beandip

Condition is the number one thing. Rust is the most costly item to cure or repair so rust free is a vary big item. As these cars get older there are fewer and fewer of them around . The prices over the past 3yrs have increase at least 20% and more if in really great shape. It appears that on the east coast the early cars are getting rarer and there for will bring a higher price tag. If things go with the Z as they have with other cars in America in the past the '70 will be worth the most and followed by the '74 because it was made only 1yr , 260, the '70 , it was the first. In order for the cars to be worth the big bucks , they MUST be origional in all respects , no mods, and with the stock color paint , origional paint is best. Other than a Show car , if you want to drive the car then make it how you want it , 5 speed , 280 engine purple paint , what ever floats your boat , just enjoy the ride. If you are looking at the car as an investment , if you make it really nice and do the major work your self and it is 1st class , you will maybe break even. :classic:

zorro , mike is right on about the '69 and the build year. The differences in the cars from the '70 and on through the '73 are mostly vary minor . The reason the '73 got a bad rap ,as was stated before, was due to the regulations imposed by the government in the way of emissions controll. Datsun was forced to change from the proven round top SU to the emission carb the Flat top. This and they had to slightly drop the compression . This cost horsepower and the following year the 260 engine was built to attempt to regain the HP. The '73 was a little heaver due to emissions equipment and heaver bumpers , seat regulaters , they tilt back, retractable seats belts. We are talking about 200lbs or less. The B trans that was mentioned was introduced in '72 and was an automatic. It was just an up date and was used untill '78 I think. . From the first Z in '70 the cars evolved with vary minor changes untill '74 model year . Then the 280s started '75 . So you see there is no worst. If you take a '73 stick on some round tops and early front bumpers and you have a Z the same as the '70, '71, '72, the lighter and the ash tray is in a different position as well as the hazzard swich. I hope this helps to clear up some things for you .:classic:

Good to see ES is back . I want to make one point , as a former Californian , There is a lot of money made for the city and state this time of year from turism. Now that I live in cold country I apriciate the paraide . I lived about 1 hour away from it fror 45 yrs and only went to see it once . Now living here when we are fighting freezing rain and ice storms and snow and the pool is covered with 1/2" of Ice , it looks good. I also watch the Golf turny form Haiwii too. Sorry I cannot spell , I am deslecic.

There seems to be a miss understanding on what the different weight oils do in the carbs . When the piston , and needle , rises it causes encreased air flow thus leaning out the fuel mixture for a secound untill the needle rises to a point that it allows aditional fuel to enter the air streem. When a thin oil is used like ATF or Mistery oil , it allows the piston to rise quickly causing a leaner mixture. Thicker viscosity oil retards the riseing of the dome just a split secound alowing for a richer mixture , just like a accelerater pump on a detroit carb. This eliminates a stumble off the line. It is only when starting from idle at a stop does this make a difference. After the RPMs are up and you are moving , either oil makes no difference. If you are driving in vary cold temp and the engine is not warmed up most likely the choke is in use any way and either way if the engine is cold it shouldent be pushed in any event. At least this is my 2cts . I have used all three and now I only use 20wt. and find that on the street it works the best for me. I have tried to out clever the builders but have found so far Datsun did a damn good job on these engines. other than the flat tops, but they were forced on them . As for cost of the oil . I have the same qt of oil I started using 3 years ago and have given some away and still have 3/4 of a qt. . :classic:

I have memtioned this before , a easy fix is a pump from a carbed RX-7 , they are as quiet as the oem and pump the correct pressure and plenty of volume . Quiet is some thing several after mkt. pumps are not, and $15.00 at the bone yard is not a bad deal. :classic:

Victor , thanks. This is exactly what I was looking for . This a real interesting page , I took a look around on it and recommend it to all. I especially liked the dyno info. Thanks Gary:classic:

HOW ABOUT THIS SPORTS FANS , WE HAVE A JUMP BALL ! do we connect the vacume or not .

If you can buy the complete car for $300. it seems like a no brainer to me , that is if you have a place to work on it. The block core alone is worth $200. . There is a member of the club phred , he builds these engines for a living and does wonders with the heads . Find him in the members list and send him a email about the heads. I see you live in SC , prices of cars and parts vary greatly when you are dealing in used , but the car sounds like a vary good buy to me. go to geocities.com/row4navy/head2.html :classic:

Is there any one here that knows the difference in the mechanical advance curve in these dist. between the units for a automatic trans and a manual. I know the automatic trans. unit is stamped # 9 and has stiffer springs than the manual stamped #8.5 . I am wondering at what RPM either is going to full advance, and when the vacume advance and the cintrifical starts on each. I have been running a '79 manual model for about 3 yrs on my L-24 , but now I am installing a slightly built 280 and I would like more info. in this area, thanks for any information and or direction as to where I can find it . Gary:classic:

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on the adjustment of the round tops . When you reach under th e carb where the small fuel hose connects to the bottom of the carb there is an mixtrue adjustment. Turn this counter clock wise unitill it stops , then back it off clock wise 21/4 turns and start the engine and see how she runs . The back fire could be a lean pop and in this case just rurn the adjustment clockwise 1/4 turn. there is a section in the tec area on this . Gary

