S chassis at this point, definitely true for body/chassis panels and patches. Of course it helps that they're simpler so you're not chasing down discontinued electronics.

[z31andrew]

Awesome find, Totally save-able. I work at MotorSport Auto (TheZStore.com) and we specialize in selling restoration and performance parts for all year Z cars. We have repair panels available for the entire lower portion of the car including frame rails, floor pans, Outer and inner Rockers, etc. Let me know if you'd like help with sourcing any parts! I have mannyyy other sources other than just our site for parts. My email here is [email protected]

People are pulling decent numbers on these cars, although the hype and amount people are willing to pay for something that is not a 100 point restoration has fallen in the past couple years.

[seaninc]

I feel like these have gotten into 911 territory where none of them aren't worth saving. I just don't have the fabrication skills or spare cash to bring one back to life.

[burnsauto]

Keep the L series in it!!!!!!!! Those engines have so much more personality in them than some shitty KA

[feito]

triple carb crossflow head design L series or N/A itb RB series.... ok ok yeah, those are my wet dreams for an s30 xD

[JM216S14]

Originally Posted by burnsauto

Keep the L series in it!!!!!!!! Those engines have so much more personality in them than some shitty KA

The more I read the cooler they sound.

Also literally sound badass with a cam

[z31andrew]

Justy know if the L Series engine stays, don't expect big HP numbers

[burnsauto]

Originally Posted by z31andrew

Justy know if the L Series engine stays, don't expect big HP numbers

Sure a stock rebuild won't net you much in the running hamsters department, but with some work you could see 200-300 hp, more than enough to shove around that roller skate of a car.

[JDM240z]

Originally Posted by feito

triple carb crossflow head design L series or N/A itb RB series.... ok ok yeah, those are my wet dreams for an s30 xD

Butter engine setups fosho

[burnsauto]

Originally Posted by C. Anderson

I picked a 71 up a few years ago and have been just collecting parts for the restoration. There are quite a few companies starting to make reproduction parts that haven't been available such as dash pads. Keep an eye on KF Vintage. Their background is in VW sheet metal repair panels and have somewhat recently dove into Z/classic JDM stuff. The parts they make are die stamped and have great reviews. The owner's son is into s-chassis and it appears he will be offering parts for them in the future as well.

So I emailed them about s-chassis parts, got a response, but a more generic one that didn't give me any information, just about what they currently sell.

So maybe one day we'll see something, because I just spent 4 months tracking down a rocker panel.

[C. Anderson]

Originally Posted by burnsauto

So I emailed them about s-chassis parts, got a response, but a more generic one that didn't give me any information, just about what they currently sell.

So maybe one day we'll see something, because I just spent 4 months tracking down a rocker panel.

Oh interesting. I follow them on Instagram and they have a couple posts talking about shells they have acquired for replacement panel development. They have a post with an S14 and another post relatively recent with an S13 coupe that I can vaguely remember. Maybe they are on the fence about these chassis or it's just way down the road for them ?\_(ツ)_/? Hopefully the more they get out there in this community, the more people will come with the demand for these kinds of parts for this chassis.

[Corbic]

Originally Posted by C. Anderson

Oh interesting. I follow them on Instagram and they have a couple posts talking about shells they have acquired for replacement panel development. They have a post with an S14 and another post relatively recent with an S13 coupe that I can vaguely remember. Maybe they are on the fence about these chassis or it's just way down the road for them ?\_(ツ)_/? Hopefully the more they get out there in this community, the more people will come with the demand for these kinds of parts for this chassis.

OEM quality stamping tools are expensive. Very very expensive.

[burnsauto]

Eventually, it'll happen. If it happened for 510's, it'll happen for the s chassis. The positive thing about the cars becoming more expensive is that more people are more willing to restore them just based on a financial stand point. Everything is cyclical, and like how muscles cars were worthless during the late 70's and early 80's, are generations cars have gone through their " cheap period", and personally I don't see it going back to the way it was.

[C. Anderson]

Originally Posted by Corbic

OEM quality stamping tools are expensive. Very very expensive.

They sure are. KF needs to see a demand before investing and I'm sure it's also a priority thing too.

[schassis240]

beautiful find sir!!! keep it going, build it!