Carl Beck

If your seats have been reupholstered, it might be useful to list the vendor that supplied the upholstery kit. Could be some are cut a little to tight??? I have noticed rather large gaps on some seats, but less obvious ones on others. With new foam there should be a small gap I would suppose. FWIW, Carl B.

See: http://zhome.com/Classic/240ZFloorboards/ChrisFloorboards.htm Leave the front seat mount/brace in place..helps hold everything in place. FWIW, Carl B.

Vinly tops were quite common in 70-73 on the 240-Z's. Most were applied by local Vinyl Top Speciality companies that the Dealers worked with. The same companies also installed the Vinyl Side Moldings on aluminum frames, pop riveted to the car. While the side moldings detracted from the looks - they were pretty effective in protecting the sides of these cars. Also pretty easy to eliminate if you wish. I've removed several vinyl tops from these cars - have yet to find any significant rust damage. Mostly 30+ year old vinyl drying out and cracking, peeling up as the glue finally lets go. You don't see many today because most have been removed by now. According to the owner, the car was repainted about ten years ago. Red fades... so a re-spray after 20 or so years in California makes sense to me. One owner with a known history, mostly rust free California car. A car that an uncounted number of previous owners haven't screwed up. I'll always be glad to pay a few thousand extra to start a restoration / refresh with a car like this. It would be a pleasure to take apart. Like any 240Z, you would have to inspect it in person. Check to see how much undercoating is on the firewall, and how bad a mess it might be under the car etc etc etc - but $6,500.00 seems cheap to me for a good Series I example today. FWIW, Carl B.

As I recall - someone is or did sell DOT approved stainless braided lines for the Z. Anyone recall who that was or is??? I bought mine from Bob Sharp Racing back in the 70's - they still seem to be fine.. Carl B.

Hi Guy/Brandon I understood that you understood. For everyone else following the thread, I was just trying to add a couple thoughts. 1. Most of the time one is better off paying the higher shop rates for higher levels of skill. The bitterness of poor workmanship lasts far longer than the sweetness of low price etc etc. 2. To support Paul Martin's and others use of the TABCO product - some comments would leave one with the impression that they are a POS - which is most certainly not the case IMO. I really didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your approach nor motives. In fact I'm sure the outcome will be wonderful. FWIW, Carl B.

Personally, I've found that the men with the highest skill levels may have higher hourly rates to begin with, but it takes them far fewer hours to accomplish any metal working tasks. In the end, they wind up being less expensive than paying for the practice time, redo time and error corrections of less skilled workers. The two best body men, artists in metalwork really, that I have worked with in the past 10 ten years - would of course prefer to start with NOS, OEM parts if available, but working on Classic Cars and/or building street rods and custom cars - they are more than willing and able to hand form any metal part needed. Both felt that the Tabco doglegs were more than adequate starting points. FWIW, Carl B.

On E-Bay This Year.... The best Deal Of The Year 2008 was right here on the Forum. #48 [HLS30 00048} as I recall sold for under $20K USD {$23K Canadian}. A 1969 Production Year example, beautifully and all but completely restored, save a few minor 69 parts. Second best Deal Of The Year - was 1973 Datsun 240-Z with 6K original miles. Sold on E-Bay for $21.5K. I only know of one 240-Z will less miles in the Country. FWIW, Carl B.

How much is the MSA unit??? $$$$$ If your current distributor is within factory spec.'s - Just take it to a good automotive electrical shop, and have them re-curve it's timing advance. With a Sun Distributor Machine it is a pretty simple matter to rework the springs/weights to get whatever you want. If you don't know what you want - I'd suggest that you call Crawford ZCar Service in Nashville. 615-327-4159 http://www.crawfordzcar.com/index.html Talk to Mr. Carwford about rebuilding your distributor with the best timing curve, or just buying one that he has already rebuilt with electronic ignition and the right timing curve....(reworked 280Z distributor). I talked to him about this at Road Atlanta a few years ago, when he was rebuilding/reworking distributors for the ITS cars. FWIW, Carl B.

And that is the very reason to do - Never Give Up, Never Give UP, Never.. You can afford to take more time now - and spend nights sleeping in Hotels/Motels... Or if you are feeling really OLD.. you can hop on a plane to Jacksonville. FWIW, Carl B. Bought my 72 Z new when I was 27 -so I know how it feelsLOL