I was thinking of bolting a large Eye bolt through the roof and lifting it up and spinning it around I could attach it to beam of the garage and add a stiffiner plate in side under the roof. What do ya think? I shure would like to close the garage door since it is now 17 degs. and snowing and 20 MPH wind blowing and I am freezing my arse off. I SENT THE CAT HAIR TO THE F.B.I. AND THEY ARE DOING A D N A TEST. Were going to get to bottom or top of this , which ever comes first ! The dice came from Mexaco hum .

here is a site that will give you all the info. geocities.com/zgarage.2001/engine.html check it out. Gary

I am doing the same engine swap and at the moment both engines are an hour away , in storage. So I cannot look . If I remember right when I stripped the engines for storage the oil sending units had different size connection plumbing to the block. In any rate some time ago I read a posting and it was seconded several times by others to use only Nissan senders , for reliability . I am facing the same thing as well . Gary:classic:

Did you ever ask for a hand and all you got was the C L A P ?? Like the song says " thank God for unansered prayers " . When you ask for help you never know what is in store ??? Next time when I go to get the Beer and pizza I will lock the door !! I am not saying I know who did it but I also found fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror and gold striping on the rear window, plus some white Cat hair . I dont have a cat, Hum ! ROFL

were you able to obtain the thicker spacer that installs between the intake and the carb ? Connecting the vacum line to the port at the base of the front carb is correct . Connecting the water line up that goes thorugh the intake manifold is wise if you live any where it is cold in the winter and 90+ in the summer. It evens out the temp and aids in warm up in winter and helps to cool the carbs in summer from conducted and raidiated heat from the intake and exhaust manifolds. The hose form the block to the air cleaner is supposed to have a PCV installed in it to aid in keeping the engine clean. The air pump is ok to keep if it is still working and not frozen . The air pump will not effect performance either way but will most likely be needed to pass emissions. When tuning the engine for emissions testing , set the mixture lean for the test and readjust to correct after you are done. the '73 Zs had trouble with vapor locking and with the flat top carbs , so Datsun installed electric fuel pumps and wrapped the fuel rail with insulation to help solve the problem. With the round tops you should not have any trouble if you are using the thicker bakeolite spacer and water going thorugh the intake. :classic:

This guy know what he is talking about . Thanks Phred long time no see.

I don't know about the hi milage oils . I , like you think it is just an addvertising thing. I did quite a bit of surching on the web and found a site that went in depth on the componets found in the different brands of oil , they covered about ten different ones. They went into the ash content and all sorts of different things and raited them for different applicatinons. Under load , high RPMs Heat, cold , how they were for forming sludge , all sorts of tests were made. Now I had been using Quaker state oil for the past 40+ yrs and was pleased to see that it scored in the top two . Quaker and Castrol GTX were almost exactly the same in all reguards and rated the top two. I have since changed to GTX because I can buy it at Cosco , and with four engines to maintain the price brake helps some. :classic:

I am running a splash pan but I dont remember any numbers on it when I cleaned and painted it . I have it off and in the attic at present and will take a look and see about the numbers. Gary

not really but it will allow for quicker shifts as the rpm will die off faster between gear changing. I personall do not like it but this is just me. Probibly the most felt change will be the ignition , now when I made the change on my engine the old stock 240 dist need new points , but I couldent believe the difference it made in the driveability . This and the use of 20w oil in the carbs.

I use a I used this same method on my mag wheels. :classic:

the large 21/2" plumbing will loose you low end power and torque. That coupled with the header . As for the SM needles I bought mine from Z-therapy and they were $30.00 if I remember correctly. The electronic ignition will provide you with much better performance and the engine will be smoother running. I went with a '79 280 ZX ignition. If you find one at the bone yard be sure to get the adapter that the dist. bolts on to , that attaches to the block . The 240 part will not work right and y ou will have trouble with the timing. I also picked up the coil and its hold down mounting . This is a 12v coil not the 8v of the 240 and it is larger in dia. . Go to the page geocities.com/zgarage.2001/engine.html scroll down and you will find instructions on how to do the install. One thing it states that you cannot use the stock tach this is incorrect if the tach does not work just reverse the wires. My 240 tach has been working fine for over two years . One thing with the SUs , they are capeable of suplying all the the engine can use and then some , even a stroker engine. This is with the correct needles. I dont know if your stock engine will benifet from the richer mixture . There are others here I am sure that have tried them on a stock L-24

what was mentioned in passing was the fuseable link. Some time in the past it must have been replaced with a solid wire and when a problem ocured it fried the systime . start at the starter and work back.

you may have a problem passing emissions with the round tops. For your information the dealers installed roundtops on cars when the new owners complained loud and hard about the poor prerformance of the new '73 and '74s I dont know if this helps , but this is the trooth. You might need to use the flat tops to pass the test and then change after that. I had to do this with my GTO when I lived in calif.

do you have a ace hardware store in the area if so check on them. I still think the insoluaters are too thin and that is the trouble. the INSULATER bake-o-lite parts that were used with the flat tops are too thin and the thicker ones is what you want. as far as black prpper and eggs are concerned use your best judgement, I saw Laurl and Hardy use rice in the radiator on one of there films. If you use that be sure to flush all the coolent and rust first so at least you can eat the rice with the pepper and salt seasioning. Seriously JB weld will do a number on the freeze plug. By the way you need the thicker insolater for the round tops any way . Helps stops the heat transfer to the carb. HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS , FROM ALL OF US IN PORTLAND OREGON !