zspert

Sorry Grannyknot, didn't mean to leave your astute observations out.

Bart and HS-30H again hit the nail squarely on the head. "Restored" in the 80s with parts available at that time. I can't remember what wasn't available in the 80s and I was there. They bought a new air filter housing- available in the 80s - I guess to get the decals. Just a little research on their part would have unearthed reproductions.

Thank you DC871F for your kind words.

Boys, boys, we're all on the same team - aren't we?

There are 2 tiny issues which I'll go into another time. One is important the other not so much.

I'm confident my unsolicited advice will go in one ear and out the other but the new owner would be wise to start the operation with an S30 World reproduction fuel tank. Build your house on a solid foundation!

Thank you Racer X

HS30-H - when asked, I tell customers the 240 guild story but I've been in business long enough to know when someone isn't paying attention to my line of conversation. Unfortunately I experience this more times than not. Lesson - there is indeed a sucker born every minute! Still trying to figure out how the late Paul Taylor's car fell into their slippery hands.

HS30-H you've hit the mark. Yet again, your summery of the situation is concise and to the point.

here, here

Looks like one of my reproduction "OK" decals v

Jeff, I, couldn't agree with you more.

To change the subject a bit - Had a 280 recently sold on BAT towed to my shop for a once over for the new owner. The car has very low mileage. It almost goes without saying that the rear brakes were frozen. Got the right rear wheel off and discovered this "modification" had been done to the fuel pump. As these cars age I see more and more generations of butchers plying their trade but this is a new one on me!. Now, what was he trying to address with this trick? Cheers

Z cars always seen to want 12 BTDC

Always risky reusing 50 year old lock washers. Correct lock washers are still available from Nissan but they're now plated clear.

My goodness! Why take a chance? We're talking about a 50 year old part.

Z Therapy has reproduced the floats and have done a very nice job of it.

The US market 510 2 door came with rubber mats from the factory - they were sold to the first owner that way, ditto for the trucks. The 4 door and wagon came from the factory with carpets. Also, the 2 door front seats could not be reclined as could the front seats in the 4 door and wagon. Installed the parts required to make 2 door front seats recline many times for customers when I was a dealer mechanic in the 70s.

Of course, if we go to 15% ethanol all bets are off!!

Did someone say V-3 kit - final installment So, for the next two plus years we tried very hard, at least I did, to make those 73, 74 & 74.5 Z cars run properly. I paid careful attention to each and every service bulletin ignoring those that didn't make sense and trying those that I thought had a shot. I found that as time passed less and less of the affected cars ended up at the dealer. Where did they go? Fast forward to my post dealer days. I was getting a fair number of mostly second owners who weren't aware of the faulty induction system but knew something just wasn't right and wanted very dearly to make the damn thing run properly. Of course the fix was to backdate the induction system, the entire system. Everything from the cylinder head out. This operation turned the undriveable into pleasurable. Most of these second owner cars had low mileage, often less than 15k. It seems that most of these cars were parked by the original owners after their patience ran out. In about the year 2000 I did the backdate to a 73 with only 8K miles. Uemura-san's book drew a detailed picture of the extensive real-world testing that was done before the 240 was introduced to the US market. It's clear to me that Nissan did ZERO real world testing before introducing the 73 240 to US market. What a colossal foul-up! Interesting postscript - 10-15% of the cars in these model years, according to the original owners, ran just fine! In my view these chaps weren't being completely honest or they only used their Zs in the cooler months. Some time in the future I'll go into the other 74 & 74.5 big problem - loose crankshaft pulley bolts, oh yea! Cheers

Wrong seat covers but contemporary Nissan hose clamps. Rather a mixed bag.

It even has door jamb bumpers!

Obvious - that's it!

Did someone say V-3 kit, almost done My last installment had me and my Datsun mechanic buddies trying to decide where we were going for lunch while checking out all the chic professional ladies in our downtown neighborhood. But - after lunch and a visit to the stereo store we eventually had to get back to those 73-74.5 Z car induction systems. Between the time the Nissan engineers left our dealership and the kits became available wasn't too long but until that happened the first blush of 73 Zs had to sit on the dealer lots and at the ports. They took up space and more importantly they took up floor plan $s. When all was said and done the the best the V-3 kit could do was make most of the affected cars drivable when the air temp was below about 80 or so and the humidity wasn't too high. Over the following 2.5 years Nissan issued service bulletin after bulletin trying to get a grip in what was becoming a real problem. In the end they issued more service bulletins on this induction problem than any other system on any other model I was involved with in my almost 10 years of dealership employment. Sometime in 74 the engineering dept. put all of the bulletins in one volume. I had never seen the compilation book until several years ago when I was able to snag one from e-bay. Among the many modifications listed is the one I find to be the most radical, and the most amusing. It was authorized for use only in those parts of the country that had very hot humid climates. It was the installation of a massive hood scoop! Now, before you, a dealer, could cut up your customer's hood you had to have permission from just about everyone from Mr. K on down! I have that book somewhere but I just can't find it. I've included a couple of pictures of the the interim attempts to organize the bulletins. I've never seen one of the hood scoop cars. There was one factory modification I was able to use with modest success but to this day I can't understand how it was legal. You simply attached a length of vacuum lose to the end of the float bowl vent. You secured the end of the hose using rather fine stainless wire. You then ran the end of the hose to a space away from the venturi. No more partially vaporized fuel being directly ingested by the carbs. Next time - the final cure, my observations and opinion.

No fender cover, OUCH!