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Today, September 13, 2017, is the 45th anniversary of my ownership of my Z-Car. If someone told me when I first bought the car that I would have it for 45 years I would have said “you’re nuts”! Most of what follows is copied from the similar thread that I started on the 40th anniversary ( http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/44418-me-my-z-40th-anniversary/?tab=comments#comment-402126 ) and updated to cover the past 5 years. This is the story of the car… I read the road test of the 240Z in the April 1970 issue of Road&Track magazine and recognized the car as a great value. Then, in 1971 I visited my brother down in Miami and he pulls up in a blue 1970 Z - so that was my first ride. Between the article and that ride, I said to myself: I should get one of these someday... Bought my Z new in 1972 while in the Marines, using a re-enlistment bonus to pay cash for the car. Had a BRE/Interpart header, spook, and rear spoiler installed by the dealer at delivery. After I had the car for a while, drove up to the BRE/Interpart shop in El Segundo, CA and bought the Mulholland suspension package. In ’73, put in a hotter cam. Also in ’73 I put in the Interpart TC kit. In ’74, bought a new WR OD 5-speed, driveshaft, and R-190 LSD w/4.44 gears from Datsun Comp ($575 through a mechanic friend at a dealer). The car scooted pretty good with that gearing. Car was up on blocks for a year while I was stationed in Japan in late ’74 into ’75. By 1977, I wanted more power, so skipped the triple carb scene and went with a 331ci SB Chevy – 11:1 forged, cam, Edelbrock Tarantula manifold, 650 Holley double-pump carb, headers. Had to pull the R-190/4.44 out and put a R-180/3.36 in for the V-8 (the R-180 lasted while the V-8 was in). In 1978, I had the Acra-Trac front suspension mod installed (who remembers Acra-Trac?). Sometime during this period, I had the short steering knuckles put in. After 5 years with the V-8, I got married, needed a better transportation car, and was getting caught up with smog/legal issues with the swap, so in 1982, put in an L-28 with just a slightly hotter cam, and another Datsun Comp 5-speed. In 1983, the R-180 pinion gear finally failed while I was doing a spirited 1-2 shift (must have been something to do with the V-8 service!) so put in an R-200/3.54. Also in 1983 I made the +1 upgrade to 15” wheels. In ‘86/’87, did a moderate refresh of the car – went through the mechanicals, had it repainted original color (901 silver). Then, didn’t do much but drive and enjoy it for nearly 20 years. In late 2005, I started a mechanical refresh again (mostly suspension). In December 2005 (unfortunately) the head cracked and I had an oil pan full of coolant – so, an unplanned engine rebuild. As long as the engine was apart, went with flat-top pistons and a hotter cam. In January ’06, decided to go to the MSA show, so I worked on the cosmetics a bit and finally refreshed the interior. In 2007 I installed Z-Therapy carbs with SM needles. After those refreshes and rebuilds, I figured the car would be ready for another 20 years of trouble-free driving. In 2008, I moved from Southern California to rural Tennessee. I had planned to drive the Z across but couldn’t make that work with the household move so it was shipped to TN. Since the move, the car is used mostly to get me to my local fishing lakes, but occasionally I take it for a spin down a deserted country lane and blow it out with a couple of fast runs. Over all this time, the car has only been out of service (not counting the year on blocks while I was in Japan) for about 6-7 weeks due to engine swaps/rebuilds, paint, etc. It was a daily driver for the first 17 years, about a “twice a week” driver for the next 17, and has been about a “once a week” driver for the past 11 years. It’s been a long, but fun, 45 years of ownership. Future plans? Five years ago on the 40th anniversary I reported that perhaps I would reverse some of the mods I made to the car over 40-45 years ago (mostly non-stock instrumentation and other interior mods). That at some point in the future, with upper body strength diminishing, I’d have to consider pulling out the quick steering knuckles and putting stock ones back in, along with perhaps a larger diameter steering wheel, to reduce the steering effort. I haven’t done any of that. I’m 65 now and can still turn the wheel (although parking is a bear) so no changes to the car yet. I just keep driving it and “enjoy the ride”… A problem that will continue to get worse over the future years may be finding appropriate performance tires for 15” wheels (of course, as I age, perhaps I shouldn’t be exploring the capabilities of performance rubber!). Otherwise, the car is mostly good to go – let’s see how much longer we stay together…!

