Mike

I realize that I'm not selling Zcar merchandise. But, I need to sell this little toy in order to finish my Zcar. If you have a Zcar, this is the perfect match. Here's the story. For Sale: Short Blurb: - 1968 Datsun Roadster 2000 - Located in Albany, Oregon - Red - Mag wheels with new tires - Runs good. - Avid Datsun owner - 3rd owner - Lots of extra stuff - Selling to complete Zcar project - Many new parts installed - Everything actually works :-) --------------------------------------------------------------- Story: I bought this car from a guy who worked at our local Hewlett Packard plant. Due to a job-transfer, he had to relocate. He could not take the car with him. So, he made me a very good deal on the car. But, it needed some mechanical work. He let the car sit for about 2 years. It's not good to do that unless you prepare it right. (he didn't) So, I yanked the engine, replaced a lot of gaskets, bearings, and so-on. I then replaced parts (shown below) and gave it my TLC. It needed *ALL* new hydraulic parts and some electrical re-wiring. But, to make a long story short... I bought the car and used the rest of my "Z-Car restoration money" to get it in good mechanical condition. Well, now that the Roadster is working fine.... I find that I don't have much money left over. Thus, I need to sell it. Otherwise, I'll never finish my Zcar (which is currently sitting in my garage as a skeleton half painted). I've done a lot of work to this Roadster. It's a great little car and it's been fun to drive. It's in GREAT mechanical shape and the next owner will benefit from my labor. It will need to have the rear springs replaced, but, those are included. I haven't installed them yet. I bought the car at the beginning of July (1998). I worked on it for about a month. I've had it running back and forth to work since then. (It sure is fun to drive on the back roads here in Albany/Corvallis). I'd like to sell it so I can get enough money to finish my Z-Car project. But, if it doesn't sell... I won't be hurt. Anyway, if you're looking for a fun little car. This is the one to buy. Just keep in mind that you should be mechanically inclined and should not use this car as your daily driver. It's purely a fun toy. --------------------------------------------------------------- Features: - Soft top with great frame (needs new top) - Tonneau top w/middle zipper - New carpet - Engine compartment refurbished and painted - Engine worked over Body Condition: - Paint. The paint job is in great shape. It should be buffed out with 800 or 1000 grit wet-sand paper. The only minor-faded areas are on the hood and rear trunk. Over all, the paint is in decent condition. It polishes out very nice. It does have some cracks and flaking on the hood. - Rust. There is a little bit of rust behind each wheel well. I pulled out all of the carpet and scraped out all of the tar paper which revealed nice floor pans. The floor pans are in medium-nice condition. No rust in the trunk. There is a small hole in the passenger floorpan that should be fixed. - Latches, lights, electrical, etc. All of the lights work great. I replaced the fuse box because the old one went bad. The headlights both work and the turn signal blinker switch was replaced with an "extra loud" unit (I like to hear it). All of the exterior latches work great. The trunk locks, the doors work great (actually sound like a strong CLUNK (instead of rattling)), and the windows roll up and down just fine. - Tops. The vinyl black should be replaced. You can get a very nice canvas top for around $300. I think they even have glass rear windows available. The car even comes with a tonneau (sp?) top in good condition (black vinyl). Replaced Parts (all stock & new): - Water Pump - Coil - Distributor - Plug Wires & Plugs - Master Brake Cylinder - Master Clutch Cylinder - Slave Clutch Cylinder - Brake Flexible Hoses - Wheel Bearings - Front Disc Calipers - Rear Drum Calipers - Brake Pads (all around) - Metal Brake Tubing - Carpet Interior all new - Clock (not installed) - Clutch Disc - Pressure Plate - T/O Bearing - Pilot Bushing - Fuse Panel - SU Carbeurators (rebuilt) - Wheels (aftermarket by Ultra) - Tires (205/60VR-14) all new - Transmission 1st & 2nd Fork - Transmission - All gaskets new - Stickshift bushings and washers - Carpet all new - Momo Steering Wheel Extra Parts (not-installed): - Tach Guage - Speedometer Guage - Oil/Fuel/Temp Guage - Leaf Springs - Lots of misc electrical - Fan radiator shroud - Extra Dashboard - Heater vents - Heater controls - MANY MANY other misc parts that I can't seem to fathom at this time. Money: I spent $2,500 on this car at the end of May 1998. I then spent the next month and a half working her over. I spent another $2,200 (or more) bucks on new equipment (receipt detail available). I'd like to get $3,500. Will consider offers around $3,000.

No 5-speed. I bought another 4-speed out of a Datsun truck. It had a little different gearing and operated a little lower. But, I plan on adding a 5-speed to it when the time comes. And, of course if I have money. It's still a long road ahead. [m]

I also tried this back in 1989. I cut the tunnel sheet metal and bent it back. Not a very nice job, but it did the trick. I also used contact cement to adhere a larger-flange rubber booty. This eliminated most of the road (and engine) noise. The stickshift also liked to pop out of first gear because it was rubbing against the plastic console. This was fixed by using channel-locks and a little muscle (snap). Again, not the best way to do it, but it worked. This whole thing is gone and the stock opening is in place. Since I am restoring this baby, I'll probably need to do something similar to your idea. Keep us posted! I'm sure I can use the information when I get to that point. [m]

Well, it *IS* possible to find a nice set of used Mikuni's. I've seen them for sale every now and then. You'll just have to keep your eyes open. Why do you want them so quickly, anyway? The stock SU's (round-tops) are very nice. Keep running them until you can find a nice set of Mikuni's. I did a lot of reasearch (mainly questions to the club) comparing the Webbers to the Mikuni's. Webbers were more popular among the weekend street warriors while the Mikuni's were desired by the track racers and engine junkies.

Why are you selling it? Tired of the project or can't afford to finish it? I have a very similar project that's just sitting around right now. I have too much money into it to sell. Due to sentimental reasons, I probably wouldn't be able to give it up anyway.

I should correct myself. Mikuni carbs are no longer manufactured FOR THIS VEHICLE. [m]

Sorry Jim. Mikuni carbs are no longer manufactured. They stopped making them about two(?) years ago. You can usually find them for sale by individuals on this board or on another Z-car related site. Check out this site: http://zhome.com They might have a link to a parts-for-sale list or something. This place hasn't taken-off yet, but it will soon become the place to sell z-car related stuff. As far as the carbs, they should run you anywhere from $400 up to $700 (used) -- depending on their condition. I paid about $600 for a nearly-new set (never been installed). You'll have to make a few modifications to your throttle arm, but that's not to difficult.

I am unfamiliar with the flattops. I have the rounttop SU's. But, the mixture settings are controlled on my rounttops from the bottom. The mixture nuts are difficult to get to, but they are located where the small fuel tube enters the bottom of the carburetor. If you are looking up at the bottom of the carburetor screw... Tightening (righty-tighty -- lefty-loosen rule applies) it will send LESS fuel to the carb. I'm assuming you probably know that. But, hopefully my information about the location of the fuel mixture is correct. The adjustment screws on the top of the carbs control the airflow (balance and volume). [m] [This message has been edited by Mike (edited 02-28-2000).]

James, This question is more suitable for the Z-Car Operations area of the forums. I have moved it to that location. It's inside the Carburetion forum. [m]

This was posted to our old tips forum by Trevor: I chased gas fumes on my Z for quite awhile. When I had it all apart a year ago I replaced all the fuel vent hoses with the genuine Nissan ones and I kept getting fuel smell. Part of it was a leaking seal around the fuel level sender which I replaced several times and the last time I noticed that the tank built up pressure inside awfully fast while I was resealing it. I had never noticed any pressure build up when removing the gas cap though. I checked the valve in the engine compartment where the vent line hooks up. And although it wasn't hooked up exactly right, it basically hooked up to the air cleaner and the intake to vent the fumes it was also mostly plugged so the pressure was finding other places to escape like through the seal and around hose connections. Got the valve degummed and now I don't have the fumes or leaking problems anymore. -Trevor

