SJGREEN71

If MSA no longer carries them, you might try Les at Calssic Datsun Motorsports: http://www.classicdatsun.com/

I posted a few photographs of some of the cars that participated in this years event. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=19903

I just got back from the 2006 No Frills Iron Bottom Motoring Tour. This is a motoring tour open to drivers with vehicles manufactured over 30 years ago. You may have heard of this from Victor Laury who was looking for a co-pilot/navigator a little while ago. I can tell you Victor is pretty darn fast in that U20 roadster of his. I don't think I could have kept my shorts clean if I had co-piloted with him. I am sure he pissed off a few of the Porsche blue bloods in the crowd as he blew by in his Japanese tin box. Check out my photo gallery for a few shots of the cars involved. The event is kind of like one of those track events where drivers of different skill levels and different levels of car performance run on the same track. Only with the Iron Bottom your sessions are 8 hours long instead of 30 minutes, and the track is 1,000 miles long and takes three days to cover, and instead of paying $300 or more per day, they pay you! The tour is run over public roads, and drivers are responsible to drive in a safe manner. Most of the roads are lightly traveled, and you might find one vehicle traveling in the other direction every 100 miles, so safe manner is subjective, eh?. You do have to watch out for those traveling in the same direction if you do not want to drive crazy fast. The crazy fast ones like Victor, however, will cut you some slack until they get to a stretch where they can blow by you. California at this time of year is green and lush and beautiful. It rained continuously for a month before the Iron Bottom, and will probably rain another few weeks after, but this year we hit a break in the weather, and there was very little rain for the three days of the tour. This is not to say, however, that the tour is for the timid. The first day we ran into snow and ice over the Angeles Crest Highway. I can tell you it is a thrill when your "summer tire" Yokohamas step sideways in the corner. Then there was the pea soup fog on pot-holed roads where cows roamed aimlessly unaware that that rumbling was your Datsun approaching through the haze. Due to the rain, many of the roads were flooded in places. It's like fording a stream. I got deep into one in my Z. So deep the tail pipe was under water, and the engine choked out from the back pressure. I was lucky to start it up on the third try and pegged the tach at 6500, dumped the clutch and boogied out of there. Unfortunately my BRE spook spoiler ripped off in the process. At the opening night dinner I was fortunate to meet Jim and Jerry who drove a gorgeous '73 Z. There was no time to drive and look at the driving instructions too, so it was invaluable to follow these guys who had a dedicated navigator on board. Jerry is a retired Navy submarine Captain, and Jim is retired Army. I hope to run the Iron Bottom again next year. If any of you from out of state or out of country would like to share the driver and navigator roles in the 2007 No Frills Iron Bottom I have a quite capable '71 240Z with 280 engine and 5-speed transmission.

I think the guys who are buying the American muscle cars at high prices are just buying the cars they longed for in high school. If that is the case, the Z car is just coming into it's sweet spot for potential appreciation. If you think back a couple of years, I think most people on this list would have been surprised if this BJ Z had sold for over $5,000 (not over $10,000). The other factor at play, is that some people are looking at an affordable classic as an investment. Many are still afraid of the stock market after the dot com bubble burst. Real estate appreciation is pretty much played out. High inflation is a very real possibility in the near future. When inflation is high investors flock to hard assets. Collector cars do well in this environment. So the only question that remains is how can I add a few Z cars to my 401K plan?

If you are interested in a full paint job and body work for not a lot of money I highly recommend: Maaco Auto Painting & Bodyworks: Palo Alto (650) 493-6110 816 San Antonio Rd Palo Alto, CA 94303 This is not the choice if you want a show winner, but is great for a daily driver. The quality of their work is excellent for the price.

