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Zup's JNC car gets love at Detroit Iron car show! Saturday was the Lincoln Ar. car show. The 5th Annual Chicken Rod Nationals. A local show show totally slanted toward classic american & hot rod cars. Think your beloved Datsun can't compete with the the big boys of Detroit Iron where chrome bling & raw horsepower are king? Think again. On a perfect day, with a turnout of over 120 cars, many of which were very, very nice high dollar machines with Weiand Blowers & Chrome bling under the hood, the judge's were wowed by Zup's immaculate and pure engine compartment and awarded him ..... Best Engine ! An amazing accomplishment, I was so happy for him that his car received that recognition - totally unexpected. It was a fun day at a very well run event. Proceeds went to a local charity.

One more thing off my to do list, I replaced the sad looking headlights that were in my car when I got it in 1978. It was long over due. While I was at it I cleaned the corrosion and oxidation from the HL wiring harnesses with WEICON Electro Contact Cleaner, thanks @Chickenman for the name of the local distributor. Here's what the old Bosch H4's looked like, in and out And with the new halogen sealed beams in, Since I had the wheels off I couldn't resist taking a few pics with my original Bridgestone175SR14 Super Speed Radial spare on. Now if I only had three more I would be set.

AAWWWW Shucks guys S30Driver--Absolutely the best part of the day was spending it with you, showing our loved Z'z, yaking and talking with the appreciative folks at the Chicken Rod Nationals. Mike W--So wish you were here!--you would have loved it! I can hear your laughter now as you gazed at the "Rabbit" (which won "Most Rust" !) The show was not all lewdiculous--- here are a few others: Lastly, a photo of Zilver, which blew me away with the award of "Best Engine"! What a totally unexpected happening at what was, for the most part, an "American car" show! Great times in NWA shared with Jim2.

Anyone remember that Datsun stripe package? New to me. Maybe an East coast dealer package. Now I'm curious where and when the Zap stripes were originally installed. Factory? Dealer? Different stripe package in different countries? Pinning down factual info on these cars is like herding cats.

I believe polyurethane bushings are overrated. They do make sense for a race car in the right locations (not the TC rod). They might make sense in a track car that sees light street use. But they are not inappropriate for a street car if you want to maintain any amount of civility. While they do add stiffness, I don't see that the performance/NVH tradeoff is worth it in anything but a track or race car. I run open track days in a Miata that I setup specifically for the track. Spring rates are 504/448 lb/in F/R. (363/394 wheel rates) I also run a street Miata with 375/275 lb/in springs (270/242 wheel rates). In both cases I run stock rubber bushings. The street car will never go to poly. I love the way it drives and I absolutely do not want the NVH that comes from Poly bushings. The track car has been running the higher rate suspension for 15,000 miles, with roughly 4500 of those miles on the track. To date, I have not had to replace a single bushing. Would the car handle better with Poly bushings? Probably, but it has been a great car without it and I have no plans to switch anytime soon. (In part because it takes a lot of work to rebush a Miata suspension, and I haven't needed to rebush it, yet) I am currently working on getting my '73 Z back on the road. The car is nice but way too soft for me. Part of it surely due to the tall sidewalls (225/60/14 Michelin Pilot XGT all season performance tires). So I will go to 15 inch wheels and better tires. I just ordered the Vogtland springs and will pair them with a NOS set of Bilstein dampers. Spring rates will go from 83/104 to155/175 lb/in. If that isn't enough I might go to a GC coil over setup with stiffer springs. But regardless, the suspension bushings will be replaced with stock rubber, due to the age. Al

Just Cleared costumes and it will be the first LHD Kenmeri in the states.It will be here at my house Tuesday.The Broker sent me the paper Work already to register it in Phoenix AZ.

"What Pontiac? is that in the background? " I thought the exact same thing, and boy were we wrong. Not only were we way off in what car it is, but that's the REAR in the pic, not the front!

Finally got my rebuilt E31 head assembled, back on the engine and torqued down. Exhaust manifold is installed. Hooking up water and electrics now. Intake and carbs last I think. Its a good thing I took the head to the machinist to have him look at it. i just had the valves and valve seals installed. No springs and retainers. He said it looked fine but had to remove the valves as the stems had a coat of assembly lube on the valve stems. I said yup that was me. He goes not a good idea. A valve can stick using that stuff. Just use your same engine oil. I learned a good lesson. Do not do what I did. If I had damaged a valve and piston, that would have set me back until next year.

Sorry to tell you but that's an imperial wrench... you're going to need a metric equivalent...

KiraK. Your 12/77 chassis #441753 is fine for 1978 model. The 1978 models ranged from 8/77 through 6/78. I have a number of black pearls and one plate is very close to your picture. 12/77 #441559. If your able to post pictures of sunshade and mirrors I'm sure you will get good input to confirm if they are appropriate for the Pearl SAP

KiraK, if you look closely at this plate you'll notice the paint is overlapping it. This means the car was repainted at one point in its life. Not sure if that matters, but, good to know. As far as the black pearl I can't help you much more than what has already been shared here. I do know they made a Black Gold 10th Anniversary edition car that could be a collectors item someday. You can find an example on eBay right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Z-Series-280zx-/282072116897?forcerrptr=true&hash=item41acceeea1&item=282072116897 Hope this helps, I would buy a black gold just to have one. But, I don't have the space.

Thanks @Zup. Don't have my Z on the road yet to try it. You can bet the A/C Delco FM oil is what is going into it tho. I'll use it in the RX7 too.