Seanh

A friend of mine wants me to change the clutch in his late 70's 280z. I have been told by some other friends that have done this once already that its a peice of cake. So I was wondering what you guys have to say? How long will it take me, and how difficult is it? What all needs to be done? He has ordered a clutch kit with everything for the clutch in it. I'd assume just pull the drive shaft, and unbolt the trans and pull it out right? Sounds easy enough, but I'v never replace the clutch while leaveing the engine in any of my cars, so I don't know what to do exacly, they were also all FWD's...Thanks Also, how do you remove the drive shaft exactly?

Thats right, they are made by the same company. They are exactly the same pretty much. The calipers for the 2x4 Toyota trucks of the 79-85 model years are the exact same as our stock 2 piston brake calipers.

Yeah, I think 85 is the cut off year for compatibility, or atleast thats what I'v read. Make sure you ask for the 4x4 ones, that price I was quoted was for 2x4 ones and when I went back to get them the price was quite a bit higher for the 4-piston 4x4 ones, so I opted to get them from the junk yard.

One more thing. I know I shoudn't slack off on doing brakes, but would it be possible to get by with stock lines until I get some more money to get SS ones? I would like to do it all at once, and I'm sure it would be easier, but I dont have the money for the new calipers and SS all at once. What is the primary reasons everyone reccomends going to SS lines with these new brakes? Would new stock lines work ok? They need replaced, so they will be new, but stock for a while. Thanks again!

Alright, I think I will probally just go for loaded calipers then, that would be easier then buying everything seperatly. I would be fine with stock pads, I'm not looking for extreamly high performance. Heck, putting my foot out the door would stop me better then my current old, rusted, leaky, 1/2 working brakes I have now. I think I will probally order a SS brake line kit for an 81 280zx then, I would assume my front brakes would be the same, so that would work, and then I can use them on the rear when I put my disk brakes on. Thanks

I'm going to do a swap to 4-piston brake calipers from an 82 Toyota 4wd Pickup truck. I'm going to buy the calipers new, from Advance Auto for $30.00 each. I was wondering, most of the websites I'v seen say to try and get calipers that are already assembled so I can see how the pads and everything go together. Since I'm not going to be able to do this I was wondering if someone out there could help me as to how they will need to go together and what all other parts I will need to assemble them (springs, spacers, shims, pads, those type of things). Also, where can I get a pair of front steel braided brake lines? I just want the pair for the front, because I plan on swapping my 81 280zx rear disk brakes and I'd assume I need different lines for that don't I? Thanks Anything else I need to do this?

oh sorry, YES, 14" x 6"

My 72 datsun has black generic ugly rims on it now, with 14" 195/75 tires. I currently have major hook-up problems with them. I am putting nicer rims from my 81 Datsun 280zx on it. What would be my best bet for tire size and width for this car? I need some better rear end trackion for launching and all...

I see... I always thought that the dual carbs would be able to flow more then a FI setup. I thought the fuel injection on these for some reason was a mechanical fuel injection, not electronic, but I'm probally wrong. I didn't pay too much attention to my first datsun with fuel injection. What all will I have to go through to put FI in my datsun? If it is electronic, will I need a computer or control module, or how does it work? Thanks

I was looking at the ztherapy page and noticed their rebuild kits for my 72 roundtop SU carbs. The price was like $150 for the set for both carbs. Is it worth it? I'v seen rebuild kits for a lot cheaper then that else where, but seeing as this company is specific in SU carbs, I figured they know what their talking about. (Plus I'd like to have the video that comes with it) But I was just wondering if this is the rebuild kits you guys reccomend? I'm also looking at their ported intake for my 72 240z. However, I am wondering, I will be putting a new engine in my car soon, and its a fuel injected 81 280zx engine. I think the general concensious is to dump the fuel injection and use dual SU's, am I right? If so, will I be able to use the same manifold on both my engines? Like, can I buy the ported manifold for my current 72 engine and swap it out to the new engine as soon as I'm ready to drop it in? Thanks!

I have a stock L24 72 240z datsun. What carbs would be on it? I can take a picture if there is any question. What would be good for me. I want a little better performance, but I really want to stay on the cheap side of things for this car. What should I be looking into?

I got my 72 240z about 4 days ago, and the speedo doesn't work. All my other guages work, so I dunno what the problem is. What do I need to fix it? I don't know how it works really, so I need some help. Thanks!

