chris b

Thanks for the info on the crank. I am currently running 34 chokes. Will try 36s before buying 45 Webers. I think the stage 4 cam is only good up to about 7000. I should know how it compares to other Zs with triple webers as we are having a track day at the end of the month and possibly 9 Zs af varying specifications will be running.

I am not sure about the rods, I know that they had, had a fair bit of maching done on them. Will check with my engine builder next time I see him and let you know. Also hope to get it on the dyno in the near future.

Thanks for the feedback on the carbs. I suspect that the 40s will run out of gas. I will know more in the next few weeks after the motor has a few more hours on it and I can try reving it. I am curious about the potential crank problems. Does anyone know anything about the after market crank that I have (see picture in the original post) is it also susceptible to failure? Cheers Chris.

I am interested in finding out about experiences with short stroke L28s. I have just had an L28 built with a 2.4 crankshaft. The motor has been bored out to the first size overbore and flattops fitted. The block has been decked to bring the compression to 10.5 to 1. Everything has been balanced and blueprinted. The flywheel has has as much material as possible removed. I think it is about 2750cc. The head is an E88 with a lot of porting etc. A MSA stage 4 cam kit has been fitted. The engine has triple 40 DCOEs, headers and 3 inch exhaust and I have a 4.1 diff. My previous motor was similar but with maximum size pistons and completely worn out. I decided to stay with the specification because of the interesting crank with the 8 bolt flywheel (see picture). I am hoping for a very revy motor for trackday fun but at this stage a little nervous if it will workout.

Hi The efforts of the little Datsun (less than 1 litre) in the 1958 Around Australia are a great rally story and must be one of Datsun's first rally victories. First in class and both cars finishing, read the story below. This was the start of the Datsun rally history in Australia. The Datsun 1600 (510) was the club rally car 70's and 80's winning numerous State Championships. Datsun Z was an Australian rally chanpion in the hands of Ross Dunkerton - several times I think. There are others who can tell the rally story of Datsun in Australia in much better detail than I can and I am sure that they will add to this thread. I cut the following from this website. http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/trial_mobilgas_1958.htm Mobilgas Around Australia Trial 1958 Class Winners: Up to 1000cc: Y. Nanda / K. Okuyama, Datsun (1129 points) 1001cc to 1300cc: L. Perkins, Volkswagen (11 points) 1301 - 1600cc: R. Holden, Peugeot 403 (794 points) 1601 - 2600cc: Anderson / McAllister, Holden (58 points) Over 2600cc: Murray / Muirson, Chrysler Royal V8 (194 points) Women's Prizes: Most successful woman crew member: Elaine Lenaghan (Holden) Most successful all-woman crew: Valma Jerrard / Camille Wright / Mary Waters (Fiat 1100) New Zealand Award: Alma McMillan, Nash Metropolitan Overseas Award: Tubman, Skoda Teams Prize: Volkswagen, for cars 48, 53, 68 (Cusack / Smith / McGlashan) Please Note: You can sort this listing by simply clicking on the column heading PLACE VEHICLE DRIVER(S) POINTS LOST 1 Volkswagen E. Perkins 11 2 Volkswagen G. Cusack 55 3 Holden D. Anderson / L. McAllister 58 4 Volkswagen S. Flashan 68 5 Volkswagen H. Smith 117 6 Holden L. Fiebig 125 7 Standard Vanguard M. Brooks 154 8 Volkswagen H. Firth / K. Young 155 9 Volkswagen H. Gunn 158 10 Chrysler Royal V8 W. Murray / W. Murisan 194 11 Holden A. Calnan 394 12 Skoda K. Tubman 429 13 Ford Zephyr J. Nalder 480 14 Holden Elaine Lenaghan 520 15 Volkswagen J. Mather 658 16 Holden A. Parker 695 17 Rover 90 Lorna Gamble / K. Gamble 786 18 Peugeot 403 R. Holden 794 19 Holden O. Roberts 820 20 Hillman Minx C. Turner 904 21 Peugeot 403 J. Perkins / P. Perkins 911 22 Holden P. Cullin 939 23 Hillman Minx W. Eremin 1012 24 Skoda N. Saville 1018 25 Datsun 1000 Y. Nanba / K. Okuyama 1129 26 Holden C. Chappell 1157 27 Hillman Minx F. Pitts 1183 28 Ford Zephyr A. Sharpley / K. O'Neill 1227 29 Austin Westminster A. Melrose 1255 30 Chrysler Royal Jack Murray 1295 31 Skoda M. Warwick / M. Watson 1486 32 Morris 1000 D. Rose / J. Hillman 1545 33 Morris 1000 L. Young 1780 34 Datsun 1000 Y. Ohya / Y. Minawa 2003 STARTERS AND FINISHERS CAR STARTED FINISHED Datsun 2 2 Chrysler Royal 2 2 Ford Zephyr 4 2 Hillman 3 3 Holden 12 8 Morris Minor 2 2 Skoda 6 3 Standard Vanguard 4 1 Toyopet 3 0 Volkswagen 12 7 A Test Of Car And Driver:Unlike the Ampol Trial held earlier the same year, the Mobilgas event circled the continent clockwise. Starting in Sydney, the entrants would again pass through Sydney and end the trial in Melbourne, travelling some 10,000 miles (16,250 km). Interestingly the trial by-passed the east coast of Queensland, instead going through Isa, Cloncurry, Winton, Longreach, Charleville and Brisbane. And unlike the Ampol trial, the Mobilgas event was designed to stretch the cars to the limit of their endurance. Mobil forbid anyone other than crews to work on the cars, sealing all main engine and transmission components, submitting time schedules to police for approval, re-introducing the hated secret controls to check speeding, and giving scrutineers the power to check brakes, tyres, steering and, if a car was found to be in a dangerous condition, the ability to eliminate it from the event. Mobil were also keen to promote vehicle safety, as evidenced on the Mobil "Circle Of Safety" commercials in the media section of this site. To that end, it was a requirement that all drivers wear seat belts, their cars be fitted with fire extinguishers, first aid kits and a weeks supply of food and water. But best of all, the Mobilgas event again attracted overseas competitors. Toyota sent three Toyopet Crowns, Nissan sent two Datsun 1000's, New Zealand sent over a Nash Metropolitan, and even Kenya entered the fray, their team driving an Auto-Union 1000. Czechoslovakian carmaker Skoda was keen to bolster its profile in Australia, and sent no less than six Skoda 440 crews, including quality drivers such as Ken Tubman and Major Warwick. But the number that turned up to the starting line must have been a huge disappointment for the organisers. Only 67 would take part, and 12 of them were factory entries! Things would quickly get worse, with three private entries withdrawing by the time they reached Melbourne, and two more by the time they reached South Australia, one a German entered Porsche. Due to heavy rains that had fallen just prior to the competitors arrival at the Nullabor section, the organisers extended the time limit by three hours. Many would get bogged, and two Toyota's rolled. Many witnessed the Volkswagen service teams "illegally" working on the VW's, but it seemed the organisers were now turning a blind eye for fear of even more withdrawals. Three more cars had withdrawn by Norseman, but a controversial detour through Jurien Bay and Green Head all but finished off the faltering event. This “new” route meant the competitors were forced to traverse sandhills, swampy bogs and water hazards up to 1 metre in depth. Only 26 cars made it through, and as the dust settled it was the team of Perkins and Witter in their Volkswagen that had taken the lead. Between Broome and Derby a third Toyopet would be forced to retire when it collected a kangaroo, and at Carnarvon the Nash Metropolitan finally called it a day, although this was many thousands of kilometers further than most thought it would get. By Derby five more competitors had retired, then two of the works Skoda teams crashed in the dash through the Kimberleys. Another four would retire on this section alone. Just before Katherine Witter’s Volkswagen collided with two trees – Witter broke his arm and Stewart his nose. At Darwin yet another Toyopet retired. On the section between Darwin and Tennant Creek, Jack Phillips rolled his Morris Major, both being thrown out of the car. Tragically Phillips would be dead within 10 minutes. At Renner Springs Jack Vaughan would roll his VW, the organisers must by now have been very concerned that there would be no competitors able to cross the finish line, particularly given the treacherous Mount Isa – Cloncurry stretch lay ahead. But the drivers in these events were a pretty determined bunch, and onwards they traveled. But retirements would not abate, next out of the race was a Vanguard at Cloncurry, then at Blackall a Holden called it a day, and next at Dalby a Skoda was forced to retire. As the remaining competitors slowly hauled themselves into Brisbane, spare a thought for K. Hapgood, who was black flagged by the scrutineers when they discovered his Holden had faulty brakes. From the initial 67 cars that left Sydney, there were only 36 left to make the run down the east coast of Australia. A Ford Zephyr would retire at Sydney, a Holden at Cooma and Jack Murray’s Chrysler Royale broke an axle near Manila, but he was able to limp along to Melbourne. Unfortunately, given the toughness of the event, few bothered to turn up at the finish line to welcome in the 34 remaining competitors, and this in arguably the countries most sports crazed city. But at least there was a winner, Canberra businessman Greg Cusack in his VW had taken the honours with the loss of only 3 points. It was fortunate for Cusack that the committee had overturned an earlier decision to award him with 52 points at Green Head. But just as the trial had thrown up countless obstacles en-route, in a cruel twist of fate a protest committee would overturn the overturn, effectively re-instating the original 52 point penalty. Eddie Perkins was now awarded the victory. Of most note however was the performance put in by Harry Firth to finish eighth in his Volkswagen. Between the ’58 Mobilgas trial and 1964, Firth would become Ford Australia’s motor sport guru, until switching camps and joining the General in 1973. In the end the organisers were forced to lick their wounds, the in-fighting and repetitiousness of the events had seen them fall from favour in the publics eye. Would there be a Trial for 1959? The answer was no, and would remain that way for a further 6 years… I hope this is of interest. Cheers Chris

The notches were in the wrong spot.

