Diseazd

That would be silver Hardway, but you're right about a premium car bringing decent money, but if you're looking for a Z32, you'd better buy em now, cause they are incredibly cheap.....mine (without a scratch) would probably only bring about $10,000.00..............that's the price for a restorable 240Z.....in need of repair. These cars out of the box handle like a race car, and they ride like a Cadilac!

Just read where Hagarty named the 90 to 95 Z32 a top ten collectable, so I buffed out my 1990 original paint 300ZX. The Turtle Wax trim restorer works miracles. These cars are incredible.....don't know why they are so cheap!

Put 20 miles on her this morning. It must have been caused by the 17 mm bolt (bushing that bolts the pedal to the pedal box at the top of the pedal)) that backed out letting the brake pedal wobble around, because it wasn't a problem today. If that bolt had dropped out, I think it could have been exciting . There was no heat or drag whatsoever. I guess the twisted pedal could have activated vacuum in the booster and put pressure on the brakes. Whatcha think?

Zed Head...... Not sure what initiated the problem.....it may have been dragging for a while....just not bad. Remember...this car has been in Resto for 2 1/2 years, so I'm just getting around to driving it. Let me tell you what I did find though. The 17 mm bushing/bolt was halfway out.....the brake pedal was wobbling around, about to fall out and ruin my day! I slid it back in and bolted it down tight.....could that have been part of the problem? Next, I pulled the master cylinder off of the booster.....reaction disc stayed in place to my delight. I shortened the adjusting plunger rod about 3/16 to 1/4 inch and put it back together. I put 8 to 10 miles on it.....no brake dust and no burning smell, and no hot Panasport. You may have been right, there may have been a little pressure on the master cylinder plunger.....causing my problem. Getting dark, will put 40 or 50 miles on it tomorrow and if OK, I've got new rotors and calipers to install....they may still be a problem. Thanks for your help and everyone else's. I'll update till I'm sure it's fixed. BTW, I still can't figure out how to adjust the brake pedal ( do you take off the big spring, do you adjust it while putting light pressure against the booster etc.) I would imagine the booster plunger rod does pretty much the same thing. Thanks all ....I'll update later.

I'm going to go out and adjust the pedal rod to see if it might be applying pressure on the MC. I want to make sure that's not the case, otherwise new calipers aren't going to solve the problem. If that doesn't help, I'll install the new rotors and calipers, and if that doesn't fix things, I guess I'll check the plunger rod in the booster for adjustment (too long). Thanks everyone for your help ......I'll keep you informed as I go along.

I see where the rod should be adjusted to 8 1/8 inches from the top of the pedal to the floor. Is that adjustment when you are pushing the pedal down or with it hanging free?

The front brakes are locking up on my orange 72......I have a brand new master cylinder (Nissan). The brake lines are all new. Any ideas on the cause? I'm wondering if there is any adjustment on the push rod of the M/C? The front right wheel gets so hot you can't touch it.....the left front wheel has more than usual brake dust. Fluid level was down on the front resovoir. Any ideas.....I suck at brakes?

Cool pictures Steve.....Thanks for taking the time........

How about more pics of people?

Looks like me when I went to Savannah 3 years ago. Silver Xterra pulling a gold Z! Good Luck Jim.....beautiful car!

Try Zcarsource.com ......They have tons of used parts.....buy a used set and take em down to stainless steel.

Bansai Motorworks has 'em under loss leader in their catalog.

No problem with air flow using a stock air cleaner on a modded 280ZX. Your engine looks great!

Remember, we jacked the towers up .080 inches, so the engine valve train remains bone stock. Z Doctor in Roanoke says that if Isky regrinds a stock Datsun cam, there's really no need to degree the cam......Isky says the same thing ( see Zed Head post 81). I'm extremely happy with the performance of these cams........really makes the cars fun to drive!

I run Stage III Isky regrinds in all but one of my Z's. It's a really nice grind.....no problem on the street.....pulls hard all the way through the rpm range! However, all engines are L28 with P79 shaved heads, except the L24 (72 modified L24) in the 73. Can't speak for the Stage III in L24's, I run a Stage II Isky regrind in it. They are 10 degrees less duration and .480 lift......I would only buy Stage III in the future.

Richard....Stage III Isky Cam is .490 lift; Intake 36-74; Exhaust is 74-36 duration is 290 degrees..... at .050 duration is 242 degrees.

Not really.....the larger L28 valves will make contact with the cylinders of the 240Z unless bored out. Get yourself an early E88 or E31......it'll be more original also. IMO

I don't have 'em in any of my motors. No problem. Like you say..........the two machined surfaces seal tight. I certainly wouldn't use that gasket....... Doesn't look like it would seal.

Brenda and I will arrive late Thursday afternoon.....leave Sunday a.m. BTW.....Eiji Hosomi will be caravaning with us.......

Stevej.........

Steve....Neat idea.....anxious to hear how it works. I always wanted to rig up a resovoir above an old radiator to put ice in, so when the ice slowly melted, it would run down through the radiator and then out the bottom (overboard) with a fan behind it to blow cool air (for my boat when we slept on it). It would work for campers also. Sorry 'bout the Commadores baseball.....so close to a repeat. See you in Memphis!

Valve seats shouldn't be that expensive to replace. The seats are $60.00 ($5.00 each) and my machine shop charges $15.00 each (labor to replace). A couple hundred bucks for updating an engine to today's standards is worth the extra money. If your guy wants $75.00 each, I'd find another machine shop. But, that still doesn't answer the noise question. Did they reuse the old rockers? If so, did they reinstall the rockers and lash pads in the order they came out? If not, that could contribute to some of the noise. Check to make sure on TDC compression stroke that your cam sprocket timing mark is dead on ( I'm sure you've already done this). 2nd, back off your ignition timing a little (while it's running).....too much advance seems to make a valve train a little noisy.......see if you can hear it quiet down a little on retarding. I never have found that setting valve clearances hot or cold makes much difference in noise level, but some here have, so give that a try. Finally, Datsun engines are inherently a little noisy, especially when you are listening for every little possible demon. If everything checks out, and you have double checked everything (including oil pressure), run the thing as Is. It certainly sounds like it's running good......maybe all the old parts will break in over time and she'll quiet down. It certainly is a beautiful engine.....you've done a hell of a nice job in putting her together.

What did he do to repair number 4? Did he install a new valve seat? You know that the original bronze valve seats won't last with today's unleaded gas. It needs some steel seats, but that shouldn't cause the noise you're hearing.

Exactly......Another good reason to only use a machine shop that is familiar with the early Datsun heads.

Quote.....All new valves? If you re-adjust the Valve clearances when Hot, and it doesn't quiet down check the end of the Valve stems. Some machinist's will regrind them to get the installed height correct after replacing valve seats or over sized valves. On my old engine, the Machinist ( not mine ) had ground the Valve tips with what looked to be a Bench grinder. The tips were not even remotely close to being flat. Lash pads would tilt and mess up the measurement. Never a good idea to grind the valve stem tips to adjust valve stem height on the L series engines. The early (cupped) lash pads can make contact with the valve retainers and destroy them. The later lash pads are probably ok, because they are flat across the bottom and don't "hang over" the valve stem tip.