Walter Moore

Ah, but Arnie SUPPLY is only half of the equation. The other half is DEMAND. I do not believe that the early 240Zs were ever evenly distributed around the country. Unless you consider even to mean L.A., Chicago, New York, and Miami. Here in Indy I had never even heard of a Datsun until after the Oil crunch of 1973-74. Until the price of gas went out of sight no one around here was interested. Even today in a lot of places "foreign" cars are unusual. The Toyota Camary is the best selling car in the U.S., but you could watch traffic all day at my house and might never see one. (and to be fair, most cars sold by Honda, Nissan and Toyota aren't actually foreign today...) I knew a few people back in the early 80's who owned a Z, but for every Z owner I knew at least 5 Mustang and 3 Camaro owners. Now there are likely 10 Mustangs in this area for every Z, but the local demand still isn't all that good for the Z cars. The Z cars that I have seen advertised here locally have been asking around $3000 to $4000. Most people here who can even identify my car think it is a 280Z because that is the only model they have ever seen before. And several of my teenage children's friends have engaged me in nearly the same conversation... Kid: "That is a cool car... what is it?" Me: "A Datsun 240Z." Kid: "Wow, that is neat... er... what's a Datsun?"

After 4 years of work my car still doesn't run, so I don't currently drive it. When I get it running I intend to drive it on sunny summer days and warm summer nights. Back when we were newlyweds my wife bought a restored 1967 Mustang and used it for a daily driver. Man that was a nice car... for an old Ford... anyway after two Indiana winters the body rusted completely off the car. The floor boards fell out, the rear fenders rusted through so badly that anything we put in the trunk fell out. In short the car was junk. I will never make that mistake again. They don't call this the rust belt without cause.

How appropriate... the NHSTA's web site uses a red star for its icon...

According to the issue of Nissan Sport that I got last week (when I signed up) the R33 is still eligible for importation. They said there is no word on what happens to existing R32s or R34s... My guess is that it is up to each state. In a lot of places, once the title has been issued it is as the French would say "du fait accompliplie" that is: it is done and there is no going back.

I guess every region has its own issues. The drivers that set me off the most are the left lane bandits. You know, they park in the left lane with their cruse control set to 2 MPH below the speed limit. It isn't quite as bad in Indiana, but there must be something in the water in Ohio. I used to have to spend about half my time in Akron. I would drive over on Sunday night and come home on Friday afternoon. This is the absolute truth, one Sunday evening on I-71 northbound I actually got mad, pulled into the right lane, and passed 25 cars before I had to pull back into the left lane to get around a truck. Traffic was bumper to bumper in the left lane going about 60 in a 65 zone. Except for the odd truck here or there, the right lane was empty. I am so glad that I quit that job...

It will start leaking eventually, and the head is aluminum so when it leaks it might erode the head. So either way you could end up messing the thing up. On the other hand, if you don't drive it that often it might last for a long time.

How spongy is the brake pedal? If you pump the pedal several times does it eventually firm up? I always have that trouble on cars when I bleed the brakes. The pedal just never feels right, but so long as the brakes actually work, and you can pump the pedal up to the point where it begins to resist before it hits the floor, it seems like the pedal always comes in within the first few stops. I would still bleed the master cylinder one more time if you didn't bench bleed it before installation. On my 71 there are bleeders on the side of the master cylinder.

How big of a wire can you get in that thing? The primary ground wire to the starter really needs to be big, like #4 AWG. On the other hand, if you can get big wires in it, that device looks good to me. I would tighten the daylights out of it and coat it with vaseline or something like that to keep water out. As for soldering, so long as the thing is rated for stranded wire it should be fine. The cables they sell for both factory or aftermarket are crimped, not soldered. The main advantage that I see in that picture is that you have a screw that directly tightens against the wire. The cheap clamp-on battery terminals use a plate that tightens on the sides, and can bend out of the way.

When I bought my 71 it didn't have any brake drums.... But then it also had "normal" lug nuts, so they couldn't bottom out.

If you have.. ahem.. "high intensity" headlights, or off-road driving lights, and a high powered stereo with all the other electrical "accessories" necessary these days even 60A could be cutting it close. In fact, even with standard headlights (65W) and standard fog/driving lights (55W) if they were all on at the same time you would need 30A just to drive the lights. Coupled with a high powered stereo I can see where a 90A unit would be desirable.

Yes, those paint fumes got you again.:cheeky: