Leaderboard

I've found a nice one...

When the car was under restoration, a few things were not correct like a water pump ( for GTR ) , an engine block ( must be silver ) and an oil filter was for non- cooler type . I had changed them as you know , and the parts which shown I attached pictures are going to be on my spare S20 . And some of you may remember Mr. Takei , a chief engineer of developing Europe S30 team . He drove through Europe with his freshly rolled out Euro 240Z after finished his work , that was in April to September 1971 . After he returned, he reported to Dr . Nakagawa like this , “ Japanese automotive technology is far behind from which Europe has , I think 15 years behind “ Then Dr. Nakagawa said to him “ you go to Europe again and learn from them “ The picture was taken Luxembourg. courtesy Nostalgic Hero extra edition No. 564 Kats

Thanks Alan for the pictures of super rare heads , it is a little bit scary for me to seeing "knife edged " triming as I think there are not much meat left around it. Looks like my Z432 has a hand finished port for each , pictures from March 2007 at the shop . Kats

Ahhhh - that looks a little better now.... Still some cleanup to do but heading in the right direction .... so I decided to spend some time on the rad support.... I re-did the lower support. This version is a single piece with only two small weld in patches. I think it will be a little cleaner than my first attempt last week .... Interestingly the factory rad support is made of 13 different pieces of sheet metal and then welded together. Not an easy piece to make. I roughed out three more pieces today ... Upper gusset braces ... And the upper cross piece ... Only 9 pieces to go ???‍♂️....

OK - Its clear I need to clarify. I am looking for an image of the letter "Z" referred to as the Classic Z with the serifs and crossbar. Thanks Site - I looked at that one and decided it wasn't good enough!

Hi Jon, welcome to the forum from a fellow eastern Washingtonian! My wife is from Cashmere and has a lot of family there so we are over that way fairly often. Headed there next weekend in fact. Bought my 240 from a gentleman in Wenatchee. This forum is amazing. You have come to the right place. I too am new to the z thing, although I have been a fan of them since I was a teenager, thanks to my grandfather who owned one. I check in here regularly, reading up on various topics. Trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can in anticipation of tearing into my car (hopefully a little later this year). So much information here, and people are so helpful. It is a very special corner of the interwebs. Love your car and its story too. Best of luck in getting it back on the road. Will be following your progress with interest. Scott

I took my radiator in to have it boiled and tested. It was leaking. I was given lots of options. I chose to have it re-cored with three aluminum rows. So, it will have the old look with a new aluminum core. $578 .

Yeah, glowing red and 60 tons seems to be where they decide to let go, but Jeff whatever you do don't be tempted to get the BFH out, all you will do is mushroom one of the ends that you will need to either press it or pull it out.

100 tonne press, acetylene torch and soaked in transmission fluid for three days... barely came out under 60 tonnes of pressure.

Remember Kammy's Red Hand of Power image? @kammy

Alan, thank you for the comment , I am so glad that you like this topic and also you have experiences that talking with one of the engineers. When I see you next time , I am really looking forward to hearing anything of Nakagawa-san from you. I think to understand Nissan , I need to know Prince . In late 1960's Nissan merged Prince , Skyline and S20 (and some cars and engines ) came from Prince , and Prince engineers were allowed to take care of those work . They (people and cars ) were different from that of Nissan in many ways . Mr. Sakurai (far right of the picture whitch Alan posted) spoke many many interesting things in the past in the magazines , he always said " Prince was a small company , we were all happy to build cars and engines. We were able to discuss , work , even some times we quarrelled , but everything was valuable . From Boss to young men , we had good communication each other. " Thanks Blue too ! Kats

Engineering War and Peace in Modern Japan, 1868–1964 By Takashi Nishiyama

I have looked at a lot of S20 engines over the years now, and I don't think I have ever seen a head casting in-use that had not received some detailing/'blueprinting' attention inside the port castings. I believe your NOS head is untouched in the ports because it never reached the stage where it was prepped before fitting to a working engine. I'm pretty sure that the S20 engine in my 432-R replica (itself a very early 432-type S20 engine) was never taken apart until I stripped it to rebuild it. Both the inlet and exhaust port areas had been hand finished, with the dividing wall between the valves 'knife-edged'. Not the best photo, but you get the idea: Here's another K3 head: And for comparison, a super rare works race K3R head:

Thank you for this Kats. I share your admiration for Nakagawa san and his colleagues. The father of one of our family friends worked with Nakagawa san at Nakajima Hikoki, working on those Sakae and Homare aero engines, and I was lucky enough to meet him and talk to him about his working life. Fascinating. Here's a photo of Nakagawa san and some of his senior engineering staff from Prince Motor Co. pictured at Fuji Speedway in the early 1960s. A slightly unlikely looking group perhaps, but some serious talent here. Nakagawa san is in the dark suit. That's Dr Shinichiro Sakurai - a key figure for both Prince and Nissan - on the far right:

I would like to share this , Dr. Nakagawa , a former executive of Prince motor company . He was joined Nakajima aircraft company and was an engineer of engines for fighter aircraft during WW2 , he refreshed “Sakae” engine for Zero fighter, also he was a chief engineer of designing “ Homare “ engine for Shiden- Kai . After the war , he made cars and engines with a lot of engineers who used to make military aircraft and engines at Prince motor company. Dr. Nakagawa had always highly admired engineers and craftsman who were never credited to the public , he said they were so genius. He said he designed with confidence, but sometimes he was corrected by craftsman of casting “need to change here and there ..” Dr . Nakagawa said in his book , “ No matter how the design is perfect, we can’t have it without craftsman who make it real . “ I can see why S20 engine is different from others , this engine was born from and given aircraft spirits by those engineers. S20 has a lot of bolts to secure its head and block , well taking care of for oil and water running even under the stressful G force effect. Kats

Just the mention of Spindle Pins and I need a drink... Where’s my bottle of Bundy’s?

@240260280 Try to get in touch with the high bidder and politely ask him to scan it. Tell him it is archival material and give him the credits for making it available. He might not want to do that, but you never know-----he may have a sense of "community".

Nice article. Hey Zup, I'll provide the enclosed trailer, you supply the silver 73 .... The 2019 Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance, taking place September 13-15 in Lake George, New York, will feature a class dedicated to the 1970-’73 240Z, 1974 260Z, 1975-’78 280Z, and 1979-’83 280ZX. We’re still actively seeking entries in the Datsun Z class, so if you’ve got a stock, concours-quality example and can attend, please contact either Kurt Ernst (kernst@hemmings.com) or Matthew Litwin (mlitwin@hemmings.com).

I am new to this forum and under qualified to have an educated conversation with a Z enthusiast. Despite being undeserving of a Fairlady, I do own one and am in the process of trying to get it back on the road. I purchased the car from my uncle while I was in high school in 1997. I had the rust replaced and body work completed as well as the engine rebuilt before leaving it my parents garage for nearly 20yrs. I now have it in my garage and am looking to bring it back to life. I am looking to make connections with others that have done similar projects and that can help me do a respectable restoration of this car. I admire everyone's passions for these cars but I have to be honest I don't know all of the history and am not a gear head so I don't mean any disrespect by my ignorance. If you have one of these and always wanted one, I would like to know how you did the restoration or would do the restoration. I don't have the original engine as of now, it has a 280 dual carb engine and has had that since I purchased it. I was told that they used to race it in Japan, someone brought it over to WA state, my uncle bought it from him in the early 90s and I bought it from my uncle. Just throwing all of this out there to the Z world, what do you think?

Cams are tough. I rescued this one and it is in my 77:

Thanks for the help everyone. I stopped by the shop and got to take a look at the head. It is an E31 as I suspected. The machinists showed me some cracks and even where some of the ports on the underside have been chipped due to corrosion -- and reaffirmed that they cannot salvage it. I'll take some pictures if anyone is interested. So, in the mean time, does anyone have any tips on where to find an E31 for sale? They seem to be rare.

