The 260z, us and 10 days of France

[novy]

Hello fellow Z owners!

Introduction

After spending a year, just reading the forums and owning a Z car, I thought it's time to introduce myself.

I'm 29, living in Switzerland and am owner of a 1978 260Z. I am a big fan of japanese culture and technology. When I had my Subaru, I began to study japanese car history on the web. And soon I fell in love with old Z cars. In fact I did fell in love again, as I already did, when I was a kid and had a 240z iron cast model.

I was lucky and found the car for sale about a year back. The previous owner overhauled the chasis and kept the motor in good nick, while the electronics were not all that great at the time. So it was the ideal car for me I can do lots of mechanical work myself, but I just do not have the time (nor knowledge) to build up and fix a rusty car from scratch.

So here she is:

And a last one with me and the car:

After fixing the electronics, lighting, replacing the motorized antenna and integrating a new, yet subtle stereo, I was ready to go. During the year, lots of other datsun pieces and fixes to restore the car came in.

Here's the car stereo bracket I had to build myself:

And here's the radio built in:

On the to do list, I still have the wiper motor conversion and a headlight upgrade, maybe combined with a alternator change. This will make the car a bit better for night and rainy conditions. Which is not when the car is usually driven, but still I think it's good to be perpared and able also to drive in less than splendid weather.

[novy]

Us & France

For me owning a car, means also using, driving and maintaing it. So my friend Jess and I soon came up with the idea of a 10 days road trip all across France.

With a set of bathing trousers, a digital camera, a tent and a road map thrown into the car, we'll start off to meet France this Sunday. We have no route planned, nor have we booked any hotels. Our knowledge of French is - well, let's call it less than perfect. So this should be quite fun

In case you wondered, this is us before a noble night out.

Being us (and a bit drunk), we even made some t-shirs for the tour:

I'm sure we'll do hundrets of pics during the adventure and if you're interessted, I'll post a few here online after the trip.

Oh and excuse my English, it's not my natvie language.

Best regards

Basil

[FHPTOM]

Nice looking Z car and have a great trip. I have family that lives in San Gallo(spelling) and Goldach. Switzerland is a beautiful country to drive around.

Tom

Born in Regensburg Germany now in Florida

[Jeff G 78]

If you are going to Paris, PM one of our members "Lazeum" aka Mathieu Delamaire. He owns a beautiful red '72 240Z that used to be mine.

The trip sounds great. I can't wait to see the pics. Have fun!

[Carl Beck]

Hi Basil:

Great to hear from you. Your 260Z looks fabulous!! The picture is a little small for my old eyes - but that looks a lot like an L28 with Fuel Injection in the engine bay. {aka 280Z}.

A 10 day Road Trip in a Z with Jess - - - No man should be that LUCKY!!

Be sure to Post lots of pictures from your trip - - {mostly of Jess} ...

Your "English" is perfectly good enough for US. You said you are "living in Switzerland".... Where are you originally from?

Enjoy The Drive..

Carl B.

Edited July 15, 2009 by Carl Beck

[DougN]

Basil,

Welcome to the club! Great looking Z! Question for the group, did Nissan keep the 260Z name for non-US Z-cars until 78?

Sounds like a great trip, looking forward to hearing more as you take the journey! The best ones are often the ones that start without a solid plan

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Have a great time, and yes, by all means more pictures...

[ChrisZ]

Nice ride !!!!.... and the car looks great as well

There is also member Caen Fred in France and a Brit (Sean Dezard), don't know if Sean is a member here but you can contact him on zclub.net

Welcome from little Denmark

Chris

[novy]

Thanks for all the kind words guys! I'll definitely go and post more pictures after the trip.

Getting back to your requests:

- I think we won't go to Paris. We'll focus on the coast line, small villages and the backlands.

Hi Basil:

Great to hear from you. Your 260Z looks fabulous!! The picture is a little small for my old eyes - but that looks a lot like an L28 with Fuel Injection in the engine bay. {aka 280Z}.

A 10 day Road Trip in a Z with Jess - - - No man should be that LUCKY!!

Be sure to Post lots of pictures from your trip - - {mostly of Jess} ...

Your "English" is perfectly good enough for US. You said you are "living in Switzerland".... Where are you originally from?

Enjoy The Drive..

Carl B.

Carl, that's some amazing eagle-eyed skills! Yes it's an EFI motor. The displacement is still 2.6l. The 280z was only introduced to the American market. Europe stayed with the 260z until 1979.

Did the American 260Z also have EFI? On the other hand we didn't get the big "crash resistant" bumpers like you did. Oh and there's also no catalyc converter in 78 Z-cars here.

Here's a closeup of the engine bay, maybe you spot some more details

And these numbers make no sense to me at all...

I will post of course also some pics of Jess. Along with the car and countryside of France And I'll make them a bit bigger for you.

I do live in Switzerland since, well ever. With 23 I spent half a year working in Manchester UK, and a bit later, i spent half a year in Frankfurt Germany.

Basil,

Welcome to the club! Great looking Z! Question for the group, did Nissan keep the 260Z name for non-US Z-cars until 78?

Sounds like a great trip, looking forward to hearing more as you take the journey! The best ones are often the ones that start without a solid plan

Doug, I put some facts in the answer above. If you are interessted, I can try to find out a bit more about the differences between our model years.

Have a great time, and yes, by all means more pictures...

Yup, I'll do my best :-)

So here's another one of jess, me and the car, the other will follow in about 3 weeks.

Cheers basil

[Carl Beck]

Carl, that's some amazing eagle-eyed skills! Yes it's an EFI motor. The displacement is still 2.6l. The 280z was only introduced to the American market. Europe stayed with the 260z until 1979.

Did the American 260Z also have EFI? On the other hand we didn't get the big "crash resistant" bumpers like you did. Oh and there's also no catalyc converter in 78 Z-cars here.

Hello Basel:

The American 260Z's were equipped with two SU Type side draft carburetors. As far as I know that is the case with the European Spec. 260Z's 74-78 as well.

According to Brian Long - The US/Canada received the Fuel Injected L28E for Model Years 75-78, and Japan had an L20E for Model Years 76-78. The Euro Spec. 260Z's used the SU Type carburetors.

So either some previous owner installed the fuel injection unit from the L28E on your L26 - or more likely swapped in an L28E in place of the L26.

If you look on the side of the engine block - below the #6 spark plug - the engine block should be stamped with either "L26" or "L28" and then followed with an engine serial number.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[novy]

Carl, you do have a point there. There isn't much information available on EU spec models, so I just assumed that EFI belongs in there.

I had a quick look this morning before work, but couldn't see very much in the dark underground parking.

What I identified was an E88 Cylinder head - which I think belongs to a L26 engine. I couldn't spot the block number & serial.

The AFM is from an L28 I guess, though I couldn't find any more infos on the net.

I will have a proper look tomorrow.

[Lazeum]

Hey Basil

Another Z car in Europe! There's quite a few Z from Switzerland. Go check it out on Datsun-France, you'll find them. Some members don't speak French, this is not an issue (not even the admin... hopefully he's not reading this post )

Enjoy your time in France! Roads between Switzerland and Toulouse are awesome. One more tip, don't go to hotels, try to go to people house. Some offer rooms for very cheap. We call that "Chambres d'hote".

I'm not in Paris this weekend (no Z for me then ) I'm in Nice, probably very close to where you'll be