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Low Rust Daily Driver Datsun 240z W/ 54k, 5 Speed, Performance Work. Devil Z! on 2040-cars

Year:1971 Mileage:55017
Location:

Stamford, Connecticut, United States

Stamford, Connecticut, United States
Advertising:

Dare to be different in a 1971 Datsun 240Z!
Wangan Midnight fans over my VIN number right now. A Devil Z!
Save your money on a Subaru BRZ/ Scion FRS and get my car instead!

From Datsun 240Z

 
Album link: picasaweb.google.com/flyingaero/Datsun240Z


"Looks good! Why are you selling?"
This is a reliable no nonsense car so I dont have a reason to fiddle and work on it...boring! If it sells Ill pick up another Z project. If it doesnt ill probably paint it over the winter.

Details:

-1971 Datsun 240Z. Its been in the Northeast all its life. Guy who I bought it from registered it in 2012 which was the first time it had been registered since 1987. Owner before him had the car disassembled in many boxes. 

-54k miles on the numbers matching 2.4L Inline 6 engine. Always fully warmed up before driving (my neighbors can attest to that!). In my experience with early Datsun Z's, theres no way a northeastern car with as little rust on the original japanese metal as this one could have 154,000 miles.
From Datsun 240Z

-Daily driver. I drive this car every day and its my only car. Im not crazy, its just a reliable car. I was always fiddling with my 260Z but I just start up and go with this car. 

-Rust. Low rust for a northeast car which supports the mileage claim. I had an all original garage queen northeastern 260Z with 83,000 miles on it and thicker undercoating that had more wear and rust around the car. I stripped the floors down to bare metal, used rust converter for good measure, painted the floors, then covered them in truck bed liner. Water is not getting to the floors any time soon!

Before picture after I peeled off the tar sound deadening material:
From Datsun 240Z
Making progress with the wire wheel. Through the paint, red/brown primer, and rust down to beautiful clean bare metal!
From Datsun 240Z
Primer!
From Datsun 240Z
(3 coats of primer later) First coat of paint!
From Datsun 240Z
(3 coats of paint later) First coat of Bed liner!
From Datsun 240Z

-Performance camshaft(Details unknown. Lumpy idle, engine really picks up at 2000rpm, and the 0-60 is in the 6 second range compared to the stock 8 second range)

-Previous owner claimed it had head work done. Snapped a picture when I was adjusting the valve clearances 
From Datsun 240Z

-5 speed and limited slip differential from a 280ZX

-Rebuilt ZTherapy SU carbs ($780!)

-Fuel Economy.Made some adjustments and im getting WAY better fuel economy. BEFORE the adjustments, I achieved 22mpg averaging 80mph with both windows down on a 100 mile trip across CT and back. Around town is closer to 16-17mpg.

-Other extras: Beefy front and rear sway bars, Original ANSA exhaust system option(Header into 2 pipes all the way back. More on that below), Pertronix electronic ignition, MSD blaster 2 Performance ignition coil, dealer option AC installed (doesnt work. no compressor or power), new tires on the optional 5 slot mag wheels(~1500 miles on tires), new starter, new fuel pump, new 55 amp alternator, new suspension, lightened flywheel and bushings(claimed by the previous owner), and recent brakes(rotors and pads barely lost any material. Compared them to a new setup). Just changed the oil and filter (K&N) after seafoam.


WHATS WRONG WITH IT?
-Exhaust. This could be a plus for a lot of people and the reason I havent done anything about it is because I love the sound. The car has 40+ year old glasspacks so its LOUD. One of the glasspacks also broke off so im running a 40 year old glasspack and a straight pipe (in the pictures. ~$100 to get brand new glasspacks welded on). Its not ridiculously loud but when you drop a gear or rev high people think a race car is approaching. If people arent already looking at the car, they will when they hear the rasp coming! 
Video comparing it to my friends stock 260Z:

-Interior. Very barebones interior. No radio and the temperature controls dont work. Everything is there but I never tried to get it working. No carpets for the driver/passenger. Ive got a few trim bits in the garage but I never really cared enough to install them. As you might be able to tell, I didnt buy this car for the interior comforts but thats not to say its far off. Parts are cheap for these cars! Dash has two small cracks.
From Datsun 240Z

-Body. Previous owner was going to paint the car so he sanded down to bare metal to make sure there was no bondo anywhere. There isnt any bondo, but there are a few scattered dings. Car is currently in primer which I recently redid. 

