need advice Still looking for a 240z

[Kyo]

Hi

 

iam still looking for a 240z as the last one i checked out was a bust now i found this and need some thoughts before i go and look at it...

 

 

 

this is what i was told about the car and what pics i have

can i get your opoin on whether this is worth the $1,200

he is asking

 

1973

100K +

auto

VIN hls30149383

and a copy of what he sent me

 

""The rust is not too bad, as far as these old Z's go. It has holes only in

the rear of the front fenders, the driver's side door,

and the rear quarters in front of the rear wheels. The under hatch area has some rust, but no holes as yet. The floor on the drivers side under the feet has a hole about 1" in diameter. That is about it. The rails are fine, and the car appears to never been in an accident, as things line up well. The car runs out well, and I am sure the charging problem has to do with a bad ground somewhere. Interior is fair. It had no console, so I bought one for it, but I have no hardware to install it properly. There is no radio. The guages all work, with the exception of the clock The trani goes through the gears very well, shifts nice. Yes, if the charging problem was fixed, it would make a good daily driver. Another thing: the car has the earlier S.U. carbs on it, and they are much easier to tune, and to keep in tune. The stock carbs were Hitachi, and they were prone to huge problems with tuning""

 

 

 

 

 

now i dont mind that it is a auto as i plane to put in L28et with 5speed motor set,

and i have a set of pedals and the other parts in my parts bin,

but i know little about body work and i do not want to get over my head as of yet with rust..

so is it worth his asking price and is the rust he told me about a major problem?

 

I thank you for your advice

 

all the best

 

Kyo

 

sorry for the long post thanks for your help

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Skib]

dosent look bad but I wouldnt pay $1,200 for it.

[Kyo]

What do you think a resanable offer would be?

 

Kyo

[datzenmike]

I think you really need to know what to look for when buying, research, research, research. These things can be total rust buckets and you have said you know little about body work. Find out where to look on these cars for the worst rust prone areas and then go look at this car. An informed buyer is the best defense against being unhappy with your buy.

 

You should already know more about the car than the owner. He says: "Another thing: the car has the earlier S.U. carbs on it, and they are much easier to tune, and to keep in tune. The stock carbs were Hitachi, and they were prone to huge problems with tuning" The '70 to '74.5 240z and 260z all used Hitachi type SU carbs. What he says makes no sense.

 

"and I am sure the charging problem has to do with a bad ground somewhere." Could he be more vague? Why doesn't he fix it then?

 

It's better you find all the problems with this car now than later. If the car was $2,400 and in good shape, this would be better than buying it and spending another $2,400 at the body shop right?

[anotherjoe2000]

Research is definately what you need to do.

 

I would be concerned with the rust. What you see is only 10% of what is really going on. Tip of the iceberg as they say. Considering the repaint, I would bet there is bondo (body putty) in more than one spot. Bring a vinyl magnet to check out the likely rust areas (lower fenders, dog legs between door and rear wheel, rear wheel arches/lips, lower front valance by turn signal lamps, rear deck under hatch, etc). Looks like the hood emblem is missing (and holes bondo'd over) perhap due to a accident? The nose of the Z is longer than you think and you can't see it when you are driving (a really good thing) some people tend to smack it into things...:P

 

I suspect he had the evil square top/square mouth hitachi carbs on this before he moved to the hitachi SUs. I think the sqaure tops cut in to production late in 1973 and lived on thru the 260Z until FI came in on the 280Z.

 

Charging problem cold be bad regulalor (fiugre $35)...looks like a fairly new Alternator in the pics.

 

Interiors can be $$ to fix - no pics of that...

 

I would say $800 is a fair offer.

[Kyo]

datzenmike -- Thanks for the advice, yeah i found the carb commet a bit odd as well hmm?

 

as far as the charging problem goes this is what he posted about that..

 

""replaced the voltage regulator, the alternator, the fuse block, and it charges at present, but it seems to be an intermittant problem.

Starter relay does not engage, so push-button start""

 

And i would definetly rather spend a bit more to get in to a nicer car then to deal with the body work..

Thanks

Kyo

[Kyo]

anotherjoe2000 --- Thank you for your advice,

i did not think about it being a late model 73 as to why it could of had the carbs,

yeah research is a daily thing for me (favirot past time :) )

but as i am always learning there is more to learn

 

Cheers

Kyo

[datzenmike]

There is an interlock in the tranny so it won't start in gear but the ignition feeds directly to the starter solenoid. Could be starter or solenoid. Push button start is a stupid idea the manufactures have come out with to make a FWD auto Maxima 'kind-a-sporty'. On a regular car with a keyed ignition why bother. Better to have it working correctly.

 

Wise words: i am always learning there is more to learn

[Gollum]

I'd offer him $500. There's plenty of NON RUNNING S30 cars out there. Most will have a little bit of rust. The interior is a wash value imo. Some want it, most don't care too much. The fact it "could easily be running" has no relevance to the fact it ISN'T running. I had a car that only needed a driveshaft to be drivable. That doesn't mean I can just take that out of the expected value of the vehicle.

 

And for what it's worth, almost ANY S30 you find for under $1k will have some rust. So learn to deal with it, to an extent. Don't buy something that needs more work than you can offer it, but be willing to compromise. It's better to have a little bit of rust, and feel like you can trust the guy, than to buy a car that "looks" like it doesn't have any rust, but feel like you can't trust the owner.

 

I bought my Z for $1,000 RUNNING, WITH a L28ET and I drove it to work THAT DAY, and for the next 6 months, EVERY day. DEAD reliable. VERY little rust. The pass door had some rust holes in it, and the tail section of the corner panel is bubbling a bit, but for the most part everything is surface rust. The fender has the typical rust holes as well, but so will ANY of these cars that's spent a decent amount of time in the rain. Fact is that for 1k I got a running car with a MANUAL and freakin' had the engine I wanted anyways.

 

Be picky. There's a lot more of these cars around then there are those of us hot rodding them.

[Kyo]

Thanks every one for the advice and repley's

But i think i am going to pass on this one

 

i sent him a email asking when i can come up and look at it in person and he never got back to me.

 

so the search goes on :cool: