Carl Beck

Hi Rich: That is simply beautiful... what a jewel you have there. Looking at the picture - I would highly recommend that you get a new set of Tension/Compression Rod bushings and replace the originals. The originals look to be very cracked... The Tension/Compression Rod plays a critical role in the stability of the front suspension. Left worn and not doing their job, puts a great degree of additional stress on all the other components of the front suspension. The T/C bushings are very easy to replace and I'm pretty sure you can still get them from the Nissan Parts Dept. FWIW, Carl B.

I'll bet that the Previous Owner really appreciates your publishing that picture of himLOL Here is a picture of my 72 when we ran {AIR} 14x7 Appliance Wire Mesh wheels on the front and 13x8's on the rear with Goodyear Bluestreaks for auto-cross duty. The 13's on the rear were short enough to clear the lower spring perch on the stock strut... and they lowered the overall gearing... It was really fun waxing the 911's and Corvettes on the weekend... I don't have any pictures of my hair style from that period:finger: FWIW, Carl B.

Arne has made a real science out of what is or what is not a real Appliance wheel... We should accept no substitute... Kind of like what is or is not a real "Libra" by American Racing... Glad I said "are commonly called".... rather than "those are". Nonetheless that is a great site for wheel references pictures ZWOLF... FWIW, Carl B.

Gee.... a mile - - who makes them? One Mile = 1609m / 5280 ft. According to CIBIE their light patterns are: CIBIE OSCAR 460mtr / 1509ft. Super OSCAR 750mtr / 2450ft. OSCAR XENON {HID} 1200m / 3937ft That may very well be true. Not to be picky but a few extra comments. I'll just add that we should not confuse terms by comparing halogen headlights with sealed beam headlights. Today - both replaceable bulb and sealed beam type halogen headlights are legal and available in the US. Both sealed beam and replaceable bulb type headlights are made by Cibie and Hella as well as others. No question in my mind that the replaceable bulb type headlights from CIBIE/HELLA come with better reflectors and higher grade directional glass. The question is; "how much better do you really need and is the extra price worth the extra benefit?" The halogen headlights offered in a sealed beam format in Auto Parts Stores are about $18.00 each and they offer a pretty good upgrade to the original headlights on our Z's. Hella for example offers a sealed beam halogen headlight at around $49.00 each... The replaceable bulb types - with the better reflectors and lead glass directional lens are around $75.00 each. Of course both CIBIE and HELLA offer less expensive, and lower quality units in the $45.00 each range as well. Sadly today just because it bares a known brand name, doesn't mean you are buying "the best". You also want to assure that the units you are buying are made for use in your country - the directional lens are cut for either "Right Hand Drive" or "Left Hand Drive".... {so watch what you buy on E-Bay}. FWIW, Carl B.

This is a very common problem with our now 36+ year old Z's. All the rubber fuel lines age and crack, that includes fuel feed, fuel return, fuel filler as well as all the rubber hoses that run though the passenger cabin for the Fuel Vapor Recovery system. Then there are leaks around the rear hatch due to aged/cracked hatch seals, tail light seals as well as body seam sealers that are cracking. Not to mention rust holes that have not been properly fixed in the past... Exhaust leaks under the car, or a overly rich fuel mixture, or float bowls that overflow.... All these items can be fixed and the truth is that ALL of them have to be fixed to eliminate the odor in the car... FWIW, Carl B.

Appliance Baskets or Appliance Wire Baskets is what they are commonly called around here.. The "honeycomb" wheels were stock on the 81 280XZ as I recall.. but I wouldn't bet much on that.. FWIW, Carl B.

Sounds like you may have some crud in the fuel filter, or at the pickup in the tank. The car will start/run because the crud falls back to the bottom of the tank/or filter. Then the crud gets picked up - plugs the filter/or the pick in the tank and the car stops. Let it sit until the crud floats to the bottom again - and it will start... First thing I'd try is changing the fuel filter... With cars that have been sitting for prolonged periods, or cars that get a tank of bad gas.. it is easy to go though a couple filters in a hurry.. Just what comes to mind... FWIW, Carl b.

Hi Mike: Great... These Newsletters capture the spirit that used be associated with the Datsun Brand.. We we "Green" long before it was Politically CorrectLOL FWIW, Carl B.

