New to Z's, what can I do to mine?

[Seanh]

I am a day or so away from getting a 1974 Datsun 240zx. A friend of mine told me about it, but I haven't really looked at it yet, just drove by it. I'm getting it for $300 so I don't expect much, but he says its in really great condition actually and the guy just needs to get rid of it soon. It has a straight-6, 4spd trans he told me. I am wondering what all I can do to it. I want to fix up the body and interior all stock, but the engine/trans is going to be modded. I used to own an 81 280zx, but it was just a stipped down junker that I never drove, parts car pretty much. I sold it, and the guy who bought it got it running and said it ran a 15.4 1/4 mile, and showed me the time slips. He said he's sell the car back to me for $50 if I wanted it. I am going to buy it, just for the engine, trans, and rims. Then junk it. Will the 5 speed from an 81 280zx work in my 74 240zx? If so, is this a more desirable option for my car, or will the 4 spd give me better performance? Which would you do? I am assuming my 74 is going to have dual carb setup correct? My 81 had Fuel injection, would this be worth my time to install on my car or will a dual carb setup work better. If I choose to stay with carbs, what all can I do to it? Performance carbs, better manifold. Either aftermarket or from another model/year Z car? Whats the best? Also, I'v seen some different heads for these cars. What should mine have, and is there any that I should switch it out to? I was told that in 75 they had a different type of port or somthing, that was more desirable then any other year, is that true? If so, I can buy a 75 head, would it be worth my time to do it? What about exhaust? I'm wanting to probally get a headder if its worth it, what do you think? Where can I get a good header? Anything else I can do?

Thanks for all the help. I'm just getting started into modding out these cars, so I don't know much about what can be done to them, so any help you can give me will be greatly appriciated!

[hmsports]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the 240!

Spend a day reading through all the forums here and you will see that there is an infinite number of performance mods you can do your Z. You will be able to determine from them which direction you can and want to go.

Also pay close attention to the threads that explain what to look for in the way of rust when determining if the car you plan to buy is worth it.

[AxtellZ]

Excellent advise.. just use the search function here to find hundreds of threads to find most of your answers- when you don't find an answer, just ask.

The only thing i ask is you don't call anything before 1978 a "ZX" Makes me cringeROFL Jeremiah

-> see if the 74 has original carbs- if so junk 'em (when you look at them, if they look like a 1 pound coffee can shape, they're original)

[carguyinok]

Welcome to the early Z life.

you should take some time and read the post's about rust BEFORE you go and look this car over. You may save yourself some big headaches. It sounds like you have A good doner car for the driveline so thats no big deal. The other thing is you are not looking @ A 240Z if it is A 1974. That would be A 260Z. As posted before PLEASE dont put X after Z with the early cars.

Good Luck.

[Seanh]

I was told it does have some rust, but I'm not too worried, I'm just going to fix it up and sell it, for $300 I don't really care the condition. Minor rust I can remove, I plan on repainting the car myself anyway. I was told that it IS a 74 240zx. Someone said if it was a 74 it was a 260? I thought they made the 240's in 74 didn't they, or am I smokeing something? I found the information on the head I want, and have already puchased an E41 head along with a webber carb setup. One thing I kept my eye open for, but haven't found any information on yet, is cam's. Do they sell any aftermarket more radical cams for these engines? What would you reccomend? Thanks

Also, what years did they make all these models? The 240z(x), 260's and 280's? Thanks

[Ed]

If I remember correctly the 240Z was made from 1970-1973 and came with skinny bumbers. The 260Z was only made in 1974. The 260Z came with both skinny bumbers and the fat crash bumbers. Then from 1975-78 came the 280Z only available with the fat crash bumpers. The 1973&74 models came out with more emission stuff on the engines. And starting in 1975 they were all fuel injected. In 1979 is when the "ZX" was born. Hope that helps.

[2ManyZs]

95% right Ed, the 260's with the small 240 type bumpers had the flat top carbs(not good) and the later 74 1/2 model with the 280 type bumpers had the Fuel Injection. They changed it in the middle of the 74 model year.

