on determining the value of, and barganing for, a 240z

[mechanicalmoron]

There's a datsun 240z (I don't even know if they came badged nissan, that's how little I know here) sitting in a field. I've been told by the adjacent landowners that the owner is probably open to selling it, though that's all I know, don't know if he does much with cars, how he got it, etc. Sitting by a stripped american truck and a camper, not a nissan guy or anything. Would be a shame if this got scrapped, a crushing place just opened up a few miles away....

From what I can see it's been outside quite a while, but is a perfect complete car, with all trim (rubber is, obviously, bad), original Z wheels (important to me, I want a slim original looking classic, the way it was meant to look), a perfectly strait body, but of course, rust. I can see no outright holes, but it has slots on the hatch (for a wing or something? or just vents? I guess I should know this) that have rust around them, it also has a general old-car petina, with visible primer through original paint, etc (a petina that might be keep-able, and that I actually like, if the hatch rust was sealable).

This is a field in the west tx wet desert, it's not like the northeast or anything.

It's got air in the tires, that sort of thing. all glass is good, looks like it MIGHT run and have been parked there on it's own power.

What would it be worth, in various scenarios? Would there be anything that would make it totally worthless, and one to pass up? I assume it has some rust I can't see, where should I look, and how would it affect the price? What things can I generally use as price-modifiers? If I can take a stab at barganing for it, I want to go fully prepared, knowing my stuff, and ready to drag it out of this field for cheap, given that it IS in a field and everything.... Also, I get the impression that vin's and such are a big deal with this sort of car, anything I should look out for, in a good or bad way?

If this thread exists, sorry, didn't see one.....

*edit*-how long would it have to have sat, for me to need to change the oil/put oil in the cylinders (and anything else that anyone thinks should be done) before trying to turn it over, if it comes to that? Are the pistons flat-topped, so it would actually do anything?

[evildky]

value, anywhere from $100 to $20,000. the holes int he hatch are vents, the series 1 chassis vnted the cabin through the hatch, the series 2 chassis added vents in the C pillar but many moldes in 71 and 72 got both. th chassis number is important, HLS30 designates the car as an S30 2 seater (of course the 2+2 wasn't available until the 260z) the lower the number the moe desirable the car, mine is chassis number 11176, 14000 and under is a series 1 chassis and is mre desirable than a series 2 chassis which is anything 16000 and above. A chassis number under 100 is orth a lot more than one above 100, and of course the more origional and better coditon the higher the value. a rusted sub 100 vin car can bring 10,000 while a restored 73 might only bring 8 or 9000. So as you an see there are a lot of variables, also a sunroof destroys the cars vale.

the engiens are drop dead dependable, te earlier cars have mroedependable carbs and the later cas had carbs that can be problematic. Before startin an old engine, t's best to drain all the fluids and refill them, gas, oil coolant, alo a good idea to remove the plugs an fog the ulinder with wd40 or imilar and swap in new plugs, mae sure the pistons in the carbs move up and don and make sure there is fluid in the carbs, if they have no fluid atf is a good substitution. you might also want to dain the fuel bowls and blow out te hose that leads form the bowl to the jet. The engines typially outlast the chassis, and a good chassis is far more important than the engine, many people itseems saved the engines when the cars rotted away and I've collected a few free engines over the years.

the chassis. if it's not glass or rubber it's prone to rusting! Buy the best chasis you can find! typcal rst areas, floor pans, framerails uder the floor, frame rails inside the engine bay, frame rails inside the wheel well, lower strut tower, bumper mounts, sway bar mounts, battery tray, firewall, toe boards, floor behin the seats, spare tire well, hatch lip, quartr panel near the fuel filler door, lower front fenders, te rocker behind the lower portion of the frotn fenders, the inside rear portion of the rockers ahed ofthe back wheel, the part of the inner wheel arch where it meats the floor behind the wheel, the lower ear quarters, rear bumber mounts, and just about every other metal part of the car.

whew, I hope this helps

[mechanicalmoron]

Thank you very much, that does help a lot.

Out of curiosity, why do sun roofs destroy the value? Are they all later additions?

The car I'm wanting to bargan for has no sun roof, only vents of the hatch, but more rust than I thought, I saw it closer up and there's bubbles in the paint on the bottom of the hatch, rusty fuel door and around it, and some spots on the roof and along the window lip on the door, right by the weatherstrip. But there are no visible actual holes.

Unfortionatly I think the guy I asked about it told him I wanted the car, already..... he covered it up and made a show of clearing stuff away from it.

To clarify, by fogging a cylinder, you mean just give it a shot of WD40 through the plug hole so the walls are wet, as opposed to dripping oil in, which would just sit on the rings? Good idea to do both? But it looks like it ran not too long ago, the tires have more tread than my car, so this shouldn't be that much of an issue.

ALSO, what is the new compression, and lowest acceptable before rebuild, for this motor? And is there a freely available FSM on here or anywhere else online? (thinking like the 240sx ones nico has up)

[evildky]

none of these cars came fmr the factory with a sunroof, and the roof is convex so to put ina sunroof you distort the metal around it and it's nearly impossibel to fix once a hole has been ct in the roof due to the cnvex shpe and the face taht the only factory welds are in the a and c pillars and under the windshield and betreen the drip ril frame and the inner roof strucure

rust is like an iceburg, what you see is only the tip, te question is if the rust in in an area that can be patched easily and ceaply ior if it's in a place taht requires major surgery

yup just spray a bunch of wd40 in the cylinder to coat everything, o need to dd mroe oil as it will drip down

compression stadard, thinking around 150 off the top of my had, the larger issue is makign sure they are consistant across all cylinders and even then the engines and robus, plentiful and easy to work on, if the ca can't amke 120 psi with oi pressure built up then I'd be looking for another motor or planning a rering

and nico has the s30 fsm's wiht the others at last check, or you cna bu paper versions on ebay or buy the disk from MSA (zcarparts.com) or courtesy nissan (courtesyparts.com) etc