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Haha! Yeah, sorry for the glare. Those parts are too nice for my car. That's why they're in a box. Haha!

Whidbey Island was a great place. The Navy built the NAS there because it was drier than other parts of the Puget Sound, as it was in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic Peninsula. Supposedly had more VFR flying days than NAS Miramar in San Diego because of frequent fog there. Supposedly... Bought my 240Z from the Datsun dealer in Mt. Vernon. The new owner, Jack Gubrud, sponsored fun runs for all local Z owners. Here are pix of the run he sponsored in 1974 over the North Cascade Highway to Winthrop. (I think I've posted some of these before here)

Now this isn't anywhere near a proper port n polish but I thought I would smooth out the combustion chamber since the seats are coming out anyway, opened up the exhaust runners a bit so at least the ports match better. Still have to grind down the fresh air pipes in the manifold. Also clearenced the cylinder walls for the new intake valves. This car surprises me again and again how pristine most of the parts are, once you get the crud and minor rust off.

Unter the dash on the passenger side. The flared part is inboard and the part with the U shaped cutout is outboard. The cutout is for the outside ait vent.

A sincere thanks to all of you who have made positive contributions to this post...Terrapin Z is shipping me the parts I need...and as usual, I have learned something more about our Z's that I didn't know before...this website continues to be a gem for researching all things "Z"...I am always quick to recommend this site to any Z owners I meet that aren't already aware of it. Now...on to the next problem!

Slow going today. All I got done was the bearing & spindle/hub assembly, and a couple odds & ends. Besides pressing the outer bearing onto the spindle first, I didn't find the FSM particularly helpful in terms of assembly directions. It is important to only apply pressure to the side of the race being inserted, to prevent bearing damage, but I couldn't see anyway to press the spindle with bearing into the hub that didn't involve applying load to the inner race as well. I ended up just tapping the outer flange evenly around the circumference to seat the outer race of the outer bearing in the hub. To install the inner bearing in the hub and on the spindle, I just used the old bearing, so both inner & outer races were loaded evenly. Before I did any assembly I did another dry run with the old bearings to determine if I needed to cut it down to clear the CV. I did need to. Took the nuts off, cut off the shoulder. Reassembled. Clearance is good here - about a 1mm off the CV inner cup Both distance pieces were marked B pressing the inner bearing, after greasing the backside of the inner & outer bearing cavities & installing distance piece. Used an old camber plate from my 98 XC to apply load to inner & outer races, and still clear the spline shaft #2 inner grease seal going in. It is pressed all the way in, according to the FSM diagram , just doesn't look like the lip is going to have much surface contact with the inner hub flange I then torqued the nut to 195ft/lbs. drag feels even, no end play. I have no way of measuring 3.9in/lb. My 1/4" drive Snap-on torque wrench is not accurate below 10in/lb I had notched the nuts, so I could tack weld them to the spindle without creating a weld- mound that would interfere with the CV cup clearance. #1 MIG welded. In the unlikely event I ever need to remove them again, I can cut the tack weld as easily as cutting the stake shoulders of the original #2 I found the wheel studs I bought for the rear were actually 2.25", not 2" as listed. Test fit the spindle with a rotor to check depth. I had to cut them down to 2" or the wheel nuts won't seat after Another catch - with the larger OD CV flange, clearance off the Strut cast base is an issue - I had looked at that, but without it being assembled, there was no way to be certain what would be best approach. I opted to use press-studs, similar to wheel studs, just M10x1.5 They were longer than needed, so I trimmed about 1/4" off, as assembly on the car may become an clearance issue cut After that I test fit the MilkFab brake caliper brackets & swapped out the eBrake as per their instructions. parts removed MilkFab eBrake bracket positioned, cable levers reversed L/R as per their instructions checked offset with a rotor, everything looks good Going to be out of town until next Friday, so have to wait to get it all back in the car.

Interestingly enough, the springs are the same length overall but the 280Z spring as a longer wound section than the ZX spring. I am sending the 280Z spring and collars to ea6 as they are all in better shape. I assume the tension on the spring is different too, with a longer wound area. Of course the English language has two definitions for wind and wound "I will wind my watch until it is wound all the way" or "The wind sent a shard into my arm and I now have a serious wound" WTF!!

