Topics Last Week

So I considered registering the OG for the judged show just for entertainment value*. But I could not figure out how. I could not see any option to attend. Is that show full and they aren't accepting any more entrants? Anybody have a phone number for someone on the org committee? My electronic footprint is low while I travel, but I can text. *Him - "Dude, your car looks like asss, why are you here?" Me - Yeah, your car is beautiful, but I can see 1000 things that aren't original. And I drove mine almost 1000 miles to get here.

Hey all, wanted to start a thread to track the restoration of a 1978 280Z I got in April. This is my first personal restoration/project car I've undertaken so much of this is learning as I go and just fumbling through it. Photos of the car/progress will be kept up-to-date within a Google Photos Album (will likely cull stuff periodically to save space). Current focus is getting it mechanically sound enough that I can just take it out and drive it. At that point I'll start on the rust repairs. April 4thAccording to the previous owner (Brian) and verified by documentation provided to me during purchase the car was originally an Arizona car. I'm unaware if that was the first owner but may track that down at some point. Story given to me was that the Brian had bought the car during High school in 2014 as a project but largely sat unused. At time of purchase the odometer read 44,286 miles. According to Brian this is the original miles and it had not rolled over. Previous title odometer reading indicated 40,000mi. As such I'm skeptical as to whether or not that's true. That being said one of the first things I did after getting the car home was to run a compression test on all 6 cylinders. Given they all tested in at 170-175 does give some minor credence to the possibility. Furthermore the car ran at time of purchase, albeit not well. I was additionally informed that the brakes were also largely non-functional. When running the car appears to be giving off a blueish smoke, indicative of it burning oil; upon revving producing black smoke, indicative of running rich. See video of exhaust TodayTo spare all of you a wall of text I'll condense what I've done thus far since the above. Many of the injector connectors were replaced with push-to-release connectors but not all, additionally the previous work involved a really shoddy soldering job. I've since replaced all injector connectors, as well as the AAR. I also chose to solder but this was done using a lasso method. Even if the others weren't problematic, knowing how bad they were I wouldn't be able to let it go. Only connector not yet replaced is the Cold Start Injector. Approximately 80% of the vacuum lines have been replaced in addition to all fuel hoes from the feed to the return hard lines with the exception of the injector hoses. I've lashed valves to ensure they're within spec according to the FSM, ensured all grounds (7 of them) in the engine bay are nice and clean, and replaced all 6 spark plugs. Once the above was done I took a vacuum reading while the motor was running and seem to be getting a fluctuating reading between 11-15 in Hg. From my research it should be closer to 18-20 in Hg I believe so this indicative of something still being off. Additionally checked plugs, all are fouled (unsurprising due to rich/oil conditions). Recently got a borescope so I've also scoped all cylinders. #5 is the one I've suspected the most thus far based on the plugs. Upon scoping there's a small puddle of oil within the dish of the piston. #6 also appears to have some level of oil on the piston, but not near as much. Otherwise all the cylinders per my eyes look to be in healthy shape. See scope results, and video of vacuum reading here. At this point I'm a little unsure where to focus my energy. Compression test was good but that doesn't paint a complete picture. Considering attempting to do a leak down test and potentially replace valve stem seals. Although that won't do much for helping to fix the richness issue which I believe to be the bigger priority. Will try to periodically update this.

I agree with Namerow that there will be extensive welding required. To answer the original question: If the doors seem to fit well with decent gaps, i would weld a tube on the inside of the car down low on the door opening. Remove all the drivetrain and any other dead weight. Then replace the rockers first. Inners and outers as needed. Be sure to use the doors to ckeck fit and door gaps before welding it all up. Then do the floors next. After the rockers are done, your temporary door brace can be removed. If the doors don't fit well, the body will need to be manipulated or jacked up until they do and then weld in your temporary bracing

I love that beetle too. I've got one that I hope looks like that one day...

Dang! Pictures of people in sweats! Down here we're still just sweating... 🤔

It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it. However, the main problem with what the current market is willing to pay is the color change, never a good idea. Also, there are a few body/paint issues that the listing details. The old market might have been willing to pay as much as - my opinion - 80k but the current market did indeed speak. The upper middle class collector car market is keeping their powder dry.

Wow! Let’s meet in Tokyo some time ! Kats

Yes, it is the same reproduction part i make.

A little rain makes everything better!

Hi, I did some work refreshing for metal headlight bowl case of my Z432. In Japan, headlights case has a note “右配光” (Aiming to the right) and “L o R.” Is that its lens cut different? I have a new set of the light bowl but I don’t want to use it because new replacements from Nissan has different shape of the plastic screw cover.Original is also a see through plastic but new one is white. So I cleaned it and painted it with hand written “右配光 R(L)” “12V” Please note earlier type doesn’t have tiny holes for retaining the rubber seal to the metal bowl. Kats

Hi, Have we discussed this before? The date code appeared on the MIYAMOTO horn. 01/70 Z432 has S 12, 03/70 240Z has T2 06/72 240ZG has V6 So I read it like this, S 12 means 1969 December T2 means 1970 February, V6 means 1972 June. How about yours? Kats

Yesterday and today, I spent some time working on the car again. I haven't been working on it much, as I have been working on my track Z some more instead, and I had tenants move out, so I have been spending some time over the last few weekends at a rental house doing things that needed attention. I am still hesitant to modify my SM spec SU needles. Taking a lessor path of resistance, I swapped out the 10W-30 oil for some 20W-50 to see what a difference that would make. What got me thinking about doing that was the "drop test" of the SU pistons. From fully up to fully dropped, there seemed to be almost no damping. So, I decided to try a change. Comparing/contrasting, the throttle response is not as lightning quick as it was. However, the lean condition on overrun is noticeably less. I think I like the 20W50 better overall. I might try 10W-40 as well to see about getting a bit better throttle response (for rev matching downshifts). If I am cruising and I snap the throttle fully open, the engine and car respond quickly - it accelerates nicely. So, maybe the 20W50 is fine. I don't know what to do regarding the SU dampers. They are original Nissan ones - probably original to the carbs on the car. The "barrels" seem to have wear, just judging by their appearance. The barrels have an OD of a little more than .346". I purchased an SU rebuild kit, which came with new needle and seats, and dampers recently. However, I didn't use either. I found the problem with the existing needle and seats. The rear one just needed to be polished inside to keep it from sticking as when it was machined, it was finished with a coarse finish. Also, the new dampers have a "longer throw" than the original ones - the sleeve portion of the damper has a longer amount of free movement. I didn't want to introduce that change, so I have held off on switching them out. Also, the new damper sticks do not have low and high marks for oil level like the original ones have. However, the barrels measure at, or just above .346", just like the "worn" originals. So, again, given all of these things, I didn't feel like installing them. At present, I have the mixture nuts turned out precisely 2.5 turns front and back. When warm, the AFR at idle is around 11.8. At cruise on flat road, the AFR is about 14.8. I still see AFR get lean if I try to accelerate a small or medium amount. This often happens when the road changes to a slight incline. AFR on a slight incline, trying to maintain the same speed tends to be in the high 15's and can reach low 16's. If I smash the throttle to the floor, I typically see AFRs in the 12.4 to 13 range. With the 10W-30 oil, on long instances of throttle shut deceleration (like from third to second - rev match, and then just decel in second with throttle shut), the AFR would climb up to 18s... or 19s even. With the 20W50, AFR will spike lean on throttle shut decel for an instant, but then AFR will return to normal range (13 to 14). Much less popping from the exhaust with 20W50. I need to do some data logging again so I am not just pulling these from memory. I haven't heard of anyone with Hitachi SU's changing the springs, but watching various Youtube videos, it seems like changing springs is pretty standard with tuning British SU's, and it is typically done before attempting to modify needles. It looks like order of march is springs, dampers, oil, then needles. I think I'd like to try some springs which are bit stiffer. And I'd like to try 10W-40 instead of 20W-50. Maybe I will do these things before I try to modify the needles.

My mechanic finally solved the 11 year old problem by resdjusting the carbs with the temperature of the car during traffic jams, 3/4 of the Temp gauge and an MSD blaster coil. Now he is asking me for a diagram or schematic to get the petronix 1.5 coil and 1.5 ballast resistor running and the 1972 240z tachometer working alltogether. Can seem to find it in the web or haynes manual. Do you have any reference for this? Guess the stock tachometer wont work with the MSD blaster 2 coil.