I am back! After selling my series-1 240z on August 21st I picked up my new 240z yesterday September 11th. To be honest, I did not think I would be in another Z so quickly but my friend Mike Cooper, who never sells anything asked if I would be interested in buying his red 240z. He needed the room more than anything and had owned the car since December of 2000. I had seen the car many years ago parked in the corner of his garage but never saw it up close. After a trip to look at it and another trip to drive it, I knew it was the one for me. When I sold the series-1 Z I had a goal of taking the money and getting my shop air conditioned before getting another car. The next car would be a classic Z I could modify and not affect the value. It could be a 240, 260, or 280 as I wanted to do triple Webers, springs, sway bars, different seats, etc. Mike's car already had all of this and more. The highlights include a 1mm over '78 2.8L engine w/an E88 head, triple Dellorto carbs, '83 280zx Turbo 5spd w/Hurst shift and custom shift handle, '85 Turbo differential w/Precision LSD, Susp. Techniques springs, front & rear sway bars, and seats from a Mitsubishi Eclipse. The car is a 1/72 build and is number 65,283. As you can see in the pictures it needs a deep cleaning, the paint needs a careful cut & polish, and there are lots of little things that need to be addressed, mainly just items that need to be replaced due to age. The car was originally silver with a red interior and one day it may return to that color scheme. For now, it will be tinkered with and driven alot! When I first saw the shifter handle I thought I thought it looked a little ridiculous but I can testify it is totally functional. It puts the shift knob right where you want it and the throws are short and precise. I will keep this post going as I make updates and repairs. I look forward to showing it to everyone at local events in Austin and at Atlanta in October 2018! And it came with a few parts too! Believe it or not 99% of what you see was packed in the car when I picked it up. Who needs an SUV?

1977 280Z -35K miles, 5-speed, factory AC, 305 Blue with black interior. $15,000. PM or email to dmccollam@sbcglobal.net

Hello everyone, Lance here. I went to Japan this Summer, and am still quite excited. lol. It was a awsome trip which I didn't do much except running around finding parts and catching car shows. I brought my camra with me so there's a lot of pictures. And I think I'm going back next summer, again! First of all let me introduce myself. I'm 16, was born and raised in China. Came to the US for high school and I somehow bought a 240z on Ebay in Texas without seeing the car (I know, lucky I did get the car and I didn't know it's a L28 untill I got it). I'm in Michigan now, trying to get the car back on the road again. so far I rebuilt the engine with the classic flat top e31 high compression setup, running twin rebello bored out SU. Right now I'm trying to get the body straight again. Here's a shot of my pile of rust! Well that's another story. Anyway, trip to Japan! A shot I took from the Tokyo Sky tree. I don't know where to start so here you go! The main theme of my visit there was just get a feel of Japan and it's car culture. I obviously came from a country that doesn't have any. The whole "My car is cool" thing just started. Well, lets just put it this way. The oldest car I saw on the road is a clapped out new yorker. Being able to experience the American car scene, the Japanese culture, and the Chinese culture, lets just talk about it while I put pictures on this post. Here is a shot of the street I l stayed for 14 days. It's clean!!! Almost too clean in my opnion. The thing that amazed me is that it doesn't take much to clean it. It's the people who always kept them clean. At the start of my first day in japan, we went for the shopping center. The Ginza area. And of corse I went in the dooe as soon as I saw this. Nissan crossing is like a special dealership. They have all kinds of things from a wall full of touchscreen to some new concept. This one's got suicide doors. Knight rider might have designed this dash and steering wheel. And hey that seat looks like the one in mine! This is the GT concept 2020. I don't really have a opnion on this one. Aaaaand here is 600 horsepower and some wings. Here they have some flags of the great cars they made. Sad that none of those are Zs. We got the skyline brothers though! in case you're wondering the 1968 is the "3rd gen" written on the flag and it goes from there. Tired of seeing stuff that no one drives? Well I was and I went to Akihabara to catch some actions. And immidiatly there's a beast parking there! From the fan and the tissue box you can see that it's being driven. I like how they just randomly put a parking space there. It must be for one of those shop owners. It's weird you can see cars like this popping up randomly. In China there's not much cool cars, in US there's not much crowded areas. lol. This mx5 nailed it. Everything looks perfect. Yes I did stand in the middle of the road and took the picture. It's just too nice to miss. That's about it for the first day. I'm partly into watching animes so I spent some time running around the street looking at interesting stuff. This street is taken over by all the cute girls and stuff. But it is also a big electronic shopping street. I found a shop especially interesting. They rent shelf spaces to people who want to sell their old electronics. And the stuff they have there is just amazing. Old radios, reel to reel recorder, Sony casset recorders, phones, tube radios, it's just a treat to look at. If you ever visited there just don't carry money on you. It's like walking into a candy shop with a gift card. I'm afraid that this post might be too long, so I'm going to devide it into parts.

