Not only is this my first post in this forum, this is will also my first Datsun, and also my first car! It has a well documented 83k, starts right up, drives great, and has rust on the passenger side wheel arch and a bit on the driver door sill. It hasnt been driven much in the past few years and I would like to get it up to daily driver status. Ill have to travel at least 15 miles a day or 28 miles at most (round trip). What should I be checking/replacing to ensure reliability and healthy driving? Are there specific parts that commonly fail on these cars, or should I just bring it to Meineke to have it inspected? Cant wait to pick it up tomorrow!

Okay, I misunderstood your description of the noise. It sounds like it's a valvetrain issue. I don't claim much knowledge there, but I know there are several threads on here that go into issues related to that knind of noise.

As for rustproofing, make sure you get rid of the existing rust first.

Okay, from that picture we can tell you have a "late" 260Z. The bumpers are a dead give-away. You'll find it has a lot of parts in common with the 75 280Z. You might find that there are components in the engine bay that are in different locations from the FSM, too. What is the build date on the door jamb plate?

Edit:

The clicking sounds at higher speeds could be u-joints or loose bolts in the driveline. It would be good to check that out sooner than later.

Check the fuses for your headlights. See if the bad headlight lights up when you switch it to bright.

Like I said before, you could write a novel on getting a 40 year old car of unknown pedigree up to being a reliable daily driver.

I tried to do that with my 73 about 20 years ago. That did not go well. I tried to do it on the cheap, and I didn't have near enough knowledge to get it in good shape. I'd actually have a better chance of getting the car in shape now.

I think the fact that the original wheels are there is a good sign that it probably hasn't been modified, which will make it easier to diagnose known issues.

Could be an exhaust leak, the ticking noise you hear...

Thats a picture of the engine bay, but whats kind of worrying me is this:

It may just be the angle of my driveway and the shape of the car, but it seems a lot of other cars engines also tilt the same way.

Full album here including the trip on the way back

The video I took today is huge and will take a while to upload (like tomorrow night). Things I noticed today: The oil is filthy, the car will sometimes try to start itself up after I shut it down (I read this is because I put in 87 as opposed to 91), not to trust mechanics when they say they have time and to come back later(trying to get my brakes changed), the car will occasionally shake a bit and the RPMs will bounce a bit when at a red light (need carb tuning?).

Tomorrow I want to pick up some oil and coolant, but I have no idea what to get. Im not very interested in all the arguing about oil, but I would be interested in what works in your car. Right now im looking at Valvoline VR1 20W-50 and a K&N filter, but im not sure if thats the right oil for me. Ill only be doing 6k a year MAX, so Id keep the oil in for at least half the year, but I read that 20W-50 is more for summer driving and theres not much summer left. Im heading to autozone tomorrow, but I have absolutely no idea what coolant to use. Any names I should look out for?

About the diesel noise, Ive narrowed it down to this area:

I can hear it in some form on nearly every Datsun engine bay video and shouldve captured it today on video. Not the fans like I thought. Any ideas? What is that covered by that cap?

Edited August 21, 201212 yr by porkbun

I think the fact that the original wheels are there is a good sign that it probably hasn't been modified, which will make it easier to diagnose known issues.

I found at least one modification. The oil pan drain plug on my car is 7/8" and stuck to the oil pan pretty good, so the oil still has yet to be changed which means no no driving the Z . BTW I went with Valvoline VR1 10w30. When it get lighter out ill have to check out the carb dipsticks again, because one dipstick felt much goopier than the other, so either one has the wrong/old oil, or one has oil and the other doesnt(which would explain the occasional shaking). Seems like all my problems are oil related.

Before I start poking around with the carbs, I was wondering if there could be any other cause for this problem. I just changed the oil to VR1, but Im still having some starting problems. My car doesnt like to start early in the morning, but has no problem starting in the afternoon when it gets much warmer. In the morning I crank it up, the rpms will go to about 500 and then it will die unless I pump the gas (read: flooring it then taking my foot off). When I floor it, the RPMs will go up like normal, but something will click while I pump and will temporarily make me lose power until I come off and pump some more (feels like the slight resistance in the gas pedal goes away until I come all the way off). Once it stops this hiccuping, Ill keep it at around 1.5-2k until it will finally idle at about 1.1k.

At first I thought the ancient oil that was in there needed to warm up (whether by pumping the gas and keeping it at 1.5-2k or waiting for the day to pass, but the oil has been changed, and its still way easier to start it up the second time in a day, or after it has sat in the sun for a while (Itll fire right up and idle at about 1.1k after sunning for a bit or if I drove it earlier). Applying the choke makes my RPMs drop until the starts shaking, or just shuts the engine off. Does this sound like a carb issue to anyone else? Will it be solved if I follow this: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread41940.html ?

Download the FSM at xenons30.com and look in the Fuel System section. Now that I look at it, it's a bit blurry, so you might have better luck with the '73 manual. The carbs are similar. "Round top" SUs ('70-'72) are different.

