JohnnyO

Dan, Looks like a lot of work but you seem to have a handle on it. Post more pics as you go. BTW, Last week I installed the door panels you picked up for me. They look great. I cannot thank you enough. Good luck and take care, John

Probably just the rubber bushing. You could replace it for cheap. You're along way from having to worry about that though. You the same smoothz as at zoom?

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SBC08 Bend over and get ready to be abused.... Good luck.

Thanks. It's supposed to rain all weekend up here so I might just have to start the blasting on the mesh. The centers look like aluminum or magnesium. Any warnings before I blast away with coal slag?

Thanks guys. Got to test them in a tarrential (sp?) downpour today. Seemed to ride alright at about 55 through some bends and hills with a strong wind pushing on the drivers side. I read somewhere that the Sumitomo HTRs are just a slight bit sloppy on wet roads but I am not convinced of that yet. I just can't believe how quiet and smooth they are. John

Brand new.... from 1989. Still had the stickers on the treads when I bought the car. Funny thing is they wouldn't honor the warranty.

Got rid of the new Michellins with the cracked sidewalls today. Went with the Sumitomo HTR 200's. I have to say my initial review of them is great. Nice and sticky, very, very quiet, soft and responsive. I took them up to 75 without any noticable vibration or noise. I will see if they remain the same after a few hundred miles. Now I just need to blast and powder coat the wheel centers. Going to get rid of the gold and go with black centers and chrome Z center caps.

Yeah, I thought my thinking was off a little. When I balanced the carbs I couldn't get the airflow to sync when I backed down the idle screws. My unisyn wouldn't even float when it was backed down below 1000 rpms. I adjusted the flow meter all the way in to create more of a venturi affect but it did not help. I think I need to buy a new flow meter. Mine is about 25 years old an a little beat up. I will get one from MSA and give it another go next weekend. Thanks for the tip.

I can't help you Marty but you might get more responses after everyone returns from the show. good luck, John

I found it and I am in the Minneapolis area. He must have it as a U.S. only ad. I think this is a mistake, missing out on a big Canadian Z audience. John

Yeah, no problem. There is always contradictory information in threads that's is why I go through as many as I can before I make a decision on a repair. Thanks for all the input. I haven't messed with the dizzy advance yet. I balanced the carbs after getting the timing straight yesterday and I am now idling at about 1100 rpms. I think if I tweak the timing I should be able to get it down to around 800. John

Guy, That was it. I loosened the bolt below the condensor and I can now ajust down to the 2nd notch Which is about 5 degrees BTDC. Also, it seems to run nice around the 15 degree mark. The FSM says emission controled L24s should be at 5 but the Chiltons says 17. Any input on where I should time it? Thanks big time. John

Guy, This is the only thing I haven't done yet. What are the 2 adjustments on the dizzy? Manual adjustment and vacuum advance? Thanks, John

Thanks for the replies. You are both right, I was at #6 tdc. I must have been on the exhaust stroke on #1. I read on another post here that the lobes should be pointing down and out at say 830 and 430 not up at 1030 and 130. That is obviously wrong. They are pointing up now as instructed above. I do own a timing light and have used it to get the car running. To get the timing close enough to drive I have to retard it all the way. This cant be right. I have 5 notches on my HB (0 through 20 degrees) and have checked both the FSM and Chiltons and they both say (with pictures in the Chiltons) that TDC is the furthest to the left so I believe you are wrong here. I verified TDC with the lobe position, piston position and rotor position. So with all that being said, am I off a tooth on the timing gear? That's the only explanation I can think of for having to retard all the way. If I set the dizzy adjustment right in the middle (no advance, no retard) I am about 30 degrees BTDC. If I retard all the way I can get to about 25 degrees BTDC. If I advance all the way it dies. Would this be one tooth off? Which way do I want to rotate the shaft if that is the problem? Thanks, John

Stephen, we got another bot.

So I got my car running a few weeks ago and thought that I might have put the oil pump shaft in a "tooth off" because I couldn't get the timing just right. I did manage to get it running pretty good and idling a little rough at about 800 rpms after it warmed up nicely. I accomplished this by retarding the dizzy as far as it would go. When it was retarded as far as it can go I would be some where in the neighborhood of 20 degrees with my mark. My FSM says I should be at 5 degrees and I think opinions vary here between 5 and 12 degrees. I would like to start with 5 and see how it runs. So today was rainy so I didn't drive the car and decided to look into whether or not I needed to drop the pump and line up the shaft. After going through some of the many threads about this very topic I have determined that I am 180 degrees off on my dizzy. But it runs good, and pulls strong through the 5000 rpm mark without any backfiring or sputtering. The only issue is the slightly rough idle. Here is where I am at: Pulled plugs - the insulator was as white as the day I bought them on all plugs and they all had a very light white, ashy residue on the electrodes. This tells me they are running a little hot I think but I was expecting a lot of fouling based on what I found with the rotor being off. Verified TDC - turned harmonic balancer so that the notch furthest left if standing in front of the car is at 0, (I have an early, multi-notched HB) looked in spark plug hole and see about 2mm of piston edge and looked in oil filler and can see both #1 lobes pointing outward slightly in opposite directions. The lobe closest to radiator pointing to the passenger side, the one right below the filler cap pointing to the drivers side. Checked distributor cap to ensure wires are in correct position - #1 is about lined up with the front cap clip and they run 153624 counter clockwise from there. Pulled the cap and noticed the rotor was pointing to just before the #6 wire. 3 weeks ago I installed new points and condensor and gapped the points to 22 I think. Whatever the FSM said to gap to I did. I set the dizzy advance to right in the middle of the grid. No retard, no advance. I also know to plug the vacuum advance hose when using the light. Being as it is off 180 degrees I know I can fix it at the dizzy without dropping the pump (good news) but I am pretty sure that when I was trying to get it running in the first place a few weeks ago I tried that and got nothing but some back firing and fuel spitting I think. My question is how does this car run with the dizzy off that far? Am I missing something here? Sorry this got so long winded, I am going to flip the dizzy parts in the morning and wanted to get all the facts out there so you guys could give me a solid answer. Thanks in advance, John

This must be the car: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-1971-Datsun-240Z-California-Car-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem335f724771QQitemZ220644657009QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks The wheels look like a dealer installed option so they were most likely new with the car. Have you compared the block number to the ID plate? That engine has obviously been out of the car at some point and the blue airbox is throwing me off a bit. I didn't think they went to blue boxes until 74. Block number is located just below the #5 plug (2nd from the firewall) ID plate should be on the wheel well opposite the #3 plug. The # should read L24-XXXXX and be the same as the block #. Good luck, looks like a nice car. I would expect the bid activity to jump in the coming days.

Pull back the carpet and take a picture for them. You will also want to remove the battery and tray and take a couple pictures of that area. Also the frame rails under the car and the supports that hold the floor pans. The deck ledge (the flat area above the tail lights) is also a bad spot. Just a bit of advice, give them as many pictures as you can, emphasize on the originality of it and post the vin # and engine # and pictures of the ID plates to prove they match. Dash is another area you will get questions on. It is best to post a lot of pictures on ebay and pay the stupid fee. You will be rewarded in the end both monetarily and by not getting so many tire kickers looking to waste your time with stupid questions. Just my opinion. Good luck, John

I remember the thread. Good score.

not sure, but that looks like an enima bag. Maybe they are the same. Nasty either way.

We need a resurrection award to be handed out monthly to the person that resurrects the oldest thread in the previous 30 days. Some type of icon or something that the mods can apply to their sig or info frame.

Rent a secure storage unit out by Orange Grove and I-10 Pay the $90 for the month and have piece of mind that your car will be there when you return. Just drive it in, remove the battery, put it on the floor on a piece of cardboard and lock that door with a good "storage" lock. Stay away from 22nd St, Speedway and Grant. I haven't lived in Tucson in a while but I am pretty sure there was a place out in the NW section right by I-10 that seemed safe. John

I used to only run Amoco premium in my 76 Cutlass then continued the trend in my 84 Mustang GT (unleaded by then). That was the best gas you could buy in south Florida in the 70's and 80's. Nowadays I buy my premium from a local coop that does not add ethanol to it's premium line. This is about as clear as water as you can get. Here's a short but interesting read about the switch to unleaded for anyone interested: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/airpage.nsf/webpage/Leaded+Gas+Phaseout John

I wanted to buy my weatherstrip kit from datsunstore.com but they use precision and we all know what's going on with them right now. I ended up with the only kit I could find and it was from BD. Fits tight (as expected) but seems to loosen up a little every day. I adjusted the latch so I can get it past the safety latch and will move it in a little every few days until it sits flush (I hope). My question is this: Datsunstore.com states the following: "The kits are made by Precision. We do minor mods to every door gasket to make sure that your doors will close properly. Other vendors don't do these mods because they don't know that they are neccessary. We also provide critical installation procedures for these kits at no additional cost to you that no one else provides, and we offer free tech support as well." http://www.datsunstore.com/product_info.php/cPath/134/products_id/305 Does anybody know what the "minor mods" are and maybe some of the "critical installation procedures" are? I would have purchased from them to get the mods but they are out of stock. John

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. Jim (zKars) got me all set up for the cost of shipping from Alberta and the tank was in great shape and has been installed without incident (I didn't break it!) Thanks for all the help. John