jayhawk

Michaelwk, I don't know if you have seen this youtube video about repair and tune up of 240Z flat top carbs, but if not, maybe this will be useful. (don't know personally, as we have not yet started work on the flat tops for my '73):

Hmm, auction ended just a couple of minutes after my original post....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352480358337 In Whittier, CA Claims "Never been entered in any z clubs, Or z registry, Original owner since New" auction ends Saturday at 4 PM Legit?

Congrats on keeping the flattops. I’m having my ‘73 restored to include putting the flat tops back on, since they have several advantages over the round tops and I never saw ANY of the claimed benefits from the round tops that were put on my Z. (https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/60309-were-bringin-back-the-flat-tops/ ) Good Luck!

@jayhawk here (AKA Bob). That tach is a real mystery. I know that neither I nor anyone else has ever pulled that tach out. And there are no entries in the logbook about that. Could there have been a Japanese QC inspector named Bob? ?? very weird... I’m glad the dash is looking good. I’ll pass on your comments to the Vintage Dashes guys.

That rear bumper took the only hit (other than door dings) the car ever suffered. I was stopped at a stop light on a rainy day, when a fellow came up behind me too fast, and he braked too late in the wet. Bang! Insurance paid me in 1987 or ''88 for the repairs, so now I'm finally getting that done!

According to my logbook, I installed those Mullholland shocks in August 1980 (odometer then was 118,717 miles). So they are only 38 years old with only 70,000 miles on them. Gee, are you sure you can't just rebuild them? <grin>

Well, only this one time... (Actually motor1.com and a number of other sites references whichcar.com.au, which I looked up because they apparently had the interview with the VP) And if you carefully parse the language on the site, they learned (from the interview) that "planning for the next gen Z is already underway" and they quote the Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Global Design as saying “The Z-car, oh my god. Huge pressure,” said Albaisa when reviewing the to-do list of Nissan design work. “You can imagine I’m completely excited that I am in the position to work on that.” So this seems more definitive that previous rumors, but still some wiggle room. We will really only really know when production cars actually roll of the manufacturing lines. Planning does not always result in production...

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/nissan-designer-confirms-next-gen-z-project Please let it be true!

I did not get to the races, but I did go to the (free) Inaugural Japanese Automotive Invitational (sponsored by Infiniti). It was one of the many events/exhibits around the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. A nice collection of historic Japanese cars from all the Japanese marks: Datsun, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Infiniti, Mazda, etc. I didn't take enough photos, but here are a few: (African Safari Tribute example, a Fairlady Z 432, 1500 Datsun roadster, one of several Skylines, and a beautiful Toyota 2000GT)

I just purchased a dash from Vintage Dashes for the restoration of my 1973 240Z. Their shop is close to me in N. California and they had a stack of Series 1 and Series 2 dashes in boxes, apparently most were spoken for. They said they'll have a booth at the Monterey Historics later this month (the races are featuring Datsun/Nissan - the first time ever a Japanese mark has been honored) I'll take the dash to S.California next month where my Z is being restored by Motorman7 (see the thread "We're bringin back the Flat Tops") and get his expert opinion on this vs Just Dashes dash. But so far it looks great to me, especially for the price. A close up with an original glove box door (I don't know why the difference in color: I suspect age mostly):

Joel, a couple of minor notes: 1. this car never had the dealer added air conditioning. I personally added an aftermarket a/c in 1974 or 1975, a couple of years after I bought it. 2. The electric fuel pump (and fuel line insulation) was added by the dealer in May or June of 1973 as part of something called the V3 mod sent by Datsun to the dealer. If there is a relay for the electric fuel pump, it would have been added as part of that V3 mod done by the dealer. While the car has spent almost all of its existence in California, I bought it new in Washington State. (the only winter it spent in Washington was in indoor storage while I floated around the South China Sea and Indian Ocean courtesy of the US Navy...). It did spend 3 winters in Atlanta (1983 to 1986). It has spent all the rest of its time in California. (Several years ago I ran across a shady businessman who told me that he would buy cars in the Midwest, ship them to California, register them here, then ship the back to the east coast and sell them as California cars! This was before Carfax though.) Hope this helps. —Jayhawk

Motorman, it was this kind of learning experience for you that *I* am now benefiting from. Although now I'm back to itching to start wrenching something, anything myself.... I'm really quite jealous!

I'm going ahead and buying one tomorrow (at their shop). FYI, they will have a booth at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion races (formerly the "Monterey Historics") later this month, which for the first time ever will have Datsun/Nissan as the featured mark. Its also the first time any Asian manufacturer will the featured races. https://journal.classiccars.com/2018/02/28/nissan-will-featured-marque-rolex-monterey-motorsports-reunion/

What! Here is a photo of one of the most beautiful sports cars on earth, and you see the house! ?

