26th-Z

Yea, me too.

You calling Durango, Colorado a big city?

Clutch advise: Put your car in neutral while you sit at a stop light.

A red sports car is pretty hard to beat. I think it would be hard to argue any other color. Maybe silver. But then, we can't forget racing green. Hmmmm.... The design team took color into account for the S30. Here are a couple of the popular pictures of their color studies. The background behind the guy on the left is a series of color swatches and the model on the table is one of a series of color study models. This particular file is not very high quality - sorry. I might also comment - out on a limb - that Japanese art and aesthetic taste probably had much to do with the color selections that Americans found 'odd'. I think that Japanese red would tend to have a hint of orange, that gold would have a mustard feel. And let's not forget that wonderful butterscotch vinyl! Perhaps a Japanese relationship with color is closer to color found in nature, the floating world? I might comment about it that way.

Oh is THAT where you got that!?!! You lucky dog!

That's a commemorative badge somebody made - perhaps Brock. Check his site. I bought that badge and a smaller gear shift knob insert at the Daytona Zcon in 2007. Pretty nice badge!

Great pictures! 1974 would have been very, very early in the history of IMSA. Thanks for another shot of the OMS pace car. Wouldn't it be fun to find one of those cars!

All Right ! ! ! Congratulations!

Ha, Mike! Mr. K's birthday was September 14th, I think. He is 103? or did he just turn 104?

Ahhh...that guy! I wasn't a judge at that convention. Thanks for the pics! That was a fun convention!

To the best of my research, Dale Ishimoto was hired as part of the 'Dream Garage' commercial program which included the Z restoration program (Vintage Z), Z-Store, and Birth of a Legend campaigns. Here they are together, Mr. K and Dale Ishimoto, at the Vintage Z Rally in Carson, California; May 1997.

Hey Dan, Was that the '04 convention?! That's when I met him. Time flies! Feeling kind of sorry for myself for not making it out there. I haven't spent much time in that area of the country and want to. Probably the thing I enjoy the most about conventions is the 'local flavor'. From everything I hear, the convention is going very well. Have fun! Chris

Hey hey Kats! Good to hear from you! Your car looks great - as usual! I have left and right speaker brackets for my 8-track stereo. That is not exactly 'stock' for 26th-Z. She originally had only one speaker with the radio. My speakers are not original. I like the new floor also. It looks like new! Chris

Hey! Matsuo san is there! Great! Spend some time talking with him. He's great!

Didn't you say you had a steering wheel release? Sounds perfect to me. Turn your wheels to the curb before you take the steering wheel off.

An interesting suggestion, Travel'n. Nothing inexpensive about it at all yet very tastefully done. The car tire sits on the lower leg so that you can't tip it over. Of course it sits close to the car obstructing at least that area of the car. I have always considered those 'easels' to encourage people to stand back from the car by their positioning. Tomo, that may be good for your car! Ya'know, the five foot rule!

Yep. You need to know what your cylinder pressures are - cylinders 1 through 6. It's 'skipping'? All the time or just intermitenly?

Oh! You might want to dust off the printed side with baby powder or talcum powder so that the printing ink doesn't bond to the lexan face.

Tomo, you're right. If you try to put the vinyl behind the lexan, the adhesive will show. Have your vinyl dry-mounted to 1/4" foam core board and clip the board to your stand with office supply binder clips. You may want to remove one of the clip handles, the front facing one, and use enough clips, evenly spaced, to keep the foam core board secure. Or Dry mount your vinyl to 1/8" masonite or sealed stain-grade 1/8" plywood and through-bolt the panel to the lexan with evenly spaced cap screws or black anodized hex bolts or some other fancy hardware you can think of. If you use screws, make sure that all the screw slots align perpendicular to the lexan edge. With hex bolts, the alignment is less noticable.

The main sympton of a burnt valve is the cylinder isn't firing and / or smoke is coming out of the exhaust. Upon inspection the compression value is either very low or there is no compression. One could suspect piston ring failure but that would make noise and you would hear it. Either way, it's time for the head to come off.

Nice collection! I want to point out that there are two variants of the Ok sticker and I'm not certain of the origins of either. There may be a thread on the subject in the archives. The discrepancy is between the margin justification of the "Yokohama Japan". One is justified left to align with the "Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.". The other is indented. Sorry, posted the same picture twice - can't figure out how to delete a picture?!!??

You are in the UK, Jason, which I would imagine makes parts like these more difficult to come by. The trim rings, even without the lenses, would be valuable for the hardware alone! Lenses can be made - worst case. I say buy the pieces and I could imagine $250 a very fair price.

I'm going to suggest that the 'creaking' is not coming from the chassis. Take all the interior finish panels out (which may involve buying those danged rivets) and reinstall them with a caulk / pad / sealant at the attachment points and the seams. My experience has been that those old plastic interior panels move, rattle, and creak. Give them some padding and I'll bet your car will be a lot quieter.

And that's the left-handed version. The RHD version comes with a lighter!

Read about electrolytic rust removal. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread16506.html I understand the comments about acid dipping your car and I agree. Acid dipping is not a good idea.