I have a 1973 240Z that Motorman7 restored in 2018 and 2019 discussed in the thread https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/60309-were-bringin-back-the-flat-tops/. I saw the new Z at ZCON Colorado Springs where our '73 240Z took first place in the Stock judging category. (Thank Motorman7!) I knew then I wanted that beautiful Seiran Blue Z they had there and have been looking to buy one since. Finally, on April 14th, 50 years to the day after buying my '73 Blue Metallic 240Z, I bought a new 2023 Seiran Blue Z. The new Zs in blue are harder to find than the Proto Spec version and I found our new Z at a price I could live with at a Chicago dealer. Drove it the day we picked it up to our son's home in Kansas City, where we left it until June. Then in June, we drove it home to California all on US Highway 50, cause Interstates highways in a new sports cars are boring! (especially Interstate 80...) Sightseeing on the way included the National Tall Grass Prairie Preserve and the Cosmosphere space museum in Kansas; Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Monarch Pass, Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado; the beautiful ridges and mesas of central Utah; the Loneliest Road in America across western Utah and central Nevada; and Lake Tahoe. Conclusions: it is a great car for such a trip! Very comfortable for long days (Day 4 was 852 miles from Ouray, Colorado to Carson City, NV in 14 hours) Very fun to pass cars or trucks on the open and lonely highways of the Midwest and West. Mashing the throttle was like a catapult shot off the Kitty Hawk! (my long '72 deployment on that ship was what enabled me to save enough to buy the '73 240Z) Head snapping acceleration! Wheee! Long distance trips in my 240Z, the blue line was in 1974 after discharge from the Navy. Whidbey Island WA to Huntington Beach CA via Vancouver BC, Winnipeg, Chicago, and Kansas City. 2023 Road Trip on US Highway 50 in the new Z: A photo op in Dodge City: After crossing the flat eastern half of Colorado, took a side trip off Highway 50 to Pikes Peak: Summit of Pikes Peak was closed, turned around at the 16 mile mark (of the 19 mile drive to the top). Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs Highway 50 crosses the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. 11,312 feet altitude. Turbos make this easy. Turns out the new Z is off-road capable! 4+ miles of US 50 in central Colorado under construction.. . At the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Actually did some Interstate. US 50 is co-resident with I70 in eastern Utah. Beautiful fast road. No traffic. 80mph posted speed limit. A View Point on US50 / I70 A photo of our 240Z somewhere in Utah in 1974: US 50 from central Utah to Carson City NV is called "The Loneliest Road in America". With good reason! This was part of a 184 mile stretch in western Utah and eastern Nevada with only one gas station. Which appeared closed when we went by... (To be honest, at the speed we were going, things were a little blurry...😁) Couldn't pass up a scenic stop at Lake Tahoe. On the Nevada side looking west. Now home with the great, great, great, great grandfather. Taking both to ZCON. Conclusions about the new Z. An excellent Z for a long road trip. Comfortable, quick, and fun! Neck snapping acceleration. (Like a catapult shot off an aircraft carrier) Wife convinced me to get an, uh, "9 Speed Paddle Shift transmission" (don't call it an auto...😁). And that paid off in the stop and go uphill drive on the Pikes Peak toll road. Highly recommended if you can find one at close to MSRP.

These two. They mount over the center dash brackets.

Thanks, yes I will take 6 of your exhaust valves and the same of intake valves if you have them. I'm trying to send you a PM with my address but it doesn't seem to working, did that function change while I wasn't looking? Those detonation marks have lots of room from the fire ring. Just a few shots of the block assembly, 3rd pic down is the #6 piston going back in, next to it is the knuckle cutter, also know as a ring compressor. I hated throwing all the duplicated SU parts in to the plating bucket but I had to or it would cost twice as much, here's my map to sort them out afterwards. Plating is going in on Monday.

In the five years I drove big trucks I covered 800,000 miles, all of the lower 48 and six Canadian provinces. I lost count of how many times I mad the run from Seattle to the east coast. If I left Seattle on a Saturday I could be in Jacksonville by Tuesday morning. A couple years ago Mrs. Racer and I took the oldest grandson’s car to him at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. We left Seattle on Friday morning around 11 am, and rolled into Fayetteville Sunday afternoon around 5 pm. Only stopped for fuel, food, and once for a shower at a truck stop halfway across Missouri on Saturday evening.

Upgrade valve size is no brainer if you already have to replace the seats and yes it might raise CR slightly . To mitigate that you could unshroud the valve areas which would help it breathe and slightly enlarge the combustion chamber. BUT - you will have to clearance the cylinder bores unless you have over sized the pistons. There is a chance the larger valve will catch the edge of the bore . There are plenty of threads addressing this . This will also decrease CR - but with added benefit of better breathing . I do have tons of used 35mm exhaust valves if you want to run Nissan stuff . They all in good shape and I would about give them away . They all came out of Maxima engines so maybe less abused than Z stuff . Not trying to increase your work - but the seats MUST be addressed or all your work will be in vain.

Love the mission summary. I've heard it put this way... Misfires leave oxygen in the exhaust stream. AFR pics that up and interprets it as "lean".

Well, that's what I get for not suggesting looking at your ignition after I read your post. I could have looked like a stud...well, yeah, that is going too far. 😞 Of course for a sparky type, we usually suspect electrical first.

Well, that was fast. The connecters arrived a little while ago, and I have put them in a divided storage container so they will be ready to use. If you need YPC connectors, hi-1000ec.com is legitimate. I purchased extra male 3-pin and 6-pin waterproof connectors. The 3-pin is for wiring a conventional Bosch relay for the AC relay. The 6-pin is for jumpering out the voltage regulator connectors in 75-77 280Zs when converting them to internally regulated alternators. I bought connectors that could be used for the center gauges, too. It could also come in handy for a conversion to Speedhut gauges.

There. See? It was the loose dizzy cap. Guess it went wonky (sorry for the technical term) above 4k. I knew if I asked you guys would help me solve it! Even if only in spirit..... So what did we learn today? -Misfires can cause a lean condition as read on the AFR gauge, just like the reverse. -Change a bunch of stuff and get the same result? You are changing the wrong stuff. -Tunnel vision is blinding.

Electric pumps should NEVER be deadheaded.(No Jerry Garcia jokes,please)