Hi Locke , I checked some parts catalog, what I found is E88 started from September 1971. This was when S30 series had got a new center console, new hub caps , etc . I haven’t seen cars around mid 1971 in person, so I can’t say the catalog is correct until I see some examples. As a side note , E31 and E88 were meant to be “ low octan / regular gasoline “ . E30 was meant to be “ high octane/ premium gasoline “ , and this was never used for Datsun 240Z and Fairlady 240Z series . Kats

Love that Z!!! Safari Gold rocks.

It may not have caught up but then again it may have. If he ends up looking for a fairly rare head, you can do a lot of welding for that. I have started seeing heads in the $600 range. I can get a lot of holes repaired for that kind of money. If it is just some erosion at the head surfaces that may be doable. If it's significant erosion inside the head, that is totally different.

Welcome to the forum. Nice looking project you have. I found a thread I remember reading not too long ago that may be of interest to you. You could send him a private message maybe for more information? I'll tag him here and maybe he'll reply. @scotta

Take a look through our gallery... if you use the image elsewhere, please let me know how it's being used and link our website and the member as the source. https://www.classiczcars.com/gallery/

I was planning on a retro sound unit but I am still not 100% decided. Any USB port will deliver 5v or it is not USB. Part of being a standard is to, well maintain a standard! I am also planning on discreetly including a USB printer style port that interfaces with the Haltech ECU. That way I can plug a laptop in without having to have access to the ECU.

From the Hemmings article: From Carl Beck in the comments section: Some relevant dates: *October 18th 1969 - First 'Press Preview' event held at Nissan's Ginza, Tokyo HQ showroom to introduce the S30-series Z range to the invited press. *October 24th 1969 - Start of the Tokyo Motor Show, where the S30-series Z range was introduced to the general public for the first time. More than 1.5 million members of the public visited the show over the next two weeks. *November 5th 1969 - First 'Test Drive' day, for the Japanese press to actually get hold of the cars and drive them. The results were seen in many of the November and December 1969, and January 1970 Japanese weeklies and monthlies. So Nissan's 'Press Preview' in Japan happened two calendar days before this "International Introduction" to the Press at the Pierre Hotel in New York on 24th October, and the Tokyo Motor Show opened to the general public two calendar days (less the 14 hours time difference) after that. Where does the "two weeks later" come from? Both 'Press' and 'Public' debuts of the new S30-series Z range - which included the 'Datsun 240Z' - took place in Japan.

Ohhh nice! Jan 5 works ....

Differential Relocation:

Jeff. Read through this: http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/suspension/rearend/index.html P.S. Don't tell your wife about the errand I had Janet do or that will be the end of your resto support! lol

No luck from the Mercedes Museum and Archive BUT as the Hoover vacuum continues to pull data: Daimler Benz did have licences agreements with Aichi Kokuki KK starting in 1936. Aichi began making copies of the famous DB600 Inverted V12 (ME-109) at the Atsuta Engine Plant in Nagoya....and Aichi was an engine manufacturer for Nakajima Aircraft Company. Part of Nakajima became Fuji Precision Industries (Engine Manufacturer) in 1946 which later merged with its customer, Prince Motor Company, in 1954. So now have evidence of licence agreements for German Aircraft Engines to Japan that connect Daimler Benz to Prince through a line of engine manufactures! Next to find automobile engine agreements.

A master class in fabrication. If we put you and Disepyon together, we'd have a source for truly rust-free Z frames. You do the front, he does the centre, you split to chores for the rear.

Who needs George Carlin when we there's plenty of comedy on zhome.com (try to stifle your giggles when you read "Christ Craft" instead of 'Chris-Craft': http://zhome.com/History/Ford/Ford.htm Who needs enemies when the Z's advocates are so ready to undermine it and the people who were responsible for creating it? There's plenty of other D!ck Avery-related bullshine on the 'net if you are motivated to seek it out. Flat Earth Society stuff.

Nice to see my car getting a little recognition in the first three pictures of this article.

