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Today marks the 50th anniversary of closing the deal on my 240Z. It did not start out as a "forever car" but thoughts of a '66 Mustang Fastback I let go of to quickly always tickled the back of my brain, telling me to never make a quick decision on this one. Glad those tickles kept me honest! 1999 - Getting the car out of the garage after 16 years of storage and a bath before starting the teardown for the restore. 92k miles at the time and other than the first two years when I was in an apartment, always garaged. Recent pics celebrating the car's 50th birthday. ZCON 2015 - Our first trip to the big dance worked out pretty good. Unfortunately there are no cool, curvy, country roads near my urban residence so I had to make do with a run on a nearby toll road to get a fix of the Symphony In Straight Six. Enjoy! 50th Anniversary Clip.mp4

Speaking as the owner of a '71 Z since 1971, I've gone through the same decision making process you're experiencing. When I bought my Z in '71 it was persimmon. After owning it for about eight years, I had it color changed to silver. A few years later, back to persimmon. During that time, it wore a black/charcoal front BRE spoiler which started out gloss black gelcoat and was later painted charcoal using C-130 aircraft radome paint. I also added black bolt on fender flares which will probably be coming off soon. Changed to a 5-speed and trimmed the center console to accommodate the shift lever throw. Upgraded to 15" black spoked Konig wheels. Now, after 50 years of ownership, I'm getting it ready for new persimmon paint. I've replaced all of the bumper rubber trim and will repaint the sun faded tail light surround to as close to stock as I can get it. I also plan to add factory headlight covers, JDM front grille, and rear hatch louvers which have been in boxes for about 10 years. Lesson learned over those last 50 years....do what makes you happy. Whatever you do can all be undone and redone. It's your car, make it the way you want it. If you're doing it as an investment, keep it close to stock or at least easily reversible to stock. Have fun with the process. Dennis

What a great story.....not many original owners. I let my 70 go in 72. Love those chrome bumpers....what a nice upgrade!!!! Regards

Sounding like a vacuum leak . You need to spray something around that gasket while running . That would answer why you need some many turns out if you are sucking extra air . The wrong impedance on your coil would answer the sooty plugs . Pull a plug out with the wire attached and turn over the motor - preferably in low lighting - and see if the spark is blue or more yellow . Don’t worry about the cam sprocket for now - get the basics first

You never measured out to 1/4 mm?

I started "ripping and tearing" the emission stuff off mine. That little hose on the right of the throttle body had me stuck dead in the water. I do believe Mr Obvious saved my arse on that as he has many times. Thank you @Captain Obvious if I haven't told you lately.

Hah! Retuning to stock is truly a mountain too high. I'll leave competing in Stock Class to those better talented and qualified.

Lash pads jump off rockers. It's happened to me before and I almost crapped my pants. I was a long way from home putting some miles on a fresh rebuild. Babied? babyed? carefully drove home and got it back on. Never happened again. Thanks @Jeff G 78 for helping me with that.

Nice milestone Jim! Congrats! Car looks great! You should pop on the stock wheels, take off the strut brace, and enter it in stock class in Colorado Springs. A 50th anniversary gold medallion to go with your cup...

thats a fine looking ride

Stock EFI is not very tolerant of changes!

Some pictures of my original paint #918. Single stage buffed down to the slick then waxed. It looks different in different light. Your paint lid looks like some touch up paint I bought of the www.com. They called it "Mexican orange". Too dark in my opinion. There's a jeep color a few years ago that's the closest I've seen. @Matthew Abate is a very detail specific guy and he went through this too. Maybe he'll see this and share his experience? Now I can show off my car. Inside the detailer's shop with fluorescent and some sunshine... In my garage under LED lights... outside, only the sunshine... outside at dusk, not very sunny... Outside, just the sun after washing...

Beautiful car. Great noise too. I love to take mine through the tunnels on the freeway. Nothing quite like it. I can't help but notice the lack of people jumping in front of you without using their turn signals and slamming on their brakes for the upcoming exit. I forget that some cities might actually be a pleasant place to drive sometimes. Congrats on the car.

A picture or two would be helpful 🙂

Congrats Jim. Very fitting dealership name "Trophy Datsun".

