cygnusx1

Thanks for the synopsis Jeff. Very interesting.

I can't imagine that the driving experience of a 350Z or 370Z can be nearly like any S30. Can it? I need to try it myself, but I would be very surprised. I am not saying one is better than the other. I just can't imagine them being remotely similar, asides from the front engine RWD layout, characteristics.

I saw a preview of the new episode that will air tonight. I saw what looked like a Z (maybe Big Sam?) and some other Nissan race cars in the creation of the ultimate collection. It airs at 10pm east. I hope it's not another "Al Capone's vault." If so, I apologize in advance. :laugh:

Check out alsacorp.com for some cool stuff.

I haven't tried the Eastwood kit but it looks awfully familiar. In the hobby world there is a paint system made by Spastix. It's a high gloss black base coat and then a chrome coat for a top coat. Both are in rattle cans. I tried it on a plastic spoon. That is not a metal spoon. It is a white plastic cafeteria spoon with the paint on it. The spoon on the right was clear coated. Unfortunately, the coating is very fragile, and when I tried to topcoat with a clear, almost all of it's "chrome" look turned into a cast aluminum look. Next I tried to just dip it in epoxy to cover up the chrome. Better, but still not great. It looks great at first, but it's fragile, and seems impossible to topcoat with a clear. In all fairness, this chrome is designed to be sprayed INSIDE a clear lexan body shell to create a chrome look from the outside. Might be cool to make chrome headlight covers!

Personally, I would not sweat the difference in engine sizes. In fact the 240Z may be quicker, due to it's lighter weight. Also the motor rev's nicer and feels livelier with the carbs and smaller displacement. Adding liters was a band-aid to cover up weight.

Guys, it all depends on the finish, type and quality, condition of the paint he has to work with. There is no single right answer until the paint is analyzed. Polishing a rolled-on latex paint, by hand, with a mild polish, is like digging a hole in water. Each case is different. Maguires scratch remover is called Scratch-X. I used it with pretty good results. There are better ones on the market with many levels of "cut" that you can find in a paint shop.

Hard to tell from your photo but that does not look like it was sprayed with a good paint gun. It looks like it was sprayed from a can. If so, and the paint is healthy enough, you may need to start with 1000 grit wet-sanding. Simple compound and polish will not take out spray-can level orange peel. Can you get higher resolution photos in sharp focus?

I have both also, and I find that I enjoy the nimbleness of the 240Z resulting from the lower weight and the quicker steering ratio. My 280Z has A/C, and definitely has a more solid sound when the doors are shutting. It also has significantly less wind and road noise. For long trips, more comfort, quietness, reliability, and with an edge on safety, the 280Z wins. For a more raw driving experience, NVH, and razor handling, the 240Z wins. Styling, solely due to the factory bumper design, the 240Z wins again. I also prefer the 240Z wooden wheel, simplistic interior treatments, and overall "simpleness". One thing that I can't get used to is the lack of HVAC control lighting in the 240Z. I can never find the right levers in the dark. They are illuminated in the 280Z. I think the two weigh about 400-500lbs or so apart. Not exactly sure. The 280 is slightly more "upgrade ready" if you are going to get into higher horsepower in the 300hp+ ranges due to the R200 diff and its beefier axles. There are many structural differences underneath the two cars. The 280Z is built with more metal, more gussets, larger frame rails, more bracing, and possibly thicker metal in places.

Here is the single stage urethane as I received it. Straight from the time capsule, sitting against garage door windows for 23 years! According to paperwork it was stripped to bare metal in 1987 and repainted. The PO then let the car sit for all those years. It became badly oxidized, and in a few spots the paint had lifted. The lifted spots will get repaired properly some time in the future. They are not rust related. Wash/Clay/Wax-Cleaner/Buffing compound by hand and with a buffer/and finally a hand glaze. Lots of elbow grease. I can get it much better but my arm hurts!

Run and find another one.

The Z's have universal joints. Guibo joints are like rubber doughnuts...very similar to the steering coupler found in our cars. My Alfa Romeo had one in the driveshaft. As for the clunking, do a search for clunk and you will find hundreds of posts!!!

Who, what, where, when is always going to be a point of discussion, but opinion on which prior cars influenced the shape and performance of the S30 is a topic that nobody can argue against. Of course this assumes the influencing car came before the S30 ;-) The only argument that would be valid, would be that a single designer was raised in a dark room and never saw any other car until he/she designed the S30. I doubt that's the case.

A good fuel filter, air filter, and regular use, are the best things for carbs.

Webers are great if you find someone that knows how to set them up PROPERLY. It's kind of a breed of its own, so a guy that is good with Holley's or SU's is not necessarily good with Webers. Once they are setup right, they are great, not finicky, and work very smoothly. I don't think there are any Webers that should be avoided in particular. Care and maintenance is the same as any other carb. I don't think they have drains built into them. The side-drafts do have a small cover on the bottom which is held on with four screws. That, if removed, would dump fuel.

Nope then, my early 280Z bumper wont work right. Sorry couldn't read your tag line on my dumbphone. Get a used one. The 77/78 bumpers seem to have held up better than the earlier ones anyhow.

There is a factory around here that used to bake auto glass for application of the defroster grids. I am not sure how it's applied, but one of the steps in the factory process is to bake the glass with defroster element in place. It's probably a screen printed ceramic "paint" with conductive materials in suspension. I would imagine that the new technology DIY system would involve a peel-n-stick sort of application with a possible curing agent as a final step. Just surmising.

Which year 280Z? I have a really nice front one for the 75-76 style.

If you do buy it, keep me in mind. My 76 280Z is very similar in construction and detail. It is heavily modified now but I still have most of the original parts laying around. Just let me know what you need and I can scrounge through my pile. I do have at least one set of injectors but it looks like that car might still have them on the fuel rail. I have a really nice set of bumpers with rubber and shocks for that year also. Some rust repair on the rear bumper. However, the rubber surrounds for those bumpers are pretty valuable these days.

That Dynomax fits fine. You need to rotate it up into position where it fits like a glove. This is the MSA Premium system for 6 into 1 headers. The muffler is the dynomax from the kit. No rubbing and I can get my hand fully around the muffler. I run the triples with headers and it is really pretty loud. Next season I will probably add the same mid-muffler that FastWoman did. Thanks for the link!

With all the right tools and skill that you probably have, here is my take: Excluding labor costs: About $1500 in used/new parts to get it rolling (basic driveable). About $2000 more to make it a decent,safe reliable, daily driver. About $3500 more to make it a decent daily that looks great from 30 feet. About $5000 more to make it into a pretty nice restoration. The amount of time it takes to do this can vary from a month, to a lifetime. I say go for it. Proceed with caution, and don't invest too much at one time. Don't focus all of your efforts and money on any one aspect of the car. Go over the whole car methodically. Make a plan of attack and try to stick with it.

The ES bushing kit is Polyurethane. The bushings are very stiff and can harm the T/C rod if used on both sides (front and back) of the T/C bucket. Bad things happen when the T/C rod cracks.

Just a reminder...If you do go with poly T/C rod bushings, only use the forward facing bushing in poly. Use stock rubber ones on the backside of the T/C bucket. This keeps from over-stressing the T/C rod when it moves up and down with the suspension.

Can't find any videos and hope to not be doing any related Z work in the near future but I found a site that illustrates the technique quite well. It's as easy as closing a ziplock....pull the string and the grommet/seal seats itself. http://www.fordmuscle.com/2007/05/installing-back-glass/

Basic tip: Wrap fishing line in the groove of the grommet part of it. Push it against the hole in the firewall and pull on the fishing line; through the hole. The string will pull the lip evenly through the hole as it unwraps from the grommet. It's the same technique used for installing glass seals.