Leaderboard

You don't drive like my grandma, at age 95 she and her sister got picked up for speeding (95 in a 65) and neither had current drives license! Glad you are tracking down the issue(s). Keep it on the road.

I'm relaxing at home when I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. Since the caller left a voicemail, I played it. He told me he got my number from a friend. He has a 78 that he drove to the gas station, and it wouldn't "catch". He said another friend worked on the car, but that friend wasn't available. I called him back and found out that the engine would turn but wouldn't fire. Knowing that the friend who worked on the car is a very good Z wrench, I knew I had to run through possible esoteric solutions. "Beat on the ECU." "What?" "Hit the ECU with the side of your fist. Just bang on it a couple of times. Then try to start your car." "Where is it?" "When you're sitting in the car, it's by your left leg on the kick panel." "I see a piece of plastic there." "Yep. Hit it." "Oh my God. It worked." I told him he might need to replace the ECU. It looks like MSA is out of them for right now. When I told the story to another friend, he responded, "Percussive maintenance." What can I say? He's right.

Hey guys, just picked up a beautiful condition 73 240Z last week from a friend who's selling most of his classic cars. The Z has been upgraded with the 2.8L engine and 5-speed transmission and with some after market wheels that are about to be replaced next week with Konig Rewind 16x7 wheels and 215 55R 16 Kuhmo tires. Even though the car is in excellent condition I would like to have it inspected by a Z specialist here in the Los Angeles area. I've noticed the rear right side of the car is a little lower than the left rear. Perhaps saggy spring? Also Once the car is mechanically inspected I'll look to replace the seats and the mirrors with more OEM/time period pieces. In the meantime can someone recommend a good Z specialist in the Los Angeles area (not OC)? Thanks!

What about the oil pump/distributor drive spindle? I've seen the teeth shear off before, and found bits of metal that size. There are bronze gears available, and the pieces do look a little like bronze.

People might wonder why such effort was made with regard to mudflaps, and the answer is that many events mandated their use - for safety reasons as much as anything else. In events such as the Monte Carlo Rallye, where studded tyres would be used on the mountain stages, there was a very real risk to following vehicles. There were often penalties for cars which finished with damaged or missing equipment, so some teams added extra sets of mudflaps which were rolled up out of the way and could be deployed as replacements. If not, great efforts were made by the team to jury-rig a repair in the field. The old faithful of baling wire doing its stuff:

It's because you said this earlier.

There should be either: a) a single mark on the damper and an array on the timing cover, or b) a single pointer on the timing cover and an array on the damper. You've got a mix of both and I don't think you can trust it to tell you where TDC is. Nor can you trust the MS2 - it only knows what it was told by whoever tuned it. you need something like this to find TDC : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331342952716 and then make your own marks to show where TDC is. I'd replace the serated doofer on the timing cover with a pointer that points at the last of those marks on the damper at TDC.

I am not sure about the 280z, as I live in the UK where they were not officially imported, but If your query relates to a 240Z, or 260Z, there were hard rubber pads on the upper face of the tank that acted as a cushion to the body. I found some pictures of a later model tank, but the fundaments are the same with the early tanks. On my RHD fiche, for whatever reason, it does indicate a part number for the two pads at the top part (image DSC02889, below) of the early tank (up to August 1974), which is 17231-E4100, but not the lower two (image DSC02891, below), although they may be the same part number. I can scan and upload the fiche if that helps. The attached images probably best illustrate the pads, and their locations on the tank.

You could try JP-CarParts. They list it as being available and generally only takes a couple of weeks through them after placing an order. Chat with them through Whatsapp before placing an order. Sometimes the part they find is not in stock by the supplier because the supplier hasn't updated their data. Your part should be very easy for them to find because it was in a wide range of vehicles.

Thanks again for the help guys. I'll hold tight and hope others can chime in. And I'm certainly in agreement with the flat tops being good carbs. Swimming upstream against strong current, but moving my arms anyway. And thanks Dutch for that document page. I'll add that to my files.

@HS30-H great picture. Folks also can see the clever later exhaust routing, which added considerable ground clearance. In addition, something I had not noticed before on the earlier cars - a rear c-chaped bracket, which I assume is for one of those mobile jackstands? A device like that would only be possible with the re-routing of the exhaust. It's clearly very bent out of position, to the point where it's likely not usable, but it's mere presence may have saved the fuel tank from whatever the car backed into.

thats a good idea, might give me some sort of indication

Thanks! Yes this does help! somewhat anyway, they're very difficult to see for some reason, its going to be fun trying to find them...

I took these on the way up from the deer blind. Does this help? Looks like 5 spot welds on the bottom section. there are some on the top too you can just barely see

Yeah, I hear that at home a lot, too...except without the thanks at the end. *sigh*

The ones that I have to hand don't, no. But then I simply might not have the one document that does. @dutchzcarguyhas just shown that the suffixes went up to '10' at least, but I have no idea when these supersessions were applied. I think @RIP260Z is your man for this. Ian has done some good research on the HMBs which shows them to be a good design, unworthy of the 'boat anchor' reputation. Hopefully he will contribute.

WAUW !!! Those guys were not painters.. they were sculpturers!! Over a inch of .. as you call it bog.. WAUW !!! I really would not know but if you clean up the surface really good you should see the welds if there are any. Maybe a small camera inside to check for them? (endoscope)

I'm not on your list, but this is something I've been asked to look into before. The UK market documentation (FSM, R-Drive parts list & L26 Engine Service Manual) show that three variants of carburettor were used between August 1973 and 1978. They were the HMB46W-1A, 1B & 1C. The R-Drive parts list shows all the component parts and part numbers for the preceding HJG46W type, but not for the HMB46W. And if you look in the L26 Engine Service Manual it warns strictly against dismantling the piston chamber, piston spring, piston weight, suction piston and needles. They are very firm about it. I guess they didn't want mechanics to mess with them. Possibly because of emissions-related calibration worries? There may well be a document which gives the part numbers for the needles, but I haven't seen it. Sorry.

Looking at your pics, have to agree.. Looks like galvanized metal, with tar, and paint. My 12/70 just has paint, with undercoating sprayed on top. See pic. Real pain to remove without ruining paint. So later cars had “improvements”.

Ignore the bright links. They only properly line up every eleven revolutions of the cam (every 22 rotations of the crank).

Agree, I'd love to slot an S20 motor into 1 of my early HS30's. It's a special bit of engineering, a twin cam engine in 1969 was very exotic equipment and it has plenty of racing pedigree to back it up in the Skyline. The Hagerty segment is full of inaccuracies but 1 thing it does highlight is the sound of that engine at full song! I'm very much about the 432-R look, and I just got myself a set of Kobe Seiko Rally Mag (reproductions from M-speed in 14") to sit on my 240z. I've also acquired over the years Ikeda Bussan seats, Ura Mach wheel, chrome ring head lamp covers etc.. and my red 240z also has the white stripe long the bottom sill of the car. I'd love an S20 engine to complete a similar look to the attached images. The quoted S20 engine power is stock on 40mm Mikuni's, but like the RB26 that came later and was quoted at 280HP as per the gentleman's agreement, I'm fairly sure the purpose of the S20 engine was to modify for tuning and racing and so many cars fitted with S20's are not making 160HP anymore. If it wasn't for the fact that an S20 engine costs so much these days, I'd swap 1 into my Z for sure. In fact at today's prices it kind of makes sense to go for 1 of the Twin Cam L-engine options instead such as the O.S Giken head. Real Deal vs O.S Giken L-head. L engine with O.S Giken twin cam head and cloned S20 valve cover. The real McCoy. I certainly would pay more for an S20 powered S30Z, than an LS powered S30Z.