-Rust. Saved the buyer a ton of trouble and thousands of dollars by stopping the floor rust in its tracks. The hatch has a small area of rust that I didnt pay much attention to. In the 6+ Months ive owned it, the area hasnt gotten any worse, its not structural, and it doesnt get any water on it when it rains either. In my mind its a cosmetic spot


-Weatherstripping. Weather stripping around the doors is worn/non existent. If its parked in the rain, water will get inside onto the floors. Its covered in paint and bedliner now so its not a huge issue rust wise but it really takes a LOT of paper towels to get rid of the water.


This car needs nothing. Ive done some improvements/upgrades in the time that ive owned it and if it doesnt sell I will continue to drive it as is until I decide to improve upon it some more. It would cost a few hundred dollars to fix everything but paint on this list(by a few hundred I mean less than $500, not $999). If you want to own a classic car with all the classic car problems, constantly worry about long trips, love having cars whiz by you on the side of the freeway, want to give your favorite body shop welder thousands of dollars or be able to Fred Flinstone your way around town through the rust holes then this is not the car for you!

It was supposed to rain today, but I managed to record the walkaround like I promised!...Except almost as soon as I started recording my camera started flashing with the "low battery" symbol. Rushed through the walkaround and forgot to show off the wipers and driver side floors...DOH! At least you get to see more of the car and assured its not a rust bucket. Doesnt look like a north eastern Datsun from the underneath!


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Auto blog

Datsun's lackluster initial sales fall below Tata Nano

Wed, 15 Oct 2014

When Tata introduced the Nano back in 2008, everyone was amazed at how cheap it was. They called it a game changer, but no game was changed. In fact, it took Tata five years to sell the 250,000 units it had the capacity to build in a single year. As it turns out, even buyers in what economists call "developing markets" like India aren't necessarily interested in buying an ultra-cheap automobile. And now it appears that Nissan may be falling into the same trap.
A little over a year ago, Nissan revived its old moniker Datsun to serve as a budget brand - similar to what ally Renault did with Dacia. Its lineup (consisting of models like the Go hatchback, Go+ minivan, On-Do sedan and Mi-Do hatch) is largely based on old architecture, packaged with little more than basic equipment and sold at rock-bottom prices. But Bloomberg reports that, even in the brand's core markets like India and Indonesia, the new Datsuns haven't been selling.
According to local industry figures, Datsun has sold fewer than 10,000 units of its $5,100 Go hatchbacks in India since its introduction back in March. Maruti Suzuki, by comparison, sells twice that many of its similarly priced Alto hatchbacks every month. In fact, after peaking in April, Datsun only sold 607 units in India this past July, dipping 77 percent to drop below even the number of Nanos which Tata sold that month.

This father and son duo terrorize the UK countryside in Datsun 240Z pair

Wed, 12 Nov 2014

The Datsun 240Z got a lot of things right when it was introduced, with handsome styling, strong performance and a reasonably affordable price. And while the coupes grew a strong fan base in the US, they remained quite a rarity in the UK. Decades later, a father and son in England have latched onto the car and bonded over their shared love for two completely opposite takes on this Japanese GT
There's already quite a collection of exotics in Mel Streek's garage, and his rat rod 240Z, which he calls the Ratsun, definitely doesn't fit with the rest. On the outside, the Datsun looks ready to fall apart, but it's mechanically perfect underneath. Alternatively, Mel's son, Ollie, has a completely different take for his Z with its perfect, shining paint.
Both Zs sound amazing, though. They have a mechanical, somewhat course exhaust note that's intoxicating to hear. You can definitely tell there's some work going on under the hood. Check out this video from Petrolicious for a father and son who both find something to love in these classic Japanese coupes.

First new Datsun in decade sketched, set for Indian reveal

Mon, 01 Jul 2013

Nissan's Datsun nameplate revival will begin with two models bound for the Indian market. Nissan has released sketches of a five-door hatchback based on the Micra (codenamed K2) and a top-down view of a hood that could potentially be from a sedan.
The company's press release says all will be revealed on July 15 in New Delhi, India. The Datsun lineup will be first offered in 2014 to that country's ride-deprived residents as well as Indonesia and Russia. Later in 2014, South Africa will join the list.
We've heard Nissan plans for Datsuns to share platforms with company-owned Lada. In January, we heard the projected price tag could be around $3,000 USD to compete with Chinese imports. The official press release (which can be read in full below) says nothing about either of these reports, however.