At Motorman7's request, today I visited the shop of Vintage Dashes to check out their dash to replace the cracked dash on my car. Their dashes are less than half the cost of Just Dashes. They do an injection mold and vacuum formed dash (similar to Datsun's original process, apparently) and you attach it to your existing dash frame. They currently are shipping 240Z Series 1 and Series 2 dashes, but not one specifically for the '73. However, the '73 dash is essentially identical to the Series 1 dash, so it looks like a good choice for our restoration. (subject to Motorman7's review of the photos I sent him!) A '73 owner posted the details of mounting the Series 1 Vintage Dash for a '73 here: https://imgur.com/a/vLTnkk9#8UVRDwF The Vintage Dash (for a Series 2) fresh out of the box: A Vintage Dash Series 1 dash close up of the area for the cigar lighter and emergency flasher: Picture of the metal brackets built into the inside of the dash for attachment to your existing frame: Picture of a Vintage Dash Series 1 dash with an original Series 1 glove box door. You can see in the close up the difference in grain, but looks pretty good to me. (Vintage Dashes may get around to new matching glove box doors in the future, but they are busy expanding their dash lines to 510s, 260s, 280s, and other marks, so I'm not holding my breath...) :

Even in this condition, I just love the shape of these beautiful cars. Below is this very car when new in 1973:

Don't forget plastic straws...

No, I only have access to the logbook I kept on my car (the subject of this thread) that I started the day I bought the Z. (I'm the guilty owner that let this Z deteriorate for so long...:-( ) I recorded the date of every expense (including gas) from the day I bought it until I quit driving it in 1988. Although the dealer installed V3 kit did not cost anything, apparently I thought it important enough to record it. Yes, the insulation was on the fuel line after the mechanical fuel pump in the engine bay. You can see that insulation in the first series of photos that motorman7 posted to start this thread.

If I recall correctly, that electric fuel pump by the gas tank was installed by the dealer as part of the V3 fuel system mod/kit that also added the fuel line insulation and maybe a 5 bladed fan. So there are two fuel pumps on this Z: the original mechanical fuel pump in the engine bay, and an electric pump at the fuel tank that was added as part of the factory V3 mod/kit (installed on this car by the dealer) to solve some of the vapor lock problems. My logbook entry shows it was installed on this car on 11 Jul 1974, mileage 11,022 miles. I think that later '73s (and 74s?) may have had the V3 mod done before delivery, either at the dealer or maybe the factory.

The pic is of a '73 that I saw in Portland OR a few years ago. The owner had 3 1973 Zs all restored like that. I don't plan on polishing/chrome the valve cover like that one. I agree that the extra pollution controls and other complexity (plus the early vapor lock issues) were the real cause of the problems ascribed to the flat tops. To me the complexity is a learning curve issue from the features of the flattops like the power circuit and idle adjustments that (in theory) allow the carbs to be tuned for both power and idle. I wonder if anyone has ever run a dyno test on a single Z using both the round tops and the flat tops. With everything else as equal as possible and the carbs mounted on the same intake, with the same pollution equipment (if possible), etc. Might be fun to do that and see what the differences are that are just due to the carbs.

So you had a hard time starting a 45 year old car, and from that you concluded the flat tops were a "major step down"? Hmm. My flat tops ran just fine during the 70s while commuting and making sales calls all over southern California, but like many of us, I was convinced by a 1980 mechanic's presentation at the Orange County Z club meeting that the round tops were so superior, and paid him over $500 to replace my carbs. Funny thing, he (and zTherapy) made a lot of money, but I had NO performance or drive-ability improvements. One can only speculate why mechanics (and zTherapy) love to disparage the flattops...

Some notes about a couple of questions raised in this thread. 1. The A/C unit was an aftermarket kit I installed myself sometime in 1974. I recall it used a rotary compressor, which I thought would be smoother than the traditional reciprocating piston type. However it was never very effective and the restoration will not include any A/C. 2. The condition of the interior likely comes from storing it in my side yard for 10+ years after I quit driving it. It gets hot in the sun here in N. California east of the SF Bay. Plus it has 188,000 miles on it. It was my daily driver from 1973 to 1988. I did get it back inside the garage in 2005, but the damage was done...

I think I’d like to use the original carbs if possible. My goal is to restore it to the way it was when I drove it off the dealer’s lot. The only changes I made to the car over the years was to add the aftermarket a/c unit (that I personally installed. Maybe that’s why it never worked very well ?) , replaced the radio with a Blaupunkt, and the carb “upgrade” (which cost me $554 in 1980 dollars!) The Datsun shops back then made a lot of money off of gullible flattop Z owners like me who bought off on the supposed superiority of the round tops. For the record, I had never had any vapor lock or other problems with the car, and this was during a time I was driving all over southern California making sales calls. I just wanted to “improve” my car after listening to a presentation at the Orange County Z club meeting by the mechanic who I then went to for the conversion. Hmmm...

Hi, I’m the “gentleman” (Rich may be a little too generous ?) that is the original owner of the ‘73 Z of this thread. I’m happy I managed to hang on to my Z this long and yet ashamed I have let it sit so long. I bought it new from Gubrud Valley Datsun in Mt Vernon Washington shortly after returning from an 11 month deployment with my US Navy A6 Intruder squadron aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. ( which was a great way for a young ensign to save his pay to buy a Z!). I’ll post more info about the history of this car when I get back home after the 4th.