Leaderboard

Hey - Im new here, just in the process of restoring my 1971 Datsun 240Z, though to share it with you all. Anyone else from Toronto Canada here?

I though you were posting a picture from my thread for a minute! and on ticket me yellow! Nice progress, and I'm inclined to like your choice in colors

DATSUN 240Z TO THE RESCUE! YOU'RE SAFE NOW LITTLE LADY!!! THANKS Zup! HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL!!!

Ron made his car up to more modern racing safety standards. With Randy's car, the only way you could make that more of the original 46 car is to somehow find the old wrecked body and repair it. The switches, the gauges, the powertrain, the wheels, the heat shield under the carburetors; all of that and more were at one time on the original 46 car. If there is a detail Randy doesn't think he has perfect, the car is changed to make it perfect. If you went through the Google photo gallery linked in the post, you might have noticed the lettering and numbers were hand painted. Look closely at the "E" in BRE. You can see that there is a bristle from the paint brush caught in the paint. I thought I was good with attention to detail. Compared to Randy, I'm a piker. Of the 5 hours I spent with him, at least half that time was him describing things in detail to me, and most of that were updates just since February when I had previously seen the car. As for the motor, it was originally done by BRE. It IS the motor used in the 46 during the championship runs. It was purchased with the car and used until the purchaser started using 2.8 liter motors. However, it was put away in a re-built condition. About 40 years later, they opened up the engine in preparation for installing it in the car for the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. I'm not sure if they put in fresh gaskets and seals, but essentially they just buttoned up the motor. Randy is going to have John Morton drive the car and the Monterey Historics this year and quite possibly the Mitty at Road Atlanta in April 2018. We're also keeping our fingers crossed that John will also make ZCON 2018. Now we're trying to figure out how to recreate the BRE 240Z commercial while he's here. Randy is already trying to line up the red 240Z. We are trying to make this a special convention. The bigger challenge for us is to figure out how to get Pete Brock to show up... By the way, @Carl Beck, that would be a great time to break out the Baja Z. Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.

Long night.... Clear went on beautiful. Hoping for next to no orange peel. Two quarts disappeared fast though... Didn't clear the interior. That's getting Dyna matted.

Hi Alan , I like the story of wearing boxing gloves ! Yes I probably have been under stressful hotel staying. And you nailed it, I have been thinking of "PLS30" ! How did you know that? if we had LHD model with S20 engine from the factory, what would it have been ? I did not even think about "K " for Kats , ha ha. Hi Gave , yes that book also inspired me to do a project , making a LHD 240Z with a S20 engine. I have been dreaming about making it before we (except Alan) came to know Nissan had a test car which has the S20 in the LHD body shell. My hand drawing is a blueprint, I am hoping I go for it not so far from now. I just want to do something new. Kats

I went to check the temperature of a pork shoulder I was cooking in my ancient Weber grill, and realized the meat thermometer was still in the Z from checking actual engine temp. Vs gauge reading.

My Fujitsubo exhaust got here yesterday. Still waiting on a few more items and then will get started on the install.

I have been remotivated by Wheee! and siteunseen and others build threads. So I have decided to get serious about getting this car running and finished. So to keep up with the Jones or the Jones'n in Cliffs case I decided to start a build thread to sort of bring everyone up to speed on where I'm at... Bought the car from a guy in Charlotte that had it shipped from out West. He is registered here but really spends more time at Hybrid Z That was late 2008 or early 2009... Stripping the car down Sept 2009 Chipping sound mat out January 2011 Don't you wish you could be that happy about chipping out sound mat

There's nothing in the FSM that says both mixture nuts should be set the same. It has a graph that gives preliminary settings dependent on altitude and temperature. 2.5 turns down is about right for 70 F near sea level. Hotter ambient temperature and higher altitude require a leaner initial setting, richer for cold weather, but that's just the starting point. If the engine or carb needles aren't stock then the initial setting should probably be different. Then the mix is set per FSM or other more advanced or simplified methods. It's important to use syncrometer or similar and adjust balance screw to get them balanced. Since it's difficult to get the floats set exactly right, and since the carb pistons move differently depending on the oil level in each one, and maybe other differences, it's unlikely that the best mix would be where both mix nuts are set exactly the same. But if they're way off when it's running the best something's wrong, probably the float levels, and needs to be corrected. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think once the carbs are balanced and a test drive shows it's a little lean or rich, the carbs can be adjusted by moving the mix nuts of each the same amount, say 1/6 turn before re-testing, without rebalancing them. Since you can't adjust them with the air cleaner(s) on, and air cleaners make it run richer according to British SU documentation, I set them a little lean and richen them up according to test drive, plug color and paper towel test. Air/fuel gauge would be better.

One of our largest national car parts supplier in Canada is Canadian Tire. I needed new front wheel bearings for #249 so I checked them out... "National Bearing" Made in China. I tried a local supplier and requested Timken. They could only obtain SKF:. Part # 18864 Inner Seal (Taiwan) Part BR2 (LM11949 / LM11910) Outer Bearing and Race (Japan) Par BR6 VP Inner Bearing and Race (Brazil)

That would explain why I don't seem to learn from my own mistakes...

Thanks! The proof is in the previous 55 pages

The car is looking great. Nice job on the welding and undercoating, and I love that color....'Ticket me Yellow' I think it is called.

Yikes!

I agree with Patcon. I doubt that this is going to be a one step fix. You'll have to keep chipping away at it and eventually you'll get it to the point where the worst symptom is the engine taking a few extra revolutions to start in the heat. If cracking the hood helps (probably won't cure all of it) the situation, you might want to consider a vented 280 hood or louvering the access panels next to the hood to vent excess heat.

You do have to compromise however. One tuning item to note w/o air fuel meter:: 70-73 domed SU's tuning: 1. have an air balance for idle (throttle valve stops) 2. have air balance for off-idle (back carb rod screw) 3. only have one fuel adjustment (jet height) When tuning SU's, you are forced to adjust fuel height for either idle or off-idle. Since you drive the car more than you idle, it is best to tune for off-idle. The "equally shitty" stumbling (at idle when running on one carb) is good for initial tuning but it would be better to match the rpm drop (off idle... say 3000 rpm when running on one carb). For this adjustment, use the high-speed screw to get the rpms up to ~ 3000 then balance air. Once balanced, disable the front carb and note lower rpm. Repeat by disabling the rear carb and note rpm. Compare rpms. The carb that was carrying the load with the lower rpm needs its fuel level adjusted. Repeat the test by balancing air then measuring rpm drop, then adjusting fuel until both are synced. Revert back to idle to see how far off they are. If the carbs are in good form and the needles are well profiled for the engine then you should be good to go. Run the car for a while on the roads and note plug colour and exhaust soot. Equally adjust each jet up or down to enrich or lean mixture to taste.

I disable one and get it to idle as smooth as possible with the mixture wheel. Let it clear up and then do the other one. Like Blue said "equally shitty". When I'm happy with them the wheels are within 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart. I have one of those protruding knubs painted black on both carbs.

Hi Kats, I think it's an interesting idea for a project car, and your drawing skills are good. I think you have specified a lot of really nice 'special' parts that will fit well together as a spec package, but I'm interested to hear about your interior concept (steering wheel and seats especially). As noted in your sketch, tricky points will be the exhaust manifold/steering shaft clearance (I think you can make a special manifold to suit, as indeed the factory must have done for their LHD S20 powered Z experiments) and the mechanical throttle linkage (again, you can make something to solve this) and I also think you will have to modify the oil pan to fit around the LHD steering rack in a mirror-image of the RHD version. You'll need to source or fabricate the S20-specific engine crossmember, like I had to. I think the electrical side of things will be tricky unless you fabricate new sections of wiring harness that interface between LHD (L-gata specific) dash harness and the S20-specific engine room harness. I've been through the RHD L-gata dash harness/S20 engine room harness experience and it is complicated! I wonder if one of Nishi san's NOS/repro 432 harnesses could be adapted to LHD configuration? That would be simpler I think. So what colour is it going to be?

Kats what about the stillborn Fairlady 260ZG 2/2 ? More info here: http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/14263-jdm-fairlady-z-s30s31/?p=190142 Any thoughts about that concept?