Now if my son took my Z out without my permission, I would seriously kick his a$$. My story is a little different. I owned a 1968 Datsun 2000 roadster for about 10 years. Drove it as a daily driver for many of those years, but my wife at the time felt it was a "death trap" and encouraged me to buy a Ford Focus in 2001. Shortly after she decided that she didn't care if I lived or died, and filed for divorce. Fast forward a couple of years, my son is attending school at a junior college and needs a car to get back and forth to mom's house. I offer my Datsun 2000, and she is okay with this "death trap," as long as I sign title over to my son. What ever, deal done. I sign over the papers and buy a Z the next month. No worries, my son is a responsible young lad (not the destructive SOB I was at his age). He really loves the 2000, too, he just doesn't believe anything bad can happen to him. Six months later he is stoped at a traffic light and is barking in jest at a cute dog he sees on the side walk. Light turns green, and he continues to look at the dog instead of the Toyota in front of him and smashes into the rear of the Toyota. Good news, my son, his female companion, and the Toyota suffer no damage. Bad news is that the roadster suffers $2,000 in uninsured body work and paint, and the impact broke a shift fork in the transmission that cost another $1,000. I remember burning out the clutch in my mom's VW when I was his age and agree to pay for the damages, but I stress this is the last time I will bail him out. The roadster is back on the road, we drive it together at speeds exceeding 100 MPH in short bursts going down Hwy 101 to the roadster meet in Solvang, CA. The car is well received, but doesn't win any awards. It is a daily driver after all, and there are some pretty spectacular roadsters there at the meet. Fast forward another 6 months and this roadster that could do over 100MPH is limping to get over 3,000 RPM. The roadster always leaked a little oil, but I had instructed my son to check the oil with every fill up. Turns out he had let the engine run at two quarts low on oil, and the timing chain had suffered as a result. So timing chain and sprocket set runs about $1,000, plus labor another $500, plus unkown damage to the engine from oil starvation. I am not going to bail him out this time, even though I feel great sadness at the loss of the roadster. It is his car now, and he has to either get it fixed, or sell off what remains and get himself a Toyota, or Honda that may be more tollerant of abuse. This story is still a work in progress. Right now he is driving my Focus, and I am driving my Z on a daily basis. So I guess I bailed him out again. Still he needs a car to get him back and forth to shcool, and I want him to continue in his education. It is tough being a parent. I guess that is the bottom line.

I saw this in the March 2006 edition of Road & Track magazine, and thought "now here is the ultimate hybrid Z." http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=3326 Designed by Peter Brock, of BRE Datsun racing fame. The long hood, the headlight buckets... it all makes for a very attractive retro appearance based on the Shelby Datona Coupe. Reaching 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and 11.8 seconds for the quarter mile makes me like it even more. :classic:

Jeremy, I am truly sorry to see the damage done to your Z, and I agree that the person passing on the right in a parking zone should be more careful, but it sounds as if there was no stop sign at this intersection, and it is the responsibility of the person making the left turn to yeild to oncoming traffic. Generally the cop is going to write up the one doing the hitting as the person at fault. In this case it was you. In reality, each of the three drivers shares some of the fault, but in California, only one person gets the blame.

Hey, You are only 20 yrs old, you can probably wash and wax right away. I'm over 50 and need a nap after I compound and polish the Z, so it will probably have to wait until tomorrow, if not next week. Have at it man. The paint don't care.

Well, it is less than 2 hours to go on eBay, number 682 still has no bids at a starting price of $12.500, so this should give you an indication of the value of a low number. This car is in much better shape that what you describe yours to be. Search on eBay Item number: 4613610880 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-Datsun-Z-Series-240z_W0QQitemZ4613610880QQcategoryZ6187QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now take a deep breath and calm down Dave. I've seen those UPS drivers out there past dinner time trying to get those deliveries made. My overall impression is that they are a pretty hard working lot. I know I look forward to getting my headlight harness, but it's not like I have to have it right away. The delivery company that bugs me is FedEx. They won't leave the package unless it's signed for. Since I never seem to be home when they come by, it ends up taking half a week before I get my stuff. And that's after it is already in my city.

So hey. It's not 100% original. It is still a beautiful example of an early Z, and the 682 seems to be correct. I hope that someone with deeper pockets than me walks away with this beauty for $20,000 or more. That just makes it easier for me to justify the money I sink into my one and only Z.

Those are "non-driving dents" as in "Hey officer, I wasn't driving at the time. My ex-girl friend did that with a crow bar when she found out I was cheating on her."

Dave, It went in the mail yesterday. You should have it by Tuesday. Peter

If your 5-speed was working before, and sudenly went bad it seems unlikely it will need to be completely torn down. Much of the work is just pulling the tranny to begin with. You may as well check it out before giving up on it. I had a roadster 5-speed (no not in my Z) that had similar problems. It turned out to be a $50 shift fork broke. Once that was fixed, the transmission worked fine again.

I just got the 105 amp alternator from Z Specialties, and will probably install it before the headlight harness gets here. I can't say I will make a technical study of it, but I can give you my impressions of before/ after alternator alone, and alternator + harness.

From what I've read on this board about the VB harness, is that it is not plug and play. The wires are too short, you have to cut it to get the connectors inside the headlight bucket, and the wire is so thin the thing heats up once you finally get it in. That is why there is so much interest in Dave's harness.