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Proof I made it! This is at the judged show. I wasn't ever able to register though because I think it was full. But the zcon organizers liked the car and told me to park it on the show field anyway. Im honored!!

Well I made it! Got in late and just laid low. Had a beer with my local Z buddy from home. We met along the way for the last leg near Nashville. Man was that a long trip. But we made it!!!!!! I'm not sure which surprised me more with the success... Me, or the car!!😃

So I'm home. The bottom line is that the car fared better than I did. Remember in the beginning, I was worried about two things... My radiator and my back? Well the radiator didn't get any worse, but my back did. By halfway through the day at the people's choice show, I was hurting. I'll survive, but it's unpleasant. The radiator... I had talked to a couple people about the troubles I was having and they put it out on the Z network that I was looking for a radiator to get me home. Well as a result of that networking, there was a guy coming to the people's choice show that was going to bring me a radiator. We found eachother at the show, and I snagged a rad. He wasn't sure of the condition, but was optimistic about it. Said it looked good, and as far as he knew, it was in good shape. That night, @madkaw and I swapped radiators after the banquet. Out in the parking lot, draining the fluid, pulling mine out and tossing in the replacement. Now remember that my back is pretty much shot at this point, so when I say "we changed the radiator", I really mean "he changed the radiator". So when he wasn't looking, I snapped a pic of madkaw working on my car: Bottom line? We had to do the job twice, cause the replacement rad I got from the guy at the show leaked horribly and wouldn't hold coolant. Sigh. So, we drained again and put my original back in. It holds coolant fine, but has a couple clogged tubes. I'll just have to watch the temps on the way home and adjust my speeds and load accordingly. My original radiator works fine until I'm going up a long hill on the interstate at 70 on a hot day. Thankfully as I drove north, the ambient temps dropped some and I was much better off. By the time I got to Maryland, the temps had dropped enough that I was able to maintain 70-75 on the interstates without worry. Thanks to everyone along the way that helped with the trip and glad for the chance to meet some of the forum guys!! @madkaw @Ninjaneer11 @zed2 @Parman @inline6

Im in good company!!

That's exactly what I did. Perfect!

That's too funny!

Wait... I'm supposed to have straps under the seat bottom? So THAT'S what those stiff crusty things hanging down were supposed to be!!

I present to you, road weary from about 2000 miles of adventure... The OG:

Todays event... I put a160 degree thermostat in. Didn't expect it would help anything, and it didn't. But just for completeness, I had to. So cut some gaskets from sheet with the scissors that came from the first aid kit and the hole punch borrowed from the hotel lobby desk. Haha!

Installed the freshly restored seats in the orange 72

I took the car to Caffeine and Octane on 9/7. While there, one of the attendees offered to take some pics of my recently restored 1971 Datsun 240Z. Looks to me like she used some kind of lens filter. Nice of her to send them along to me.

I really needed one more week to work on the OG before I left for Zcon. Just one more week would have made the whole drive so much less stressful. I would have known that I had a radiator problem and I would have mitigated it before I left. But I lost that week waiting for struts because Amazon screwed up. So here's where I am today. I took the leaky radiator I got at the show to a local radiator shop. They sealed up the leaks and pressure tested it. I swapped it into the car, and.... Driving around with no thermostat, it wouldn't even reach proper temperature!! Way better than what was in there! So just to see where the gauge would land, I put a 160 degree thermostat and went for a drive. It stabilized about here: So next chance I get, I will swap out the 160 for a 180 thermostat and check again to see where the gauge lands. But the bottom line is I'm a whole lot better off than I was with the previous radiator! I blame Amazon. And photobucket.

Fortunately the frame rails -front and back- and inner and outer rockers are completely solid . When I built the rotisserie I added extra support up front by attaching to the sway bar points . Cutting the roof has advantages as far as storage . Makes for a thin profile on its side . It was hard to find a roof that someone was willing to part with or wasn’t already rusted . Being in the Midwest didn’t help . Finally made a connection with a guy in CA and his 70 had gotten totaled in a front end wreck . It was a PITA but we managed the logistics and he was willing to help ship it out . And it was the right color - lol .

Finally figured out what was up with my log ins . Anywho- went to ZCON . Me and a buddy drove down the 4.5 hours from Indiana . The Z drove great with the freshly tuned ITBS. Had most fun in the parking lots talking nuts and bolts . Finally got to meet Captain Obvious . Wish I knew he was there earlier and could have spent more time hanging out .

