Carl Beck

Over the years, most of the "tests" that have been conducted seem to agree in general terms, if not in specific pounds of force. 1. The shape of the Classic Z's is not considered to be very "aerodynamic" in stock form. 2. The OEM Front spoiler (see Chris's post) - had very little effect. 3. The air dams - direct air around the sides of car, and reduce air flow under the car. So the do reduce drag. They also reduce "lift", but do not generate much additional down-force. Because they reduce "lift", the do add to the stability of car at 40mph+ 4. The BRE Style Spook's reduce drag and generate a great deal of down-force because they redirect the air flow up over the hood as well as around the sides of the car. The non-ducted version is more effective than the ducted version at increasing down-force. The Spook is very effective at keeping the front tires on the road at speed (reduce lift and increase down-force), and you can really feel the difference. From personal experience - the Spooks won't damage the lower panels in minor run in's with parking stops - but in a front end crunch.. it turns out that the Spook is stronger than the sheet-metal. So it will damage the sheet metal if you hit the Spook hard enough to tear it off the car. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Stephen: If that is the same one you have in your 78 280Z - then you have the old after-market 240-Z unit. With the evaporator hanging down under the dash, the passenger foot well. Factory Installed, Port Installed or Dealer Installed, the evaporator unit in the 260/280's sat directly in front of the heater core, on top of the transmission tunnel. It was directly behind the two center vents. To put the evaporator there - the 260/280 Dash is about four inches deeper, than the 240 dash was. One way of putting the newer Factory Air unit in a 240 body - is to change to the 280 dash.. The main reason that the "Factory Air" was so much better than the previous Dealer Installed 240 units - was because the fan blew air through the evaporator coils, where the old 240 units had to suck air though the evaporator, then blow it though the heater core and dash. The quickest way to tell the Factory Installed or Port Installed units from the after-market units is by the number of speeds on the fan selector switch. As I recall the factory units had 5 speed fans - and the after market units used the original 4 speed fan selector switch. FWIW, Carl B.

Because the Chevy's used downdraft carb.'s - with throttle plates attached to the mechanical linkage - you had to prop the throttle open, so the cylinder wasn't sucked into a vacuum, prior to compression. If you were running triple side drafts - with mechanical butterflys you would have to prop the throttle open as well. With the SU's the vacuum from the cylinder itself will open the pistons as far as necessary - so you really don't have to do anything with the carb's. - just use the idle adjustment screw on the linkage to open the throttle and make sure the choke is full off. Also run the engine over at least three or four compression strokes on each cylinder. You'll feel the compression tester push back at your hand, on the compression strokes. Some testers screw in and others are held in by hand pressure... If your using the hand held type hold it firm and squarely in the hole. The reason for turning the cylinder over at least three of four compression strokes, is to assure that the cylinder walls are evenly lubricated and sealed, and to assure you are getting the highest possible reading. FWIW, Carl B.

Yes - as Mike said. It isn't and it doesn't. The Spook is bolted to the bottom of the radiator core support with three large washers and bolts. The there are about six smaller bolts/nuts/washers that go though the three lower finishers. Two on each corner and two in the center. (Some use three across the center) FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Will: I'm surprised to hear you say that you had not seem many of the York compressors mounted over the fuel pump, on the passenger side of the engine. My experience is the exact opposite. I've only seen a couple of the York compressors, replacing the Air Pumps. Although it is common to see the newer rotary compressors replace both the old York's and be mounted replacing the Air Pump, but that wasn't done by Datsun Dealers. A/C was actually a "Factory Authorized Accessory". Nissan Motors Ltd. extended the full Factory Warranty to cover the A/C when installed by an Authorized Datsun Dealer. Personally, I'd never seen a Dealer send that work out of their own shops. The A/C Kits were quite easy to install. The mechanics were paid 6 hours to install the system, and most of them could do it easily in 2 hour of less - after their first time. There were two manufacturers that supplied the A/C Kits to Nissan Motors USA, Frigid-king (Spl?) and ARA. Both supplied a huge bracket that allowed the York compressor to be mounted over the mechanical fuel pump. No Dealer would have removed the Air Pump - as that would have resulted in fines exceeding $100,000.00 if they were caught removing or modifying any emissions related systems on the cars. Bottom line Bedri - that looks like a Factory Authorized, Factory Warranted, Dealer Installed A/C system to me. Of course I'd have to see the rest of the system to be certain. One type had the temp. control knob mounted to the bottom of the dash, the other type had it mounted to the side of the center console. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Chris: I don't have an official number, but based on recorded VIN's - it looks like something close to 46,000 would be in the ball park. FWIW, Carl B.