Before I start poking around with the carbs, I was wondering if there could be any other cause for this problem. I just changed the oil to VR1, but Im still having some starting problems. My car doesnt like to start early in the morning, but has no problem starting in the afternoon when it gets much warmer. In the morning I crank it up, the rpms will go to about 500 and then it will die unless I pump the gas (read: flooring it then taking my foot off). When I floor it, the RPMs will go up like normal, but something will click while I pump and will temporarily make me lose power until I come off and pump some more (feels like the slight resistance in the gas pedal goes away until I come all the way off). Once it stops this hiccuping, Ill keep it at around 1.5-2k until it will finally idle at about 1.1k.

At first I thought the ancient oil that was in there needed to warm up (whether by pumping the gas and keeping it at 1.5-2k or waiting for the day to pass, but the oil has been changed, and its still way easier to start it up the second time in a day, or after it has sat in the sun for a while (Itll fire right up and idle at about 1.1k after sunning for a bit or if I drove it earlier). Applying the choke makes my RPMs drop until the starts shaking, or just shuts the engine off. Does this sound like a carb issue to anyone else? Will it be solved if I follow this: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread41940.html ?

To answer your last question first, no, it won't.

Are you pulling back on the lever to apply the choke or pushing forward? Your description sounds like you are taking off the choke. What do your plugs look like? Are they fouled?

It has been sitting outside cooling down with the night on the street and I went out to bring it into the driveway. The engine fired right up, but my rpms dropped to at about 500 and I had to get my gas pedal pumping routine going, but it wasnt as nearly as difficult as in the morning. Tomorrow morning Ill have to go out and do a conclusive test with the choke. Whats confusing me is starting it the first time in a day is always the hardest, but starting it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. time it just fires right up. When I try and start it in the morning(during the gas pumping phase), the choke only makes it more difficult to get the engine going (pulling it back towards me activating the choke light), it causes my RPMs to drop and the car to get a bit of a shake going. Just now when I was bringing it in, I pulled back on the choke and it brought my RPMs up a bit and made the engine run a little smoother. Tomorrow I will check out the plugs, the choke, and my carbs( the 73 manual is a loooot easier to read!) and report back.

EDIT: A couple of other details that may help narrow down this problem: I never smelt the exhaust before (I always keep my window down), but with this recent gas pumping routine, the strong smell of gas and ripe exhaust usually greet me in the car and the family in the house. Another phenomena that happens is when I shut the car off, itll shake for a couple of seconds, perhaps try and start back up, and then die (dieseling as ive heard it called). It happens no matter which octane I use (87, 89, 91). Is this indicating something about my air/fuel mixture?

Edited August 30, 201212 yr by porkbun

One thing I'd suggest is to change oil again relatively soon. I would have thrown in some cheap-o 30 wt. to dissolve residue left behind after sitting for years on old black oil. Having just changed oil what does the new oil look like already?

And do try and get a read on those plugs pretty soon. They can tell quite a story.... We do sell a pretty decent dvd which covers engine related issues that would be a nice addition to your library.

Just tried starting with the choke fully pulled and it fired right up, so the error was me confusing all the things I had been reading. With the choke pulled in, the engine fired right up, and idled very roughly and shakily at about 1.1k with the horrible exhaust smell pouring in. I took the choke off after about a minute and the engine could idle, but it was still very rough at 1k and I felt that at any moment I might have to give it some gas to keep it from dying(but the exhaust smell disappeared).

I pulled the spark plug wires off one by one and the idle dropped the same bit for each plug. I cant find my spark plug socket, so I cant actually pull them out now. I did check the dampers and the back (closest to driver) carb has a lot more transmission fluid than the front at the fluid is also a bit lighter than the front carb. The rear carbs fluid covers the bottom plumb and makes a squishing noise when I replace the dipstick, the front makes no noise when I replace it and I can literally feel there is less fluid. Is the single notch on the dipstick the level I should aiming to reach? Oil is still pretty golden although it is a bit dirtier than when It was poured in.

Edited August 30, 201212 yr by porkbun

Your cold start and running issues don't surprise me at all:

"In 08/11/08 it had all the hoses replaced, repaired the choke and cleaned out the carbs and had 83,520. I bought it with 83,760 on Friday."

Sounds to me like the previous owner was chasing a performance problem with the car... He had all the hoses replaced and the carbs taken apart and cleaned out four years ago, and then put less than 250 miles on it since. I assume it's been sitting with the same gas in it for those four years? I'd be happy that it runs at all!

If you're looking for significantly better performance that what you're getting now, you're probably going to have to get inside the carbs. Or open your wallet and find someone near you who's got a handle on the infamous flat tops and hope that it's something simple that can be addressed by the anemic rebuild kits. If you were closer to me, I'd be happy to help you with them, but I'm several hours from you.

Also, from one of your previous posts, there's a question that hasn't been addressed:

About the diesel noise, Ive narrowed it down to this area:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55738[/ATTACH]

What is that covered by that cap?

Under that cap is your EGR valve.

I'll second the guess that you've got an exhaust leak. Probably at the rear of the engine back by the firewall.