VR1 10W30 $26.97 5 qt. jug, new filter $8 at Walmart. Cleaned and gapped ngk plugs $0. Adjusted valve lash $0. Idles smooth as glass. Took maybe 2 hours. Satisfaction for myself, PRICELESS! Beer:30 now.

@Yarb Made a little progress today. I got the reverse lights fixed with the help of Yarb and my little helper was in town too. Yarb sent me a new switch he had. It's longer than the one I ordered Yarb, do you know the part number for that switch?

@Yarb has been trying to track down an electrical problem…

When you are walking back to your car at a rest stop and see a puddle under it. Then you get close and realize it's just a condensate puddle from the AC of the guy in that spot before you. Phew!!

I see Hagerty Insurance is featuring the 240z - along with another old Japanese sports car we won't mention - on its latest on-line ad. Also, it only ran for a couple of days (mind you I don't watch that much TV so I might have missed some) but Nissan had an ad featuring a full fleet of Z cars on a car-carrier semi, driving through the mountains. Front and centre, high above the tractor unit, was a yellow 240. At the back, the loading ramps were lowered while the rig was still in motion, just to let the latest model join the ride. Neat. I don't remember any car maker featuring a 50+ year old model in their ads. Cheers All Richard McDonel

Yesterday, I made a 4-hour "tour de Suisse" to collect various parts which I've purchased and visit some friends. My first stop was at my good friend Stefan from Cagedude. Aside from always finding crazy builds in his workshop, I'm always full of joy to see his collection of C10 and C110 Skylines in various states of Restauration. The red one in front is a genuine Swiss-Market 2000GT Shortly after I got my tool-wall, another original Datsun workshop tool wall popped up for sale. Since I already had one, I told hem he should get it, which he did. The wall stayed in his possession for a while, but then he called me and told me he has no time to complete it, so I should get it instead. So I picked it up yesterday. So it means the hunt for all the missing tools starts again. Luckily, I already was able to complete an empty wall once, so I hope I'll manage that again. Oh, and I also picked up this 280ZX T-top Nissan Press poster for another friend of mine. The second stop was at my mate Heiko, who has a nice collection of Z's and roadsters, among some other cars. The reason was to pick up a complete euro-spec rear bumper center section, which is increasingly hard to find. The EU-version has additional holes for the lower number plate lighting. I have several, but all have messed up mounting brackets. This one needs some love too, but at least the brackets are good, so I can use it for test-fitment of everything. And then i got another "Mystery package" from a long-standing parts dealer partner, which included various interior and battery parts. Plus a rear bumper side section, ashtray, etc. And some random NOS parts, plus a lot of replated parts. It's always a bit of a mixed bag from this vendor. Some parts are really useful, NOS or good quality, Some appear to be from different generation Z's or even other cars, or are not in the best condition. Usually, the good parts make up for the bad ones. This-time the J-bolts for the tank straps came in very handy, and it's always good to have a variety of parts on site. Even the "bad" ones usually get used for trial-fitments, etc. I hope with all this new parts and information from yesterday, i will be able to spend another few hours in the workshop with hopefully some progress on the car. Stay tuned.

Looks like I forgot the pic of the turnbuckles . Once i tried a door and hatch to match sure my gaps were decent I finished welding things up . Getting the roof on was the big hurdle . It killed me to just walk past this car all these years and not do anything to it , but without a roof it would have been a waste of time . Now I could finally take to ordering panels . In case anyone cares this car is being built for me . I know there will be skeptics of someone welding a roof on but I feel confident enough to drive this until I can’t drive anymore :) Some videos I watched of chopped roofs made my install look better - ha .

Whether it was the best approach or not , I decided to slug/sleeve the A pillars . I felt a sizable sleeve -3” would give plenty of weld points and help keep things aligned . I had kept lots of A pillars material from where I cut these roofs up . The complex part is that the pillars taper ever so slightly . Also tough is making square cuts to match one roof to the other roof pillars . Another obstacle was I realized the drivers A pillar on my replacement roof was bent back -likely from the accident the car was in . It was a hard hit- shoving the LS2 back into the firewall . Windshield was still in the car he said . Getting the height right on the A pillars was going to be the big challenge . In the first pic of this thread you’ll see I built a support out of angle iron for the roof to sit on . I used my Z to measure from the seat bolt hole to roof line . This support also helped to have something to set the roof on while I made adjustments. Thank god these roofs are light.

Haha!! No, but I learned a new trick... I can hot spot my phone. So I bought a tablet thing device* that can do navigation so now I can GPS on the tablet THROUGH the flip phone. That's also how I was able to take a pic of me drinking beer on the patio at the hotel at Zcon. Hot spot the phone, tablet to the web, and show off my favorite shirt while guzzling beer: *It's a phased out Lenovo thing. Cost $40 closeout. Best forty bucks I've spent in a long time.

@Captain Obvious You have a GPS on your flip phone?!!

Changed out fuel filters from 2015 when I did all the work on my 240. Anyone that may be on the fence about Red-Kote fuel tank liner, done the right way it's fantastic from what these filters show or don't show. Heres the G2 right out of the tank. It looked great besides being 10 years old. Fuel came out clear to as I drained out about a gallon before my dumbasss realized the hose on the tank had to be clamped off. Lawnmower gas.😊 I haven't fooled with mine since a knee surgery sidelined me but after @Captain Obvious's heroic adventure got me fired up enough to at least do something. If that beer guzzling rascal can do what he did, ain't nobody got an excuse.😂

Thanks for the continued support guys! The car has a total of 71000 miles. And looking at the condition, it's a true 71000. So it's typical sketchy details when buying something like this used, but it appears the odometer has not rolled over. And of those miles, I've put about 1400 of them on since I got the car on the road. 400 before departing for Nashville, and about 1000 to got here.

On the south side of Knoxville. Letting him cool off for a little bit. Anyone from the forum there who would like to have a beer with a weary traveler tonight?

I'm in Christiansburg, VA. About halfway to Nashville. Travel has been OK. Only problem with the OG is the temps keep creeping up. The radiator needs work. It's right at the borderline at about 65 mph. If I try to run above that, the radiator runs out of compliance and the temps creep up. So I'm finding that I have to keep the speed between 60 and 65. Not ideal, but considering this car hasn't seen the road in 45 years, it's doing great. More news as it develops.

Thank goodness for U-Haul and credit cards. At worst you rent a truck and trailer. I drove a "crotch rocket" to the French Quarter one time and there was no way in hell I was riding it back home. Got the smallest van and loaded that bike up. 😄

@Patcon the exterior will print smooth, it's a graphics display issue and how SolidWorks saves the .stl file. When you slice it for printing the surface is rendered smoothly. Will post a picture of the first sample print when it's done, I'll do a trial piece in laser sintered nylon first. This is a sample off the Prusa 3D printer in SLA, much smoother than the graphic rendering. With laser sintering it uses powder to print the object so the layer lines and polygons are smoothed out. These are for my own use, I have no plans to sell them.

This is for you, not your car.🙂 Something I figured out after getting older and working on these cars. You can help your back when doing all that tedious engine bay stuff by simply running it up on a set of ramps or raising it up and using jack-stands to get the motor up so you're not bending over all day. Another thing I had learn the hard way was resting my elbows on the fenders would cause dents I ended popping out with a suction cup from HarborFreight. Cover the fenders with anything like towels or paint drop cloths using magnetic bowls that hold all the fasteners. I'm about to adjust the valves on mine. I use a set of Rhino ramps to get my lowered 240 up to, looks like about 38". Just a courtesy bit of advice you probably figured out way before I did and it really helps. Have fun!

Not racing related, but Newman and Redford, back together again… RIP Bob.

Maybe this is the point where you decide which you want most - working tach or good running engine... Back when I learned to drive - and for years thereafter - cars didn't come with tachometers. They ran and we drove them all over the place anyway. (but, from the factory that car ran VERY WELL with a stock coil, a stock ballast resistor, a stock distributor, AND a stock tachometer. Just sayin')

Hi Site Been a while….not sure, but whatever adds .080 inches….if they are .040 inches, 2 would do. Don’t hesitate to call Eiji….tell him you’re my cousin and if wants to keep eating steak at our house, he needs to be nice! 🤪 He’ll sell you the right stuff.