Nice work Ryan! Way to stick with it! So i would cut out all the rust on the jig, fix the floor and rockers and then go to the rotisserie personally. The jig holds everything straight. I did each rocker and the front rails separately, but I am certain I could have cut more away at once. The floors basically attach to the trans tunnel and the inner rocker. I had patched my inner rockers but once I got it on the jig I actually cut it all the way out and replaced it. The frame didn't budge. Same thing when I did the front rails. Have fun!!!!

@Captain Obvious I know 100% then that I have the throttle body vacuum messed up, not sure how I have it setup until I get home this weekend. I will let you know then. Plans are to get the new rear main seal, freeze plug, lightweight flywheel, clutch, and trans into the car this weekend. Switched to the 81zx 5speed for that nice overdrive. Still probably a month out till the motor is safe to run and begin diagnosing again. I need to figure out which driveshaft I need, whether the 81zx, or the one that came with the car (seem to be about 1/2 to 3/4 inch different in length) rebuild it and toss it into the car. As well as decide which clutch collar I need to use, whether from the 4speed that came with my car, or the one from the 5speed. Seems to be some debate with that, because it says to use the proper collar with the clutch it is meant for. But my clutch is an ACT aftermarket clutch for the coupe models with the smaller coupe flywheel. I got it from here... https://www.autohance.com/act-nx1-hdss-clutch-kit-heavy-duty-hd.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhISB4qnW7wIVTx6tBh0pFQwAEAQYBCABEgJDpvD_BwE . Which is compatible from 1975 all the way through the 90s. I don't know if it actually matters what collar I use. If you have any advice that would be wonderful. You are right. Going to start with a compression check. Then I think I will test the water temp sensor and then AFM. If those check out I believe it is going to be my vacuum issue you recommended. Like you said, peel away the layers on that onion haha. Thank you everyone so far for helping me out, I have been on my own for a while now and it is really nice to get some advice. Found this, which will come useful when testing the AFM and such. 280z EFI Bible

The man that wrote the book! Awesome.

I am a structures mechanic. Anything that is part of the airframe is what I (we) work on. As aerospace machinists our job is to fit and assemble commercial jet airliners, freighters and tankers (for the military). So far I have been part of the manufacture of the Boeing 777 (wings and fuselage), 777X (fuselage), and the 767 freighter and its derivative the KC-46 tanker (fuselage). The airplanes are assembled in huge jigs, we call them “the tool”. The 777 wing assembly jig is huge, 4 stories tall, with a footprint larger than an American football field. 4 pairs of wings are assembled simultaneously. So the machinists are working “in the tool”. The wing spars are also assembled in a tool, about 60 feet wide and 120 feet long. The 767, 747 body sections are assembled into larger sub assemblies in large 4 story high tools, similar to the wing assembly tools. The legacy 777 (metal wings) was assembled in a similar tool, which was removed and replaced by crawlers for a “moving” assembly line to also build the 777X. After the wings and fuselage sections are complete they get joined at wing/body join, then final body join. At each step the various pieces are loaded into the tooling, positioned using indexes and checked with lasers to the nearest 0.001”. Still, when an airplane is complete, due to manufacturing tolerances, each one is different in length. I’ve read that a 747 can vary in length by as much as 18”. So I suppose that none of them are perfectly straight, but all modern airplanes have provisions to trim, or adjust the airplane for straight and level flight. The engines are manufactured elsewhere, and installed on the airplane by engine technicians who specialize in the hookup and installation of the engines.

Long weekend and made tons of progress. There is no radiator, so cant fill it up with anything yet. But I was able to get it started easy everytime. Not sure exactly what the issue was, but I did fix the dizzy timing and now she runs great...for 5/6 cylinders. I verified I am still not getting compression in #3, and thats after the valve adjustments and running it for a handful of 1-minute runs. So off with the head! Glad I did so, nearly every bolt minus the head studs were not torqued. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise as taking the manifolds off was cake. No seized bolts, which was my big worry. The coolant passages are rough too so I am glad I took this off. I think I will start a build thread, but this thread deserves some pics first! Here is the block with the head off. Everything looked good, gasket was fairly fresh (i think) and no major issues that I spotted. Cylinder #3 was the problem child and I expected a larger "kiss" from the valve than what is there. I noticed that Cylinder #1 actually has a bigger impact from the valve. but it had compression. Now is my time to start thinking of how I want to approach this build. It will always be a weekend car, never tracked or daily. I am leaning towards a cam, headers, and maybe flat top pistons. I want to stick with the original EFI for now for cost, so I'll need to keep that in mind with my cam choice.