I was wondering if it would be possible to upgrade the carbs on my 72 240z? I have stock ones, whatever they are I don't know. I could take a picture if theres a problem figuring them out. I want cheap, but descently better performance. I was thinking useing the SU carbs? What all do I need to swap them? I just put a new cap, rotor, wires and plugs on my car also. But I would like to upgrade to electronic ignition from the later 280z's instead of points. How can I go about doing this, what do I need? Also can I put a high performance coil on it also, what brand and where can I get it? And lastly, Brakes. They are in need of atleast new pads/shoes. I'v read alot about useing toyota 4 piston calipers. Were can I get more information about this? would it be worth my time to do? how much work is it? Thanks!

Alright, I'm set to race this guy in a 2.1 5spd Honda Prelude. I'm just wondering what these things can do? I don't know him at all, so I can't judge on his driveing abilities. My car is running kind of crappy right now, but I have till Saturday to get it running nice. Right now I have horrible hookup problems. My car leaves rubber for 1/2 a block right now and finally gets hookup in 2nd and goes. Whats a good RPM to launch at for these engines? Let me know what you think and how I will do at this race. Also, I can drive a manual very well, and shift pretty quick, its just my launches that at crappy. I'd like to get some bigger tires, but doubt I'll have them by Saturday. Thanks!

My 72 240z's got some pretty skinny tires on it right now (just got it, haven't had time to change 'em yet) and it lays down some nice rubber into 2nd and a small chip into 3rd on a stock engine (for now).

Yeah, I would have liked to have one of those switches, but couldn't be gotten locally, so I just went for a regular toggle switch. There are 3 wires that need power to keep the car running, so you could hook one to wire to each one of 3 switches if you wanted to. I was worried that they may pull too much power to use the regular 10-15 amp toggle switch, but I haven't had any problems at all. So you can hook all the wires to one switch, which is what I did. Or to 3 switches. If you want to listen to your stereo while the car is not on, then I'd reccomend hooking the acc wire to another switch so you can esscentially turn your car key to acc mode. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at sean@kdsi.net I do have quite a bit of electronics expecience, so if you need anything please let me know.

Well, I did it today, worked great! I have a on-off toggle switch on the side of the center console, next to the shifter. And the push button starter right in-front of the shifter. I love it! I don't need keys either. The white/red wire is constant power, and the black/yellow(i think thats the color) right next to it is the starter enguagement wire. I hooked power to one side of the starter switch, and the black/yellow starter wire to the other side. Then all the other wires to switched power from the white/red power wire with the other switch. Result, flip switch on, push starter to start car. Flip switch off to shut it off. Works great! And only cost me $8, alot cheaper then a new lock.

I am not jumping to the battery, doing it right from the ignition switch. Its bad as it I can't shut the car off, its a pain in the butt to shut it off after I start it up, I can't turn it back. Either way, a push button is cheaper and I'd like to have it.

Alright guys, my ignition lock is screwed up, and I'm not going to spend the $100+ to get a new one. I want to make it a push button ignition. I'm pretty advanced with electrical work, so I know what I'm doing. But I just figured I would check to see if anyone had any information that would be helpful to me? I am going to just wire it to one switch, then a push button for the starter. I know how to do that and all, but i'm just wondering which wires I need to use and all. Which wire is hot all the time? Which one(s) are hot when in the run position? Which one is the starter wire? Thanks guys! BTW, this is a 72 240z 4spd

Is the E88 a large valve head? Also, I have some questions on the N42, N47 heads. I read that most people prefer the square exhaust ports. Why is this? Do they flow better, larger, what? I see that the N42 has the square ports, but bronze valve seats which will sink over time. Is it possible to have a different type of seat installed on my head? How much would that cost me, for seats and labor to install them? I'm just looking for a rough idea of how much money I would be looking at if I go with an N42 head. I want the best flow, so if the square exhaust ports flow significantly better then the round then I will definatly go with square. What are you thoughts here? Thanks! One other thing, I want high compression, and I always use high octane gas in all my cars, so thats not a worry. 10.4 would be fine on this engine. But I do plan to shave the head, just to get a good flat surface, not exactly to raise compression. How do I have to adjust my cam/timeing setup to accomadate a shaved head? Since I'm only going to shave a little off do I really have to worry? Thanks again

I am going to be building a high performance over-stock engine for my 240z. The donor engine will be from an 81 280zx. Its a flat top piston motor, with a P79 head. My current engine has dished pistons and the E88 head. I'm wanting to stay as cheap as possible on my engine here, so I was wanting to work with what I have got. I want a high compression, good flowing, best head I can get. I have access to do all the shaveing, valve jobs, and porting work myself. What Head should I use? What will give me the best performance? I was thinking E31, but I see that it doesn't flow the best, valves are small, although it has the best compression ratio. Can it be fitted with larger valves? I was actually wanting to keep the stock valves, so I don't have to spend much more money on this engine then I can possible get by with. What are your thoughts? Thanks

Nevermind on the engine questions, I just found my own answers. Thanks for all those links! They helped a lot! I'm going to pull this engine from the 81 280zx and do a lethal rebuild to make it one heck of a street machine. Anyone tell me where I could find rebuild kits for these? Haven't found this answer yet: What rearend will these cars have? Should I swap my 240's rear end for the one in the 280zx? Thanks!

Yeah, thats what I meant, an E31, not 41. I checked with my friend who's getting me the car, and he says its for sure a 240, not a 260, so it much be around an 83 then... Only thing I still question is what engine to use. I will have the 73 240z engine thats in it, and a 81 280zx engine. Whats going to be the difference, besides fuel injection? I plan on keeping the dual carb setup and getting some descent carbs for it in the future. Got a guy who said he'll sell me a dual webber setup with manifold for $450. Is that a good deal? I would like to know the difference in the two engines I have available to me. What I'm planning on doing is driveing it on this stock engine for the time being, doing other mods, like fixing and painting the body, exhaust system, header, porting my E31 head and rebuilding it. If this engine doesn't perform like I want it to I'm going to either switch it out for the 81 280zx engine and 5spd, or do a performance rebuild on the 81 before putting it in. I don't know what I want to do yet. I want to find out the differences between these two engines before I decide on anything yet. These are overhead cam engines correct? If so, what else will have to be done to keep the timeing correct if I shave a head to increase compression? Or will the timeing be alright? One other thing, what should this stock 83 240z 4spd run in the 1/4 mile? I just want a base line to compare it to when I run mine to see what kind of condition its in. Thanks!

I was told it does have some rust, but I'm not too worried, I'm just going to fix it up and sell it, for $300 I don't really care the condition. Minor rust I can remove, I plan on repainting the car myself anyway. I was told that it IS a 74 240zx. Someone said if it was a 74 it was a 260? I thought they made the 240's in 74 didn't they, or am I smokeing something? I found the information on the head I want, and have already puchased an E41 head along with a webber carb setup. One thing I kept my eye open for, but haven't found any information on yet, is cam's. Do they sell any aftermarket more radical cams for these engines? What would you reccomend? Thanks Also, what years did they make all these models? The 240z(x), 260's and 280's? Thanks

I am a day or so away from getting a 1974 Datsun 240zx. A friend of mine told me about it, but I haven't really looked at it yet, just drove by it. I'm getting it for $300 so I don't expect much, but he says its in really great condition actually and the guy just needs to get rid of it soon. It has a straight-6, 4spd trans he told me. I am wondering what all I can do to it. I want to fix up the body and interior all stock, but the engine/trans is going to be modded. I used to own an 81 280zx, but it was just a stipped down junker that I never drove, parts car pretty much. I sold it, and the guy who bought it got it running and said it ran a 15.4 1/4 mile, and showed me the time slips. He said he's sell the car back to me for $50 if I wanted it. I am going to buy it, just for the engine, trans, and rims. Then junk it. Will the 5 speed from an 81 280zx work in my 74 240zx? If so, is this a more desirable option for my car, or will the 4 spd give me better performance? Which would you do? I am assuming my 74 is going to have dual carb setup correct? My 81 had Fuel injection, would this be worth my time to install on my car or will a dual carb setup work better. If I choose to stay with carbs, what all can I do to it? Performance carbs, better manifold. Either aftermarket or from another model/year Z car? Whats the best? Also, I'v seen some different heads for these cars. What should mine have, and is there any that I should switch it out to? I was told that in 75 they had a different type of port or somthing, that was more desirable then any other year, is that true? If so, I can buy a 75 head, would it be worth my time to do it? What about exhaust? I'm wanting to probally get a headder if its worth it, what do you think? Where can I get a good header? Anything else I can do? Thanks for all the help. I'm just getting started into modding out these cars, so I don't know much about what can be done to them, so any help you can give me will be greatly appriciated!