Hi Jay: The picture on the Calendar was taken by Peter Brock. I'm thinking of having it enlarged for a full wall mural ;-) Mr. and Mrs Brock were hired by Classic Motorsports Magazine to do a photo shoot, in support of an article published in the Sept. 2008 issue. I was pleasantly surprised to see it on their 2009 Calendar. If you are interested, I have a semi-private web page with pictures taken during the photo shoot. Several of the guys were there to help me get the car staged, in very cold and windy conditions. hls30.com scouted out possible locations and then picked the most difficult and beautiful one. You are welcome to visit See: http://ZHome.com/Amelia/Amelia.htm Mr. Brock and his wife have their own Web Site now - and they are putting a lot of the pictures and information about Mr. Brock's amazing career on line. This was wonderful news if you are a Corvette, Cobra Daytona Coupe and/or BRE DATSUN fan. See: http://BRE2.net FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: This is great - I'd sure like to see as many of you there as possible. The Ameila Island Concour's is a wonderful event. Proceeds go to charity - and they raise a ton of money each year. Entry for the vehicles is by invitation only and you'll get to see some very rare and wonderful cars. Just as the Pebble Beach Concours and the Monterey Historics are "the" Classic Car events on the West Coast, Amelia Island is "the" Concours on the East Coast. I'm really excited to have the BRE Baja Z invited this year. To my knowledge it is the first DATSUN 240-Z so honored. A small group of us have been working hard to get the DATSUN 240-Z recognized for the Classic that it is, and on display at the Countries most prestigious events. I am hoping to have time to meet more of the members of the Amelia Concours Committee this year, and get more DATSUN 240-Z's invited to the event, as well as other top flight Classic Shows in the future. DATSUN 240-Z's are now parked side by side with Classic Ferrari, Porsches, BMW's, Jag.'s et al in many of the finest private collections in the World, so we need to get them publicly displayed far more often at the best Concours events as well. I greatly appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and support. Especially hls30.com ('Will) and 280~Master(John). It wouldn't have happened with you guys. FWIW, Carl B

If competition drove the price down to around $45K - there might be a big enough market to take 10,000 per year... maybe 12,000 per year. Here in Pinellas County, Florida - most M.D.'s and Lawyers only drive 5 miles or less to/from work each day. They'd have the status they want, with a very near, rare electric car..... and they would save the Porsche/BMW for weekends. Florida actually has a power grid that is in better shape than most of the country and we do have nuclear power plants, with more being built... Yes, I could see a small market for two.... but that really has no impact on the existing 100,000,000 vehicles in daily use here in the US. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Jay: I think the Tesla is a neat car. No doubt about it. Building a few of them for the rich and famous (at $80K) certainly puts them on a pedestal - that the average Joe can admire, and at some point in the future - hope to attain. Kind of like the beginning of the auto industry really. It might take years and years to get the technology to a level of reliability and a price point that is affordable. One thing I am sure of - you really don't want the Politicians picking the technology you will have to pay for. It has been a disaster every time, in every country when Politicians decide what technology wins and which do not. Did we really set up "the government" to reward technology? Or do we really believe that free markets reward needed innovation? Nonetheless, I believe that we would need to see a far more comprehensive outline of the entire "electric car" environment - before we could make any informed decisions as to their real desirability. As I said, moving the "problems" from the car to other points - without knowing full well what the resulting effects will be - simply doesn't make sense to me. For Example: 1. What would the impact on our existing Electrical Power Grid be - if tens of millions of electric cars were plugged in every day/night for recharging? 2. Wind Power you say?? Anyone that takes a serious look at the approach comes away with the realization that it is simply silly, for anything other than power to a farm in the middle of nowhere. However conversion of the trucking fleet to natural gas does have some practical application today. 3. Do you really want, or would you really buy a car with a 40 mile range that cost as much or more than a conventional vehicle? Or do you really want everyone else too? 4. We would need at least 10 Nuclear Power Plants per State - yes 500 new one's - to provide clean energy for an all electric fleet. Plus an all new power grid, that would not fail from minor glitches just to distribute that load. "I'm sorry boss, I can't make to work today because the power was off last night and my battery is dead". 5. Hydrogen Fuel Cells would make sense, IF - there was a very cheap electrical supply to crack the hydrogen out of water to begin with. Last time I checked - the Water to Hydrogen to Fuel Cell to Electric motor - and back to Water Cycle was only 23% efficient. Meaning that it is only feasible from an economic perspective if electrical power costs 1/2 what the average cost is today. That takes us back to 500 nuclear power plants. (A small country like France could get there in a decade because they already get 70% of their power from nuclear power plants). As far as I can tell - between now and 2050 at least - we need to develop all possible energy sources and apply them where they make economic sense. Oil, Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear are however the only real alternatives for the next couple decades. It is neat to have an $80K electric toy - and that really is all the Tesla is. What we need is a 1000lb all carbon fiber 240-Z, that sells for $18,995.00 and gets 50+ mpg. with a small 4 cylinder turbo diesel. Mass produced in China - with no EPA, OSHA, et al - it could be done today. Make it cheap and fun - so I can afford a second car to use - so I can keep my Pick-up Truck parked in the driveway when I really don't need to use it. If I can only afford either the Pickup or an economy car - I'll have to take the Pickup because it does everything I need - where an economy car can not. Gee - it sounds like 1973 all over again. A DATSUN 1200 coupe was $1895.00 and got 40 mpg. Interesting discussion none the less FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Steve: It's simple actually. We just pass a federal law that allows drilling within the areas controlled by the USA, to companies that extract, refine and sell the retail products only in the USA. Canada and Meixco can of course buy the retail products here and ship it home. To keep the retail prices down here, we might allow the new oil companies to export say 5% of their production to the world market when oil prices on the world market are at least 3x the domestic supply. Given that set of conditions - it would be easy to raise the necessary investment capital and form the needed corporations. At any rate isn't it funny that when the US starts to sing "Drill Baby Drill" - - to price of oil on the world market drops to 33% of what it was, even though demand is down only 7%... .hummm.... Same thing happened in 73/74 with the oil shortage hit... When the unemployment rate hits 10% to 14% - people usually wake up and quite being suckers. FWIW, Carl B.

That is correct - it is not that hard to do. In fact it's actually easy if every nut, bolt and stud on your engine is as new. The easy job can turn quickly into a real BEAR however, if/when you start twisting off 35+ year old bolts, studs that are rusted in half or head bolts that are frozen in the block. Professional mechanics deal with these situations all the time. They have the speciality tools needed to make the corrections. As a last resort they have friends at the machine shops.... Cylinder head R&R is not one of the things one would want to take on, as a first learning experience. Sometimes you get lucky.... most of the time not. I wouldn't discourage you from doing it yourself - but I'd sure recommend paying a professional to come to your house on the weekend and help, or teach you how. Second best thing is a friend that been through it a few times. They know when not to put too much pressure on the old nuts/bolts etc. If you are a beginner at major engine repairs - it can be very frustrating if/when things start to go wrong. FWIW, Carl B. BTW - if you have to take the head off anyway = just get a price for doing a fresh valve job. The labor cost will be about the same.. and you'll wind up getting far more for your money...

To my knowledge Nissan never offered a patch panel for the rear quarters. I would also seriously doubt you'll have much luck finding a dog leg on a parts car that isn't already eaten up by rust. They all seem to rust from the inside out, so by the time you cut one out of an existing car - you'll usually find a great deal of rust damage already done. Your body man seems to be very good - but I think he will find that the TABCO patch panels are about as good as he will find - short of hand hammering one himself. Of course you could always supply him with a NOS quarter panel - I think they sell for around $650.00 each now. He could cut the dog leg off that... FWIW, Carl B.

If you want to go to an aftermarket clutch - I'd recommend the ZOOM Clutch Kit from NAPA. (Pressure Plate and Clutch Disc), Order the kit for the 280Z/ZX I like the Nissan throw-out bearings. The ZOOM is a very good clutch - and a lot of money LESS than the OEM units. If you can't find a dealer that carries the ZOOM Clutch Kit - I'd pay the money and order the 280Z/ZX unit from the local Nissan Dealer. If the 5spd. is already in the car - then the current clutch fork is fine. When you get the ZOOM Pressure plate - just make sure it is the same height (thickness) as the one in the car now. Lay the Pressure Plates flat on the floor or work-bench - measure the height of the Pressure Plate fingers.... If the old and the new are the same (or very close to the same) - use the throw-out bearing collar that you have. If the ZOOM Pressure Plate is thinner... by say 1/4" - you will need the next longer throw-put bearing collar. The original 240-Z Pressure Plates are thicker than the newer and stronger 280Z/ZX units. So the original 240-Z throw-out bearing collars are shorter than the 280Z/ZX collars. With the 5spd in the car it is very likely the P.O. installed a newer 280Z/ZX unit anyway - and you should be fine. Just remove the current flywheel -check the ring gear teeth - and if they are good - have it resurfaced by a good machine shop. (a very important set in the process if you want a smooth clutch). FWIW, Carl B.

Can you actually see it coming out of the head gasket? There is a coolant line that runs around the back of the head to put water through the intake/carb's... and it might have a pin hole in it.. Rare to have a head gasket leak in that manor... Just a thought/question.. Carl B.

Reviewing - I think you are correct. My error, as I had spark plugs in mind from the discussion of the gap...Sorry for the confusion.. Carl B.

Hi Todd: Good for you!!! Take your time and restore/refresh that 240-Z right - the first time around. Best of luck - and I'm sure we will all be pulling for you... FWIW, Carl B.

