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Dave is both, Zs-ondabrain is his username. He is very knowledgeable and makes headlight harness and parking light harness upgrades that help with brightness.

I'd look into getting a different car, but the guy selling me this Z is pretty much giving me the deal of a lifetime because he's part of my boyfriend's family. He's had the car since the 80s, and it runs and drives. He's only asking the price he'd get from the buy-back program, and is giving me a year to pay him in full. Plus,if I don't get it he'll sell it to scrap. So not only do I love this car, but it's a killer deal, and I'm saving it from the recycle program. So it means a lot.

There's a lot of good people around here. I've felt welcome since my 1st post.

You are going to need that dependable Toyota to pick up parts for the Z. Plus, as Cliff just pointed out, it could be a lot worse……….

It could be worse. The Wagon Queen Family Truckster My Dad gave me a car when I turned 16, took the keys every time I did something he didn't agree with. I bought my 1st car when I was 17, he drove the car he bought for me. It was like new, I did a lot of stuff he didn't agree with.

We're not going to Moscow. It's California. It's like going into Wisconsin.

Thanks Patcon. You got to it before I could.

I agree that setting the gap to be loosely touching is best. I noticed that if the gap between the bumper and the cross member was set to 4mm on my car then it would not help in the unlikely chance that the rack rotated. On my car the gap between the pinion gear housing, at the face where the pinion shaft exits, and the cross member is less than 3mm, so that would hit before the bumper did. See the area pointed to by the red arrow in this picture.

Here are my photos of RedBird, at a park on the way back home. The one with the electrical plant, I am calling POWER! The last one is of her back home again, ready to snuggle back into her safe carport. I left her out for a bit so I could go feast my eyes on her a few times before it gets dark. Oh I love her so much, I'm very happy she is back in my arms. 💜 Jai 😇 🚘

My 2 cents…. Earlier you asked a person on the forum whether he would let his daughter drive a car like the one you are thinking of buying. I am going to assume that what you mean by this question is whether he would let his daughter have an S30 as her daily driver. If I were your parent I would work very hard to find the right balance for you. I think it is super cool that you are interested in these cars, are mechanically minded, and want to work on, enjoy, and drive a 40 year old car. I would want to do everything possible to inspire your interest in and participate in it with you. At the same time, however, the world is different than it was in the 1970s. First, it is hard to argue that these cars are safe compared to modern cars (hard for me to argue at least). Additionally, there are almost no cars on the road today that are as light as an S30. Mass matters. Real world accidents involve colliding with other vehicles at odd angles and a 2,500 pound car simply loses badly against the preponderance of 5,000 pound SUVs. The height of vehicles is very different today than 40 years ago. 40 years ago there was a good chance that an S30 would collide with a sedan that really wasn’t that much higher off of the ground. Today, the big vehicles on the road are high off of the ground and, in my opinion, more likely to run over you (not a good thing) than into you. Add to all of this the distracted driver problem and, well, you see where I am headed. So, would I let my 17 year old daughter have an S30 as her only car? No way. I would want her to have a sizeable modern car to drive every day. If space and resources allowed, however, I would also find an S30 that would be hers and we would work on it together. I would absolutely let her drive it, more and more over time, but very limited for quite some time, and probably never as a daily driver (at least until she was on her own when it no longer would be my decision). I actually think the safest place you can drive these cars is out on the open road at speed. Where I really worry is in traffic where distracted drivers can rear end me or cross over the yellow line and hit me head on in a 1/3 front collision or run a red light and cause a big side impact. So this was probably not the answer you wanted but there really is nothing more important to you or your parents than your life and quality of life. I would love to daily drive one of my zcars. I have considered it. Every time I consider it though, I decide not to for two main reasons (and I am 49 and have never been in an accident). First, these cars just don’t hold up to recurring exposure to rain (something that is probably not an issue for you). Second, the safety risk is just not worth it…in my opinion. If you decide to buy the car, be very careful and make sure all of the systems are working as they should (the cost of which can be easy to underestimate). Something as simple as stalling while pulling out into traffic (something pretty rare in a modern car) can end very badly.

Then buy it! Better a life a life of "oh well, it was nice while it lasted" versus a life of regret... PS: it took me 30 years to get my Z's too.... I wish I would have bought the first one I saw in high school when I was 17! ..... too broke

finances and a new job have occupied me completely as of late, so i haven't had any time/extra cash to fiddle with the car (much less for a new exhaust system) so i've just been running on my "shade-tree" tune - my O2 sensors at present are comprised of ears, nose & eyes... she's running rich, but not terribly so, and i'm sure when i get the O2 sensors installed i'll have fun dialing in the needles, but for now i'm quite impressed with just how reliable and hassle-free these carbs have been. i know the car isn't tuned to perfection yet, but it's running well, starts easily and the warmup/choke ritual is perfectly predictable.

Mike, nice early '69/'70 decal. I have never seen one that nice, and would have been tempted to repro that one as well as the later decal. Dan Again, apologies to Ken for the continuing hi-jack but hope the cowl pads do the trick!