Hello,
There is a 76 280z sitting by the road tempting me... It is rusty. There is rust on the fenders and on the part below the doors ( can't think of the exact term). I haven't gotten real up close with it, just looked around it. I plan on having my dad test drive it for me, as I can't drive a 5spd very well yet. I want this as a project car, i plan on fixing the rust and painting it along with any other goodies, probably replace carpet and stuff, along with tuning the engine.
Anyway, what i want to know is ,how much is it worth. They have 2000$ on the sign. It seems like a little much. I live in Michigan. If the engine runs great , and the interior is good, how much is a good price? I was thinking maybe offering 1000 if it runs good. Does that sound about right?

thanks

MIke

oh yeah, what is the name of thecolor of it, its like a light brown.

 

i have seen running 280z's that sound like the same condition as the one you speak of for 600. That's running, not perfectly. I have seen perfect running ones with shotty interior and exterior for 1000. I have seen them in need of body work but no interior or mechanical work for 1200-1500. When they are perfect, the sky is the limit. Remember, if it runs perfectly today, it may not tomorrow. Hope that helps.

 

I just looked at a 77 model today. mechanic has it -- owner never did pay his bill. It has no apparent rust, runs good, needs paint and interior.

SO... yours sounds a little pricey -- I would look futher

 

Never Buy a z car just because it runs good. Always buy the Body first. You want no rust or as little as possible considering where your from. Next is interior buy the nicest interior possible. Finally Motor and drive train. These are the least expensive things to replace and the easiest to fix. Dale
znzx.com

 

well im gonna try and do the body work myself, so that shouldn't be a major deal.

anybody else have any opinions or tips of stuff i should look at when test driving it?

 

Given your location, and where that rust is located on the car, you're almost certainly looking at major rust fixing and body work. Michigan is renowned for road salt and rust, and Datsun's are famous for rust vulnerability. For that reason, you might never find a reasonably rust free car there that wasn't already restored ($!). So the question is more likely, is it an acceptable amount of rust and body work for you? Unless you want a vacation to Arizona to go Z shopping...

Check the rust on the part under the doors first (rocker panels). Take along your coveralls and some tools. Poke at the rust spots with a small screwdriver or use a good magnet (it won't stick to rust of course...). If it's the kind of rust where you get bubbled paint, it's rusting from the inside and you'll be replacing the outer rocker panels, and maybe the inner as well. There's a few hundred bucks in parts alone for just those... and installing them will require a good bit of welding and lots of finish work.

If you've got rust on the rockers, then you need to look in the front wheel wells, from the outside, right above where what would be a frame rail (except that it's a unibody car) is welded to the inner fender. Put on a glove and knock, hard, all around there. If your hand goes through, don't be surprised. It's a common rust spot. That's another one to fix.

While you're up front, pop the hood and check out where the radiator is mounted. That's another common area for rust. Now look all around the battery support. Another favorite rust spot. Look around the base of the "shock towers", rust lives there, too.

With your gloves on, see if that rust on the front fender goes through the panel. What's the magnet say, any steel left there? Do the same on the rear. If the rears are in bad shape, that's a lot of work, as those are weld-in panels only. While you're back there, pop the hatch and see how much rust there is where the water collects at that flat panel at the bottom of the hatch opening.
Finally, got your coveralls on? Crawl underneath with the magnet and screwdriver and test every last part of the floor pans and "frame rails" that look at all rusty or suspicious. You'll also get to see how many sub-par shops put the car on a lift thinking those were real frame rails and bent them. If they're really mangled, plan on getting the unibody alignment checked on a jig during your body work. Also check all up around where the diff mounts. Lots of surfaces there for rust to start on. Don't let any "undercoating" fool you, rust can live under it as the stock treatment was more for sound deadening than rust prevention and didn't get any better in the last 20 to 30 years.

For the worst case scenario, check Sport Z magazine's issue where Jim Seethram restores a '78 in Canada that had pretty much the worst possible severity of all the kinds of rust you've mentioned. He did most of the work himself, and the body alone was still a nice 5-figure piece of cash.

If it looks like a manageable amount of work, hey, go for it. Here in Colorado, I was quite happy to pay $1100 for a mechanically perfect 78 Black Pearl that needs a hood, an inner fender rust-through repair, and a couple of other minor body repair spots before painting and then interior work (carpet and dash are trashed). Who knows, maybe that rust is only shallow, so offer low, meet in the middle and be glad you got a nice Datsun in the heart of salt and rust land! Happy shopping,
Dave

 

DAve, thank you very much for that . im gonna print this and use it as a check list when i go test drive the Z..

thanks again.

Mike

 

I had an old 72 (could be wrong on the year, it's been a long time since I had it) BMW 2800cs. It was a major rustbucket, and took extensive work to weld in new floor pans, as well as many other areas. While engines are pretty simple to work on in that car, the rust I think is the worst of your job ahead. Do as the other person suggested and throughly examine the car for more rust. It's unlikely that it's only rusting on the exterior panels, after this many years and in the area you live in.

I had a 78 black pearl 280z that was found in California, great body and the car ran for me up to 390,000 miles with only an alternator and waterpump replacement. If I remember correctly there was only a couple bubbled spots on the drivers front fender, but that was easy enough since I could get an aftermarket fender for it back then for around $60.00, and we sprayed the paint in our own shop so it only cost me materials.

Good Luck,

 

Agreed, front fenders are nicely simple to replace, it's the rears that are a pain. Do you still have that 78 BP? Just curious, I don't see or hear of as many as I'd expect.
Dave

 

I went to look at the car with my dad, emphasis on look, because he wouldn't let us take it for a test drive, no insurance he says... he started it up, it ran good from what i can tell. i looked around, the interior is good, it could use some new carpet and stuff, but its all there. The rust is there, it looks as if its mostly body rust, but i didn't explore it super deep, because i asked him if he would consider a significantly lower offer , he said i could offer whatever i wanted, he just wouldn't nessasarily accept it. so i said i was thinking like 1000, he quickly scoffed at me and said he'd rather keep it for that much. i told him that i had researched it on the internet and that it wasn't worth 2000 dollars, and he said that they were pretty rare. I said that they really weren't yet, and that people on the z boards said that 2000 was way too much. he said, "well the internet doesn't have the car, i do!"

he was a cocky [censored] and i don't plan on giving him another offer.

maybe ill find another z, maybe ill find a different kind of car, i just want a project to work on.
Mike

 

With a previous owner like that, you're better off without the car. He probably wrecked it sometime in the past, given it's probably hard for him to see where he's going with his head that far up his rear...
Hope you find a better Z !
Dave H.

 

One thing you want to make sure of is that the rust is not bad. Frame rails, seams, and rocker panels can mess with cars overall structural integrity because it is a Unibody constriuction.

A cleaner Z with little or no rust will save you plenty of headaches.

240zzz

 

Here's my opinion: it's over price I would look on line, such as this site, save the cash to travel outside the rust belt. By finding one on a site like this you would be making the purchase from a Z enthusiast, not a money clown.
Darylick
Will AutoX for Food

 

Another thing to remember is that some people just own a car and never really learn to appreciate it. I would really suggest that if you want a fun project car and something that will easily be somthing you'll want to pass down to your kids when your older, keep looking for a good Z. Once you become a "Zer" you'll never loose the fever.

Jamie
ICQ-159705433
My Z Photo Album