LOL. I like it!

So many questions:) Durability and reliability are directly connected to HP, torque, tire width, driving style etc etc. Turbo car with wide tires and a propensity for hole shots....You are going to have a bad day. Under 275 to the wheels and the occasional hole shot when your brother in-law comes to visit....Probably going to be fine. Here is the first non functional prototype. I took one of my extra CD009 prototype castings and sliced and diced it to see if the conversion was feasible. This is the final-ish shifter design. It uses the stock BRZ shifter. There are aftermarket short throw shifters available. Costs are going to be in line with the CD009 conversion. The bell housing will be right around $1000.00. The shifter mount should come in under 250.00. For the total package you will need a TL70 new or used, bell housing, shifter, new yet to be designed cross member and most likely a driveshaft. Used transmissions are around 250.00 - 500.00. New ones are available for 2300.00 or so. Rebuild parts are Reilly available as well as aftermarket gear sets. Also there is no provision for a speedo cable so you either need to use a GPS speedo or Speedhut makes a motorized conversion that takes GPS data and converts it to a motor drive. The biggest reason for this conversion is for you to help fund my retirement but beyond that you don't need to modify your sheet metal so returning to stock is easy. Second would be bragging rights. "yes but mine has 6" Seriously though, rebuild parts are drying up for the 240sx transmissions and that is what originally got me started on the CD009 conversion. I wanted a new transmission in my car and both the CD009 and the TL70 are available new at what I think is a reasonable price. I'm waiting of the first two castings to arrive from the foundry so I can finalize things. They are poured I'm just waiting on them to heat treat. I'm keeping a list of people interested so if anyone is, email me at kick@datsunworks.com with the subject: TL70 6 speed. Derek

Hahaha... thats 0.25 mm overhere! 😉 I have to react to this haha... I once worked with studio equipment, still have some high quality stuff laying around and using some still after 34 years! (Look it up a revox b215 is one of those machines) I was once at the factory in switserland and they make capstanshafts on a machine that measures 1/1000 of a millimeter! (For big taperecorders like the ReVox PR99, Studer A800 etc.etc.) so 0,001 mm exact. They make the shaft and then have to let it rest for a year in storage. Then after about a year they put it in a machine that measures it and if it's out of tolerance ... it's scrap! Her you see a machine made in switserland (Possible also in Germany (Studer revox still in Germany activ.)) The capstan is a shaft that gives the speed to a tape, it's that dark shaft just peaking out on top of the beige pressureroller. A recorder like this is as big as a jukebox and costed a million swiss franks and thats about $600.000,- This was in the 1980's.. today they are much cheaper..

Some people can be picky about their cars... But the car is already resprayed... if I was going to be picky thats where I would start. You make a fair point about filling the 6 holes you'll drill for a spoiler... and can probably figure out something for the shifter if you dont want to cut the trans tunnel. The wiring for the L28ET would have to be on a standalone, and not butcher into the OEM harness, I dont think that would be too difficult to do, you might need to make ONE hole for the wiring to get outside. I remember a 72-73 modifed Z for like mid $30's on Bring A Wallet.... Blue colored? Which BRE spoiler you thinking about, I have a NIB https://www.bre2.net/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=B&Product_Code=020b06&Category_Code=bre_datsun_body_parts that I never used. @grannyknot That car looks fit.

I created a spreadsheet many years ago that is nice for exploring transmission options. Here are a couple of screenshots: In the rows below the screenshot above, I have the speeds in gears return in formulas for each 1000 rpm This sheet is nice because it accurately (I think) takes into consideration the tire size as well as the rear ratio and the gears. You only change a few parameters... and, it allows you to plot speeds in gears and look at a graphical representation: I used it recently to investigate using a 240SX transmission. If you want to use it, I can upload it somewhere for you. Let me know.