The notches were in the wrong spot.

I purchased one from MSA and found that the belt groove was to narrow and that the keyway slot to small. I took it to an engineering shop with the original one as a model and they machined it to take the standard belt and the right sized key to locate it on the crankshaft. Also the timing marks needed to be painted on in the correct spot. Otherwise it seems to work ok!

Not sure. The motor was in a rusty 2 seater 260Z body. The kid who sold it to me said that his dad had done quite a bit of work on the motor about 15 years previously. When I took the head off I noticed that it has flat top pistons. I have been using it in my good car for club motor sport and historic regularity events. With triple webers it is producing 160 rear wheel HP. I plan on putting it back in as is for next season.

Photos of 8 bolt flywheel attached.

I would like to fit a 6 bolt light flywheel to my L28 and found that it has 8 bolts. Yes I know that I should have checked first? Do all L28 motors have 8bolts connecting the flywheel to the crankshaft? I understood that there were supposed to be 6 like on the L26. Apart from the bolt patterns are there any other differences in the flywheels between the L24/26 and L28?

100% correct translation services Mr Camouflage. Now if we can only get our North American friends to say and spell aluminium, drink real beer, play cricket and not dress up in a suit of armour to play football......

The correct name for that colour is Nappy Tan

Mafia staff car a classic? How could a Z owner manage to get classic and Chrysler 300 in the same sentence? Surely the future classics will be the current crop of budget super cars such as the WRX STIs and Mitsi EVOs

Zeds competing in 'Round the Houses' historic racing in Western Australia. Cheers Chris Round the Houses Zeds.doc

In Western Australia there are at least seven Zeds running in the 'Round the Houses' races for classic cars and other historic classes and hillclimbs. The WA Z Register is very active and attracting an increasing level of interest. Some recent 2007 articles with photos attached. Cheers Chris

So that's what happend to Boyblunda! No wonder he is fixated on station wagon Zeds, it's all Dolly's fault.

I have just changed my set up from F16 to F15 Emulsion Tubes and it now runs a whole lot better at low revs and still seems to have the grunt when you give it the welly.

Hi If you do get something going in Spokane perhaps we could set up a WA alliance of Z clubs. We have a very active WA Z Register in WA (Western Australia). Check out the attached link http://www.wazcars.com/index.php?title=Events Best wishes to Snoopy's brother. Cheers Chris

Did you by any chance change the oil pump distributor drive shaft? When I changed the head and timing chain on my motor I confused the L26 and L28 shafts and couldn't get the motor to start. They look similar but have a slighly different sized drive gear which throws the timing out. If I still had hair I would have pulled it out trying to get the timing right and eventually swapped the shafts because I had nothing left to try and bingo it started. Cheers Chris

Mine is not a daily driver. The triple webbers are way to rich at low revs but work fine at over 2000rpm. So it is lousy around town but great on the open road. I fill up every 100 kilometers worst has been 30 litres best in the low to mid 20 litres per 100 km. Not too sure what this is in mpg, about 8 to 12 I suspect. It uses premium unleaded which costs about $1.35 per litre.

It would be perfect for the guy with a 120Y coupe and an expanding family.

Like Elvis I have had few hits but none with the Z and certainly not any photographers. Since I have got it running I am discovering my previously hidden inner Bogan, must be something to do with those Webers.

I'm 53 goin on 17 in sunny Perth, Western Australia.

I can remember when that advertisement ran. If you look carefully the 240K is much more controllable than the Kingswood, just lacking grip on its O.E. tyres. I was so impressed that I went out and purchased a brand new Polar White 240K with a C2 option pac and put some decent rubber on it. It was a great car for country cruising and transcontinental non stop drives (it was the days before cheap airfares and radar speed checks). It was very slow off the mark as it had moon shot gearing. If I remember correctly 3rd gear was good for almost 160 KPH, it went a little faster in 4th and slower in 5th. It was a much better handling car than the Kingswood, I seem to remember being able to cruise at high speed in 5th gear on gravel roads and easily put 130 ks into an hour. The only problem with the car was that rust started to show when it was 2 years old, so I went and bought a new Escort RS 2000. What I regret most of all is that I did not by a new Z-gues what I have got 30 years later? Thanks for bringing the film clip to my attention. Chris