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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!!😃

@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!!

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.

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!!

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!

I would. But it will take me 35+ hours to get there. If I leave immediately. And break the speed limit.

You can download the Factory Service Manual for every year of Z car at nicoclub.com ( https://www.nicoclub.com/datsun-service-manuals ) Coil specs: Engine Electrical EE-26. Electrical Schematic: Body Electrical BE-5 I described the wiring for the tach operation above but: The coil gets battery voltage at Ignition ON through a Black/White wire. Black/White is a Nissan standard throughout the Z cars of the 70's for "battery voltage (or whatever the alternator delivers) when the ignition switch is in the ON position. NEVER assume a Black/White wire in a Datsun has anything to do with GROUND - IT DOESN'T! BUT - the 240Z Tach works on amp draw. SO, the tach needs the B/W that powers the coil to run through it (the tach) FIRST (before it feeds the coil). A ballast resistor was common for ALL single coil distributor engines of that era. Nissan designed the circuit so that power to the coil when through the BALLAST before the tach and coil. That's why the wiring is a bit confusing. IN THE STOCK CONFIGURATION, There are three (3) wires that make this happen: TWO Black/White (B/W) wires and ONE Green/White (G/W) wire that are in the harness bundle that pass in front of the radiator core support and then through a hole in the left side and end up in the coil area. (The coil and the ballast resistor are side-by-side) IF all three of those wires are temporarily disconnected. ONLY ONE of those two B/W wires will have power at IGN ON. Stock config: The B/W with battery voltage would attach to one side of the BALLAST. The Green/White (G/W) would attach to the OTHER SIDE of the BALLAST. The G/W returns to the TACH. From the Tach, the SECOND Black/White (B/W) RETURNS to the COIL "+" terminal. (IF you were eliminating the ballast for some reason, the B/W with power should attach to the G/W so it feeds the tach before sending power to the coil through the second B/W...) THUS: B/W from IGN Switch -> BALLAST -> G/W back to TACH -> B/W to "+" side of COIL...

Sorry, that is positive earth smoke. It won't work on our negative earth cars.

Thanks for the reply and it does make sense. Maybe I'll see if I can find another tach or a replacement smoke kit. Hopefully Lucas parts would be compatible with our Z cars!

Update from the Good Captain: He called me from Bristol, VA. He's making good progress, and the car is holding together, though he is still concerned about the cooling capacity of his radiator. I told him to run the heat, too, but he declined. (Obscure reference: Watch Gumball Rally when the Camaro is running hot.) He expects to hit NashVegas this evening.

Texted you...does you phone do texts? 🤣

So I considered registering the OG for the judged show just for entertainment value*. But I could not figure out how. I could not see any option to attend. Is that show full and they aren't accepting any more entrants? Anybody have a phone number for someone on the org committee? My electronic footprint is low while I travel, but I can text. *Him - "Dude, your car looks like asss, why are you here?" Me - Yeah, your car is beautiful, but I can see 1000 things that aren't original. And I drove mine almost 1000 miles to get here.

Hi, I did some work refreshing for metal headlight bowl case of my Z432. In Japan, headlights case has a note “右配光” (Aiming to the right) and “L o R.” Is that its lens cut different? I have a new set of the light bowl but I don’t want to use it because new replacements from Nissan has different shape of the plastic screw cover.Original is also a see through plastic but new one is white. So I cleaned it and painted it with hand written “右配光 R(L)” “12V” Please note earlier type doesn’t have tiny holes for retaining the rubber seal to the metal bowl. Kats

It sounds like the tach itself. From your description I would imagine there's a part inside that let the smoke out. I doubt the coil itself is going to have that effect. Perhaps removing the ballast had a role, perhaps not. Like Yarb said, maybe it's just old. There are discrete parts in there and perhaps the culprit could be found and replaced. The tach is just reporting entity and has no physical connection to the engine or coil. There is a battery positive and ground for power, but the "signal" is isolated - that wire is not physically attached to any part of the gauge. If you look at the back you'll see the G/W feeds a looped wire that goes through the same sort of device that a "clamp meter" (ammeter, amp probe, or the clamp that goes over the spark plug wire on a new-fangled timing light) has.

So how bad do you want your turn signals working? Hahahaha!!!! ☺️

So today's event was I spent some time working on the original starter. Took it apart, cleaned and lubed, and reassembled. I had been using a gear reduction starter from a later year because the original was struggling in the beginning. Now that I have the motor and carbs gone through, the engine starts with the flick of switch and I don't have to grind out the original starter to get it to run. The original starter works great.

You've probably heard these songs but didn't know the artist. Same guy. He wrote one of them. Wahhh wah wah wah...

Very nice. (I'm also happy that you don't have any body side molding...) Could be just camera, but if you look at the two pictures of silver Z's you'll notice the slight difference in "tone". Not to fault anyone or anything. Two different painters can use silver metallic from the exact same can, and spray two slightly but noticeably different "colors". With silver, the flake is usually the majority of the color, and how the flake settles on the part will make a difference. As will the amount of material applied and the primer or sealer used underneath.

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

Looks to me like nearly every part of that car was touched during a restoration. I would think, even with current valuations for 240z's being lower than their peak, this car would be worth more than $70k.

Went on my first road trip of the year with my BC Z club friends. About a dozen of us left from the Vancouver area, I joined from Chilliwack and we made our way to the BC Okanagan. Our original plan was to take the Coquihalla Highway to Kelowna, but a large sinkhole closed that route. We ended up taking the more scenic Hope-Princton Highway. For me it was a 436 mile (700km) return trip. My1970 Zed performed flawlessly, even in high mountain terrain and temperatures in the mid 30's C, (93 F), Our first stop was in Princton, for fuel, and to meet up with a few more Z club members. Here's a pic of a few of us in Princton. Our end destination was Kelowna, where Kelowna Nissan generously us hosted for a welcome event. They put on a great BBQ and offered up some Nissan swag. With other club members that met up with us along the way, there was close to twenty Zeds. The Zed to the left of me is fellow forum member @Chickenman, with his 1976 280Z. Thanks Richard, for the "way home" route ideas. The next morning, quite a few had decided to stay an extra day and enjoy the awesome wineries in the surrounding area. I and others, make the trek back, with most taking the faster, more direct Coquihalla route, as sink hole repairs had been made. I like to take the road less travelled, so I did a solo drive on a longer but more scenic route. This route included highway 5A from Merritt to Princton, that runs beside a seemingly endless series of beautiful lakes. Another bonus was that I was almost the only car on the road, with that route. 🙂 All in all, it was a great weekend. I'm looking forward to the next road trip.😎

Grab another tach off eBay and go from there.

Couldn't help you with that, but I doubt either part would keep the tach from operating if it's wired properly (the tach and coil) . And if it's running - and running well - why would you think there might be an issue between the MSD coil and Pertronix module? The distributor module (Pertronix, points, 280ZX "matchbox", whatever) gathers info from the crankshaft and sends a "signal" for the coil to fire. It momentarily asserts a Ground on the coil "-" terminal. The rotor "distributes" the released coil energy to the various spark plugs at the appropriate time. If any of that isn't working properly there would be no well running engine.

Bruce, how many miles have you driven now as i got no idea, a 1000? In my country you can't drive 350 km, you run out of land! :-) Mart.(in)

Great Job Bruce!!!

Sometimes the journey is more rewarding that the show, congrats on all your efforts to make it to the event! Let's see what it can do on the track.

Little update as I don’t have much time to work on the car. After connecting the AFM to a spare battery and testing the voltage on pin 7 I noticed very inconsistent voltage readings and a lot of gaps in the carbon track even though it doesn’t look damaged. And yes I know the AFM has a logarithmic scale with a range of 0 – 9 Volt, Its basically just a voltage divider and a potentiometer in one. Here is a picture I found together with the link and some other useful links (last one is for a Range Rover but it’s the same concept and same Bosch style AFM). https://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/afm/sizeupgrade/index.html https://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/afm/index.html https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/AFMadjust.html After a bunch of searching I did fine more reference pictures of the Datsun 7 pin AFM’s and other Bosch AFM modules of the same type, that bend is 100% not supposed to be there. I did notice that if I press the copper part of the wiper hard against the carbon track I do get some sort of reading but so maybe somebody tried to “fix” the AFM by bending the wiper. Unfortunately the track has failed in its entirely and I can’t find anybody that can fix the circuit board. Enlarging the bolt slots and moving the wiper to a fresher part of the track also didn’t work. This lead me deep into the Bosch AFM rabbit hole that is the world of Datsun / BMW / Porsche forums. I found an Australian forum post that mentions a slightly larger 90’s Toyota AFM being plug and play for his L28E 280Z(X?) with the part number F201 13 210 (197100-3420). This is also a 7 pin style AFM With the same internal (and pin) layout as the Datsun 7 pin AFM’s. When looking if I could find this AFM in Europe I actually found one at a local junkyard from a 1988-1992 2.2i GT Turbo 12V Ford (USA) Probe for €25,- so I ordered it immediately to try and test this theory (same AFM was also used on the Mazda 626 and 929, also found a part number from Standerd "MF9107"). The original post did mention you need to loosen the tension on the flap by 3 teeth as the flap is bigger than the Datsun AFM’s. https://www.viczcar.com/forums/topic/6951-larger-afm-for-a-280zx If this doesn’t work I will continue to look for an replacement Datsun AFM that doesn’t break the bank (I know, that’s a tough one). I might also look into making a custom plug and play MAF swap. I found a US based company called Split Second that makes MAF to AFM conversion modules and MAF conversion kits for BMW’s. They also have a 0-9 Volt module (PSC1-009) that might work with the stock Datsun ECU in theory. https://splitsec.com/product/psc1-009-programmable-signal-calibrator-afm-to-maf-hv-output https://splitsec.com/wp-content/uploads/technotes/TN2_AFM_to_MAF_Conversion.pdf And yes I will post all my findings online as there isn’t much information to be found about AFM sensors and there alternatives. Also no I don’t want to carb swap my car, I want to stay EFI but don’t want to spend thousands yet to upgrade the entire EFI system. If anybody has a 0-5 Volt (or 5-0 Volt) AFM module that needs a rebuild / modernization I found an interesting company in Switzerland called SyncroSweets that swaps the wiper potentiometer for a modern programable potentiometer that’s plug and play. https://www.syncrosweets.ch/en/luftmengenmesser

It should be 36psi with the car not running! It should drop at idle based on manifold vacuum

The interior is where I check to see if the speedo has turned over. Seat, carpet, and especially pedal cover wear are good indicators.

Hi and Thanks Man, I greatly appreciate the detailed response. Fortunately I did not pay a dime for it :D! I pulled it from my Dad's barn in Iowa, hauled it back to the East Coast a year ago and put it into a garage. Your assessment is greatly appreciated, since I haven't done a unibody / monocoque car before, but I suspected this may be a larger undertaking than I had originally planned. I was planning to strip off the fenders doors, etc. this week to better assess the rest of what I can't see, but you have given me a solid starting point to evaluate it all. Although I can paint and weld, the cost for the sheet metal parts to cover your list above will probably run more than I had originally planned, which will require some adjustment to my timeline and expectations for sure. Your guidance/advice is definitely going to be considered as I take a closer look at the hidden structural elements such as the A pillars, etc. Very much appreciated and Thanks amigo!! Mike Baltimore, MD

Hi all! I'm spending most of March in Japan, and as I'm slowly restoring my 240z, figured there may well be some treasure troves of parts hidden away somewhere I can get to. Either that or a friendly enthusiast who might be good to meet! If you know of anywhere or anyone, I'd love recommendations or introductions.

I can see from your pic the fun that the body man is gonna have with the lower fender and rocker and/or dogleg... Completely typical though.

Could be the tach just said I’m done. These are 50 year old cars.

Installed the freshly restored seats in the orange 72

Horror House on Highway Five (1985)

What a fantastic shot! That could be a poster.

Missed 2 car shows yesterday because of rain but made up for it today as did others. A lot of classics out around here on a beautiful day. Car ran great! Here's to the rest of the day fellows, it's drinking time, all driving is over. 🍻

Went to Cars & Coffee in Steveston BC this morning, and met up with about a dozen members of the local Zed club I belong to. It was110 km from my house, so it was a great drive too. After the cars & coffee we did a scenic group drive for breakfast to a local Pub for the $5.99 special. Lol. Sadly this the last weekend they will be open, as they are closing after 130 years of service. Sometimes "progress" sucks, the Buck & Ear will be missed. On the way home I also stopped at my favorite, close to me, craft brewery. For some reason I was attracted to this six pack? I think this Dutch Pale Ale is my new go to beer. Lol. And it tastes good too.

Go to the Nissan museum wherever it is. All I have seen were the pictures and it's fantastic. Kats is a pilot so he's probably pretty busy but maybe...? Have fun and try not to spend all your money in the dirty panties vending machines. That's what I'd do.

I figured I would let the cat out of the bag. From September 2020 at the unveiling, I thought that Nissan finally designed a Z I would want to buy new. I was too young to buy an S30 or S310 new. I was young and broke when the Z31 and Z32 came out, and I never was really taken by the Z33 or Z34. Yes, the RZ34 is a Z34 with a new wrapper, but I really liked the heritage touches. To me it looks more like a GT car and less boy racer. When I talked to a couple of Nissan people during the pre-sales road shows, they confirmed New Sight Orange would be coming. The first Z I remember was a 260Z in New Sight Orange. It was owned by a former NASA test pilot, and I lived down the street from him. A friend's father bought the car and got it back on the road. My friend got to enjoy it for a few years before the car was hit by an uninsured motorist. My first Z, a 73 was originally New Sight Orange, though someone with questionable taste had it repainted a color similar to Metallic Gold, though it looked worse than a MAACO paint job. I still have that car and hope to return it to New Sight Orange some day. I was excited to hear that Nissan was holding to its word that orange was coming back, but my excitement diminished when I learned it was on the Heritage Edition only with a sticker of $62K (plus whatever the dealers think they can charge for a special edition). So I set about looking for an alternative. I noticed that dealers were finally coming off sticker price for the Z. On the other hand most of those Zs were Gun Metallic. While I don't worry too much about color, I didn't really want grey. No blue Zs with manuals were popping up nearby, but finally a Z in Sport trim showed up at one of the closest dealers sporting Ikazuchi Yellow Pearl paint. I took it for a test drive, and the wife loved it. It felt right for my new daily driver, so a couple of hours later I drove it home. The new Z has very good acceleration as one would expect with 400HP on tap. The steering feels extremely light at low speeds, but the feel improves as speed increased. With no limited slip, it's easy to spin the tire a little getting into traffic. The seats are comfortable, and the shifter is in easy reach. The clutch engages higher than I think it should, but I am just going to live with that. The blind spots are huge, but the blind spot warning system seems to work well. The view out the rear window is small, too. I have an Android phone, so one of the USB slots is taken by the phone if I want to use navigation. If you want more creature comforts, or if you are planning on tracking the car, go for the Performance trim. The yellow pearl paint stands out, but it doesn't look like a taxi, even with the black roof. I have experienced one problem with the car so far. Yesterday, the TPMS monitoring system lost communications with all 4 tires. I drove the car around for a while, and the system found the left front, though that didn't last. I guess I'll see how good the local service department is.