Hummm.... If I'm thinking of the right seal - that square end is supposed to go over the metal on the door and under the stainless steel window frame. That is to say that the rubber is sandwiched between the two parts. If you trim it, and you don't have something between that window frame and the steel in the door - road vibration may cause the window frame to wear or knock the paint off the metal...and you can wind up having the rust come back. As I recall, I rolled the window down, then loosened to bolts that go though the door so that I could pry the window frame back just far enough to stick the rubber seal back over the metal door lip... FWIW, Carl B.

Ospho is a mild solution of phosphoric acid. DoD tests from decades ago and more recently repeated have shown that a phosphoric acid wash on steel is the most effective method of controlling oxidation while at the same time etching a smooth metal surface. By a chemical action phosphoric acid converts iron oxide to iron phosphate. Iron phosphate is inert. It is important to allow enough time for the acid to complete its chemical action however, before cleaning any residue off. For bare metal that is freshly sanded, that can be as little as an hour. Then it can be washed off with water, dried and primed. Water??? Yes, a water wash will not cause rust to form on top of a bare metal treated with a proper acid wash, followed by being dried off {blown dry with compressed air or dried with a heat gun}. You just don't want to leave an acid residue under your primer/paint. Other than the epoxy primers, automotive primers are not vapor/moisture barriers. Nonetheless if you washed the metal down with Ospho, then primed the surface - 3 weeks should not present a problem if the car was not subjected to rain or sitting outside going through thermo cycles. Matter of fact you want to allow time for any "bondo" type epoxy body fillers to completely cure/dry. {meaning all chemical action has stopped between the hardner and filler}. When you see body fillers bubbling up under a paint job - - six months to a year after the work was done - highest chance is that the body filler wasn't allowed enough time to completely cure in the first place. FWIW, Carl B.

Looking only at the video - still looks like $6K is cheap...If you just wanted a nice Z to drive and enjoy.. it would be hard to do better back East. Looks like the car was originally silver -and the engine bay looks clean at least.. Of course you would have to see the quality of the paint job in person.. FWIW, Carl B.

Import Tax.... Duty and Taxes???? What happened to free trade?.... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: Interesting question. The first set of wheels that I have, had been coated inside with something. It was kind of a greenish gray, and looked like an epoxy. I assumed it was done to keep the air in, so I did not remove it when I bead blasted the exterior. The second set that Les found and shipped to me, had been blead blasted already, and who ever did it blasted the interior of the wheels as well.. So I don't know if there had ever been anything on them. I painted the inside of the wheel that I used for the spare with POR-15 before mounting the tire. Your 15" aluminum wheels look GREAT! I'm sure you'll be much happier with them for street use. FWIW, Carl B.

Are you thinking of this picture? {see the one on the Left below} It was taken at the Ypres Rally in Belgium. {thanks to James Morris for sending it} OR PERHAPS: Kevin's Yellow/Red 240Z may look familiar to some in the U.S. Could be you think you saw it racing here in the Pacific Northwest, or maybe running the Panama-Alaska Rally in 1997... There is a reason for that.... Kevin's Yellow/Red 240Z was originally owned by Robert Trinder. Robert left England about 23 years ago to move to Canada. Robert then bought a former Road Race 240-Z and prepared it for Rally duty. He kept the same color scheme as he had before. It was entered in a few Stage Rallies and then Robert and Scott Trinder ran the 1997 Panama-Alaska Rally with the car in vintage class finishing an impressive 6th overall. Rick Hintz bought the car in 98. Rick and Mark Swalley {Mark Johnson substituting} then used it in SCCA's Group 5 Rally Competition. David Birchall bought the car in 2005 and had plans to keep it in Rally trim... http://ZHome.com/Racing/RALLY/Hintz.htm Second Picture is Trinder's car on the Baja Stage of the Panama-Alaska Rally in 97. It JUST PASSED UNDER the nose of that horse!!! A tenth of a second later, the horse and Z would have been history. FWIW, Carl B.

Thanks for Posting this Alan. Amazing. I can truly appreciate the amount of time, the continual effort and seemingly endless supply of money that a project of this nature can consume. I know that Kevin enjoyed every second of it. Really nice article. Does anyone know if this Magazine is available on the News Stands here in the US? FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: If you look at the 70 Sales Brochure - you can see the engine compartment - and it looks like silver on the coil bracket. FWIW, Carl B.

Let's back up for a minute. Nissan Motors Ltd. when formed in 1934 was actually a conglomerate of different businesses. Building a small car named "DATSUN" was a very small part of their business model. A far larger part of their income came from supplying Ford, Chevy and Chrysler with component parts for their plants in Japan, as well as developing an electrical component supply business. While the Practical Automobile Production Co. produced some 563 Datson's in 1933, Ford and Chevy had been producing over 15,000 units per year each by 1930 in Japan. They were major customers of Nissan Motors in 1934. Rather than directly compete with their major source of income - Nissan marketed a "small car" in Japan - the Datsun. The first car to bare the "Nissan" brand was actually the full size Graham-Paige Crusader purchased entirely from America in 1936, and re-branded "Nissan" in 1937. Design, Patents, Production Tooling and Assembly Line plus Engineering Support and Consulting were all purchased by Nissan and physically moved to Japan. Also components for the Crusader that had been supplied from American suppliers were supplied to Nissan after the transfer. Graham-Paige also supplied the design and power-plant for the truck and bus branded "Nissan". So prior to WW-II Nissan decided to sell their small cars as DATSUN and later their larger cars, trucks and buses as under the "Nissan" brand. In the 50's as Nissan again started production of their small cars - they used the DATSUN brand on them in Japan. DATSUN was not only an "export" brand name, it was the brand name used by Nissan for their small cars in Japan as well. We well never know if Nissan had entered the U.S. market in 1960 to market their cars under the Nissan brand, if they would have been successful or not. In any case it is unlikely that they would have been as successful as quickly using NISSAN as a brand. It was only 15 years after WW-II, and the President of Nissan had been very publicly tried for heinous war crimes related to Nissan's actions in China, put in prison and banned from ever holding a corporate position of authority again in Japan. If you are old enough you may recall that there was much talk of General MacArthur running for President of the US in the late 40's and his actions in Japan were broadly covered in the American Press, so Nissan's actions in China were too. So "Nissan" most definitely had a P.R. problem with their Corporate name in America in the 50's and it is believable that would have concerned them going into the 60's as they attempted entering the market here. What we do know is that importing Datsuns and marketing Datsun as a brand name in the U.S. was a very successful strategy, and most of that success was due to Mr. K. efforts here. He really made the brand "Datsun" seem like a true emigrant rather than an immigrant. When it comes to marketing "Perception" is 95% of the battle. So I think it is hard to support the argument that Nissan made a mistake by bringing the Datsun brand of small cars and trucks to America when they did. It was a brand historically applied to their small cars and one that the U.S. Servicemen stationed in Japan came to admire. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Rich: Good idea on the freeze plugs - be sure to paint them blue. Did you use a coat of Permitex or some other sealer when installing the freeze plugs? If not - or even if so - I'd run only water in the cooling system when you first restart that engine. 1. if you have any leaks - you only lose/clean up water 2. if you put anti-freeze and water mix in - then it is thinner and can leak were water alone would not. Running only water gives everything a better chance to seat in, as the engine goes through a few thermo cycles. That engine compartment is going to look amazing.. FWIW, Carl B.

The dog legs are quite commonly rusted on the 240-Z's - there are patch panels made to repair them. Not a huge deal. We'd have to see more of the body, the floorboards and frame rails as mentioned... Also, you would want to know if the original engine is still in the car - check the engine serial number below the #6 spark plug on the BLOCK.. and see if that number matches the data on the data tag under the hood - it is screwed to the shock tower. Looks like it would be capable of being brought back to life... It would take a lot of work and money however... FWIW, Carl B.

