Oiluj

Very Nice! My 1st impression is that it seems a bit pricy. But considering the work involved and that it's not "mass produced", the price seems fair. Nice job!

Esprist, That is one fine looking engine bay! Mine's not bad, but I wish it looked as good as yours!

Congrats and welcome! This is the best board on the web, filled with helpful, knowledgeable people.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, don't like those black rubber antennas. I have an aftermarket automatic chrome antenna in mine I got at the local auto parts store.

The thinner spacers give me plenty of room for the air cleaner. The gaskets I made worked great as well. Turns out Bruce was right and I did need to shorten the studs a bit. Not a problem, as 8x1.25 x 50 mm studs are readily available. Plan to order a new set to pack into a plastic bag with my original spacers. Still need to tune the carbs and plan to do that this coming Friday.

For me. engine mods, suspension mods, even interior mods are OK, long as they are reversible to stock.

Arne, I have a cracked one and tried using a marine product, "creeping crack cure". While it did very slightly help minimize the cracks, it didn't work. I'm thinking this is a good candidate for a quality replacement insert piece. I don't have the means to make one, but maybe Dave can eventually reproduce a good copy. The plastic insert in the replica knob I have definitely does not look as good as my cracked original.

Bruce, Thanks for the post. I really appreciate someone with your experience replying to my post. Shows what a great site this is! Grinding-off the bleeder nipple was the first thing I tried, but it's still a pretty tight fit. In fact, I put some internal threads, (4-40), in the forward nipple and threaded the outside of a thin wall tube with some tygon tubing to use as a bleeding tool. Works pretty well. Before starting on this tack, I measured the length of the studs and clearance before I cut the insulator down, so it "shouldn't" interfere. We shall see if measured correctly... The gaskets are available and inexpensive, but cutting on the laser was more of a fun, "just cause I have the tool available", excerise. I'm very happy with the result. BTW, I have a set of spare carbs I'm thinking of sending you to be rebuilt later this Spring. Some jobs are better left to the pros... I need to clean them up a bit first and wait for my annual bonus in early April. (Assuming there's anything left, as my wife already has plans for a portion of it). Again, thanks for the input!

Attached is a pic of the gaskets I cut using the X-Y laser at work. . On the left is a pic of a cut sheet before removing the gaskets. The dark gasket was the original Nissan gasket. On the right is my thinner phenolic carb spacer block. . I left 1/8” inch uncut sections in the periphery of each gasket, and two on the inside diameter because I didn’t know if the material would curl when cutting. Turns out it wasn’t necessary. The separate gaskets were removed from the sheet using an X-Acto knife to cut the six, 1/8” long uncut areas. Difference in color is just different gasket stock. . I used a 75 watt laser, with a 0.005” dia beam. I quickly found it only took 4 watts of laser power to cleanly cut the 0.040” thick gasket material. The sheet on the left has burn marks on edges of the cuts because I started with 12 watts of laser power. . Plan to install the carbs this Friday. My only concern is that the thinner phenolic carb spacer lock may be more prone to cracking during installation or over time. Guess I’ll find out!

It's already there...

Right now I can't plan that far in advance, but Pleasanton is only about a 50 minute drive away. Please post the invite again in late Feb and if possible I'll attend.

When I upgraded my brakes, I switched to a 280ZX master brake cylinder with the bleed nipples on the engine side. When removing the air cleaner, the forward bleed nipple keeps scratching the paint on my air cleaner cover. My solution is to move the carbs inward 0.35" by machining down the carb spacers. (see attached pic of original spacer next to thinner spacer.). This should provide adequate clearance for the air cleaner. This week I'll do a gasket drawing and use the laser at work to cut some new gaskets. (Yes, it's a cool toy...). * If you try this, be aware that machining phenolic can create toxic dust, so use a vacuum to carry-away the fines generated during the milling operation. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Those look amazing! I'd be happy to break those in on my engine till you are ready to install them...

I've purchased various parts and my panasports from Les Cannady and he is a superior vendor. Was in North San Diego county, (Carlsbad), on buisness yesterday. Turn's out one of my co-workers has a Z being restored in Les Cannady’s shop. So we took an early lunch and drove over to Classic Datsun in Vista, CA to see the status of his car. I think his 240 will be a real head-turner when complete... Les and Ed were very friendly and even took 20 minutes out of their day to chat with us. They really know Datsuns, vintage motorsports and their combined knowledge is amazing. If I had more money, I’d not hesitate to have Les and Ed restore a car for me. It was a real treat to see some of the cars currently in Les's shop; classic Z’s, roadsters and 510’s, including several classic race cars driven by famous drivers. Another high-point was riding to Les’s shop in my co-worker’s Z-06 Corvette. Holy crap! The power and acceleration is unbelievable. He offered to let me drive it, but I didn’t feel comfortable driving it in traffic. Maybe on my next trip south… Sadly, there’s no way I could justify buying one to my wife...

Redline MT90. Good Stuff!

Hello from San Mateo. Welcome to the site!

Finish installing the Vintage Air HVAC and enjoy driving her! Lots of small stuff like installing the new hatch strut, un-squeak the seats, etc. Get 5-speed rebuilt and install next winter along with the improved diff mount.

Z Car Garage is reputable and good, but sometimes there can be a wait. I had a good experience with Datsonville in Burlingame, about 20 miles closer to you. Have heard ther is a good Z shop in Sacramento, but I don't know the name. Try searchinng the archives and it might pop-up.

I'm still in.

Yep, I'm closing-in on 79K miles. Once she's all done I expec to break 100K pretty quick...

FWIW, I like the "look" of 195's better than wider tires on the S30. Looks less 70's muscle car in my opinion.

No thanks, not my idea of fun... Did that when driving it back from Arizona where I bought the car, in late December. There was snow on the hills, but I had to keep the windows open to keep from choking on the smell of exhaust, because all the hatch seals were gone. It was a cold, 2 day drive. Had two towels to wipe the inside of the windshield, while the feeble wipers barely removed the 4hours of rain I drove through just after leaving LA. Now she's got good door & hatch seals, but I'll wait tilll I have a defroster, especially for driving at night. It's only a short time till she's finished.

Mine's still not quite ready as my heater's not yet hooked-up to defrost the windshield... I'll show-up there later this Spring!

Welcome, I live in San Mateo and have a '72 series II. I'm doing a resto-mod, with everything reversible except the Rebello engine. Julio

I'll chime in as well. Please don't do that to a classic Z! It's not an age thing, it's just wrong to ruin a classic car that way. Go get an old civic, it will be more effective with the group you are trying to impress...