About the cams, yes there are a few different cam specs to choose from. I would not go too radical if you plan on running the car on the street, you'll have vaccum problems. Go with a "middle of the road" cam grind for the street, you don't need the powerband in the upper rpm range on the street. Go with a cam that gives you good power in the 1500-5000 rpm range. You can find cams at a bunch of the Z engine suppliers, or Motorsport Auto has them. You can find many of these companies here on the site in the web-links section under Z car businesses.

About your head, are you sure it isn't an E-31? There was no E-41 that I'm aware of. If it is an E-31 it will be a good head to use as it will give you a bit higher compression ratio. Search thru the forums here under Engines and you should be able to answer nearly all your questions from reading previous posts. If you have any other questions just post it in the forums and someone will be able to help you with nearly any question you may have.

[AxtellZ]

99% right Keith!,

they saved the fuel injection for the 280 in 1975 i believe. My 10/74 260 with the big fat ole bumpers had the flat-top Hitatchi carbs (until I bought it, that is...) Zya, Jeremiah

[Ivan]

Here are a couple of sites that may be of interest to you:

- http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/z.html

- http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~jrdemers/280ZX/280ZX.html

- http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2824/engine.html

- http://www.sonic.net/~kyle/ztech.html

- http://www.gfs1.com/racing/articles/brakes.html

- http://www.zhome.com/

Some other good resources of info:

- http://zclub.org.nz/

- http://www.zcarparts.com/faq.htm

- http://www.datsuns.com/Tech/tech_dept.htm

- http://www.z-car.com/

Then there's the option of putting a turbo engine either from another z or from other cars in:

- http://www.zdriver.com/members/scottiegnz/scotties240zt.htm

- http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~jthagard/otherzs/otherzs1.html

- http://www.geocities.com/spized1969/

- http://www.usq.edu.au/users/degroot/240z/

- http://www.members.optushome.com.au/charleswilliams/

And if you like that sort of thing there are a few body conversion options:

- http://www.classicrevival.com.au/

- http://www.zcarkits.com/

- http://www.kitcarz.com./

- http://www.thunderranch.com/

- This owners of this co have temporarily stoped taking orders but it gives some good pictures

Here are a few people that have made these kits:

- http://hybridz.org/Review/0002/Ferrari_GTO.htm

- http://www.priceofhistoys.com/showroom/gto/

- http://www.flex.net/~mgwilson/Ferrari/

- http://www.flex.net/~mgwilson/

- http://www.newtier.com/graber/z-car/

[Seanh]

Yeah, thats what I meant, an E31, not 41. I checked with my friend who's getting me the car, and he says its for sure a 240, not a 260, so it much be around an 83 then...

Only thing I still question is what engine to use. I will have the 73 240z engine thats in it, and a 81 280zx engine. Whats going to be the difference, besides fuel injection? I plan on keeping the dual carb setup and getting some descent carbs for it in the future. Got a guy who said he'll sell me a dual webber setup with manifold for $450. Is that a good deal? I would like to know the difference in the two engines I have available to me. What I'm planning on doing is driveing it on this stock engine for the time being, doing other mods, like fixing and painting the body, exhaust system, header, porting my E31 head and rebuilding it. If this engine doesn't perform like I want it to I'm going to either switch it out for the 81 280zx engine and 5spd, or do a performance rebuild on the 81 before putting it in. I don't know what I want to do yet. I want to find out the differences between these two engines before I decide on anything yet.

These are overhead cam engines correct? If so, what else will have to be done to keep the timeing correct if I shave a head to increase compression? Or will the timeing be alright?

One other thing, what should this stock 83 240z 4spd run in the 1/4 mile? I just want a base line to compare it to when I run mine to see what kind of condition its in. Thanks!

[Seanh]

Nevermind on the engine questions, I just found my own answers. Thanks for all those links! They helped a lot! I'm going to pull this engine from the 81 280zx and do a lethal rebuild to make it one heck of a street machine. Anyone tell me where I could find rebuild kits for these?

Haven't found this answer yet: What rearend will these cars have? Should I swap my 240's rear end for the one in the 280zx? Thanks!

[St.stephen]

welcome to world of the Z!!