Burnt 240Z

This has to be the worse car I've ever dragged home but I love Z's.

Not sure what my plan is yet but here is the back story from my other post.

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 near 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.

Here are some pictures of it out of the barn. Once the rain washed it off it looks slightly better.

This should be fun to watch. Challenge car?

This thing is grossly awesome.

1. Those are the best possible "stock" wheels that could be on that car, I love those.

2. It's a Z car and you have multiple engines and turbos. You won, through and through.

No matter what you do to it, I'm already a fan.

Is this the official project thread?

Yes, this will be the official build thread. I'm cheap and plan on building this with the challenge in mind but no idea when or if it will actually make it.

I paid for the car back in Dec but haven't had a chance to pick it since the new to me trailer wasn't ready. Since we were expecting snow storm Thursday I was more motivated to go get it or else it would probably be stuck on the cranberry bog the rest of the winter. Now that its home I can go over it and come up with a plan.

First thing I noticed is that the drive train is all mocked up in the car. I thought it still needed a custom trans mount and driveshaft because the 280zx turbo stuff doesn't just bolt.

The other thing I found was the car has 280ZX turbo CV axles instead of the 240Z u-joint ones. The CV's are not a direct swap so I need to figure out what parts were used for the swap and if the axles bind with full suspension travel. My guess is that he used the 280zx stub axles but the dust shields need to be swapped over from the 240z ones.

Rust wise the car is not bad. Its the first Z I've seen around here with original floors and frame rails.

Im excited for this because its in worse shape than my Z and it coming back to life will be an inspiration.

Nice. Is it just me, or do Z cars look really cool when they are ratty?

eastsidemav wrote: Nice. Is it just me, or do Z cars look really cool when they are ratty?

I was having the exact same thought, but didn't share it. You could make a really cool rat rod sleeper with this one.

So glad to see it being saved! Its in better shape than mine though sadly

I wish 10 years ago I had a place to put some of the hundreds of rust free 240zs with original paint that were always in the junkyard.

I have a quarter patch panel kicking around so I checked to see if it would cover what was hacked out. Unfortunately its a few inches short.

Kudos for working in that environment

Earlier this month was a large annual swap meet near me but I decided not to go this year because the only thing I've ever gotten there was a sunburn. Figures the one year I don't go my friends actually find something I can use for stupid cheap. Tony sent me a picture of a set of rockers and quarter panel patches for $40. $40 each? Sweet! Then Tony informed me that it was $40 for all of it and my reaction was pretty much this:

So for $40 here's what I got.

The new quarter patches still don't cover everything I need them to but the quality is higher then the others I have.

What are you waiting for??? Get cutting!!

Did they cut so much that you can't cover it with some Bamf flares? Or do you not like the flared look? I have a car I can and will cut if you need some sheet metal.

Please keep the flares. It looks so berkeleying awesome just the way it is.

The problem is the prior owner cut the quarters really high and a bolt on flare is 12" short of covering the opening. He also hacked out the inner quarters, rockers, and some bracing which i'd need to fix first. The 3 flares that are on the car were installed poorly and the 4th is damaged. Maybe I can salvage them? I really need to start cutting and see where i'm at. Hopefully once I'm done with some house projects in a couple weeks i'll have more time to work on the Z.

Those flares really do seem to be a big part of the personality of that car. I'd try to work with them if you can, but I'd also build it as a Rat, so there's that . . .

Always loved the diamond quilted trans tunnel covering, reminds me of the early Aston Martin racers.

No matter what you do, GREAT score ! ! ! ! !