NEVER!! Did a few other projects in between, but I'm back to it now. Check out all the progress here: www.e-tekrestorations.blogspot.com

It was the other way around. Interpart was originally a marketing arm of BRE to sell BRE-developed products. Interpart later expanded to sell products for other makes of cars but the focus was always on Datsun vehicles. When I drove up to El Segundo to get parts, Interpart was just another door in the same industrial building that housed BRE. Regarding your manifold - here's the catalog page from the August 1972 Interpart catalog for the triple Mikuni set for the 240Z:

I finished straightening up the frame rails on both sides. After that I cleaned, wire wheel and wire brushed the underside of the car. (I think that is the last of the 'not fun to do' work). Once that was complete I put a coat of POR-15 over the entire underside. It shows up glossy in the pics. I started spraying on the new undercoat but ran out before I even got a third done, so I will have to hit the store on Thursday and get another couple cans. Before and after pics are shown below.

I don't have logging software to graph my results, unfortunately, but I did the same thing you did with consistent runs from 3000 to 5500 rpm on a flat road. I was getting solid readings on my gauge. Sent from my iPhone using Classic Zcar Club mobile

Aaahhh, the Ginza. That's where I first saw a Z on display in 1971. A few weeks later, I was back in the States and bought the Z that's parked in my driveway today. Good pictures, sparked some good memories. Dennis

The next day. I woke up, cleaned up, walked out, and saw this. They just can't keep my hands off my camera! The only and the cleanest 2002 I've ever seen in person. They keep EVERYTHING clean here! 5 minutes after I saw the 2002 this Jaaaaaag sprinted by me. Sounds pretty nice. Today's main theme: Toyota. Well not really. I'm just here to see the History garage. lol. The Toyota Mega City is a whole mall built with fashion, food, and cars. Perfect for me except the fashion part. I'd rather spend that money on a gearbox like this 86 has. I think I wet myself a little just dry shifting it. The mega city has some pretty confusing entrances. So I walked outside to find the History Garage. And what did we get? A whole convoy of alsome cars! This guy painted the roll bar in his mini. And the undertray. And the gas cap. And the steel wheels look great. And then this stanced-out-wide-body-headlight-winking freak showed up And then the hard core Dorifuto guy with a little bit of Bosozoku style. I don't think the headlights work anymore. Wink wink. Last one of the trio. It's got less vinyl stripes and more noise. The exhaust sound is magnifyed by the bridge and the building. My heart was almost forced to sped up. Maybe it's in sync with the exhaust. And just around the corner I saw this guy on his chopper. Those exhaust must have been the most creative ones I have ever seen. I didn't hear what they said because it was pretty loud. You can still hear the cresta blasting away. Aw11 with T-top and tint. Reminds me of my family's first car. A 1999 Suzuki Alto. Next up: Inside History Garage.

Thanks, Michael Robbins (the guy you dealt with in this thread) is no longer with RetroSound and the person I initially talked to said they only ever had the 280 plate. I referred him to this thread and he now says he'll look and see if he can find one.

That looks like a good bunker. Take care, don't eat all the good stuff first and hide your beer.