First thing - the AFM does indeed have a wiring connector, it's of Bosch design (as is the entire EFI system in your Z) and it's, like most Bosch connectors of that era, a PITA to remove. If your AFM is in place it will be difficult to see as it's underneath all that. Second thing - you really need to make sure the injectors are opening. It's sort of easy if you have the right stuff, and can be done in place IF you know how to release and remove the BOSCH injector connectors... If for instance you HAD a spare Bosch injector connector with a pigtail, you could put it on each injector in sequence and use a 9-volt battery to quickly apply and remove voltage to the pigtail wires. Yes, a 9-volt battery will open an injector. If you hear the distinct CLICK of the injector opening you can immediately rule out the "crapolla, the injector is stuck closed". (here I have to say: one side of the battery needs to be permanently connected, the other (doesn't actually matter which) needs to be loose so you can just tap the exposed wire end to the bare pole quickly. You DO NOT want to hold voltage to the injector except for a very brief period of time - that's how they work, milliseconds... IF STUCK they in truth need to be pulled and cleaned (and flow balanced) by a professional shop OR replaced - BUT most of the time I can get a stuck injector opening again by rapidly tapping the wire for awhile (several seconds or more) until I hear it clicking. That may help you in your effort to get it running even if things are not all perfect. The injector is a coil (an electromagnet) so both of those spade connectors are actually tied together by the coil. You should see that when testing with an Ohm Meter - leads placed on the two should show a steady Ohm value. If that circuit is OPEN, the injector is bad and you can't fix it. Now, you can also test that the injectors are getting voltage - they should ALWAYS show battery voltage if the Ignition switch is in the ON (or Start) position. And, because it's a coil, you WILL see voltage on BOTH sides IF the harness wiring is connected to the injector. If the injector connector has been removed you will see battery voltage ON ONE SIDE of the connector an not the other. The ECU asserts a ground to the other side of the connector to open the injector and, like I said, this happens FAST. You will never see this activity with a meter (oscilloscope yes). Because they are basically a coil IT DOES NOT MATTER which side gets power and which gets a ground signal. Most people wire the "hot" side consistently to one side of the connectors, BUT they don't have to! There is NO "+" side or "-" side. If there was, the injector would tell you.

Of course I think of you every time I wear that shirt. Wish you could have made it to the show. Miss the opportunity to share a beer with you!

I got no words... This is right now. Couldn't be more appropriate.

I reckon that they saw the PA license plates and determined that if you were crazy enough to drive it down to Nashville, your car deserved to be seen with the rest of the cars.

I messed with the radiator hoses today and had some of the same issues I had before. Here's the lower rad hose: \ And here's an example of how unattached the braid sheath is to the rubber underneath: And this happens when you slip the hose clamp over the end: And here's an example of the inconsistent braid density that I mentioned earlier. Most prevalent on the outsides of bends, which makes sense. Some areas are so sparse that there is big gaps in the braiding. Looks like this: Compare this to the original stock stuff: I know you can't get the stock stuff anymore, which is why you end up paying "only game in town prices", but still... This is what it says in the description: "All of our braided rubber hoses are very accurate replicas of the factory braided style hoses, they have been carefully molded to have the exact curves and bends like the originals!" Maybe they had a bad batch where there were quality issues. I just don't have the time to deal with it now. Maybe after Zcon. I also see in the ad that there is a warranty. I'm going to look into this when I have some time to breath: "We are confident in the quality and craftsmanship of our products, as a result we cover all of our products with our Resurrected Classics Parts Promise. This is a Lifetime Warranty that covers any manufacturing defects with your product during your ownership and entitles you to a new replacement of that part with free shipping. This warranty does not cover damage due to improper installation/handling, accidents, or improper modification. This limited warranty does not cover incidental, consequential, indirect, or special damages."

Well, I'm out of work time. In theory, I hit the road tomorrow morning. So whatever isn't done, isn't done. I got wipers on. Really don't want to be in a situation where I use them, but they're on there: Hope to see lots of you in Nashville. Assuming my radiator and my back hold together well enough to get there!!