I'm almost... say 95% sure that bend in that contact arm is original.. It's there for adding just a little more stability to the contactarm.

So how bad do you want your turn signals working? Hahahaha!!!! ☺️

You've probably heard these songs but didn't know the artist. Same guy. He wrote one of them. Wahhh wah wah wah...

Looks to be the same, although I have never had the Subaru one in my hand. Here is a write up on the two. JDMjunkies.ch240Z: Subaru R180 LSD Diff swap Parts - JDMjunkies.chSo, with the recent progress on the chassis and body, i thought it’s time to kickstart some long-pending projects. One thing i had in mind for a while was to fix the differntial. It was not really bro

Greetings and welcome to the group, HLS30-365101. Some pages ago, we were discussing the quality control checklist. At the urging of SpeedRoo, I dug through my files to find my copy of the "240Z Restoration Program Quality Control Checklist". The checklist I have is some 40 pages with an introduction overview page and 20 or so pages of procedure descriptions organized by component with columns for notes, sign-off and date. For instance; under the brake / clutch / hydraulic component, one of the procedures is "All rubber brake hoses: replace" and in the notes column it says; "Use DOT 3 brake fluid". During the restoration program there were two final inspections and four inspection sign-off points during various stages of the restoration process. Of note to our Plating conversation; checklist item "All steel brake lines: check for kinks, condition of flared ends", notes "Cad plate all brake lines possible. Replace any corroded lines." Attachment D of the checklist is a two page copy of Wick Humble's book; "How to Restore your Datsun Z-Car" discussing fasteners, everything about fasteners from engineering standards to thread pitch and sizes. From Attachment D; "How about the fastener's finish? The manufacturer plated every metal fastener...on the Z car, it is predominantly what platers call yellow zinc, that multi-tinted golden finish used on most bolts and nuts exposed to the elements. Plain natural-colored zinc is also used on some parts."

http://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG_2212.jpg EXPERIENCED TECHNICIAN WANTED Looking for a Job? – How about a great career? Z Car Garage is looking for an experienced technician to be part of our team. This is not an average 9 to 5 automotive job: the ideal candidate must be motivated, passionate and ready to put in the work so we can continue building classic Z cars and late model Nissans. We work 4-10hr days and offer competitive pay/benefits with opportunities for growth Requirements: Automotive experience, your own set of tools, willingness to learn Nissan/Datsun experience is NOT a requirement, you just need to have passion We are heavily involved in motorsports with up to 10 vintage race events a year. From race cars to street cars and performance tuning…to routine maintenance and keeping vintage cars on the road, we love what we do! Interested or know someone who might be a good fit? PLEASE SHARE THIS and spread the word. Send your CV to rob@zcargarage.com and call us at (408)452-0350. http://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/m7adecg2dtll13wip5pe-1024x683.jpg Check out our shop on this episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen: http://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/5F24647E-32F8-4459-B754-6B6287E00CC5-1024x1024.jpghttp://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG_2207.jpghttp://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/88CD2167-7294-478B-AB75-A7FA819EC6C2-1024x768.jpghttp://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_6968-1024x768.jpeghttp://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/abumamyjnbbjolokrdsz-1024x683.jpg http://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_4938-1024x768.jpg View the full article

Harmon brakes in GA can probably handle your booster... The reaction disc is the little rubber disc on the end of the chrome pushrod. Im not sure the ZX's had it?

This should probably be in the carb discussion section rather than electronics.

Pretty late to the party but both Z’s in the video where (I believe) owned by the same guy at that time. He unfortunately sold the orange one and repainted the gray Z to yellow but ultimately sold that car as well for a BMW E92 M3. He now goes by @Dutch_e92m3 on Instagram.

I just purchased some parts from UAE and Spain, pre-August 29 tariff effective date. Speedy delivery and low shipping costs via ebay. For obscure parts, identify a ebay seller based overseas who have extensive listings and ask if they have (or can locate) the parts. Keith

Thanks guys, in the mid term im going to cap it off with an hps 19mm coolant bypass cap. I think I will pick up a spare 3 way pipe as well and see about having it welded / capped off.

Here is a complete E88 cylinder head including valve cover. Ran when parked over 30 years ago. Lubed and free spinning. I would take $300 plus shipping for this head from a ClassicZCars member. Ebay Listing Here