Hmmm... With today's prices on the early cars, I'm having a hard time recommending any significant modifications from stock. How about you sell the early one and buy two later ones with the proceeds?

Agreed. Looks fantastic!

Your silver on silver is definitely making my decision harder! I am leaning towards doing the charcoal accents, but.....damn..... I was originally kind of bummed with my car because I always knew I would return it to original color, and at the time (15 years ago) I wasn't really feeling the silver, but now that I am older and more mature (cough, cough) I am really happy that mine rolled out of the factory clothed in silver!

I was going to post a picture of my all silver 72 with silver wheels but you posted it! Picture #4 - I had the painter match the 901 silver. Love the all silver look but is your car - make it yours. This is what I started with 10 years ago. Also originally 901 silver. We always can use more members of the silver Z club. One more picture to make the choice harder. Good luck Casey

Looks spectacular!

She's running good, but the temperature did start creeping up while idling for a while. Will need to run for a little longer each time before driving very far. 0f62388b02e749a7a8652b859a41b096.MOV

Car is almost there. Fuel system done, exhaust done, glass back in, rear coilovers fitted and ride height dialled in. Dash installed. Dapper Lighting headlights and JDM 240z taillights installed. Alignment done. New injectors, connectors and other misc. wiring under the hood to fix some rough running - cylinder 3 had an injector stuck open which flooded everything. Decided to replace all 6 for peace of mind.

The 75 rack moves 1.51 inches for one pinion revolution. Feel free to convert that steering angle any way you like.

I might have to keep a car like that in the family if its shared so much history. Insure it properly and drive it. You'll have more opportunities soon...

Wow, haven't heard Golden Earring in a long time. My favorite time was back in 94. Three years earlier I had leased a VW Corrado and my wife was driving a 300ZX Turbo. We had lots of fun racing each other over those years, er, I meant to say touring together. I actually call that spirited driving Bumper Tag. Anyway, I was returning the Corrado at the end of the lease, and my wife was in her car to bring me home. The inevitable who can get there first started. Shortly after the START, Radar Love came on the radio - my all-time favorite driving song. As I pulled into the dealership and stopped, the song ended and I turned off the engine. It was an absolutely perfect moment. I got out and walked away, smelling hot brakes, listening to the engine crackling as it cooled, and smiled at my wife - because I beat her! 🥳

Making the driver in front of me "drive harder" is my go-to approach when running against heavy metal V8s. I normally run in either the Big Bore group (under 5L) or in an all comers group with cars ranged from 50 to over 500hp. Getting them to go deeper puts that much more wear on their brakes until a few more laps in they start to fade. The big block guys are too quick for me to stay with but those small block V8s, they're catchable. on occasion. Looking forward to getting the car out in May.

If you don't do excellent work on the modifications you'll reduce the value of the car considerably. Early 240Z's with originality are getting good money on the auction sites. Just something to be aware of. https://bringatrailer.com/datsun/240z/ Here's a silver on silver on silver car. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-datsun-240z-153/

finally finished building the chassis jig after much toil. It was a journey in learning the basics of metal fabrication and has laid the ground works and basic skills I will need for my rust repairs. Pretty happy with the results considering I hadn’t touched a welder previously. Still much to learn though... As I will outline in the video I wanted to replace the backbone of the car, floors, chassis and frame rails prior to mounting on rotisserie for blasting. As you will see this will be impossible without extensive repairs to the rockers/doglegs and rears arches. So I have decided to get the whole thing blasted prior to starting any rust repairs. I will be bracing the shell extensively before mounting to the rotisserie. please excuse the cheesy thumbnail photo... Ryan

Well, it's difficult to say what year my transmission is at this point. The 5th gear part is off a '82 worn out trany, most of the rest of the innards are out of a '78(?) 4 speed, and the shafts (except the input) are out of my 70 something transmission that a PO installed in the early 80's. Not sure how it's going to work once I get it together... kind of sounds like that old Johnny Cash song.