Silver is tough paint to spray evenly - even tougher to match ("even tougher" I said... nearly impossible). You want someone with a good deal of experience spraying silver metallic and that's not generally cheap. We always had very good luck with our supplier (Sherman Williams Automotive) and Datsun colors - what they had was very close to factory. I think we shot three silver Z's. Datsun metallic base paint is fairly inexpensive (for paint) and fairly consistent in price. It's the clear and hardener that will have a great deal of price variation. Be forewarned that cheap clear usually means greater LABOR cost or settling for a poorer outcome. Each painter you talk to will have a preference for the clear they use and they will have a reason they do so. If you go against their preference don't be surprised by additional labor or cost to get the clear looking the way you want it to. And please don't argue with the guy - after he's sprayed the paint you told him to. (Here in Phoenix our cost of just the final materials (sealer, base coat, clearcoat) of the brands we prefer would be just over $1,000 (using a very good clear but by no means the most expensive) and not talking of labor, fillers, or primers. We got a pretty good discount - and a painters discount may or may not be passed on to you. Paint cost is the very cheapest part of the job.) If you want the silver "to pop", spray dark sealer under the base. If you use a lighter sealer the silver metallic will look "washed out" and will not have as much character, For the most part paint IS NOT opaque. Underlying colors will have a visual effect - subtle but definitely noticeable. I personally despise masking around weather strip and trim. It may look acceptable at first but will eventually present a myriad of issues. Early on, we did one at a customers request and immediately afterwards made it a policy to NEVER do it again. You think you may be saving on labor cost to mask rather than remove but in reality labor saving is minute and the result is poor. We had several Z's come to the shop years after a "masked trim and weather strip" spray looking needlessly shabby. Pull the windows and trim and get paint underneath all the gaskets, trim, and weather strip. My last piece of advice - if you can't afford what the experienced painter quotes you just don't do it - don't look for a cheap quote. And, with a Z, you CANNOT hold him to an initial ESTIMATE (unless he doubles up). There are WAY to many unseen things that may pop up. (I said "MAY pop up"... Sigh... I can't remember a single Z in our shop that didn't have surprises unknown to the owner AND to us!) Oh,, ya,, we shot that. VVV

Thanks for the words of wisdom and encouragement everyone. I appreciate the support! I've been driving The OG around for a couple days ago, and my back isn't the happiest. I've changed not much else in my life in the past week, so I'm assuming it's the seats. There's no springs, and I assume all the straps underneath have turned to dust. I've got a couple car seat cushions on order from Amazon. They'll be here before the trip, and I'm hoping one of those options helps. I don't have time to do anything with the seats the right way. So today, I got my shift boot installed. Put the grommet in the right way (with help from @SpeedRoo): And then promptly folded it correctly down into the abyss where nobody will ever see it. Haha!!! So it's installed the correct way, but nobody except me will ever know. And, of course, all of you: 4 DAYS!!!

This should probably be in the carb discussion section rather than electronics.

It's a pumpkin (or some kind of squash) seed and a bunch of other small seeds. Apparently that can happen when you store your car for years with the radiator cap off. I don't know what was living in there, but it had quite a comfortable home. Here's some background history... I saw critter evidence junk in the radiator. Flushed out as much as I could with a hose. Drove the car. and the temps started out fine, but started to creep up the longer I drove. Drained the radiator looked in the top, and there was junk in it again. Apparently some debris was now circulating around the cooling system. So I pulled the radiator and dug/flushed/picked out as much debris as I could and put it back in. This time, however,,, No messing around. I installed a "filter" between the head outlet and the inlet of the radiator with the hope that it would catch debris coming out of the block before it got into the radiator. The filter was a metal screen sock that's used on your washing machine outlet so you don't dump lint into your plumbing. And it just so happens it fit's well into the radiator hose. Looks like this: Chain mail condom: Stuff it into the top radiator hose: Drive around for a couple minutes and I catch this debris before it gets back into the radiator: Rinse and repeat. This is the third time I cleaned out the filter. Probably an hour of engine run time. The amount of debris getting caught is decreasing: I've since pulled it a couple more times and it's almost clean. I can probably remove the filter at this point.

I hit 70 mph today. Seemed to like it just fine. Not sure how it would like it for ten hours, but it seemed to like it for five minutes. Temps started creeping up a little, which is somewhat disconcerting since it was a cool evening. I have previously been through a (critter induced) radiator calamity, but was hoping it was mitigated to the point of being OK. Maybe I still need to do more... Running out of time!!!

@jfa.series1 I've had good luck getting all the parts through amayama, partsouq or nissan parts deal. You'll have to assemble the kit yourself, that's what I did.

Don't forget about the bronze valve seats that came OE in the E31. They're not good with the gas we use now but you can have them updated to steel for not much money if you're not currently running the head.

It wouldn't be a Datsun if it didn't have a little rust!!

Well in the time remaining, I may have to pick and choose what loose ends I leave drag. Hope your Dad would approve!!