Here are a couple more pictures of it... Some of them have the old rims on still, but I'm running 16 RS Watanabes now to fit the break kit. The car really evolved, I think I went a bit wild with parts when I first got it, then landed on a more refined place with it - ie. no carbon fibre hood on it anymore.

Too true. He does have fabulous metal skills! My wife wanted it yellow. It's really her car. When we first went to the paint shop. She took a yellow Lily out of our yard and told them she wanted that color of paint. They handled it well... We went through several shades before settling on this one. Yellow is a challenge though because it tends to be very transparent so the color under it makes a huge difference. I shoot white base coat first or the yellow color shade changes

No gonna lie: me and my pots are a little jealous!

Well, it was more like yesterday...For those of you who remember the BRE 240Z from the Memphis or Austin ZCON, I drove the Z over to visit with the owner of that car to catch up on all he's been doing to it since I last saw it in February. https://fiddlingwithzcars.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/bre-240z/ Be sure to click on the link in the post for the YouTube video of it firing up. The blog post has a link to a non Photobucket (@Captain Obvious) collection of photos I took when I was there.

Well it's been a little over a year and I am trying to get moving again. I have 15 months until Zcon Atlanta... This is the way the car currently sits I ordered $200 in bushings from Courtesy yesterday. I need to start working on getting the wheels back under it. Finding all the hardware is an issue. I need to try to figure out which bolts go where. I don't know that I have them all plated either

I'm guessing this is the 1 and only LHD powered S20 that was discussed in DATSUN 240Z Engineering Development? http://www.lulu.com/au/en/shop/hitoshi-uemura/datsun-240z-engineering-development/paperback/product-22879948.html Page 50 Chapter 3. Prototypes: Car No. 11 230HP G8B engine with triple webers. Car No. 3 180HP G8B Triple Solex. Are you dreaming of what could have been Kats?

One question, though. At this point it's something of a pipedream, so you don't have to face reality, but what chassis designation would you give it? 'PLS30'? How about 'KPLS30' (K for Kats)?

Yes Kats, I can see you have too much free time between flights. I can sympathise. I went to a Jesuit school, and we were forced to wear boxing gloves in bed.

Hi everyone, like Chris and other folks are telling that the shaft will never keep its shape forever. I will apply grease on the shaft before starting the engine . Today I would like to show you this , my poor hand drawing, can you tell what I am thinking about . Kats

Did some engine & engine bay detailing, I'm thinking it's not looking bad for 146,000 miles and engine never been out of the car.

Hi, and thanks. I love this car. Before I got it it had been converted to MSD ignition. It has the matching number L24 and has been converted to roundtop carbs. Tokico spirings and Illumina struts and a vented 280Z hood. Since I've owned it it's had new head gasket, valve stem seals, Centerforce II clutch. It is originally a 113 Green Metallic car which I will return it to someday. It has Shelby Diamondback wheels 14x6. My plans are redo suspension bushings, new shocks, stainless braided brake lines, Watanabe R type wheels, stainless exhaust system, and the body work and paint will gradually happen one day. The RX-7 is an '85 GS, streetported 12A. Racing Beat catback exhaust, Centerforce II clutch, BBS Mahle wheels 15x7 The Kafer is a '61 with a 1641cc dual port motor, built from a shell. It's had everything done to it. Thanks for the welcome! I love Datsun's and Z cars and everything I can look at, read, study and see about them. Datsun's, Mazda's and VW's are my favorites.

Shot the interior with Lizard Skin insulator then sound deadener. Then shot the bottom with undercoater

Even on this car Arizona or Nevada there was rust in the wheel wells. These patches came from Tabco panels too this car has had affront end collision. I should have replace the nose but I didn't have the skills at the time the radiator support has been replaced to a later style radiator support

2013 the booth is up .4 mil poly and a few 2x4's all media blasted. You can see the internal frame coating that dripped out before I primed the car... Built a box in the corner to hold a filter so the fan exhaust was screened...

Even though the car came from out West the car still had some rust It always makes me laugh when I see "rust free Z" in an add