Zed Head

I made a thing out of some steel I had laying around. https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/53335-starter-mount-plate-for-transmissionless-starter-usage/ If you have an old EFI harness and some extra parts, or some old carbs, you could get it running. It might have some surface rust on seats of the valves that were open while it was sitting. Even some starter fluid through the manifold with just a distributor might be worth doing for just some short blasts of power to reseat the valves. Harbor Freight has some nice small dollies that will hold an engine. https://www.harborfreight.com/material-handling/dollies.html

Good reason to buy a bore scope. They seem pretty inexpensive and of decent quality these days. They probably have some that connect to your phone so you can snap pictures or video.

Could you use an air wrench on the damper nut? Like the race engine starters. Might spin you over instead of the engine. Just a thought.

I see now. Craigslist has a weird search engine. Most of them will find a word buried within another word. Like 280Z is in 280ZX. CL doesn't do that. It finds 280ZX though. @Mark Maras is around here. But I know you're joking...

Now my link doesn't work and I can't find it. Serious. It's not there - https://portland.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=280z&sort=rel

Here's another sales site that we don't see often. One private seller wants $58,900 for a 71. Looks like it will do a burnout too. https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/datsun/240z https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/datsun/240z/2211907.html

It would be cool to see those transactions. I've seen it suggested they happen in secret, but without seeing one it's hard to know what really happens out there. Of course, value, as is often said, is what a person pays. The only person that can really assign a value is somebody who buys one. Sounds like you're saying that a sub-500 VIN adds about a 50% premium. Don't know, just would like to see a real $100,000 transaction documented. It would mean more, no offense. https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1970-datsun-240z

Might last longer than you think. You can only find it if you leave the "0" out. 28Z. https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/d/cornelius-1977-datsun-28z-classic/6792668176.html

Here's a $25,000 78 2+2 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Z-Series-2-2/273616884186?hash=item3fb4d651da:g:zv8AAOSwVRBcGW0Q

The 3543 auction ended at $19,200. Didn't realize there so many Z's in eBays' Z series category. Didn't even know they had a Z series. A decent looking 77 (actually 78 I think) just came up in Minnesota. @197TZ https://www.ebay.com/b/Datsun-Z-Series/6001/bn_24016624?_dcat=6001

I had an incident where I forgot to tighten my lug nuts and several flew off in a short test drive. I was down to two on one wheel. I think I've been overtightening ever since. I have a torque wrench but grew up doing lug nuts by feel. I need to break out the torque wrench for the aluminum wheels. I would just give them a light brushing when the nuts got hard to insert. I was having brake problems so they were on and off frequently. I just bought a truck though and the spec is 150 foot-lbs for steel wheels. That would crush the mags. Pretty sure the aluminum spec is much lower.

There's a video. You have to click the link in the eBay ad. Almost as tedious as the pictures but something actually happens at 3:40. It's actually not a bad car. $32,995 seems crazy though. Especially with a dash carpet.

More BS plus bad spelling. The 5 speed was standard in 1978. "backed by the rare 5 speed manual transmission makes for the perfect pare. "

I would avoid these gateway guys. Full of BS. My 76 has factory air. Mag wheels are not the single rarest option. "Black Pearl" just means it has black paint. That's it, black paint. I think that somebody else coined the "Black Pearl" name too, it might not be a Nissan thing. It's a gimmick, wherever it came from. No info about the car either just a tedious list of pictures.

73128? The fit in the bore of the wheel will be very tight. I've had to massage mine with a round file to get them back in. Probably overtightened them. You need the washer also. Looks like OReilly also carries a Dorman lug nut. They show the size as correct for a 240Z. SAE/metric hybrid. You could go down and buy a single one just to check. Pretty sure that's the size. https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/b/tire---wheel-16779/lug-nuts-and-studs-25062/wheel-lug-nut-12670/835b5ec42d53/1973/nissan/240z?prodAttr_10648=M12-1.25&prodAttr_10633=Mag

I mentioned 3543 in the other 1970 ad. The eBay guy blamed the consignment guy -

Pretty hard to get a feedback rating this low. I've never seen one that bad. And they have 496 transactions. Beware.

Gorilla has a good selection. They're often carried in the parts stores. I think Amazon has them also. Post up your wheel type, maybe with a picture and somebody will probably know exactly. http://www.gorilla-auto.com/lug-nuts Good tech info. http://www.gorilla-auto.com/gorilla-tech-tips

The earlier 280Z's and the ZX's have the problem too I think. The ZX people often find a 10 ohm resistor in the wiring harness. FastWoman wrote about that, and she also used the tweak on her 78. I did it to my 76 car. Not sure why exactly the problem is there, maybe the fuel changed over time and/or the cars were tuned to perfection for emissions purposes. But adding the resistance makes a great tuning and troubleshooting aid for not much effort. Another clue that that's the problem is if you get popping back through the intake manifold and bucking at low throttle settings, trying to accelerate. That's a bad case. The milder version is just a hesitation though as you pass through the mid-range RPM at part throttle.

318, 340, 440? Here's a good site to keep track of. Looks like they have a nice 240Z up for auction. It's in CA though. https://bringatrailer.com/datsun/240z/ https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-datsun-240z-76/

One day left. The sketchy ad stuff is still there. Doesn't look he's going to get his price though, unless there's a late flurry.

I contacted the 3543 eBay seller and he said that he had listed the car with a guy on consignment and that the consignment guy had changed the ownership and the mileage in the ad. But then he still tried to say inhis message to me that mileage was unknown and didn't answer my direct question about the older 249,000 mile claims. So, still a little sketchy even by direct contact through eBay. I also gave him the link to this thread twice, but no response. He even added the old "little old lady" clause. "Elderly Owned always garaged Kept beauty". Just a guy trying to sell an old classic. Even if this isn't the same guy it's probably the same consignment shop. Might be why the guy knows the details of old 240Z's.

Burying the lede, topic mode...

You @'ed me just to say your sorry, and point out specifically, twice, that you didn't think it was funny? Thanks, that was considerate. p.s. that's mild sarcasm, often 'seen' as funny. @wal280z I think that zspert was fine with it. Carry on!

What's your price range and what are your plans? Restoration, resto-mod, daily driver, hot rod...something to sit in?