If your engine is within factory spec's for tune (fuel/air, timing etc). If your ignition system is within factory spec.'s electrically - then you would see very little difference going to an electronic ignition or a full captive discharge system. The problem is - very few 30+ year old cars are running perfectly within all factory spec.'s. Valves leak a little, rings wear and engine oil gets diluted with gasoline. Compression goes down a few points.. a little current is lost in old wires, spark plugs begin to foul and at times misfire... The 280Z/ZX electronic ignition replaces the old mechanical points - this keeps the dwell within factory spec. and over time shows a significant improvement because it does not get out of spec. as quickly. As far as 0-60 times - a perfect original ignition ran once, will give all but the same performance as an electronic ignition. Run them both for 6K miles in day to day use - and the electronic ignition will win hands down. Captive Discharge is used to greatly increase the strength of the spark at the spark plug gap. This really does two things. 1) allows the use of far greater plug gaps for a "fatter" spark to ignite even a poor air/fuel ratio and 2) the larger gap is keep cleaner, with less resulting fouling. The bottom line is that both electronic ignition (either light or magnetic field triggered) and the CD systems really improve total performance of the ignition system over a far longer period of use. It is worth it? Depends on the use you put your car too. If you drive less than 3K miles per year, you might as well enjoy twiking the old mechanical points as part of the original Z experience. If you drive a Z daily and do more than say 10K miles per year, a full CD ignition system is most likely an enjoyable investment. FWIW, Carl B.

I thought resistor plugs were specified to redue radio noise. The voltage delivered to the plug is a function of the coil or CD unit. FWIW, Carl B.

Dependent on foreign oil???? Not to worry Bruce. That's just what we tell the suppliers in other countries because we don't want to tell them that we'd rather have their ground, air and environment spoiled than ours. Dependent on foreign oil???? That's just what we tell the boobs in America, because we don't want to tell them that the ruling class has decided to siphon off the extreme wealth of a massively productive society (ours) and send it to the poor Arab's and other third world countries. Lets face it - oil is all they have that is of any value and it's easy for us to all but steal it. Dependent on foreign oil???? That's just what we tell the boobs in other countries - the reality is that we have decided to use all their oil first and keep ours for the time that we either can't get theirs, or they have none left to sell. Dependent on foreign oil???? How can a country with the massive and untapped oil reserves we are sitting on really be "dependent" on foreign oil? The truth is we have simply made the decision not to use our oil at the present time. That might make us greedy, stupid, or simply suckers that let the government take 56% of every thing we earn - but it doesn't make us dependent. FWIW, Carl B.

You need at least 650 CCA - but 750 is better. Most of my Z's set for prolonged periods without use. That is actually the hardest service for a starting battery. I currently have an Optima in my White 72 - its been in there for about three years now. Love it, I don't have to worry about leaking acid and nothing cranks an L6 like it does. It can also set for months without being on a charger - and retain most of its cranking ability. I'm always amazed at it actually. The down side is: 1. you have to customize the battery tie down... it is not the standard size for the 240-Z. 2. it is relatively EXPENSIVE.... (but what the heck - you only buy one ever six or so years). 3. you can NOT QUICK charge it - so it is far better to have it on a Battery Minder if you don't use the car daily. I have a Firestone Forever battery in my Blue 72. Bought it for $49.00 in 1975 - and Firestone has been replacing it free of charge ever since. The last two lasted 6 years each when kept on a Battery-Minder. They were lasting 3 to 3.5 years when not maintained on the Battery-Minder. The latest replacement from Firestone is an Interstate. I had a problem with it however, the "handles" on the side, where a carry strap is supposed to go - were mounted high on the case. That prevented the stock battery tie down frame from sitting down on top of the battery as it should. No real problem, I just had to cut them off the case. If you use the stock battery tie-down frame - take it with you when you shop for a new battery to make sure it will fit properly.!!!! Additionally - I had custom battery cables made for the car about 10 years ago. So I could put the ground under the fender instead of the positive terminal. I also wanted far better cables and cable terminals. As I recall I used #4 or #2 stranded copper in a very high quality and flexible insulation, then put gold plated terminals on the them (at both ends). That eliminated all corrosion build up at the terminals - expensive but worth every cent. I highly recommend this approach... You also want to make sure that the body ground on the firewall, from the battery is fixed to clean bare metal. In the 240-Z's this is VERY IMPORTANT... If your car sits for prolonged periods without use (weeks at a time)... Get a good Battery-Tender/Battery-Minder and keep it hooked up. The car will start whenever you are ready and the battery will last about twice as long. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi John: I glass bead blast them... with a medium/fine bead. They usually come out of the blast cabinet looking pretty close to new. Mild bead blasting will usually remove most surface stains - - but you don't want to get carried away with the pressure. You also don't want to leave any media inside under the baffels etc. Finish off with a very light coat of "Dull Amuminum" paint - to retard oxidation and help prevent stains. FWIW, Carl B.