I would like to show this , my NOS S20 head compared to my used spare one. I found the used spare one had had the hand work in the past , you can see the surface is trimmed , and grinded smoothly . NOS one looked completely different. As I have heard this used one came from 432-R , so I guess previous owner had put some work into this engine . However, it is a subtle work ! This pictures showing an Exhaust port , intake port looked almost same for both . Kats

A photo from the article. Photo courtesy of Hemmings Daily - www.hemmings.com - Jeff Koch photographer

Sounds a bit rich for an Arkie hick., but I've got a pretty nice Zilver Z and I know you've got the trailer! It was a nice article. Some things said could be debated. The comments section at the bottom floored me when a fella had the audacity to inject this.......... Rusty Sedlack wrote: "I think the roots of the 240Z beg further investigation. While a teenager working to discover his future I was befriended by Industrial Designer D*ck Avery, then penning lines for many successful Chris Craft boats. His career started at Ford Motor Company where he was frustrated by working with 50 or so other designers all working on taillights or sun visors. He told me it was he who penned the lines of the 240 Z while at Ford. Ford decided it had no room in it’s line-up for such a vehicle. Thus, the design was sold to Datsun. This story I find easy to believe as Mr. Avery was just one of those people who not only was extremely talented but honest, very helping and forthright. Maybe someone in the correct circles could check this out?" Rusty is obviously too trusty with D*ck's bull*hit! p.s. If needed, here is an "i" and an "s" to fill in the * censorship blanks where appropriate. Where's George Carlin when you need him--------------------

Spindle Pins are considered a Rite of Passage for Z owners. Lots of good threads here on this site.

Lost an Ebay auction for a cool book. Here are some sample pages I would have digitized ?

Verdict: Feasible Could do stainless or powder coated ....

You will need a spindle pin puller!! When you do the rear wheel bearings it makes removing the lower control arms possible.

The first wave of 240Z and early 260Z Sport struts have arrived from Koni. Pre-sale orders have already shipped if you were one of the early birds. A special thank you to @KONI Lee for his knowledge and support for the Z community. Koni has done an outstanding job and we are extremely proud to be teaming up with them to offer such an amazing product. I will update everyone once the batch of late 260Z and 280Z struts arrive as well as for the 280ZX. Thank you!

Well, put THAT way, sure, I have his part...... but I haven't really investigated my options on a custom tail-light panel. @startt21 if you think their price is out of reach, my panel is $50K... it comes attached with a running drive train..... *Note* This is a today only special for any interested parties......

You DO have what he needs. You just need a Sawzall.

I also ended up with the Kameari bolt and washer.

Saw Animal House in 1978, watched it so many times since then but just found this out last night watching a behind the scenes of the filming of Animal House. Robert Cray was the bassists for Otis Day and the Nights at the Dexter Lake Club. He was a local where they filmed. In the late 1970s he lived in Eugene, Oregon, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks. In the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House, Cray was the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights.

A much needed cut and buff action. Getting ready for the first car show of the year.

PMC's licensing of MB patented details (if it even happened in the way being assumed...) related to their G7 six and pre-dated their merger with Nissan by several years. Nissan's L-gata (starting with the L20 six of '64) was up and running way, way before their merger with PMC. What parts exactly are you pointing at being "nearly identical"? The cam followers look very close, as indeed do the cam follower pivots. Cam towers and oil spray bar? Duplex chain cam drive and chain tensioning? Combined oil pump drive and distributor drive via shaft taken off crank was not an MB first. The valve layout of the M180 is completely different, as is port shape and layout. These types of discussions too often descend into the old "Japanese copycats" type accusations. It's easier for people to package it up that way and file it neatly. I think the truth is a bit more complex than that. There are still a lot of post-war nation and industry rebuilding angles left undiscussed. A dear friend of my wife's family - a Japanese engineer who graduated from the Japanese Imperial Navy's technical school as an aircraft engine specialist and who joined Nakajima Hikoki in 1944 - was working with Japanese battery manufacturer Yuasa in the immediate post-war years. By the late 1940s Japanese and German industrial concerns, having a pre-war history of Axis co-operation and a shared necessity of post-war rebuilding from total devastation, were in fairly close contact and our friend was sent - along with several of his colleagues - to Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany to work with M-B engineers for several months. He had some very interesting stories to tell. Other Japanese and German companies were doing similar personnel exchanges, and were sharing for the common good. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it's relevant to the discussion of 1940s and 1950s technology and is worth bearing in mind.