I don't presently sell cars - although I worked my way through college selling cars and working in bars. I sold DATSUN's in 72/73... and have my Century Club ring to this day. Over the past 20 or so years - I have tried to follow the Classic Z Car Market, and have been personally involved in finding and buying many of the best examples for several serious Collectors. The street rod market is very interesting - - 20 years ago, if you put $25K into building a street rod or custom car, you would be very lucky to get $5K for it when you sold. That market is entirely different today. You'll see street rods/custom cars going for well over $85K on a pretty regular basis and some have gone over $100K. These numbers are for the Best of the Best of course... but they set the bar for the market in general. 15 years ago - a pure stock 240-Z in #1 condition would have sold for $12K (or more)... and fifteen years ago it would have cost the person doing the restoration himself - about $12K plus the cost of the car to start with. Take that same starting point and spend $12K on performance enhancements and that street mod Z might resell for $6K. Today, that is no longer the case - A #1 condition restoration will cost at least $30K in addition to the car that you start with - and #1 Condition 240-Z's will resell for $28K+. A high quality street mod Z will cost at least $18K today to build... and if done right it can be sold for $12K to $14K... Again - here we are talking in very general terms - and talking about street mod's done to the highest standards of quality... not some backyard hacked up monster... nor some half finished project... Also - you can figure that the First Generation Z's will all appreciate over the next five years as well. So yes - done right, with quality workmanship all around - and complete - I don't think one would have much problem recovering at least 80% of the money spent (not counting your labor). Everyone can argue with the absolute numbers - but that's a general overview. Nonetheless the Key is "High Quality"... to attract the buyers willing to spend the money at the higher end. I should add - keep very good records and photo history of the build. High quality cars are usually well documented... FWIW, Carl B.

IMHO - there is simply no comparison between a soup'ed up 260Z, and a 40 year newer 370Z. You simply can not buy that level of total performance for anything less than the $35K to $40K it takes to get a 370Z. Unless you buy a slightly used 350Z/G35 for something close to $20K or less. A used 350Z/G35 might be something to seriously consider. When it comes to the 370Z, the real question is; "should you buy the 370Z, or the G37?" I say go with the G37 as the Infiniti Dealers are so much better to deal with. Right now you can get a really good deal on one if you shop around and "0" percent on the loan. If on the other hand - you really don't want to spend $35K to $40K on the G37 - and you really want a toy tpo play with... I wouldn't spend the money on head work, cam kits, triple side drafts and headers - - - without going though the bottom end and re-balancing an engine to start with. Without a near perfect bottom end, all the stuff on top will only be yielding 80 to 85% of its potential anyway. Even when your done - you can't beat cc's and professional engine builders. For what your talking about - IMHO - order the 3.0/3.1 liter from Rebello and be done with it. Have Rebello build the SU's to go with it. Drop in a 3.7 rear gear with the 81-83 5spd. Then upgrade the brakes, go to coil overs so you can get some wider rubber on the road and good shocks in the struts. Strip off WEIGHT! The 260Z is at least 200lbs to heavy and it needs to lose weight. Replace the bumpers with 240Z bumpers. Leave the spare tire at home, never run with over 1/4 tank of gas (unless you are going on a long highway trip). In the end - you might have $12K to $14K in upgrades, plus the cost of the car to begin with. That should put you well under 1/2 the price of the 370Z. Five years later, your Street Mod 260Z will still be worth say 85% of what you put into it - - while the used 370Z will be worth about 50% of what it cost new. Bottom line - every time I've made compromises based on "price" - I've been unhappy with the decision. You want total performance - and something to impress your friends - go make your best deal on an Infiniti G37. You want a reasonably quick car that has Classic lines - and will keep up with the 40 year newer stuff strictly on the basis of straight line speed - spend the money up front and spend it all at once. Order the Rebello Engine and start collecting all the other parts you'll need. FWIW, Carl B.

Not really. To get close to 200hp at the rear wheels you'd have to go to higher compression (12:1) even if you use an L28 in stead of the L26 in the car now. Most dyno runs on stock 260Z's that show 120hp at the rear wheels when rated at 150hp at the engine, show something close to 165hp after adding the modifications you mention. 200hp at the engine, will not get you the performance indicated by the calculator. The best bang for the buck - if you want to stick with the in-line six - is the 280ZX Turbo motor with some mods.'s. Easy to get 200 to 250hp at the rear wheels with them and they can run on pump gas. You'll spend closer to $6K by the time it's all said and done - on the turbo engine and components needed to install it with a modern engine management system. FWIW, Carl B.

Replacing one cracked dash with another doesn't seem very productive to me. I'd get a full dash cover to recover the dash. Properly installed the full dash covers are hard to tell from the original dash... Just a thought... Carl B.

1) Having an alternator with a peak output of 105 amps - does not mean that you have 105 amps running though your entire electrical system. 2. Having a 12 volt battery capable of 150 amp output - does not mean that you have or need 150 amp running though your entire electrical system. 3) The components that use electric, will draw only what they need. If they short out, the fuse limits the amps flowing across the wires. 4) Peak output from the alternator is only one thing - - more practical to consider the alternators output at 800 to 1800 RPM - or its ability to replace the current drawn off the battery at low RPM's. 5. High output alternators are no problem for the stock wiring in the early Z's. Just make sure that when you add accessories, they are contained on their own individual new circuits and properly fused. 6) 1000 watt stereo's - might be better served with a second storage battery. 7) Self regulated alternators output only the current needed.. you would very rarely need or call on your alternator to supply 105 Amps. You would far more often need 30 amps at 1000 RPM. Amps=Watts/Volts 1000 watt stereo/12.6 volts = 79.4 amp draw at peak power output. 100 watt headlights x 2 = 15.9 amps. The 240-Z was originally equipped with a 35/40 amp alternator, because if you add up the power requirements of all components that require power in the stock system - it won't exceed 40 amps total. At least that is the way I've always understood it.... FWIW, Carl B.

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.