Found out that Nissan does NOT make gas tanks for the early Z-cars anymore. On discussion with some of the restoration specialists at the Z-Store, I found out a way to make my existing gas tank like new. It's a four step process: Boil the tank. Have it cleaned up inside and out. You can take it down to your local engine or radiator specialist to get this done. They will hot or cold dip it in acid to eat off all of the grime. Sandblast the tank. This can be done by the powder-coat specialist. Or, feel free to do it yourself if you have a sandblasting attachment for your air-equipment. Powder-coat the outside. Take the tank to your local (or maybe not so local) powder-coating specialist. Have them powder-coat the entire tank (outside only) in your favorite color. Also be sure to tell them that the thank has been dipped and stripped. Since the powder-coating process involves baking in an oven, some specialists get nervous about gas tanks. Gee, I wonder why?!!? :-) Seal the inside. Take the tank back to the radiator shop and have them seal the tank internally. This *MUST* be done after the powder-coat process. Since powder-coating involves high heat, a pre-sealed tank will be ruined from the heat. I guess the sealant bubbles on the inside. Now, I'm not sure if you can seal the outside of the tank after the powder coating has been applied or not. I wouldn't think it will hurt the powder coating to do this. Anyway, thanks to the anonymous donor for this information. I would publish the donors name, but, he probably doesn't want everyone calling him. I also saw a very nice article in the Z-Car Magazine about how to do this step by step. Check out their web site and get your own subscription for these kinds of tips. You can also order back-copies.

This is a link to Kyle's site: http://www.sonic.net/~kyle/su.html

You can read this, or visit the web page that I created at: http://scarab.240z.org/tips/tips_rack.htm The steering rack & pinion assembly unit is a pretty basic little setup. It consists of a small gear pushing a large bar left to right. The ends of the large bar are connected to your front wheels. This turning motion make the car turn left to right. Pretty simple explanation, eh? Well, that's how it works. Basics, get back to basics. If you figure this out, you'll be in for a nice life. Anyway, I wanted to share my experiences while looking at this little beauty. Why can't everyone benefit from my experience? It's also a nice way for me to look back at all the work I've done and say, "Whew! It's done!" The entire rack assembly mounts to the front mount bar. This is the same bar that the engine sits on top of. Therefore, engine removal is desirable, but, not required. Of course, I have all the correct tools to remove my engine in a few hours while the standard garage mechanic may not have this luxury. Well, I may not consider it a luxury. Anyway............. my apologies if some of this may be out of your field. The information isn't intended to be easy to perform. I did not perform a total rebuild on my rack assembly. I decided to cut it short of removing the gear mechanisms and tie rod knuckles. These suckers are $800 to rebuild for a reason! I cleaned the entire unit and tore just about everything else out of it. Okay, here we go. The parts that I used are: New steering rack boots. New polyurethane rack bushing mounts. New steering rack oil seal. Grease. New grease reservoir (from Nissan). With all of these parts in hand, and a previously removed steering rack assembly, I began my journey. Remove the old bushings. Use a screwdriver, knife, or whatever tool you need to pry the old bushings from the rack. Remove the old rack boots. You can probably do this with a knife or some scissors. Use a rag to clean up as much grease as you can. Clean up the outside of the rack assembly with a good degreaser. Remember, there is probably 20 years of grime on that thing! Just be careful not to get any chemicals into the rack internal components. Use a screwdriver and pry off the oil seal around the turning gear mount. This is the mount that the steering wheel arm connects to. Use extreme care not to bend the top of the seal. You might want to re-use it depending on its condition. Use a rag and clean out all of the grease you can inside the bearing housing. Now, take a some large pliers and loosen the locking nut (the large one) that sits around the slotted tension adjuster. Remove the locking nut. Remove the tension adjuster. SLOWLY remove the tension piston. Clean up the inside chamber and the piston workings. Be sure to keep the spring and washer positions noted. You can do this by just stacking them off to the side. You should be able to see the end of the zirk fitting and the bottom side of the rack inside the gear housing now. Clean it all up. Try to get a lot of the old grease out of there. Now take your grease gun and squirt some grease into the housing through the zirk. You should see the grease pumping in through the fitting. Be sure to fill the gear housing full of grease before you start the next step. Replace the tension piston by covering it with grease before you slide it into place. Make sure you put it all back together the way you found it. :-)

Please bear with me while I complete this page during my rear-suspension rebuild. It's not complete, but, I will be adding to it later. You can find the page here: http://scarab.240z.org/tips/tips_rear.htm [m]