"Cleaner" - - NO I'd run some ATF down the valve stems, from the top of the head. Let it soak though - then turn the engine over by hand. I also put some ATF and/or Marvel Mystery Oil down the cylinders and let it soak through for a day - turn the engine by hand and repeat. Once everything seems free - Drain the oil pan, change the filter and refill with fresh 20 wt oil, pour oil over the cam and rocker faces.. Then if the fuel system has been cleaned, at least from the fuel pump though the carb.'s - you can use an external fuel source to see if the engine will crank and start. I say external fuel source - because you do not want to suck the varnish and crud out of the fuel tank and fuel lines - make sure you drop the fuel tank and clean it and the lines out before you hook them back up to the engine. Take your time - work the engine turn over by hand until everything feels like it is turning freely. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Brandon: I'm certainly no chemist nor expert on todays painting systems... but as I understand it - from the people I know that are in the business........ First - just to be clear. I said self-etching epoxy primer. I did not say "epoxy etching primer". ep·ox·y n. pl. ep·ox·ies 1. Any of various usually thermosetting resins capable of forming tight cross-linked polymer structures characterized by toughness, strong adhesion, and low shrinkage, used especially in surface coatings and adhesives. Epoxy Primers are commonly said to be self-etching - Common use however does not agree with the technical definition of the term "etch" - Granted. Epoxy primers that contain a fairly large amount of solvents, actually soak into the bare metal surface... and they are commonly referred to as being "self-etching", meaning they do not require bare metal to be acid etched prior to application, nor do they require an etching agent to be included or added. BTW- epoxies of all sorts make excellent adhesives because of their ability to penetrate and thus bond themselves to the surfaces to which they are applied. According To DuPont For Example: DuPont CF-22860S Chrome-Free Etch Primer is a is a two-component, self-etching primer that provides exceptional corrosion resistance and adhesion to properly prepared bare metal (steel, galvanized and aluminum). It is mixed 1:1 with 22805S ChromaPremier Activator DuPont 2510S Epoxy DTM primer-sealer a two component primer with corrosion resistance and excellent adhesion for direct-to-metal applications. DTM is available in lead/chromate free and chromate for use under body filler, polyester putties, primer-surfacers and topcoats. It is mixed in various ratio's with DTM Activator The primer you are using most likely is a zinc chromate primer, they usually dry out a light green. {but that is just a guess on my part}. If it is a two part - ie mixed with an "activator " prior to application it is an epoxy. If it is sprayed out of the can and simply mixed or thinned.. it is not an epoxy. Sorry for any confusion of terms .... Please feel free to correct/discuss/disagree... as I said, I only go by the "in shop" education my friends supply as I constantly ask questions. Both my friends have 30+ years experience in body shops, both sell automotive paints and supplies, both are excellent painters themselves - and one is paid by several different paint manufacturers and suppliers to demonstrate proper use and application of their products - in body shops around Florida and at trade shows Nationally. NEITHER however are Chemists, so I usually get mixed terms from them, with lots of "ifs", "and/or's" and "except whens".. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Andrew: Great report - thanks for sharing the experience with us. Reminds me of my "alligator on the Freeway" experience... so I know exactly how you feel. Glad to hear that everything went your way on this one. FWIW, Carl B.

Dented frame rails are typical. You'll find perhaps one out of forty that aren't dented. Over the years people do run over parking lot stops, other people put lift pads under the wrong part of the frame rails and other things get ran over on the highway... It's nice to find a first generation Z with prefect frame rails... but actually it is unusual. Are you crazy to buy it?... depends on the overall condition of the car and how much it costs... FWIW, Carl B.

Normally, if you have sanded the old finish off, down to bare metal - you have also all but polished the metal itself. You can use either a self-etching primer such as many of the epoxy primers are, or you can use a chemical such as Ospho to kill flash rust and etch the metal, then prime. Many Body Shop Supply Stores sell chemicals that can be added directly to some primers to make it a one step process. Sounds like you already have an answer to what could happen - the paint and the primer it is adhered to can peel off in sheets. Just because it "can" doesn't mean for sure that it "will". If the car is still completely apart.... only you can decide if you want to take the chance or not. If the car is already reassembled.... you've pretty much already taken the chance. I've never used that brand of paint. I will say that looking at the cost of a gallon of their Acrylic Enamel Red or their Urethane Base/Clear .. it seems awfully cheap... When it comes to Automotive finishes you usually get what you pay for. Granted there is a large difference between wholesale and retail.. but even at wholesale prices premium quality finishes usually cost three to four times that much. Are they worth it or not - again it depends on your objectives/goals. In terms of lasting finish luster and durability IMHO the answer is yes. FWIW Carl B.

UP TO July 73 73810-E4100 MOLDING-ROOF DRIP RH - superceded 73812-N4500 MOLDING-ROOF DRIP RH - superceded 73812-N4425 MOLDING-ROOF DRIP RH From Oct. 73 2+2 73812-N4526 SET-MOLDING ROOF DRIP-RH FWIW, Carl B.