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Hi , now Japan is in a rainy season . But today we had sunshine , so I decided to clean up an engine at a car wash . My friends kindly helped me out for this mission, I am very happy it’s results. Not perfect because I didn’t take off a front cover , and a fly wheel . There are two plugs each side ( front and rear ) , I wanted to, but I had limited time to operate today . General cleaning was the first thing to do . This engine is on HLS30-02146 , L24- 005318 was probably sitting in a garage for last 30 years , I see very bad contaminations there . Rusty , gelled water in the block . We did our best , it was so fun ! Kats

Thanks for the pictures, my #2146 has the same “ TR 7 “ for upper six-location . I was thinking this was a aftermarket one supplied in the US , so I was almost going to throw it away . Like I showed in my thread, I have got started to disassemble it’s engine, I have got some bolts and nuts from my local Nissan . Some of them were altered their part number just a little bit, but yes they are qualified superseded parts . I still can’t find out why the parts catalog says 6 studs for upper location at first , I checked my JDM and export catalogs issued in Nov 1969 , Dec 1970 , they don’t list bolts for that location. In March 1972 , JDM parts catalog listed six bolts for the upper location. But seems many of our cars have 6 bolts from the beginning before March 1972 , including my car . By the way , my 2146 had a maintenance work once or twice long time ago , so chances are high for using six bolts at some point . Interesting! Kats

On mine I don't see any markings on the head of that bolt, even using a 5.5X loupe. The short bolt is a recessed hex head type with "4" on it.

Splash water . Kats FullSizeRender.MOV

There are many forces at play right now and more complicated that the average Joe really understands. 1. The Pandemic - this was the catalyst not the cause of shortages, shortages lead to supply/ demand going out of balance and thus higher prices ensued . Federal free money (Covid stimulus checks) while necessary to keep some people afloat they forced out of work through the demand curve way outside the normal. It also upset the labor market. Some people decided not to work even when they could. 2. The Federal Reserve printing money since QE1 (circa - Nov 2008) which accelerated through QE4 expanding the Fed balance sheet has created a glut of cash in the economy and very low interest rates, this further disrupts the supply/demand balance. Cheap money encourages poor spending decisions. When a 5 yr loan is 1% people borrow more money and buy more crap. 3. Energy costs have soared. It began well before Putin attacked Ukraine. A couple things happened here. One when the economy began to turn back on demand for fuel outpaced production. Oil and gas companies were caught in a bullwhip effect. In June of 2020 there was a glut of crude oil that left them scrambling to find space to store oversupply. Crude tumbled to $9.12 a barrel in April 21. When the world economy started to turn back on suppliers had basically turned off the spigot. 4. New leadership - our new President enacted policies that make it challenging to explore oil and drill for oil and gas. He stopped renewing off shore drilling leases and exploring or drilling on Federal lands. Billions invested by oil companies in pipelines were scrapped and sit partially complete or dormant meaning fuel has to be trucked and brought in on rail. He had publicly stated in his campaign he would End All Fossil Fuels. The oil companies have decided it’s too risky to invest in further production so they aren’t producing as much and in an unfriendly environment can take consumers to the cleaners with low supply. 5. Putin steps in and kicked over the apple cart. With sanctions on Russian, oil and gas supply’s are further inhibited. Russia is rich in natural resources, fertilizer, minerals, lumber, grain. Ukraine was also. Now we have soaring prices on things like Nickel, copper etc. 6. Labor shortages - Again the pandemic caused a major disruption in America’s labor force, some have referred it as the “Great Resignation” in 2021 47 million Americans quit their jobs. Labor is way more expensive now and this directly impacts a companies bottom line. When China stops the lock downs and comes back online, we are really going to see energy prices soar. Hold on for a wild ride. Cliff, great story about the landlord. This is how it’s supposed to work. You raise prices too much people go somewhere else. This is how the free market is supposed to work BUT in our modern complex society we have serious barriers to entry now. Oil companies or chip manufacturers don’t have to worry so much about competition driving prices down because you just can’t build a chip factory overnight or a oil mining company, These companies have the market by the balls now. This is not how the market is supposed to work. What’s supposed to happen is competition is supposed to drive prices down but that can’t happen now in many markets. Trying not to to be political just trying to lay it all out there, because there is a complete lack of understanding out there..

I have been ordering a ton of stuff lately for my restoration, and shipping is just crazy. At first it really got to me, now its just a new normal. I have to justify it mentally by looking at a few of the recent BAT 240 sales 🙂 I have actually found some things cheaper on Ebay that have free shipping. I do a lot more price shopping and bulk ordering.

I currently have a '72 with build of 12/71 purchased from the original owner that has the same belts pictured. I've owned a couple of 1973 cars and they had the plastic sleeves at the base.

Hi, not a S30 topic . Today I was in a Nara convention center for new Z show time . It’s just about 15 minutes drive from my home . I really like this new Z , this is the first time that I would want a newer Z . I got into a cockpit, very nice ! And I didn’t forget to take a shot of a chassis number tag on the kicking plate . It is a RZ34-100014 , very early!! This will mean 14th of RHD RZ34 , I think 😍 A Nissan employee said this car is for testing, displaying, so never will make it on the road , sadly. Tamura san kindly visited my home and my garage , he said he really likes blue , so this time new Z blue is his strong recommendation. Also Tamura san started to talk about he dedicated his passion and time and money everything to L-series engine modification in younger days , he used to be wild on the street. Kats