How in the world do you get that shock cartridge out of the strut assembly? Well, you need to have contacts, or a nice wrench will do! :-) Your main goal is to release that top nut. It's a pain. It's a big pain. It's not easy to remove with vice grips, a pipe wrench, or any other standard wrench around your house. If it's stuck.... you can give up now. Do this. Take it down to your local Nissan dealer. Go into the shop area and bring the strut with you. More than likely, someone will approach you and ask if they can help. Point to the nut and tell them that you need to have it removed. Hopefully they won't rush you out. If they don't, they'll probably walk you to a large tool chest, pull out a cool looking "special tool," mount your strut to a vice, and proceed to remove the nut with one swift motion. All this time you can pick the grease out of your swollen knuckles -- because your pipe wrench didn't work. :-) Yes, I'm speaking from experience. I couldn't get it out and my tire store friends couldn't do it, either. They probably won't charge you (especially if they know you), because it will take less than 2-3 minutes to complete the task. Tell 'em you heard it here! [m]

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/6997/head.html

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/6997/compression.html

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/6997/engine.html

Not to mention that this BB system will notify you via Email when someone responds to your topic. And.... you get to use little smiley faces when you write messages!

One more thing.... I like these forums a lot better than the Email list because the information is permanent. One question answered by many can help out a lot of other people down the road. In other words, most messages about suspension upgrades will only need to be answered once. Future "upgraders" will only need to look in the forum and review a similar thread from someone else. [m]

Richard, These forums are still pretty new. They were put online around February 1, 2000. In our list, you will see a link at the bottom of every message to these forums. And, I plan to change the main web site to our new format. If you want to see our new format just visit http://scarab.240z.org Sorry, there is no spell checker (yet at least). To check topics, just click on the 240z-Logo and it will bring you back to the main Bulletin Board Forum page. From there, you can select the topics of discussion. If you aren't happy with the forums selections, send me your ideas and I will consider adding more. An ICQ number is part of a global-chat service. It's mainly a way of keeping a program running on your computer that will allow you to chat with people on demand. Visit their site at: http://www.icq.com I think you can change your own password. If not, let me know (don't post any passwords to this forum) and I will delete your account. After I delete it, you can re-create your account with a new password. I can't change passwords. As far as messages.... The Email list is completely separate from this Bulletin Board. So, if you want to stay in touch with the Email list... you'll still have to remain on our Majordomo mailing list. Maybe someday these forums will replace the Email list, but I doubt it. I'm sure there are people who will like to see both. [m]

Year 2000 International Z Car Expo in Las Vegas: http://scarab.240z.org/2000_Expo.htm Or go directly to their web site: http://www.playersexpress.com/zcar [m]

Back when I could drive my Z, I did the same thing. I replaced my stock header with a Motorsport 6-to-1 and 2.5" exhaust. My power increase was very dramatic. I could tell that the car was breathing a lot easier -- especially during acceleration. As far as noise... I could tell a difference. My car was louder, but it hummmed to a nice tune. Sounded strong and healthy instead of weak and choked. I can't give you scientific numbers, but headers are usually a lot better than stock (for the early Z's anyway) because they are tuned for the car. All the pipes are similar in length to create a balancing effect. Your other options include a 3-to-1 (6-to-2) header and a 2.25" exhaust. I have heard that the 2.25" exhaust gives you the same benefits, but it's not as noisy. IMHO: You can just buy a better muffler and use the 2.5" system. If you buy a header from the internet, make sure it has flange thicknesses that match your intake manifold. My Motorsport header had a thinner flange and it caused problems for me. The flange is used to bolt the header to the head. There are about 4 bolts that hold the intake and the exhaust header to the head (they share the same bolt). If one is thicker, the bolt doesn't fit right. Anyway, that's my $10 worth. I'd say go with a 2.5" exhaust and buy a good muffler. Definately go with the 6-to-1. [m]

Did you know that you can edit your old messages? Or, better yet... just reply to yourself and insert the updated info. Just thought you should know. If you want to make changes, just click on the edit icon. Of course, you can only edit your own messages. [m]

Sorry, I don't know automatics. Otherwise I might have been of some help. [m]