duowing

Alright guys I found a 74' 260Z just about 2 hours away. I went and checked it out, it was really clean. Engine was converted to an L28 out of a 75' 280Z. I found it through ebay and ended up winning it. Now I just need to figure out the best way to bring it back. I'm sure I could always borrow a car dolly and go that route.

I was wondering does anyone know if there's a truck or something you can rent for this sort of thing?

The best vehicle we probably have for this task is our 99' Ford Ranger with the 3.0L V6.

Zetto

just get a dolly. it's a light car so the Ranger should be fine.

280zx2by2

i towed a grand am about 2 miles with tow straps... it was a little scary but it worked

but i wouldnt do 2 hours lol

NismoPick

Tow dolly should work fine.

SHADY280

you could rent a u-haul and auto transport. the trailer is 50 bux plus 9 bux insurance and the truck is 19.95 plus 1.11 a mile, plus 15 dolla insurance. i know i work for them! hahaha pretty cheap, you could lookup to see if the ranger can haul the auto transport, but if its rear wheel drive the computer gives us a hard time about using a dolly.

NismoPick

^^^ I called U-Haul once, and they wouldn't rent one to me because the Toyota truck I was using didn't meet their "weight" or "towing capacity" standards.

Bleach

True NismoPick. They're very skeptical on what you use to tow with and what you are towing.
Is the Ranger a 4x4? More weight (for stopping stability) is better.
Dolly is much lighter. If it were me, get the dolly and put any extra weight in the bed of the truck tied in very secure. If you could remove the Z's engine and put it in the bed, even better. Less weight in tow, more weight in towing vehicle.

The full trailer requires a full size towing vehicle. No matter what tell them you are towing a 240Z. (less weight!) hehe

snwbrderphat540

they let me use my mini van!!!!! that was for a full size trailer for cars to, it was in their computers as ok! on their website it will let you know if you can tow the trailer with your kind of car. otherwise you can rent one of their larger trucks instead. you can also use penske! my cousin is a manager for them right near my house so i get a truck and trailer for free if i ever need it. like when i picked up that 280Z for free last month

duowing

The car is all together so getting the engine out of the car would be a bigger pain then I'd have to put it all back in for the time being. I'll either go car dolly or do like shady said rent the trailer and the truck. I'll have to give them a call. The ranger I think is the extended cab, but is rear wheel.

JoeGasm

You could put the car in backwards and let the front wheels drag on the road.
My cousin did that with his 300 o.O

280zx2by2

hahahahaha not a good idea, it only takes like 5 mins to remove the drive shaft

NismoPick

Actually it's common practice (and needed) to tow an automatic car w/ the drive wheels lifted. It doesn't really matter if it's a manual. Though, the odometer will still be spinning if the drive tires are spinning.

280zx2by2

do you have to lock the steering wheel? or is the caster enough?

duowing

The mechanic I know has a car dolly so he said I can borrow that. I figure I'll wait til probably sometime around Thursday-Saturday to go get the car as the weather will be better.

By the way here's the ebay auction I won: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

$2500 I considered to be a good deal. I was surprised when I saw it on ebay and saw that it was really close by so I was able to drive down a day before it ended and check it out. The car was really clean, a little bit of rust starting down on the driver's rocker, but the quarter panels inside and out were really clean, the spare tire well was really clean, the area around it was all clean in the back. I didn't pull up the carpeting on the floors, but the underside looked good. There may have been some rust on the driver's floor and frame rail, but it was hard to tell. Since the car is bronze and it looked like the original undercoating was peeling away. What my 2+2 was doing so it makes it look bad when it actually isn't Also too the undercoating starts to peel and then you see the car's color. The battery tray was super clean, inner fenders looked good, the interior although brown was in good shape. Besides I sold my 2+2 for about $2500 so I really spent no extra. It might be much to some of you, but at the same time finding a car in this kinda shape usually requires going a few states or further out and then shipping would probably end up bringing the cost up a good bit.

Zetto

nice car man

Niku-Sama

thats not too bad, you might be able to save that paint even with a buffer and alot of elbo grease

NismoPick

Indeed. Just lock the steering wheel straight.

Bleach

That car looks exactly like a 1975 280Z that has 260Z fender emblems. not kidding

duowing

Oh I know. Although I know there were late 260Zs that had the 280Z bumpers and such, but either way I don't mind. The bumpers will be dropped. I do like that it already has the airdam. Provided he did list the VIN correctly: RLS30064850 That would mean that it is indeed just a late 260Z. If anything though I'm glad that it's been converted to FI as it will make a turbo swap that much easier.